Comedy

Taika Waititi’s “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” is a Coming-of-Age Farce with Genuine Heart

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Wisconsin Film Festival Opening Night

New Zealand director Taika Waititi  has created a magnificently funny coming-of-age film in Hunt for the Wilderpeople.  Most known for the HBO series Flight of the Conchords and the mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, Waititi has also directed more standard narrative-based films like Boy and Eagle vs. Shark.  Hunt for the Wilderpeople falls in this category, as it tells the story of an orphan named Ricky being introduced to a new foster family on the edge of the New Zealand bush.

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“The End of the Tour” Gives Us a Great David Foster Wallace, and a Solid Conversation

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On September 12th, 2008, novelist David Foster Wallace committed suicide.  Most famous for his seminal novel Infinite Jest, Wallace’s death reverberated throughout the literary community.  Fellow writer David Lipsky reels at this news, as Lipsky had interviewed Wallace for Rolling Stone over a period of twelve days at the end of Wallace’s book tour for Infinite Jest.  James Ponsoldt’s The End of the Tour begins here, with Lipsky unearthing the shelved tapes from these interviews in an effort to revisit “the best conversation [he’s] ever had”.

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As the Best Disney Film in Decades, “Zootopia” Celebrates Achievement and Rejects Atavistic Determinism

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Disney animated films have received quite the focus here on Plot and Theme, but I have never actually had the opportunity to review one while it was in theatres.  Fortunately, Zootopia has provided just such an opportunity.  Even better:  it might be the best Disney film since The Lion King.  The film is structured as a kind of film noir with anthropomorphic mammals living in a metropolis designed to cater to their specific environmental needs.  In this world, we learn not only the importance of determination, ability, and friendship – but also the seductive evils of prejudice and the proper response to it.  Zootopia excels by balancing these complex themes and allowing them to play out in an imaginative world, a feat which would stymie most any film.

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“Eddie the Eagle” Succeeds in Theme, But Hits Too-Familiar Story Points

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The underdog is an established trope in the sports film, but it is rare that the underdog is celebrated for merely his effort. Most of these kinds of stories focus on an under-appreciated team or person punching way above their weight class and de-throning the champion in a show of heart and determination. But, there are iconic examples of this kind of story where the victory is not the focus of the protagonist. Instead, the thematic elements are born from the characters showing the courage to compete against titanic odds. Examples of this kind of film range from the original Rocky and Bad News Bears, to true-life versions like Cool Runnings. Dexter Fletcher’s Eddie the Eagle is most similar in both plot and theme to the Jamaican bobsled film from 1993, but flirts with approaching the subject with a too-heavy hand in critical moments.

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The Monstrous Savage of “Bone Tomahawk” Feels Icky, but is the Resulting Western/Horror/Comedy Worth It?

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Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk was a surprising hidden gem from 2015. Starring Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Richard Jenkins, and Matthew Fox, this Western horror film takes its time to get rolling. In the interim, the film establishes an almost survivalist tone, but is still comfortable with its own brand of humor. With a title derived from the preferred weapon of the insane savage antagonists, Bone Tomahawk offers much more attention to detail than your standard slasher flick, and by placing the action in the Old West, we also get to see Kurt Russell’s mustache in its full glory.

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“Dope”: The High-Tech Screwball Noir

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Writer and director Rick Famuyiwa opens his film Dope with a clear homage to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Both films begin with a title card sporting definitions of the film’s title. Three definitions unveil:

  1. noun: a drug taken illegally for recreational purposes
  2. noun: a stupid person
  3. slang: excellent. Used as a generalized term of approval

dope

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“Hail, Caesar!”: The Zany Slices of an Incomplete Pie

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Joel and Ethan Coen have crafted a peculiar ode to old Hollywood in Hail, Caesar! The principal protagonist in the film is Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), a producer and “fixer” tasked with making sure that everything runs smoothly at Capitol Pictures. He hops from fire to fire, and along the way gives us a haphazard overview of the Hollywood studio system by visiting the sets of different pictures. While different threads of his life entwine together into a coherent story by the end of the film, particular elements fail or succeed largely on the merits of the superb supporting cast of characters. Regardless, moments of hilarity exist in this mish-mash of tone and style, and the worst sin Hail, Caesar! can be accused of is failing to synthesize its zany parts into a cohesive whole.

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“Deadpool” is a Self-Conscious Masterpiece of the Comic Book Genre

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So first off, sorry to everyone who reads this review. I wanted to make it worthy of the Deadpool movie, but I don’t think that is going to be a reasonable possibility. Regardless, I will press on and gush all over almost everything about this movie in that annoying way that over-excited movie critics do. Hopefully, by the time I am done you’ll be sufficiently bored with my analysis that you’ll go out and see the film for yourself and start annoying your own friends with how good Deadpool is. Circle of life.

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Classic Review Friday – “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1986)

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In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the eponymous high school student is always the smartest person in the room – even when he isn’t really there. Ferris’ presence is always felt as he and his friends masquerade around Chicago on a beautiful school day in May, intent to play the ultimate game of hooky. This loose narrative allows the film to play with its tonality, as various vignettes or scenarios play out that have little effect on the story other than re-affirming the brilliance of Ferris. In a sense, the film works as a farce focusing on this larger-than-life teenager, but along the way it manages to speak poignant truths with timeless importance.

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With Tongue-In-Cheek, “The Big Short” Scathes Those Responsible for the Financial Crisis

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Show of hands: who understands what happened to cause the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the subsequent global recession? Okay, now all the liars that have their hands up – do you think you could explain it to a standard movie audience, while still telling an engaging, cinematic story? Well, Adam McKay, famous for creating the Funny or Die website and directing comedies like Anchorman and Step Brothers, has succeeded in this endeavor. McKay’s ridiculous stylistic choices help portray the absurdity of the entire financial system, and instill a sense of incredulity in the audience. As a result, he has crafted a wonderful and funny film with full character arcs, rousing thematic statements, and eye-opening revelations about the world we live in.

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