Ballerina (aka Leap!) movie review: lowering the barre
Cheesy Euro ballerina-porn cartoon is full of dated animation, cringeworthy attempts at humor, bizarre anachronisms, and a terrible message for little kids.
Mel Brooks
The Last Laugh documentary review: punching Nazis (with comedy)
Analyzing jokes can ruin humor, but not here. This is a provocative, hilarious, and important discussion of comedy taboos, who gets to transgress them, and why.
Casa de Mi Padre (review)
A little bit Mel Brooks, a little bit Airplane!: subtle humor that slips under your radar instead of bashing you over the head is what makes Casa one of the more adventurous comedies in recent years…
retro trailer: ‘The Muppet Movie’
Take a look back at an old trailer… This is a looong trailer — I’m not sure where it came from. Don Deluise, Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Milton Berle, Charles Durning, Mel Brooks… and of course, Kermit and Miss Piggy. It’s a who’s who of 1970s comedy This might be the first movie … more…
December 4: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but you’ll be busy planning your robbery of an armored car so you can pay for your holiday celebrations. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you on … more…
Year One (review)
Thanks so much, everyone involved in *Year One,* for setting back the noble causes of blasphemy, rational thinking, and humanism about a century.
Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, Young Frankenstein, Little Shop of Horrors, and Beetlejuice (review)
Why do slasher movies make us laugh in the instant after we jump and scream? When comedy works, it’s for the same reason that horror does: It surprises us, and laughter and screams emanate from that same primitive lizard part of our brains, one that reacts before we can think.
