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Entries in comedies (13)

Tuesday
Nov162021

Red Notice: just enough to press play

by Elisa Giudici

As early as the prologue, Red Notice sets the bar so low that you instantly know to shut up and meekly accept every absurd thing it gives you. When an adventure movie starts with Marcus Antonius gifting his future bride Queen Cleopatra with 3 Fabergé jeweled eggs around 1000 years before Gustav Fabergé himself came to the world, you know realism is not high on the list of the movie's priorities. Not a priority at all, whether in the past or the present. Five minutes later we are introduced to Dwayne Johnson's FBI criminal profiler John Hartley. Sporting a black turtleneck (and later a silk patterned scarf), the notion of The Rock being a criminal profiler is so improbable that the screenplay mounts a preemptive defense. "You don't look like one".

"I get that a lot" replies The Rock, introducing us to a parallel world in which a lot of characters are nonsensical in service of an action-comedy about art thieves and double plays.  This is the kind of movie in which the audience will likely forgive anything, provided they are offered some spectacle, a few good liners, and chemistry between glamorous supertstars. Unfortunately, Red Notice lacks almost any of these elements...

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Monday
May132019

Doris Day (1922-2019)

by Nathaniel R

"Legend" and "Icon" and "Classic" are all overused words in showbiz prose, and we're as guilty of anyone at letting those words fly out with abandon. But they're nothing like overstatements when it comes to the career of Doris Day, one of the 20th Century's most beloved and successful stars. She began her career as a teenage big band singer and nine years later debuted on the big screen in her most regular genre, the romantic comedy (with or without songs) via Busby Berkeley's Romance on the High Seas (1948).

She was an instant hit with audiences but it took a few more years for her true classics to emerge...

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Sunday
Oct072018

Catch-Up: A Simple Favor, The Children Act, Colette

by Nathaniel R

So as not to get ANY further behind on reviewing and such -- you wouldn't believe my calendar right now -- here are quick takes on four  movies we barely said anything about, the first of which you should absolutely make time to see.

A Simple Favor (Paul Feig)
Synopsis: Mommy vlogger Stephanie's (Anna Kendrick) new best friend, chic enigmatic Emily (Blake Lively) goes missing then turns up dead... or does she?... in this twisty genre mashup. 
Capsule: Half comic thriller. Half campy mystery. Half bad girl dress-up fantasy. The math doesn't add up, I'm aware, but it's all enjoyable. The leading ladies are deliciously inspired, marrying all the disparate tones with as much ease, flair, and detail as the costumes, chic soundtrack, and aspirational production design. Makes a solid case for itself as the year's most delightful surprise...

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Tuesday
May292018

"So how was that for you?"

When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars...

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Sunday
May272018

Box Office: Solo Flies Low, Binoche Charms, and Book Club Holds.

by Nathaniel R

Holiday Weekend Box Office Estimates
(May 25th-27th)

W I D E
800+ screens
L I M I T E D
excluding prev. wide
Solo: A Star Wars Story Disobedience
1.🔺Solo $83 *NEW* REVIEW, BEHIND THE SCENES
1. 🔺 RBG $1.1 on 415 screens (cum. $5.6)  REVIEW
2. Deadpool 2 $42.7 (cum. $207.4) 2. Disobedience $368k on 224 screens (cum. $2.5) REVIEW
3. Avengers Infinity War $16.4 (cum. $621.6) REVIEW 
3. 🔺 Pope Francis - A Man of His Word $290k on 385 screens (cum. $1)
4. Book Club  $9.4 (cum. $31.8) REVIEW
4. 🔺 First Reformed $282k on 29 screens (cum. $425k) REVIEW
5. Life of the Party $5.1 (cum. $39.1)
5. 🔺 How Long Will I Love U $210k on  23 screens *NEW*

 

These numbers will go up given that this weekend is extra long and there's still Memorial Day monday in which families are free to see movies if they'd like. But the numbers won't go high enough for Disney's taste. Now, $83 million in one weekend is nothing to scoff at but for a film within the Star Wars saga it's surprisingly low. Lots more on multiple films after the jump...

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