Failure to Launch
The Shaggy Dog
Ultraviolet
Failure to Launch
The parents of 35-year-old Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) are sick and tired of him still living at home, so they secretly hire "professional interventionist" Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), who is certain that she can detach the overgrown teenager and get him to move out. But, as you can imagine, it's not easy to stay cold and professional when you are dealing with cutie McConaughey. This comedy doesn't have much focus, and even less logic. The premise is ridiculous 's and frankly quite cruel, leaving me with an uneasy feeling that was difficult to shake. Emotionally, "Failure to Launch" is as fake as the phony feelings Paula shows her loser clients. Good title, though. Very appropriate for the movie.
( Julie Vinten )
"Failure to Launch" is a romantic comedy exactly like almost every other romantic comedy ever made. The actors may change, but the formula remains depressingly the same. This one is with Matthew McConaughey, an actor with about as much charm as a bullfrog on steroids. Somebody should write a biological analysis of the romantic comedy and expose it for the cynical, disgusting and emotionally retarded genre it really is. Why does the final scene, in which the couple inevitably gets together after various misunderstandings, always have to be secretly witnessed by other people? This time it's watched by a crowd in a restaurant via hidden cameras. As with so much so-called comedy, "Failure to Launch" is more like a tragedy in desperate disguise. No wonder they never spawn sequels.
( Tim Ochser )
The Shaggy Dog
I'm certain small children will enjoy watching Tim Allen acting like a dog. He growls, scratches, fetches, bites and raises a leg when he pees. Allen plays a workaholic incapable of giving his family any real attention, until he is bitten by a 300-year-old wonder-dog and mutates into a dog himself. That'll teach him. "The Shaggy Dog" is formulaic, preachy and extraordinarily silly. However, you get the feeling that the story is written with the sincere hope to make children laugh and have a good time 's which they most likely will - and the grown-ups in the movie, who find all sorts of ways to behave outrageously, seem to be entirely in on the fun.
1/2 ( Julie Vinten )
My dog would enjoy this film but only because he could stupidly bark at the screen every time the shaggy dog appears. As for human entertainment, this comedy is a complete failure. The story line is not only bland, but doesn't make much sense, and the jokes have all been done before. Tim Allen plays Dave Douglas, a deputy district attorney who's so wrapped up in his work he forgets what really matters 's his family. And since you've never heard this story line before, you will never guess who shows up to save lost Dave. Yup, that loveably shaggy dog. But things get really wacky when Dave is bit by the playful pup and starts to pick up canine characteristics. Soon he's growling in court and chasing away postmen. Oh the laughs!
( Tim Ochser )
Ultraviolet
"Ultraviolet" wishes to be campy and fun like a comic book adaptation, but also to be taken seriously. It doesn't succeed in either way. The feature is boring and repetitious and the emotional scenes are unintentionally funny. Director Kurt Wimmer has said that the studio took his movie away from him and chopped it up beyond recognition thus preventing us from seeing his own vision. Well, with the imbecilic dialogue, the unbelievably one-note acting and special effects so embarrassing it looks like some kid did it on his PC at home, a director's cut probably could never have been a masterpiece. It's sad since Wimmer's previous feature, the underrated "Equilibrium," demonstrated some real potential.
( Julie Vinten )
"Ultraviolet" is a futuristic thriller of such mind-boggling stupidity that it should come complete with a mental health warning. Milla Jovovich plays Violet, a vampire warrior out to get the evil dictator who is intent on wiping out her sub-species. That's as much plot as you need to know. The body count in the film could possibly set a record, as Jovovich rampages through her futuristic city, decimating the futuristic male population. Faced with an entire army of soldiers, she quips: "Is that all you've got?" "Ultraviolet" is a shocking waste of time and money and I'm astonished that it even got made. Why can't more good films be shown in the Baltic states? What kind of dystopian world releases "Failure to Launch," "The Shaggy Dog" and "Ultraviolet" at the same time?
( Tim Ochser )
