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Tag: comedy

Entertainment

Blazing Saddles (1974) Review

William McPherson

  John Wayne was reported to have been offered a part in Blazing Saddles. After reading the script he called back and said “I can’t be in this, it’s too dirty… but I’ll be first in line to go see it when it comes out.” Imagining Wayne in the Wilder role makes me glad he turned it down. The other casting question that often comes up is why Richard Pryor did not play the part of the black sheriff in the film. That one apparently came down to a studio call, which is unfortunate since Wilder…

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Entertainment

Almost Famous Review

William McPherson3 Comments

Almost Famous is a movie I not only love, but was important to me in my formative years, and my life in general. It tells the story of William Miller (Patrick Fugit), a 15 year old kid on assignment for Rolling Stone magazine. He has to cover an up and coming rock band during what critic Lester Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) calls the dying days of Rock N’ Roll. Along the way, Miller falls in love with a “groupie” (although she would object to the term) named Penny played by Kate Hudson. Penny…

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Anna Kendrick Noelle
Entertainment

Noelle Review

Gary Smith

Originally slated for a theatrical release, Disney made the decision to go with Noelle as the first live-action, original movie for their Disney+ streaming service. With the service launching on November 12th, it was definitely a good decision by Disney because November and December are months when folks like to watch Christmas movies. Also a good decision because Anna Kendrick brings some name value to the service's first original film, and also because Noelle is better suited for at home…

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The Starving Games
Entertainment

The Starving Games Review

William McPherson

It is a futile endeavor to review a movie directed/produced by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the duo responsible for such "classics" as Epic Movie, Date Movie, Vampires Suck, Meet the Spartans, and the Scary Movie franchise. This movie is what it is. Nothing I say will discourage those who like this sort of thing to knock it off, and those who weren’t going to see it anyway would still be wise to remain on that trajectory. That said, I write all this since I did happen to watch this movie…

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High Fidelity
Entertainment

High Fidelity Review

William McPherson

For many of my teenage years and into my twenties I was one of those dorky retro kids obsessed with old vinyl records and bands that, if my friends had heard of, they did not care about. I say that because when a film is made about a sub-culture, it is important to get that sub-culture right, and High Fidelity does just that, in a way that is equal parts tribute and lampoon. The Jack Black character for instance who is the very cliché of a know it all music snob constantly making his own…

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That Awkward Moment
Entertainment

That Awkward Moment Review

William McPherson

Imagine if Sex and the City had been written by gay women about straight men instead of by gay men about straight women. Three best friends make a pact to not enter a relationship and just be tail chasing besties who share an apartment in New York City, but of course all of them wind up falling in love with one lady or another and their pact needlessly complicates what would otherwise be simple commonsense relationship progression. It may be possible to combine the genres of raunch-com and…

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Beetlejuice Banner
Entertainment

Beetlejuice Review

William McPherson

My wife is among the world’s biggest Tim Burton fans, and this of course, is one of her favorite movies. Growing up I recall loving it too. It’s strange looking back now how little actual screen time Michael Keaton gets in the title role here, but it’s telling how much that he manages to do with said screen time. Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin carry the bulk of the movie, playing a newlywed couple that is killed in a freak car caused by them swerving to avoid hitting a cute little puppy. That’s…

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Entertainment

Army of Darkness Review

William McPherson

At the end of Evil Dead 2 Ash, (who while not killing the undead demonic hordes of the world is a humble retail sales associate at S-Mart) jumped into this time vortex thingy-what-have-you or whatever and it transported him back to medieval times where he must use his cunning badassedry to help save a simple people from the evil that lurks among them. To save them, he must help them procure the ‘Book of the Dead’, the mystical entity from the previous two movies that unleashed all this hell to…

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Entertainment

Evil Dead 2 Review

William McPherson

Still trapped in the same cabin from part one, Ash, the sole survivor from last time out, still finds himself battling the undead. To keep things interesting a few interlopers and visitors pop up here and there, but mostly, this is Ashley’s inner-badass coming out party bay-bay. Evil Dead 2 is the film most people think of when they think of the Evil Dead franchise in all of its gratuitous green-blood-spewing glory. The first film was a straight up horror movie that was put over the top by…

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Evil Dead
Entertainment

The Evil Dead Review

William McPherson

As we get nearer to Halloween, I was struggling to think of more horror titles to fit in with the QDR series when the ‘Evil Dead’ franchise popped in my head. This works as a double tie-in with the Halloween season, plus the new TV series starting this fall starring none other than Mr. Bruce Campbell in the role that only he can play. My man-crush on Mr. Campbell is both deep and creepy. (Call me!) Anyway, this was the flick that started it all for both Bruce and director Sam Raimi. Five…

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Little Shop of Horrors
Entertainment

The Little Shop of Horrors Review

William McPherson

I’m a sucker for old Roger Corman flicks and other such “D-Movie” shenanigans, but this movie was just a really lazy and rushed affair. I’m not one to normally harp on the superiority of remakes, but the 1986 musical version of this story is superior in just about every way. I found this flick as part of a big collection of horror movies in the five dollar bin at Walmart. It tells the story of poor put-upon Seymour, who works in a flower shop run by a petty cheapskate, and who is in love with…

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Pleasantville
Entertainment

Pleasantville Review

William McPherson2 Comments

David Wagner (Tobey Maquire) seems like the kind of teenager I used to be back in the 90s, that being a teenager obsessed with the past and especially the culture of bygone eras, in his case the 1950s, opting to spend hours in front of the TV watching old reruns instead of engaging in the shallow culture he finds outside. Only instead of Andy Griffith or I Love Lucy he is addicted to reruns of a classic TV show called "Pleasantville," set in a much simpler place and time where everyone adheres…

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The Fisher King
Entertainment

The Fisher King Review

William McPherson

What a strange and wonderful movie! And also, a movie that is sadly quite overlooked in the careers of both lead actors. Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges), is a self-centered, Manhattan shock jock in the vein of Howard Stern mixed in with a little bit of Rush Limbaugh. At least that’s the persona he puts on when on the air; at home in his luxurious high rise apartment, he’s just a regular guy. All that changes one night when an off handed insensitive remark triggers an unstable caller to commit a mass…

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Spy
Entertainment

Spy Review

William McPherson

Mellisa McCarthy is my wife’s favorite current actress. Her movies are a guilty pleasure for her as much as old Adam Sandler movies were for me back in the day. It’s the cinematic equivalent of comfort food, maybe not good for you, but good nonetheless. I am hit and miss with her movies. I find her shtick to be about as one note as your typical Tyler Perry “Madea” movie, but with added profanity and female bravado. This movie works though, not because of the quality of the story or writing, but…

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Dumb and Dumber To
Entertainment

Dumb and Dumber To Review

William McPherson

Watching this film is like going to a high school reunion and getting cornered by that guy who was the class clown twenty years ago, and discovering he has not changed his clothes, or bothered to learn any new material in the intervening decades. You find you are amused just by their appearance and the nostalgia factor for a bit, but you quickly make an excuse to split the scene as soon as you are able. Carrey and Daniels are both fine actors who have done great work and I hope will continue to…

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The Interview
Entertainment

The Interview Review

William McPherson2 Comments

Hey, North Korea, you really could have saved yourself a lot of time and trouble and just let this one pass. It likely would have fizzled out based on its’ own merit rather than having the help of an entire news cycle controversy to drive up sales. James Franco and Seth Rogen belong in better movies than the likes of this. They’re both fine actors, capable of fine performances, but with stuff like this they are powerless to overcome the material. This movie is basically Pineapple Express: North…

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Hot Tub Time Machine 2
Entertainment

Hot Tub Time Machine 2 Review

William McPherson

Let’s be honest here. You weren’t expecting this movie to be good, and neither was I. At best we were all hoping perhaps it would be passably entertaining in that way that certain movies that you watch on basic cable at two in the morning can sometimes tend to be. But alas, no. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 could be used by John Cusack’s agent as a great “before and after” illustration of what his presence or lack thereof can mean to a film. HTTM2 is really no more insipid or lame brained than its…

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Boogie Nights
Entertainment

Boogie Nights Review

William McPherson

This movie is like the Goodfellas of porn. I saw Boogie Nights at an age I most certainly should not have seen anything of the type, but it has stuck with me years later for reasons that have jack shit to do with nudity or porn. For me this movie isn’t so much about the porn industry as it is about the era of excess that was the late 70s and early 80s, AKA the Disco Era. It’s also a fascinating look into what it is like to become a celebrity a niche industry and how it can all go up in smoke…

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Animal House
Entertainment

Animal House Review

William McPherson

Probably about a third of all modern comedies can trace their spiritual ancestry back to Animal House. This was one of my favorites growing up, but I worried how it would hold up now, and surprisingly, it flowed nearly as well as it did all those years ago. John Belushi is still a pure force of nature as Bluto Blutarsky, and he steals the movie in several legendary scenes such as the peeping tom scene on the ladder, the food line scene, and the “Pearl Harbor” speech scene. That said Tim Matheson…

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Uncle Buck
Entertainment

Uncle Buck Review

William McPherson

This is an overlooked movie in John Hughes series of Chicago based comedies, but one that is near and dear to yours truly’s cantankerous old ticker. Macaulay Culkin had a remarkable childhood film career, and by all accounts, a disastrous childhood. Aside from his two very successful featured roles in the Home Alone movies, I believe this movie to be his best work. Much of that can be credited to the late John Candy with whom Culkin displayed tremendous chemistry here. This is one of my favorite…

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