Tag: Comedy

REVIEW: Road movie ‘Dog’ succeeds with emotion and humor

Channing Tatum plays Jackson Briggs in this new dramatic comedy. Not to be confused with the Jackson “Jax” Briggs from the “Mortal Kombat” series.

Briggs is an Army Ranger who, since being discharged, has found it difficult to adapt to life back home. He’s tried to get work in military-related roles, but is often denied because of his post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis and other injuries.

At a memorial gathering for one of his friends and fellow soldiers, though, Briggs is able to ask his commanding officer to put in a recommendation for him to help get a job. The officer agrees, but in return, asks Briggs to take the late soldier’s military service dog to the funeral, being held in Arizona. Knowing it’s a long drive from the Washington state to Arizona, but wanting the work, Briggs reluctantly agrees.

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REVIEW: ‘Worst Person in the World’ is a well-made Norwegian feature

“The Worst Person in the World” is far from the worst movie in the world.

This film, from Norway, stars Renate Reinsve as Julie, a young woman who’s having trouble deciding what to do in life. The movie starts with Julie studying to become a doctor, before switching majors to psychology. Early on in the movie, she does this again, deciding to pursue a career in photography.

Her romantic life is fairly similar. Early in the picture, she meets and begins a relationship with Aksel, a successful comic artist. As their relationship is humming along, though, she meets another man, Eivind (Herbert Nordrum). Like her academic career, Julie feels herself being pulled in more than one direction romantically.

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REVIEW: ‘Marry Me’ has enough rom-com magic to win viewers over

My ears definitely perked up when I heard this film was actually based on a graphic novel, which I now want to read.

Jennifer Lopez is Kat in “Marry Me,” a pop music super star who’s preparing for a concert like no other. She plans to get married on stage in front of a huge crowd to her fiance, Bastian, who’s also a singer.

However, before the show, she learns that Bastian cheated on her. Upset and wanting a quick fix, she decides to pick a stranger in the crowd to marry instead. That stranger is Charlie (Owen Wilson), a school teacher and single father. The two at first see it as an in the moment, reversible mistake, but soon grow closer.

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REVIEW: Don’t look at the screen when ‘Don’t Look Up’ is on

So, this movie sure got people talking.

“Don’t Look Up” is the latest feature from director/writer Adam McKay, and centers on a scenario where there’s a comet headed toward Earth. The scientists who discover the comet, Randall (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Kate (Jennifer Lawrence) immediately inform the federal government after their discovery, with the hope that action is taken.

Unfortunately, they’re not exactly met with a warm welcome at the White House. The president, played by Meryl Streep, is much more concerned with optics and doesn’t particularly trust scientific evidence. As a result, Randall and Kate have to try to work with an ineffective head of state, while also trying to get air-time in a world where’s there’s apparently just one television show.

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REVIEW: ‘Mitchells Vs The Machines’ never rises above mediocre

This movie and the new “Matrix” in a few weeks is only reinforcing my concern about a robot uprising.

As the title implies, this movie is about a family, named the Mitchells, taking on evil bots. While the whole family is included, though, the main focus is on Katie (Abbi Jacobson), a teen who’s preparing to go to college in California to study film. Her academic path has put her at odds with her dad Rick (Danny McBride), though, who’s never been interested in technology and enjoys the outdoors much more.

Knowing that he has one last chance to connect with his daughter before she leaves for school, Rick decides to take Katie, as well as his son Aaron (Michael Rianda) and wife Linda (Maya Rudolph) on a college move-in road trip. Unfortunately, their journey is interrupted by the robots who’re in the midst of a global takeover because of an A.I. gone bad.

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REVIEW: Despite star power, Netflix’s ‘Red Notice’ is a dud

Film is an interesting medium. Movies can be both an amazing piece of art and a product to make profit.

Sometimes, though, a movie feels too much like it’s just a product, and that’s how “Red Notice” comes across.

In this new Netflix movie, Dwayne Johnson stars as John Hartley, an FBI agent who’s working with Interpol to arrest one of the best art thieves in the world, Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds). Nolan’s latest target to steal is a rare Egyptian artifact, as only three of its kind exist in the world.

After a chase, both Nolan and John get set up by another art thief, who goes by The Bishop (Gal Gadot). Both are sent to prison, as John has been framed as an accomplice, and now must work together to take down Bishop and, potentially, get the Egyptian artifact in the process.

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REVIEW: Lead performance and fun adventure push ‘Afterlife’ above average

Unlike the 2016 “Ghostbusters,” which was a reboot, this latest film serves as a direct sequel, set decades after the events of the 1989 picture.

The movie introduces viewers to Callie (Carrie Coon), the daughter of Dr. Egon Spengler, and her two children, Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard). At the movie’s outset, Dr. Spengler passes away and the death notice is sent to Callie. After the update, Callie and her kids travel to rural Oklahoma, where Spengler left a farmstead to his family.

Upon arrival, Callie and Trevor are mostly unimpressed by the small town and rundown house. However, Phoebe, who’s interested in science, begins finding Ghostbuster equipment and her interest is piqued even more as there are several abnormal earthquakes in the area. To investigate what’s going on, Phoebe teams up with one of her classmates, who simply goes by “Podcast” because he produces one (Logan Kim).

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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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