Movieline Online

Even if you were a fan of 80% of the SNL skits turned into movies (we’re talking borderline stuff like Night at the Roxbury and Superstar ) you had to be nervous about MacGruber . I mean, this is a parody of a pre-existing ‘80s TV show ( MacGyver ) with the same punchline…every…single…time. That doesn’t give you much to work with. Maybe that’s why the more successful elements of star Will Forte’s film take aim at Reagan-era clichés (mullets, removable tape decks and the bad music we played on them) rather than MacGruber himself, who is an unlikable A-hole. In fact, although his character is based on the Will Ferrell idiot man-child routine, Forte boxes himself into a corner with this expanded version. We just plain don’t like him. Ferrell’s characters always had a sweet chewy center, but MacGruber is crude and obnoxious with absolutely no redeeming qualities. You can squeeze a few laughs out of that, but not 90 minutes worth. Director Jorma Taccone does a great job of recrea...

When it comes to TV show finales, very few of them are able to stick the landing. For every M.A.S.H. or Newhart there are dozen Seinfelds which seem to crack under the pressure of wrapping up a decade worth of characters and quips into one comprehensive package. Which is what makes Lost’s accomplishment that much more impressive. After six seasons of mysteries, conspiracies and enough time-traveling to earn frequent flier miles to the moon and back, writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse finally buckled down and came to the realization most of us understood from the beginning: the show was never really about the island, it about the people on it. The reveal that this season’s “sideways” world was actually a pleasant form of purgatory, designed to help each our travelers “let go” and move into the next world, can be viewed as a cheat if you actually took any of that Dharma initiative crap seriously. But experienced TV viewers should realize that most shows aren’t mapped out six ...

As I child of the ‘80s I can tell you from experience that you had to work pret-ty darn hard to get a look at naked ladies. Before the corruption of the world wide web, curious kids only had a few magazines (always placed strategically out of reach or covered by those damn brown bags!) and scrambled cable channels to peruse after hours. Loose Screws: Screwballs 2 was one of those Porky’s clones you tried to catch a glimpse of after Mom and Dad went to bed. And, man, does it deliver the raunchy goods! As a direct sequel to Screwballs (which was more parody that soft-core copycat) the same horny foursome are sent to summer school where they bet bragging rights on who can catch a glimpse of the hot French teacher, Miss Mona Lott, in the buff. Miss Mona stays clothed until the end, but every other female student is definitely clothing-impaired. Made up of one raunchy sketch after another, Loose Screws is a near constant barrage of nudity and crudity with a script that wouldn’t ev...