Posts Tagged ‘ comedy ’

1999′s Lake Placid was an unusual movie from its beginnings.  It’s a star-studded black comedy about a giant crocodile terrorizing a small lake community in Maine featuring a flamboyant, wealthy professor with a passion for crocodiles in Hector Cyr (Oliver Platt), a common-sense, polite and gentlemanly local sheriff named Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson), Jack Wells (Bill Pullman) a rough-and-tumble member of the Maine Fish and Wildlife Service, and Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda), a professor of paleontology with a New York City-based natural history museum.

1.  Definitely, Maybe

Written and directed by Adam Brooks whose previous work is predominantly writing and includes such titles as Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Wimbledon, this movie stars Ryan Reynolds, An Nguyen, Sakina Jaffrey, and Dana Eskelson in a romantic comedy about a political consultant living in Manhattan in the midst of a divorce who looks to his past from his beginnings through his work with the Clinton presidential campaigns and becomes enveloped in a surprisingly complicated relationship with a woman named Maya in the process.

The movie has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA

2.  Step Up 2 The Streets

Virtually unknown director Jon Chu brings us this latest dance movie nightmare which features an essentially no-name casts.  He tries to tell us the story of two people studying at the Maryland School of Arts who develop a romance through their dancing.  It’s cliched and more than that, it’s virtually guaranteed to be terrible.

It’s been rated PG-13 by the MPAA.

3.  The Spiderwork Chronicles

Director Mark Waters who previous works include Just Like Heaven, Mean Girls, and Freaky Friday, now brings to the audience a story about a mother, her twin sons and daughter who are pulled into a magical world of fairies and wonder, featuring Mary-Louise Parker, and Martin Short, among some others and a good deal of relatively unknown actors.  This should make for a charming family movie as long as it does not simply repeat on the recent magically-themed movies and adds something new to the mix.

It is rated PG by the MPAA.

4.  Jumper

Jumper looks like a very intriguing addition to this week’s releases utilizing a skilled cast and director Doug Liman whose previous work includes , The Bourne Identity, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.   in Jumper a genetic power permits a young man to teleport himself anywhere and discovers that this gift has been known to some people for centuries, but whose existence is seen as a threat.  In discovering his ability he finds himself enmeshed in a war between those who can jump and those aiming to suppress them.  An interesting cast finishes out the picture including Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson, Diane Lane, Samuel L. Jackson, and Tom Hulce.  This movie sounds very intriguing, the director has a history of producing quality thrillers and it includes a cast that’s incredibly skilled.  I expect very good things of this picture.

5.  Diary of the Dead

George A. Romero returns to the big screen as the writer and director of this film having established himself as a legend and the pioneer of the zombie movie genre.  in Diary of the Dead he pits a group of film students making their own movie about zombies against real-life zombies intent of consuming them.  Pay attention for voice cameos from legends Stephen King, Simon Pegg, Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo del Toro and Wes Craven as news anchors in the picture.

This movie is rated R by the MPAA.

6.  The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

This foreign-release originally titled Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias, O has received very positive ratings based on its previous release and promises to be a very strong picture.   It is directed by Cao Hamburger and features a cast which would be unknown to the US market, telling the story of a young boy in Brazil in the 1970s.  Just before the beginning of Brazil’s involvement in the World Cup, Mauro’s family packs their things and flees, leaving Mauro in the care of a Jewish family and promising to return before the first game in the World Cup in which Brazil will be involved.  During the course of his stay he develops many friends and is an unfortunate witness to the brutal military takeover of the government, seeing for himself in the streets the violence, repression and brutality.

It has been no rating as far as I can discern from the MPAA.

Breast Men is directed by Lawrence O’Neil and aims to tell the story of the two men responsible for creating and marketing the silicone and saline breast implants.  Loosely based on the real story Dr. Kevin Saunders (David Schwimmer), while studying cosmetic surgery under Dr. William Larsen (Chris Cooper) begins to think of cosmetic surgery not just as something re constructive, but also as something that may be able to enhance a woman’s self-image.

1.  Fool’s Gold

The most well-known and predictable of this week’s releases is a romantic comedy starring Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, and Donald Sutherland.  Directed by Andy Tennant whose previous credits include Sweet Home Alabama, Fools Rush In and Hitch, this movie tells the story of a married couple who discover rumors of a missing treasure and take off in search of it and in doing so renew their strained romance.

It has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA.

2.  The Hottie and the Nottie

Director Tom Putnam teams up with Paris Hilton, Joel Moore, and many other B-list celebrities to tell the story of a young man who travels across the country to woo the woman he’s loved since he was a teenager and is then faced with the problem of her best friend who despises him.  During the course of his work to woo the woman of his dreams he is forced to re-evaluate that because of the changing relationship of him towards the best-friend.  This movie looks like something that should justifiably have gone direct-to-video and it is advisable that if you have any interest in seeing this movie, at least skip the theater and wait for its release into the video market.

It is rated PG-13 by the MPAA.

3.  Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

Writer/director Malcolm D. Lee brings us this story of this movie after an illustrious career which has included Roll Bounce and Undercover Brother.  I wouldn’t expect much from this, but the story is said to be that a talk show host who is immensely successful in Los Angeles leaves his life to reunite with his family in the south.  The cast includes the most obvious choices for a movie with these connections, including: Martin Lawrence, Cedric the Entertaine, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Mike Epps.  Perhaps most surprising is that James Earl Jones will be playing the father and that may be enough to push this movie from a mediocre cookie-cutter of a plot into something approaching enjoyable.  I still wouldn’t get your hopes up, though.

This movie has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA.

4.  In Bruges

Initial reviews of this picture indicate that is is phenomenally good.  In Bruges, written and directed by Martin McDonagh is a crime thriller set in the Belgian city of Bruges where hit men have been sent to carry out a murder on behalf of a London gangster.    The tourism industry, Flemish charm, and well-preserved medieval architecture begin to make their time in the city quite surreal as they begin to enjoy their surroundings and have trouble remembering to complete the task which was the reason for their being sent to Bruges.  It is a darkly comic look at the lives of these two characters ensconced in a well-preserved historical setting of Europe and their development as human beings sent to do an awful thing and changed by the beauty that they encounter.  It stars Elizabeth Berrington, Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes, and Brendan Gleeson and the early buzz is that this is one of the best movies to come out so far this year.  See it if you’re fortunate enough to have it released in your market!

It is rated R by the MPAA.

5.  Wild West Comedy Show

Directed by Ari Sandel Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days and 30 Nights – Hollywood to the Heartland chronicles the journey of Vince Vaughn and other comedians as they move across the United States putting on comedy shows in 30 different venues on 30 different days and 30 different nights and includes appearances by Keir O’Donnell, Sebastian Maniscalco, Justin Long, Bret Ernst, John Caparulo, Peter Billingsley, and

Ahmed Ahmed.  There’s been very little word as to quality of this movie, but judging by the cast and the idea, I can’t imagine it won’t be at least mildly entertaining.

It has been rated R by the MPAA.

6.  The Band’s Visit

Which is also known as Bikur Ha-Tizmoret this is a highly acclaimed Israeli film from director Eran Kolirin which contains Arabic, English and Hebrew and is thus subtitled.  It tells a fish out of water story about a brass band of Egyptian policemen invited to Israel to perform who are delighted to do so, but then find themselves lost in a foreign city that is very different from what they accustomed to.  Based on its earlier releases this movie should prove to be exceptionally good, though you will need to tolerate subtitles, which I know is a frustration for some of the lazier viewers out there.

This movie is rated PG-13 by the MPAA.

7.  Spiral

Something a re-relrease is found here in this 2007 picture that is for some reason being released exclusively in Los Angeles.  This is the story of a socially dysfunctional telemarketer whose quiet, dull, and isolated life is suddenly thrown into chaos by the introduction of a new co-worker.  It is unfortunate that with the appearance of this new co-worker, voices and other malevolence begin to find their way into the character’s head and he begins a downward spiral into horror.  It features a cast of unknowns and was directed by Adam Green who has no significant films to his past credit.  Why is this movie being released in this fashion is anyone’s guess, but the buzz being generated by those who saw it in its earlier release is that it is a very watchable thriller.

It is rated PG-13 by the MPAA.

Waitress is the 2007 movie starring Keri Russell as Jenna, a bored waitress at a local restaurant specializing in custom pies created by Russell’s character.  Pie is used as a metaphor and an internal dialog as the pies are created within Jenna’s head and named after whatever is happening at the moment, for example, “I Just Stubbed My Toe and It Fucking Hurts” pie.  It’s reasonably sweet and clever and really just works.