Comedy

Lemon

  • Title: Lemon
  • IMDb: link

“I knew you were crazy. I thought it was good crazy. I liked it. I liked it a lot; I thought it was fun. Now I know you’re bad crazy.”

Lemon DVD reviewWriter/director Janicza Bravo‘s oddball dark comedy stars Brett Gelman as a thoroughly-unlikable and constantly-sullen actor and theater teacher with a blind girlfriend (Judy Greer) who wants nothing to do with him, an equally-pretentious prize student (Michael Cera sporting some insanely ridiculous hair) with whom he has a very unusual relationship, and a dysfunctional family (Fred Melamed, Rhea Perlman, Shiri Appleby, Martin Starr, Hannah Heller, and David Paymer).

It’s hard to root either for a man lacking all empathy or against such a sad sack who is little more than the butt of life’s series of jokes. Isaac’s misadventures include belittling a theater student (Gillian Jacobs), fretting about the state of his relationship, accidentally killing his friend’s birds, awkward attempts to woo a new love (Nia Long), and taking jobs as the face of sexually transmitted diseases. More than a little self-indulgent, every character and event in the movie pushes the oddball style past credulity highlighting either the humor or misery of its protagonist (often both at the same time), which makes it difficult to take either that seriously.

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Suburbicon

  • Title: Suburbicon
  • IMDb: link

Suburbicon movie reviewI really wanted to like director George Clooney‘s Suburbicon. Sadly, the mix of dark comedy, murder, racial injustice, and social commentary flails about for far too much of its 104-minute running time without ever coming together. Clooney produces an only somewhat interesting film with admittedly intriguing pieces and strong performances, but sadly the film never really clicks.

The original script was written by the Coen Brothers years ago and Clooney and Grant Heslov are credited with changes. Suburbicon feels like a movie with four screenwriters as it struggles with a cohesive story and constant tone, often shifting violently one way or the next until the main plot ultimately kicks in.

Our story takes place in the all-white suburb of Suburbicon where the entire town is distraught over the arrival of the town’s first black family and far less interested in the horrific violence happening across the street to Gardner Lodge (Matt Damon) and his family when two intruders break in and hold the family hostage. The fallout from that night, and the reveal of what’s really going on in Gardner’s life, provides most of the tension to follow.

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The Big Bang Theory – The Proposal Proposal

  • Title: The Big Bang Theory – The Hot Tub Contamination
  • wiki: link

The Big Bang Theory - The Proposal Proposal TV review

Picking up immeadiately following the Tenth Season finale, The Big Bang Theory returns with Amy (Mayim Bialik) giving the expected answer to Sheldon (Jim Parsons) proposal. While there are certainly no suprises there, Howard (Simon Helberg) and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) deal with some unexpected news and Raj‘s (Kunal Nayyar) loneliness continues.

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The Big Bang Theory – The Complete Tenth Season

  • Title: The Big Bang Theory – Season 10
  • wiki: link

The Big Bang Theory - The Complete Tenth Season Blu-ray reviewThe tenth season of The Big Bang Theory marks a major change for the nerds as Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) begin living together apart from newlyweds Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Penny (Kaley Cuoco). Over the season the guys will work on a project for the Untied States Air Force (with mixed success), Leonard and Penny will re-do their I Do’s for family and friends, Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) will give birth, and Sheldon and Amy’s relationship will be tested leading into a surprise proposal to close out the season.

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Guilty Pleasure – Teen Wolf

  • Title: Teen Wolf
  • IMDb: link

Teen Wolf Blu-ray reviewAlthough it’s hard by any objective standard to classify 1985’s Teen Wolf as a “good movie,” the star vehicle for a young Michael J. Fox written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman is undeniably entertaining.

The story centers around average high school student Scott Howard (Fox) who discovers he’s a werewolf. Rather than hiding this fact, which gives him speed, agility, and power for the first time, Scott brings out the wolf on the basketball court making the sorry team instantly better, and turning himself into a celebrity – something his best friend Stiles (Jerry Levine) is only too happy to exploit for profit.

If you remove the werewolf, Teen Wolf is a pretty generic high school film. We get a good kid, the hot girl he lusts for (Lorie Griffin), her evil boyfriend (Mark Arnold), and the girl (Susan Ursitti) who likes him. Between scenes of the werewolf surfing on top of a van and playing basketball, there’s also Scott learning a life lesson about accepting himself for who he is.

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