Lipstick Under My Burkha Brings Loads Of Thoughtful Empathy To Its Comedic Storytelling

Comedies can engage with themes or characters as weighty or thoughtful as any drama, so it's always a pity to see crummy comedies, either from decades past or in modern times, that refuse to combine some depth into their yuks. The likes of The Great Dictator, Superbad and The Purple Rose of Cairo are able to skillfully weave in more thoughtful ideas with a healthy supply of yuks. Now, there's nothing wrong at all with being a comedy solely interested in generating laughs (just look at the likes of gut-bustingly funny films like Hot Rod or Wet Hot American Summer), but when you're a subpar comedy that fails to even pull off the most basic joke properly, one can't help but be reminded of how thematically ambitious the best comedies can be. The likes of dismal 2017 comedies such as Fist Fight, The House and Baywatch remind one just how thoroughly lacking in either substance or jokes supposed comedies can be while Alankrita Shrivastava's new comedy Lipstick Under My Burkha, conversely, is a wonderful reminder of just how well laughs and thoughtfulness go together.

Rough Night Has Major Story Problems But Don't Worry, It's Got A Good Number Of Laughs To Its Name

Someone pointed out to me the other day how the new comedy Rough Night marks Scarlett Johansson's first foray into straight-up full-on comedies and to my surprise, it kind of actually is. Granted, she's gone into romantic comedies multiple times in her career as well as a Woody Allen dramedy (I'm shocked I didn't know a Hugh Jackman/Scarlett Johansson comedy from Woody Allen movie even existed prior to a couple months ago) and providing voicework for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and Sing but in terms of headlining a top-to-bottom live-action comedy, this new Lucia Aniello feature does mark new terrain for the celebrated actor.

Some Like It Hot Review (Classic Write-Up)

Starting with the opening sequence of Some Like It Hot, the film has a palpable sense of assuredness, with no dialogue being used in a car chase scene that utilizes escalation excellently in order to establish the movies primary antagonists and their menacing nature. That assuredness continues throughout the rest of the film, whether it's tackling the backstories of it's characters or the way the film embraces it farcical sensibilities.

Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery Review (Classic Write-Up)

You've Got The Touch...You've Got The Austin Pooooooowweeerrr

In an interview given a few months back, Daniel Craig noted that the primary reason elements like Biofeld, Q or fun gadgets had been seen in Bond films was that Austin Powers had parodied such tropes of the James Bond features in such a well-known manner that they couldn't use them, at least for the time. I find it interesting that Skyfall managed to incorporate some of Bond's most well-known aspects once again, suggesting that Austin Powers grasp on pop culture had faded enough for 007 to fight bad guys in elaborate lairs again.

NSFW Unfinished Business Trailer Shows Drugs, Tears Gas And Dave Franco Nudity (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT AHEAD)

Vince Vaughn's double dose of box office dudes in 2013 is leading him to restructure a comeback in 2015. The most buzzed about role for him next year is his major part in the second season of True Detective, but he's also got a new R-rated comedy being released as well. The feature just dropped a an extremely R-rated, nudity and swear filled, NSFW trailer, which you can watch below.

As You Might Expect, Morgan Freeman Will Be In Ted 2

The sequel to the delightful 2012 comedy Ted keeps moving forward to its June 26, 2015 release date. The cast already includes returning cast members Mark Wahlberg, Seth Macfarlane and Patrick Warburton (no word yet on if Mila Kunis will come back) and will bring Amanda Seyfriend onboard. Another new addition to the films cast has been added; the incomparable actor Morgan Freeman.

Something Cool! 23 Jump Street Is A-Go!

Few filmmakers have had a better 2014 than Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The duo brought The LEGO Movie to glorious life earlier in 2014, and they were also in charge of one of the summers biggest hits, 22 Jump Street. Man, that was a great film. Hilarious, inventive, smartly script, just a terrific movie. And despite what the entertaining credits for that film implied, it looks like another Jump Street adventure is on the way.

Tammy Review

This movie made more money in a single day than
The Immigrant has made in a month-and-a-half. We have failed
people. We have become monsters.

Let's get this out of the way; Tammy isn't a good movie. In fact, I'll even be bold and say it's a bad one. It's not abysmally, soul-crushingly awful like God's Not Dead or Transformers: Jesus Christ, That Movie Refused To End, but yes, Tammy is bad. And it's poor quality is only emphasized by the ambition that project contains. Ya see, the movie is really more of a drama than anything else, with numerous moments that are supposed to be devastating in terms of emotional impact. And considering Melissa McCarthy was one of three writers on the project, I gotta give her props for attempting to expand the range of movies she appears in.

22 Jump Street Review

SOMETHING AWESOME!!!

The one problem with many comedies throughout the ages is their ability to just settle. They go with the overly obvious jokes and story choices that just suck all the fun out of the proceedings. Recent great comedies (like The Other Guys, Ted, This Is The End and anything from Edgar Wright) smartly go in unique directions that help strengthen the characters, which helps infinitely in making the jokes land in the best possible fashion. To say 22 Jump Street goes in unexpected directions is an understatement.