Spango Dips

Tropic Thunder ★★½

Fun farce in which a trio of spoiled Hollywood actors (Stiller, Black, Downey) become involved in a very real armed conflict in Southeast Asia while shooting a Vietnam War film. Smacks of ¡THREE AMIGOS! more than a little bit, and is not without pacing problems, and the filmmakers seem to believe that the spectacle of Tom Cruise dancing in a fatsuit is sufficiently funny on principle to warrant giving it ten minutes of screen time, but the film’s first half hour is so roaringly funny that a minimum rating of two stars was virtually guaranteed on its strength alone. Lustrous, dead-straight jungle cinematography from John Toll only exaggerates the silliness of the premise.

(2008–US–Germany) C-107m. D: Ben Stiller. W: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen. DP: John Toll. BEN STILLER, JACK BLACK, ROBERT DOWNEY, JR., NICK NOLTE, STEVE COOGAN, JAY BARUCHEL, DANNY R. MCBRIDE, BRANDON T. JACKSON, BILL HADER, BRANDON SOO HOO, REGGIE LEE, TRIEU TRAN, MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, TOM CRUISE. Panavision. [R]

Pineapple Express ★★★

Behold the world’s first “stoner action” movie—in the words of the film’s own infamously cannabistically-inclined writing team (who also gave us SUPERBAD)—which concerns two potheads (Rogen, Franco) who witness a murder performed by the criminal syndicate that operates the supply of their preferred drug, and have to take it on the run, with hilarious and deeply, darkly weird consequences. The film aspires to be a throwback to the 80s action comedy, and all the elements are there, right down to the Huey Lewis song that plays over the closing credits, but they’re arranged in the most disarmingly choppy way; sequences of relatively innocuous slapstick or sitcom humor are placed alongside depictions of graphic carnage with almost reckless levity. The funniest moments, however, most of which center around the delightfully naturalistic dialogue between the two leads (and the indispensable third character of Red, brilliantly played by McBride), really do carry enough momentum to make it work.

(2008) C-111m. D: David Gordon Green. W: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. DP: Tim Orr. SETH ROGEN, JAMES FRANCO, DANNY R. MCBRIDE, KEVIN CORRIGAN, CRAIG ROBINSON, GARY COLE, ROSIE PEREZ, ED BEGLEY, JR., NORA DUNN, AMBER HEARD, JOE LO TRUGLIO, ARTHUR NAPIONTEK, CLEO KING, BILL HADER, JAMES REMAR. Panavision. [R]

W. ★★

Ill-timed and trifling account of George W. Bush’s path to the presidency, with Brolin’s bumbling portrayal extending from Bush’s careless college days all the way to the crucial weeks in which the decision to invade Iraq was reached. Apart from the predictable daddy issues, this is pretty much a comedy, which I suppose is the only treatment of the subject that really seems apropos. A strong supporting cast (Cromwell, Dreyfuss, and Glenn are especially convincing) keeps it serviceable as light entertainment, but it carries nothing in the way of historical weight, and, as comedies go, it’s not terribly funny.

(2008–US–Hang Kong–Germany–UK–Australia) C-129m. D: Oliver Stone. W: Stanley Weiser. DP: Phedon Papamichael. JOSH BROLIN, ELIZABETH BANKS, JAMES CROMWELL, RICHARD DREYFUSS, JEFFREY WRIGHT, THANDIE NEWTON, SCOTT GLENN, ELLEN BURSTYN, TOBY JONES, IOAN GRUFFUDD, BRUCE MCGILL, JASON RITTER, NOAH WYLE. Panavision. [PG-13]

The Dark Knight ★★½

Vivid second film in director Nolan’s new BATMAN series is a mixed bag, weighing, on one hand, one of the most needlessly convoluted plots and infuriatingly messy compositions among big films in recent memory, against, on the other, a truly stunning realization of The Joker, which ranks as the high point of the late Heath Ledger’s career. Top marks for the film’s thoroughgoing bleakness and savagery, at the center of which is Ledger, but viewers should expect to have to see it at least twice to make adequate sense of it, and even then there will be plot points and character arcs that simply don’t wash.

(2008) C-152m. D: Christopher Nolan. W: Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan. DP: Wally Pfister. CHRISTIAN BALE, HEATH LEDGER, AARON ECKHART, MICHAEL CAINE, MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL, GARY OLDMAN, MORGAN FREEMAN, MONIQUE CURNAN, RON DEAN, CILLIAN MURPHY, CHIN HAN, NESTOR CARBONELL, ERIC ROBERTS, RITCHIE COSTER, ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL, COLIN MCFARLANE, JOSHUA HARTO, MELINDA MCGRAW, NATHAN GAMBLE, MICHAEL JAI WHITE, WILLIAM FICHTNER. Panavision. [PG-13]

Batman Begins ★★★½

Sensational revival of the BATMAN franchise strips the story of all traces of traditional comic book camp, treating it instead with the kind of gritty sincerity usually reserved for authentic crime dramas. Like, you know, for grown-ups? Dazzling set pieces and effects, a terrific supporting cast, and a screenplay that smartly emphasizes the story’s psychological undercurrent make this the best film yet to bear the BATMAN stamp.

(2005) C-140m. D: Christopher Nolan. W: Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. DP: Wally Pfister. CHRISTIAN BALE, MICHAEL CAINE, LIAM NEESON, KATIE HOLMES, MORGAN FREEMAN, GARY OLDMAN, CILLIAN MURPHY, TOM WILKINSON, RUTGER HAUER, KEN WATANABE, LINUS ROACHE, RADE SHERBEDGIA, MARK BOONE JUNIOR. Panavision. [PG-13]