TheRetroCritic

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Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)  was released on Netflix this month after a respectable performance at the Cannes Film Festival. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as Harold Meyerowitz, an ageing sculptor whose children have grown up resenting him somewhat based on their divisive upbringing. Harold constantly confuses his own sons' childhoods since his art was and still is always at the forefront of his mind with his daughter Jean (Elizabeth Marvel) trailing far behind. Danny (Adam Sandler) and Matthew (Ben Stiller) are very different from each other as a result of Harold's lack of interest: the former is a down-and-out musician with a limp, the latter is a successful yet high-strung private wealth expert. The film follows this family as they are forced to reconnect when Harold suffers a significant health scare. These are "New and Selected" stories in that, while the film is mostly linear, it skips through portions of

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, RV was a family comedy released in 2006 about a father's Hawaii holiday plans falling through due to work being dumped on him at the last minute and his messy attempt at a backup holiday as he loads his family in a cheap RV and heads for the Rockies. Road trip movies about people being forced to jump in a clunky vehicle before facing various goofy adventures aren't exactly a rarity: from the National Lampoon's Vacation films to About Schmidt , Little Miss Sunshin e , an entire season of Weeds , Dumb & Dumber and many others, it's something of a comedy tradition so finding a new take on it isn't exactly easy. It's a weird challenge for a talented director like Sonnenfeld to take up but if someone could make it work, it would be him. Robin Williams is Bob Munro, the father who leads his family into a predictably disastrous holiday that's really just an excuse to secretly attend a work meeting, and he brings just the rig

The idea of a Seth MacFarlane film in which the guy plays a CGI bear alongside Mark Wahlberg sounded like the best film ever. Like everything I wanted The Beaver to be and more! Couldn't wait to see that but somewhere along the line I just assumed the project would end up getting shot down due to it being maybe a bit too out-there for studios to bet their money on. Then a trailer popped up and I was both over the moon and a tad suspicious. There seemed to be lols in there but it all felt much "safer" as a comedy than the Ted I'd subconsciously developed in that twisted-ass mind of mine. The whole foul-mouthed, alcoholic, stoner animated character thing seemed way too obvious of a gag and the novelty of  Ted and his wackily non-typically teddy bear ways wore off by the end of the trailers. But Mark Wahlberg usually being much better in comedies than in serious, dramatic roles (see I Heart Huckabees and The Happening lol) and MacFarlane always a good bet in te

 Looks like every Broadway comedy musical these days is trying to be The Producers ... Mel Brooks' hugely successful show now being the basic template for shows based on movies (with the exception of the admittedly *ahem* unique Spiderman musical), after Dirty Rotten Scoundrels we're treated to Broadway's The Addams Family. An odd release but probably an inevitable one. Not based on any of the movies, the story actually follows up from past adaptations and sees a now grown-up Wednesday falling in love with a "normal" dude and having to face her unconventional family. It's essentially Addams Family Values with Wednesday taking on the Fester role. A good idea which should please both fans of the films and those looking to see something new. But what works for The Producers just doesn't work for everything. Nathan Lane as Gomez Addams? So much for the tall, suave, maniacal Gomez we all know and love! Don't get me wrong, I love Nathan Lane but list

With a film called Invisible Dad, you know you're in for something special. Director Fred Olen Ray liked his "Invisible" formula so much he even made a carbon copy of this film called Invisible Mom . I sure hope he was paid for both, poor sod. Anyway, Invisible Dad sees some annoying kid finding a wishing machine and with it making idiotic wishes including making his dad disappear. HILARITY ensues as the Dad waits for his computer-savvy son to fix the machine which he destroyed SECONDS after his dad told him to do that. Ok, I think I need to address this specifically because it drove me mad. Mad I tells ya. So you've got a wishing machine. You can wish for ANYTHING. Your dad walks in, finds this out, doesn't bat an eye at your discovery (nothing wrong heeeere) and just tells you to destroy the machine before leaving to go take a shit. What do you do? Oh sure you could do what your dad says (fail), OR you could wish to go back in time to before