At the root of a dark comedy is sadness. Some examples may take more effort to trace back to that forlorn emotion, but the premise usually begins with an unfortunate circumstance and then carried beyond the point of comfort or absurdism; ideally to create humour. It’s all about finding amusing, and sometimes inappropriate, ways of interpreting that sadness. And, I Love My Dad is successful most of the time.
In the late 1980’s, Del Close set out to write his autobiography, Wasteland, for DC comics. In Wasteland, the actor and comedian, who mentored comedy legends from John Belushi to Tina Fey but found little material success in his own career, presented a fictionalized and darkly surreal version of his life story. In director Heather Ross’ semi-experimental documentary, For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close, Wasteland serves as a frame for a deeper examination…
Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures have had luck with short films that star popular characters from their franchises; most notably those minions from the Despicable Me series. This success with the short-form platform is experimented with in The Secret Life of Pets 2, the feature-length sequel to 2016’s hit family film.
By: Trevor Chartrand Boots Riley’s directorial debut is undoubtedly a memorable satiric comedy, despite being uneven in some places. Sorry to Bother You is a tad ambitious – with plenty of high-concept ideas crammed into its runtime, the overall pacing and consistency of the film suffers a bit as a result. But then again, it’s nice to see a film with too much to say, rather than something so vapid that it says nothing.
A new documentary titled Out of Print will undoubtably excite movie goers who are regulars at Los Angeles’ New Beverly Cinema, as well as cinephiles in general. Filmmaker (and long-time New Bev employee) Julia Marchese has basically created a glossy love letter to the precious repertory cinema known for its ingenious programming and its eclectic clientele (including support from high-profile filmmakers).