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From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. November 2024: More reviews of titles from 1990-2024 - Upcoming review: The Apprentice (2024)
This poster for Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way appears promising enough, if maybe a bit bland
A New York escort confesses to her psychologist how she over a brief period of time has made the acquaintances of a group of internally tangled persons...
She’s Funny That Way, written by Louise Stratten (City Island (2009, actress)) and great New-Yorker co-writer-director Peter Bogdanovich (What's Up, Doc? (1972)), is an attempt at an [Woody] Allenesque comedy. Regrettably, it doesn't work, mainly because it isn't funny enough, and also because it is hard to get sufficiently interested in the story's affluent characters and their problems.
Imogen Poots (Green Room (2015)), - who is British, - is charming as the escort and utilizes a heavy New-York accent that matches Mercedes Ruhl's in The Fisher King (1991). Jennifer Aniston (Along Came Polly (2004)) as the shrink has funny-bones and the kind of energy that is lacking from the performances of Owen Wilson (The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)) and Rhys Ifans (Mr. Nice (2010)), who play a couple of fools. Kathryn Hahn (Bad Moms (2016)) tries but also isn't particularly funny here. Keep your eyes peeled for several star cameos.
The style of She's Funny That Way is a peculiar blend of intellectual, verbally oriented comedy and the screwball kind that Bogdanovich famously and hilariously reanimated with What's Up, Doc?. The blend doesn't gel. But She’s Funny That Way is a Movie, and especially a Bogdanovich fan will still find it feasibly entertaining.
[She's Funny That Way premiered August 29 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 93 minutes. The script was written in 1999-2000 by Bogdanovich and ex-wife Stratten as a comedy collaboration to keep their spirits up during financial troubles, originally intended to be starring John Ritter (who died before production) and Cybill Shepherd, (who still plays a small role.) It was shot in New York in 29 days, starting July 11 2013, with some of the roles only getting cast during shooting. The North American distribution rights were acquired by Clarius Entertainment, who then dropped the film for unknown reasons, at which time Lionsgate Premiere picked it up for a small theatrical release and as VoD, (which is not accounted for in the box office figure above.) The film ran for 3 weeks, topping in 26 theaters in North America, were it grossed just 111k $ (1.9 % of the total gross). The biggest 3 markets were Russia with 822k $ (13.7 %), Italy with 597k $ (10 %) and Poland with 585k $ (9.8 %). Without a cost figure (and the VoD performance unknown), it isn't possible to make out the film's theatrical performance for sure, but if it was made cheap, on for instance a 5 mil. $ budget, the film would likely still rate as a big flop. She's Funny That Way is rotten at 39 % with a 5.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Symptomatically for the second season of John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky and Mike Judge's Silicon Valley, its poster is much less poignant and funny than the preceding one
The second season of creators John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky (Blades of Glory (2007, both)) and Mike Judge's (Extract (2009)) Silicon Valley still focuses on the trials of San Francisco tech startup company Pied Piper upon winning an important industry prize at the conclusion of the first season.
The following episode run-through will contain SPOILERS:
1. Pied Piper's financier and CEO of Raviga Peter Gabriel dies a sudden death.
2. Things are going bad for Pied Piper, with their huge competitor Hooli suing them for copyright violation and their investor Raviga jumping ship. With none of the previously interested investors interested any longer, and facing a legal battle that could cost millions, Pied Piper's founder Richard (Thomas Middleditch (The Final Girls (2015))) decides to meet with Hooli CEO Gavin Belson (Matt Ross (The Aviator (2004))), who is interested in buying up Pied Piper.
3. Richard is about to accept the buy-up, when he is stopped by wealthy douche Russ (Chris Diamantopoulos (Empire State (2013))), who has another plan: To give Pied Piper a 5 mil. $ loan in exchange for a seat in its board. Richard agrees, and Belson finds his weapon against Richard; his past best friend and Pied Piper associate, 'Big Head' (Josh Brener (The Belko Experiment (2016))).
4. The company hires two additional programmers. One is hired with Ehrlich (T. J. Miller (Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014))), Pied Piper's loud-mouthed board member and 'incubator' (owner of the house they operate from) objecting, and that ends up disrupting it.
5. Richard suffers from severe night sweats, which he fears will develop into bedwetting, as moving the company has to be postponed, because Pied Piper needs its own servers, which fit into the garage. Jared (Zach Woods (The Good Wife (2013-16))), the peculiar company assistant, has his own strange sleep pattern; the guys' invalid neighbor becomes another problem for them; and at Hooli, Belson once again promotes unsuspecting 'Baghead'.
6. Hooli's attempt at live-streaming a wrestling match crashes, which inspires Pied Piper to try something similar, and succeed! But the energy drink Homicide turns out not to be the ideal partner for the venture. Another company called End Game turns out also (as Hooli) to have stolen Pied Piper's technology.
7. Our friends pursue End Game, who for the moment turn out to be more commercially minded than Pied Piper. Pied Piper's tough programmer Gilfoyle (Martin Starr (Freaks and Geeks (1999-00))) locates a way forward: A porn client. Meanwhile the less aggressive programmer Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani (Goosebumps (2015))) still can't get a girl interested in him.
8. Richard is caught in a paranoid funk because of a vengeful bastard by the name of Seth, but it turns out to be irksome investor Russ who gets a piece of truth from him and as a result may leave Pied Piper. The company mistakenly deletes 9,000 hours of porn from their first client. - Ouch!
9. The copyrights trial becomes an arbitration trial instead, and Pied Piper hires a really funny, disbarred non-lawyer lawyer (Matt McCoy (The Newcomers (2000))), but the case boils down to whether or not Richard is willing to lie about having initially used a Hooli computer for his work on Pied Piper, - which he refuses to do.
10. While a falling accident and Manny Pacquiao suddenly make Pied Piper's 'condor-cam' spike in popularity, Richard wins the arbitration trial due to rotten contracts at Hooli, where Belson is targeted for firing, and 'Big Head' for another advancement... But the party for Pied Piper is over before it begins, as Raviga's new CEO, Laurie (Suzanne Cryer (Get the Gringo (2012))) buys Russ out of the company and removes Richard as its director.
The first episode of the second season is astoundingly bad, beginning with a severely unfunny opening at a baseball stadium. The sudden real-life death of Christopher Evan Welch (Our Idiot Brother (2011)), who portrayed Peter Gabriel, who is killed off in the season's beginning, obviously hangs over the production for its entire second run. It begins by being both written, acted and lit without much motivation and presence. The fun only returns slowly to Silicon Valley, especially through the performances of Woods and Nanjiani, but it remains miles from the heights of season 1. Miller, who plays the charismatic Ehrlich as a key part of the entire show's formula, attacks the part with less persuasion and spirit in season two but returns to form towards its end.
Of the new characters, Raviga's CEO is played by Cryer with an autistic routine that becomes old fast. Russ seems to have more potential, but is also an aggravating character. We get more of the show's racially stereotypically drawn, but not completely unfunny, Chinese character Jing-Yang (Jimmy O. Yang (Those Who Can't (2016, TV-series))).
The storylines go in circles in season 2, centering on money and the same few companies, - for some reason not dealing with such obvious elements as romance or actual sex, (the characters talk about it plenty though.) Season 2 of Silicon Valley is more nerdy, very rocky, but still with some fun, although despairingly less fun and poignant than in its towering first season.
Best episode:
9. Binding Arbitration - written by Dan O'Keefe (On the Lot (2007, TV-series), Altschuler, Krinsky and Judge, directed by Judge
The trial moves to arbitration, and Pied Piper hires an unorthodox lawyer. Miller as Ehrlich is finally seems to be back in top shape.
A still from the terrible baseball-stadium set opening of the second season of John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky and Mike Judge's Silicon Valley
Richard drinks tequila shots with Russ in season 2 of John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky and Mike Judge's Silicon Valley
Watch a promo for the second season here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV only
= Unknown
[Silicon Valley - season 2 was first broadcast on HBO from April 12 to June 14 and spans 10 28-30 minute episodes, totaling approximately 290 minutes. It was shot in Los Angeles and Palo Alto, California. The viewer ratings were up slightly from the first season: from 1.72 mil. to 1.8 mil. on average. The season was nominated for a Golden Globe and 6 Emmys, winning two. - Ironically, the show grew in audience and recognition for its much inferior second season. Silicon Valley - season 2 is fresh at 100 % with an 8.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
The amusingly photo-shopped, Steve Jobs-satirizing poster for the first season of John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky and Mike Judge's Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a satirical HBO sitcom about a struggling startup company in the tech world bubble that is San Francisco's Silicon Valley, created by John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky (The Goode Family (2009, TV-series, both)) and Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996)), based on Judge's experiences working briefly in a Silicon Valley startup in 1987 and the general developments in the technological business.
The following episode run-through will contain SPOILERS:
1. Our hero Richard (Thomas Middleditch (Search Party (2014))) gets ridiculed at his job at tech giant Hooli for his Pied Piper website, but he also secures attention from a couple of big-shots, and suddenly he receives a 10 mil. $ offer. - Which he turns down, preferring a 200k $ offer that allows him to remain captain of the venture.
2. The executive who gave Richard the offer he accepted, Gregory (Christopher Evan Welch (Whatever Works (2009))) gives Richard 48 hours to write an elaborate business plan. Meanwhile, Jared (Zach Woods (Ghostbusters (2016))), an executive assistant at Hooli, changes teams and tries to clarify what roles the guys in Richard's home, who make up Pied Piper, play. Here Richard's best friend 'Big Head' (Josh Brener (Welcome to Happiness (2015))) comes up short, and Richard learns to be an asshole boss by insisting that the seemingly worthless component that is his best friend stays! But Big Head has already caught the drift and moved workplace to Hooli, - who have poached Richard's idea...
3. While Gregory meditates on the sesame seeds on Burger King buns, Richard fights to acquire the name Pied Piper from an agricultural business, although everyone in the company besides himself hate it. Ehrlich (T. J. Miller (Deadpool (2016))), the entrepreneur and self-proclaimed incubator of Pied Piper, who owns the house the guys work and live in, calls them all billionaires online and goes searching for a new name for them on a mushroom trip, returning with a Mexican boy, who he thinks is himself - from the future!
4. The issue of presenting the vision of the company becomes ever more pressing. Richard and Ehrlich attend Gregory's toga party, where rapper Flo Rida and rented party guests party, and Ehrlich manages to become a Pied Piper board member. That is later disputed, but as Richard experiences another panic attack, Ehrlich is graced back to the inside, - and vomited on.
5. Gavin Belson (Matt Ross (American Psycho (2000))), the in equal measures feared and worshiped CEO of Hooli experiences failing technologies during a call, while Richard and Co. find out that Pied Piper is still on track to a competition that Richard had signed into months ago. They decide to make the company's world launch at the event, 8 weeks away. Meanwhile Ehrlich has a Mexican graffiti artist create a logo, which unfortunately turns out wildly obscene.
6. Jared gets caught inside a self-driving car and lead into a container en route to Gregory's phony island! Richard hires a kid to help out with the company's immediate problems with the 'cloud'. - Unfortunately, the kid turns out to be unstable. Finally, sarcastic satanist programmer Gilfoyle's (Martin Starr (Hawaii Five-O (2010-16))) lets his girlfriend visit the house, which creates confusion and hilarity.
7. Time for the competitive conference: Jared's assistant role to Richard gets overtaken temporarily by Gregory's sweet, competent assistant Monica (Amanda Crew (Race (2016))), which makes him laughably miserable. Pied Piper's programmer with Indian ancestry, Dinesh's (Kumail Nanjiani (Life As We Know It (2010))) latent homosexuality flares up, as Ehrlich turns out to have previously had sex with one of the judges' ex-wife, which he now repeats with the judge's current wife.
8. The resulting attack from the judge during Pied Piper's presentation gets them directly into the finale. But a seemingly insurmountable problem presents itself as Hooli beats them to it, presenting a similar system that is simply a good deal better than Richard and the guys'. Every one are struck by the defeat, - Jared additionally hasn't slept for days, - when Ehrlich's grotesque suggestion inspires a new idea in Richard, which improves Pied Piper's compression rate significantly over-night, making them win the competition.
The first couple of minutes of Silicon Valley might elapse with some irritation with all the dopey characters but then ... the show turns out to be incredibly funny! All of the 8 episodes that make up the first season are hilarious, and the nerdy characters develop slightly, and definitely continue to show entertaining sides to themselves. - My favorite is Woods' character Jared, a hysterically awkward and sincere man.
The show hits the bull's eye in several directions. When a call goes terribly awry for the demi-God of Hooli, (episode 5) it reminds us of the many everyday experiences we all have with failing technologies, which we often ignore socially to seem more with the beat. The anxiety involved in our ever-expanding relation with technology is also probed for humorous effect, especially in the episode (#6) in which Jared essentially gets kidnapped by a highly 'intelligent' vehicle.
Silicon Valley is an unmatched, fresh and deeply funny sitcom. After its awesome first season, I couldn't wait to get more of it.
Best episode:
6: Third Party Insourcing - written by Altschuler, Krinsky, Judge and Dan O'Keefe (The League (2010-15)), directed by Alec Berg (Curb Your Enthusiasm (2007-11))
Jared is imprisoned inside a high-tech car, while Richard tries to solve cloud-problems with the help of a teenager.
From the left: Characters Ehrlich, Gilfoyle, Dinesh, Jared and Richard, in John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky and Mike Judge's Silicon Valley season 1
Richard's 'boss' Gregory in John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky and Mike Judge's Silicon Valley season 1
Watch an official trailer for the first season of the show here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV only
= Unknown
[Silicon Valley - season 1 was first broadcast on HBO April 6 - June 1 and spans 8 28-30 minute episodes, totaling approximately 232 minutes. The pilot was shot in March 2013, with HBO green-lighting a season in May. Shooting took place in Los Angeles and Palo Alto, California. Read more about Judge's work on the show here. Welch, who plays Gregory, died suddenly of lung cancer in December 2013 after having shot the first 5 episodes. The team behind the show decided to push the fate of the character to the second season, which as a result had to be rewritten. The season averaged 1.72 mil. viewers, which is generally considered to be an unimpressive rating, especially since it played upside HBO's massively successful Game of Thrones. The season was nominated for 5 Emmys, winning none. Silicon Valley - season 1 is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
SNL regulars Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig are to sell Craig Johnson's The Skeleton Twins on its poster
A man, who goes through a failed suicide attempt, subsequently moves temporarily into the home of his sister, whom he hasn't seen in a decade, and her husband. As it turns out, both twin siblings have deep-rooted problems in their lives.
Bill Hader (The BFG (2016)) and Kristen Wiig (Ghostbusters (2016)) are credible as twins and are both really funny and well-functioning dramatically in this little indie pearl from co-writer-director Craig Johnson (True Adolescents (2009)).
As The Skeleton Twins unfolds, I was waiting, somewhere in the back of my mind, for it to give in and collapse as a film, because it appears to be a bit of a fragile house of cards, but this never happens. Luke Wilson (Henry Poole Is Here (2008)) and Ty Burrell (In Good Company (2004)) do well in supporting parts. SPOILER It is a shame for the stars, the film and us as audiences that the plot anchor of the marriage in it is cut short so rapidly, because it is a good enough film that I would have sat for a longer final section about its crisis and the solution to it.
The Skeleton Twins is co-written with Mark Heyman (Black Swan (2010)).
Watch a trailer and a short interview with Hader and Wiig here
Cost. Reportedly 1 mil. $
Box office: 5.7 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The Skeleton Twins premiered January 19 (Sundance) and runs 93 minutes. Filming lasted 22 days in New York in November 2012. The film opened #25 with a 380k $ first weekend in 15 theaters, widening to 461 theaters and a top position at #11 with a 1.2 mil. $ weekend 3 in North America, where it grossed 5.2 mil. $ (91.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets (of 7 foreign markets) were Australia with 279k $ (4.9 %) and the UK with 63k $ (1.1 %). The film won the screenwriting award at Sundance and was included as one of the year's 10 best independent films by National Board of Review. The Skeleton Twins is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
+Best Dramedy of the Year+ Best Period Movie of the Year
An elegant, light poster for John Lee Hancock's Saving Mr. Banks, which, through the use of shades, appeals to our imagination
P. L. Travers, the English female writier behind Mary Poppins, is pressed for money and therefore gets lured reluctantly from her London residence to Hollywood in 1961, where Walt Disney, after 20 years of courting the woman, is anxious to adapt her classic work. The dynamic between the contrary, English curmudgeon and jovial, stubborn American Walt is loaded with comic opportunities, which are exploited skillfully in this sweepingly sentimental treat of a film. Tom Hanks (Sully (2016)) and especially Emma Thompson (In the Name of the Father (1993)) deliver outstanding veterans' performances, - among the best of the year, - and they are exceptionally backed up: Wonderful Bradley Whitford (The Mentalist (2011, TV-series), B. J. Novak (The Office (2005-13)) and Jason Schwartzman (Moonrise Kingdom (2012)) are Disney writers who try to work with the exceedingly difficult Englishwoman; and Paul Giamatti (Love & Mercy (2014)) is terrific in a warm role as Travers' LA driver. In the Australian-set flashback-section, which doesn't completely match the sky-high quality of the present plane (of 1961), Rachel Griffiths (Burning Man (2011)) and Ruth Wilson (The Lone Ranger (2013)) are good as the heroic nanny and the troubled mother, respectively. Colin Farrell (The Lobster (2015)) is also good as Travers' father, who is disintegrating in alcoholism. Saving Mr. Banks is written by Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)) and Sue Smith (Peaches (2004)) and directed by great Texan filmmaker John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side (2009)). It has an excellent, Oscar-nominated score by Thomas Newman (The Help (2011)). It is an extremely lovable, handsomely produced period dramedy with more to it than some may think. Although its structure is far from innovative, it hits all the right chords of the heart as sure as amen in church before the credits start rolling. It is a huge joy.
[Saving Mr. Banks premiered October 20 (BFI London Film Festival) and runs 125 minutes. The script was developed mostly outside Disney, who took an interest in it and decided to produce it. Filming lasted 9 weeks from September - November 2012, entirely in Southern California, including Disneyland, the Chinese Theatre and Hollywood Boulevard. Several aspects of Travers' and Disney's relationship, her response to the finished film and the character of the driver are changed for the film or entirely made up. The film opened #18 in 15 theaters to a 413k $ first weekend, widening to 9.3 mil. $ and #5 (behind The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Frozen and American Hustle) in 2,110 theaters in North America, where it grossed 83.3 mil. $ (70.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 8.9 mil. $ (7.6 %) and the UK with 7.1 mil. $ (6 %). The film was, surprisingly, only nominated for one Oscar, for Newman's score, which it lost to Steven Price for Gravity. Thompson was nominated for a Golden Globe, and the film was also nominated for 5 BAFTAs and several other awards. It was included in the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute's top 10 lists of the year. Saving Mr. Banks is certified fresh at 78 % with a 7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A ridiculously overstuffed tornado threatens the White House on the poster for Anthony C. Ferrante's Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!
Our hero Fin (Ian Ziering (Lava Storm (2008, TV movie) is getting honored by the US president in Washington, D.C., as a new sharknado looms. Then the journey goes to his family back in Florida, - and into space! Sharknado 3 is definitely the best of the first three films in SyFy's TV movie franchise. - It is (naturally) still bad, but this time also heavily entertaining and downright funny pretty often. Mark Cuban (Entourage (2010-11)) is funny as the president; Lou Ferrigno (I Love You, Man (2009)) is another funny, new addition, - and then the movie takes us to such exciting locations as the Universal Orlando Resort, the Daytona 500 race and the ultimate exciting location: Space. Furthermore, it is funnier in its genre transgressions than its predecessors. Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! is, as the first two, written by Thunder Levin (Sharknado (2013)) and directed by Anthony C. Ferrante (Hansel & Gretel (2013, video). It is a totally outrageous, uncompromisingly crazy movie. - Not bad.
Here's a behind the scenes video of the section shot at the Universal Orlando Resort
Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - only TV
= Unknown
[Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! premiered July 22 on SyFy and runs 90 minutes. It was shot in Florida, - including at Universal Orlando Resort, - Washington, D.C., California, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and Sao Paolo, Brazil. An ad campaign was sparked upon the film's premiere in which audience tweets were to decide the fate of April (Tara Reid's recurring character) in the next film. The film clocked 2.8 mil. viewers, significantly down from the highly successful second film. Whether this rocks its commercial viability is tough to assess. Sharknado: The 4th Awakens (2016) is also a fact. Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! is rotten at 36 % with a 3.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!?
If you've seen the 4th movie in the franchise, let us know in a comment what it's like
Nicole Kidman, just about unrecognizable, finds herself in a sandstorm on this unusual, curiosity-sparking poster for Kim Farrant's Strangerland
A family under pressure move to a small town in a heat-plagued part of the Australian outback, where their two kids after a while disappear, and the two parents deal with the troubling situation very differently.
Strangerland moves closer and closer to us like a creeping quiver as a parental nightmare and another film that rests assuredly in the local subgenre that I've dubbed 'Aussie dirt'; films that have oppressive story-lines (incest, drugs, abuse, murder and neglect are popular elements) set against Australian landscapes.
SPOILER The ending of Strangerland is left open, which is somewhat unsatisfying, - although I know what I think is up and down, (and it isn't comforting.) But the film is well photographed, by P. J. Dillon (Penny Dreadful (2014-15)), and it becomes a tense and fascinating watch especially due to its three stars, who all give outstanding performances: Joseph Fiennes (American Horror Story (2012-13)), Hugo Weaving (True Love and Chaos (1997)) and particularly Nicole Kidman (Billy Bathgate (1991)) as the afflicted mother is customarily intense and simultaneously realistic in her portrayal.
Strangerland is written by Michael Kinirons (Lowland Fell (2008, short)) and Fiona Seres (Love My Way (2004-07)) and directed by feature-debuting Kim Farrant (Bombshell (2008, short)).
[Strangerland premiered January 23 (Sundance) and runs 112 minutes. Farrant has reportedly stated that it took 13 years to get the film made. It was shot in and around March 2014 in New South Wales, Australia. The film was only in release in North America for 3 days, in which is was #51 and grossed 17k $ in 15 theaters (17 % of the total gross). That was its 3rd biggest market. The two biggest were Russia with 22k $ (22 %) and Portugal with 18k $ (18 %). It additionally made 924k $ on home-market (Australia I guess, because it is an Australian-Irish co-production) video-on-demand, but it doesn't change its status as a mega-flop. Critics were divided on the film: Strangerland is rotten at 39 % with a 5.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
