The Greatest Hits
High Fidelity meets The Butterfly Effect in Ned Benson’s hipster rom-com The Greatest Hits. While that sounds like a fun movie mash-up, The Greatest Hits is anything but.
Fox Searchlight
Theater Camp
Theater Camp is less of a satire on community theatre nor is it a snide comedy towards theatre dorks. In fact, Theater Camp is actually quite sincere with its representation of people who are very enthusiastic about the performing arts – kids and adults alike. Through that sincerity, there are still self-aware moments that will make this moviegoing demographic laugh at themselves but, still, Theater Camp is all in good fun.
Quasi
The most amusing thing about Quasi is how the guys of Broken Lizard have finally owned up to being a bunch of dorks who are actually *really* into Monty Python, notably Life of Brian and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That’s an oddly charming concept considering the comedy troupe are frat symbols known for making meatheaded comedies like Super Troopers and Beerfest. We all remember that jock who had to take an arts extra-curricular…
See How They Run
Set in the theatre district of London’s West End in 1953, a production of Agatha Christie’s whodunit The Mousetrap seems to be cursed after the body of flagrant director Leo Kopernick (Adrien Brody) turns up dead after the show. The jaded Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and rookie investigator Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) are assigned to the case, and it seems as if everyone’s a suspect: the actors, the crew, the waiting staff and, to Stalker’s…
Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not be Televised)
Musician Ahmir Thompson (better known as “Questlove” from The Roots and Jimmy Fallon’s in-house band) perfectly applies his expertise and passion for multifaceted harmony to his filmmaking debut Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not be Televised), a concert documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 and its significance.
Jojo Rabbit
Jojo Rabbit, written and directed by Taika Waititi, is a risqué movie that reminded me of classic comedies made by the legendary Mel Brooks. The film risks being offensive to lampoon racism, including its different perspectives by persecuting followers, and to draw parallels to current arrogant behaviour thrusted upon minorities. Waititi solves the puzzle to make his satire work, but also doesn’t distill the severity of past hate crimes in this period piece.
Downhill
By: Jessica Goddard From directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Way Way Back), Downhill is an English-language remake of Ruben Östlund’s European awards contender Force Majeure (2014). Having not seen the original, I can only speak to the quality of the new film – starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell – as a standalone film. And, it’s not bad! Truly, it’s not bad. It’s a little simple and unpolished, and uncertain of what it wants to…
A Hidden Life
Terrence Malick is a fascinating oddity of cinema. After making two highly acclaimed features in the 1970s, he disappeared for two decades before returning sporadically until the 2010s, when he suddenly completed six features at a rapid-fire pace. This sudden burst of productivity did have a negative effect however. When a new Malick film was reviewed every handful of years, his visionary filmmaking style was exciting. However, getting a new one every year makes the…
Ready or Not
By: Jolie Featherstone Ready or Not is a devilishly fun, macabre thriller that toys with the tumultuous nature of family and the blatantly unethical drive of the wealthy to maintain their status – with a dollop of blood thrown in for good measure.
The Way, Way Back
By: Addison Wylie Nat Faxon (who you may have seen playing bit parts in Broken Lizard films and playing the title male on the unfortunately short lived TV show Ben & Kate) and Jim Rash (who you may have caught on the cult television hit Community) have Academy Awards under their belts. Their screenwriting, along with Alexander Payne penmanship, earned all three of them a prestigious Oscar for their adaptive screenwriting in The Descendants. Now,…