We seem to have lost the traditional romantic comedy, or at least the kind we used to receive, which is unfortunate because even though these kinds of films were not particularly innovative or groundbreaking, they were certainly extremely charming, and they brought out a familiar sensation of joy that is often missing from more contemporary…
Category: comedy
Rushmore (1998)
There was a time when Wes Anderson was not the overly-stylistic auteur who was known for his films that could be reduced to nothing more than just a bundle of quirks set to a retro soundtrack and an abundance of bright colours. I understand that I have often come across as being extremely critical of…
An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018)
A few years ago, I was one of the most ardent supporters of Jim Hosking’s solo directorial debut, The Greasy Strangler. It was a film that appealed to me based on my adoration for the trashy transgression of John Waters and his rebellious contemporaries in the underground film industry, as well as someone who really…
Juliet, Naked (2018)
Juliet, Naked doesn’t do or say anything we have not seen countless times before. In many ways, it is a traditional, by-the-numbers romantic comedy that we has been made so many times throughout the years. Yet, how is it possible that such a conventional film manages to be one of the very best of the…
The Tall Guy (1989)
A few years ago, when I was still a cinematic neophyte, I was at a second-hand bookstore and I found a book entitled Variety: Comedy Movies, a collection of capsule reviews written by the critics of Variety over the course of a few decades. At the age of only about thirteen, I didn’t care too…
Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (2018)
Gus Van Sant is as diverse a director as you can get because he has shown himself to be capable of making astonishing films and films so bad, they transcend the concept of mediocrity and become something unbearable. His most recent film, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot is somewhere in between, and…
Slice (2018)
Kingfisher is an ordinary town in the suburban Midwest. It is filled with hard-working folks who toil day in and day out to provide for their families in their working-class American lives. Kingfisher also just happens to be the most haunted town in America, and in an effort to allow the living and dead to…
Chimes at Midnight (1965)
You have to admire the sheer gall of Orson Welles – who else would dare become so dissatisfied with the limits of William Shakespeare’s work to go ahead and write their own versions of Shakespeare’s stories, using the Bard’s historically-resonant plays as a framework for their own vain lamentations of the reign of brutes and…
Eighth Grade (2018)
Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) is near the end of eighth grade, on her way to high school. She is charming, funny and intelligent, but also deeply insecure and crushed by inextricable loneliness. She has very few friends, if any, and the only other person who seems to notice her existence is her father, Mark (Josh…
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
I have a very difficult relationship with Wes Anderson. There are times when I wake up and consider him one of the most audacious voices in modern filmmaking, an essential visual artist who doesn’t make films – he composes them. There are other times when I think he is nothing more than a filmmaker who…
