Archive for the ‘Comedy/Laffs’ Category
Monday, February 2nd, 2026
Sam Raimi is back! With a new movie. Not one of his best, but hey – we got a new Sam Raimi movie. SEND HELP was brought to him by screenwriters Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (FREDDY VS. JASON, FRIDAY THE 13TH 2009), but it follows part of the DRAG ME TO HELL template in that it’s about a timid woman who doesn’t fit in and gets overlooked and mistreated by the sexist assholes at her corporate job, then finds her inner viciousness to be able to compete with them. A difference is that in the earlier film the horror scenario comes as punishment for the shitty thing she does to get ahead. This one is about how getting stranded on an island with her asshole boss becomes her opportunity to unleash her mean side.
Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams, PASSION) has worked for seven years as a corporate strategist, though her new boss thinks she’s an accountant. The previous CEO promised her a promotion to vice president, but then he died and his son Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien, AMERICAN ASSASSIN) took over. To Linda’s shock he gives the promotion to Donovan (Xavier Samuel, THE LOVED ONES, Bernard Rose’s FRANKENSTEIN), an idiotic Patrick Bateman type who’s pretty new there, steals credit for her work and happens to have been Bradley’s frat brother. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Bill Pope, Bob Murawski, Damian Shannon, Dennis Haysbert, Dylan O'Brien, Mark Swift, Rachel McAdams, Sam Raimi, stranded on an island, Xavier Samuel
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs, Horror, Thriller | 13 Comments »
Friday, January 30th, 2026
KNEECAP (2024) is a feel good Irish comedy, it’s rowdy and rebellious but in a totally lovable way. It’s not that far from what we used to call a “this year’s THE FULL MONTY!,” I don’t think, except there’s lots of casual cocaine and MDMA use without consequences. But it’s pretty great. It’s just such a winning subject, it’s hard not to have a great time.
I admit I never heard of them before I heard about the movie, but Kneecap are an Irish rap trio. Since the movie they’ve gotten into trouble for supporting Palestine. They condemned the genocide on stage at Coachella, so various pro-Israel groups and politicians went after them, accused them of supporting terrorism, one member even got charged (later dropped by missing a filing deadline). In a rock ’n roll biopic there’s always the part where the most uptight losers imaginable are trying to ratfuck our hero over some ridiculous moral scare bullshit they concocted, and it’s always a period piece so we look back and think wow, it’s crazy that people used to be like that back then, jesus christ. Just ‘cause he wiggled his hips? Here you get to see it in real time. Instant rock ’n roll cred for Kneecap there.
That’s all I really knew, but the KNEECAP movie is a fun fictionalized telling of the group’s origins and rise to fame, kinda like STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON for N.W.A, but with a very different tone and scope fitting the setting of late 2010s West Belfast. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: hip hop, Ireland, Jessica Reynolds, Michael Fassbender, music biopic, Rich Peppiatt, Simone Kirby
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs, Music | 3 Comments »
Monday, January 19th, 2026
BUGONIA is the 2025 movie from director Yorgos Lanthimos, who just did POOR THINGS in 2023 and then KINDS OF KINDNESS in 2024. I can’t even keep up with the guy! This one’s a little different because it’s a remake of the 2003 South Korean film SAVE THE GREEN PLANET!. By all accounts it’s great, but I still haven’t seen it, so calculate that in if you’re trying to figure out how much you’ll like this.
I assumed it was a situation like Spike Lee’s OLDBOY where producers were trying to do the English language version for some reason and found an auteur to do it, but it turns out this would’ve been original director Jang Joon-hwan remaking his own movie if he hadn’t gotten sick and handed the reins (and the script by Will Tracy [THE MENU, former editor in chief of The Onion]) over to Lanthimos. Jang is still an executive producer, along with Ari Aster and others.
Nevertheless it feels very Lanthimos, and reunites him with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, plus his team of cinematographer Robbie Ryan, editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, composer Jerskin Fendrix and production designer James Price. I wouldn’t consider it a work-for-hire. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Aidan Delbis, Alicia Silverstone, Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Stavros Halkias, Yorgos Lanthimos
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs, Crime | 5 Comments »
Thursday, January 15th, 2026
Last month I got interested in the indie writer/director Todd Rohal, and reviewed three of his movies: THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE, THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM, and of course his latest, FUCK MY SON!. Now I watched another one.
Of the Rohal joints I’ve seen so far, NATURE CALLS (2012) is the closest to a normal, mainstream comedy. It stars well known comedians/funny actors, it’s full of many broad, silly jokes, its third act shift into craziness overdrive is tame compared to Rohal’s other films. But not in a bad way. It’s a very funny movie with plenty of the director’s personality evident, which is kind of a relief because jesus christ man look at this DVD cover:
I don’t think Rohal is trying to be subversive with this one, but it kinda does the trick just by looking like disposable crap but having some bluntly accurate social satire and a strange tone that’s pretty much a family movie but with death and boobs and cursing. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Darrell Hammond, Eddie Rouse, Ivan Dimitrov, Jill de Jong, Johnny Knoxville, Maura Tierney, Patrice O'Neal, Patton Oswalt, Rob Riggle, Robert Longstreet, Todd Rohal
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs | 1 Comment »
Friday, January 2nd, 2026
There are a couple reasons why BRONCO BILLY isn’t one of the better aged Clint Eastwood pictures. First of all, it’s part of that phenomenon that he was so enamored of Sondra Locke that he kept putting her in movies, but playing his most obnoxious love interests (here a comically snide and uptight heiress whose upper crust accent exaggerates more with each cowboy she comes in contact with). These days that also means you might be reminded that after they broke up he reportedly used his clout to sabotage her career.
It’s also a particularly blunt version of the “yeah he’s sexist but he’s secretly sweet and she’ll come around” trope. Clint’s “Bronco” Billy McCoy coerces Locke’s Antoinette Lily into working as his assistant when she’s just trying to borrow a dime for the pay phone. Then he slaps her on the ass. He does rescue her from rapists (good), but then makes a pass at her (insensitive). Maybe worst of all he interrupts her explanation of why she knows how to shoot guns already and then never follows up. I don’t need to know, but he should care if he’s supposed to be in love with her! Anyway I did not find the magical untightening of the rich lady to be all that charming.
At the same time as all that the movie does have a timeless appeal that I can’t resist, because it’s about a tight crew of show-people who have worked together for years, get mad at each other but would die for each other, and have sacrificed to live unconventional lives dedicated to this thing they do together, this traveling wild west show. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Beverly McKinsey, Bill McKinney, Clint Eastwood, Dan Vadis, David Worth, Dennis Hackin, Geoffrey Lewis, Merle Haggard, Sam Bottoms, Scatman Crothers, Sierra Pecheur, Sondra Locke, Walter Barnes
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2025
There’s this distribution company called Gravitas Ventures. They’re owned by Shout! Studios, but they just put out indie movies, mostly ones you’ve never heard of, both on VOD and on DVD-R. They’ve been around for almost 20 years and their biggest moment might be in 2021 when THE MOLE AGENT was nominated for the best documentary Oscar. That’s the Chilean documentary that inspired the Ted Danson show A Man on the Inside, which you can see on Netflix, not from Gravitas. And maybe you haven’t heard of that either.
Oh, they also put out DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS. And GRIZZLY II: THE REVENGE. I’ve seen those. And they did SLOTHERHOUSE. I’ve heard of that one.
Being released by Gravitas is not a mark of quality. Most of their stuff, honestly, I assume I wouldn’t like. (Could definitely be wrong.) But I appreciate their existence just because they’re putting movies onto physical media that otherwise would disappear, either by not being noticed or not being available. Some obscure movie that played at some obscure film festival, somebody worked hard on it, very few noticed, but Gravitas did, so there it is on a purple DVD, if you need it. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Alex Ebert, Gravitas Ventures, Kyaw Kyaw, Maja Holzinger, Myanmar, punk, Zero External Reviews on IMDb
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, December 10th, 2025
FUCK MY SON! is a movie that, for the foreseeable future, you’re only gonna see if it comes to your town as part of a road show. Writer/director Todd Rohal (THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE, THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM) is traveling around with a 35mm print that hit Seattle last weekend and has many more stops lined up.
Rohal says he plans to do that for at least a year, and that he’ll never license it to streaming, though eventually it will come to physical media. But it’s the kind of thing that if you’re gonna have a great time it’s probly gonna be in a midnight movie (for me 8pm) type scenario laughing, cringing and groaning together with other area weirdos. Did I mention it’s called FUCK MY SON!?
It’s based on a comic book by Johnny Ryan (Looney Tunes Cartoons, Who Raped My Horse?), and this screening started with a puppet show based on another Ryan comic, followed by a discussion between Ryan and fellow alternative comix legend Peter Bagge. The former was grossed out by the fake poop left on the ground by the puppeteers and made Rohal clean it up. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Gabe Bartalos, Hormel Chili, Johnny Ryan, Kynzie Colmery, Robert Kurtzman, Robert Longstreet, Steve Little, Tipper Newton, Todd Rohal, x-rated
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs, Comic strips/Super heroes | 33 Comments »
Tuesday, December 9th, 2025
THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM (2011) is weirdly-titled Todd Rohal comedy #2, and truly the only thing I knew about it was that the OCN partner label Factory 25 gave it a special edition blu-ray a few years ago and some people seemed to think it was some type of cult classic. I feel pretty ignorant now because it turns out it’s a Seattle production and I even know a couple people in the credits. I had no idea.
I also didn’t know that it’s a two-hander with two actors I like who I’ve never seen in lead roles like this before. Steve Little, who I know as Kenny Powers’ sycophantic sidekick Stevie Janowski on Eastbound & Down, plays a very similar character here, except that he has somehow become a priest. Father Billy causes concern with the elders when they overhear him telling a long story to his Bible study group and admitting it’s not biblical, not allegorical, just some crazy shit he read on the internet. “It was more of a joke story,” he explains when asked how it pertains to their discussion of Deuteronomy. He’s also into heavy metal, calls everybody “dude,” and doesn’t know how to modulate in front of people who expect him to behave like a grown adult and/or clergyman. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Robert Longstreet, Rough House Productions, Steve Little, Todd Rohal
Posted in Comedy/Laffs | 3 Comments »
Monday, December 8th, 2025
Recently I got invited to see this new movie called FUCK MY SON!. It’s a disgusting x-rated comedy based on a Johnny Ryan comic, meant as a theatrical experience, they’re road-showing a 35mm print around and it was in Seattle on Friday and Saturday. Beforehand I looked at writer/director Todd Rohal’s filmography and noticed two titles I’d been vaguely aware of for many years. I really had no idea what they were about, just that somebody some time told me they were good. I decided to watch those and review them before the new one, so today we’ll be discussing Rohal’s 2006 debut THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE. It’s the very definition of a “not for everyone” movie, though in an entirely different way than FUCK MY SON!. But I liked it, so I’ll tell you about it in case you’re not everyone.
There is a Guatemalan character in the movie, but I couldn’t tell you what the title means. Other aspects I could describe but not explain. It’s a very odd, absurd but dry comedy (arguably dramedy?) about a group of interconnected characters going on with life after the simultaneous disappearances of a guy named Donald (Will Oldham, WENDY AND LUCY, JACKASS 3D, THE BIKERIDERS), his dad’s goofy electric car, and an old lady’s dog. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Cory McAbee, David Wingo, demolition derby, Todd Rohal, Will Oldham
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs | 3 Comments »
Thursday, December 4th, 2025
CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER’S POINT is a movie that I heard about last Christmas but it wasn’t on video yet. Some people were really flipping for it and that’s really all I knew about it, so I checked it out when I saw it was on blu-ray this week.
I think what they were responding to is that it’s very old school in many ways: beautiful cinematography, big ensemble cast of mostly unfamiliar faces who seem very natural, an emphasis on characters and moments over any sort of plot, a shockingly low amount of conflict. It’s about a huge family get-together and involves multiple age groups but the movie it most reminds me of is AMERICAN GRAFFITI. Probly not coincidentally the cast features a couple children of George Lucas’s friends (Francesca Scorsese and Sawyer Spielberg).
Of course, that led to a horrifying realization that AMERICAN GRAFFITI was set 11 years before the time of its release, while this is set sometime in the aughts, so it’s more like 20 years ago, but doesn’t seem like it. The biggest differences are flip phones and one family still has a station wagon with faux-wood paneling. It kinda feels timeless though because the music is much older and the fashions aren’t very aggressive. It could almost be five years ago, or thirty, or forty. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Carson Lund, Chris Lazzaro, Christmas, Elsie Fisher, Eric Berger, Francesca Scorsese, Gregg Turkington, Kevin Anton, Maria Dizzia, Matilda Fleming, Michael Cera, Sawyer Spielberg, Tony Savino, Tyler Taormina
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs, Drama | 6 Comments »
