Turns out all those misogynistic Internet trolls were really worrying for nothing. Paul Feig’s “Ghostbusters” hardly remakes the original comedy classic and instead invents new characters and themes to serve the same concept. The fan service may even be the film’s weakest aspect. And guess what nerds? The girls in this movie are pretty funny after all.
Rather than try and fail to recreate Dr. Peter Venkman and company with a younger cast or with women, gone are Venkman’s playboy charms, his slacker attitude and his sarcastic one-liners that only Bill Murray can do. Instead, Feig’s All-Female “Ghostbusters” finds ways for women to be funny in the way they do best. Feig plays to the strengths of Kirsten Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. Wiig plays equal parts awkward, timid and crazy as she would on SNL. McCarthy has the aggressive boisterousness and physical comedy necessary for such a wacky story. Jones gives the film a much needed black presence and down to Earth, angry attitude. And McKinnon proves to be the true breakout, a real weirdo constantly wearing a fiendish smirk, raised eyebrows, hair gone awry and a sense of mystery in her voice. She honestly might be possessed by a ghost. Continue reading “Ghostbusters (2016)”
Does Pixar have a sequel problem? I doubt it. We can debate the quality of “Cars 2” and “Monsters University,” but “Finding Dory” succeeds because it takes one of the more iconic and unique characters within the Pixar canon and gives her meaningful depth and a story of her own. To me, that’s not Pixar trying to cash in on a few more toys.
If you’re feeling down, if everything seems to be at its lowest, don’t worry. Life isn’t so bad. After all, we have farts! Farts are magical. They spray from our butts, they smell and make a funny sound. How wonderful is that? Why don’t we recognize this every day of our lives and use farts to discover all the other amazing things human beings are capable of. Shout to the heavens! We have farts!
The films of Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda all border on schmaltz and insignificance. But his deft hand and simple storytelling consistently reveal deep truths about life and family with delicate nuance. His latest film, “Our Little Sister,” offers the same tender spirit and warm glow with a perceptive look at the ups and downs that face the modern young woman.
Always get the name of the dog. That’s a reporting tip to find that extra detail that your audience will remember. In Todd Solondz’s latest film “Wiener-Dog,” this little brown dachshund goes from being named Doody to Cancer between four separate owners, and each name seems to reflect something different about the quirky, strange people behind it.
“Am I staring?” In these first few lines of “The Neon Demon,” Director Nicolas Winding Refn’s invitation to stare gives his latest film both its perverse pleasure and questionable subtext. With “Drive” and “Only God Forgives,” Refn’s films have long been a combination of the violent and tantalizing. So it’s natural that the Danish director would make “The Neon Demon,” a psycho-horror art house drama about beauty and the grotesque pursuit of perfection. And while it works as stunning exploitation cinema, it’s perhaps less so as a comment on the fashion world it’s depicting.
Across the “Lethal Weapon” movies and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” few directors have been as consistently successful with action comedies as Shane Black. In his latest film “The Nice Guys,” he’s combined that penchant for irreverence and slick action into a hilarious, scandalous, seedy noir in the vein of “L.A. Confidential” and a Judd Apatow bromance.
Working out is overrated, and so is “The Fits,” a new indie film by first time director Anna Rose Holmer. The adrenaline and endorphin rush you get from exercise and activity has been visualized in punishing, stimulating style in war films, boxing films, you name it. But these films channel the sensation of putting yourself through that pain alongside other emotional conflict.
If you could be transformed into any animal, which would it be? It sounds like a bad question on a dating website, and yet we’ve become more reliant on such quirks in defining relationships and romance. Colin Farrell chooses to be the title animal in “The Lobster,” an absurdist satire that uses a hilariously bizarre, futuristic premise to lampoon the idea of modern love.
If you’re going to make a joke song, at least make it a good song. That was the sentiment the Coen Brothers had when writing “Please Mr. Kennedy,” and if The Lonely Island were around in 1960s Greenwich Village, they might’ve recorded just that. As far as fake joke bands go, no one gets more studio star power and indelible hooks to go along with their ridiculous lyrics about jizzing in pants or dicks in boxes. They do hilarious comedy but also make great music.