Last night I went and saw Late Night! I know there is still half of 2019 left, but I think I may have just found my favorite film of the year! It just had such a nice mix of everything and a stellar cast. And the hair on my arms stood up towards the end, which I don’t recall happening during any other film I’ve seen so far.
Read moreComedy
Memorial Day Weekend Movie MishMash
Alliterations aside, it’s true. I think I watched the most random array of movies this weekend, and in my book, they were all winners. For wildly different reasons, of course.
Read moreSeason Finales: Brooklyn 99, Superstore
Due to my time at an all-weekend festival, I wasn’t able to watch the one-hour season finale episodes for both Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Superstore until yesterday. Before I get into the recaps, I can say both were comedy gold!
Read moreWine Country Movie Review
This weekend I managed to squeeze in a comedy released Friday on Netflix called Wine Country. It stars all your SNL alum favorites: Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer, Paula Pell, and Emily Spivey. There were some special supporting players with a gruff Tina Fey and a doofie Jason Schwartzman who “came with the house.”
Read moreThe Hustle Movie Review
Folks, I’m not going to sugarcoat it, The Hustle was bad. Although, if I think back to the worst film I saw in 2018, Acrimony, it wasn’t quite that bad. And there are still so many months to the year left, so maybe something will top it, but at this point in time it takes the prize.
Read moreComedy TV Round-Up: The Other Two, Special
Instead of catching up on television shows that I’ve been actively watching for years, I decided to start two new ones! But they are short ones, so I feel like it’s justified.
Read moreLittle Movie Review
Yes, Little is the title of the movie I saw this weekend, but this review will also be just that, little (or short, rather). If you’ve ever seen Tom Hanks in the film, Big, then just reverse that line of thinking and you have the general premise of Little.
Read moreMiracle Workers – Television Review
In the penultimate episode before the finale of Miracle Workers, they really brought out the big guns in terms of special guest stars! There is one day remaining until the earth explodes, so the gang in the Prayer Answering department are still trying to get Sam & Laura to kiss. Worried that they won’t kiss at their pre-planned date watching a disgusting documentary, they finagle some seats to a basketball game so the Kiss Cam can get to them. They also need to get rid of all other couples, which leads to a very funny montage of ruining dates, my favorite including the man who had diarrhea…just watch it. Craig insists this is a bad idea to Eliza since Sam and Laura are basically just like him. Nervous and awkward (and we find out he also likes Eliza). As expected, the kiss cam was a disaster.
Read moreWeekend Movie Review
Trying really hard to get all of the Oscar nominees and movies that I genuinely want to see in before this coming Sunday, so here is what the weekend in movies looked like for me.
Happy Death Day 2U – I wasn’t quite sure how a sequel was going to be made of the original, but it was done and I’d say they nailed it. Success came in the form of a parallel universe and more use of two of the original film’s supporting characters. And her roommate wasn’t a psycho killer this time! Ultimately Tree is left with the tough decision of choosing her still alive mom in this alternate universe, or love with Carter in her current universe. No spoilers here, but I did recently learn that the plan for this film is a trilogy and I want to see that happen, so flock to the theaters for this one please!
Isn’t It Romantic – The “anti-romantic comedy, romantic comedy” is a mostly accurate description for this fun film starring Rebel Wilson as the lead Grinch of love/rom-coms. Living an okay life, Natalie is convinced by her co-worker to open herself up to love, a move which results in Natalie getting mugged and knocking herself unconscious. When she wakes, she finds herself in a PG-13 romantic comedy with all the fluff of a perfect apartment, being the star employee and her own gay best friend (played wonderfully by Brandon Scott Jones). She comes to the conclusion that in order to escape someone must fall in love with her, but in the process of getting wooed by Blake (Liam Hemsworth), Natalie realizes she loves her best friend Josh (Adam Devine, the Pitch Perfect reunion none of us realized we wanted) who is about to get married to someone he just met (Priyanka Chopa, unironically?)! It all works out in the end and we get two quality musical numbers in between.
Roma – Holy shit was this movie boring. I went in trying really hard to like it, but in black and white, subtitled, and clocking in at over two hours about the life of a house maid means I definitely fell asleep in the middle of this. Don’t get me wrong, the parts I did see validated my opinions that it will win Best Picture this Sunday at the Oscars. It’s someone’s cup of tea out there…just not mine.
The Favourite – The last of the Oscar nominees I needed to watch and it was definitely worth the wait! Coming off the heels of The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Favourite was perhaps the least strange film to come from Yorgos Lanthimos. It was still strange, though and that’s why it was fantastic! The cast was stellar with its trio of leading ladies, led by the magnificent Olivia Coleman, but I was most fond of the comical supporting performances of Nicholas Hoult and Joe Alwyn. I would say my “favourite” part of watching this film was the audience reaction. Clearly no one had educated themselves on Yorgos’ previous films or the meat of what this one would be about. More fun for me that way!
Hello Again – What a terrible musical film! But seeing as I’m newly obsessed with Roswell, New Mexico I had to watch it for Tyler Blackburn! I will say the rest of the cast was pretty intriguing, and I know most of them can sing, but not in this film apparently. It was even a good concept, but good grief! Don’t waste your time.
Television Review – Week 2/11-2/15
Here to recap all the television I watched this week! I’ll keep it brief, too!
I Am the Night – Three episodes into this limited series and I feel like I have more questions than answers. India Eisley’s Fauna is awkward and looks terrified all the time, and Chris Pine’s Jay is a hot mess. It’s all still just vague enough to keep me interested, and the fact that it’s based around the Black Dahlia murder makes it a must-see. Hopefully more exciting news in the weeks to come.
Drunk History – Switching it up this season means that sometimes host Derek Waters isn’t actually interviewing anyone, but some of his friends are. I’m okay with it and so should you because it’s still the same drunk mess that actually makes learning about history (sort of) tolerable. This week’s episode focused on love, since you know, Valentine’s Day, and notable guests included Josh Hartnett and Alison Brie.
Will & Grace – Grace and Jack try a crash diet for Jack’s upcoming nuptials and so they won’t split any more of their pants. Will is trying to be a more exciting professor after getting some negative reviews, so he ends up doing a mock case Judge Judy style between Karen and one of her former step children who actually liked her. Hilarity ensues!
Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Rosa sports a plethora of hairdos (ridiculous) and Jake makes a promise to a victim’s mom that he’ll solve her son’s murder case. he can’t and goes crazy trying to solve it, talking to “olive Rosa” and walls. Eventually they do manage to find the culprit, after some hilarious dialogue and a fantastic turn by CSI agent Daryl (“very uncool name, Daryl!”).
How to Get Away With Murder – Five seasons in and this show is ridiculous but still so darn compelling! Only two episodes left and I’m still not sure what’s going to happen. This week saw a Christmas gathering with Annalise’s mother, played by Cicely Tyson, and some of her firm friends. her boss is awkward, but not as awkward as dinner with the Keating Five (now that Oliver is a part of it) and Conner’s mom. Bonnie thinks she might be pregnant, but she’s not. The feds are onto Annalise and all she’s been up to these past five years, but Tegan’s potential lady-crush on Annalise ends up saving her some time and gets her case reassigned. Side note: I am all on board for Frank and Bonnie to be a thing already!
And as if watching twelve shows simultaneously wasn’t enough I decided to add two more to the mix this week!
Miracle Workers – This limited series where Daniel Radcliffe and Geraldine Viswanathan play angels answering prayers and Steve Buscemi is God has some serious potential. Daniel Radcliffe’s character has been answering prayers for centuries and is really good at finding keys and gloves, but anything other than that gets sent up to God. Meanwhile, God has the news on 24/7 and is sick and tired of seeing how awful it is that he plans to destroy earth. In walks the newest angel, played by Viswanathan, hellbent on saving earth by answering one of the “impossible” prayers: helping two people fall in love. Very interested to see where this half hour comedy goes!
Roswell, New Mexico – I discovered this show at five episodes in, so naturally I binged them all Monday in order to be caught up for Tuesday’s new episode! Yes, this was a series in the late 90s, but besides the name and book as source material, these are distinctly different imaginings. This series takes place ten years in the future with a more cultured cast. Primary focus is on Liz trying to figure out what actually happened to her sister Rosa’s mysterious death a decade ago. Pretty quickly she realizes three siblings are aliens, but being a scientist now, they mainly just fascinate her. The aliens, Max, Isobel, and Michael, couldn’t be any more different but they all love each other fiercely and would like to keep their identities a secret, especially from the government who just moved into town for some secret project. My favorite characters so far in the series are Liz & Rosa’s best friend, Maria, and Michael and his former lover Alex (favorite ship, as the kids would call it). I recommend!