Fred Claus
Directed by David Dobkin
Starring Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey, Rachel Weisz
Rated PG

For a lot of people, Christmas is their favorite time of year. Religious implications aside, and for reasons left to the individual, there is no other span of time in the calendar year as generally well regarded as the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Having said that, it becomes more and more difficult each year to sift through the garbage and enjoy it for what it is, or at least what it was that made you like it in the first place. The season itself starts earlier and earlier each year thanks to the wonders of the obscenely over-commercialized retail arena and political correctness has stifled the spirit of the holiday so much that we feel martyred just for wishing someone a Merry Christmas. This twinge of sadness, this funk, lurked around and stayed with me throughout this movie.

Frederic Claus (Vince Vaughn) is the older brother of Nicholas Claus (Paul Giamatti). Nick is born into a medieval family and immediately starts working his way into the role of family favorite. Eventually, and inexplicably, Nick is granted sainthood. And apparently by some stretch of folklore I have not been privy to, when you become a saint, you and your family and wives and children all become immortal. Seems weird, but so goes the narrative explanation. Fast forward to today. Fred lives in Chicago as a repo man and Nick has embodied the modern day version of Santa Claus we all know and love. Fred needs to borrow money and Santa agrees under the condition that he come to the North Pole and work for it during the holiday rush.

Bee Movie
Directed by Steve Hickner and Simon J. Smith
Starring (voices) Jerry Seinfeld, Renee Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Oprah Winfrey
Rated PG

Let this be a lesson to all you ants! Ideas are very dangerous things! You are mindless, soil-shoving losers, put on this Earth to serve us! – Hopper, A Bug’s Life

The Skinny:

Bees are busy, Barry gets bored. Bees make honey, Barry wants more.

The Review:

According to an interview I read with Jerry Seinfeld, Bee Movie started out as a pretty funny premise. Seinfeld told host Steven Spielberg that he might want to make something that would be a Hollywood “B movie” about bees and call it Bee Movie. I think the possibilities to that idea would have been all but endless. Sadly, the only thing that remains from that original conversation is the title.

Coming from Jerry Seinfeld and some of the many other minds that brought us Seinfeld, this should have been a scathing commentary comparing the social structure of the bee colony to that of today’s society. Or bee’s effective use of teamwork and communication would have been the perfect setting for a satire about corporate America. What do we get instead? Ambition blinded by the half-assed notion to be as clever and well animated as a Pixar movie. For the record, it is neither.

Dan in Real Life
Directed by Peter Hedges
Starring Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook
Rated PG-13
Touchstone Pictures

It’s funny how differently things hit you on different days. Depending on the day or week you are having, a movie can either sit well with you or sit like a ton of bricks. I wasn’t really expecting too much from this film, but I guess a funny thing happened on the way to the forum”¦

Dan in Real Life is about single dad and popular family advice columnist Dan Burns (Steve Carell). He is doing his best to raise his three daughters; two teenagers and one almost there. They set out on a weekend away for an annual family get-together. The first morning, Dan goes into town and meets a woman, Marie (Juliette Binoche) at a bookstore. We soon find out that Marie happens to be the girlfriend of Dan’s brother Mitch (Dane Cook), who was using the weekend as an outlet to let her meet the fam. The rest of the weekend is spent watching Dan and Marie share secret laughs and quick snippet meetings in this mansion of a house unbeknownst to the rest of the family, especially Mitch.

This movie shared with me a few surprises. The most obvious is my realization that Steve Carell is actually growing on me. This version of him anyway. Not The Office version or the Evan Almighty version. It even took me a while to like 40-Year-Old Virgin. But when I finally got there, what I liked most about it was the quieter moments. Those are the moments that define his ability beyond his manic episodes. Much like his Bruce Almighty co-star Jim Carrey before him, he is best when used with restraint. The quieter, more toned-down version suits him much more.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Season 3, Episodes 5-9
FX Network

When we last left the show, Charlie (Charlie Day), Mac (Rob McElhenney), Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson), and Frank (Danny DeVito), or The Gang, were knuckle deep in varying levels of chicanery. No one gave a damn about anybody else (including each other), everyone was only looking out for themselves, and to hell with the consequences or anyone who got in the way of their harebrained schemes. Since then, not much has changed. Except maybe that they are now elbow deep in the same pile they had create for themselves. Dennis has, incredibly, found a way to increase the level of his own vanity to an almost criminal level. And most times as a result, Sweet Dee’s self esteem couldn’t be any lower (see what she does in “The Gang Solves the North Korean Situation” for a rival bar’s microbrew recipe.) Charlie is still the group whipping boy, and unlucky in love. Frank still wants in on all the action. And Mac is steady-Eddie; just doing his thing.

In my last review I referenced the tagline that frequents the description of the show (“”¦ Seinfeld on crack”) and also said that ““¦ it found a way to push the boundaries of bad taste and political correctness”¦” These words are no less true now. It is also still true that with no major plotlines to recap, anyone can pick up at any time without missing a beat. And therein lies the problem.

Don’t get me wrong, there are things about the show and moments that are ‘sit by yourself in the dark and laugh out loud’ hilarious. (Episode 9, “Sweet Dee’s Dating a Retarded Person” is the funniest show this season.) The problem is that now the writers and actors know this to be the case and have almost infected the show with a case of sequel-itis. That is, to take what was funny about the original, crank it up a notch, regurgitate it, and spit it out as something new, hoping that we will all be none the wiser. Well I am, and there are becoming too many times when I am ready to throw the BS flag.

Well, I am known for my meat. — Jasper Woodcock in Mr. Woodcock

6th grade. Third period gym. Coach Stange.

Everybody knew all you had to do was show up and dress for class and you’d get an easy A; so that I did. Yet at the end of the first semester I had to explain to my folks why I got a C- in gym class. I argued over and over that Coach Stange flat out hated my guts. Mom even went so far as to call the school to find out. Why the low grade for a whole semester? According to him, it was because I forgot my gym clothes one time and I needed to be taught some discipline. It took her until the next year of seeing A’s in gym for her to finally believe me that he did actually hate me. I didn’t let my distaste for him ruin or guide my life, but God, I hated that guy. Mr. Woodcock tells a similar, albeit slightly more colorful version of that same story.

Growing up in small town Nebraska, John Farley (Seann William Scott) was one of the many child victims tormented by their gym teacher, Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton). He has since grown up to be a successful writer, penning a seemingly worthless self-help bestseller, Letting Go: Getting Past Your Past. Farley returns home to claim a local prize only to find that the source of all of his childhood frustrations and adult motivations, Mr. Woodcock, is now dating his mother.