Fresh Loaf

I’m as guilty as the next guy. Last summer critics crowned filmmaker Judd Apatow the king of big-screen comedy following his hilarious hits Knocked Up, which he wrote and directed, and Superbad, which he co-wrote and produced. I wondered whether Apatow would follow in the footsteps of the beloved Hal Ashby as a crafter of wise but raucous humanist comedies.

One year later, the sight of Apatow Productions in film credits seems more like a warning sign than a seal of approval. The rival siblings of July 25’s Step Brothers and the fugitive stoners of this Wednesday’s Pineapple Express amount to a strikingly ineffectual one-two punch. Clearly last year’s Apatow adulation set a standard that cannot or will not be met by every movie with his name on it. Apatow Productions doesn’t guarantee smart laughs in the same way that, say, Pixar does.

Apatow’s core movies comprise the clearly personal films he wrote and directed, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, plus, presumably, next year’s Funny People with Adam Sandler. Then comes an inner circle of films he co-wrote or that otherwise involve protégés from the TV show “Freaks and Geeks,” such as Superbad and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. His influence seems far more tangential on Will Ferrell’s comedies Anchorman and Talladega Nights, the success of which helped secure green lights for Apatow’s smaller-scale films.

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(Image by Dale Robinette)

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1) True Colors Theatre Company’s The Amen Corner opens at Alliance Theater.

2) Flicks on 5th shows Superbad.

3) Michael McDonald and Al Green perform at Chastain Park Amphitheater.

4) David Maraniss will discuss his new book, Old 60, and compare the Olympics over the past 50 years at the Atlanta History Center.

5) Alejandro Escovedo performs at Variety Playhouse.

(Photo by Tom Meyer)

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This just in: The Flicks on 5th film-screening series will be back this summer, according to a press release. The series, held at 5th Street at Technology Square in Midtown, is all about the (usually) blockbuster fare. This year’s offerings: I Am Legend, Horton Hears a Who, The Bourne Ultimatum, Hairspray, Superbad and 21.

The Wednesday screenings, which are free to the public, starts around dusk, kicking off on June 11 and running through July 23 with July 4 weekend off. With 5th Street closed between Spring Street and Techwood Drive, guests are encouraged to bring their own seating and food, although no coolers, umbrellas, grills or pets are allowed. There will be parking available in the surface lot at 5th and Spring Streets across from Barnes & Noble, and the parking deck next to the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center on Spring.

For more info, call 404-894-2805.

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