Showing posts with label Comedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comedy. Show all posts

12.09.2009

Funny People Not So Funny

Im sure that title has already been used to describee Judd Apatow's Funny People, but its really all I could think of. I have taken a serious liking to Apatow over the last few years, the best thing about his movies are that they are smart comedies dealing with real issues in peoples lives not like comedies of the past. This one just fell short for me and it took way too long to get there.

Funny People stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan. Seth as a starving comedian and Sandler as a rich and famous comedian who has recently been diagnosed with leukemia. The two meet and for a bond as Rogan tries to help him write as he returns to stand up. Eventually we meet the lost love of the story and we think "ok great the woman is going to take him back and everythings gonna be alright". But no, sure turns out Sandler is going to get better but things arent going to wrap up nicely. The movie is almost two and a half hours long which is way too long for any comedy in my opinion, and once its almost over the ending is disappointing and makes you think about all the women that led you on and did you wrong.

The best part of this movie is the character Daisy, played by Aubrey Plaza. She is best known recently as the intern on NBC's Parks and Recreation. Her dry sense of humor is pretty great, check out her stand up scene where she gives her take on hip hop:


11.25.2009

"You almost knocked over your alcohol with your knife"-Zombieland

Zombieland was in one word, AWESOME. It had everything, action, a decent love story, comedy, great cinematography. The reviews had been really good, basically saying that it was a sleeper from this year and I agree, I think people should really give it a chance even if it isnt their "typical type" of movie they would be into.

The story takes place in a post apocalyptic sort of world where the zombie virus is running rampant (a mad cow mutation of some kind) and causing humans to be outnumbered. We dont learn character names, they are only referred to by their city they are traveling to in order to find any surviving friends or family. Columbus is your typical uptight, nerdy, Michael Cera sort of character who is forced to man up to protect himself in his new found violent world. No longer hiding himself from living life by playing video games in the comfort of his dorm, he sets out to find his family in Ohio. He has a list of rules which he follows to keep himself alive; for example Rule #2 The Double Tap, which is genius because I think at some point we have all watched a horror movie where we wonder why the hell did the character not shoot the "villain" more than once to make sure theyre dead?!

Eventually he meets self proclaimed badass Tallahassee who has lost a loved one and merely searching for a new place to call home and kicking zombie ass and taking names along the way. He also teams up with Wichita and her sister Little Rock who are headed to an amusement park in California that is rumored to be zombie free. Along the way they grow closer, get into danger, find joys in the little things left of human life and blow a ton of zombies apart the whole way.