When I reviewed 21 Jump Street two years ago, I praised the broad comedy about cops going undercover in high school for being very funny. But I was unnerved by how much of the humor was firmly based in homophobia. Officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are such good friends that they had…
dvd of the week The Lego Movie could be the greatest advertisement ever made. I couldn’t prevent myself from buying Legos after seeing it. But it’s a great movie in and of itself, brilliantly animated, extremely funny and surprisingly emotional affecting. Emmet (Chris Pratt) is a construction worker in a city that runs with clockwork…
An Oscar nominee for her bawdy breakout role in Bridesmaids, Melissa McCarthy buckles up beside Susan Sarandon for big laughs in Tammy, a road-trip comedy in theaters July 2. As for the Emmy-winning Mike & Molly star’s own journey, gays and lesbians have always been along for the ride. From the inspirational lesbian couple in Tammy to her…
dvr this On Netflix In 1987, Juno Temple is the eponymous dirty girl. Danielle screws a lot of boys in her high school and causes a lot of trouble by mouthing off to teachers, other kids and her single mother (Milla Jovovich). She is teamed up with chunky, dumpy and gay Clarke (Jeremy Dozier) for…
dvr this FX, Tuesday, April 15, 10 p.m. The Coen Brothers’ 1996 film Fargo is one of my favorites, featuring Frances McDormand’s epically funny, pregnant sheriff and an insanely, off-kilter snow noir screenplay, both Oscar winners. I’m not sure how Noah Hawley convinced the Coens, but they allowed him to make a series based on…
dvd of the week The Broadway production of the Pulitzer Prize winning play August: Osage County is considered one of the great theater events of the last decade. An extended family, full of secrets and problems verging on mental illness, come together for a funeral. All hell breaks loose. It’s funny, moving and upsetting. Somehow,…
dvd of the week John Krokidas and Austin Bunn’s wonderful film about the beginnings of the Beats, the phrase “kill your darling” is spoken by an English professor with the usual purpose – edit down your extravagant writing – but it also means a great deal more. One of the first scenes in the film…
Tiring of Bill’s Thailand (mis)adventures and more Dear Editor, Let me applaud your paper’s determination to present views from many LGBT groups and the attempt by Mr. Hanson’s column to widen the age range. He wants to speak for those of us who are seniors (I’m 71). Unfortunately his ramblings are often just that, ramblings….
Brie Larson and Keith Stanfield in Short Term 12 dvd of the week In one of the biggest hits of Sundance, a revelatory Brie Larsen plays the manager of a half-way house for troubled teenagers. Her character is heroically resilient, warm and funny, and she is damaged by her own adolescence and confused by her…
Shameless dvr this Showtime, Sunday, Jan. 12, 9 p.m. The name of the show says it all. This struggling Chicago family will do just about anything to get by. The drunken sociopathic dad (William H. Macy) will literally do anything, while his kids (the resplendent Emmy Rossum as de facto mom Fiona, Jeremy Allen White…
