By Matt Brunson

Combining a jock’s air of entitlement with a slacker’s sense of detachment has allowed Steve Zahn to carve out a lengthy (if not exactly stellar) career in all manner of indie fare. Not charismatic enough to hold his own in major-studio efforts, Zahn can usually be found in supporting roles in small-scale efforts, sniffing around the edges while the top-billed stars soak up all the acclaim.

Click here for the full review.

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By Matt Brunson

The documentary Food, Inc. is the perfect bookend movie, adaptable to many double-feature bills. When paired with Super-Size Me, it serves as the “before” shot, showing how those hamburgers came into being (so to speak), and how they’re made so tasty — and unhealthy. When paired with The Corporation (still the scariest movie I have ever seen), it functions as a particular case study of the evils detailed in that earlier picture, which was all about how these United States of America have been reconfigured to operate as nothing more than the personal (and profitable) playgrounds of a few select conglomerates and their insidious overlords. Heck, it can even be paired with Howard Hawks’ classic Red River, in which Wild West cowboy Thomas Dunson (John Wayne) delivers an impassioned speech about the personal satisfaction of herding cattle and feeding the populace (”… Good beef for hungry people. Beef to make them strong; make them grow …”). Poor Thomas would (pardon the pun) have a cow if he could see the mechanical means by which animals are slaughtered today.

For the full review, click here.

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To help you sort through the myriad of junk that is scattered throughout the web, we’ve consolidated a few choice virals that we found particularly watchable for whatever reason. From the funny and the interesting, to the just plain sad, here are our virals of the week.

First up, Bro. Franklin gives his offering to the church … after busting a serious move, that is.

What makes this next video so shit-your-pants funny is the half-punch/half-slap combo the reporter puts on the drunk. It’s like he couldn’t commit to all-out violence, yet, at the same time, he wanted to teach the intruder a lesson.

It’s a little old by now, but this video still captivates me. This is one of the most elaborate pranks ever. Kudos to all those who were involved.

This simply hasn’t been a good week for celebrities. Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and now, Billy Mays (celebrity is bit of a stretch, but we still include him). Here is a rap tribute to the indomitable spirit of the infomercial icon. The synchronization of Mays’ moves to the music is perfect.

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by Matt Brunson

Making a weepie for mass audiences can’t be that hard: Just place a person in a tragic situation and steer clear of the resultant flood. But making a weepie that doesn’t feel manipulative, exploitive or sloppily sentimental is another matter altogether. With My Sister’s Keeper, an adaptation of Jodi Picoult’s novel, director-cowriter Nick Cassavetes largely succeeds in respecting both his subject matter and his audience.

For the full review, click here.

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by Matt Brunson

One of the best films of 2008, director Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road offered a powerful and penetrating study of a bickering couple trapped by the conformity they felt defined — and controlled — their lives. Mendes’ latest picture takes a different tack, examining a loving pair who forge their own path in an attempt to find their place in the world. It’s a nice about-face for the director, even if the results prove to be wildly uneven.

For the full review, click here.

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By Matt Brunson

THE PROPOSAL
**1/2
DIRECTED BY Anne Fletcher
STARS Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds

After the stereotypical rom-com inanities of 27 Dresses, director Anne Fletcher partially redeems herself — as both an able filmmaker and a progressive woman — with her latest effort, The Proposal. Working with debuting screenwriter Pete Chiarelli, she’s managed to put out a picture that paints its heroine in one-dimensional strokes only part of the time.

True, The Proposal depicts protagonist Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) in the same manner as most Hollywood flicks (see New in Town for another recent example): Because she’s a career woman, she has no time for friends, lovers, hobbies or, apparently, even a rascally Rabbit (the battery-powered kind, that is). She’s a ruthless, soulless workaholic, and the only reason Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) works as her assistant at a New York publishing house is because he figures it’s a good career move. But when it looks as if Margaret will get shipped back to her Canadian homeland because of an expired visa, it appears as if his future will similarly get derailed. Margaret, though, has a plan: Force Andrew to marry her so that she can remain in the country. He reluctantly agrees, and they spend a long weekend in his Alaskan hometown so she can win over his parents (Mary Steenburgen and Craig T. Nelson) and 90-year-old grandmother (Betty White).

That these two will eventually fall for each other will come as a surprise to absolutely no one — not even your own 90-year-old grandmother — yet the predictability of the plot isn’t a detriment, since the film fits as comfortably around our expectations as a favorite old robe hugs our frame. And while the picture occasionally goes out of its way to make Bullock’s character a ninny, the actress refuses to let the role manhandle her, and she and the ever-charming Reynolds work well together. Furthermore, their characters’ relationship is rare in that it offers an older woman-younger man hookup that’s generally a nonentity in mainstream fare (Bullock’s 44 while Reynolds’ 32) and then goes the extra mile by never making their age difference a running, tittering gag at Margaret’s expense.

Unfortunately, Fletcher and Chiarelli can’t help but go for the easy, imbecilic laugh at several key junctures, and the film even stoops so low as to include one of those cringe-worthy moments in which a person declares his devotion to his beloved in front of a crowd of people — honestly, has this ever happened in real life, or do I simply hang out in the wrong coffeehouses/offices/parks/stores? Still, this Proposal has enough merit to warrant some consideration.

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As the struggle for power in Iran continues, street protests have remained steady. Here are some clips of protests that have taken place since the disputed elections on the 12th of June.

The final clip is a video that has been making headlines, as the victim, Neda, has become a symbol of solidarity for Iranian reformists.

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One of the many delights tied to the 1974 drama The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is that it’s a New York picture down to its Big Apple core. Between a principal cast comprised almost exclusively by NYC natives (apparently, birth certificates were required at the auditions), screenwriter Peter Stone capturing the colorful colloquialism without lapsing into parody, and director Joseph Sargent never downplaying the grit and grime that defined the city during its most notorious decade, this film-buff favorite benefits as much from its pungency as from its nifty plot in which four men hijack a subway car and holds its passengers for ransom.

For Matt Brunson’s full review, click here.

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By Matt Brunson

DRAG ME TO HELL
***
DIRECTED BY Sam Raimi
STARS Alison Lohman, Justin Long

The face of horror in modern cinema is, sad to say, torture porn, where sadism is exhibited with alarming regularity (most notably by the filmmakers) and imagination is only employed when the scripter conjures up gruesome new ways for characters to die. Because of this lamentable trend, it’s an effortless task to sing the praises of Drag Me to Hell, a funhouse freak show that’s more interested in delivering old-fashioned chills (it’s even rated PG-13 rather than the expected R) than in wallowing in misogyny, masochism and mutilation. The story is so thin that the entire screenplay could have been written on a bubble gum wrapper, yet the end result is so delirious in its desire to delight that moviegoers willing to be jerked around won’t mind.

For the full review, click here

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The undying Swine Flu moves quick. But these virals move even quicker. As a way of keeping you distracted from the epidemic and other bad news, here are some of our favorite videos clips of the week. From the political to the humorous to sports to dance, we’re providing a little taste of why the Internet is such a great place. Enjoy!

Font Fight

Ever wonder what it would look like if those typefaces and fonts came to life and duked it out in a fight to the death? Well, if you ever had that ridiculous, random thought pass through your head, you’re apparently not alone.

Breakfast Club Breakdance

B-boys had the opportunity to showcase their stuff Sunday night when the Breakfast Club hosted one of it’s popular breakdance competition.

Gordon Brown Fail

The difference between Gordon Brown and Barack Obama. It’s subtle, but it’s there.

Magic vs. Cavaliers

If you didn’t see the last two minutes of game two of the Magic/Cavaliers NBA playoff series, it’s worth checking out. Whether you’re a basketball fan or not, it’s still one the greatest finishes to a game I’ve ever seen, culminating with Lebron James’ 3-point miracle shot.

Python

Whoever volunteered for this filming project has some very large cojones. Just watching it gives me the heeby-jeebies.

We’re always looking for more funny, crazy and wild videos floating around cyberspace. Please share by flipping us a link to backtalk@creativeloafing.com.

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