Step Brothers, X Files and Man on Wire for the last episode of the BPP from NPR. [Listen]

Director: James Marsh
Rating: PG-13
Grade: 4 globes

“I was a self-taught wire walker who dreamed not of conquering the world, but of conquering beautiful stages,” Philip Petit says in “Man on Wire.” On Aug. 7, 1974, Petit conquered the greatest stage imaginable for someone in his line of work: With the help of friends, he snuck to the top of 2 World Trade Center, strung a cable between the north and south towers and for 45 minutes plied his trade at 1,350 feet above New York. The Port Authority police officer who arrested the Frenchman afterward referred to him as “a high-wire dancer,” saying, “you couldn’t call him a high-wire walker.” (more…)

Director: Adam McKay
Cast: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Mary Steenburgen
Rating: R
Grade: 4 globes

If the current cinema landscape, populated as it is with incredulous, beer-gutted schlubs, were the National Mall in Washington D.C., Will Ferrell would be seated in the Lincoln Memorial — no doubt shirtless, holding his belly in his hands. By playing the oaf and getting rich doing it, he made the world we know today. (more…)

“I’m getting some threatening looks from outside the studio right now.”

Reviewing The Dark Knight, Mamma Mia! and Transsiberian for the BPP. [Listen]