The Lion King Remake Corrodes Its Legacy
The Lion King adds nothing. All it does is subtract.
Arizona’s Killer Comedy Misses the Mark
Arizona has a killer concept for a killer comedy, but despite a promising opening it can’t execute what should’ve been cutting satire.
‘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.
Sausage Party (2016)
If you can stomach Sausage Party’s dire string of lazy racial caricatures and innuendo for an hour, the final sausage in the chain is pretty tasty.
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…
Steve Jobs (2015)
Full credit to Aaron Sorkin; with Steve Jobs he manages to solve the structural problems plaguing most biopics, which struggle to accommodate the scope of a human life in a neat three act narrative. How? By literally structuring the film as three acts – three product launches – across which we come to know our…
The Night Before Delivers Christmas Laughs from Festive Formula
Great Christmas films are always about family. Whether it’s the traditional soppy Santa Claus tale à la Miracle on 34th Street, Will Ferrel trying to reunite with his dad in Elf or John McClane blasting through Eurotrash terrorists to get back to his wife in Die Hard, at these films’ core remains a deeply conservative…
Double Feature: While We’re Young (2014) and Take This Waltz (2011)
Towards the end of Noah Baumbach’s latest film, While We’re Young, protagonist Josh (Ben Stiller) laments the feeling of being a “child imitating an adult.” It’s a familiar, facile observation. It’s the kind of thing that people say when their life is absent real concerns – about money, illness or the like – and they’re…
The Interview (2015)
Remember the last low-brow comedy to centre on the attempted assassination of a world leader? I’m of course talking about Zoolander, where Ben Stiller’s empty-headed male model was brainwashed to murder the prime minister of Malaysia. Roger Ebert took issue with the subplot – “Didn’t it strike anybody connected with this movie that it was…
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…
