The Shaggy Dog Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Three big studio flicks go wide this week, and what do you know - all of them were screened for critics, even the horror remake! Someone, make a note of the date. Reviews of all three are all over the place, but in sum: Failure to Launch is either astonishingly sharp and well-acted or meh; The Hills Have Eyes is really, really violent; The Shaggy Dog is either cute or stupid (the latter if you're mature, or at least think you are). Details follow.

• Failure to Launch: I can't possibly express to you how odd it is it to read a dozen or so reviews of this movie, back to back. You go from Robert's "at least it doesn't suck," to Stephen Hunter's declaration that the film is "the only American comedy in a long time that could be called Wilderan in its concept and execution"; from Roger Ebert, who hates the movie so much that he resorts to a story of being bitten by a Kubrick donkey, to your friend and mine, Mick LeSalle, who praises Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker for their rare willingness to "go out of their way to project thought and emotion in concentrated doses." I mean, honestly. What's a girl to think? There are mixed opinions all the time, but this is insane.
  

Anyone who enjoys movies keeps a secret tally of any movie's strengths and weaknesses. Like an Olympic judge rating an athlete's performance, the final score determines whether a movie rates a recommendation or is forgotten as an also-ran.

As far as formula fare goes, one could do worse than the above-middlin' romantic comedy Failure To Launch starring Matthew McConaughey as a 30-something who still lives with his folks (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw) until they hire a motivationalist (Sarah Jessica Parker) to help him fly the nest. Naturally and against all odds, McConaughey's and Parker's completely artificial relationship blossoms into something more. Here's how I broke it down:

First, it's funny. Not just an occasional giggle, sit-com kind of funny but infused throughout funny. TV vets Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, who are attached to this year's Steve Carell update of Get Smart, may be green as screenwriters, this being their first project produced, but with that inexperience comes a kind of hunger. Of course, most first-timers become well-fed and lazy after a taste of success like this, but for now, proof of their talent is apparent. Each character is created with a specific purpose, as is every scene, sequence and act. It's all very textbook, but it works. Mark one in the "plus" column.
 

IESB's got a new interview up with Robert Downey Jr. that's ostensibly about The Shaggy Dog, but he talks about a few other projects, as well. Because I love you, I sat through the entire thing - which involves far too much studio-mandated talk about how great an actor the dog is (apparently no one can shut up about his brilliance) and a strange effort by Downey to portray his Token Bad Guy character as a lesson to kids - in order to glean the few interesting tidbits that appear at the very end.

First, though he doesn't actually speak about it, Downey appears to be very fired up indeed about A Scanner Darkly, at least if rubbing his hands together and cackling with glee at its mere mention is any indication. Second, he thinks it would be a good idea to remake Weird Science. He really said that, almost totally unprompted. I don't get it either, particularly because the interviewer didn't think to ask for details about why such a thing might be necessary. Third and most bizarrely, Downey is in informal talks with Sylvester Stallone to star in Poe, a biopic written and directed by Sly himself. While it's remarkably easy to picture Downey as Poe (my mental image looks pretty much just like he did in Chaplin, except with a more elaborate mustache), the thought of Stallone giving Downey acting direction is almost too demented to comprehend.

[via Moviehole]

If you ask me, there's no such thing as a new beginning. You'll notice that, whenever something bad happens to someone, you'll hear that sympathetic voice (usually a family member or co-worker who really has no idea what you're going through) cry out, "Don't worry, just start over. Think of it as a new beginning."No. It doesn't work that way. I had a beginning. We've all had a beginning. And once we're past the beginning, there's no starting over. There's crying and moving on and that time I slept with Awkward Girl from (insert random bar) because she reminded me of something I never had - but there certainly is or was no new beginning.Before I present you with this week's trailers, I want you to understand the words of wisdom spoken above. Because, once you decide to invest your time and money into one of these films, there's no way to go back. No way to start over. And whatever you do - don't blame me. Welcome to this week's Trailer Park...