comedy | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Bad Neighbours

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Darren

Bad Neighbours is a serviceable – if unexceptional – comedy. The story of two young parents engaged in a turf war with the college fraternity next door, Bad Neighbours feels somewhat slight, even for its abbreviated ninety-seven minute runtime. The laughs are there, and the movie never outstays its welcome, but there’s a sense that the film spends a considerable amount of its runtime in neutral – ramping up for some wonderful sequences, but never building enough momentum to truly take off.

So you think you can dance…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bad neighbours, comedy, film, Movie, neighbors, Nicholas Stoller, non-review review, review, Zac Efron | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Stag

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2014.

On the surface of it, The Stag feels like an Irish version of The Hangover; a “lads going wild before the wedding” comedy that thrives on men behaving badly and even features the bride’s brother as a reluctant invitee and breakout character. Of course, there are any number of differences – substituting the wilds of rural Ireland for the glitzy glamour of Vegas, the decision to make the groom a main character more than a plot device, the nature of the breakout character’s anti-social personality – but The Stag essentially takes a tried and true comedy template and runs with it.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: comedy, irish, jameson dublin international film festival, jdiff, Movie, non-review review, review, the stag | 2 Comments »

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Captain’s Holiday (Review)

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Darren

This January and February, we’ll be finishing up our look at the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation and moving on to the third year of the show, both recently and lovingly remastered for high definition. Check back daily for the latest review.

Captain’s Holiday is another one of those infamously troubled episodes from the third season that turned out fairly okay, considering all the meddling and tinkering unfolding in the background. That said, it’s more like Ensigns of Command than Yesterday’s Enterprise, but it’s still a watchable and entertaining episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and also probably the strongest comedy episode so far.

Then again, when the show’s other comedy “highlights” include The Outrageous Okona and Manhunt, you can see why this might seem like damning with faint praise.

A hidden gem?

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Filed under: The Next Generation | Tagged: captain's holiday, comedy, gene roddenberry, Ira Steven Behr, jean-luc picard, picard, risa, star trek, star trek: the next generation, the next generation, time travel, tng | 10 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Delivery Man

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Darren

Delivery Man works surprisingly well. Like something of a throwback to the nineties “overgrown manchild” comedy about slackers honestly trying to pull their lives together, Vince Vaughn’s latest effort is disarmingly sincere. It isn’t plotted particularly well, and there are points where Delivery Man threatens to unspool if you think about it too much, but this adaptation of Canadian comedy Starbuck has its heart in the right place and manages to deliver a nice sentimental comedy without every becoming overwrought or overly earnest.

Cue a tonne of “who’s your daddy?” jokes…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: comedy, delivery man, fatherhood, films, Movies, non-review review, paternity, review, Vince Vaughn | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Heat

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Darren

At one point in The Heat, Officer Mullins offers her new partner a sandwich. It’s been there all week, but it’s okay. “It’s cheese,” Mullins asserts. “It never goes off.” In a single line, Mullins accounts for the strange charm of The Heat, a film that isn’t consistently hilarious or shockingly innovative, but manages to pack a reasonable number of laughs into an admittedly overlong runtime. The Heat feels like a nostalgic trip back to the era of the buddy comedy.

The soundtrack is saturated with hits of the early nineties – at one point Mullins and Ashburn dance to Groove is in the Heart, while at another the duo bust a party boat (the “U.S.S. Tanked”) as it plays We Like to Party (The Vengabus). The Heat is pretty much the most stereotypical police buddy comedy you could imagine, with only the novelty of being headlined by two well-respect female comedians to distinguish it.

That’s not a bad thing. There are worse comedic combinations than Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. The problem is that The Heat never challenges the duo. There’s a sense the pair could have made the film in their sleep.

Never mind the Bullock…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Ashburn, Bridesmaids, buddy cop film, Bullock, comedy, Federal Bureau of Investigation, film, heat, McCarthy, Melissa McCarthy, Movie, Mullin, non-review review, Paul Feig, review, sandra bullock | Leave a comment »

12 Movie Moments of 2012: Shared Pop Culture History (Ted)

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Darren

As well as counting down the top twelve films, I’m also going to count down my top twelve movie related “moments” of 2012. The term “moment” is elastic, so expect some crazy nonsense here. And, as usual, I accept that my taste is completely absurd, so I fully expect you to disagree. With that in mind, this is #2…

When it comes to end of year “best of” lists, comedy seems to draw the short straw as a genre. Like some of the less earnest genres, comedy is far too easily overlooked in favour of something more “worthy” of attention. Seth MacFarlane’s Ted has been something of a contentious film this year. Depending on where you sit, the film is either the epitome of everything wrong with American comedy, or it was a refreshingly profane yet heartfelt breath of fresh air. I lean more towards the latter than the former, and I appreciated the way that it played to MacFarlane’s strengths – concealing a surprisingly sincere sentiment behind a cynical and glib exterior.

As such, it’s no surprise that the most effective sequence in the film – the opening credits – managed to play to both that side of MacFarlane and also to his wonderful ability to channel pop culture as something of a shared collective history. Call me sappy, but there was something wonderful about seeing Ted interact with Johnny Carson and watching Ted and John queue for The Phantom Menace in costume, that created a tangible sense of back story between the characters.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: art, avengers, best of both worlds, comedy, Dark Knight Rises, family guy, film, Flash Gordon, John, Johnny Carson, MacFarlane, mark wahlberg, mila kunis, Movie, multimedia, New York City, Phantom Menace, reviews, Roger Moore, Seth MacFarlane, star trek: the next generation, TED, United States | 1 Comment »

Immatürity for Charity, Tonight, 9.30pm, RTÉ 2

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Darren

Christmas is often the time to indulge your inner child, so Immatürity for Charity seems perfectly suited for a post-holiday comedic treat. I had the pleasure of checking out a preview of it last week, and it is deliciously juvenile. It is, as the title suggests, a decidedly low-brow comedy sketch show, the kind of thing that could easily grate if it weren’t handled with the right amount of skill and enthusiasm. Luckily, writer (and star) Domhnall Glesson and director John Butler have done an outstanding job. Not all the sketches included are absolutely pitch-perfect, but the beauty of sketch comedy is that if you don’t like what you’re watching, well… another will be along shortly.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Amy Huberman, Anna Karenina, arts, brendan gleeson, christmas, Clubs and Venues, comedy, David Wilmot, Dredd, Holidays, Hugh O'Conor, John Butler, Performing Arts, Sketch comedy | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Invisible Man (1933)

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Darren

We’ll begin with a reign of terror. A few murders here and there. Murders of great men, murders of little men, just to show we make no distinction. We might even wreck a train or two. Just these fingers around a signalman’s throat, that’s all.

The Invisible Man is a classic, sandwiched between James Whale’s celebrated monster movies – Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. The movie was renowned at the time for its special effects, which still hold up remarkably well on the snazzy new blu ray issued by Universal Pictures. However, the film itself is still fantastic on its own terms, featuring a great leading performance from Claude Rains, a witty script and some fantastic direction from Whale. I think it’s also quite wonderfully telling that The Invisible Man manages to feature the story of simultaneously the most human and the most inhuman of these Universal Monster Movies.

The freak who came in from the cold…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: batman, Claude Rain, comedy, Doctor Septimus Pretorius, Experiment, film, frankenstein, George Carlin, god, Griffin, h.g. wells, india, Invisible Man, jack, James Whale, John J. Mescall, John P. Fulton, joker, Kemp, Movie, murder, non-review review, Recreation, review, Shopping, Una O'Connor, United States, universal monsters, Victor Frankenstein | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Hit & Run

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Darren

This movie was seen as part of Movie Fest, which was as much of a joy this year as it was last year. If not moreso.

Hit & Run is just a mess. It is, like its protagonists, all over the map. It never seems to be entirely sure of what it wants to be. Is it a high-speed comedy, a road-trip adventure, or a romantic comedy about an unconventional couple? There are moments when the film seems to work, on the verge of coming together, but there are also moments where it misses the mark completely. The problem is that Dax Shepard is not quite as versatile as Dax Shepard seems to think that he is.

Tres Bell?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Beau Bridges, bradley cooper, Charles Bronson, comedy, David Koechner, Dax Shepard, film, Gay Lesbian and Bisexual, history, hit & run, hit and run, kristen bell, los angeles, Memorials, Michael Rosenbaum, Movie, movie fest, non-review review, Performing Arts, Recreation, review, Romantic comedy film, Shepard, Tom Arnold, United States, Zac Efron | Leave a comment »

New Pitch Perfect Trailer…

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Darren

Universal just sent over the trailer for Pitch Perfect, the upcoming comedy starring Anna Kendrick. That alone makes it well worth a look, but I have to admit I am intrigued by the idea of a comedy set in the world accapella. I am not even being sarcastic – I adore that sort of music. I am not even kidding or being ironic. Check out Mike Tompkins’s work. Anyhaw, Pitch perfect is opening in October and is from director Jason Moore, who gave us the awesome Avenue Q. Anyway, here’s the trailer.