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Tag Archives: Black Comedy
Review: Game Night (2018)
GAME NIGHT is an unexpected delight. Something that could just be raucous and crude in the hands of the guys behind the VACATION remake from a couple of years back ends up being not only a really sharp comedy but … Continue reading
Review: The Death of Stalin (2017)
If there’s a darker comedy out there than THE DEATH OF STALIN, I’m not sure I want to see it. This is the blackest of black humour, a seemingly impossible situation to derive laughter from, but Armando Iannucci somehow manages … Continue reading
Review: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Nobody writes stupid as well as Shane Black. Much like his contemporary Aaron Sorkin, he doesn’t write people talking how people actually talk, but within his own distinct worlds his dialogue for bewildered characters crackles almost as much as Sorkin’s … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Black Comedy, Film noir, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Michelle Monaghan, Mystery, Robert Downey Jr, Shane Black, Sunset Boulevard, Val Kilmer
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Review in Brief: Elle (2016)
ELLE is like the darkest soap opera you’ve ever seen. You get all the extra-marital affairs and mummy and daddy issues you might expect from nightly soft drama telly of the like of EAST ENDERS, but it also subjects us … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Black Comedy, Drama, East Enders, Elle, Gaspar Noé, Isabelle Huppert, Lars von Trier, Paul Verhoeven, Soap Opera
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Review: Boy (2010)
Handled delicately, grief makes for a great film. Boiling Taika Waititi’s films down to their core themes, if EAGLE VS. SHARK was about battling depression and HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE was about finding a place to truly belong, then BOY … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Black Comedy, Boy, Drama, Eagle vs Shark, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, James Rollerston, Michael Jackson, Taika Waititi, Thor: Ragnarok
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Review in Brief: The Young Offenders (2016)
Two adorable scallywags on a pushbike road trip and demonstrating stupidity, heart and Gallic humour aplenty? I’m in. The dual leads (Alex Murphy and Chris Walley, sporting equally horrendous teen face fuzz and questionable fashion sense) could have great things … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Alex Murphy, Black Comedy, Chris Walley, The Young Offenders
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Review in Brief: Toni Erdmann (2016)
Pretty much every review I’ve seen of TONI ERDMANN has been focussed on how unexpectedly good a two-and-a-half hour German comedy turns out to be. I find that overly reductive and more than a little patronising. American comedies are often … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Black Comedy, Jack Nicholson, Maren Ade, Sandra Hüller, Toni Erdmann, World Cinema
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Review: Swiss Army Man (2016)
SWISS ARMY MAN is like one of those weird one-off dreams. It questions humankind’s fear of death by allowing one of us to have a (admittedly skewed) relationship with a symbol of that fear. Hank (Paul Dano) loses it in … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Black Comedy, Daniel Radcliffe, Paul Dano, Swiss Army Man
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Review: Free Fire (2016/17)
Does Ben Wheatley ever sleep? Over the past eight years the British polymath has produced kitchen sink drama, folk horror, black comedy, Avant-garde, period-sci-fi-satire and DOCTOR WHO. He never does the same project twice and tends to mix it up … Continue reading
30 Years On: Withnail & I (1987)
There are few films out there that will make me laugh myself to tears every time I watch them. Monty Python does, as does Mel Brooks, but as I’ve mentioned before, I also have to add the gem that is … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Black Comedy, Mel Brooks, Monty Python, Paul McGann, Richard E Grant, Withnail & I
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