Posts Tagged ‘ comedy ’

SNL’s ‘Djesus’ Spoof Raises Laughs, Hackles

February 19, 2013
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SNL’s ‘Djesus’ Spoof Raises Laughs, Hackles

Last weekend's 'Saturday Night Live' featured a parody movie trailer for 'Djesus Uncrossed,' an imaginary film in the Quentin Tarantino vein, in which Jesus Christ and his apostles seek revenge on the Romans after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. It's as gory and vulgar as Tarantino's films, and rather funny. The video also does a good job of showing how far the teachings of Christ are from natural human impulses, and of course it illustrates how absurd and perverted Tarantino's film style is. Naturally the video…

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Hollywood Comedy, Then and Now

December 3, 2012
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Hollywood Comedy, Then and Now

Not to be judgmental, but if you want to see how much the moral universe of Hollywood has changed, watch these two sophisticated 1940s comedies on back-to-back nights, then go out and watch any current release. It was bracing to see Sturges and Lubitsch on successive nights and realize their comedic successors are Judd Apatow and the Farrelly Bros -both of whom I often like. Still, the decline in intelligence and sophistication between either of these classics and "Dumb and Dumber" is obvious and more…

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‘Paranormal Activity 3′ Surpasses Expectations, ‘English’ Shunned

October 24, 2011
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‘Paranormal Activity 3′ Surpasses Expectations, ‘English’ Shunned

U.S. moviegoers avoided theaters over the weekend, except those showing new release Paranormal Activity 3. But fans of Rowan Atkinson and his Johnny English master-spy character needn't worry about the film's poor performance at the box office--odds are he will live to see tomorrow.

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Griffin Booed by Troops

December 14, 2010
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Griffin Booed by Troops

Kathy Griffin booed by troops for Palin remark – USATODAY.com.

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TAC Fiction Review

November 21, 2010
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TAC Fiction Review

Thanksgiving is around the corner. I’d love to get your thoughts or suggestions for stories or poems concerning the upcoming “day of Thanksgiving and Praise,” as Abraham Lincoln referred to it. Before the holiday arrives, enjoy the offerings below. This week’s short story selections includes “Local Talent,” a bit of original fiction from W.S. Moore, III. Moore’s short story is an intriguing noirish exploration of a hustler practicing his “craft.” Also linked below is “The Gentleman Thief,” a short story from “the winner of the…

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‘Adventure Time’ Is Good, Clean, Surrealistic Fun

July 18, 2010
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‘Adventure Time’ Is Good, Clean, Surrealistic Fun

W. S. Moore III recommends ‘Adventure Time’ for ten-year-old boys of all ages and either sex. If it’s Monday night at 8 Eastern/Pacific, it’s time for a healthy dose of surrealism, on one of my new obsessions, Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time. Although the network’s “Adult Swim” block has long marked the CN as a Nickelodeon for stoners and slackers, this new series brings the bizarre—and the funny—to their mainstream schedule. The show follows Jake the Dog and Finn the Human as they adventure through the…

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James Cameron vs. Glenn Beck

March 25, 2010
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James Cameron vs. Glenn Beck

“King of the World” director James Cameron is holding a grudge over Glenn Beck making a joke about him when Beck had a show over on the unwatched CNN Headline News network three years ago. Beck said the man who foisted “Titanic” on the world — especially Celine Dion’s awful “My Heart Will Go On” upon the culture — must be at least in the running for election to become the Anti-Christ. It was a joke. Did I mention it was three years ago? But, apparently,…

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‘Cop Out’ Doesn’t Just Stink, But It’s Racist, Too?

February 27, 2010
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‘Cop Out’ Doesn’t Just Stink, But It’s Racist, Too?

The new movie “Cop Out” has created a lot of buzz, and not just because critics are hammering Kevin Smith’s homage to the ’80s “buddy cop comedies” for being painfully un-funny. The film is apparently racist, too. Film critic Christian Toto gives us the run-down: Armond White of the New York Press, a reliably contrarian voice in film critic circles, slams star Tracy Morgan for his performance: “His broad face and goofy baritone are the essence of how Hollywood once tried to stereotype Louis Armstrong;…

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Hokey but Likable ‘Spy Next Door’ Emphasizes Good Values

January 25, 2010
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Hokey but Likable ‘Spy Next Door’ Emphasizes Good Values

Jackie Chan has always been among the most amiable and intentionally comical of action film stars, and his latest theatrical release, The Spy Next Door, exemplifies the movement toward a stronger comedy and “family” element his films have taken in the past couple of decades. To be sure, Chan’s movies have always been filled with comedy, with gags often suffusing the action scenes, and the values they convey have always been very positive. But in The Spy Next Door the trend toward more comedy and…

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Tie-In Novels for ‘Psych,’ ‘Burn Notice’

January 11, 2008
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Tie-In Novels for ‘Psych,’ ‘Burn Notice’

After the success of several tie-in novels featuring characters from the USA Network detective-comedy series Monk, written by TV mystery veteran Lee Goldberg, two more USA Network series will get the same treatment, according to an item on The Blog of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. TV writer William Rabkin has agreed to write three original novels based on Psych, with the first going into print in January 2009, and Tod Goldberg will produce three books based on Burn Notice, with the first…

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The Splendid Mr. Rickles

December 5, 2007
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The Splendid Mr. Rickles

I haven’t got around to seeing Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project yet, but I certainly will. The documentary on the veteran stand-up comedian, who is now 81 years old, premiered last Sunday night on the HBO cable network and was shown at the New York Film Festival a couple of months ago. According to reports, the movie was directed with evident affection by comedy filmmaker John Landis. (To see the Variety review click here.) Rickles has that effect on people, and he has always…

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Buster Keaton Featured Today

August 30, 2007
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Buster Keaton Featured Today

Turner Classic Movies features one of the greatest filmmakers of all time today: Buster Keaton. Here’s a link to my Weekly Standard essay on Keaton, which is available to subscribers only, alas. Here’s a link to my American Culture essay on Keaton’s missed opportunities.  Among the Keaton films scheduled for broadcast on TCM today and tomorrow, all of the silent ones up through 1928 are very good, great, or classic. I most highly recommend Cops; Sherlock, Jr.; Steamboat Bill, Jr.; The General; and The Navigator.…

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A Series of Appealing Mysteries

July 6, 2007
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A Series of Appealing Mysteries

The BBC TV program Mayo, now showing on BBC America as The Gil Mayo Mysteries, is an exemnplary TV mystery program. Based on a series of novels which I have not read, the show has engaging detectives and a little romance, and is light on blood and gore and explicit violence but strong on creating plausible suspects with interesting and revealing motives. It also has a nice central mystery: whether police homicide detective team leader DI Gil Mayo, an amusingly literate and in fact pedantic…

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“Monk” and “Psych”

February 23, 2007
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“Monk” and “Psych”

The USA Network mystery-comedy series Monk and Psych are both entering the season’s stretch run, with their penultimate episodes appearing tonight beginning at 9 EST. The season finales will premiere next week. Monk remains superb and inventive, and Psych has become a sold, entertaining mystery comedy program with real, enjoyably challenging puzzles. In my earlier comments on Psych on this site, I observed that the show was trying too hard to be quirky, and I pointed out that "the best thing about a mystery is…

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“The 1/2 Hour News Hour”—Review

February 18, 2007
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Contrary to numerous gloomy internet reports prior to its airing, tonight’s premiere episode of the new Fox News TV comedy program, The 1/2 Hour News Hour, co-created and produced by 24 mastermind Joel Surnow, was very funny indeed.  The opening sequence, in which Rush Limbaugh speaks as the newly elected President of the United States and Ann Coulter is vice president, was goofy and charmingly funny. Sample joke: Rush asks Ann if she’ll join him for a cigar. Ann says, "Isn’t the White House a…

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