Orion and the Dark
Netflix’s animated Orion and the Dark may not be the streamer’s most memorable family film, and it isn’t one of the strongest adaptations of a children’s book, but its imagination can’t be ignored.
Nat Faxon
Yes Day
Family films that feature kids “makin’ all the rules” isn’t exactly fresh or inventive. So, why did I like Yes Day so darn much when I know that it follows this same template? Did this sub-genre improve? Have I gotten softer? While these reflections are valid, it sounds like I have to blame either the movies that came before this one or myself to justify liking Yes Day. Embracing Yes Day shouldn’t be driven by…
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…
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,…