Darjeeling a Thoughtful Ride

But war movies aren't

(NEWSER) - To give your heart a boost, turn on The Hangover—but make sure you avoid Halloween. Movies that make you chuckle are good for your vascular function, while stressful war and horror movies hurt your system, a study finds. Researchers showed bits of funny movies one day and the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan another day. When subjects viewed the comedies, the lining of their vessels expanded. More»

'The silly is slowly being leeched out of him'

(NEWSER) - Paul Rudd is Hollywood’s next big thing —but not in the way he should be, writes Elbert Ventura in a Slate piece arguing that Tinseltown is squandering the actor’s comedic talents. “Rudd's rise is well-deserved,” considering his body of work “is one of the funniest—and most underrated—in recent American comedy.” But Rudd, “an absurdist at heart,” has gone from “unhinged, even surreal” movies like Wet Hot American Summer and Anchorman to bland, conventional fare. More»

Really? 'Hot Tub Time Machine' is the best we can do?

(NEWSER) - “2010 very possibly is the worst year in the history of motion pictures,” declares Joe Queenan in a hilarious Wall Street Journal piece bemoaning the downfall of American cinema. You know things are bad in Hollywood when:

• “Shia LaBeouf—who looks a bit like the young George W. Bush” is being passed off “as the second coming of Tom Cruise.”
• The top contenders for Next Big Action Star are Jake Gyllenhaal and Adrien Brody. “None of these are logical heirs to the throne abandoned by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Harrison Ford and Sylvester Stallone. They may not even be legitimate heirs to the throne vacated by Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.”

Worthy follow-up to Schwarzenegger classic only took 23 years

(NEWSER) - Predators is getting mostly decent reviews as a sequel to the alien-hunting-humans original, 1987's Predator. Adrien Brody stars.

• Lou Lumenick, New York Post : "After 23 years and three attempts, Predators finally delivers a solid sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger B-movie classic."
• Kurt Loder, MTV : It's "a B movie that knows its job, and does it. Which means, among other things, that making sense is not on its to-do list."

Low-ball comedy splits the critics

(NEWSER) - The latest big-screen foray by Saturday Night Live cast members has split critics, with some loving and others despising MacGruber's raunchy satire:

• SNL movies tend to suck, “but MacGruber breaks the jinx,” writes Peter Travers of Rolling Stone . It sends up '80s action flicks “with a sense of style and unabashed affection.” Star Will Forte “is having a ball, and the feeling is contagious.”
• Kyle Smith isn't catching it. You can tell it came from TV, he writes in the New York Post : “ It features the pacing of C-SPAN, the production values of the public-access channel, the writing acumen of Home Shopping Network.”