Brittany Runs A Marathon (2019) - Movie Review

Y’know, for someone who claims to have an entire life philosophy based on making people laugh, I am remarkably out of step with the modern comedy scene. I don’t watch a lot of TV, so I’m not seeing the sitcoms that get these actors their first major platform, and what passes for stand-up nowadays is a bit… well, try-hard. As I’ve said in the past, I’d be fine with the whole ‘safe space to decry safe spaces’ thing is people were at least a little self-aware about it, and it feels like too many are banking on outrage over actually being funny nowadays.

At any rate, between all of this, I find myself questioning why I keep seeing certain actors popping up in comedy films. Actors like Jillian Bell, a comedian I don’t have any experience with outside of the films I’ve reviewed, and someone who has never really made her case as a recurring comedic presence for me. Until now, that is.

Rough Night (2017) - Movie Review

Scarlett Johansson is one of the greatest gifts to the SF umbrella that any self-respecting geek could ever ask for. Even if the merit of the works can be debated to the ends of the Earth like Ghost In The Shell and Under The Skin, her turns as part of the MCU stable and even Lucy have secured her place as an actress who is right at home with genre films. She’s even gone beyond live-action work with some honestly unprecedented voice work for Her and The Jungle Book, giving truly amazing performances in both; very few actors are able to translate that talent this effectively.

 

To put it simply, I have gotten to the point where I am truly excited to see whatever new film she’s attached to, knowing her verging-on-legendary pedigree over the last few years. So, how does she fare today when she steps out of that comfort zone into a ‘dark comedy’. Brace yourself for one of the most unfortunately apt titles of any film this year.

Fist Fight (2017) - Movie Review

 

Seeing everything that I can at the cinemas means that, whether I like it or not, I’m gonna have to subject myself to crap. I’ve come to terms with that; it’s part of the “job” description and the hate I end up generating serves its own therapeutic purpose. However, today’s film is an odd one with that in mind… in that I have been actively putting off watching this thing for a while now.

 

Maybe it’s because I know how Ice Cube movies of late usually turn out, maybe it’s because I have already shown a certain dislike for most of Charlie Day’s live-action filmography, or maybe the trailer just looked like garbage from the premise alone. For whatever reason, I kept postponing going out to see this one. Of course, emulating the feeling of those anxiously waiting for the appointment for their emasculation, I just wanted to get it over and done with because I’m fairly certain that the wait is going to be far worse than the act itself. And speaking of intense pain, let’s get into this thing already

The Night Before (2015) - Movie Review

  

Well… that last one didn’t go well. Maybe we need to push a little further past simple dysfunction and go head-first into insanity. After all, even more so than the grouchiness, Christmas’ simplicities have given way to quite a bit of eccentricity in retaliation. Die Hard is a quintessential holiday movie, Weird Al Yankovic’s doomsday-ready carols are being sung with gusto, and there’s even a film set to come out this year based on the Germanic Yuletide monster Krampus… that will hopefully hit cinema screens by the end of the year because, good God, I want to see a Christmas monster movie! I talked all about it a couple years back by highlighting a TV episode about a Bogan Genie Santa, in case there’s any more doubt on the issue. Anyway, for our second attempt at finding a decent Christmas movie, it’s time to revisit an old friend who nearly caused a world war (which, let’s face it, is still less ridiculous than being led by the Human Hairpiece) as we delve into another Christmas stoner flick. Yes, thanks to Harold & Kumar, this is a sub-genre that already exists.