Movie Man
When film critic Will Pfeifer isn’t watching movies, he’s reading about movies, talking about movies, thinking about movies or dreaming about movies. Now he shares that unhealthy obsession with you. From Hollywood hits to Japanese obscurities, from Oscar night to the summer season, he’s got movies on the brain — and on this blog.

There’s something happenin’ here…

March 31st, 2008 at 04:49pm Will Pfeifer

tropicthunder3.jpg

Yes, that’s Robert Downey Jr. between Ben Stiller and Jack Black.

Heard about TROPIC THUNDER, the upcoming movie written and directed (and starring) Ben Stiller? The plot has great potential — a group of self-obsessed actors filming an APOCALYPSE NOW-type war movie wind up in an actual war zone — but the most intriguing part of the movie is Robert Downey Jr.’s role: He plays a dedicated (white) method actor who undergoes an elaborate physical change to play a black character (in the movie within the movie). Here’s what Downey himself says about the role:

““At the end of the day, it’s always about how well you commit to the character,” he says. “I dove in with both feet. If I didn’t feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I’m just C. Thomas Howell in SOUL MAN, I would’ve stayed home.”

Downey is, of course, referring to the awful 1986 “comedy” where Howell played a student who pretended to be black to get into college. The premise was offensive and, even worse, the movie wasn’t funny. TROPIC THUNDER looks like it’s going to be a lot funnier — and address the racial issue in an intelligent, amusing way. Here’s the trailer…

Entry Filed under: Controversy, New movies

11 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Brian  |  March 31st, 2008 at 5:48 pm

    Wow, you’re only like 3 weeks behind the rest of the world with this article. But that’s par for the course with this column.

    Between this kind of stuff and seeing you preview each weekend’s movies on TV without even having seen them (you know, they DO have screenings for critics! Is the Star too cheap to give you press credentials to get in?), I’m beginning to wonder when Rockford will ever have a competent, relevant movie reviewer,

  • 2. Will Pfeifer  |  March 31st, 2008 at 8:33 pm

    Thanks, Brian.. I haven’t seen any press screenings in Rockford, but if there are any, please let me know where I can find ‘em! And cheapness really isn’t a factor — as far as I know, press credentials are free. You just have to ask for them. The reason I don’t is that, as much as I wish it were the case, writing about movies is not my job at the Register Star. I’m actually — and always have been — a copy editor/page designer who writes a column (and this blog) on the side.

    These are tough times for movie reviewers at newspapers and magazines, which is a story that’s way more than three weeks behind the rest of the world, so you probably already knew that already. The Village Voice, Newsweek and several other major papers have either let go their critics or (in Newsweek’s case) offered buyout deals.

    Thanks again for writing, and please, let me know when the next critics’ screening is in Rockford. I’m dying to attend.

  • 3. cinesven  |  March 31st, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    Good topic.

    I actually feel this one may tank. What little I’ve seen is not all that funny and the jokes about Downey’s “color” wear thin before the trailer is even over.

    I am a huge fan of Stiller’s directing of comedy (so basically everything except “Reality Bites”) and hopefully my reservations are unfounded. Zoolander was genius, original filmmaking near or in the realm of Mel Brooks early film work.

    By the way, your reviewing and forum discussions are interesting and competent, although the first post in this comment thread is not.

    How ironic.

  • 4. Brian  |  April 1st, 2008 at 3:45 am

    screenings in Chicago all the time. Of course they don’t hold them in every city in the country.
    But I will admit, I thought your main job was as the resident movie columnist/critic. As that is not the case, my comments may in fact have been a little harsh. Maybe that’s why the Star’s coverage always feels so lacking - they need to hire someone to do the job and not just ask a copy editor to do it in their spare time.

    and in response to “cinesven” - Reality Bites is still Stiller’s best work - most of his stuff since then has been progressively worse. Zoolander is the worst of them all.

  • 5. Will Pfeifer  |  April 1st, 2008 at 8:03 am

    Brian — Believe me, if I could review movies full time, I would do it in a heartbeat. I love movies, love writing about movies, and do my best to deal with them intelligently in the Register Star and here online. With the constraints of the situation, that usually means focusing on DVD reviews, which I sometimes can do in advance. If you’ve got a topic you’d like to see addressed here, or a movie you’d like to see discussed, let me know.

    As for Mr. Stiller, I still think his best work was on his short-lived Fox show years and years ago. He’s done some good stuff since — REALITY BITES has its moments, and ZOOLANDER has lots of laughs — but I’m still waiting on something to follow up that early potential. Maybe this will be it, maybe not. We’ll find out this summer.

  • 6. Charlie Rainman  |  April 1st, 2008 at 8:36 am

    Brian sounds like a bit of a know-it-all. Pretentious even. Perhaps if he needs more in-depth coverage of movies he can subscribe to Hollywood trades. This blog is actually fun and entertaining and provides more than sufficient coverage and reviews of movies for the average Rockford resident.

    Ben Stiller is over-rated. I have a feeling this move will be a dud.

  • 7. elDizzle  |  April 1st, 2008 at 12:31 pm

    Not sure what Brian considers work by Stiller? Director, Writer, Actor…all of the above? The only other movie he directed between Reality Bites and Zoolander was The Cable Guy. Of those, the only one he wrote was Zoolander.

    As far as his acting work goes, I thought he was great in The Royal Tenenbaums. I suppose Dodgeball could also be considered one of my guilty pleasures.

    Oh and I love Will’s reviews, he’s the only critic besides Roger Ebert that I even care to read.

  • 8. Will Pfeifer  |  April 1st, 2008 at 8:17 pm

    I do like DODGEBALL. It’s not a great movie, but it has so many little jokes and quirky supporting characters that you can tell a lot of effort went into it. And I have to admit, Ben Stiller’s scene at the end with Gene Hackman (”It’s been a tough year, dad.” “I know, Chazzie”) always gives me a lump in the throat. No kidding.

  • 9. hokumboy  |  April 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 am

    DODGEBALL’s sorta the next generation’s UNCLE BUCK. Not a great movie, but a great movie to watch.

  • 10. Skully  |  April 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    Movie - you got choked up … at Dodgeball? Dude, what is wrong with you? Step away from the remote!

  • 11. Adam  |  April 2nd, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    No he was talking about getting choked up at The Royal Tenenbaums not Dodgeball.

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