Tag: Comedy

The Weekend Has a lot of Walking

Despite what this picture wants you to think, it is not animated.

The review:

Stella Meghie’s The Weekend is a quality film illustrating the difficulties of staying friends after a breakup and the ramifications when you try to buck that system.* Sasheer Zamata’s Zadie is a prickly floundering fledgling comedian** who doesn’t really try to make the best of the weekend away with her ex-boyfriend and his current girlfriend. This movie had a lot of walking and talking, most of which seemed to be orchestrated to move plot along; despite that, it was an enjoyable film.

The verdict: Good

Cost: $1.80 via Redbox (celebrated my newly unemployed status!)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*It’s also an amusing film.
**Sexism alert! I quickly read half of the short synopsis on IMDB (A comedian goes away for the weekend with an ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend). At “comedian” I got a picture of a man in my head which did not leave until several minutes into Zadie’s stand-up routine that opens the film.

Questions:

  • How do you feel about the acting quality of the men in this film?
  • Did Zadie deserve what she got?

Other reviews:

The Lobster Wasn’t a Good Dinner For Me

The Lobster

The review:

Yorgos Lanthimos created an interesting world in The Lobster,* but it’s a world I didn’t want to spend much time in, which made this movie a long slog. That said, there are a great many amusing scenes in this film** and it’s quite funny. I especially liked the deadpan nature of all the characters, especially Olivia Colman as the Hotel Manager and Ariane Labed as the Maid.

The verdict: Skip

Cost: Free from Kanopy, the library’s streaming service
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Fun fact: when I googled “movies like the Lobster” one of the recommendations was Definitely, Maybe #algorithmfail

Further sentences:

*It’s kind of like a dark Wes Anderson world.
**And a more than a few disturbing ones.

Questions:

  • What do you think happened after the final scene?
  • How do you think this particular society evolved?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The production worked almost entirely with natural light and without makeup. Lighting was only used for some night scenes.

Other reviews:

The Lobster

Emma. is Period Perfect

Emma.

The review:

Autumn de Wilde’s Emma. is a dressed up in confectionery shop color, which shows off the transformation of Emma as she takes on a friend in order to add another match to her successes. Anya Taylor-Joy’s deft performance shows the evolution of Emma, ably aided by perfect supporting performances especially Mia Goth as Harriet and Johnny Flynn as Mr. Knightley.* This is not a period film where we get to know the servants as the focus is singularly on Emma’s circle, but it’s a funny film** and it has a lot of feeling in places,*** not to mention a gorgeous soundtrack.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater (last movie in the theater prior to coronovirus shutdowns.)

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Wondering who Johnny Flynn was, I found he starred in the Netflix comedy Love Sick, which I am currently enjoying quite a lot.
**Bill Nighy as Mr. Woodhouse is always good for a laugh.
***Including one point where the audience gasped aloud.

Questions:

  • What do you think is the key element of success when adapting Emma?
  • How badly do you want to visit that hat shop?

Favorite IMDB item:

The film’s title unconventionally has a period at the end. The director has stated in multiple interviews it is to signify the movie as a “period piece” set in the original era.

Other reviews:

Emma.

The Wood is a Very Late-90s Film

The Wood

The review:

Rick Famuyiwa’s The Wood goes in a different direction that a slew of 90s “hood” movies, instead showing the close relationship of three friends in two different time periods.* This movie has a view of women that is very much of its time** and it excels in its portrayal of living in the hood, but being the guys who are not in gangs. It’s funny, and sweet and has some really great scenes.***

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free!
Where watched: 5th Avenue Cinema (alumni get in free, as do students!)

Consider also watching:

  • Love & Basketball (The main charcters are both in the Wood!)
  • Love Jones
  • Waiting to Exhale

Further sentences:

*The movie is double cast with Omar Epps, Richard T. Jones and Taye Diggs playing the older friends, while Sean Nelson, Duane Finley and Trent Cameron play their junior high and high school counterparts.
**It wasn’t going to win any feminism award in 1999 and most of the boy/girl interaction has not aged well.
***I think having a tough gang member named Stacey is one of the jokes and De’aundre Bonds was great in that role.

Questions:

  • What’s your approach to movies with humor/plots that don’t work with today’s understanding?
  • What are you favorite friendship movies?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

While writing his screenplay, Rick Famuyiwa worked full time at the Beverly Hills branch of Niketown.

The Wood

Heartburn Starts With a Happy Marriage

Heartburn

The review:

Mike Nichols gives us a happy marriage that suddenly slams on its breaks in Heartburn.* I’m not a fan of Jack Nicholson** and was surprised to find him a chilled-out, easier-to-watch dude who nicely offset Meryl Streep’s performance, plus I enjoyed that darling red-headed baby.*** This is full of great lines and a great selection of 1986-era clothing, plus Kevin Spacey’s first film role, and various 80s-style ridiculous situations.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free via Kanopy, the library’s streaming service.
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*I was under the mistaken impression that this movie was all divorce, all the time, but it begins with with the couple meeting at a wedding.
**”Are you watching The Shining?” the boyfriend asked as he caught a glimpse of Nicholson on the screen.”
“Nope,” I replied, “I’m watching a movie with the cutest baby ever!”
***Later in the film, looking at the way Meryl Streep was looking at that baby, I thought, “Is that Meryl Streep’s baby?” And it was. That’s Mamie Gummer.

Questions:

  • Knowing that this was based on the Nora Ephron/Carl Bernstein marriage, what do you think about Bernstein being a ladies’ man/lech?
  • Have you read this book?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

In Everything Is Copy (2015), Jacob Bernstein’s documentary about his mother Nora Ephron’s life and career, he reveals that contentious negotiations over the movie adaptation of her novel Heartburn extended his parents’ divorce for several years longer than most divorces take. Eventually, their divorce agreement included a stipulation that the movie was not allowed to depict the “Mark Forman” (Carl Bernstein) character as anything but a good, loving, and conscientious father (whatever his failings as a faithful husband were), and Mike Nichols had to be named as a legal signatory to the divorce.

Random bit of me trivia:

The Carly Simon song featured on this soundtrack “Coming Around Again” was played ad infinitum on the radio station my parents listened to.

Heartburn

Out of context, this quote sounds dirty. Jack Nicholson was talking about some food that Meryl Streep had cooked.

2020 Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts

Overall:

The Live Action Shorts had a whiplash of emotions (woah, what?, ugh!, hmm, yes!) that left me feeling good.

A Sister (16 minutes)

The film opens with a couple driving in a car with the woman asking permission to call her sister to arrange for care for her daughter. From that point the film jumps back and forth from the claustrophobic and hard-to-see car interior to a different location. I found this film hopeful and clever and also the kind of film that wasn’t going to get a lot of votes.

The verdict: Recommended

Watch “A Sister” here.

Brotherhood (25 minutes)

This takes place in Tunisia and the three young men who play the brothers are fascinatingly red-headed and freckled.* It’s about a family where the oldest brother has been absent for returns home with a Syrian wife. Has he been working for ISIS?

*Googling got me to an article hidden behind a paywall, but apparently Meryam Joobeur, the director, came across two of them in 2016 tending sheep in northern Tunisia, asked to take their picture and was denied. Then she came back with script for a short film, asked around, found the brothers and they agreed to be in the film.

The verdict: Recommended

Watch “Brotherhood” on Viemo.

Saria (22 minutes)

This film is based on a true story about an incident in an orphanage in Guatemala. The film focuses on two sisters who are determined to escape from the grim and terrible place. It’s a short film that manages to be hopeful, despite its depressing topic.

The verdict: Good

Watch a trailer for “Saria” here.

The Neighbors’ Window (20 minutes)

A very tired couple with three children who live in an apartment watch the antics of a younger couple who move in across the street. This was the weakest of the bunch. I saw the twist coming in the first five minutes, which would have been okay, but the actor playing the husband was Not A Good Actor.

The verdict: Skip

Watch “The Neighbors’ Window” here.

Nefta Football Club (17 minutes)

What starts with two men looking for a donkey in the desert and expands to encompass two boys on a motorbike headed back to their Tunisian village. This was the funniest of the nominated short films (there was clapping). It was also my favorite.

The verdict: Recommended

Watch Nefta Football Club here.

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Hollywood Theatre with S. North.

My ranking: (winner in bold)

  • Nefta Football Club
  • Brotherhood
  • A Sister
  • Saria
  • The Neighbors’ Window

Brittany Runs a Marathon is 26.2 Miles of Good Film

Brittany Runs a Marathon

The review:

Paul Downs Colaizzo’s Brittany Runs a Marathon captures that oh-so-familiar post-college floundering, and layers in female body issues and shaky friendships. It does all of these things very well and stars Jillian Bell, who is usually a bit player who steals scenes,* but as Brittany, she gets to flex all her acting muscles. This is an excellent movie about subjects seldom addressed.**

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: Free via Amazon Prime 30-day trial***
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*My first moment of “who IS that?” was in 22 Jump Street.
**The medium of film seems a good one especially to address women and body issues. Perhaps as more women are in positions of movie making power will we see more of this subject.
***The boyfriend signed up for other reasons, but I made sure to see the two movies Amazon has been sitting on: this and Beautiful Boy.

Questions:

  • What aspect of female life would you like to see more movies made about?
  • Who is your favorite underrated female comic?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The cast and crew actually got to film at the New York City Marathon, making this the first time a non-documentary film crew has been allowed to shoot there.

Other reviews:

Brittany Runs a Marathon

Margot at the Wedding: Disaffected Adults, Bad Choices

Margot at the Wedding

The review:

Noah Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding has the usual pre-Gerwig vibe* of disaffected adults who speak with a bored affect** and are their own worst enemies. And while that first sentence sounds like I didn’t like the film, this second sentence is here to say that I greatly enjoyed this movie from the performances to the ridiculous actions taken by the characters.*** Chalk this up as yet another Baumbach film with people I couldn’t be in the room with in real life, but greatly enjoy on screen.

The verdict: Good

Cost: free via Kanopy
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Greta Gerwig has injected so much more FUN into his movies.
**Even Jack Black—usually the reliably manic character—is running at about 40% power.
***Granted, this is enjoyment like chewing aluminum foil with braces on, or putting a 9-volt battery on your tongue. It’s exhilarating and uncomfortable.

Questions:

  • Which character in this film is the most competent parent?
  • Who did you identify with the most?

Favorite IMDB Trivia item:

Cinematographer Harris Savides used old lenses and shot mostly in natural light to get the dim, ominous look of the film.

Other reviews:

Margot at the Wedding

Where’d You Go, Bernadette is Entertaining

Where'd You Go, Bernadette

The review:

Richard Linklater does a great job transforming Where’d You Go, Bernadette from an epistolary novel into a coherent film—though the film stumbles at the end. I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would, mostly because Cate Blanchett having a mental crisis is so much fun to watch.* There’s a big, old, moldering house,** some really great mean girl mom stuff,*** good performances by Billy Crudup and Emma Nelson (in her debut: she plays Bernadette’s daughter) plus a bunch of bit parts with actors I love.****

The verdict: Good

(I greatly enjoyed this book and can recommend it.)

Cost: $1.25 at Redbox
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching

Further sentences:

*The Academy also agrees: she won an Oscar for Blue Jasmine, which is another story of a woman in mental crisis. And parts of her performance brought to mind Katherine Hepburn, whom she portrayed in the Aviator and for which the Academy also bestowed her with an Oscar.
**Something about moldering houses inspires glee in me. My favorite YA novel of 2019, Ordinary Girls by Blair Thornburgh, also featured a moldering house.
***Kristen Wiig is so very good!
****Judy Greer, Steven Zahn, Megan Mullally, Laurence Fishburne

Questions:

  • If you have taken in both book and movie, which worked better for you?
  • What’s your favorite movie set in a moldering old house?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Bernadette refers to Dr. Kurtz, the Judy Greer character, as “Colonel Kurtz” at one point. Colonel Kurtz was the enigmatic figure in the film Apocalyse Now in which Laurence Fishburne, who plays Bernadette’s former colleague Paul Jellinek, had a part as Tyrone ‘Clean’ Miller, the youngest member on the boat.

Other reviews:

Where'd You Go, Bernadette

A Christmas Prince is as Advertised

A Christmas Prince

The review:

I had Christmas cards to address and needed something Christmas-y while I was doing it,* and so I turned on Alex Zamm’s A Christmas Prince. It wasn’t terrible. I found that Theo Devaney (Simon) was more interesting than the Christmas Prince himself, so I wasn’t really rooting for the right person, but overall, I didn’t hate it.**

The verdict: Skip

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home (also, I had to pay more attention to this than It’s a Wonderful Life and thus kept making errors in addressing the Christmas cards.)

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*I don’t own a copy of It’s a Wonderful Life, which is my go-to for this sort of thing
**I’ve really enjoyed Rose McIver in iZombie, and was surprised to see her coming off as so vapid in this film.

Questions:

  • Did you like this film? If yes, what worked for you?
  • Do you think this movie deserves to have two sequels?

Favorite IMDB trivia items:

The movie was filmed on the Peles Castle, a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, situated in Sinaia, in Romania.

(I question your syntax there, IMDB trivia contributor, but I was wondering where that castle was.)

Other reviews:

A Christmas Prince