Chef: The Definition Of Food Porn

Chef is a comedy drama film directed by Jon Favreau. The plot sees world renowned chef Carl Casper get into some hot water when his argument with a local food critic blows up online. Faced with needing to start again he opens a food truck with his son Percy (Emjay Anthony), and he teaches him how to cook and they bond.

This is a touching film in a lot of different ways, I enjoyed the father son dynamic of it and how real and genuine it felt. The writing of was spot on and the relationship between these two felt right for the situation. I enjoyed seeing them bond, it brought tears to my eyes on a few occasions I thought it was beautiful done.

The story itself was not hugely complex, but it was very enjoyable; it is hard to go wrong with an underdog story. There is no real conflict, but then again there doesn’t need to be, seeing his once great chef, get to start again and rediscover his passion is already quite the emotional journey.

The side characters were amusing and made me laugh, I especially enjoyed the reunion with Favreau Iron Man co-star Robert Downey Jr. However, ultimately this is a father son film and that is where it shines the best.

A touching tribute to fathers and sons everywhere, it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, but more than anything it will make you hungry.

Pros.

The father son relationship

The heart

The comedy

Well done side characters

Great Marvel reunions

Cons.

Nonapparent

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Safety Not Guaranteed: Never Assume Time Travelers Are Crazy

Safety Not Guaranteed is a comedy drama romance film directed by Colin Trevorrow. The plot follows three reporters as they interview a man (Mark Duplass) who say he is producing a means to travel back in time. One of the reporters Darius (Aubrey Plaza), is send in undercover with wannbe time traveller Kenneth (Duplass), only to end up falling in love with him and finding out that he does in fact have a means of getting back to the past.

I enjoyed this film quite a bit, I think that it works on two layers. Firstly it works as a great science fiction film, the time travel stuff is fascinating, and I like how they don’t reveal it one way or the other until the end of the film. Secondly it works as a great rom com as well the relationships feel very genuine and believable, Duplass and Plaza have great on-screen chemistry.

The film has a great heart and a few good laugh out loud monuments. My personal favourite character was probably Jeff (Jake Johnson), because I loved what they did with a character who is basically a jerk to everyone around him showing his tragic motivation, he is fundamentally lonely. Normally I am against subplots about side characters, but in this case it worked. Also I am a huge New Girl fan.

Overall, a very strong indie darling with a great heart and some mind-bending science fiction.

Pros.

The heart

The humour

The chemistry between the leads

The ending reveal

Jake Johnson

Cons.

It starts a little slow.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Brittany Runs A Marathon: Everything I Feel Pretty Does Wrong

Brittany Runs A Marathon is a comedy drama film directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo. The plot follows Brittany (Jillian Bell), a young women whose life has got out of control. She finds it hard to leave the house, she hates the way she looks, she is surrounded by bad friends, and her body is failing her, medically. Just when things seem their bleakest Brittiany decides to go for a run, she then dedicates herself to training for a marathon and things start to change.

I thought this was just going to be a dumb comedy film, but boy was I wrong. This is far more of a commentary on body positivity and being okay with yourself, this film hits some very dark very personal areas and handles the subject matter beautifully.

So yeah this film isn’t funny, as a comedy film it fails, but as a nuanced drama film with an eye on body image, self esteem and learning to love yourself this film is simply a triumph. Bell takes us on a journey with this character and we feel her pain, we want to see her win, and the moment we see her hurt her leg and not be able to race, the first time, we feel as devastated as she does. This film makes me want to see Bell cast her more dramatic roles as I think she has a real talent.

Overall, this film is what I Feel Pretty should have been, its body positivity message is something that everyone can get behind and honestly it is kind of inspiring. I highly recommend.

Pros.

The message

The well rounded, fleshed out, real character

Bell’s performance

The heart

Cons.

It is not a comedy in any way

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

An Evening With Beverly Luff Lin: The Sensual Art Of The Grunt

An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn is a comedy crime film directed by Jim Hosking. The plot follows Lulu (Aubrey Plaza), as she runs away from her husband with a hired hitman (Jermaine Clement), to a hotel where her old flame (Craig Robinson) is singing.

So, this was a weird one, I had no idea what this film was about going into it, I was not familiar with Hosking or his other works beforehand, so I was not aware of what to expect. I mainly put this on because it had three of my favourite actors in it, Matt Berry, Jermaine Clement and Aubrey Plaza, and hey it was one hell of a trip.

This film does take some getting used to, as it is unlike most other films that I have ever seen, Robinson’s character mainly communicates in grunts for most of the film, it is bizarre. Think David Lynch, but a little less cerebral.

Plaza is terrific she is giving the character her all and it really shows. She standouts here and proves that she is one of the best young actors currently working. Clement is my personal favourite and I think he is the scene stealer of the film his character has all the best lines and manages to be both threatening and sweet at the same time.

Overall, a very hard film to describe if you haven’t seen it, well worth the watch.

Pros.

The performances

The humour

The building sense of mystery

The ending

Cons.

It is very strange

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Run Fat Boy Run: One Of The Worst Characters In All Of Cinema

Run Fat Boy Run is a comedy film directed by David Schwimmer. The plot sees down on his look loser Dennis (Simon Pegg), decide to run a marathon to prove to his ex-finance (who he left at the alter while pregnant), that he has changed for the better and that she should get back with him.

Before we get into it, I just want to say Libby (Thandie Newton), shouldn’t end the film getting back together with Simon Pegg’s character, he ran out on her the morning of their wedding while she was pregnant; that has to be one of the worst things a person can do. No matter how much the film tries to make Dennis seem like a great guy there is no real getting around that.

I watched this film in the middle of my Pegg phase when I was younger, and I remember having mixed feelings about it, watching it again now years later I can tell you my feelings haven’t changed. It is a very meh film, not Pegg’s best but not his worst either.

The issue with the film for me is that it all feels very been there done that, nothing is new or surprising and everything sticks to a rather played out cliched formula. Even the humour is flat, other than once I can’t remember laughing throughout most of the film, which is bad when you consider this is supposed to be funny.

Overall, just very meh, you have seen this before.

Pros.

The characters are likeable enough

The ending is hopeful

Cons.

Pegg’s character is irredeemable

It feels far too familiar

It isn’t funny

2/5

Scary Movie: What’s Your Favourite Scary Movie

Scary Movie is a comedy film directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans. The plot serves to lambast slasher films of the 80’s and the 90’s. We follow Cindy (Anna Faris), and her group of friends who are haunted down by a masked killer.

So, this film was a huge deal when I was a kid, huge, and yes in recent years it has had some less than stellar attention on it, but it still stands up as one of the best “Movie” movies and one of the best spoof movies of the early 2000’s. I must have seen it well over ten times.

Maybe it talks to my comedic sensibilities, but this film was and still is funny to me, even though a lot of the references from it went over my head on first watching, I still found them and the characters funny. Out of all the Scary Movie films this one was easily the best, though I am partial to all of them.

Faris is a very likable lead and she manages to nail both the comedic moments as well as the moments that required her to be a genuine final girl. Some of the most quotable lines of the whole series are hers.

The best moment of this film to me is the ending, which is a spoof on The Usual Suspects, it is just so cool, and the musical choice greatly enhances it.

Overall, a hilarious gem of my childhood that still holds up, though the comedy won’t be to everyone’s taste.

Pros.

The jokes

The spoof

Anna Faris

The ending

It feels like a loving roast of the horror genre

Cons.

The comedy might not be to everyone’s taste

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Blended: Barrymore And Sandler Are An All Time Great Romance Spanning 3 Films

Blended is a romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci. The plot sees two single parents end up going on holiday together with their kids to Africa. At first the two parents, Jim (Adam Sandler) and Lauren (Drew Barrymore), hate each other and don’t get along, but often as these sort of films go they end up madly in love by the end.

This film is viewed as one of the trash tier Sandler films by a lot of people, but I have to say upon watching it myself I enjoyed it; maybe that says something about my taste. I think this film benefits from being more subdued than Sandler’s normal fare. Yes, you have the cheap poo jokes and what not that are the life blood of Sandler comedy, but you also have this single parent character study where we see that Jim is actually quite a layered person to add on top of those scat jokes. Sandler’s performance here reminded me a bit of his character in Funny People in that he is a tragic character.

On top of this you have the romance between Sandler and Barrymore’s characters, which is incredibly strong. In recent years Sandler has being playing romantic leads by the side of Jenifer Anniston, but his ultimate on-screen romantic pairing will always be Drew Barrymore. The spark that was first shown in The Wedding Singer is still alive and well.

My one complaint would be that Terry Crews character, who is a sort of lounge singer who shows up at inopportune times, becomes tiresome quickly and they beat that joke into the ground.

Overall, a surprisingly sweet, heartfelt film that has a lot of say about grief and raising kids. Benefited immensely by obvious spark between Sandler and Barrymore.

Pros.

Romance

The depth

Some good jokes

Barrymore and Sandler have great chemistry

Cons.

Not all of the jokes land and they keep reusing some of the worse ones

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Just Go With It: Textbook Creepy Sandler

Just Go With It is a romantic comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan. The plot follows Danny (Adam Sandler), a man who pretends to be in a bad marriage to get with girls. One day he meets The One (Brooklyn Decker) and things seem to be going well, but then she finds his old wedding ring and gets cold feet. From there Sandler enlists the help of Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), his assistant, to pretend to be his soon to be ex-wife, in hopes of convincing Palmer (Decker), that she is not in fact a home wrecker.

Yes, the premise is absurd, and it gets to a point where none of it makes even the smallest bit of sense and it is easier to just not think about it. It only gets complicated by more weird and needless plot twists down the line that serve to make the film even harder to follow.

There are also some moments of what I will call from here on out “Sandler textbook creepiness”, where he openly objectifies women and is trying to date a woman half his age. This becomes a recurring joke through out the film that Danny and Palmer aren’t right for each other because they have nothing in common because of their age. It feels icky to think she is supposed to be 23 and he is presumably supposed to be in his 40’s if not older.

However, it is not all bad as there are some good jokes that are genuinely quite funny scattered in throughout that made me laugh. As a comedy film this film does its job and then some. Moreover, the interplay between Aniston and Sandler is also great and the two have a strong repour and a believable on-screen chemistry.

Overall, this is not as bad as a lot of the films Sandler was making around the same time, yes there are aspects that don’t age well and the premise is comically absurd, but if you’re a fan of Sandler you will find it funny and easy enough to watch. Not Sandler’s best, but also not his worst; by a large margin.

Pros.

Funny jokes

Sandler and Aniston have great chemistry

A strong central romance

Cons.

The icky creepiness

The incredibly dumb plot that gets dumber

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Grand Budapest Hotel: Disrepair

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a comedy drama film directed by Wes Anderson. The plot sees the current owner of the titular hotel Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham), recount the story of how he came to own it, telling how his predecessor (Ralph Fiennes) was accused of a murder he didn’t commit.

I have recently become a Wes Anderson convert, quickly burning my way through his filmography. I love Anderson unique take on cinema and the charmingly eccentric feel of it, however I feel he has hits and misses, this to be would be one of the latter.

Unlike something like Rushmore or The Darjeeling Limited I did not find myself particularly caring for any of the characters, other than the minute-long cameo of Bill Murray, I also found the story to be surprisingly dull. The quirkiness that I have mentioned before is the only thing that saved this film from mediocrity and was the only reason I didn’t turn it off midway through.

I don’t quite know what it was but there is something lacking from this film, something central and critical. It felt all over the place in a lot of different ways and seemed to lack any kind of singular focus outside of just being odd.

Overall, this is the weakest Anderson film that I have seen yet, it lacked engaging characters and that spark that the rest of his films have, very disappointing.

Pros.

The uniqueness

There are a few good memorable moments

Cons.

It is forgettable

The soundtrack is not up to usual Wes Anderson standards

The story and characters failed to engage me

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Zombieland: Words To Live By

Zombieland is a comedy horror film directed by Ruben Fleischer. The film revolves around a rag tag group of survivors in a zombie apocalypse as they try and find something to live for. Little do they know that they have already found a reason to be, in one another.

So, this is one of my favourite comedy horror films of all time, I have seen it a countless number of times and no matter how matter how much watch it, it remains excellent. This was the perfect storm of comedy, heart and peak Jessie Eisenberg.

My one complaint about it would be that it is not a horror film, it is classified as horror comedy, but it leans into the latter far more than the former. It is in no way scary.

Each one of the characters in this film seems so perfectly cast and brought to the screen and the interplay they have with one another is simply magical. The relationship between Eisenberg’s character and Emma Stone’s character is so believable and sweet that you would have to have a heart as cold as ice not to feel anything about it. The same can be said for any number of other character relationships in the film.

Columbus’s (Eisenberg) rules for surviving “Zombieland” are all terrific and will make you laugh, there is also a kernel of good wisdom in there if you look close enough. However, the real standout comedy moment of the film has to be the Bill Murray cameo, which is simply superb.

Overall, this was the perfect storm, lightning in a bottle. A once in a generation comedy horror film that everyone should see. I like to pretend the sequel never happened.

Pros.

The chemistry

All of the actors are on perfect form

The heart

The comedy

Bill freaking Murray

Cons.

It is not a horror film

5/5

Reviewed by Luke