November 8, 2023
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Alice Eve, Alison Brie, Christian Slater, Freelance, John Cena, Juan Pablo Raba, Marton Csokas, Molly McCann, Pierre Morel
Free your Lance, and the rest will follow! (CREDIT: Relativity Media/Screenshot)
Starring: John Cena, Alison Brie, Juan Pablo Raba, Alice Eve, Marton Csokas, Christian Slater, Molly McCann
Director: Pierre Morel
Running Time: 109 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: October 27, 2023 (Theaters)
As I write this review, Freelance is currently luxuriating with a 0% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes. So I went into this frivolous little action comedy with that benchmark (or lack thereof) in mind. And now that I’ve emerged, my ultimate verdict is: it’s not that historically bad. Rather, it’s just a mere trifle. And since I’m in a speculative mood, it probably wouldn’t have remained at zero if more than 25 critics had bothered to review it.
Anyway, the main reason I went to see it was of course because Alison Brie is second-billed. She plays a journalist angling for a Pulitzer who’s recently been brought low by scandal. There are a few scenes of her having to get by on some random celebrity schmoozefest, and I kinda think there should have been more of that. Alison’s really good at elevating characters in low-culture situations who shouldn’t be underestimated, after all.
Grade: 2 out of 5 Fictional Countries
August 31, 2022
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Alessandro Nivola, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Ayden Mayeri, Ben Sinclair, Debby Ryan, Ego Nwodim, Fall, Fred Armisen, Grace Caroline Currey, Hiro Kanagawa, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Baena, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Julia Stiles, Lil Rel Howery, Mason Gooding, Matthew Finlan, Molly Shannon, Orphan, Orphan: First Kill, Rossif Sutherland, Spin Me Round, Thomas Mann, Tim Heidecker, Tricia Helfer, Virginia Gardner, William Brent Bell, Zach Woods
What’s going to Fall? (CREDIT: Lionsgate)
Fall:
Starring: Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Mason Gooding, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Director: Thomas Mann
Running Time: 107 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: August 12, 2022 (Theaters)
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December 25, 2020
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Adam Brody, Alfred Molina, Alison Brie, Bo Burnham, Carey Mulligan, Chris Lowell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Clancy Brown, Connie Britton, Emerald Fennell, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, Max Greenfield, Molly Shannon, Promising Young Woman, Sam Richardson
Promising Young Woman (CREDIT : Merie Weismiller Wallace/Focus Features)
I’ve already published a rave review of Promising Young Woman that you can check out here, and now that the release date has finally arrived, I’ve got some spoiler-rific thoughts to share. This is all to say: SPOILER ALERT! So you know, don’t read this unless you’ve seen it or if you’re fine with knowing all the details ahead of time.
ONE LAST WARNING! Don’t click ahead unless you really mean to…
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December 14, 2020
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Adam Brody, Alfred Molina, Alison Brie, Bo Burnham, Carey Mulligan, Chris Lowell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Clancy Brown, Connie Britton, Emerald Fennell, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, Max Greenfield, Molly Shannon, Promising Young Woman, Sam Richardson
Promising Young Woman (CREDIT: Focus Features)
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Laverne Cox, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Alison Brie, Connie Britton, Alfred Molina, Chris Lowell, Max Greenfield, Adam Brody, Sam Richardson, Molly Shannon, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Director: Emerald Fennell
Running Time: 113 Minutes
Rating: R for Twisted Jokes, Drug Spikings, Discussions of Sexual Violence, and Some Up-Close Acute Violence
Release Date: December 25, 2020
Promising Young Woman hooked me immediately with its trailer, seemingly telling me everything I needed to know. When I finally saw the actual movie, it somehow still had plenty of opportunities to surprise me. It fits one of my favorite formulas for all-time great movies: simultaneously exactly what I was hoping for and so different from what I was expecting. Carey Mulligan is a knockout, in every way you can imagine. She plays med school dropout Cassie Thomas, a black widow who lures entitled men into this intoxicating trap she’s cooked up. She pretends to be blackout drunk at bars so that someone will not-so-gallantly bring her home to take advantage of her, at which point she drops the charade and spooks like them like a zombie popping out of the grave. She has her own history with assault, but she’s also an avenging angel taking on the entirety of rape culture.
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August 3, 2020
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Alison Brie, Dan Stevens, Dave Franco, Jeremy Allen White, Sheila Vand, The Rental, Toby Huss
The Rental (CREDIT: IFC Films)
Starring: Dan Stevens, Alison Brie, Sheila Vand, Jeremy Allen White, Toby Huss
Director: Dave Franco
Running Time: 88 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: July 24, 2020 (On Demand and Select Theaters)
While watching The Rental (in which Dan Stevens, Alison Brie, Sheila Vand, and Jeremy Allen White play a couple of couples who rent a big ol’ house for a weekend getaway), I had a thought that I anticipate is going to stick around in my movie-watching approach for quite a while: at what point do I stop thinking of the cast members as the actors and start thinking of them as the characters they’re playing?
In this case, that question most saliently applies to Brie, whose career I’ve followed closely and who I’ve watched give countless interviews. As for the others, I’m not too familiar with Vand, I’ve only seen bits and pieces of White, and Stevens is always so twisted right off the bat that I don’t need to ask. So back to how I would answer that question in Ali Brie’s case, and it happens about forty minutes in, as she really starts to doubt the trustworthiness of her husband (as played by Stevens), and I start to realize we’re not going to see her patented bubbliness anytime soon. (Not to mention she appears to be happily married in real life, and her husband even directed this movie!)
But then this question is much, much trickier as it applies to Toby Huss, who I tend to generally think of as a lovable, avuncular mentor-type. He plays the guy who coordinates the house rental, and there are implications that he might be racist or otherwise non-avuncular. But that could all be a misunderstanding! So, I’m left wondering, am I willing to give Toby the benefit of a doubt because he’s usually such a cool dude? Or does he actually deserve the benefit of the doubt? The freaky-deaky ending doesn’t give us enough time to sort that all out. How dare you make me doubt Toby Huss’ thoughtfulness, Dave Franco!
I give The Rental a Good Review on the High-End Pacific Coast Version of Yelp.
July 24, 2020
jmunney
Entertainment To-Do List, Sports, Television
Alison Brie, Dave Franco, NBA Countdown, The Rental
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–The Rental (July 24 on Demand) – Dave Franco directs his wife Alison Brie!
TV
-NBA Countdown: NBA Restart (July 25 on ABC)
June 23, 2020
jmunney
Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Television
Aden Young, Alison Brie, Andy Daly, Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Bill Hader, Billy Porter, Bob Odenkirk, Danny Pudi, Eden Sher, Hugh Dancy, Joel McHale, Jon Hamm, Kyle MacLachlan, Lee Pace, Louie Anderson, Mackenzie Davis, Mads Mikkelsen, Michael McKean, Nathan Fielder, Rami Malek, Rhea Seehorn, Tatiana Maslany, Zach Galifianakis
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshots
The extra-special-bonus Best of the 2010s lists keep arriving all this week! Yesterday, it was the Best Film Performances, now we’re moving to the small screen with the top TV Performances. And while the screens were smaller, the roles were arguably bigger, at least in terms of running time.
Regarding eligibility: all Lead and Supporting (but not Guest) performances from any show that aired at least one full season between 2010 and 2019 was eligible. Actors who played multiple characters in the same show were considered one performance. Actors who played the same character across multiple shows were also considered one performance.
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March 23, 2020
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Alison Brie, Debby Ryan, Dylan Gelula, Horse Girl, Jake Picking, Jay Duplass, Jeff Baena, John Ortiz, John Reynolds, Meredith Hagner, Molly Shannon, Paul Reiser, Toby Huss
CREDIT: Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix
With so many movie theaters closed for the foreseeable future, I decided to finally watch and review some straight-to-streaming flicks I haven’t had a chance to get around to yet. And in the spirit of things being not-so-normal, these reviews will maybe be a little more, uh, shall we say, offbeat, than usual.
First up on the docket is Horse Girl, a seemingly quirky indie comedy, but actually no, it’s a psychological study of emergent mental illness, but with some trappings of low-budg sci-fi. We can use the catchall term “drama.” It stars and is co-written by Alison Brie. The other person handling scripting duties is Jeff Baena, who also sat in the directing chair. I know and love Jeff from The Little Hours, in which he previously directed Alison. It played at Sundance in January 2020 and landed on Netflix on February 7, 2020. Thanks to Alison’s presence, I knew I was going to definitely watch it eventually, as I’ve been a superfan of hers since her days on Community (which I’m legally obligated to acknowledge is my favorite show of all time whenever I mention it).
Alison plays Sarah, an introverted lass who works at an arts and crafts store and enjoys horses. Also, her stepdad is played by Paul Reiser! (That’s got to be a good sign, right?) Things seem to be going okay for her, especially when she strikes up a potential new romantic relationship on her birthday. But then, as she begins to experience lost time and unexplained visions, it appears that the mental struggles that run in her family are finally making themselves at home in her brain. Or is she actually a clone who is also dealing with flippin’ alien abductions, jeez?
If you’re forcing me to say one or the other, Sarah probably actually is indeed experiencing mental illness. But Horse Girl makes me think: isn’t the idea of alien abduction intoxicating? What if it could be the basis of a religion? You could believe in them, though not literally, just have faith in them in some sort of way. That’s just a kernel of an idea, we’ll see if it becomes anything more. Anyway, Alison is terrific, but y’all knew that already! (Dint ya?)
February 7, 2020
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Television
Academy Awards, Alison Brie, Horse Girl, Independent Spirit Awards, McMillion$, Oscars, The Lodge
CREDIT: Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Horse Girl (Streaming February 7 on Netflix) – Alison Brie Alert!
–The Lodge (Limited Theatrically)
TV
–McMillion$ (Premiered February 3 on HBO)
-35th Independent Spirit Awards (February 8 on IFC)
-92nd Academy Awards (February 9 on ABC) – But where’s the host?!
July 8, 2019
jmunney
A.P. Bio, Community, Television
A.P. Bio, Alison Brie, Allisyn Ashley Arm, AP Bio, Aparna Brielle, Chevy Chase, Community, Danny Pudi, David Neher, Gillian Jacobs, Glenn Howerton, Jacob Houston, Jean Villepique, Jim Rash, Joel McHale, Ken Jeong, Lyric Lewis, Mary Sohn, Nick Peine, Patton Oswalt, Paula Pell, Yvette Nicole Brown
CREDIT: NBC
Over the past few months, the delightful high school-set sitcom A.P. Bio has become one of my favorite shows on the air, but then NBC went a little cuckoo and cancelled it. There’s been some effort on the part of the cast, crew, and fans to find the show a new home, but unless that happens, we will have to be satisfied with two short-but-sweet seasons.
One of the reasons I love A.P. Bio so much is because it shares a lot of DNA with my favorite show of all time, which would be Community, another former NBC sitcom that was constantly on the brink of cancellation (though unlike A.P. Bio, it kept beating the renewal odds). Their premises and central characters are strikingly similar. In Community, Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) is a high-powered lawyer who gets disbarred and must enroll at a community college. Meanwhile, A.P. Bio stars Glenn Howerton as Jack Griffin, a disgraced Harvard philosophy professor who is forced to take a lowly part-time teaching job at a high school in Toledo, Ohio.
As I watched and grew to love A.P. Bio, I kept noticing more and more Community similarities, to the point that I could detect analogues for all the major characters. So I’ve assembled below a side-by-side comparison of the Greendale Human Beings and their corresponding Whitlock Rams. Enjoy, and let me know if you need help reacting to riding that ram.
(Thank you to my fellow commenters at the AV Club and Disqus for helping me out with these comparisons!)
Jack (Glenn Howerton) = Jeff (Joel McHale)
CREDIT: YouTube
The protagonists who try to act above it all but eventually embrace the crazy scholastic ecosystems they’ve become an integral part of.
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