Every good journalist knows when something is old news. “Shock and Awe,” the story of the good journalists who were skeptical about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, should get the Pulitzer Prize for irony. Not because the lonely crew of the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau was ultimately vindicated, but because it’s 2018, and every sane person has known for at least 10 years that the WMD excuse for invading Iraq was bullshit. Old news. And it’s not even that good a movie. There are a lot of speechifying moments that smell of made-for-TV fakeyness. Surprise! Rob Reiner directed and co-stars.
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Is it possible to give an over-the-top performance when your character is a male model? What about a fashion designer? Or a talent agent? There’s so much scenery chewing going on in “Zoolander” (2001) you almost become numb to it and actually pay attention to the plot. Almost. To say it’s stupid is to say grass is green. But, you ask, what about crabgrass? It’s brownish. And what about that weird albino grass that grows under the kiddie pool when you leave it in the front yard for too long? To that, I say “Zoolander” is right up your alley.
When you look back at the original “X-Men” (2000), it’s a pretty solid underpinning to what has been one of the most stable franchises in recent filmdom. A traditional, good-but-not-great summer blockbuster that neatly sets the table for sequels, merchandising, etc. But you also see something else. The special effects are like a traditional movie, not like a video game. The music is symphonic, not like a pop/rock/hip-hop festival. It’s all so … analog. Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s just a little jarring to see how much has changed in action movies in a decade and a half.
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