Category Archives: comedy

“What Men Want” Trailers and Poster

comedy, remakes, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Directed by Adam Shankman, What Men Want follows Ali Davis, played by Taraji P. Henson. She is a successful sports agent constantly kept on the sidelines by her male co-workers.

Ali is passed up for a rightful promotion, giving her an honest look at her success and future. She asks herself what she needs to accomplish success in man’s world.

By hook or by crook and a concoction from a wise witch or gypsy, Ali gains the ability to hear men’s thoughts. With her newfound power, Ali outsmarts her co-workers and races to sign the next basketball superstar.

The lengths and hurdles she goes through to pull it off will put her relationship with her best friends and a potential new love interest, played by Aldis Hodge, to the test.

Does this story sound familiar? The screenplay is by Nancy Meyers, who directed Mel Gibson in What Women Want. Released in 2000, the movie carries the same premise with Helen Hunt playing the love interest. Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Vuspa wrote the screenplay based on the story by Goldsmith, Vuspa, and Diane Drake.

Eighteen years later, What Men Want is more raunchy and ethnically diverse. Shankman is best known for directing John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, Christopher Walken, and Zac Efron in Hairspray.

Henson is a dynamic actress with a strong presence on screen. Her role as Katherine G. Johnson in Hidden Figures made the movie great. She recently made a massive impression in Tyler Perry’s Acrimony.

Also starring in What Men Want are Tracy Morgan, Richard Roundtree, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Josh Brener, Tamala Jones, Phoebe Robinson, Max Greenfield, Jason Jones, Brian Bosworth, Chris Witaske and Erykah Badu.

The first trailer is funny. Enjoy!

The following trailer is funnier. I laughed and laughed. This movie is for Girls Night Out. We all go to the movie theater together and bring the house down.

“The Favourite” – Oscar Winner Best Actress – Trailers, Clips, Featurettes, & Review

comedy, drama, true stories, , , ,

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite comes from a true story in early 18th century England. A frail Queen Anne, played by Olivia Colman, occupies the throne. Her close friend Lady Sarah, played by Rachel Weisz, governs the country in her stead. A new servant arrives named Abigail, played by Emma Stone. Her charm endears her to Sarah, but it looks like there is more to the story.

I saw the movie and enjoyed it. Coleman is brilliant and outshines all her co-stars. Though, each star in the film is stellar. The comedy is an undercoat of crude vocabulary and bizarre behavior. If you are of faint-heart, then don’t see the movie. My daughter and I went in the late afternoon, and the audience members were over sixty. My daughter and I were the only ones laughing throughout the movie. When the lights came up in the movie house, we saw shocked faces.

Don’t get me wrong; the movie is full of British humor and fantastic pacing. Both of us are glad we went to and saw the movie. The music is a bit odd. I am not quite sure of its purpose in the film.

Lanthimos is from Greece, and he earned award recognition for his movie The Lobster, which Coleman also stars. Coleman stars as Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s The Crown. She is replacing Claire Foy, who won a Golden Globe portraying the younger Queen for two seasons.

The featurette focuses on the director and his quirkiness and oddball way of telling a story.

The original screenplay is by Deborah Davis, and it appears this is her first time writing for a movie. Tony McNamara also contributed to the screenplay.

TheThe featurette shows more of how the interplay of the characters works. Though the clip talks about the female leads, we get to see some of the male leads and their odd behavior.

The cleverness of these scenes and the way it shows the characters manipulating each other is brilliant. “Sometimes, a lady likes to have some fun.”

The poster looks similar to the movie poster for the movie Lizzie. I almost thought them one of the same.

The second trailer is so much more fun to watch. It is funny. I hope the story arches and makes sense in the long run.


The movie trailer indicates the movie is a comedy of sorts. I didn’t even recognize Emma Stone.

The next three clips are featurettes concerning the costumes, the cast, and the production design. It is quite interesting to find out where they shot the movie and the color choices for the costumes.

The featurette covers the cinematography, which is fantastic, with wide-angle lenses. Robbie Ryan shares details of how he shot the wide-angle scenes while setting up each shot.

“Juliet, Naked” Trailer, Movie Clips, and Poster

based on a book, comedy, romance, , ,

Directed by Jessie Perez, Juliet, Naked follows Annie, played by Rose Bryne, the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan, played by Chris O’Dowd.  Duncan is not willing to commit to a relationship, get married, settle down, and have children.  Added to that, Duncan is obsessed with Tucker Crowe, played by Ethan Hawke, a faded, singer-songwriter.

Annie starts and unlikely transatlantic romance with Duncan after making an obvious cliche statement about his recent comeback song.  The trio conflict begins and the story unfolds.

The movie is based on Nick Hornby’s novel. Hornby two other books, About a Boy, and High Fidelity were both made into movies as well. He seems to capture the romantic tug with a spice of realistic comedy.

The movie credits a handful of screenwriters to adapt the book including Perez’s sister Evgenia. Evgenia has worked with her brother on another occasion with the movie Our Idiot Brother.

The movie is streaming and is available on Blu-ray and DVD. Now is your chance to see it or see it again.

The movie clip shows the dark side of Crowe with a conflict between Crowe and Duncan about to start. We also find out about Crowe’s several relationships resulting in children.  But, his son is such a cutie.

I like the flow of this next movie clip where we can see the chemistry formulating between the three characters.

The interesting movie clip is rough but spontaneous.

The trailer pretty much tells you the story without giving away the ending.

“The Old Man & the Gun” Trailers, Featurettes, and Poster

comedy, drama, true stories, , , , ,

Written and directed by David Lowery, The Old Man & the Gun is based on the true story of Forrest Tucker and his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public.

Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, and Sissy Spacek with Elizabeth Moss and Danny Glover as co-stars.

Lowery works as both writer and director on his films. He tends to work with Casey Affleck. His credits include A Ghost Story, Pete’s Dragon, and Ain’t Them Bodies Saints.

A great featurette about the director who also wrote the screenplay.

The “The Sundance Kids Reunited” is a great featurette. It is so cool to see a story like this in the film business.

The “Playing Icons” featurette is fun to watch because it tells the story and shows how fun the movie is to watch.

The movie trailer shows more of what will happen in the movie. The cast list is stellar.

The movie trailer tells the story pretty well, and I love the scenes with Redford and Spacek.

Night School Trailers, Featurette, Movie Clips, and Poster

comedy, , , , ,

Directed by Malcolm D. Lee, Night School follows a group of misfits who attend night school. They have a longshot of passing night school and their GED exam.

Kevin Hart headlines the movie with Tiffany Haddish, Rob Riggle, Taran Killam, and Romany Malco.

The movie trailer looks funny and the movie has potential.  Learning disabilities are synthetic labels that prove nothing. Don’t by into them when you see this movie.

The movie is streaming at Amazon or you nab the Blu-ray or DVD for a night of entertainment.

The next three movie clips are funny. I am not sure if the story is good, but these clips are fun to watch.

https://youtu.be/un4QpUvkzQA

The featurette explains the story and how each character relates to making the story happen.

“American Animals” Trailer, Featurettes, and Posters

comedy, drama, true stories, , , , , ,

Written and directed by Bart Layton, American Animals is a hard-to-believe but entirely true story. The movie follows four young men who attempt to execute one of U.S. history’s most daring art heists.

The movie focuses on two friends from the middle-class suburbs of Lexington, Kentucky. Spencer, played by Barry Keoghan, is determined to become an artist but feels short on the fundamental element that unites all great artists – suffering.

Spencer’s closest friend, Warren, played by Evan Peters, grew up thinking like Spencer. He believed that his life would be extraordinary and he would become unique somehow. But as they leave the suburbs for universities in the same town, the realities of adult life begin to dawn on them, and with that, the realization that their lives may, in fact, never be meaningful or unique in any way.

They are still unwaveringly committed to living out of the ordinary. Hence, they designed a barefaced theft of some of the world’s most valuable books from the special collections room of Spencer’s College Library.

The recruit has two more friends: accounting major Eric, played by Jared Abrahamson, and fitness fanatic Chas, played by Blake Jenner. Together, they modeled the heist from movies about heists where the gang methodically plots the theft and later fence of the stolen artworks.

Even though some of the guys start having second thoughts, they discern how the plan has taken on a life of its own. Layton’s skill comes into play by unfolding from multiple perspectives and innovatively incorporating the real-life figures at the heart of the story.

The movie trailer shows the silliness of the young men’s plan, but I am curious if they pull it off.

Here’s a featurette with director Bart Layton.

This featurette tells you about the character Chas.

“The Sisters Brothers” Trailers, Featurettes, Movie Clips and Posters

based on a book, comedy, drama, western, , , ,

Directed by Jacque Audiard,  who won the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Director 2018 for The Sisters Brothers. Based on Patrick Dewitt’s novel of the same name, the story takes place in Oregon in 1851 and follows two brothers, played by John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix, Eli and Charlie Sisters.

The brothers are hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss. The movie is a dark comedy with unique comedic elements. Audiard is best known for his Palme d’Or Winning Dheepan, which premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Another poster arrives.  The images of both brothers is an awesome visual with “Brothers By Blood, Sisters By Name” at the top.

The sarcasm in the “Wanted” featurette is so thick and bitting. I wonder if the movie flows the same way.

The “Story” featurette tells about the movie and the relationship between the two brothers. The more I see of the movie the more I want to see it.

The “Meeting Mayfield” movie clip shows the talented acting as well as the skillful camera work with snappy dialogue.

https://youtu.be/BQlB0hB3GYw

Here is the final trailer, and I like the style. The trailer tells us the movie is a true western about two brothers on a journey of retribution and redemption.

Each poster is quite different from the others. I like the one with the skull as a dust trail. The first one is too simple with just bold lettering. Event the different colored lettering doesn’t help because the stark poster says nothing about the movie.

“The Happytime Murders” Trailer, Movie Clips, and Posters

comedy, mystery, , ,

Directed by Brian Henson, who is the son of Jim Henson, who is the creator of the Muppets. His son is the only person who can get away with murdering the sweet and kind puppets in the world. Brian Henson helmed several Muppet movies. These movies are a complete opposite of The Happytime Murders starring Mellissa McCarthy.

The movie is sacrilegious, vulgar, and in the gutter. Parents are warned and leave your kids at home with the babysitter.

The story and screenplay by award-winner Todd Berger follow a murder mystery set in a world where humans and puppets co-exist, but puppets are viewed as second-class citizens.

When the puppet cast of an ’80s children’s TV show begins to get murdered one by one, a former cop Connie Edwards, played by Melissa McCarthy, who has since become a private eye, takes on the case. Edwards is a disgraced LAPD detective.

The movie clips show what the movie is like and, I must admit, I chuckled quite a bit when I watched these clips.  Hensen directs the actors to deliver the lines straight and not try to be funny, which works for me.  The puppets are so cute and funny looking.

https://youtu.be/99qtuBMeziU

https://youtu.be/HZfhPr5BCsk

https://youtu.be/eMI_yAXaGVU

For all those adults who grew up watching Sesame Street, the red band trailer may upset you or cause hysterical laughter. Either way, I am not surprised Big Bird, Kermit and Miss Piggy are not in the movie.  They would not lower themselves to this flagrant blasphemy of kids television shows.

“Destination Wedding” Trailer, Movie Clips, and Poster

comedy, legend, romance, ,

Written and directed by Victor Levin, Destination Wedding brings two actors together again socially awkward Frank, played by Keanu Reeves, and socially awkward Lindsay, played by Winona Ryder. While watching the trailer, I couldn’t help thinking that I had met people like Frank and Lindsay.

The movie joins them at the airport, and they go to a destination wedding. Being awkward, they don’t hit it off very well. Then, their journeys of self-discovery begin as they eventually realize they have a lot in common.

They find out they both hate the bride, the groom, the wedding, themselves, and, most significantly, each other. It is supposed to be a comedy.

Despite their lack of affinity for each other, they are forced together throughout the weekend. Because both are so similar, each other’s cynicism isolates them from the other guests. They continue to spar with each other verbally, and their hearts open up or quickly close. You have to watch the movie to find out.

Victor Levin is primarily a producer but has directed episodic television shows such as Mad About You. Destination Wedding appears to be his second major movie. His first movie is 5 to 7, which he also wrote.

Ryder is so funny in this movie. Reeves plays it straight.

The movie clips show Ryder at her best. Her timing is fantastic.

“BlacKkKlansman” Trailer, Poster, Featurette & Clips

based on a book, comedy, drama, true stories, , , ,

Co-written and directed by Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman was formerly called Black Klansman. The movie is based on the book by Ron Stallworth called Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime. The true story is a memoir of Stallworth, played by John David Washington, being the first black officer in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1978, he went undercover to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.

The Stallworth and his partner, played by Adam Driver, penetrate into the Klan. They reach the highest levels and are able to stop a takeover of the city. During his undercover work, he even managed to disruption and stop several cross burnings and other activities of the disreputable hate group.

I watched the movie last night with my family. We were entertained and enlighted on the craziness of bigotry and injustices in the late 70s. 

The fact that Jones won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, he wove a skillful story with talented actors playing real people in a messed up system. 

Driver, as a non-practicing Jewish cop going undercover in the Ku Klux Klan, is a story in itself. Washington, as the Black man in a world of bigotry even in the police force, holds an even keel to the harshness of his culture.

Jones takes the movie further at the end with clips of contemporary riots in the South. Though I understand his purpose of these final clips, their congruity with the original story is not comforting.

The Blu-ray and DVD hit the street and is available for streaming.  If you didn’t get a chance to see the movie yet, you can watch it in the comfort of your own home, and I recommend it. 

The cast also includes Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, and Harry Bellefonte.  Bellefonte’s seen is heartwrenching as he tells the story of the brutality of the South. 

The movie clip shows the comedic undertones.

Interesting movie clip shows how Spike Lee directed a serious comedy. The poster above is silly as well. The movie trailer shows how the movie was filmed in a 1970s style.  Obviously, it is a comedy with a strong message.