Tag: Comedy

April 14, 2013

Louis C.K. – Oh My God!

Ever since Shameless slew us and landed him the position of the world’s most prominent comic Louis’ sorta-yearly stand up specials have become a big event in the comedy world. His last, Live at the Beacon Theatre made massive waves when he announced that alongside writing, directing, performing and producing the hour, as he does all his shows, he was also going to fund and funnel it out to audiences himself online; a plan that was met with a lot of great press and a lot more profit. Its interesting then that C.K. chose to shoot this special for HBO, using the more traditional model.

‘I love sitting. I’d take sitting and doing nothing over standing and fucking anyday.’

One would assume that the reason for this relapse is related to his taking a year off of Louie, his TV show; its obviously more relaxing to have someone else step-up and take on some of the responsibilities. The first thing that you notice a out this special is that Louis seems to have spent the advance that they afforded him on buying a new blue shirt to replace the old black one – shame then that he spills a drink on it midway through the set – but that besides that everything else about the production is identical to his prior work: from the pre-show sneak peek to the credit font this is a straight Louis C.K. Production. But what about the content? Oh My God is a fitting title for a follow up to Hilarious, what with both being exclamations one should let out during one of his sets, but does it stand up qualitatively to his biggest hit?

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January 4, 2013

Sleepwalk With Me

Sleepwalk With Me opens in a very interesting way with Writer/Director/Star and sort of Protagonist Mike Birbiglia turning from the toll booth at which he has stopped to drop in some coins towards the camera that is sitting in his passenger seat and speaks to it, telling it and us through it that now would be a great time to turn off our phones if we hadn’t already because the story is about to start and there’s nothing ruder than getting or receiving a text or call during a movie; a statement that he then strengthens by telling a terrific and truthful little joke about a time he was once in a cinema watching a movie like you are.

Breaking the fourth wall is nothing new for cinema, nor is meta all that meaningful on its own but the way in which Birbiglia goes about it here manages to be both. With these comments, and all the others that come in the car-based interludes, he isn’t simply acknowledging the existence of the audience and the reminding them of the fact that this is a film they are watching but actually putting himself on our side of the stage as well as on the center of it. The tale told in Sleepwalk is quite clearly that of his own life, his own successes and failures, and the protagonist he plays himself in all but a few letters so there is a poignancy in the way that he watches the story he wrote; it reflects the sort of wistful longing and self-reflection that is usually saved for a diary entry or suicide note and this makes watching the picture a potently personal experience.

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September 12, 2012

Ben & Kate – Pilot

There is a school of thought out there that says men and women can never really be ‘just friends’, that on one side or the other there is going to be some kind of attraction even if it is never acted on. Whether or not that is true in real life is uncertain, but it has almost become a given in this day and age of Television: the new Sherlock Holmes show Elementary cast a woman as Watson for sexual tension, Zooey Deschanel will sleep with nearly all of her platonic male pals by the end of The New Girl and hell, there was even a subset of fans who thought for sure that Walter White would hook up with Lydia in the finale because…well, because she was female. Because of that when we see a show titled something like Ben & Kate we assume it to be so because it tells the tale of their grand romance or some-such, but that couldn’t be further from the truth here. Men and women might be incapable of friendship, but not of family.

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September 8, 2012

The Mindy Project – Pilot

If you don’t regularly watch the U.S. version of The Office then you’re probably not overly familiar with Mindy Kaling, as I wasn’t prior to watching this pilot. The simplest way that I can think to sum her up for you folks is thusly: essentially she is a female Aziz Ansari.  Now before you start to cry racism I’m not simply saying this because of the color of her skin but because they share a rather specific comedy styling – a freaky fast delivery of off-beat observations in a highly energized, very highly pitched voice – and a love of the artist known only as M.I.A. (who coincidentally also shares a similar colored skin).

It’s essential that you know this going in because unlike most shows the star and concept of Mindy are very much the same thing. No-one ever calls the main character Mindy but as the title suggests this is very much her show and its style is very much a reflection of her personality; which as a non-fan is as much a compliment as it is a criticism.

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August 30, 2012

Humpday

The title of this film suggests something rather crude and center-aisle, a notion that its concept does nothing to dismiss: through a series of dares and moves of one-upsmanship two estranged straight male mates decide to make a pornographic movie together and neither wants to be the first to back out. So from the story synopsis it sounds like it should be a silly Will Ferrell / Zach Galifinakis comedy (and kind of was in the form of Zack and Miri Make a Porno) but there is a twist.

The pair aren’t simply making the porn for profit but for an underground competition, one that rewards artistic vision and integrity; they are trying to transcend the trappings of the genre by treating the topic with some reverence and that is just what Humpday does with its story, turning what should have just been another silly comedy into a surprisingly touching tale of real modern relationships.

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August 15, 2012

Trailer Trash: Seven Psychopaths

Let’s be honest here; you’ve either never heard of this movie or you already really want to see it and have been waiting four years to do so. Back in 2008 In Bruges hit the screens and surprised everyone with just how hilarious and yet heartfelt it was. Then last year came The Guard, proving that it wasn’t just the McDonagh name or the Irish accents that made In that much fun; it was the script and the stars that did that.

Thankfully then his second film, Seven Psychopaths has both: the film’s script was highly lauded and landed a place on the Black List (The semi-official ranking of the best un-optioned, un-produced screenplays floating around in the ether) back in 2008 and the stars… well they speak for themselves, or at least the trailer speaks for them so lets just look at that:

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August 6, 2012

The Campaign

The Campaign is probably the most powerful horror film that I have seen all year. You may well think that I’m joking here, that I’m playing with the irony of inverting genre’s but in this instance I’m actually not; I stand by that point like a Politician does a promise. In the simplest sense this film is good horror because it both shocks and sickens you several times a scene. It has you leaning forward dramatically in your seat whispering ‘Don’t do it!’ in your mind as certain scenes start to coalesce, then when it becomes obvious that they will in fact do ‘it’ you wither back against the headrest resigned, almost wanting to cover your eyes for what is to come.

But it doesn’t stop there, the film keeps pushing, unapologetically introducing unimaginably abject ideas and images into your mind without consent. Eventually it offers obvious catharsis, so you get up to leave the cinema feeling calm, but in the back of your mind that sense of malice remains. There is something haunting about the experience, of course it’s also hilarious, mostly hilarious in fact, but then you already knew that didn’t you? Honestly though with Ferrell involved I don’t see that there is all that much of a difference between the two genres except tome and technical execution, their tenors are twin.

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August 4, 2012

Safety Not Guaranteed

Aubrey Plaza is an actress who was typecast before she was ever given a role, for years now all of her screen-time has been spent playing a specific modern mindset more than characters of any kind. Somehow she was chosen to be pop-culture’s embodiment of contemporary cynicism, she scoffs and rolls her eyes like every teenager to ever exist and she does it wonderfully. It is this fact, alongside her considerable charm and talent, that makes her perfect for playing the lead in Safety Not Guaranteed. Here – similar to her previous best performance as April Ludgate in Parks and Rec - Plaza is not simply placed in the film to be the butt of easy jokes – a stereotyped sigh – but to subvert that status; she stands as both an emotional counterpoint t a different kind of crazy and as someone to be converted. Something made all the more interesting considering that she isn’t just, as usual, embodying disaffected youth here but the very audience in which you sit.

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July 8, 2012

Alight #1

Had a day off today and so another idea was given an overly quick first draft. This one is partly inspired by the current argument Australia and its politicians are locked in about Asylum Seekers, partly inspired by buddy cop movies and the style of the story was shaped by some of the cool and creepy tribal exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

I hope you’ll give it a read and that the dialogue in the second scene won’t stop you from reaching the third! Any thoughts/criticisms/catcalls are appreciated and will no doubt help when/if i get around to doing a second draft. Here goes…

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July 1, 2012

Ted

“I told you I don’t sound that much like Peter Griffin!” the titular bear declares during one of the films many drunken montages, an obvious nod to the fact that it is the same man dubbing both with his very distinctive tones; Mr. Seth McFarlane. It’s a throwaway line but also i feel, a fitting one and would have been regardless of the specific reference; “I don’t look anything like Brian,” would certainly still have sufficed. The point that McFarlane is trying to make with this moment – albeit the secondary point, the punchline takes priority – is nothing to do with his literal range of voices (a self-admitted weakness) but much more to do with his figurative one. People will come to Ted expecting to see a feature length Family Guy movie but in actual fact it is so much more than that and this is the admirable but ever apparent flaw in the film.

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