Tom Gormican

Anaconda

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Jack Black and Paul Rudd in the jungle

Clever, this Anaconda, a vastly ironic comedy horror written and directed by the guys who did The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent – which was also as clever as it was ironic. It follows a bunch of flaky dudes whose lives have been less than fulfilling in a last ditch attempt to do something meaningful by remaking 1997’s corny creature-feature Anaconda on a micro budget. Off they head, wedding videographer Doug (Jack Black) and useless actor Griff (Paul Rudd), with childhood friends Kenny (Steve Zahn) and Claire (Thandiwe Newton) to the Amazon, where the snake wrangler they hire will be as good as useless, and the pilot of their boat will turn out to … Read more

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

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Nick Cage makes the palm hold fist salute

Hell yeh – The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is that sort of movie, a brash, fun one-joke affair with a concept strong enough to keep itself motoring until about half an hour from the end. Your mileage may vary. The joke comes in two versions. One is the Larry David one about a person playing a near-facsimile of themselves. Nicolas Cage here plays Nick (note extra “k”) Cage, a mega-acting legend who decides to pack it all in and then ends up in a real-life version of a Nicolas Cage movie – Con Air variety. The second iteration is borrowed from Adaptation (which Cage also starred in) and features a younger Cage double … Read more