items tagged with Dennis Hopper

Before getting into what went wrong at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony – and sadly, quite a bit went wrong – let’s begin by addressing the one portion of the telecast that, for maybe the first time in Oscar history, went magically right.

EASY A

With the release of The Town, Ben Affleck’s directorial career, in my opinion, now boasts a two-for-two success ratio. So does Will Gluck’s, who follows last year’s hilarious (and sadly under-praised) male-cheerleader parody Fired Up! with the current, also hilarious ’80s-teen-flick parody Easy A. It’s no doubt too soon – and maybe even too ridiculous – to ask this, but is it possible that Gluck is our long-awaited heir apparent to Christopher Guest?

FRIDAY THE 13TH

When the original Friday the 13th debuted, I was living in Crystal Lake, Illinois, and just a month shy of 12 years old. So you can only imagine how jazzed I was when I saw director Marcus Nispel's Friday the 13th reboot this past weekend, and the movie not only opened with its victims-to-be hanging out at Crystal Lake (as the series' inspiration demands), but with a title card reading "June 13, 1980" - my 12th birthday!

THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR

Obviously we're not meant to take The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor seriously, as it's a fantasy in which Brendan Fraser kicks the crap out of Jet Li. But honestly, even on this harmlessly dopey franchise's own lowbrow terms, could director Rob Cohen's installment be any more witless?

BEWITCHED

As needless films versions of “classic” ’60s TV series go, Nora Ephron’s Bewitched is even worse than endeavors such as I, Spy and The Beverly Hillbillies, because this one actually seemed promising.