Unlike its predecessors, Bad Grandpa attempts the franchise’s most daring stunt of all: telling a story. But only barely; while the narrative here serves its purpose — as a framework for a succession of Borat-style bad-taste bits — it is as minimal as allowed. That it also is the funniest film of the year (until […]
comedy
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Hogan’s Fable
Hogan, a 2008 music composition graduate of Oklahoma City University, has presented several of his short films in deadCENTER Film Festival and has also worked on television projects. But he wanted The Fable of Shannon Cable to serve as his feature film debut because it marries unlikely genres, includes a music video, sports his “awkward […]
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Sex Kittens Go to College
1. The character with the silly name of Woo Woo Grabowski? He’s played by the actor with the silly name of Woo Woo Grabowski. 2. Not only has Warner Archive rescued this kooky comedy from nowheresville, but brings us the “extended international version.” That means boobs. Once Orson Welles’ producer, Albert Zugsmith ditched prestige to […]
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Ghost Team One
The film opens Friday in select theaters, as well as digitally and on demand. Using a cameraman hired through Craigslist, two best buds — virginal Sergio (Carlos Santos) and horn-dog chucklehead Brad (J.R. Villarreal, Akeelah and the Bee) — attempt to capture footage of the ghost they believe haunts the home they share. The specter, glimpsed as an Asian female, […]
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This Is the End
Playing exaggerated versions of themselves, Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel go to a party at the house of James Franco. Surrounded by all of their Judd Apatow bros, including Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Craig Robinson (star of the similar, simultaneous Rapture-Palooza) — all playing even more greatly exaggerated versions of themselves — they party it […]
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The Hangover Part III
In response, for this summer’s The Hangover Part III, director Todd Phillips and the gang did something totally different. Complained the multiplex populace, “It’s not enough like the first one!” America, you fickle, fickle bastard. What’s funny about the whole thing is that both sequels are, well, funny. Yet The Hangover Part III just can’t […]
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The Kings of Summer
Socially awkward and undersized classmate Biaggio (Moises Arias, TV’s Hannah Montana) comes along just for something to do, but the machete he brings along sure does come in handy. Although he indulges in shots of super-slow-motion too often, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (TV’s Funny or Die Presents …) ably recaptures that feeling of when summer […]
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Mo’ funny
Keenan Wayans For many years, the only television sketch-comedy was the long-running Saturday Night Live. That changed in 1990, when former stand-up and director of the Blaxploitation spoof I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, Keenan Ivory Wayans, created In Living Color, a groundbreaking weekly halfhour collection of skits that transformed the face of comedy. Since then, […]
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The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue
Co-directors/co-writers/co-producers Mike Bradecich and John LaFlamboy also co-star as the Mugg brothers, slackers who run the crappy abode where a mole man (Justin DiGiacomo) lurks the halls for dogs and cats to consume, before moving up the food chain to humans. Any ingenuity begins and ends with the title; Bradecich and LaFlamboy mug(g) their way […]
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Cockneys vs Zombies
In jolly ol’ England, the Bow Bells Care Home is set to be demolished to make way for luxury apartments, thereby displacing many a needy elder. The move comes earlier than anticipated when the construction crew unearths a “plague pit” chock full of the living dead. Meanwhile, one of the residents (Alan Ford, The Sweeney […]