Fargo

Yet another attempt by Hollywood to pass off kiddie kartoons as fun for all ages

A movie that shows how cynicism and sentimentality can be two sides of the same coin

Down to Earth, Chris Rock’s remake (directed by Chris and Paul Weitz) of Heaven Can Wait (1978)—itself a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)—is a disappointment. Though there are some very funny things in it, its glib message about being oneself turns out to be a cover for being self-indulgent, in the style (I’m…

A retrogressive version of the old TV show sounds an intriguing idea until you realize it’s only in order to accommodate the unfunny clowning of Will Ferrell

Yet another attempt by Hollywood to pass off kiddie kartoons as fun for all ages

A movie that shows how cynicism and sentimentality can be two sides of the same coin

Down to Earth, Chris Rock’s remake (directed by Chris and Paul Weitz) of Heaven Can Wait (1978)—itself a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)—is a disappointment. Though there are some very funny things in it, its glib message about being oneself turns out to be a cover for being self-indulgent, in the style (I’m…

A retrogressive version of the old TV show sounds an intriguing idea until you realize it’s only in order to accommodate the unfunny clowning of Will Ferrell

At its best, Olivier Assayas’s film, Irma Vep (an anagram of Vampire) is rather difficult for an American audience, unfamiliar with the classic French silent film Les Vampires by Louis Feuillade (1915), to understand, since so much of it depends on playing off that kind of innocence, but the appallingly poor English pronunciation of Jean…