“‘Hacks’ With Jean Smart Sharply Unpacks How Comedians Are Fundamentally Flawed”

Hacks, but does not slash, but it tickles, and anyways let’s leave it at that. Continue reading →

“‘Happiest Season’s Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis Bolster Christmas Pap with Queer Identity

Kristen Stewart is gay. Clea Duvall is gay. Mackenzie Davis is, uh, not, but she plays gay well. Christmas is now gay. You are gay. Continue reading →

Go, See, Talk! Review: The Campaign, 2012, dir. Jay Roach

Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis team up with Jay Roach, Shawn Harwell, and Adam McKay to lampoon politicians, super PACs, and foolish constituents, but despite their best comic intentions and efforts, they only get halfway there. Continue reading →

Review: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, 2012, dir. John Madden

There’s very little to say about The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel because, frustratingly, it has nothing of real value to say itself. Maybe there’s some worth to inoffensive, light, fluffy films in that they provide reasonable entertainment for a couple of hours– and god knows I like my fair share of films that fit that description– … Continue reading →

Review: In the Loop, 2009, dir. Armando Iannucci

If one word describes In the Loop, Armando Iannucci’s 2009 political satire, it’s almost certainly “scathing”. If two, that and “unforgiving”. Going further would only yield an entire novella of words meant to convey intense discontent or outright anger, and indeed the only declarative statement I can make about the film in the positive is … Continue reading →

Review: Casa De Mi Padre, 2012, dir. Matt Piedmont

Casa de mi Padre is remarkably difficult to categorize. On the one hand, it’s eighty minutes of bizarre, absurdist, surrealist humor bent on taking potshots at immeasurably melodramatic telenovelas as well as the works of Sam Peckinpah. On the other, there’s still very little cinema to which it has a direct analogue. Take, for example, Friday’s other … Continue reading →

Go, See, Talk! Review: 21 Jump Street, 2012, dir.

Phil Lord’s and Chris Miller’s genius-level TV-to-movie adaptation, 21 Jump Street, has no right being as good as it is, but it’s easily the best comedy released so far this year and it could well be counted among the top five by the time we’re talking about year-end business. Hill’s in top form here, but Channing … Continue reading →

Go, See, Talk! Review: Wanderlust, 2012, dir. David Wain

This week, I caught a screener for David Wain’s Wanderlust, his and Ken Marino’s follow-up to 2008’s Role Models. The film has much more in common with the classic, beloved Wet Hot American Summer, though, which both speaks well for the movie and also just creates a lot of unfair comparisons. While it’s nowhere near the level of Wet … Continue reading →

Review: Beginners, 2011, dir. Mike Mills

To a point, Beginners is somewhat opaque. The film doesn’t boast a complex narrative– even when it’s operating at full non-linear capacity– but the devices used to serve the story are, occasionally, perplexing. Parts of Beginners occur in the thoughts of its protagonist, Oliver (Ewan McGregor), who in his head contrasts the way the world and people … Continue reading →

Review: Ceremony, 2011, dir. Max Winkler

“Are we in a rush or something?” It’s one of the earliest pieces of dialogue in Max Winkler’s debut picture, Ceremony, and I don’t know if he meant any irony by the statement but after an hour and twenty minutes that little quip perfectly encapsulates my feelings on the film. Winkler’s in a hurry to … Continue reading →

Review: Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, 2011, dir. Rodman Flender

I like to think that modern audiences understand and accept that the performers, filmmakers, and other media personalities they admire and support are actual people underneath the images they project. So in theory, a movie like Rodman Flender’s Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop should feel like a no-brainer, and the sight of the titular beloved comedian … Continue reading →