The King of Staten Island (2020)
The King of Staten Island isn’t going to be anyone’s favourite film. But it’s nice. It feels authentic. It’s even a little moving from time-to-time.
‘You’re Tearing Me Apart’s of Darkness: James Franco’s The Disaster Artist
James Franco’s The Disaster Artist clearly intends us to laugh at The Room’s Tommy Wiseau, but it also wants us to recognise his twisted genius.
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.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are Sisters – and aren’t as Funny as They Oughta Be
Paul Feig has a lot to answer for. Judd Apatow too, come to think of it. These two men, who cut their teeth on Freaks and Geeks, have cast the mould for modern American comedy: in Apatow’s case, extended tales about arrested adulthood, in Feig’s case, putting women front-and-centre of the kind of crude comedies…
How Judd Apatow Derailed Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck
Let me get this out of the way first: Trainwreck is a very good film. That needs to be said upfront, because this one of those reviews where I’m going to spend more time talking about what didn’t work rather than what did, and that imbalance might suggest that I didn’t enjoy the film. But…
Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks is finally – finally! – available on Australian DVD today, so it seems as good a time as any to look back on the classic high school sitcom (a label that sits a little funny nowadays, but we’ll get to that). It’s customary when looking back on a show this old (if…
This is the End (2013)
This is the End isn’t the greatest comedy I’ve ever seen. There are funnier comedies, smarter comedies, comedies that will reward rewatching – something this comedic take on the apocalypse is less likely to do, reliant as it is on surprises. But, dammit, it’s been a long, long time since I’ve walked out of a…
ccpopculture 