This week, proof that sucking has nothing to do with box office in either direction.
Madagascar
File under: Poorly Reviewed Animated Films Which Still Make Untold Millions At The Box Office. See Also: Chicken Little. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Cedric the Entertainer, and Andy Richter all show up to lend their voices to a project that would be way too expensive if they were to lend their bodies as well. That reminds me, when is Andy Richter Controls the Universe gonna come out on DVD anyway?
In a novel touch, the penguins provide the commentary, and if they're half as funny here as they were in the short that preceded the Wallace and Gromit movie, it's probably worth it.
Stealth (Two Disc Widescreen Edition)
File Under: Extremely Expensive Poorly Reviewed Films that Actually Tanked at the Box Office. See Also: The Island. Still, somehow, this extension of the last ten minutes of Deal of the Century has been deemed worthy of a two disc special edition. Unfortunately, none of the four hours of extras explain why Rob Cohen makes such crapsterpieces (Fast and the Furious, XXX) or how Richard Roxborough has become the kiss of death for action flicks (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Van Helsing) for three summers running.
The Skeleton Key
If the Iain Softley who directed Backbeat and the Ehren Kruger who adapted The Ring and the Kate Hudson who starred in Almost Famous had shown up for this tale of creepy goings-on in the Bayou, it might have been a winner. Instead, the Iain Softley who directed K-PAX and the Ehren Kruger who adapted The Ring 2 and the Kate Hudson who starred in everything she's been in since Almost Famous showed up and we got this.
Scrubs: The Complete Second Season
Rather quietly, and with an unusually long wait to DVD, Scrubs has become one of the funniest shows on television. Now, if only NBC had half the faith in it that its fans do. Season Two has plenty of classic moments, including how J.D. chooses to celebrate Turk's proposal to Carla: running through a car-filled street with sparklers in each hand screaming "Honk for love!" It's cute, absurd, sincere, and hilarious all at once, which is exactly what Scrubs does so well.
Plenty of extras, including commentary which reveals a lot about why the execs treat the show so poorly, since they almost canned a Wonder Twins joke because they didn't get the reference.
Article comments
1 - visualsimplicity
Thanks for another week's listing.
Anyway, a new edition of Airplane!... interesting...