Lake Bell

News, Reviews & Features
  • Million Dollar Arm

    Movie Review | Ed Williamson | 26th August 2014

    The movies' use of sports as a metaphor for personal growth far outstrips the idea's efficacy in real life. Your team's against-the-odds victory in the Rumbelows Cup is unlikely to inspire a realisation that you have your priorities all wrong and lead to a marriage proposal to your long-suffering girlfriend.

    But there's something in it. No, watching the snooker doesn't really mimic the ups and downs of real life, but there's a real euphoria and a despondency that sports can inspire, which can convince you momentarily that your life is amazing or terrible. Translate that to the big screen, framed around a guy who's learning to be a bit less self-centred or to pull himself out of a humdrum existence, and you've got yourself the template for a sports movie.

  • In A World...

    Movie Review | Ali | 13th September 2013

    Hollywood is patently ridiculous. It just is. There is no element of the filmmaking business that isn't stupid as hell. You have studios spending hundreds of millions of dollars on adaptations of 1930s radio serials. You have actors who talk about artistic integrity while promoting their animated guinea pig movie. You have audiences who actually hand over their hard-earned cash to see Adam Sandler in Grown Ups 2, a film which – if it isn't some elaborate sting engineered in order to separate morons from their money – is just a sick fucking joke.