The Late Shift (1996)
The Late Shift is a made-for-HBO feature film docudrama, based on the book by Bill Carter (who adapted this into a screenplay), that aims to give us an inside peek at the two forces...
Category: Comedy
Alfie (2004)
Although times have changed in the dating world since the 1960s, Alfie is still a superfluous remake that feels more like a PSA against promiscuous sex than a full-fledged romantic comedy. It’s been a while...
The Concrete Cowboys (1979)
Imagine if Smokey and the Bandit featured amateur private investigators instead of beer running speedsters and you’ll have some concept of what this made-for-TV movie is all about. The Concrete Cowboys stars Jerry Reed and Tom Selleck...
Trading Places (1983)
Some people may be too young to remember the days when Dan Aykroyd or Eddie Murphy could make a funny movie or even director John Landis for that matter. They say that comedy is all...
Team America: World Police (2004)
Funny? Sure, but only occasionally, in this take-off on the old TV show, “Thunderbirds”, updated for this post-9/11 climate. From the minds behind the animated series, “South Park”, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, comes Team...
Shall We Dance? (1996) | Shall We Dansu?
Overwhelmingly charming, Shall We Dance? is about as good a film as one could expect about learning how to dance. What it means to the normally reserved Japan is complete freedom and escapism, doing something...
Gaudi Afternoon (2001)
Based on the novel by Barbara Wilson, Gaudi Afternoon is a gender-bender mystery that plays as a mix of Woody Allen and Pedro Almodovar, where most of its laughs come from the interaction of the...
The Big Brawl / Battle Creek Brawl (1980)
I realize that this film, the first attempt to introduce Jackie Chan to American audiences, has been somewhat maligned over the years, but I’ll always have a special fondness for it. The Big Brawl (or Battle Creek Brawl as...
Lovelife (1997)
Alternating between pithy and smarmy, Lovelife is first-time writer-director Jon Harmon Feldman’s attempt to marry the ensemble character appeal of TV’s “Friends” with an introspective look at relationships akin to Woody Allen. Although it never really...
Taxi (2004)
Taxi is a Hollywood remake of the slickly produced French film of the same name by Luc Besson. What was implausible in the older film becomes absurd to the point of insult in this way-over-the-top...