Comedy

The World’s End

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The World’s End
  • IMDB: link

The World's EndWhen writer/director Edgar Wright works with the combination of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost good, and often hilarious, things are bound to happen. Although it might not quite reach the levels of hilarity in either Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, The World’s End doesn’t disappoint in providing plenty of big laughs in a story about old friends, a robot invasion, and lots and lots of beer.

Pegg stars as Gary King, the former leader of a motley group who have all moved on with their lives. Unable or unwilling to grow up, Gary has been left behind by his former friends and is obsessed with a desire to recapture the glory days of their youth – especially a magical night where the five friends attempted, but failed, to complete the Golden Mile (drinking a pint of beer in all 12 pubs in their hometown of Newton Haven).

One by one Gary cajoles, lies, tempts, and pleads with his old friends (Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan) to join him for one more night of debauchery which is interrupted by old arguments and alien robot replicants.

…

The World’s EndRead More »

The World’s End Read More »

Guilty Pleasure – Rhinestone

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Rhinestone
  • IMDB: link

RhinestoneLooking back at Sylvester Stallone‘s long (and checkered) film career it’s hard not to argue that 1984’s Rhinestone is perhaps the most ridiculous premise the actor ever signed-on for (which you consider movies like Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Lock-Up, and The Specialist is really saying something). Stallone stars as a New York cabbie who country star Jake Farris (Dolly Parton) bets her sleazy manager (Ron Leibman) she can turn into a country star in two weeks. If she wins Freddie agrees to cancel her contract, but if she looses she is looking at five more years working for the sleazeball on stage… and in his bedroom.

A basic fish-out-of-water story, Jake takes the musically inept Nick back home to Tennessee for a two-week crash course on country music where the two bicker and, you guessed it, eventually fall for each other. Writer Phil Alden Robinson would go on to pen Field of Dreams, Sneakers, and All of Me. Rhinestone is far from his best work but director Bob Clark does have the luxury of two charming stars to help sell the uninspired premise.

…

Guilty Pleasure – RhinestoneRead More »

Guilty Pleasure – Rhinestone Read More »

Take a Ride on the Silver Streak

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Silver Streak
  • IMDB: link

Silver StreakTaking Alfred Hitchcock‘s concept of a man in far over his head in North by Northwest to absurd levels, director Arthur Hiller’s Silver Streak provided not only an enjoyable comedic thriller but also the first opportunity to pair Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor on-screen together. And, once again proving my Train Theory (that all things being equal, movies with trains are better than similiar movies without), this is still their best collaboration.

When George Caldwell (Wilder) boards the Silver Streak, a train from Los Angeles to Chicago, on his way to his sister’s wedding, looking for no more than two days of relaxation and boredom he has no idea the journey he is actually embarking on. On the train he meets the lovely Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh) and during a romantic night in his cabin a rather drunk and distracted George sees the body of Hilly’s boss Professor Gierasch (Stefan Gierasch) fall from the roof of the train.

…

Take a Ride on the Silver StreakRead More »

Take a Ride on the Silver Streak Read More »

We’re the Millers

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: We’re the Millers
  • IMDb: link

We're the MillersDespite boasting four separate screenwriters who cobble together a script which teases (but doesn’t really deliver) an attempt to be edgy and cool, We’re the Millers is your predictable raunchy comedy featuring three unlikable characters and one idiot who all learn important life lessons before the credits roll. The result is an occasionally amusing by-the-book flick that’s far less cool than it wants to be.

Jason Sudeikis stars as a low-rent drug dealer who needs to come up with some cash fast after he’s robbed while trying to help out his dimwitted neighbor Kenny (Will Poulter). Owing nearly $50,000, his drug-dealing boss (Ed Helms in a role that requires him to be both funny and scary, only one of which he pulls off) offers David (Sudeikis) a way out by taking a trip down to Mexico and bringing back a small load of marijuana over the border. With no choice, David enlist the help of Kenny, a homeless girl (Emma Roberts), and a stripper (Jennifer Aniston) to pose as his family and help him drive the RV chock full of drugs back into the United States.

…

We’re the MillersRead More »

We’re the Millers Read More »