Tag: Comedy

REVIEW: ‘My Dead Friend Zoe’ doesn’t commit to its bit, to its detriment

The war movie genre benefits overall from films that show the impacts of foreign conflicts back home. This is one of those films, but unfortunately, it’s not one of the category’s best.

“My Dead Friend Zoe” centers on U.S. Army veteran Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green), who’s back home in the United States after serving in Afghanistan. Lately, life has been hard for her, as she’s run into some trouble with the law, and forced to attend group therapy sessions because of trauma, though she can’t bring herself to speak about her experiences.

That trauma revolves around her friend Zoe, who passed away. However, she still sees Zoe often as a ghost who she speaks with regularly. Her life only gets more complicated when she is asked to take care of her estranged grandfather who has early Alzheimer’s. Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘My Dead Friend Zoe’ doesn’t commit to its bit, to its detriment”

REVIEW: Celine Song’s sophomore effort ‘Materialists’ disappoints

A film from A24, written and directed Celine Song who helmed the wonderful “Past Lives” from 2023? On paper it looks like a slam dunk. Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case.

In Song’s second feature film, Dakota Johnson stars as a matchmaker in New York City named Lucy. She works for a company that specializes in setting up dates between similar people. Basically, it’s an in person dating app, but the app is a human match manager with an office.

Work is going well enough, but Lucy herself has been single for a while. That changes, though, when she meets the charming and understanding Harry (Pedro Pascal), and the two start dating. At the same time, she meets up and starts talking with former boyfriend John (Chris Evans).

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REVIEW: Wes offers style and substance again in ‘Phoenician Scheme’

Michael Cera’s career has been hitting a pretty good stride in the last few years, starring in solid flicks like “Gloria Bell,” “Barbie” and “Dream Scenario.”

That positive streak continues in his latest appearance, playing a key role in Wes Anderson’s new project. Cera co-stars in the film as Bjorn, alongside Mia Threapleton as Liesl and Benicio del Toro as Korda. The movie centers on Korda, who’s a powerful industrialist staking his empire on an infrastructure project in Phoenicia.

Making it a reality is tricky. Kordo has enemies against him and obstacles to overcome. To navigate the situation, he sets up his daughter, Liesl, to be heir to his throne in case of his demise, and brings her and Bjorn on a wide-reaching journey to make the scheme a reality.

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REVIEW: ‘Mickey 17’ is a clumsy creation from Bong Joon-ho

Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to “Parasite” is unfortunately, no awards contender.

The latest from the South Korean filmmaker is a dark sci-fi action-comedy centered on the character Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson). Needing to flee Earth because of a loan shark, Mickey boarded a spacecraft to a new planet, and took a job known as Expendable, where he does repairs in awful conditions.

In the case of death, his memories and personality has been downloaded, and his body can be recreated, allowing him to live on. The movie picks up with Mickey now on body 17 and surviving a dangerous incident where he should have died. As a result, an 18th Mickey is made. In doing so, their combined presence alters the course of the future for the a space colony.

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REVIEW: ‘Novocaine’ is an action-comedy knockout

There’s no pain for the main character in this film and there’s no pain for the audience either, because this one is quite enjoyable..

Jack Quaid stars in “Novocaine” as assistant bank manager, Nathan Caine. On top of being rather mild mannered and introverted, he also lives with congenital insensitivity to pain, meaning he can get hurt, but not feel a thing. Internally, though, he does feel attraction to one of his co-workers, Sherry.

After finally going out on a date with her (Amber Midthunder), things seem to be looking up. That is until the bank he works at is robbed and Sherry is abducted. On a quest to get her back, Caine uses his inability to feel pain to fight back against those behind the heist.

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REVIEW: ‘A Real Pain’ is a real disappointment

If you ever wanted to see Roman Roy from “Succession” hang out with Mark Zuckerberg, but without the money, this is sort of the movie for you.

No, that’s not quite accurate, although the film does star Kieran Culkin from the hit HBO series and “The Social Network’s” Jesse Eisenberg. In this film they play two cousins, David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin), who are visiting Poland to learn about their grandmother’s home town, and experience surviving the Holocaust.

To do so, they join a historical tour through various towns in the country with several other interested people and a knowledgeable guide. During their time on the tour, they not only have their eyes opened about family history, but what’s been happening in their own lives, too.

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REVIEW: Funny. Provocative. Intense. ‘Anora.’

So, this film is sort of like “Pretty Woman,” if things went really off the rails, and Richard Gere was Russian.

Well, there are actually quite a few more differences all things considered. In “Anora,” Mikey Madison stars as the titular character who makes a living as a stripper and escort. Her day-to-day routine of working at a Manhattan club is interrupted when she’s hired by Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch.

Initially hired for her escort services, Ivan later continues to pay Anora, or Ani as she likes to be called, to be his live-in girlfriend. After spending more time together, he ends up marrying the young woman. However, Anora’s new life in luxury is threatened when Ivan’s family finds out, and are furious at the news.

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REVIEW: ‘Venom’ finale amuses but ultimately lacks substance

Some trilogies are made up of three films that have one overarching narrative while others feature standalone stories with ongoing character arcs. “Venom” fits the latter.

This time around, Eddie (Tom Hardy) and his alien symbiote Venom are fugitives because of events in the last film. Spending time in Mexico, the two are considering what to do next and decide on going to New York City where there’s an official who could help clear Eddie’s name.

Unfortunately, the duo are being hunted by another alien force seeking the pair out because they could play a role in releasing a powerful-but-imprisoned super being. The U.S. government, which wants to study the symbiotes on Earth, is also after the duo.

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REVIEW: Chaotic ‘Saturday Night’ has plenty of ups and downs

An episode of “SNL” usually includes its likable cast performing a plethora of sketches, some good and some bad, for a fairly average experience. In that sense, this movie is pretty similar

A dramatic comedy, “Saturday Night” takes place inside Rockefeller Plaza in New York as producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) prepares to get his new live television show ready for broadcast. Unfortunately, things aren’t going entirely well and NBC doesn’t have much faith in the show.

It’s already considered a long shot, as it’s populated by unknown comedians like Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien) and John Belushi (Matt Wood). The situation is made worse by mishaps on set. However, Lorne remains committed to make sure “Saturday Night” goes live.

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REVIEW: Double the ‘Beetlejuice,’ double the fun? To an extent, yes

After more than 35 years, the Ghost with the Most (Michael Keaton) is back on the big screen, getting a legacy sequel of his own.

In addition to Betelgeuse, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) also comes back, though she has traded her gothic, rebellious attitude for a TV personality, albeit still wearing black. She has to step away from her paranormal-centric show, though, as she has to attend the funeral of her late father.

Joining her is her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), though the latter isn’t as excited to be there as she has a strained familial relationship. However, when the family goes back to their old house, some dangerous afterlife shenanigans begin, forcing them to not only band together, but call on help from the titular character.

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