Category Archives: Comedy

The Grand Budapest Hotel review

Directed by Wes Anderson, Written by Anderson and Hugh Guinness, inspired by the writing of Stefan Zweig A new Wes Anderson film is always an event. The Texas-born filmmaker may be too precious for some, but show me one of his peers with such a distinctive, irrepressible visual and thematic style, a sweet-sad combination of nostalgia…Read More

Veronica Mars review

Directed by Rob Thomas Written by Thomas and Dianne Ruggiero By the will of Veronica Mars fans—"Marshmallows"—everywhere, we have a Veronica Mars movie. I love that crowdsourcing turned a low-rated but cult-beloved TV series that couldn't stumble past three seasons into a full-fledged feature film. Well, let me tell you with not a little bit…Read More

Frozen and The Lego Movie reviews

Frozen  Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee Written by Jennifer Lee, Story by Buck, Lee, and Shane Morris, adapting Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen Tom Whalen's super-cool poster The Lego Movie Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller Written by Lord and Miller, Story by Lord, Miller, Kevin Hageman and Dan Hageman I…Read More

How do I watch Woody Allen now?

Yesterday I sat down with an old friend. We talked about movies, as we sometimes do, and since we both grew up watching Woody Allen, we talked about the reasons he's been in the news lately. She said, "I can forgive a lot, but this is one thing where I'd leave him on a desert…Read More

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty review

Directed by Ben StillerWritten by Steven Conrad, adapting the book by James ThurberI was a little late to this Christmas season-release, so I'd read a few mixed reviews in advance. My expectations had been adjusted, accordingly, which I think was a good thing. I recognized the many places where it doesn't work, while appreciating the…Read More

The Wolf of Wall Street review

Directed by Martin Scorcese Written by Terrence Winter, from the Jordan Belfort book A wildly funny film, The Wolf Of Wall Street probably won't be considered one of Scorcese's great works for a couple of reasons. 1) It revels in excess at a time when that is particularly unfashionable, five years since those Wall Street…Read More

Nebraska review

Directed by Alexander Payne Written by Bob Nelson The other day I lauded the Coen Brothers (and their new movie) for a particular brand of Americana, comparing their work with that of their American filmmaking brethren. I really should have included Alexander Payne to that list. Consider his recent features: Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt,…Read More

Saving Mr Banks review

Directed by John Lee HancockWritten by Kelly Marcel and Sue SmithIn order to enjoy Saving Mr Banks, you'll need to check your skepticism at the cinema door. I'm not saying it's impossible, and I'm not saying it's recommended. It's your call.For me a little skepticism is baked in. It makes me recognize that there's something…Read More

My thoughts on Love Actually

Directed and Written by Richard Curtis | 135 min | Crave and Amazon Prime Earlier this month, one of my favourite film writers, Christopher Orr of The Atlantic, wrote a piece excoriating the Richard Curtis film Love Actually. It generated quite a bit of discussion, which Orr kindly gave a nod to in his follow-up…Read More

Inside Llewyn Davis review

Written and directed by Joel and Ethan CoenI love the Coens. They've carved out for themselves a wonderful, peculiar corner of Americana. No matter the subject, their films exhibit an intellectual, anarchic wit that's all their own. Only a handful of their peers, US filmmakers and writers—maybe Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Nicole Holofcener, Charlie…Read More