Fun-loving filmmakers invite audience along for ‘EuroTrip’ (2004)
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): Not as substantial as other raunch-coms of the era, it’s nonetheless good-natured and breezy.
Comedy
Fun-loving filmmakers invite audience along for ‘EuroTrip’ (2004)
Westlake’s ‘Jimmy the Kid’ (1974) and the ‘fiction vs. reality’ conundrum
Sleuthing Sunday (Book review): The prolific crime-fiction author knows how to have absurdist (yet realistic) fun by undercutting clichés at every turn.
Cute ‘Freaky Friday’ (1976) leads to even better 2003 remake
‘Freaky Friday’ flashback (Movie reviews): With the sequel “Freakier Friday” coming to theaters, here’s a look back at the original and the most famous remake.
‘King of Comedy’ (1982) an engrossingly awkward satire of showbiz
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): “Joker” would more robustly explore mental illness, but this previous De Niro film takes a simpler approach.
‘It’s a Boy Girl Thing’ (2006) tackles the double empathy problem with laughs
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): Though the body-swap comedy beats are expected, they are also welcome when played out by Armstrong and Zegers.
‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994) ingeniously makes the whole film into a maguffin
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): In his masterwork of dark comedy, Tarantino relies on the audience’s cinema knowledge to cleverly invert the crime genre’s traditional message.
‘Companion’ and the shame of trailers telling the whole story
Movie review: Thatcher is great in a darkly winking thriller about budding mistrust at a lake retreat. After the spoiler warning, I share thoughts on the marketing.
In ‘One, Two, Three’ (1961), Wilder knows the ABC’s of good comedy
Wilder Wednesday (Movie review): Wilder shows “Some Like It Hot” was no fluke by delivering this exhausting but clever romp.
Wilson’s series takes a good golf swing, can’t quite ‘Stick’ it
First episode impressions (TV review): But Owen Wilson and Marc Maron help raise the sometimes subpar writing.
Parker Posey is a ‘Party Girl’ (1995) in a librarian world
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): Among Nineties slacker classics, this coming-of-ager is relatively tame and flat through today’s lens.