Movies starring Penn

Most movies about teenagers come in one of two flavors: romantic comedies or sex comedies. Then there are films like Easy A - smart, satirical jabs at aspects of popular culture that defy simplistic classification. These may be set in schools but...

When did this sort of movie stop being funny? Parodies with so-called "saturation humor" used to be reliable - rarely memorable but typically good for 90 minutes of enjoyable, disposable cinema. At some point, however, the jokes lost their zing, ...

The 2009 version of Fame, which represents the feature debut of director Kevin Tancharoen (who has a few TV credits to his name, including the series "Dancelife," and was involved in a Britney Spears tour), uses the 1980 movie of the same name as i...

Comparing Fantasia 2000 to the original Fantasia is in some ways unfair, especially considering the way movie-going methods and tastes have changed over the past six decades. Yet, even though the hand-drawn animation has been helped along by the la...

Because Fast Times at Ridgemont High arrived in movie theaters during the height of the '80s "teenspoitation" era, it has often been unfairly lumped together with Porky's and its successors and copycats. In reality, Fast Times is smarter and more per...

Alfred Hitchcock used the term "refrigerator movie" to describe certain films. According to the great director, refrigerator movies are well-paced thrillers that work effectively while being watched, but fall apart upon later examination (whil...

There seems to be little doubt that Ruben Fleischer, the director behind the well-received Zombieland and the less well-received 30 Minutes or Less, is a Brian De Palma fan. How else to explain the kinship that exists between Fleischer's latest, Ga...

If I was in the mood for an over-the-hill action hero, I think I'd go with Schwarzenegger. Or maybe Stallone. Or even Liam Neeson. I definitely wouldn't pick Sean Penn. Granted, the two-time Oscar winner has an impressive resume, but he's...

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay exists because it was cheap to make and has a devoted core audience, not because its predecessor, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, was a blockbuster. The filmmakers, understanding what made the first...

Hounddog began its public life at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where it was inauspiciously dubbed "the Dakota Fanning rape film." Poor audience and critical reception led the director to "re-work" the movie, which emerged from limbo for limite...