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August 31, 2006
Playing at a Theater near you...
Little Miss Sunshine
The Gist: A little girl and her family travel across the country in a decrepit VW van so she can take part in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest, a contest which she has about as much chance of winning as Matt Leinart does of remaining celibate the rest of the year. (Until the media reported that his [ex-]girlfriend was pregnant, I always assumed he was saving himself for marriage. Didn’t you?) Her family consists of a sex-crazed, outspoken grandfather (Alan Arkin), a wannabe motivational speaker/author father (Greg Kinnear), a teenage brother who takes a vow of silence to focus on his goal of getting into the Air Force (random kid who looks like one of the Columbine shooters), and a gay uncle who just tried to kill himself after losing his job as a professor for stalking a student (Steve Carell).
What Would Have Made this Movie Better: Nothing. This one is great. It’s laugh out loud funny. I want to see it again. You will too.
Who Should See This: You should unless you're a complete and total jerk.
The Verdict: Best film of the year. A.
Invincible
The Gist: Mark Wahlberg and his fellow South Philly friends have lives that would make the Pope consider sanctioning suicide. (Maybe my job isn’t so bad after all.) They play regular tackle football games (no pads) against patrons from a rival bar and bloody themselves up more than a pirate with a penchant for using his hook in the bedroom. When Dick Vermeil (Greg Kinnear) comes roaring into town, he offers Philadelphians the chance to try out for their beloved Eagles. After much prodding, Mark Wahlberg does exactly that, and what do you know, he overcomes the odds and makes the team.
What Would Have Made this Movie Better: There’s a street football scene towards the middle of the movie that is more melodramatic than an entire month’s worth of programming on Lifetime. Aside from that, this film is surprisingly good from start to finish. It sure as hell doesn’t make you want to live in South Philly though! What a dump!
Who Should See This: Football fans, Mark Wahlberg fans (he's getting up there in age, but still looks like he could model Calvin Klein underwear for eternity), Greg Kinnear fans (he's one of the most underrated actors alive), and anyone else who wants to see your standard inspirational film.
The Verdict: A surprisingly good effort. A-.
Comments
TF, why are you not a professional movie critic? seriously. :) good stuff.
Posted by: LM at August 31, 2006 08:10 AM
Invincible wasn't actually shot in South Philly. But it really is that bad, yes.
Posted by: Meg at August 31, 2006 08:28 AM
LM - You hook me up with a job and I'll gladly switch careers!
Posted by: Fool at August 31, 2006 08:53 AM
once again. savings of 4 hours, 1 large popcorn, & 1 large coke. phenomenal reviews kid!
Posted by: WC at August 31, 2006 01:58 PM
hahaha, well i think the window of opportunity passed when gene siskel died. :P
Posted by: LM at August 31, 2006 07:07 PM
Can't wait to see both of these!!
Posted by: LawNut at September 2, 2006 10:47 AM
TF:
Annika came on 9/1 at 5:18 a.m.
Posted by: fermanator at September 3, 2006 09:19 PM
I loved Little Miss S. too -- my mother-in-law saw it and, according to my mother, didn't like it because "I guess she thought it was going to be a comedy but it wasn't really..."
Uh... wha?
Posted by: G at September 5, 2006 07:09 PM
