If the sight of marionettes having sex offends you, then Team America: World Police has done its job, and what a job. A silly spectacle from the South Park guys rifling on everything from Jerry Bruckheimer films to world politics, Team America effectively turns every cliche and genre on its termite-infested ear. Read the rest of this entry »

Woody Allen has been spoofing Hollywood conventions for so long that it was only a matter of time before he finally turned the camera on himself. Read the rest of this entry »

“Have we got a vacation for you.” That’s the come-on for Delos, an adult amusement park that guarantees you’ll have the time of your life. Guests mingle with lifelike robots in three different theme lands, where they can indulge their every fantasy or whimsy. There’s “Westworld,” a recreation of the old West in the 1880’s; “Medieval World,” where you can live like a Knight; and “Roman World,” where orgy’s and decadence are on the menu. Read the rest of this entry »

“Daddy Day Care,” Eddie Murphy’s latest comedy, reminded me of the catty exchange between Frank-N-Furter and Janet Weiss in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” when the doctor asks the ingénue what she thinks about his creation, a golden Adonis. “I don’t like a man with too many muscles,” Janet sheepishly admits, to which Frank harshly replies, “I didn’t make him for you!” Read the rest of this entry »

Leave it to the folks at Troma Team Video to deliver a surf film that gives new meaning to the phrase “wipe out.” In true low-budget Troma fashion, “Surf Nazis Must Die” delivers the goods, and the interactive DVD delivers not only the goods, but a lot more. In the near future, the California coastline has been wiped out by a major earthquake. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a moment in director Wes Craven’s “The Serpent and the Rainbow” that literally hurts to watch. Most men who have seen the film know what scene I’m talking about. Halfway through the film, after having been warned to leave Haiti, Harvard Anthropologist Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) is brought in by sadistic police chief Peytreaud (Zakes Mokae) for questioning. Read the rest of this entry »

The candle wax inside the Halloween pumpkin isn’t even cold yet and the early signs of Christmas are already encroaching. Thanksgiving turkey roasting pans share shelf space with eggnog mix and fruitcake, while Christmas tree forests have sprung up on empty lots and in front of grocery stores. Read the rest of this entry »

Not since the over-hyped “The Blair Witch Project” have I had the pleasure of sitting through (just barely) such a ponderous and preposterous thriller as “The Ring.” If you think that’s praise, look up facetious in the dictionary. Based on the Chinese thriller of the same name, “The Ring” is as annoying as it is cloying. Read the rest of this entry »

I was introduced to the John Waters experience back in college. I was attending a journalism conference at U.S.C. over the weekend, and the midnight show at the campus theater was “Female Trouble,” “Pink Flamingos” and some old Army venereal disease training films. Read the rest of this entry »

Even though it’s screenplay was based on various real life incidents, when “The China Syndrome” was released in 1979, it was a work of fiction. All that changed within two weeks of its release when Three Mile Island mirrored the events in the film. Lucky for Columbia Pictures. Unlucky for people who lived near the nuclear facility. Read the rest of this entry »