Category Archives: comedy

“Get Santa” Must-See Christmas Movie

children, comedy, family, holiday, movies, , , , , , ,
GetSanta

I knew I was in for a treat when I saw Ridley Scott as executive producer in the opening credits of Get Santa.  

Jim Broadbent plays Santa, who ends up in jail because he tried to release his reindeer from the animal shelter. How they got into the animal shelter is about as sane as the movie gets.

The movie is a bit crazy and fun to watch compared to most traditional Christmas movies that are about the meaning of Christmas. Some are set around Christmas but really have nothing to do with the holiday. On the odd occasion, Hollywood releases a movie about the spirit of Christmas like Miracle on 34th Street,  A Christmas Carol, or It’s a Wonderful Life. Get Santa touches on the spirit of Christmas, but presents the story in a refreshing, hilarious and playful way.

Written and directed by Christopher Smith, Get Santa is strictly a British movie. The tale is filled with dry humor, in which Santa asks for help from a young father, Steve, played by Rafe Spall, and his son, Tom, played truthfully by Kit Connor. Santa needs them to go to the North Pole, ask the Elves to help them get the reindeer back to his sleigh. Then, Steve, who just finished serving time in jail, can help Santa break out of jail and deliver the presents to all the boys and girls around the world before Christmas.

The movie is full of crazy, offbeat characters that keep the story moving along.  I had a great time watching it with my family. Broadbent is a master at his craft. He plays the most believable Santa I have seen in a long time.  Not the usual Christmas sentiment, but still, the message is clear: believe in Santa, so get a copy or watch it on Netflix.

Stewart and Eisenberg in “American Ultra”

action, comedy, movies, science fiction, , , , ,
americanultra

Directed by Nima Nourizadeh, American Ultra follows Mike Howell, played by Jesse Eisenberg. He is a clerk at an all-night convenience store in rural West Virginia.

He is laid back because he smokes his pot and spends a great deal of time writing a graphic novel about a superhero monkey. Phoebe, played by Kristen Stewart, is his anchor. She is sweet and loving as his girlfriend, while she accepts his unconventional outlook on life. It’s all too perfect for Mike. Something is amiss, not quite right.

Mike is part of a failed experiment to form a force of super-soldiers.   Victoria, played by Connie Britton, ran the experimental program and decided to shut it down after the super-soldiers exhibited severe psychological side effects. She let Mike live and gave him a new identity after erasing his mind, then adding new memories.

Victoria discovers that Mike is set to be exterminated by an associate, Adrian Yates, played by Topher Grace. Victoria shows up at Mike’s workplace, says a coded phrase, and reawakens his previous training. Mike catches Yates’ team trying to bomb his car. Mike becomes a super-soldier once again. The movie takes off in an R-rated fashion with action-packed combat and brutal overkills.

The movie shows tenderness and some humor. It is not super funny, but laughing is part of watching the movie. A neat and surprising twist at the end wraps up the movie nicely. The movie is not your typical action story, but it is pleasurable to watch and is entertaining. If you are a Stewart or Eisenberg fan, then you will definitely like the movie.

“The End of the Tour” Based on a True Story

book, comedy, drama, legend, , , ,
The End of the Tour

Directed by James Ponsoldt, The End of the Tour brings to life the true story of 1996 when Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky, played by Jesse Eisenberg, and writer David Foster Wallace, played brilliantly by Jason Segel, hang out together for five days.

Some might call it an intellectual movie, a road movie or a dramedy.  The movie begins in 2008, when we are informed that Wallace has committed suicide. Lipsky is invited to present a tribute on NPR.  Here, he slowly flashes back to 1996, when Wallace’s book Infinite Jest was released to worldwide acclaim, including a citation in a well-read magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.

Lipsky thinks it would be a great idea to interview Wallace and pitches it to his editor. He agrees that it is about time Rolling Stone did a piece on a gifted writer, and off Lipsky goes to Ohio for his interview.  How the story plays out is what the movie is all about, and I would rather not spoil it for you. Though there are some interesting points about the movie, I’d like to point out.

The movie is based on Lipsky’s memoir, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself.  Published in 2010, the book was well-received by his peers.   Wallace and Lipsky hit it off right away and engage in philosophical conversations about loneliness, love, writing, fame, and the meaning of life.

In other words, they spend time looking for the answers to life that plague them.  Clearly, the movie is not for everyone. It lacks the action-packed drama that populates our movie theaters today.

Jason Segel is very good as Wallace, and this role is quite a contrast to his other characters in movies like The Muppets and The Five Year Engagement. Watching him in this movie is pure pleasure because there is so much depth to Wallace as a novelist, short story writer, essayist, and college professor.

The Danny Elfman soundtrack is brilliant and enhances the story.  Elfman adds a bit of spice to the movie with songs from REM and Tindersticks, an English indie rock band.

If you don’t know about Lipsky and Wallace, then it might be difficult to understand and follow the movie.  It is worth watching, though, for the acting is great, including the supporting actors.

Kids Movie “Huevos: Little Rooster’s Egg-Cellent Adventure”

animation, comedy, family, movies, , , ,

Huevos: Little Rooster’s Egg-Cellent Adventure, directed by Gabriel Riva Palaico Alatriste, is available in Spanish and English as A Rooster With Many Eggs.  The animated movie isn’t a compelling story, but it’s not really bad either.  The characters are lovable with lots of slapstick humor.  The story takes a unique approach, being lively, entertaining, and mildly titillating, without taking itself too seriously, and a lot of fun with innuendos and double-entendres.

The movie follows an apprehensive little rooster named Toto, voiced by Bruno Bichir. He is challenged to confront and handle an evil rancher. He threatens to purchase and tear down Toto’s family farm. The farm has been in the family for generations. Toto’s challenge is to fight Bankivoide, a mammoth rooster voiced by Sergio Sendel. The cockfight will end with the winner-take-all stakes. Feeling the pressure of such an unconquerable task, Toto cannot face the ordeal alone, so he asks his pals for help. Strangely, his pals are a frog, muchos huevos and a strip of bacon. Can they conquer Banki and keep his family’s farm?

As mentioned earlier, the movie is filled with innuendos and, to some extent, racy humor compared to a customary animated feature. Easily, the Spanish jokes are lost in translation, since they are primarily written for a Mexican audience.  As an English speaking viewer, I still found a genuine amount of jokes that hit my funny bone. The characters are over-the-top and ludicrous, but their charm is their saving grace. Such as the favorably intended frog, he earns many laughs.

Bogdanovich’s “She’s Funny That Way”

comedy, legend, movies, romance, , , ,
She's Funny That Way

She’s Funny That Way is a good movie, coming across sometimes funny and sometimes serious, but has a great cast that keeps the show on the road.

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, who helmed such winners as Paper Moon and The Last Picture Show, does a fine job with this movie as it seeks an amicable ending.  Another favorite of mine, Wes Anderson, who directed such witty movies as The Grand Budapest Hotel and Fantastic Mr. Fox, is one of the many producers of this movie.

It starts off with a sit down interview with Izzy, played by Imogen Poots, who is a hooker-turned actress and now successful. She talks about her rise to stardom and her first Broadway role.  She reflects on the people involved in her breakout role, and the movie cuts to that time on Broadway, where they are thrown into a state of romantic uncertainty and confusion.

A salacious, but bleeding heart director, played convincingly by Owen Wilson, hires Izzy, a former hooker he solicited, now turned actress, to star alongside his wife, played humorously by Kathryn Hahn, and his wife’s ex-lover, played by Rhys Ifans. Playing on the outer edge of this confusion and adding a lot of hilarity are Jennifer Aniston, Cybil Sheppard and Will Forte. There are also numerous cameos, including Tatum O’Neal, Quentin Tarantino and Peter Bogdanovich himself.

The movie really gets fun when the director’s wife (Hahn) discovers his fetish for soliciting and then helping call girls. It comes to light when one of the more recent call girls he helped, Izzy, auditions for a role in the play he is directing. She does a fantastic reading because she is reading for a call girl, typecasting. A hilarious scene follows where his wife, who wants to get back at her husband, rehearses with the lead actor (Ifans) in a passionate love scene, and she makes real sexual advances toward him. The director tries to stay professional, as her husband is jealous. I was laughing at his reactions, so funny all the way through, and Wilson is hilarious.

Jennifer Aniston plays someone that I have never seen her play before, an unlikable character, so I was uncomfortable with it at first. She does a great job of being the typical psychologist who totally makes the patient feel inadequate and weak. Adding to that, in their face, telling them what is wrong with them. Aniston is great and funny.

There are so many good qualities in this movie. The reason I really enjoyed it is that the director, Peter Bogdanovich, brought together all these fine actors, some of whom I had worked with before. He is such a wonderful director, and I am delighted to see him working again.

“What We Did on Our Holiday” Scottish Comedy

comedy, holiday, movies, , , , , , , , ,
whatwedid

There are several things that I really liked about What We Did on Our Holiday. It is a Scottish comedy, and it takes place in the Scottish Highlands.

The subtle jokes are funny, but you have to be a Scot or familiar with the culture to really understand them. The movie follows three children of estranged parents.  All played wonderfully by Emilia Jones, Bobby Smalldridge, and Harriet Turnbull.

The movie has two directors, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. After the notable success of their BBC series Outnumbered, they weave an unsteady story about a family visiting their children’s grandfather, played truthfully by Billy Connolly. He is dying of cancer, so his whole family is celebrating his 75th birthday with a huge weekend bash as a final good-bye.

The parents of the three children, Doug, played by Harry Potter’s (David Tennant), and his wife Abi, played by Gone Girl’s Rosamund Pike, are divorcing and hope to keep it a secret from the rest of their family. They tell their children not to let anyone know about their pending divorce while visiting them over the weekend. Keeping a secret or lying about one’s parents affects the children, and they end up telling their grandfather the truth.

The parents are constantly battling over issues such as telling the truth, even if the truth is sad or shocking.  It is not just Doug and Abi who are having a rough time.  The children’s aunt and uncle (Doug’s brother and sister-in-law) are going through some rough times in their marriage as well.

The story really gets interesting when the children go to the beach with their grandfather, and he passes away there. Before he passes away, he tells them he is a descendant of the Vikings, and he wants to be burned out at sea as his Viking ancestors did a long, long time ago.

So, the oldest daughter goes back to the house to tell her parents that her grandfather has passed away. But their parents are arguing, as is the rest of the family. They are so busy arguing that they don’t even know the daughter is there and needs their attention. She decides to go back and handle the remains of her grandfather instead. The children honor his wishes and burn him at sea like a Viking, with repercussions in the 21st Century Scotland.

Other theatrics involving the repercussions of the Viking funeral and other family problems are quite funny. The fast-paced editing keeps the story moving and ties together nicely, like the ending of a Scottish tale.

“While We’re Young” Driver, Seyfried, Stiller and Watts

comedy, drama, indie, movies, , , , , , ,
while you young

Director and writer Noah Baumbach is known for intriguing movies like Francis Ha and Greenberg. His movies take the bite out of seriousness by intoxicating them with a light humor.

In While We’re Young, we meet Josh, played brilliantly by Ben Stiller, who is teaching a class on documentary filmmaking.  He is a successful documentary filmmaker, yet he has an unfinished documentary film that he has been working on for a decade. He is unwilling to accept help from the most talented people in his life – his wife and father-in-law – in completing his film, which is his downfall.

He is befriended by a 20-something couple after class and is swindled into having dinner with them, and his wife, Cornelia, played lovingly by Naomi Watts.  Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried) become fast friends with Josh and Cornelia.

So, here we have a couple in their forties and a couple in their twenties becoming best friends. The older couple is set in their careers as filmmakers, while the younger couple is not quite clear. We know Jamie wants to be a filmmaker, but Darby’s role is unclear, which should be a hint to the older couple that all is not up and up with the younger couple.

Jamie begins feeding off Josh in hopes of using him to rise to the status of celebrated documentary filmmaker. Josh slowly figures out what Jamie is doing, but it is too late, and all hell breaks loose when Josh and Cornelia come to terms with Jamie’s machination plan.

Charles Grodin plays Cornelia’s father as a celebrated filmmaker in his own right. I am impressed with Grodin’s underplaying the part and enjoyed his moments in the movie.

We are fortunate to have some name droppers for the secondary characters. Dree Hemingway, who is the great-granddaughter of Ernest, plays Jamie and Darby’s roommate and production assistant. Beasty Boy, Adam Horovitz plays Josh’s best friend Fletcher, while Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary plays an interview subject for the documentaries.

The humor in Baumbach’s movie is problematic and gross.  The most impressive part of his movie is the issues of ethics, morality, and friendship within the film industry.

“Gomer Pyle” Entertains Even Today

classic, comedy, legend, television, , , ,
gomerpyle

Gomer Pyle is a classic television series that meets the needs of good programming on television today. As a kid, I savored the show while watching it with my family. The earlier seasons of all the episodes are so entertaining.

The first episode to watch, if I were you, is the series pilot that was spun from The Andy Griffith Show. In this episode, we watch as Gomer (Jim Nabors) enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps. Andy is worried about Gomer because he doesn’t think he will fit in with the troop. He even hangs around waiting to give him a ride back home, which never happens and a great show is hatched.

The DVD set is almost perfect in picture and sound quality, which is worth the price I paid. If you like great, wholesome stories, then you will enjoy watching each episode with people of all ages. I found these shows had great laughs and tons of humor. The huge DVD case contains all five seasons of Gomer Pyle (Nabors), a naive country boy who leaves his hometown of Mayberry to join the U.S. Marine Corps. Gomer is a perpetual, wide-eyed, innocent young man who gets on the nerves of his tough, loudmouthed sergeant, Vince Carter (Frank Sutton). The complete series also comes with special features, including commentary from Nabors.

All I can say is these kinds of television shows are obsolete. For people like me, who know about these shows and understand their value, I can’t express how much they can be enjoyed. Yet, they may be dated and silly or just plain corny. Still, you should take the time and watch them. You will have great, clean laughs.