The Double review: now you see him… again
A painfully funny odyssey of personal ineffectualness that is bitterly wonderful in how it revels in the decrepit horror of the everyday world.
black comedy
Cheap Thrills review: in debasement
The movie equivalent of a mean girls’ game whose only goal is humiliation. Also: a failed parable of the twistedness of the 1 percent.
A Long Way Down review: you kill me
It shouldn’t work, but it does, as wonderfully sardonic British humor and as a reminder that you’re not alone in being messed up in this insane world.
Odd Thomas review: tonight, on a very special episode…
It feels smaller and more rushed — and less plausible — than it should, but Anton Yelchin is charming, and the snappy comic tone sometimes works.
The Art of the Steal review: steal from the best
One of the most fun heist movies ever, bursting with snappy humor and a twisty cleverness that knows that you know that you are getting conned, too…
The Great Beauty review: pretty ugly
As a parody of Italian cinema, it’s tedious. Except we’re supposed to be taking this seriously. As if.
The Lego Movie review: take the brick pill
You’ve seen this all before — it’s Toy Story meets The Matrix — just not done in Legos.
Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (86th Academy Awards) review
My favorite of the five films is the British “The Voorman Problem,” starring Martin Freeman and Tom Hollander in a hilarious and provocative bit of speculative fantasy…
Inside Llewyn Davis review: trying of the human spirit
Hilarious in the Coens’ weird, askew way, but also absolutely crushing. This movie breaks my heart in a hundred different ways.
Doomsdays review (LOCO London Comedy Film Festival)
I see the harbingers of doom in this “pre-apocalyptic comedy,” but there’s nothing actually funny about it.
