Tag Archives: Comedy

Exploring the Past – The Great Buddha+ (Dà fó pǔ lā sī, 大佛普拉斯) (2017)

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TL;DR – This is a film of dissonant halves, both funny, yet confronting, sad but also hopeful, engaging but also infuriating

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene but it does not offer any answers

The Great Buddha+. Image Credit: MandarinVision

Review –

Today I get to review a film thanks to the Brisbane International Film Festival that I would not have normally been able to see. I have been trying to increase the films that I have seen from Asia, and while this has included films from Hong Kong and China, today is my first dive into Taiwanese filmmaking with Huang Hsin-yao’s odd The Great Budda+. This is an interesting film but also a frustrating one at times, so to properly review it we will first give a general overview before we enter into spoiler territory as we dissect its ending, and what an ending it is.

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TV Review – The Good Place: The Brainy Bunch

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TL;DR – Season Three blasts forward at the speed of light blowing through what might have been a full season in a single episode

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

 

The Good Place: The Brainy Bunch. Image Credit: NBC/Netflix

 

Review –

One of the things that you have to get used to when you watch The Good Place, is how quickly everything moves. Sometimes the show completely changed up its entire structure in a single click of the fingers. It also means that it does not waste any time whatsoever, and sets up premises that a usual sitcom would play out over a bunch of episodes or a whole season, and then resolve it in 20 minutes.

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TV Review – The Good Place: Everything is Bonzer!

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TL;DR – It’s back and it is just as clever and fun as always.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

 

The Good Place: Everything is Bonzer! Image Credit: Netflix

 

Review –

The Good Place, what a little gem of a show this is, a real cracker. When I first watched it I had no idea what I was getting in too, and like everyone else, I was blown away by the direction the show took at the end of Season One. To the point that even now when we are still talking about Season Three I want to be coy about what that changeup was in case someone has not seen it yet. For the last two seasons, I watched it all in a binge watch session, so I am interested to see how it plays out week by week for this season. Well with that in mind, let’s come Down Under say hello and look at Australian universities with flags in every room.

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Countdown – My Personal Top 10 Films of All Time List

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TL;DR – Today we countdown my Top 10 films of all time; from towns where there are a lot of ‘accidents’, to all forms of Sci-Fi, to do you know the man with six fingers on his right hand, and everything in between.

Countdown –

Recently I watched the CineFix crew countdown their Top 10 films, and it had me thinking what are mine? Now it was at this point where I of course naturally spiralled as how can you reduce thousands of films that you have seen into only a Top 10. Just before I threw my hands up in resignation and chucked in the towel I happened to catch an episode of Movies with Mikey on how he determined the best sequel. With this in mind I wondered if there was a set of criteria that I could use to categorise the films into a list that I would be happy with, and after some work, I came up with the following criteria that work for me.

  • Films that are beautifully constructed
  • Films that mean something to me
  • Films that are always re-watchable
  • Films that have added to my love of the craft of cinema

With this criterion in mind I went through all the likely candidates and with a bit of a struggle I think I have been able to come to a final list, well at least until I change my mind next week, which is always a chance.

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TV Review – The Orville: Season One

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TL;DR – While at first look this might have been just a Star Trek homage or at worst a blatant rip-off. Instead, it finds its feet and becomes a charming exploration of the future and the mess and opportunities that could come.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

 

The Orville. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox & Fuzzy Door Productions.

 

Review –

I have been wanting to catch The Orville for quite a while but there was no streaming or TV that picked it up here in Australia, so I was expecting this was something that I might only get to see when it dropped on Blu-Ray. But with SBS announcing they had picked it up and would be showing Season Two I jumped on a watched the whole first season in one night, which meant that clown appeared at a very confronting time late at night. But binged the first season I have, and now it is time to jump in and see if it was worth the wait. Now before we dive in, a quick reminder that as we will be looking at the season as a whole, there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Movie Review – A Simple Favor

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TL;DR – Crazy, absurd, ridiculous, tense, and an amazing ball of fun

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

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

A Simple Favor. Image Credit: Lionsgate

Review –

The tone is something that can make or break a film, and you would think it would be an easy thing to get right, but alas it can be a tightrope to walk at times. This is especially important when you are blending genres and still trying to make it feel like a constant whole. Today we look at a film A Simple Favor that walks that tightrope from absurdity to high strung tension and makes it look effortless. Now before we get into the review proper, I do want to say that I have not read the book so I will leave it to others more knowledgeable than me to let you know if it is a good adaption or not, and I’ll just focus on the film.

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Movie Review – The Happytime Murders

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TL;DR – Take everything wrong with Bright, smash it into Who Framed Roger Rabbit with all the charm removed, and sprinkle in some jokes about puppet sex and you pretty much have this film.

Score – 1.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is some behind the scenes footage during the credits

The Happytime Murders: Image Credit: STK Films/Roadshow Films

Review –

Well … that was an experience, I’ll tell you that much. I mean it has a lot of bits that usually I really like, like the noir setting, a ‘who done it’ mystery, and a story that is wanting to subvert a genre. I also really like Melissa McCarthy as an actor, and well they also upset Sesame Street and well that’s interesting all in itself. However, none of this matters because at no point does the film come together and at best it hits moments of being mediocre.

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Movie Review – The Spy Who Dumped Me

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TL;DR – At times deeply funny, and also quite shocking, while it doesn’t quite reach fantastic it is clear that a lot of talent and care has gone into the film, even though the full frontal nudity and language will be a barrier for many.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes

Image Credit: Lionsgate

Review –

This was actually quite a bit of a surprise, there had been a lot of bad buzz about the film floating around, and I honestly had no idea what to expect of the film other than the most blatant rip off of a Bond title since Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. However, the one thing that was clear from the first few minutes is that a lot of care has gone into the construction of this film, because there is a lot they could have phoned it in, but no they put the effort in.

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Movie Review – Tag

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TL;DR – Overall just a really fun silly film, that is made even sillier by the fact that it is based on a true story. It is just a pity that not everything works.

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Content Warning – One of the side plots revolved around an extending sequence about a potential miscarriage

Post-Credit Scene – There is something you’ll want to see in the credits.

Tag. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review –

You know when I think back to my school years there were people, really good friends, that I spent nearly every day of my life with who I now have no idea where they are and what they are doing with there lives. As we grow older it is natural for people to grow apart, even with the digitally connected world we live in today where you can be Facebook acquaintances with most of the people of your past. Today we are looking at a story about a group of friends that decided to buck this trend in a really odd yet charming way. Now just before we jump in, for the first time I am giving a content warning with regards to this film because one of the plot lines is dealing with a miscarriage that kind of comes out of nowhere in the film and it may be quite traumatising for some people.

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Movie Review – Life of the Party

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 TL;DR – A fun uplifting comedy that I found myself smiling all the way through.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no Post-Credit Scene

Life of the Party

Review –

To be perfectly honest I was not actually planning to go see Life of the Party, because of a couple of reasons. It came out during a particularly big work week for me, and also from the trailers, it looked like many, many other comedies I have sat through over the last couple of years. But I had some free time today and it was on so I thought what the hell, and I am actually really glad that I did.

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