Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

The recursiveness may be the most striking aspect of this production. While parodying the idea of it not necessarily being a good idea for an over- the-hill band to do a reunion concert, these guys make a movie … as an over the hill group of comedians getting back together to do a sequel. Hmm. The good news is, this outing is not the kind of disaster that inevitably follows the fictional rockers around … but it isn’t exactly a triumph reminiscent of the original movie, either. There are good bits in here, mostly during scenes where the participants offer some fresh gags and wry remarks rather than rehashes of the first film’s notes. That’s a fine line, of course; they couldn’t possibly have made this sequel without referring back to at least some of the earlier material, so they can hardly be blamed for echoing previous jokes. Still, the viewer can help but get the sense that the principal creators didn’t quite trust their own abilities to really let loose and come up with entirely fresh pieces of funny. Maybe they were just tired; if nothing else, this flick shows the impact of age catching up to you. That condition especially comes through in the musical performances, which are uneven throughout. More encouraging is the support the core group gets from the guest stars, Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John in particular; both are quite funny in their cameos. All together, this work is something short of what one might have expected or hoped for, but the movie does deliver enough new laughs and nostalgic moments that it certainly isn’t anything to be ashamed of. These banshees still live, and they do (sorta) live well. 

Chicken Little

A disjointed effort. Most of the story in this movie is squarely focused on entertaining pre-10-year-old viewers, yet the music cues continually reference songs that were mostly decades old by this film’s release date--that is, they're tunes that were current long before the target audience’s dates of birth. So, these are songs for adults in a flick made mostly for kids--not exactly well-thought-out moviemaking. Where there are contemporary--that is, mid-aughts--references, they only serve to make the work seem that much more dated to today’s viewers. Add to all of that a plot that seems awfully thin, with a story that undergoes a jarring shift in tone midway through, and the end result is a film that just feels poorly constructed from beginning to end. Even a good voice cast could only produce a few good laughs out of this material. And the computer generated animation, while impressive in some respects, lacks any clear appeal for the audience beyond the basics of presentation. Bottom line: I think this movie had no real chance from birth. The sky didn’t fall on the studio with this one, but the atmosphere around Burbank was getting dicey once more right about then.

A Mighty Wind

Christopher Guest is still pumping out the parodies; this time '60s folk music gets the treatment. This one's a little more uneven that prior efforts, but the laughs it does have hit strong when they come. Special mention goes to Eugene Levy, who never breaks from a very weird character, even when the temptation to go nuts had to be there.

Dick

Mostly pointless farce about Watergate. Occasional nice moments, but it suffers from the presence of the odious and unfunny Will Ferrell. It does have a pretty good soundtrack, though.