Uncle Kent 2 is completely off-the-wall and off-its-rocker. Then again, it’s exactly what one would expect from animator Kent Osborne, whose back catalogue consists of Adventure Time episodes and a co-writer credit on The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.
From making a dark comedy about a premeditated school shooting to slightly deceiving NASA while making a faux-documentary within a faux-documentary, it’s safe to claim that filmmaker Matt Johnson is a bit of a renegade. But similar to his storytelling innovation in The Dirties, Johnson finds a new way to twist old tales in Operation Avalanche.
Out of all the dramedies I can remember, Moments of Clarity has the murkiest line separating what’s supposed to be funny and what’s supposed to be taken seriously. It’s the most uncomfortable moviegoing experience of 2016.
Reviewing films from the Legless Corpse collection is becoming a thankless task. How else do you describe these titles that are oh-so obviously made for the close-knit amateurs that make these low-budget indies?
In Order of Disappearance is a mainstream action/comedy for the arthouse crowd. It’s brave enough to treat its subject matter seriously and in jest, and the performances are of higher versatility than a cast of attractive household names who signed up for a glamour project.
Sausage Party is a shock comedy that’s heavy on “shock” and light on “comedy”. The film is supposed to subvert clean-cut animated films with inappropriate dialogue and black humour, but ends up becoming a crass and awkward in-joke between the comic cast.
Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley return as Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone in the film adaptation of the popular UK sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
Ricky Gervais revels in button-pushing humour, and he’s proven to transcend those same gags by stripping away the glamourous sheen from the rich and famous. In film and television, he’s used this gusto to make satirical jabs at faith and goodwill (The Invention of Lying) as well as fluff up ignorant egos (UK’s The Office).
There’s a difference between being self-aware and being self-involved – the former usually has more sense than the latter. For instance, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is aware of its buffoonery, but neglects to be involved in its own idiocy. There’s still a brain behind the immaturity displayed by Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron).
Though it certainly has its charms, Captain Fantastic’s sweet moments and eccentricity fails to mask the serious flaws that begin to surface in the film’s second half.