Write Better Movies: Baywatch and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Either Baywatch or Dead Men Tell No Tales could have been good – well, passable – with screenplays content to be plain ol’ mediocre.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)
Another Apatow-esque comedy where attractive people goof around, do drugs and learn lessons. Also, spoilers: Zac Efron takes his shirt off.
Bad Neighbours 2
It’s been a while since I’ve gone to a cinema and done nothing but laugh for 90 minutes. Was this because laughter surround me from beginning to end? Or was it that Bad Neighbours 2 was simply a well-written comedy? You can judge for yourself but in my opinion the sequel surpassed the original in many…
Sydney Film Festival: Happy Christmas (2014)
Improvisational comedy is fast becoming the norm. Whether it’s This is the End, Bad Neighbours or Anchorman 2, the construction is the same: narrative skeleton to keep the audience interested interspersed with some carefully-honed gags and a lot of loose improvisation, edited into something tighter. I’m not complaining, mind; I love the shooting-shit-with-your-mates vibe of…
Bad Neighbours (2014)
Bad Neighbours (titled just Neighbors in the States) is a mash-up of two “classic” – or, if you’re feeling less generous, clichéd – comedy conceits. The film modifies the ‘slobs vs snobs’ frathouse formula by repurposing the ‘snobs’ as 30-something stoners struggling with the demands of adulthood. There’s little originality in the Bad Neighbours screenplay, but thankfully…
Revisiting The Turning (2013)
I liked Tim Winton’s The Turning more than most critics. Looking back at my review now, I don’t think I succeeded in explaining why it appealed to me; it’s an assumption underlying my write-up, but I don’t think I made it clear. In part, it’s based in my fondness for Winton’s original anthology, which I’d…
