Director:
Writers:
Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator), Alison Tafel (staff writer)
Stars:
Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
“Underground”
No punches have been pulled in this vicious takedown of fracking as Mr. Peanutbutter’s house falls deep underground due to a man-made earthquake. Glamazonian Drag World Superstar RuPaul Charles makes an appearance as the Ant Queen who saves Todd and Princess Carolyn from their earthen tombs.
Mr. Peanutbutter’s near-miss at being burned alive by Jessica Biel was the incentive he needed to realize his quest to be governor was just a reaction to being around his ex-wife. Bojack and Diane finally have the heart-to-heart they’ve been avoiding since the death of Sarah Lynn.
We’re over halfway through the series, and there’s no clear indication where any of this is going, or how any of these story lines are going to tie together. There does seem to be a recurring theme of families and parenthood going on, which is why I have a terrible feeling about Princess Carolyn’s pregnancy, but it’s too early to tell exactly how this season will end for Bojack and his friends.
******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t
TV REVIEW: BOJACK HORSEMAN – SEASON 04 – EPISODE 06
Director:
Writers:
Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator), Alison Tafel
Stars:
Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
“Stupid Piece of Shit”
This episode gives us a look inside Bojack’s head, giving us a taste of his self-loathing and self-destructive thought patterns. Ever since meeting Hollyhock, Bojack has started to wonder how much of himself has been passed onto his daughter, and it seems like a fair amount of Bojack’s neuroses have carried throughout his lineage.
One issue this show always seems to address is the effects of the passage of time, and the cycles we’re all doomed to repeat. Bojack is a 90s sitcom star struggling to relive his past. At the same time, watching his mother relive raising a baby sparks a furious reaction in Bojack.
Hollyhock gives Bojack the perfect opportunity to make peace between his past and his present, but is he willing to do the work to put his demons to rest?
******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: L’INSULTE (THE INSULT) (France 2017) ****
Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
Director:
Writers:
Stars:
Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salameh
The film is financed from France and has a French tile but the film is shot in Arabic. Set in Beirut with references to Darfour, the story all started with an insult. One afternoon in the dog days of a Beirut summer,
Tony gets into an altercation with Yasser, a foreman in construction over a broken drainpipe. Tony is a car mechanic and a Christian. Yasser is a construction foreman and a Palestinian. When Tony, hard-nosed and hot-headed, refuses to accept Yasser’s half-hearted apology, two bruised male egos begin to swell. Tony utters an unforgivable insult to Yasser.
With a speed neither man could foresee, their personal argument escalates through the neighbourhood and the city to the national stage. The dispute comes to encapsulate the lasting legacy of the Lebanese Civil War — and becomes a lightning rod for people with more power than either man to pursue their own agendas.
The film contains lots of courtroom scenes with great arguments that provoke the audience to think about other important issues. The plot is not without its twists like the attorneys of the defendant and plaintiff being father and daughter.
THE INSULT ends up as an often brilliant peace that in the end, shows more about tolerance and forgiveness.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwVCaD971Eo
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE DISASTER ARTIST (USA 2017)
Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Tommy Wiseau‘s The Room (2003).
Director:
Writers:
Scott Neustadter (screenplay), Michael H. Weber (screenplay) |
Stars:
Alison Brie, Zac Efron, James Franco
James Franco and friends appear in this uneven tribute to eccentric filmmaker Tommy Wiseau (played by James) and his friend, actor Greg Sestero (played by brother Dave), whose notoriously awful film The Room has become one of the most beloved cult classics of all time. (I have never heard of it though.)
Since its release in 2003, The Room has captivated cult audiences on the midnight movie circuit with its discombobulated plot, discordant performances, and inexplicable dialogue.
Drawing on the memoir of the same name, Franco chronicles the making of The Room as recalled by Greg. The incredulous script supervisor is played by friend Seth Roger. Other celebrity friends of the Franco’s like Zac Ephron also appear.
The Franco/ Rogen/Goldberg troupe has an uncanny sense of humour, and the humour and timing works magnificently at times. The film ends with a split screen of the shots of the actual ROOM side-by-side of this movie. A so-so movie but with a few good laughs!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qab3TMg42k
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: SHUTTLE LIFE (Malaysia 2017) ***1/2
Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
Director:
Shot around Kuala Lumpur, the capital of West Malaysia in Mandarin, English, Malay and a bit of Cantonese, all these languages of which are spoken by the people there, SHUTTLE LIFE is family drama.
Teenage son, Zi (Jack Tan) is living in a small flat with his mentally ill mother (Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang in a very unglamorous and admirable role) and younger sister. He has low education, not completed his high school ‘A’ Levels nor a proper job. He hangs out with friends that drink and break into cars for odd change.
He shuttles around on his bike trying to make ends meet for is mother and little sitter. But a bike accident on his sister’s birthday causing her death with him unable to retrieve her body leads him to his limit.
SHUTTLE LIFE is a film with no happy ending but one that offers audiences on the lives of many who are stuck with poverty and unhappiness. Tan’s uncompromising film is scary, well-shot and unfortunately very real.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYYzxBhn-OE
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: C’EST LA VIE (LE SENS DE LA FETE) (France 2017) ***
Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
Directors:
Stars:
Gilles Lellouche, Suzanne Clément, Jean-Paul Rouve
Directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano can best be remembered for their bubbly comedy LES UNTOUCHABLES.
The target this time is an extravagant wedding at a chateau where all the servers have (and forced to wear) valet costumes including white wigs. The story is told from the point of view of the the wedding caterer manager, Max (Jean Pierre Bacri) a battle-weary veteran of the wedding-planning racket.
This gig turns out to be a hell of a fête, involving stuffy period costumes for the caterers, a vain, hyper- sensitive singer who thinks he’s a Gallic James Brown, and a morose, micromanaging groom determined to make Max’s night as miserable as possible.
His personal life also comes into chaos as Joisette (Xavier Dolan regular Suzanne Clément), seems to have written him off, coolly going about her professional duties while openly flirting with a much younger server. This is an ensemble work, like Robert Altman’s THE WEDDING, but more commercial, more French but less of a biting satire.
The comedic set-ups are funny enough, most of them working and keeping the audience happy with laugh-out loud humour.
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE CHINA HUSTLE (USA 2017) ***1/2
Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
Director:
Writer:
Produced by Alex Gibney who directed ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM about the last 2008 stock market crash, THE CHINA HUSTLE could be considered a sequel as well as warning to all stock traders.
As in his previous film, THE CHINA HUSTLE is an unsettling and eye-opening Wall Street horror story, though this time the target being the Chinese companies listed on the American stock market. The film opens with the main subject, whistleblower Dan David confessing: “There are no good guys in this story, including me.”
After the 2008 stock market crash, David — like almost everyone else in finance — was looking for ways to make big gains quickly. China became an appealing target. Hundreds of Chinese companies entered the US stock market through reverse takeovers with American companies. They boasted tremendous growth, had little oversight, and created a stock-market feeding frenzy. It seemed too good to be true and it was.
The film follows the same pattern as EVRON, interviewing the whistleblowers, with the subject of fraudulence revealed and angering the audience to boiling point.
Again, he has on camera, the poor unsuspecting investors, usually the retirees who have lost all if not a fair portion of their hard earned savings. The film is not as tight or strong as ENRON, bout it is till an engaging informative documentary. All investors should put this doc down as a must-see!
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE HOUSE BY THE SEA (LA VILLA) (France 2017)
Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
Director:
Writers:
Robert Guédiguian (screenplay), Serge Valletti(screenplay)
Stars:
Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gérard Meylan
Robert Guédiguian’s films always make it to TIFF but never get shown otherwise. Those familiar with him can expect more of the same though his latest is a bit of a disappointment not for want of trying.
Three grown children gathered at the picturesque villa of their dying father in Marseille (where most of his films are set) reflect on where they are, who they have become, and what they have inherited.
His political stand as a committed leftist and former Communist can be observed clearly in many scenes where his characters verbally express their dissatisfaction on certain issues like the military and the refugee situation. His wife Ariane Ascaride and Jean-Pierre Darroussin are two of the elderly characters who manage to attract younger suiters.
The film does not successfully combine the dysfunctional family, love relationships and refugee statements.
Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt3wVETIfWs
TV REVIEW: BOJACK HORSEMAN – SEASON 04 – EPISODE 04
Director:
Writers:
Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator), Joanna Calo
Stars:
Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
“Commence Fracking”
It seems like Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter’s relationship has been on the rocks pretty much ever since they’ve been together, but they’ve never come so close to splitting up as they are now. It’s always super weird to see sex scenes between the human and animal characters of this show, but there’s something fundamentally uncomfortable about watching shirtless Mr. Peanutbutter furiously laying pipe in his wife.
Hollyhock is still on the quest to find her birth mother, but that’s another issue in the whole people and animals in relationships thing. Can two different species actually reproduce in the Bojack Horseman universe? If Hollyhock is a horse, doesn’t that mean her mother has to also be a horse? If not, then Princess Carolyn’s quest to conceive with her mouse boyfriend isn’t going to end well.
The long-lost daughter angle is very much a cliché, but I’m interested in riding it out to see where this goes. Frankly, I’m not entirely convinced that Hollyhock is genuinely Bojack’s daughter, so there might be more to this situation than meets the eye.
******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t
TV REVIEW: BOJACK HORSEMAN – SEASON 04 – EPISODE 03
Director:
Writers:
Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator), Elijah Aron |1 more credit »
Stars:
Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
Review by Mary Cox
“Hooray! Todd Episode!”
Asexuality is something that hasn’t really been addressed in any mainstream form of media up until this point in time. There’s a lot of controversy about what asexuality really is, or how to define it as an orientation. In spite of this, Bojack Horseman is actually doing a great job with handling Todd’s exploration of his sexuality, and with depicting asexuals as normal human beings who aren’t the result of malfunctioning biology or dysfunctional personalities.
Again, there’s an issue with congruence of ideas in this episode. The undercurrent of Todd seeking to prioritize his own self-care, while also trying to manage his personal and professional relationships almost comes together. However, between Mr. Peanutbutter’s campaign, Princess Carolyn’s struggle to conceive, and Bojack’s long-lost daughter, there’s just so much happening this season that even in a literal “Todd Episode,” there’s no real room to focus on the inner-life of this character.
It seems like because the show has become less and less Bojack-centric that there’s now a serious lack of focus and structure. Bojack Horseman has never really been an ensemble show, and transferring it over to that structural format is an interesting experiment. Despite the efforts to keep the series fresh and original, right now, it doesn’t seem like Bojack Horseman is a show with a host of concurrent and carefully structured plot lines. Instead, we have a great big bunch of loose and hanging threads that are more tangled than tied together.
******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t
