Tag Archives: Comedy

Aunty Donna’s Coffee Café: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – It is a glorious, joyful symphony of comedic talent when it lands.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I watched this on the ABC iView service

Morning Brown Coffee Café

Aunty Donna’s Coffee Café Review –

Back in 2020, the local absurdist Australian comedy troupe Aunty Donna who pioneered being a ‘Chuffed Dad’ and how to do a ‘Roll Call’ struck out from the local scene and made their way to Hollywood with Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun. Coming back to Australia, I was interested to see what they would do next, and the answer to that question seems to be opening a café in Melbourne. 

So to set the scene, it is Stephanie’s (Gaby Seow) first day on the job at the new café in town called Morning Brown. But this café does not have just one boss. It has three. Broden (Broden Kelly) is a pretty cool f-ing boss. Zach (Zachary Ruane) is the more classic professional boss, and Mark (Mark Bonanno) is the goofy one around here. It feels like an average trendy, overpriced Melbourne café. However, unlike the rest of the cafés, they don’t have a hook. Every café has a hook. You need to find a hook, just as long as that hook is not heritage-listed wasps. Now from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Cocaine Bear – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is a film about a bear high on cocaine running amok. I am not sure I need to say much more than that.     

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are two mid-credit scenes

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A Bloody phone hangs.

Cocaine Bear Review –

There are many reasons why a film can capture your attention. Maybe it is the cast, a name that immediately makes you intrigued? Could it be the genre, another period romance, or a sci-fi epic? They are the only two genres, apparently. But in rare moments, a film’s title can immediately hook you. This week we have just a movie because, if nothing else, the name Cocaine Bear is instantly provocative and makes you want to work out what the heck is going on.

So to set the scene, it is 1984, and the small town of Knoxville, Tennessee, wakes up to bundles of cocaine that started falling from the sky after a drug drop went very wrong. While some landed in suburbia, most of the stash lands in the state forest near Chattahoochee, Georgia. When the drug runners catch up to the cocaine, they find a surprise waiting for them, a 500 lb (230 kg) American black bear currently consuming their property. But this is a public park, and there is more than just the drug runners walking around. I mean, what’s the worst that half a ton of muscle and claw do when high as a kite? Cue the fatalities.

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That ’90s Show: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – While it had a rough start, it found its feet and became something full of charm.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this series.

The gang on the couch.

That ’90s Show Review –

The wheel of nostalgia always grinds on, and I think that was why I didn’t think much of when they announced that they would be doing a follow-up to That ‘70s Show set in the 1990s. This was a nostalgia ouroboros. But today, I needed something on the TV as I cleaned and packed the house, and as time went on, I found myself becoming more and more entwined with the show.  

So to set the scene, it is an excellent day in the Forman household because Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) is getting ready for a visit from Eric (Topher Grace), Donna (Laura Prepon), and their daughter Leia (Callie Haverda). Red (Kurtwood Smith) is happy with the quiet, but Kitty misses the sounds of the house being busy. While they were only meant to be there for the weekend, Leia found a bunch of friends, including her neighbours Gwen (Ashley Aufderheide) and Nate Runck (Maxwell Acee Donovan), Nate’s girlfriend Nikki (Sam Morelos), the sassy Ozzie (Reyn Doi), and of course a Kelso, Jay (Mace Coronel). Leia was meant only to stay the weekend, but after making connections, she cons her parents into staying for the whole summer. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead for the show.   

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Magic Mike’s Last Dance – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Third time is the charm, as the latest entry finds the right balance between fun and drama    

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit sequence

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Warning – There is scenes with flashing lights

The Rattigan.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance Review –

A press screening invite rarely comes with homework, but when I sent the invitation to see Magic Mike’s Last Dance, I realised that I had never watched the previous films Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL. I had heard of them and seen moments like the petrol station dance. However, in all that time, I had not actually watched them. Well, this weekend, I fixed that oversite, and well, they were fine, but not exceptional, but can the third time be the charm?

So to set the scene, it has been years since Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) gave up the world of stripping, even longer since he made the fateful final ride with his friends from the Kings of Tampa. These days Mike is working as a bartender in Miami when he runs into Maxandra Mendoza (Salma Hayek Pinault) and lets her get a taste of his talents. Seeing his skill first-hand, she asks him to come to London to The Rattigan to help put together a performance that will stay with people for years to come. 

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The Banshees of Inisherin – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A odd yet sad film of life in a small village that escalates out of all control

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Looking across the water to the mainland.

The Banshees of Inisherin Review –

Today I have a slightly frustrating film to review, and unfortunately for them, it is not their fault. I work out of Australia, and for some reason, this year, many of the big Oscar chances got released a lot later than the rest of the world. For example, today’s film was already out streaming in some places before it got its theatrical release here. I had avoided all spoilers for this film until yesterday when someone ruined a single plot point for me, and I think it ruined a big chunk of this film for me.  

So to set the scene, it is 1923 on an island off the Irish coastline, where they are isolated from much of the world, bar the odd explosions from the Irish Civil War they can hear echoing across the water from the mainland. Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) spends his days working with his dairy cows and nights at the pub with his best friend, Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson). That is until one day, Colm stops talking to him. The town wonders if they have been rowing again, but Pádraic can’t remember them fighting, and his sister Siobhán Súilleabháin (Kerry Condon) is concerned that something has gone very wrong. But Colm insists, ‘I just don’t like you no more’, but that is not an answer for Pádraic.

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True Lies (1994) – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR – While some parts of this have aged as well as blue cheese in the sun, you can’t help but feel the pull and allure of a story swinging for the fences at every opportunity. 

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this film

True Lies Review –

When getting ready for my 2022 best of lists, I discovered that I had revied 99 films this year. Which made me wonder, what could be the lucky number 100? Just as I pondered that, True Lies finally made its way onto streaming. I have not seen this in years, but while I loved it when I was younger, the years are rarely kind to films like this. But given the year that James Cameron has had with Avatar, it was all the better time to jump back to one of his classics.  

So to set the scene, an exclusive party is taking part on a snowy cold night at Lake Chapeau, Switzerland, at a heavily guarded chalet. But not all the guests are coming in the front door. Some are cutting through the gates to the lake under the ice. Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) works for a secret US counterterrorism unit called Omega Sector and is investigating the billionaire art dealer Jamal Khaled (Marshall Manesh) as a possible front for laundering money to Islamic Terrorists. But no one outside of the agency and his team, Albert “Gib” Gibson (Tom Arnold) and Faisil (Grant Heslov), not even Harry’s wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) and daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku), knows what he does. One tango later, Harry must make a less-than-quiet exit from the party. But while his work and home life are separate entities, they are about to come crashing together.   

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See How They Run – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A delightful romp through post-WW2 London as a murder reaches into the heights of polite society.    

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed the film.

Mousetrap

See How They Run Review –

We are seeing a resurgence of the Murder Mystery on our screens, which I have generally found to be an absolute delight. We have witnessed straight adaptations like Murder on the Orient Express, musical romps like The Bob’s Burgers Movie, and genre deconstructions like Knives Out. Today we’ll look at a film that is a lover of the genre and dances with a light touch while delving into some delightful meta-commentary.    

 So to set the scene, we open on London’s West End in 1953, where Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap is playing its 100th performance. Hollywood has tasked Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody) to create a film adaptation of this dull play. After flirting with the star of the show Richard Attenborough’s (Harris Dickinson) wife, Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda), Leo ends up backstage, where he is brutally murdered by someone dressed in black. But as Leo states as the narrator, it is always the most unlikeable characters that get bumped off. Now Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) are on the case, but as Leo laments, if you have seen one Whodunit, you have seen them all.

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A Knight’s Tale (2001) – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR – A delight, a joy, a battle, and a film for the ages. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this film

lying on a bed of furs.

A Knight’s Tale Review –

As I sit here at the time of writing, it is the night of Christmas Day, and I am not seeing any family today for the first time in a while. While I have never minded that isolation, it brings a certain melancholy on days like this. However, it also brings a particular reflective thought. It is in that mood that I thought I would take a moment and look back at an icon from my childhood, a film that still sits on my Top 10 films of All Time List.  

So to set the scene, and let’s just use the title card of the film itself, “In medieval times a sport arose. Embraced by noble and peasant fans alike, though only noble knights could compete. The sport was jousting.”. In this world, we meet three lowly squires of Sir Ector (Nick Brimble), who has unfortunately died before he can win the tournament. William Thatcher (Heath Ledger), Roland (Mark Addy), and Wat (Alan Tudyk) must move quickly because they have not eaten in three days, and they are about to forfeit the match. William decided to ride in his place, but you must be of noble birth to compete, so if they are discovered, it’s to the gallows they go. But if you can pull this off, maybe you don’t stop at just one tournament.    

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Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery – TV Review

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TL;DR – This special shows that they have learned from performing the first season and put those lessons into designing one of the funniest things I have seen in a while.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this show.

Santa's Dead.

Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery Title Review –

Earlier in 2022, there was the odd show that dropped on Netflix. It was a bunch of comedians being dropped in a murder mystery, but they don’t have a script. I thought the first season of Murderville was fine, but you could feel the story wrenching people in one direction rather than organically developing. I didn’t think much of it after I watched it. However, when I saw there was a Christmas special, well, I had to give it a look.

So to set the scene, Detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) is home alone, feeling bad about Christmas. Still, Mayor Palmer (Tawny Newsome) needed security at a Christmas event, and Chief Rhonda Jenkins-Seattle (Haneefah Wood) ain’t gonna do it because she is on holiday. But Seattle can’t do this by himself, bring on his new trainee Jason Bateman (Jason Bateman). Everything was going fine until lights went out, and when they came back, Santa, aka John ‘Johnny’ Blaze, aka Sean Hayes, was dead with a candy cane sticking out of his chest. They need to find out who the killer is, but they have to do it before the Sun comes up, or the orphans will not get their presents.  

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Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fun delight of a film that goes hard thanks to the charisma of Antonio Banderas   

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is something after the credits, but you do not need to stay for it

Disclosure – I was invited to a screening of this film

Goldilocks and the three bears.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Review –

When I think back, there will always be a soft spot in my heart for the Shrek series, even the later films that did not quite hit the same mark. The characters and world were always a delight as they took what was familiar and made a modern twist to it. One of those characters that shined was Puss in Boots, and today we see if they hold a whole film together with the sheer force of will that is Antonio Banderas’ charisma.

So to set the scene, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) is galivanting around the world and is having a ball drinking, dualling, and having many musical interludes. In one such town, he usurps a Governor’s mansion and would have gotten away with it had it not been for a forest giant and a misplaced bell. Puss is on his last life, which should not be a problem until the Big Bad Wolf (Wagner Moura) arrives, wanting to take that final life. Running from the threat, Puss becomes an average lap cat which almost works until he hears of a fallen star and a hope that the one final wish could restore his lives. But he is not the only one out for that wish.

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