Cop show parody, The Naked Gun (1988) was classic Zucker brothers humour with silly word play, send ups of Hollywood clichés and surreal sight gags revolving around the bumbling Captain Frank Drebin’s (Leslie Nielsen) complete obliviousness to reality and capacity for unintentional destruction. The quality of the Naked Gun movies declined across the sequels but some people, including producer Seth
Read moreGuess what folks, the big new cinema release for this week is a sequel. Freakier Friday is the follow up to the juvenile but fun 2003 body swap comedy Freaky Friday which starred Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, a mother and daughter whose consciousness swapped bodies so that each had to live the other’s life and learn about their
Read moreWith a touch of the destructive disillusion of Falling Down and the unsettling oddness of Yorgos Lanthimos’ films, the very strange, dark and often very funny bromance cringe comedy Friendship is a bizarre take on the weird neighbour film. Comedian Tim Robinson (Saturday Night Live, Detroiters, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson) plays the socially awkward, misfit office
Read moreWes Anderson films are now their own subgenre, an excursion into a pastel coloured diorama world filled with quirky neurotic oddballs who are often doggedly noble or gleefully sadistic. While we can appreciate Anderson for carving out a distinctive piece of the cinematic universe, his tendency to avoid anything resembling a coherent or meaningful narrative, to pile absurdity on top
Read moreWe’ve seen many variations on the vampire film, from sinister baldy Nosferatu to George Hamilton’s suspiciously suntanned disco dancing Dracula in Love at First Bite. Now, Ryan Coogler’s (Fruitvale Station, Black Panther) latest film, Sinners weaves the vampire into the supernatural mythology infusing early delta blues. This novel approach gives us a gory romp that’s also surprisingly soulful and almost
Read moreOur Kiwi cousins are renowned for punching above their weight with sporting success, Russell Crowes and musical superstars like Split Enz and Crowded House. New Zealand also has a thriving post-punk and alternative music scene largely based around the famed Flying Nun record label. Before that, was a small but energetic punk scene in the 1970’s. The erratic, undercooked but
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