Tag: Comedy

REVIEW: ‘The French Dispatch’ is a delightful dramedy

Rock Chalk meets French culture in this new film from Wes Anderson.

“The French Dispatch” refers to an insert section for the Evening Sun newspaper in Liberty, Kansas. In the movie, a situation happens where the French dispatch will have to suspend production.

For the last publication, the paper republishes three important articles written by a trio of reporters. The film from there with an anthology approach, following how each reporter researched and interviewed for the stories.

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REVIEW: ‘CODA’ delivers with humor and plenty of heart

Sometimes a movie comes along and reinvigerates a person’s appreciation for a genre.

That’s what “CODA” has done for coming of age/teen drama films.

The title of the movie is an acryonym, meaning Child of Deaf Adults. The main character is Ruby (Emilia Jones), a teenager whose parents Frank (Troy Kotsur) Jackie (Marlee Matlin), as well as her brother Leo (Daniel Durant) are all deaf. On top of attending school, Ruby helps in the family fishing business, working on the boat and acting as a sign language interpretor for sales.

During her time at home, Ruby is a music lover and she expresses this on the boat with her singing. This inspires her to take up choir in her senior year of high school, where the film picks up. The movie then follows how she has to balance her job and her singing lessons, as well as her family’s reaction to her doing something they can’t enjoy or enage with.

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REVIEW: ‘Venom’ sequel offers below average action, humor

Eddie and Venom are back for another action film, or maybe a relationship-based sitcom. It gets kind of hard to tell.

“Let there be Carnage” is the sequel to the 2018 film “Venom,” which once again focuses on digital journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), who is host of an alien parasite, Venom. Venom and Eddie try to get along, but the two begin getting on each others nerves and their symbiotic relationship starts becoming strained.

Meanwhile, serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), who Eddie has interviewed a few times, is set to get the death penalty. Before his death, though, Cletus does a last interview with Eddie and in the process, Cletus comes in contact with Venom. The contact mutates into a new symbiote named Carnage, which gives Cletus the power to break out of prison, with vengeance in mind against all who’ve wronged him.

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REVIEW: ‘Free Guy’ entertains but has fleeting impact

Movies about video games or films where the reality has elements of video games can be hit or miss. Sometimes you can get a “Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World.” Other times you get a “Serenity” or “Pixels.”

Fortunately, “Free Guy” leans a bit more toward the former.

“Free Guy” takes place in two realms of existence, one digital and one real. In the latter, Jodie Comer plays Millie, a young woman who’s living on hard times after the video game developer Antwan (Taika Waititi) stole her idea. That idea for a game was created by her and her best friend Keys (Joe Keery), who now works for Antwan.

Meanwhile, Guy (Ryan Reynolds), is a non-playable character in the video game owned by Antwan. While Guy is mainly programmed to be a normal bank employee in a violent video game, one day he begins to evolve and becomes self aware of the world around him. With that new knowledge, he begins playing the game himself, getting the attention of Millie. Millie soon learns that Guy’s programming is the key to exposing Antwan.

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REVIEW: ‘Suicide Squad’ succeeds under Gunn’s direction

Considering there was another movie released just a few years earlier, I figured they would have come up with another title to set this “Suicide Squad” apart than just adding a “The.”

But it works for Ohio State, so, maybe it’s fine here.

“The Suicide Squad” follows a new group of convicts turned mercenaries working for government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) for a chance of reducing their sentence. This group includes a pair of top tier elite assassins in Peacemaker (John Cena) and Bloodsport (Idris Elba), as well as a human shark hybrid (voice by Sylvester Stallone), a woman who has a device to control rats (Daniela Melchior) and a man who can shoot colorful energy bolts (David Dastmalchian).

Along for the ride with this Suicide Squad team is their government chaperone Col. Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and the infamous Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). This time around, the crew is tasked with taking down the dictator of a remote island who has fallen into control of a dangerous scientific research facility.

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REVIEW: ‘Space Jam’s’ New Legacy is mostly lousy

Do you love Warner Bros.? And I mean really love Warner Bros.? Then do I have the movie for you.

Warner Bros. has brought back its “Space Jam” concept, this time swapping His Airness with King James. In this film, Lebron James is having trouble connecting with his son Dom (Cedric Joe), who’s more interested in video game design than basketball, something that the NBA star isn’t excited about.

The future hall of famer gets a crash course in video games, though, when he visits the WB studio, which has a proposal for him to star in their movies through a program created by an artificial intelligence named Al G. Rythm (Don Cheadle). When James turns the idea down, Al G. Rythm is upset and decides to bring both Dom and James into the digital realm. where he challenges the NBA player to a game of basketball, against video game characters his son invented.

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REVIEW: Don’t bother with ‘Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’

If you like yelling, and I mean a lot of yelling, then this is the movie for you.

Ryan Reynolds returns to the role of bodyguard Michael Bryce in this sequel. Because of his actions in the first film, though, he’s lost his status as a AAA bodyguard. To escape the stress of the situation, he decides to take his therapist’s advice and go on vacation.

Unfortunately it’s all quickly interrupted when Sonia (Salma Hayek), wife of hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) approaches him. Turns out, Darius was kidnapped and Sonia needs Michael’s assistance in the rescue. The whole situation gets the trio mixed up in an evil plot to devastate Europe, and they’re recruited by government agents to help stop it.

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REVIEW: ‘Dream Horse’ won’t be in award races, but it can still please viewers

The races featured in “Dream Horse” aren’t related to the American Triple Crown competitions, but it still feels like the right time to watch this flick.

“Dream Horse” takes place in a small town in Wales and revolves around a group of residents who decide to invest in a racing thoroughbred. Mainly, the movie follows Jan (Toni Collette), the woman who comes up with the idea and convinces other community members to pitch in.

Together, they breed a horse and because it was a group of residents coming aligning for a cause, they name it Dream Alliance. The proposal initially seems like a risky gamble until Dream Alliance becomes a success on the track.

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REVIEW: ‘Together Together’ triumphs with sweet, funny relationship

An odd couple is usually reliable to make a comedy movie work, and that’s certainly the case with “Together Together.”

The two main characters, Anna (Patti Harrison) and Matt (Ed Helms) aren’t a romantic couple, but instead have another element bringing them together. Matt, who’s in his 40s, is looking to become a father and Anna, in her late 20s, was selected as the surrogate mother.

The movie takes place over the course of the pregnancy, following how Anna wants to keep more of a distance, while Matt is dedicated to helping her with the pregnancy for the betterment of his child and Anna herself.

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REVIEW: ‘French Exit’ is a dramedy failure

Academy Award nominees Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges are featured prominently in “French Exit,” yet their presence isn’t enough to rescue this misfire.

In “French Exit,” Pfeiffer plays Frances, a widow  and New York socialite who has spent most of the money left behind after the death of her husband. Hedges, meanwhile, plays Malcolm, Frances’ son who is intending to marry his girlfriend, Susan (Imogen Poots).

With her resources dwindling, Frances decides to move to an apartment in France with her son and navigate what she should do next with her life. While the plan throws a wrench in Malcolm’s wedding dreams, he decides to go along with his mother’s move. Upon reaching France, the duo begin meeting several new characters who become involved in their lives.

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