Lars And The Real Girl Finds So Much Power In Kindness And A Terrific Ryan Gosling Performance

There is, to quote Avenue Q, "a fine fine line" between kindness and schmaltz. The latter element is widely detested and, not unfairly, looked at a manipulative way to generate pathos without actually generating substantive characters or plot details for the audience to get invested in. There are times where I've seen movies that get too schmaltzy for their own good (remember that ending of The LEGO Ninjago Movie that smothered the audience in too many hollow dramatic monologues?), but I'm always gonna root for a movie to charge towards kindness, even if it stumbles along the way. Kindness is such a vital thing in our lives and it's always good to see art championing it. Well-done kindness is one of my favorite things in all of cinema and you can see it in all kinds of movies like The Muppets, Blockers, City Lights or even the 2007 dramedy Lars And The Real Girl.

Agnes Varda and JR Go On A Road Trip Packed With Engrossing Kindness In Faces Places

Iconic director Agnes Varda started out her filmmaking career with La Pointe Courte, a sobering look at a relationship in crisis, but her newest film is a complete 180 from 1955 feature in terms of tone. That newest directorial effort of hers is called Faces Places and one just feels pure joy from watching it. There are few movies I could say this about without some kind of caveat (The Muppets is one of the only other scant few titles I can think of to earn that distinction), but Faces Places really is that enjoyable to watch. From its humorous opening sequence establishing various ways that it's two lead characters did not meet to its heartfelt conclusion, Faces Places keeps a smile on your face and a sincere sense of kindness emanating from every fiber of its being.

The Great Muppet Caper Is One Of The Wittiest Muppet Movies Which Is Really Saying Something

Despite being a major Muppet fan (one could even say I appreciate the Muppets on a much deeper level than you...), I'd somehow never seen the second ever feature-length Muppet movie, The Great Muppet Caper, until this very week. Please don't ask me, a guy who practically wore out his VHS tape of Muppets From Space and loved watching episodes of the first season of The Muppet Show while he was growing up, has somehow gone this long in his life without seeing this 1981 comedy, but that's finally been rectified and I'm pleased to say that the wait was most certainly worth it. The Great Muppet Caper is handily one of The Muppets strongest cinematic outings and a tremendous showcase for the kind of humor only these characters could do.

The First Trailer For ABC's New Muppet Show Is Here!!

I loved the 2011 Muppets (I still stand by my opinion that it was the best film of that year), but Muppets Most Wanted was a much more heavily flawed, if still mostly entertaining film that sputtered at the box office. Luckily, this has given these assorted Jim Henson creations the chance to go back to TV with a new show on ABC this fall, which just debuted its first trailer, which you can watch below!

I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story Review

Bird Of A Feather

News spread like wildfire across the world this week once ABC announced a new Muppet TV show would be on the channel this Fall, and why shouldn't such news have been greeted with excitement? The various felt creations of geniuses like Jim Henson and Frank Oz have become among the most well-known characters in all and for good reason. Inside these stylized critters, such as a wise-cracking bear or a monster who loves cookies, one can see real human emotions,  a few of which aren't routinely discussed in typical film or television programming.

Chappie Review

I (Didn't Care For This), Robot

My gut instinct is to say that Chappie goes off the rails, but that would imply the film was on the rails in the first place. Here is the kind of bad film that isn't just low on quality, but constantly left me gobsmacked at the poor decisions every aspect of it's production made. The newest film from director Neil Blomkamp is a cataclysmic and unfocused disaster that's I do feel comfortable dubbing memorable, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

Sex Tape Review

I Just Watched Sex Tape! (SEX!) It Wasn't That Goooo-ooood!!

I'm pretty the entire existence of Sex Tape came when Columbia Pictures executives were trying to pitch new projects for Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel to star in after the success of the 2011 comedy Bad Teacher. One of the ideas mentioned was "a comedy about a sex tape" and they worked backwards from that phrase to conjure up a story. That's my theory for this features origins, and I'm sticking to it. After all, this films slipshod quality does a fine job supporting my claims.