Ben Stiller
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Clunky script limits ‘While We’re Young’ to feel-good fable
Though well-acted and capably directed, the heavy-handedness of Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young makes it one of his lesser efforts. Baumbach tries to anticipate the impending clash between Gen X bitterness and Millennial entitlement, but the execution feels uncomfortably Braff-ish. You’ll probably leave the theater smiling, but we’ve come to expect something a little more substantial from an observant filmmaker like Baumbach. More
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Noah Baumbach explores the trouble of being 45 and 25 in ‘While We’re Young’
Noah Baumbach’s last few films have been about protagonists doing nothing, or at least trying to give the illusion of doing something. Ben Stiller’s Greenberg said as much, even while slowly building a doghouse for his brother. Greta Gerwig’s Frances Halloway was a professional dancer who didn’t dance to the point that it made her “undateable”. Baumbach’s latest film While We’re Young is about yet another form of stagnation: middle age. A married couple of forty-somethings encounter a married couple of twenty-somethings, and that illusion that they’re doing everything they’re meant to be doing at this age quickly fades away. More
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Watch Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson walk the runway at Paris Fashion Week
Derek Zoolander and Hansel are back, strutting their stuff not on screen but on the Valentino runway on Tuesday at Paris Fashion Week. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson made an appearance as their iconic 2001 characters at the event, subsequently announcing Zoolander 2 for release on February 12, 2016. Pret-a-Reporter is reporting that the film […] More
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‘Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb’ is a modest, fun excursion
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb Written by David Guion and Michael Handelman Directed by Shawn Levy USA/UK, 2014 Getting the band back together for one final gig is almost never a good idea. In the case of Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, however, there’s enough ingenuity and fun to […] More
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Watch the trailer for Noah Baumbach’s ‘While We’re Young’
Following some warm praise by SOS critics at both this year’s Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival, Noah Baumbach reteams with his Greenberg star Ben Stiller and Frances Ha‘s Adam Driver for his latest film While We’re Young. Stiller stars as a filmmaker who befriends a pair of 20-something hipsters (a hilarious looking […] More
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NYFF 2014: ‘While We’re Young’ – The Young and the Old and the Restless
At age 45, it feels like writer-director Noah Baumbach is getting soft. Best known for his caustic tragicomedies like Kicking and Screaming, The Squid and the Whale, Greenberg, and Margot at the Wedding, he took a turn in tone for his 2012 feature Frances Ha, which starred and was co-written by Greta Gerwig. So, though the warmth of that film might surprise someone familiar with his work, that it’s a collaboration with Gerwig explains at least part of that tone. While We’re Young, though, Baumbach’s newest film which premiered at TIFF this year and made a surprise appearance at the New York Film Festival, manages to carry that affection. It’s hard to top Frances Ha, but his newest is pleasant and impressive all the same. More
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TIFF 2014: Adam Driver dominates Noah Baumbach’s ‘While We’re Young’ and Saverio Costanzo’s ‘Hungry Hearts’
Once again, Noah Baumbach’s taken to contemporary twenty-something culture. With Frances Ha he painted an apt portrait of a meandering young woman struggling to identify herself in a sea of expectation and pressure. Now, the gloves are off, as Baumbach zeroes in on the terrible and vaguely infectious character traits of the Me Generation. Narcissism and pretention are the order of the day, and we’re not talking about flippantly calling your ‘frenemy’ a narcissist: actual, clinical narcissism. More
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Disney ‘90s Live-Action: The Good, The Best, and The Rest
Disney live-action films of the 1990s are often remembered for all the wrong reasons. It was the era of smart-mouthed kids, remakes of old TV shows (Inspector Gadget, George of the Jungle), The Mighty Ducks sequels, and other sports movies trying to recreate the success of The Mighty Ducks. Looking over the ‘90s, it is […] More
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‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ a stylish, but hollow take on the modern middle-class American man
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Written by Steve Conrad Directed by Ben Stiller USA, 2013 Any adaptation of the iconic James Thurber short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” would have to deviate vastly from the source, as it’s barely more than 2,000 words long. After a seemingly endless period in development hell, […] More
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NYFF 2013 Dispatch: ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’; ‘The Immigrant’; ‘Bastards’; ‘Gloria’
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Dir. Ben Stiller) The trailer for Ben Stiller’s newest directorial effort is life-affirming, anthemic, and seems like a heartstring-puller in the best possible way. Trailers are often misleading. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is occasionally satisfying white-guy wish fulfillment, as if Network’s Howard Beale were in a 2-hour, beautifully […] More
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The Televerse #106- The Ben Stiller Show with Eric Goldman
The fall premieres have started, giving us plenty of TV to discuss this week on the podcast. First we talk through the week in comedy, including the series finale of Futurama, season finale of Wilfred, and premieres of It’s Always Sunny… and The League. Then we spend some time with reality and finish up the […] More
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The Televerse #106- The Ben Stiller Show with Eric Goldman
The fall premieres have started, giving us plenty of TV to discuss this week on the podcast. First we talk through the week in comedy, including the series finale of Futurama, season finale of Wilfred, and premieres of It’s Always Sunny… and The League. Then we spend some time with reality and finish up the […] More
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