Certain thrillers require suspension of disbelief; others ask you to check your brain at the door. Already doomed to look bloated next to the ruthlessly streamlined Red Eye, Flightplan (Buena Vista) begins with an implausible abduction on a jumbo plane (No witnesses? How?) and only gets more outrageous from there, as a team of conspirators relies on a sequence of events that must align like a lunar eclipse…
A documentary about the filthiest joke ever told, The Aristocrats (ThinkFilm) beckons many of today's most prominent comedians to riff on the vaudeville premise like jazz musicians, each with their own interpretation. Though often a funny and illuminating look at the art of telling a joke, the film looks like it was edited by a Cuisinart, which not only breaks up the subjects' thoughts, but spoils their delivery as assuredly as a heckler…
The A.V. Club doesn't do a yearly Least Essential Films feature to match our Least Essential Music feature, but if we did, Roman Polanski's 2005 outing Oliver Twist (Sony) might well top the list. Pretty and visually baroque but also dull, turgid, and simply unnecessary, the umpteenth adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic doesn't have much going for it except for Ben Kingsley hamming it up as Fagin. And he not only can't carry the movie, he's trying to carry it someplace clownish and awkward…
You know what isn't that scary? Fog. You know what else isn't scary? Ghost pirates. You know who mostly made them work in his 1980 film The Fog? John Carpenter. You know who doesn't? Everyone involved with the 2005 version of The Fog (Sony), a pointless remake that boasts a photogenic cast (Tom Welling, Maggie Grace, Selma Blair), a couple of cool effects, and about as much suspense as an episode of Two And A Half Men…
A traditional coming-of-age comedy in the form of a suburban black comedy, Thumbsucker (Sony) chronicles a teen's attempt to kick his thumb-sucking habit, and the lessons he learns with each new obsession he uses as its stand-in. Star Lou Taylor Pucci is terrific, and so is a supporting cast that includes Vince Vaughn, Tilda Swinton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Benjamin Bratt, and a particularly memorable Keanu Reeves as Pucci's New Age orthodontist. Behind the camera, veteran visual artist Mike Mills makes a memorable feature debut as notable for its striking imagery as its deep concern for its characters. Just don't confuse it with The Chumscrubber, another 2005 suburban satire featuring Pucci. Why? Because that movie just sucks.