Mile 22 is perhaps the least sentimental action film of the decade. Any whiff of internal conflict is undercut by an “Are you done with this yet? We have real shit to do” reaction. This sounds like an exhausting, masculist machine existing just to be the antithesis of the “weepy, uncool” action film, but The Two Bergs (director Peter Berg and star Mark Walhberg) commit to the idea so wholeheartedly that it is able to bypass initial concerns, and instead become something else. The result is at times quite thrilling, and clocking in at 90 minutes, refreshingly concise.
The fourth collaboration of The Bergs follows an elite CIA task force, whose modus operandi includes leaving their fallen behind if necessary, so that there’s quite literally no time for character turmoil or second-guessing. Despite thinking otherwise, there are a few “quiet” moments together, with solid three-minute stretches for conversation in the...
The fourth collaboration of The Bergs follows an elite CIA task force, whose modus operandi includes leaving their fallen behind if necessary, so that there’s quite literally no time for character turmoil or second-guessing. Despite thinking otherwise, there are a few “quiet” moments together, with solid three-minute stretches for conversation in the...
- 8/21/2018
- by Mike Mazzanti
- The Film Stage
Primed to harsh any buzz you might still be enjoying from the exhilarating international spy high jinks of “Mission Impossible: Fallout,” Peter Berg’s “Mile 22” is an angry, hyperviolent downer of an action flick that is the August blowout-sale of its ilk: loud and desperate.
Mixing obnoxious geopolitical cynicism, fashionable fight incoherence and — still? really? — the fading appeal of Mark Wahlberg in grim-hero mode, the movie feels like Berg in a state of retaliatory cinematic aggression after the lackluster showing of his recent real-life-bravery tales, “Deepwater Horizon” and “Patriots Day.”
The fictional “Mile 22” — another secret-ops saga about last-resort warriors, albeit with none of the escapist appeal of the “Mission: Impossible” movies — is the movie equivalent of being shouted at by your drunk ex-Army dad about how stupid and pointless your taste in popcorn fare is, and why can’t there be more bloody combat scenes with foreigners?
Watch...
Mixing obnoxious geopolitical cynicism, fashionable fight incoherence and — still? really? — the fading appeal of Mark Wahlberg in grim-hero mode, the movie feels like Berg in a state of retaliatory cinematic aggression after the lackluster showing of his recent real-life-bravery tales, “Deepwater Horizon” and “Patriots Day.”
The fictional “Mile 22” — another secret-ops saga about last-resort warriors, albeit with none of the escapist appeal of the “Mission: Impossible” movies — is the movie equivalent of being shouted at by your drunk ex-Army dad about how stupid and pointless your taste in popcorn fare is, and why can’t there be more bloody combat scenes with foreigners?
Watch...
- 8/16/2018
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
A Parallelogram celebrated its opening night Sunday, July 21, at the Mark Taper Forum. The play, by Bruce Norris, is directed by Anna D. Shapiro. Along with the director Anna D. Shapiro and the cast Carlo Alban, Marylouise Burke, Marin Ireland and Tom Irwin, check out the video with Michael Chernus, Judy Reyes, Ana Ortiz, Jeff Goldblum, Jimmy Smits and James Franco at the opening night party for 'A Parallelogram.'...
- 7/26/2013
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
To refer to the Film Comment Selects screening of Kenneth Longeran's "Margaret" as anything less than magical would be doing the film the same disservice that Fox Searchlight initially did when it failed to market the film nearly ten years in the making. From Gavin Smith's impassioned introduction to the guests hidden in the front rows of Lincoln Center (Michael Cera! Former Village Voice critic J. Hoberman! Alex Karpovsky quietly filming the Q&A on a Dslr!) the message was simple: cinephiles demanded a second chance at this quiet-yet-overwhelming missive on a post-9/11 New York. Longeran introduced the 12 cast members who also joined him at the screening including Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, J. Smith-Cameron did, Jake O'Connor, Stephen Adly Guirgis and Kevin Geer (the cops that Lisa Cohen deals with over her deposition) and Carlo Alban (Ramon's son), who briefly appears to console Joan (Smith-Cameron) at a wake (Anna.
- 2/27/2012
- by John Lichman
- Indiewire
To refer to the Film Comment Selects screening of Kenneth Longeran's "Margaret" as anything less than magical would be doing the film the same disservice that Fox Searchlight initially did when it failed to market the film nearly ten years in the making. From Gavin Smith's impassioned introduction to the guests hidden in the front rows of Lincoln Center (Michael Cera! Former Village Voice critic J. Hoberman! Alex Karpovsky quietly filming the Q&A on a Dslr!) the message was simple: cinephiles demanded a second chance at this quiet-yet-overwhelming missive on a post-9/11 New York.
Longeran introduced the 12 cast members who also joined him at the screening including Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, J. Smith-Cameron did, Jake O'Connor, Stephen Adly Guirgis and Kevin Geer (the cops that Lisa Cohen deals with over her deposition) and Carlo Alban (Ramon's son), who briefly appears to console Joan (Smith-Cameron) at a wake (Anna Paquin...
Longeran introduced the 12 cast members who also joined him at the screening including Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, J. Smith-Cameron did, Jake O'Connor, Stephen Adly Guirgis and Kevin Geer (the cops that Lisa Cohen deals with over her deposition) and Carlo Alban (Ramon's son), who briefly appears to console Joan (Smith-Cameron) at a wake (Anna Paquin...
- 2/27/2012
- by John Lichman
- The Playlist
Occupy Wall Street descended upon Broadway Friday night, commencing a daylong occupation of Times Square. The move to New York's theater district is meant to be a show of creative resistance, with a series of street performances and speeches that symbolize the people "taking back the stage" -- in other words, the public spaces that belong to them.
Occupy Broadway's statement lays out their objective:
Occupy Broadway is a symbolic attempt to regain the space of theatre as an accessible, popular art form, bringing it back to where it all started - in a public space, for the common citizen. We are using public space to create a more colorful image of what our streets could look like, with public performances, art, and music. Through this movement, New York re-imagines itself as a work of art, rather than a retail shopping mall.
Friday night's agenda began at 6 p.m., with...
Occupy Broadway's statement lays out their objective:
Occupy Broadway is a symbolic attempt to regain the space of theatre as an accessible, popular art form, bringing it back to where it all started - in a public space, for the common citizen. We are using public space to create a more colorful image of what our streets could look like, with public performances, art, and music. Through this movement, New York re-imagines itself as a work of art, rather than a retail shopping mall.
Friday night's agenda began at 6 p.m., with...
- 12/3/2011
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
Juliette Lewis and Ellen Page in Whip It!
Photo: Fox Searchlight Picture Drew Barrymore's directorial debut is a success as Whip It takes "girl power" and turns it into a healthy dose of fun. While I wouldn't say Barrymore has any kind of distinct flair or style to her work just yet, she chose a perfect starter project for her first time out and it looks like they had a blast putting it together.
Ellen Page stars as Bliss Cavendar, a small town girl living a life of beauty pageants and working as a waitress at the Oink Joint with absolutely nothing to entertain her until one day she sees three girls on roller skates and Babe Ruthless is born. Bliss soon joins the Roller Derby team known as The Hurl Scouts, and escapes her life in small-town Bodeen, Texas to roll with the likes of Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig...
Photo: Fox Searchlight Picture Drew Barrymore's directorial debut is a success as Whip It takes "girl power" and turns it into a healthy dose of fun. While I wouldn't say Barrymore has any kind of distinct flair or style to her work just yet, she chose a perfect starter project for her first time out and it looks like they had a blast putting it together.
Ellen Page stars as Bliss Cavendar, a small town girl living a life of beauty pageants and working as a waitress at the Oink Joint with absolutely nothing to entertain her until one day she sees three girls on roller skates and Babe Ruthless is born. Bliss soon joins the Roller Derby team known as The Hurl Scouts, and escapes her life in small-town Bodeen, Texas to roll with the likes of Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig...
- 10/2/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Chicago – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 25 admit-two run-of-engagement Chicago passes up for grabs to the new film “Whip It,” which is Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut!
“Whip It” stars Ellen Page (of “Juno” fame), Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Alia Shawkat, Eve, Zoe Bell, Ari Graynor, Eulala Scheel, Andrew Wilson, Carlo Alban, Landon Pigg, Rachel Piplica, Kristen Adolfi and Daniel Stern.
To win your free pass to “Whip It” in Chicago courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is tell us how you’ve been a hero in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! “Whip It” opens nationwide on Oct. 2, 2009. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.
“Whip It” starring Ellen Page is the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore.
Image credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Here...
“Whip It” stars Ellen Page (of “Juno” fame), Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Alia Shawkat, Eve, Zoe Bell, Ari Graynor, Eulala Scheel, Andrew Wilson, Carlo Alban, Landon Pigg, Rachel Piplica, Kristen Adolfi and Daniel Stern.
To win your free pass to “Whip It” in Chicago courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is tell us how you’ve been a hero in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! “Whip It” opens nationwide on Oct. 2, 2009. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.
“Whip It” starring Ellen Page is the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore.
Image credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Here...
- 9/28/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
"Whip It" clips are in including interviews with star Ellen Page, director Drew Barrymore and many, many others. There are a total of 28 clips including Toronto International Film Festival clips. The Fox Searchlight Pictures release goes wide on stars Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Alia Shawkat, Eve, Zoe Bell, Ari Graynor, Eulala Scheel, Andrew Wilson, Carlo Alban, Landon Pigg, Rachel Piplica, Kristen Adolfi and Daniel Stern. Shauna Cross wrote the screenplay.
- 9/27/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
We have new images in from Fox Searchlight Pictures' "Whip It" which marks the feature-length directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. The cast includes Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Alia Shawkat, Eve, Zoe Bell, Ari Graynor, Eulala Scheel, Andrew Wilson, Carlo Alban, Landon Pigg, Rachel Piplica, Kristen Adolfi and Daniel Stern. Check it out on October 2nd. For years, Bliss Cavendar (Academy Award® nominee Ellen Page) has been dreaming of escaping her tiny, truck-stop of a town Bodeen, Texas. Unfortunately her devoted, beauty pageant obsessed mother (Academy Award® winner Marcia Gay Harden) is convinced that Bliss..
- 9/21/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Check out five clips of Toronto International Film Festival Footage from the Drew Barrymore-directed "Whip It," starring Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Alia Shawkat, Eve, Zoe Bell, Ari Graynor, Eulala Scheel, Andrew Wilson, Carlo Alban, Landon Pigg, Rachel Piplica, Kristen Adolfi and Daniel Stern. For years, Bliss Cavendar (Academy Award® nominee Ellen Page) has been dreaming of escaping her tiny, truck-stop of a town Bodeen, Texas. Unfortunately her devoted, beauty pageant obsessed mother (Academy Award® winner Marcia Gay Harden) is convinced that Bliss can only succeed in life if she wins the crown at the local Miss Blue Bonnet Pageant, but the awkward outsider knows there’s something bigger and better out there. When Bliss sneaks off to the big city of Austin...
- 9/17/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
When Amy Sedaris turned her face into a gargoyle as Jerri Blank for the Comedy Central series "Strangers With Candy", something bracingly absurd hit the small screen. The menopause-meets-puberty concept put a 47-year-old ex-con back in high school; the comic results often as smart as they were outrageous. Reuniting Sedaris with series co-creators and co-stars Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello, this film prequel to the sitcom -- the first big-screen production of David Letterman's Worldwide Pants -- offers more laughs than most comedies of recent vintage. But what was subversive on the tube feels muted at feature length.
At the helm, Dinello finds the right note of cheesy bathos for a takeoff on after-school specials that dares to ask, "Can we change?" But even given the essential goofiness of the premise -- and the 10-minute cut since "Strangers" premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival -- the story line is thin, the execution uneven and some of the gags repetitive. Fans of the 1999-2000 series will flock to this low-budget limited release, but many will be disappointed, as will the avid audience of "The Colbert Report", accustomed to that show's nightly dose of satirical brilliance.
In garish makeup and professional golfer's hairdo, Jerri returns home after 32 years of hard knocks, in and out of prison, to pick up where she left off -- as a student at Flatpoint High. But the halls of Flatpoint are at least as cruel as lockup. On the home front, Jerri's stepmother (Deborah Rush) and half-brother (Joseph Cross) greet her with instant enmity, while her father (Dan Hedaya) lies -- and, when propped up for company, sits -- in a coma.
As bad teledrama would have it, a challenge presents itself as an opportunity to solve just about everyone's problems: the fast-approaching science fair. In order to prove that there is some learning going on at Flatpoint, principal Blackman (series regular Gregory Hollimon), who is corrupt and inefficient, desperately needs the school to win the fair in order to save his funding, threatened by two unamused members of the school board (Allison Janney, Philip Seymour Hoffman). Jerri, naturally, sees a trophy as a surefire way to inspire her daddy back into consciousness. Spurned by the popular kids, she teams with smitten Indonesian science geek (Carlo Alban) and a studious redhead (Maria Thayer) who provokes some prison-perfected extracurricular notions on Jerri's part.
Bible-thumping science teacher Chuck Noblet (Colbert) is no help to Jerri on her quest; offering a kinder, gentler but no more effective touch is the art teacher of Noblet's in-denial affections (Dinello). Deadpan turns from Janney, Hoffman and Ian Holm heighten the absurdity by way of contrast with Sedaris' intentionally over-the-top Jerri, while Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker deliver a couple of delicious characterizations -- he as a science-fair impresario who drags around his very own Boswell, she as a grief counselor whose chief tools of the trade are a timer and a tip jar.
As a sendup of teen-centered melodrama, "Strangers With Candy" is often on target, with savvy production design, costumes and music enhancing the effect. But though this film simmers with pitch-perfect observations, particularly about self-absorbed adults, it struggles to sustain the hilarity.
STRANGERS WITH CANDY
ThinkFilm
ThinkFilm in association with Worldwide Pants presents
a Roberts/David production in association with Comedy Central Films
Credits:
Director: Paul Dinello
Screenwriters: Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Amy Sedaris
Producers: Mark Roberts, Lorena David, Valerie Schaer Nathanson
Executive producers: David Letterman, Rob Burnett, Fred Nigro
Director of photography: Oliver Bokelberg
Production designer: Teresa Mastropierro
Music: Marcelo Zarvos
Co-producer: Stephen Colbert
Costume designer: Victoria Farrell
Editor: Michael R. Miller
Cast:
Jerri Blank: Amy Sedaris
Chuck Noblet: Stephen Colbert
Geoffrey Jellineck: Paul Dinello
Sara Blank: Deborah Rush
Megawatti Sacarnaputri: Carlo Alban
Tammi Littlenut: Maria Thayer
Principal Onyx Blackman: Gregory Hollimon
Guy Blank: Dan Hedaya
Derrick Blank: Joseph Cross
Roger Beekman: Matthew Broderick
Dr. Putney: Ian Holm
Peggy Callas: Sarah Jessica Parker
Alice: Allison Janney
Henry: Philip Seymour Hoffman
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 86 minutes...
At the helm, Dinello finds the right note of cheesy bathos for a takeoff on after-school specials that dares to ask, "Can we change?" But even given the essential goofiness of the premise -- and the 10-minute cut since "Strangers" premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival -- the story line is thin, the execution uneven and some of the gags repetitive. Fans of the 1999-2000 series will flock to this low-budget limited release, but many will be disappointed, as will the avid audience of "The Colbert Report", accustomed to that show's nightly dose of satirical brilliance.
In garish makeup and professional golfer's hairdo, Jerri returns home after 32 years of hard knocks, in and out of prison, to pick up where she left off -- as a student at Flatpoint High. But the halls of Flatpoint are at least as cruel as lockup. On the home front, Jerri's stepmother (Deborah Rush) and half-brother (Joseph Cross) greet her with instant enmity, while her father (Dan Hedaya) lies -- and, when propped up for company, sits -- in a coma.
As bad teledrama would have it, a challenge presents itself as an opportunity to solve just about everyone's problems: the fast-approaching science fair. In order to prove that there is some learning going on at Flatpoint, principal Blackman (series regular Gregory Hollimon), who is corrupt and inefficient, desperately needs the school to win the fair in order to save his funding, threatened by two unamused members of the school board (Allison Janney, Philip Seymour Hoffman). Jerri, naturally, sees a trophy as a surefire way to inspire her daddy back into consciousness. Spurned by the popular kids, she teams with smitten Indonesian science geek (Carlo Alban) and a studious redhead (Maria Thayer) who provokes some prison-perfected extracurricular notions on Jerri's part.
Bible-thumping science teacher Chuck Noblet (Colbert) is no help to Jerri on her quest; offering a kinder, gentler but no more effective touch is the art teacher of Noblet's in-denial affections (Dinello). Deadpan turns from Janney, Hoffman and Ian Holm heighten the absurdity by way of contrast with Sedaris' intentionally over-the-top Jerri, while Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker deliver a couple of delicious characterizations -- he as a science-fair impresario who drags around his very own Boswell, she as a grief counselor whose chief tools of the trade are a timer and a tip jar.
As a sendup of teen-centered melodrama, "Strangers With Candy" is often on target, with savvy production design, costumes and music enhancing the effect. But though this film simmers with pitch-perfect observations, particularly about self-absorbed adults, it struggles to sustain the hilarity.
STRANGERS WITH CANDY
ThinkFilm
ThinkFilm in association with Worldwide Pants presents
a Roberts/David production in association with Comedy Central Films
Credits:
Director: Paul Dinello
Screenwriters: Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Amy Sedaris
Producers: Mark Roberts, Lorena David, Valerie Schaer Nathanson
Executive producers: David Letterman, Rob Burnett, Fred Nigro
Director of photography: Oliver Bokelberg
Production designer: Teresa Mastropierro
Music: Marcelo Zarvos
Co-producer: Stephen Colbert
Costume designer: Victoria Farrell
Editor: Michael R. Miller
Cast:
Jerri Blank: Amy Sedaris
Chuck Noblet: Stephen Colbert
Geoffrey Jellineck: Paul Dinello
Sara Blank: Deborah Rush
Megawatti Sacarnaputri: Carlo Alban
Tammi Littlenut: Maria Thayer
Principal Onyx Blackman: Gregory Hollimon
Guy Blank: Dan Hedaya
Derrick Blank: Joseph Cross
Roger Beekman: Matthew Broderick
Dr. Putney: Ian Holm
Peggy Callas: Sarah Jessica Parker
Alice: Allison Janney
Henry: Philip Seymour Hoffman
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 86 minutes...
- 6/28/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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