Friday night I attended the opening screenings in the Pacific Film Archive’s new series, The Outsiders: New Hollywood Cinema in the Seventies. These were not classics that everyone knows and loves, but movies of their time that few remember today: The Heartbreak Kid and The Landlord. The Heartbreak Kid When you think of the edgy … Continue reading Two Forgotten Films From the Early 70’s
Category: Comedy
Blu-ray Review: Buster Keaton, The Short Films Collection
Full disclosure: I’m reviewing a Blu-ray set that I don’t even have. Kino accidentally sent me the DVD set rather than the Blu-ray. In fairness, this may be my fault. When I emailed a request for a review copy, I neglected to specify what format. Luckily, the content of the two sets are identical, so … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Buster Keaton, The Short Films Collection
Terri
A Teenage comedy/drama Written by Patrick deWitt Directed by Azazel Jacobs Terri (newcomer Jacob Wysocki) has problems well beyond those of your average adolescent. For one thing, he’s extremely overweight. He lives with a mentally-ill uncle. He dresses only in pajamas, and gets to school late almost every day. On the upside, the school’s guidance … Continue reading Terri
Sixty Six
Note: I wrote this review after screening this film for the 2008 San Francisco Film Festival, and saved it as a draft, waiting for a theatrical release that never happened. I've discovered today that it's available for instant streaming on Netflix, so I'm posting it now. B Coming-of-age comedy Written by Peter Straughan and Bridget O’Connor, from … Continue reading Sixty Six
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
D- Horror comedy Note: I wrote this review in the spring of 2010, and planned to post it just before a then-planned Bay Area theatrical release. The release never happened, and the review was left unpublished. Since the movie is available on Netflix, I've decided to post the review now, in hopes that I will spare some … Continue reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
Midnight in Paris
A- Romantic comedy (of a sort) Written and directed by Woody Allen I didn’t think Woody Allen still had it in him. He hasn’t made a film this funny, this wistful, and this heartfelt in decades. And I don’t think he’s ever made one this upbeat. Owen Wilson stars as your basic neurotic, romantic, witty, … Continue reading Midnight in Paris
Blu-ray Review: Some Like It Hot
I’m not sure if Some Like It Hot really is, as the American Film Institute declared in 2000, the best American film comedy of all time. It certainly belongs in the top 10. There are comedies with a higher laugh-to-minute ratio, and others that have more to say about the human condition. But if I … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Some Like It Hot
SFIFF: Films About Teenagers
After the Kanbar Award event, I caught two other films at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Coincidentally, both were about teenagers. Both were also very good. B+ Children of the Princess of Cleves. In France as in every other country, adolescents must deal with ranging hormones, overly-strict parents (in their eyes, at least), tests … Continue reading SFIFF: Films About Teenagers
Potiche
D Alleged comedy I don't like it when Roger Ebert complains that a lousy movie wasted two hours of his life. After all, it's his job. He's paid for it. And watching even the worst picture is better than what most people have to do for a living. But I review films as a hobby. … Continue reading Potiche
More Keaton on Blu-ray: Our Hospitality
Kino has another Buster Keaton Blu-ray title on the way, and it's a winner. Three years before he made The General, Keaton mined the antebellum South for comic gold in this almost gentle comedy inspired by the Hatfield/McCoy feud. Still adjusting to the long form of the feature film (this was only his second), Keaton … Continue reading More Keaton on Blu-ray: Our Hospitality
Bayflicks 