Category Archives: Comedy

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Hail Caesar! (2016) Movie Review

February 5, 2016 Alex Brannan

In Hail Caesar!, the latest from the Coen Brothers, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is an actor during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He is introduced on-screen in a meta framing—a screening within a screening—portraying a Roman leader in a historical epic a la Spartacus. During filming of this movie, Whitlock is drugged and kidnapped.

Hail Caesar! is the Coen Brothers’ love letter to classical Hollywood cinema. The standard genres of the period are represented: Westerns, historical epics, Broadway musical adaptations, bourgeois romance, etc.

The structural issue of this love letter is that Continue reading Hail Caesar! (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Documentary, Indie Films, Love It, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words)

Taxi (2015) Movie Review

February 5, 2016 Alex Brannan

Jafar Panahi’s Taxi begins on an extended POV take of a taxi picking up passengers in Tehran. These passengers engage in a long debate over the ethics of execution as a deterrent of crime. It is a strangely humorous meditation in the poetic form of bickering.

Taxi is a series of vignettes told exclusively from Continue reading Taxi (2015) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Drama, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It, Romance

Your Sister’s Sister (2011) Movie Review

January 11, 2016 Alex Brannan

As far as mumblecore goes–a genre defined by its hyper-naturalism–Your Sister’s Sister comes off as one of the most natural.

Unmotivated and perhaps alcohol dependent Jack (Mark Duplass) has just spent a year without his late brother Tom. He has no Continue reading Your Sister’s Sister (2011) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Romance

Sisters (2015) Movie Review

December 21, 2015 Alex Brannan

In Sisters, the eponymous sisters Maura (Amy Poehler) and Kate (Tina Fey) are misguided and somewhat juvenile. The two travel to their parent’s house in Orlando, which they find sold and emptied. They protest the loss of their childhood home, and ultimately decide to throw one last party in the house in an attempt to return to their glory days.

The film totes the expected cavalcade of SNL alum. At the head are Fey and Poehler, both of whom Continue reading Sisters (2015) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Indie Films, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Short Films

AUFDRUCK (LABEL) Short Film Review

December 17, 2015 Alex Brannan

Aufdruck (stylized AUFDRUCK or LABEL) is a short film from independent filmmaker Jaschar L Marktanner. It is a film shot in elegant black and white that features a plunking piano score, a score which plods along with the conversation of two women (Mary Krasnoperova and Kira Mathis) at a restaurant.

At first glance, the film appears to be Continue reading AUFDRUCK (LABEL) Short Film Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Horror, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Romance

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) Movie Review

December 2, 2015 Alex Brannan

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is adapted from the book of the same name, and it is exactly what you think. Jane Austen’s famous characters return to the big screen, only now they aren’t combating class and gender barriers, they are samurai fighting zombies.

The film, understanding that the audience is likely already familiar with the Austen classic, begins with some heavy handed exposition revolving around the nature of the narrative’s zombie outbreak. This opening scene involves an interesting point of view shot that comes from a unique perspective, to say the least. Unfortunately, Continue reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Love It, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words), Romance

People, Places, Things (2015) Movie Review

November 23, 2015 Alex Brannan

People, Places, Things opens on a birthday party for two twin girls. The father, Will (Jemaine Clement), searches for his wife Charlie (Stephanie Allynne), only to find her cheating on him with another man. After an awkwardly comical exchange, their relationship ends. A year later, the pair have split custody over the children.

Will is a graphic novelist, an occupation which is revealed through a wonderful panning shot over a series of comics frames depicting a man in Continue reading People, Places, Things (2015) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Love It

Crash Test (2015) Comedy Review

November 22, 2015 Alex Brannan

In Crash Test, the comedy special from Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer, a glass bus drives around Los Angeles picking up various comedians to do stand up performances.

After some brief opening bits, Huebel and Scheer throw to the bus’s computer diagnostics system “Busey” (Andy Daly), who runs through to make sure everything is functioning properly. This list of equipment includes Continue reading Crash Test (2015) Comedy Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words)

Teen Wolf (1985) Movie Review

November 22, 2015 Alex Brannan

Teen Wolf is a comedy starring Michael J. Fox as a teenage boy going through changes, but not the changes you would expect. His ears start to have a point. Hair stems with miraculous speed. His eyes glow red when he’s angry.

It’s hard to ignore the aspects of this film that don’t hold up. These moments have Continue reading Teen Wolf (1985) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Love It, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words)

[Quickie] See This Movie: Kung Fury (2015)

November 21, 2015 Alex Brannan

Kung Fury is a 30 minute, throwback spectacle of an action comedy. It is epic in its absurdity. A Miami cop (David Sandberg), after witnessing the death of his partner, who he claims is like a father to him, becomes a kung-fu master after he is struck by lightning and bitten by a cobra. He then must travel back in time to assassinate Hitler after the Fuhrer guns down the police chief.

Sandberg plays the cop gruff and merciless in the best over-the-top way. He is the ultimate lone wolf, speaking only in gruff whispers. It works perfectly with the parodical nature of the film.

Continue reading [Quickie] See This Movie: Kung Fury (2015) →