This November marks the birth of a new cinematic obscenity from Adam Sandler. It is so obviously, absurdly horrible that upon viewing the trailer for the first time, I assumed it was a leftover gag movie from "Funny People," in which Sandler plays a hyperbolized version of himself, starring in such fictional trash as "Mer-Man," "Astro-Not" and "My Best Friend is a Robot"-I wish that were the case.
Sadly, "Jack and Jill," in which Sandler dons drag to play both a twin brother and his profoundly obnoxious sister, is very, very real. So to save your eyes the searing pain of seeing Sandler debase himself in drag for another pile of cash.For your enjoyment, I present this list of other, less insufferable movies to see this November:
"The Artist" (Already in limited release, Nov. 23 Wide Release): Set in 1927 Hollywood, this film concerns George Valentin, a silent movie superstar. His career is set on a path toward imminent demise thanks to the arrival of the "talkies." French writer-director Michel Hazanavicius won Best Director at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival for this ambitious film, which itself is a modern-day black-and-white silent film.
Critics are already praising this historical tale of video-killed-the-radio-star-or rather, silent movie star as a potential Best Picture contender at the Oscars, if the Academy can embrace the film's authentic silence-but that's a big "if" considering just how much sound helps us engage with movies.
"The Artist" likely isn't for everyone, but I'm intrigued to see how Hazanavicius has crafted such a well-received film without the use of sound or color in an age where story telling has become increasingly dependent on crutches like expository dialogue and gaudy special effects.
"The Muppets" (Nov. 23): I was never one for Disney movies as a kid, as much of a sacrilege as that may be to some, but I did love the Muppets-everything from the cartoon Muppet Babies to "Muppet Treasure Island" the movie. With the pure, unbridled love of Muppets that Jason Segel has demonstrated over the years, including his hilarious vampire-puppet love story musical nod to the Henson creations in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," I can't imagine a better candidate than Segel for reviving the franchise without losing what made the Muppets so lovable to begin with.
This time around, Kermit, with the help of Segel and Amy Adams, must reunite the Muppets who have gone their separate ways over the years. They do this in order to stage a telethon and raise $10 million to save the Muppet Theater from being destroyed by a nefarious Texas oil tycoon, who wants to drill for oil.
If the delightfully satirical faux movie trailers featuring the Muppets released so far are any indication, "The Muppets" may just live up to the ambitious name Segel originally wrote for his script, "The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time."
"Hugo" (Nov. 23): This film follows the adventures of an early 20th century orphan living in the walls of a Parisian train station. He finds himself involved in a magical adventure involving mysterious machines, an eccentric girl and the odd owner of a toy store in the station.
With the exception of Pixar films, I'm not much of an aficionado of kids movies. The same can be said for 3-D movies. So why am I excited to see "Hugo," this non-Pixar 3-D kids movie? Martin Scorsese. If Scorsese, the man behind "Taxi Driver," "Goodfellas," "The Departed" and too many other classic films to name here, thinks he can put 3-D to good use, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt-ditto for the family movie genre.
"Attack the Block" (out now): This self-written directorial debut from Joe Cornish, a frequent writing collaborator of Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead," "Scott Pilgrim"), made its way onto my list of favorite films of the year with ease, calling to mind other epic writer-director debuts like Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" and Neil Blomkamp's "District Nine."
The film takes place entirely in and around a large public housing estate in London, where a group of inner-city teenage thugs is forced to defend their block from an alien invasion in the middle of the night.
"Attack the Block" shows off an incredibly tight script riddled with clever surprises and a pitch-perfect blend of white-knuckle sci-fi horror thrills. It is entrancing with it's slick and stylish action sequences and signature British wit that could be studied in any screen writing class as a perfect example of the craft at its finest. The best part is you can see "Attack the Block" right now on DVD and Blu-ray.
Got your own best movie picks of November? Send your questions and comments (especially if they include Adam-Sandler-related praise) to David at dcottrell@wisc.edu.
