Archive for the 'Black Comedy' Category

The Dark Knight

Published
by
Chalupa
on August 4, 2008
in Action, Based on a comic, Black Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sequel and Thriller
. 0 Comments

Liz and I were able to catch the latest installment in the Batman series over the weekend.  We’re both glad we were able to catch it on the big screen.  After all the buildup, hype, and raving reviews, we finally got to see what everyone was talking about.


I was very impressed with Batman Begins and I wasn’t in any way disappointed with The Dark Knight.  I’m already looking forward to the next one.  Heath Ledger did an amazing job with The Joker.  I was reading someone’s comments somewhere and they were talking about how they’ve never been a Ledger fan until now.  They also never realized how menacing and diabolical the Joker could actually be, and after thinking about Jack Nicholson’s portrayal from 1989, they realized that Nicholson was just delivering the same role he had been for the previous 20 years or so.  You may or may not agree with that, but it was a little mind blowing to me.  Maybe I haven’t seen enough of Nicholson’s films, but I’ve never quite understood why people are so enamored by him.  Yeah, he has some good films out there with great performances, but I’ve never been that impressed.  It’s really too bad Ledger isn’t with us anymore for any follow-up films.

Often times in sequels, it’s hard to make something that lives up to the original.  I think Christopher Nolan did a good job in raising the bar by bringing in the Joker, but there’s always room for some improvements.  I don’t think Christian Bale had to really act that much this time around.  The gutteral “batman voice” got a little annoying and old, but it makes sense he was talking differently to try and hide his identity.  Aaron Eckhart did a decent job.  I’ll always remember him as Nick Naylor from Thank You for Smoking.  It’ll be interesting to see if he makes a comeback in the future.

I think Gary Oldman had a much more active role this time around.  He’s such a great actor and it’s nice to see him able to spread his wings a bit.  I liked Maggie Gyllenhaal more than Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes.  She also fit in pretty well.  It wasn’t like some films where actors change for a particular character and the whole time you’re confused as to who exactly that person is.  Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were wonderful as usual.  Some friends of mine complained after the first film that they were grossly underutilized.  I kind of agreed, however, it was nice to actually have a “real” actor play the role of Alfred for a change.  I was just happy to have a live body in the role.

Some of the scenes with the Joker are a bit disturbing, but this is rated PG-13, so there’s not a whole lot to worry about.  They cut away at just the right moments in certain scenes.  Liz and I both said we got a little bored in the middle, but overall we thoroughly enjoyed it.  I would highly suggest getting out and seeing this one before it leaves the theaters.  You won’t be sorry.

Rating: ★★★★½

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 26, 2006
in Based on a book, Based on a novel, Black Comedy, Buddy Comedy, Comedy, Film Noir, Filmmaking, Murder, Mystery, Neo Noir, New York, Suicide, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

From the previews I was really looking forward to this movie, but I have to say I was pretty disappointed with it after actually seeing it. I really wanted to just turn it off while watching. I felt like it was giving me attention deficit disorder. The flow was choppy and hard to follow, the events just didn’t make sense, the lines were cheesy, etc. I then realized why the movie seemed so weird. They were trying to mimic a myster-detective-trashy-romance paperback series they reference throughout the movie. When I finally realized this, everything started to make sense. However, I still didn’t like the movie.

For starters, we have Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan as the three main characters in the film. Downey is a theif-actor who is job shadowing Kilmer. Kilmer is an actual private detective investigating some murders. Monaghan is Downey’s childhood/high school crush that randomly turns up and runs into Downey. The movie is narrated throughout by Downey as he re-tells this story with Kilmer interjecting a couple times. I will say the movie is clever, but it’s probably a little too clever for most people to follow. So much so that I really, really wanted to just turn it off. Luckily I have a rule that I need to just watch movies til they’re over because you never know how you might feel about it after the credits start to roll.

Some of the reason it’s hard to follow, in my opinion, is because the story is being narrated. And just like when some people tell a story, Downey would accidently leave a part out or have to re-tell something. So the story would backup or pause while the details were worked out. The story also jumped from one character to another, which isn’t bad in itself (Look at Pulp Fiction for example), but didn’t flow very well. Another problem I had is that things just weren’t making sense. I felt like I was watching a soap opera at times. This can be explained by the following-the-book-genre theory of mine. People would say weird things or have stupid ideas, crazy thoughts, do weird things, etc. Many of the situation just seemed contrived and not real. There were even several times where nudity was introduced. However, it didn’t have a point and it wasn’t really that American Pie/National Lampoon-esque either. You know - the kind that draws in the 13-20 yr old crowd.

If I didn’t think this movie was the way it is, I would say this is probably the worst movie I’ve seen in a long time. I’m sure there are many that would disagree with me on this one, so maybe you should give it a watch yourself and then put up a comment as to what you think.

Lucky Number Slevin

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 19, 2006
in Black Comedy, Crime, Drama, Neo Noir, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

I was immediately interested in this film after I saw the first trailer. Luckily this wasn’t one of those movies that showed everything cool about it in the 45 seconds they call a ’sneak peak’. This one includes Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley. Sort of a Sin City mix of cast. It was actually interesting to see Lucy Liu in a role where she wasn’t a killer or mobster or just intimidating and crazy in general.

The movie starts out as one huge case of mistaken identity as Slevin is beaten up and hauled in to talk to the two mobsters in town, The Boss and The Rabbi. Slevin was just visiting a friend and that friend just happened to owe money to several people who wanted it back real bad. Things start to go from bad to worse as we see just how bad things are going for Slevin. His friend is nowhere to be found and now he’s in the middle of a war between two men and owing large sums of money to both. Even though this film doesn’t follow Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it was the first thing I thought of when we were introduced to The Boss and The Rabbi. Here were two powerful men, interlocked in a blood feud or sorts, who faced each other from their concrete and glass buildings across the street from each other. A shaky truce was at hand and neither wanted to fully cross the line and invoke the consequences.

Ultimately, this film is about revenge. True, pure, unadulterated revenge. I think I had things figured out right from the start on who was who and that kind of stuff, but that was ok. The movie still gripped me like a couple of arm rests with cup holders and kept my attention. This was a very good thing since it was about 2am and my 3rd movie of the night at the theater.

There’s some violence and some language and stuff like that. If you can handle it though, you should definitely give this one a watch. It’ll keep you entertained.

Thank You for Smoking: Lobbyists, Salesmen, and other soul-less caricatures…

Published
by
Phil Boltz
on April 10, 2006
in Based on a book, Based on a novel, Black Comedy, Government, Independent, Industry, Kidnapping, Lobbyist and Smoking
. 1 Comment

Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the ultimate schmooze. Sometime ago the best negotiator and bullshit artists were to be found in sales and politics, but leave it to our little post-modern, post-industrial, post-ethics society to create something bigger and better for the sanguine melancholy temperaments of the world to do. Introducing, the perfect mix of politics and pr, of sales and smarmyness: The Lobbyist!

A Sundance favorite by Jason Reitman, “Thank You for Smoking” tells the short story of Nick Naylor, lobbyist for Big Tobacco. The cast is full of friendly faces, Maria Bello, David Koechner, JK Simmons, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, Robert Duvall, and so many charachter workers that it’s sweet to see who’ll show up next.

Naylor is not only a professional talker but a father of one. In a mildly sinister tale, we are exposed to the reasons why we smoke…which, as it seems, is because we believe in freedom. Wave that flag kids, because it’s not only the spin, but it’s the truth! Now, I feel personally connected to Naylor, mostly because I talk for a living. It’s my job to get people to do what they really need to, but they didn’t know was the first step to answering their legal woes. No, I don’t sell pre-paid legal services. Accept in the sense that you have to pay the firm before we do work for you.

Essentially, this film stands on it’s own. It resists simply being an issue film, and gives us genuine characters. Albeit, mislead and depraved ones at that. Funny and respectable, I’d recommend it to you…I mean, that’s what I’m doing here isn’t it?

It’s fun…Watch it, enjoy.

Law Office,
Phil

Corpse Bride

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 4, 2006
in Animation, Black Comedy, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Romance, Stop-motion and Wedding
. 0 Comments

Once again I was amazed and awed by the brilliance of Tim Burton. This man is awesome. Have you ever seen a picture of him? If not you should bust out google. It’s always interesting to see what people really look like.

I could really see some people not wanting to watch this movie simply based on previews and media. In fact, I just got my mom to watch Edward Scissorhands over the weekend and she loved it. I think she was actually surprised she even liked it. So I told her she needs to watch this one too. Yes it’s dark and dreary, but the movie is really good. Tim Burton is just really really good at dark and dreary movies that don’t turn out to be The Exorcist or Nightmare on Elm Street. This guy is talented.

The music is wonderful as always. Just wonderful. In fact, there’s even an option to play the movie without the dialogue in the special features of the DVD. This would definitely be worth checking out if you’ve already seen the movie.

One awesome part of this movie is the fact it takes place in Victorian England. The colors are drab. The clothes are tight and uncomfortable. Children are seen and not heard. There are arranged marriages. Nobody is happy.

Then you have the underworld where bright colors abound. Music is fun, jazzed and happening. People are allowed to drink and be merry. But everybody is dead. A bit of a paradox, right? So there’s two people arranged to be married that have never met each other. This could be really horrible but the two characters are probably the only two ‘normal’ people in town. Unfortunately, Victor accidently marries the Corpse Bride while practicing his vows and is then dragged into the underworld. Well, I won’t ruin the whole plot for you, but I will say, “WATCH THIS!”

Four Brothers

Published
by
Chalupa
on March 15, 2006
in Action, Black Comedy, Crime, Drama, Family, Mystery, Neo Noir and Thriller
. 1 Comment

Four Brothers is a movie about four brothers who take matters into their own hands after the death of their mother. The brothers are played by Mark Wahlberg (Boogie Nights, Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees), Tyrese Gibson, André Benjamin and Garrett Hedlund (Friday Night Lights).

My first impulse to see this was because of the actors involved including Terrence Howard (Crash), Josh Charles (Sports Night), Fionnula Flanagan (Transamerica, The Others) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things, Serenity, Love Actually). These actors with the main make for a pretty good cast. I wasn’t really expecting much more than some gunfire, funny moments and sweet revenge. That’s exactly what I got. Even though I enjoyed this movie, I don’t see it making many top ten lists for the year. It is, however, still entertaining and worth watching some time.