Team America: World Police (2004)

Team America: World Police (2004)

[4] I enjoyed Trey Parker and Matt Stone's South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut because it lampooned many things. It was like a greatest hits collection of the South Park TV show, and the songs were all far more amusing…
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

[9] Birdman swoops into cineplexes offering the antidote to superhero hysteria, CGI migraines, and Hollywood's usual hackneyed, formulaic bullshit. It's goddamned original, a showcase for skill and craft, and a breath of fresh fucking air. Michael Keaton turns in a…
Cecil B. DeMented (2000)

Cecil B. DeMented (2000)

[6]

In this opus from writer/director John Waters, Stephen Dorff (Blade, The Gate) plays the title character, a cult movie director who gathers a flock of teen drug addicts and whores to join him in a literal war against mainstream film making. Their efforts attract media attention when they kidnap a Hollywood star (Melanie Griffith) and force her to be in their underground flick. I can certainly appreciate the desire to obliterate an industry that markets drivel to the masses, but I’d have preferred a little more meat on these bones. Griffith’s character in particular is hard to get a handle on, her transformation from bitchy diva to Demented acolyte fitting too conveniently into the needs of the plotting. And I’d like for Waters to have pushed Dorff further over the edge as well. Everyone is a neat stereotype and things are played strictly for laughs. But, hey – that’s the Waters way.

Starship Troopers (1997)

Starship Troopers (1997)

[8]

Director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Basic Instinct) continues his knack for combining violence, gore, dark humor and social commentary in this loose adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s serialized novel about humankind’s future war against a race of insect-like aliens. I can almost enjoy the movie for the action alone. It escalates beautifully, with plenty of exciting sequences and spectacular visual effects. But it’s the satirical edge that helps distinguish Starship Troopers. The whole movie is designed as a recruitment film for a fascist society. When our ‘heroes’ win in the end, the movie has its tongue firmly in cheek, dressing them as full-blown Nazis while Leni Riefenstahl-like propaganda leads us into the closing credits.

A Face in the Crowd (1957)

A Face in the Crowd (1957)

[8] A Face in the Crowd is a surprisingly relevant movie, despite the fact that it's now over 50 years old. Andy Griffith stars as "Lonesome" Rhodes, a country singer who becomes a media sensation. As the public fawns over…
Network (1976)

Network (1976)

[10] A suicidal TV news anchorman strikes a nerve with the public, prompting his network to bastardize their news hour with his crackpot proselytizing. Before long, the network embraces pure tabloid sensationalism -- live assassinations and all. Network is now…