Tagged with comedy films

Review: Cedar Rapids, 2011, dir. Miguel Arteta

Review: Cedar Rapids, 2011, dir. Miguel Arteta

Ed Helms’ career is defined by a relegation to supporting roles and a specific casting type– whether intentional or otherwise– that does not on its own merits suggest leading man potential. Unless the film in question features a leading man that plays perfectly to that type, which Tim Lippe, insurance salesman and poster child for … Continue reading

2011 Rising: My Films to Watch (pt.2)

2011 Rising: My Films to Watch (pt.2)

Part 2 of my 2011 preview commences…now! (Part 1 can be perused here, at your leisure.) X-Men: First Class— By happy coincidence, the first trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s period prequel to the X-Men franchise hit just last week, and guess what? It looks really good. Focusing specifically on the relationship between Erik Lehnsherr, the man … Continue reading

Review: Made in Dagenham, 2010, dir. Nigel Cole

Calling a movie like Made in Dagenham predictable makes me sound incompetent. Of course it’s predictable. It’s based on something that actually happened, the outcome of which I’m well aware. (Titanic was predictable, too. The ship sank at the end! How tragic!) Be that as it may, predictable is exactly what Made in Dagenham is– … Continue reading

Review: Greenberg, 2010, dir. Noah Baumbach

Director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Margot At the Wedding) is no stranger to awkward family dynamics; for him, it’s well-tread territory that he’s obviously and contradictorily comfortable exploring in his cinema. Which, for some, might make his latest effort, Greenberg, feel somewhat effortless and even slight considering the source. After all, he’s done it … Continue reading

Review: Kung Fu Hustle, 2004, dir. Stephen Chow

Vanity, they name is Stephen Chow. Perhaps nothing more true and at the same time more false can be said about the dashing, roguish Chinese director in regards to 2004’s Kung Fu Hustle, a film where Chow both runs the show and stars as the out-of-sight protagonist. The contradiction between placing greater emphasis on the … Continue reading

Review: The Other Guys, 2010, dir. Adam McKay

Wow, Adam McKay– what’s gotten you so worked up? Watching The Other Guys, the answer isn’t particularly secret and nor does McKay seem terribly interested in trying to disguise it. For a bonkers, slapstick, off-the-wall comedy featuring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg swapping back and forth between being the straight man and acting like lunatics, … Continue reading

Review: MacGruber, 2010, dir. Jorma Taccone

After more than thirty years of making us laugh (admittedly, some years have been better than others), Saturday Night Live can’t just be considered a TV show. For late night comedy– hell, for all comedy– SNL represents the foundation for the careers of innumerable funny men and women from Steve Martin to Tina Fey. It’s … Continue reading

Review: Funny People, 2009, dir. Judd Apatow

To say that Funny People represents Judd Apatow’s first career stumble would be a lie. He’s been writing and producing since the mid-90’s, and stuffed in between the rousing success of his directorial debut and follow-up, The 40-Year-Old-Virgin and Knocked Up, respectively, as well as his numerous producing and writing credits (Forgetting Sarah Marshal and Pineapple … Continue reading