Category Archives: Comedy

Bugonia

Bugonia                4 ½ stars

If you have ever seen a Yorgos Lanthimos movie you know you are in for something bizarre and odd. The Greek filmmaker also typically has something to say about the state of our society. Sometimes they can seem absurd, such as The Lobster where each person is turned into an animal if they don’t find their soulmate, or Poor Things involving transplanting a baby’s brain into an adult body. Sometimes they involve extreme torture and violence like The Killing of a Sacred Deer. In the case of Bugonia you get both. And some commentary on societal issues like conspiracy theories, our dependence on drugs and a collapsing society. It starts out as a conventional story. We see Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone of Birdman and La La Land), a CEO of a large pharmaceutical firm that develops miracle drugs. She is an expert on corporate double speak, making promises to the public and advocating for a family friendly culture for the employees as long as it doesn’t affect their work. Then one day she is kidnapped at her luxury home by two young men who tranquilize her and carry her off to the basement of their isolated house. (But first they have to shave off all her hair while she is unconscious and cover her in some white lotion.) It seems that Teddy (Jesse Plemons of The Power of the Dog and Killers of the Flower Moon), who works in packaging at Fuller’s company, has been down a rabbit hole on the internet for years and is convinced that aliens from space have infiltrated earth and are ready to take over the planet from humans. He believes that Fuller is one of the aliens disguised as human. He wants to get a confession from her and have her contact her spaceship to negotiate a peace deal and save humanity. He also holds a grudge against her because of some experimental procedures conducted on his mother that did not go well. Helping him in this quest is his somewhat dimwitted cousin, Donny (newcomer Aidan Delbis) who worships Teddy. This is where things may get tough for some viewers to watch. Fuller must endure being chained as a prisoner and tortured by electric shock while she does all she can to try to tell Teddy that he has it all wrong. She is just a human person trying to do what is right as a corporate CEO. But there is no convincing Teddy. He has done his research and is convinced that she is in fact an alien and he must save Earth. Fuller thinks he is crazy and must match each point coming from Teddy. The scope of the movie is mostly confined to these three characters and their interactions in the house or the headquarters of the resistance. Both Stone and Plemons give the roles everything they can, putting in some incredible performances. Emma Stone was all in for the movie after seeing the script despite the grueling scenes and losing her hair on screen. (Alien hair is a communication device in Teddy’s conspiracy filled world.) Lanthimos’ film, Bugonia says a lot about our world today, with the effect of the internet, inequality among classes and distrust everywhere. The film goes to some extreme places you wouldn’t expect, but maybe that is what should be expected from Lanthimos, who has put some crazy ideas on screen before. This is the fourth movie where he has cast Stone in a lead role, the others being The Favourite, Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness. These two obviously have a good working relationship. Plemons shows us a character filled with rage, lost in his misguided notions coming from the internet. Delbis who is autistic shows us someone who is not crazy but is taken advantage of by someone he trusts. Lanthimos brings them all together and once again creates a strange and troubling world out of his imagination.

Border

Border                                  4 ½ stars

The Swedish made movie, Border has to be one of the most unusual movies of 2018 or for that matter any year.  It concerns a young woman, Tina, who works as a customs inspector and possesses a most unusual and valuable talent.  She has the ability to smell emotions in people such as guilt, shame and fear which is instrumental in catching individuals trying to smuggle illegal goods into the country.  She even gets involved in a police investigation of a child trafficking ring.  Her unique qualities don’t end there though.  Tina’s appearance is especially striking as she has to be one of the most unattractive women ever to appear in film.  She has a protruding forehead and a very heavy jawline so one would always notice her in a crowd.  If I would have checked ahead I would have known that the film was nominated for the Academy Award category of Best Makeup and perhaps wouldn’t have been so surprised by her appearance.  Tina lives in her isolated shack of a house with her lazy boyfriend who likes to watch lots of TV and enter his dogs in dog shows.  Besides that she makes regular visits to her elderly father in a nursing home.  Then one day her world is changed forever when she meets a man on the job who resembles her in many ways including the facial features.  And she finds that her special skills don’t work on Vore which is very confusing to her.  As she spends more time with him she finds that they have much more in common such as an interest in walking through the woods, insects and worms and the occasional snack on maggots.  And that is far from the most bizarre thing about the movie.  As she makes a connection with Vore certain hidden aspects of her life become clearer to her especially when things get weird.  And then the movie gets even weirder.  And then when you think it’s as weird as it can get, it gets so weird that I can’t even describe it.  Something happens that I have never seen in a movie before and it might make you uncomfortable in mixed company.  It is certain that Vore has a very different take on people and the world than what Tina has ever felt.  Ultimately, I think the movie is about realizing who you are and finding your place in the world.  I know that despite all the weirdness I liked it.  I can’t spoil the surprises for you.  It will be more fun to find it out yourselves.

Corporate Animals

Corporate Animals                                           2 stars

Here is another of the movies I heard about at Sundance and was curious about.  Corporate Animals is a dark comedy about office politics by Patrick Brice, the director who brought us The Overnight.  Lucy (Demi Moore) is a self-absorbed CEO of a small company that is launching a new product: edible cutlery.  She is taking her staff of about eight people on a team building exercise in the desert in New Mexico.  The expedition guide, Brandon (Ed Helms) is in charge of leading the group.  Since Lucy wants to really challenge her staff she decides they should take the more dangerous path on their journey, leading them into a deep cave.  Once there the group becomes trapped underground after a cave in which also kills Brandon.  When it becomes clear that there is no way out the group descends into bitter accusations, fear and hate filled rants.  Revelations emerge of office affairs, corporate mismanagement and a little friendly cannibalism and a hallucinating assistant.  There were a few clever one liners, but the comedy got old after a while despite the film’s length of under 90 minutes.  Much of the movie happens in the dark making it hard to tell who is speaking all the time.  There are some good comedic actors including Isiah Whitlock, Martha Kelly, Dan Balledahl and Nasim Pedrad.  Look some of them up and you will probably recognize some.  For a really good time, look up Brice’s earlier creation, The Overnight , a much funnier movie.  Sorry, but I can’t recommend Corporate Animals.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse           4 stars

I made a real departure from the usual movies I see and took a look at Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, 2018’s animated version of the web slinging superhero from the Marvel universe.  I have not seen all of the Spiderman movies, but I’ve seen enough to be familiar with his story and some of his various enemies.  This animated movie bears little resemblance to the earlier live action versions and looks much more like a comic book, with its bright colors and fast moving action sequences.  It departs from the usual story as it creates a new Spiderman character in the form of a black teenager who gets his spider powers in the usual way, but is very unsure of himself through much of the film.  The story is quite bizarre with a large assortment of villains brought together by the sinister Kingpin who is conspiring to build a giant supercollider in order to kill everyone or some such plot.  It also involves a collection of other Spidermen gathered from alternate dimensions that are brought together to defeat the evil Kingpin.  One interesting one is Spider-Ham, a cartoon pig Spiderman (voiced by John Mulaney) who always has a clever wisecrack in any situation.  The movie collected some of the highest marks for an animated movie so I decided to finally take it in for a change of pace.  The story absolutely does not stick to the standard Marvel background.  It’s perfectly suited to the younger viewers out there.

Clueless

Clueless               4 stars

It’s the twenty-fifth anniversary of the nineties teen comedy, Clueless, so I decided to rewatch this classic.  The movie stars Alicia Silverstone as rich teen high school student Cher, who attends an upscale Beverly Hills high school, lives in a mansion with her lawyer father and spends her time getting the right clothes, convincing others to give her what she wants and hanging out with her upper-class friends.  Her best friend is Dionne (Stacey Dash), another rich girl.  The two of them are named after “great singers of the past who now do infomercials”.  She also likes to play matchmaker to the less fortunate like she does with two of her high school teachers (Wallace Shawn and Twink Caplan).  Her latest project is new student Tai (Brittany Murphy), a nerdy girl that Cher takes a liking to.  She quickly befriends the girl and seeks to get her matched up with the right boy.  One of the fun things about watching an old teen movie is seeing early roles of successful actors.  Here we have a young Paul Rudd playing Josh, Cher’s step brother and longtime friend.  There are also roles for young Donald Faison and Jeremy Sisto as high school students. New relationships form and are broken, and there is one of the usual teenage house parties that gets out of hand.  Ultimately, the characters will each end up with the right partner after going through some pain to get there.  Clueless was an enjoyable break from the reality of being stuck and home and all ages should enjoy it.  One interesting fact: The new movie Emma, has the same basic plot as Clueless and was apparently based on the movie!  Hello! As If!  Whatever!  Uh uh. No Way.

Damsel

Damsel                                 3 stars

I went looking for movies that premiered at Sundance Film Festival again and found Damsel, a comedy western made by the Zellner brothers (David and Nathan).  Previously, they brought us Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, a very quirky comedy.  Here we follow Samuel Alabaster (Robert Pattinson), a pioneer who has come out west to marry his sweetheart, Penelope (Mia Wasikowska) and is accompanied by Butterscotch, a miniature horse as a wedding gift.  Samuel has enlisted the service of Parson Henry (David Zellner, also the writer and director), a drunkard and a preacher, so that he can immediately marry Penelope.  The surprise is that this is not only a romantic journey, but is also a rescue mission as it seems that Penelope has been kidnapped and is being held captive in a cabin deep in the woods.  To give you an idea of the comedy of the movie, the opening scene of a pair of travelers waiting for a stage coach at an isolated station, where one of them loses his mind seems unrelated to the rest of the movie.  The characters play their roles seriously and very well, especially Pattinson and Wasikowska, so the comedy comes with the absurdity of the situations the characters find themselves in.  Just as you think what you just saw was strange, something even more peculiar will follow.  Besides the miniature horse, there is a perpetually bent rifle barrel still in use, an abundance of dynamite and the bizarre reactions of Pastor Henry who is always lost in his life journey.  The pace of the movie is rather slow and it has a type of comedy that may not be for everyone.  Robert Pattinson previously has starred in The Lighthouse and High Life showing he is equally comfortable in drama, horror and comedy.  And I am looking forward to seeing him in the upcoming sci-fi thriller Tenet!

Christopher Robin

Christopher Robin            3 ½ stars

Christopher Robin brings us a new chapter in the story of the boy who went on adventures in the Hundred Acre Woods with his slow witted friend, Winnie the Pooh and his many friends.  This Disney movie picks up the story thirty years later when Pooh seeks out Christopher (Ewan McGregor), now a grown man with his family living in London and working for a luggage company.  It’s a charming story with a good family message about friends supporting each other through their trials.  The animal characters are done with CGI effects that make them look like talking stuffed animals and they keep their familiar characteristics from the cartoons.  This animation is much preferable to the new trend in Disney movies that make animals look as real as possible.  The character of Eeyore, the depressed donkey is especially entertaining as he always puts himself down and sees the worst side of every situation.  Christopher Robin isn’t quite as good as the original animated movies based on A. A. Milne’s children’s stories, but it is entertaining.  The audience is probably older than the children that enjoy Winnie the Pooh as there is certainly a darker tone of Christopher dealing with his family and work troubles.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues                3 stars

It has been forty-one years since director Marty DiBergi brought us the documentary (or rockumentary) This is Spinal Tap that followed the legendary rock band Spinal Tap as they went on a meandering tour facing some rocky times and ended with a peculiar performance of their hit Stone Henge. The three rockers: Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls continued to perform, but eventually, fifteen years ago they split up and went their separate ways having not spoken to one another in all that time. But ultimately, these talents couldn’t stay apart and started to explore the possibility of returning to the stage for an ultimate performance. That’s where Marty picks things up and follows their journey once more. The resulting sequel captures many moments of them reuniting in New Orleans where Nigel, David and Derek discuss the future of the group and rehearse for the big show. (The house they choose to rehearse in is thought to be haunted and is open to tours.) There are certainly some familiar things about them that many can remember from the original documentary including their odd sound system (“It goes up to eleven!”) and the many arguments and conflicts between them. This time there is a foot pedal contraption that goes beyond ridiculous. David and Nigel once again start their comical open hostility over the chords in a song they are writing. They even get Paul McCartney, who stops by for a visit, to (accidentally) join the arguments! There are some familiar faces that they run in to including Bobbi Flekman “The hostess with the mostest” and Artie Fufkin. Their manager has passed away so now it is his daughter, Hope Faith who assumes the manager role. You may remember the trouble that the band had finding a drummer because they keep dying in peculiar ways. (We learn that they lost a total of eleven drummers.) This time around they find a very talented drummer named Didi Crockett who fills the role. There are many chuckles in the movie, but it’s not exactly gut busting. Back in the eighties the group had a real over-the-top approach to things and their music was actually good. Now the aging rock stars are shadows of their former selves, but still fun to have around. They perform some of their hits that include All the Way Home, Hell Toupee and Listen to the Flower People. Be sure to stick around till the end. Do you remember the mini Stone Henge in the original movie? Well, it makes a return appearance in the final act and it is a real showstopper for sure!

Colossal

Colossal                                1 ½ stars

Colossal received generally positive reviews from critics and I have to say that I just don’t get it. Colossal is not your typical monster movie even if it does feature a pair of gigantic creatures attacking buildings and killing people in the city of Seoul, South Korea. Gloria (Anne Hathaway at her best) is an unemployed party girl living with her boyfriend in New York City, who gets kicked out since the boyfriend can no longer put up with her irresponsible behavior. So she head back to her hometown and occupies her parents vacant house. She happens to meet an old childhood friend, Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) who takes pity on her and donates some old furniture to her and gives her a job at his bar. There are strange stories on TV and the internet about a giant creature, several stories tall that has been going on regular rampages in Seoul but they seem to be just background to the story of our two characters. That is, until Gloria finds out that the monster has this mysterious connection to her and only appears at a specific time in South Korea. As the story develops Oscar is revealed to have a damaged personality as he does things only a sociopath would do. Only then does the significance of the previously mentioned foreign giant monsters become clear. The rest of the movie becomes a battle of nerves between the pair as you wonder just how far they will go. Through much of the movie I was left wondering just where is this going especially when what you would think would be the center of attention, (the monsters) seem to be only a distraction, like people playing a video game. When Oscar’s personality and intentions became clear I thought a good write could make this a good story leaving out the monsters altogether. In spite of the good acting, I was left disappointed by this movie. I don’t know much about Nacho Vigalondo, the writer director, but apparently he is known for movies featuring characters with very twisted minds. I did see his science fiction movie, Paradise Hills last year which was a very bizarre film.

The Half of It

The Half of It                      4 stars

While looking for new and interesting movies I happened upon one on Netflix called The Half of It. This is a new variation on the Cyrano de Bergerac story set in a small town high school with the kids going through the tortuous path of looking for love. Here we find Ellie Chu, a 17-year old Chinese American who seems to be the only minority in school and has not made any friends. She is very intelligent and well read as she seems to know about the great philosophers and great books. She also plays the piano and guitar and can write songs. Ellie lives with her immigrant father in a train station apartment where they are in danger of having their power cut off since they are poor. So, it makes sense that she makes a little extra money by writing class essays for her classmates for a fee. Along comes Paul, a jock who plays on the football team and is a little dimwitted but very sweet. Paul needs Ellie to write a love letter for him to the girl he is infatuated with, Aster, and is willing to pay for it. Ellie is soon drawn into this scheme and is soon coaching Paul on subjects like great books, films and art, so that he will sound more interesting to Aster. This arrangement only becomes more complicated when we see that Ellie is also attracted to Aster, so when she writes things for Paul she is really writing about her own feelings. Of course Ellie and Paul become closer too through the experience as he appears to be her first real friend. Eventually, things spiral out of control when the truth of what is going on is revealed. The movie is based on the director’s own life experiences. Alice Wu has written a genuine film that deals with the subjects of race, religion, family traditions and sexual orientation that feels real for the most part. Later in the film there are situations that depend on manufactured coincidences that felt contrived which goes along with the territory of teen romances. Viewers will not have to be concerned about any uncomfortable scenes. There is nothing more graphic than an occasional kiss throughout the movie. The Half of It is one 2020 movie that I highly recommend.