Sandy Wexler
After nearly a decade of bad comedies starring Adam Sandler, it feels weird to call his recent vehicle “good”. It’s also funny, good-natured, and features Sandler at the top of his form. Somebody pinch me.
Netflix
Teenage Cocktail
John Carchietta’s Teenage Cocktail is a surprisingly satisfying small-time endeavour in teenage angst.
Take the 10
The trailer for Netflix’s Take the 10 does no favours for this surprising flick. It plays up slapstick yucks and crude dialogue, and, worst of all, it believes its the first movie to incorporate violent thugs in broad comedy – it’s detrimental advertising. Luckily, writer/director/star Chester Tam has a trick up his sleeve.
Coin Heist
If Coin Heist teaches us anything (other than committing fraud is, you know, bad), it’s that filmmakers still can’t fully invest in social media stars and vice versa.
True Memoirs of an International Assassin
I impulsively summarized True Memoirs of an International Assassin on Twitter by typing, “really wish True Memoirs of an International Assassin used its strengths to subvert the action genre. Still not bad, just indistinguishable”.
Special Correspondents
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).
My Beautiful Broken Brain
After a night of friends and leisure, Lotje Sodderland suffered an unrelated stroke; resulting in her short-term memory and various reactionary impulses being wiped away. She chronicles her progress on her iPhone, as well as her sadness, her epiphanies, and candid vlog entires.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny is okay, which would be tolerable if it wasn’t associated with such an imaginative predecessor.