Between Two Ferns: The Movie Is Slight But Does Deliver Enjoyable Awkward Comedy

In doing research for this review, I stumbled upon something pretty nifty about the Between Two Ferns web-series on Funny or Die starring Zach Galifianakis that Between Two Ferns: The Movie is based on. Between Two Ferns actually predates the release of Galifianakis' big break in The Hangover! I had always thought his role in that feature had paved the way for him to headline a comedy series but in actuality, Between Two Ferns premiered about a year-and-a-half prior to the Todd Phillips directorial effort that would change the career of Galifianakis forever. Well over a decade after its premiere, Between Two Ferns makes the transition to the world of feature-film narratives with Between Two Ferns: The Movie.

Beirut Is Mostly An Unremarkable Thriller

Jon Hamm's career choices in the last few years has made it clear he intends to become a full-time film actor now that Mad Men has come to a close. The movies he's starred in in either the last few seasons of Mad Men or right after that show ended have primarily been box office misfires thus far, though Baby Driver, in which he played a key supporting role, proved that Hamm appearing in a box office smash was not an impossible scenario. One of his most recent forays into cinematic leading man status was this Spring's period piece thriller Beirut, which came and went in its theatrical release with little fanfare (it's now streaming on Amazon Prime).

Bad Times At The El Royale Is A Mostly Good Time

After six years of waiting since his directorial debut project The Cabin in the Woods turned out to be such a phenomenal blast, writer/director Drew Goddard finally returns behind the camera with Bad Times at the El Royale. Interestingly, despite having a larger cast and a bigger budget to work with, Goddard (who also wrote the scripts for Cloverfield and The Martian) goes smaller-in-scale than he did on Cabin in the Woods. No threats of zombie rednecks or possible worldwide consequences for the actions of our lead characters here, instead, Goddard does a Rashomon-esque take on a quasi-Hateful Eight set-up wherein we follow the differing perspectives of a group of strangers staying in one location over the course of a solitary night.

Tag Is It, With It Being "A Middle-of-The-Road Comedy"

For over 30 years, five childhood friends have managed to stick around in each other's lives thanks to engaging in an expansive game of Tag that takes place every single May. Once that month starts, all bets are off and this group of guys never know when one of their best buds will show up out of nowhere to declare that they're "it". The five friends are Hogan (Ed Helms), stoner Randy, paranoid Kevin (Hannibal Buress), cocky businessman Bob and the king of this tag game, health nut Jerry (Jeremy Renner). Jerry has never been "it", not even once, but Hogan is getting the other three guys together with the intent of finally making sure Jerry gets tagged just once.

Take A Ride With The Gloriously Energetic And Meticulously Crafted Baby Driver

Considering how Edgar Wright's first four movies had such heavy doses of high-quality action, stylish editing, and rapid-fire dialogue, it dawned on me midway through Baby Driver that Wright's basically been toying with the key ingredients of gangster movies for his entire career. It's like he's been fine tuning his instruments in various ways across his four previous classics until he was finally offered the chance to make an out and out gangster film. Well, now he gets to do just that with Baby Driver, a new crime movie he's directed that's been generating insane amounts of praise for months now ever since it premiered at the South by Southwest festival back in March.

I Spy, With My Little Eye, A Subpar Comedy Entitled Keeping Up With The Joneses

With James Bond and Jason Bourne being more popular than ever in the 21st century, not to mention Austin Powers becoming a pop culture phenomenon in the last few years of the 20th century, spies have been prime fodder for American comedies in the past decade or so. But man, the last five years have put the pedal to the metal when it comes to spy comedies, ranging from family comedies (Cars 2, Despicable Me 2 and Penguins Of Madagascar), action-comedies (The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Kingsman: The Secret Service) and general comedies (Spy, Central Intelligence and The Brothers Grimsby all come out in a 54 week span). And now there's Keeping Up With The Joneses, whose greatest accomplishment is ensuring that The Brothers Grimsby isn't the worst spy comedy of 2016.

Minions Review

One In A Minion

What are the Minions exactly? Are they corn pops? The spawn of Twinkies gone awry? How do they breed? There are no female Minions (to the best of my knowledge), so are they asexual? Do they lay eggs? And what's the lifespan for these things? One Minion depicted with placing starfishes over his nipples in prehistoric times is shown to be alive in 1968, so are these guys immortal or something? For some reason, the movie is not interested in answering those questions and instead concentrates all of its efforts on making purely a product, one that's inoffensive enough to make sure no parents feathers get ruffled and one that can supply ample opportunities for numerous marketing partners.

The Despicable Me Minions Meet Sandra Bullock In New Minions Trailer

Illumination Entertainment's 2010 debut feature Despicable Me showed a lot of promise for the company, which Hop pretty much failed to live up to. Their third feature, The Lorax, had it's charms, but also had a clumsy script to hold it back. Despicable Me 2 is what really made me doubt the companies capabilities of creating more compelling features, as it just felt like a lazy cashgrab with no depth or interesting humor. A new entry in their biggest franchise, Minions, just dropped and fails to stir my confidence. You can watch it below.

The Minions Are Getting Their Own Movie. Enjoy The First Trailer For It.

I don't wanna sound like that guy, but I'm gonna do it anyway; I miss the Minions of old. In the first Despicable Me, a charming and fun adventure, they were a humorous bunch who did a good job being lovable supporting characters for the main plot. But in the extremely underwhelming Despicable Me 2, the plot revolved around them instead of the other way around. They had some funny moments, don't get me wrong, but at some point it felt tiring instead of humorous.

Classic Write-Up: The Town Review

Don't Rob Yourself Of This Fantastic Film

Ben Afflecks recent resurgence in popularity can be attributed more to directorial projects like Argo (one of my favorite movies from recent years) and his 2010 feature The Town. If Argo is undeniably his quintessential movie, filled with top-notch filmmaking in every regard, then The Town at times feels like a warm-up session for that 2012 Best Picture winner. Affleck is dipping his toes into staging larger sequences of action, and while it's not quite perfect, I can honestly say I was amazed at how fantastic The Town was on its own merits.