We’ve all seen a movie that pairs an uncomfortable adult with a precocious child, and usually the humour stems from their awkwardness that develops into an endearing dynamic as their chemistry develops. Saint Frances is no different, and about halfway through the movie I thought I had Alex Thompson’s film figured out. Little did I know that the film was quietly providing the groundwork for inspiring feministic themes that would elevate the material above its…
I’ll be frank: Chick Fight is a disappointment. With a cast that boasts big names like Alec Baldwin, Fortune Feimster, and Bella Thorne, I expected more from this female-lead action-comedy.
By: Trevor Chartrand Based on a short film of the same name, The Climb was written and performed by Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin. Covino also directed the film, which chronicles the life and times of a dysfunctional friendship over the course of many years. In the film, Kyle (Marvin) and Mike (Covino) are long-time best friends who slowly drift apart – and then back together again – after Mike admits to sleeping with…
In an unremarkable directorial debut from actor Nicol Paone, and randomly produced by The Heartbreak Kid co-stars Ben Stiller and Malin Akerman, Dinner with Friends features pals Molly and Abby (Akerman, Kat Dennings) hosting a small Thanksgiving that gradually becomes more outrageous as the night progresses. The guest list grows, and the entertainment evolves the get-together into more of a party where magic mushrooms and sexcapades become a primary topic of discussion. There isn’t much…
The Kid Detective has done the best job, in recent memory, explaining why a mystery’s leading sleuth is such a sad sack. The enigmatic and eccentric personality has become such a cliché in the genre, that the audience just expects and accepts the detective to be grizzled, or unhappy, or an unpredictable hot head. In The Kid Detective, Abe Applebaum (Adam Brody) carries those traits, but writer/director Evan Morgan provides compelling motivation which fuels Brody’s top-form…
How do you satirize a genre that’s become a spoof of itself? It isn’t an impossible trick but, to pull it off, it takes a keen eye for detail and a filmmaker who can thread the needle between appreciation and cynicism. 2014’s They Came Together, a comedy from the creators of Wet Hot American Summer that hilariously destroyed the rom-com genre, is the bellwether for me, and this year’s clever seasonal spoof Cup of Cheer…
In Ravers, a bad batch of energy drinks are cracked into during a night-long party at an abandoned factory. Once consumed, the partiers begin twitching, “bugging out”, and eventually become violently belligerent with superhuman strength. Given that everyone is already shoulder-to-shoulder, with some who are already high on street drugs to begin with, the danger escalates quickly as our main heroes (including Becky, a germaphobic journalist) fight for survival.
Don’t count out Mass Hysteria as just another holiday comedy. What appears to be a silly, seasonal National Lampoon-copycat at first turns out to be a pretty funny and original horror-comedy worthy of an annual watch around Halloween.
The only type of comedy worse than an unfunny one is a mean-spirited one. The War with Grandpa is so mean that I was frequently taken out of the film to feel bad for the characters.
Movie goers who are quick to nitpick cellphone tropes in horror movies should have a ball with Save Yourselves!, a sharp sci-fi comedy about aging millennials for aging millennials.