Tag: Comedy

Touch Me was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2025! It had its showing on Saturday, August 2nd as part of the festival, and it was the Canadian Premiere of this film!

Do you have someone in your life whose simple touch is enough to drive you insane and pleasure? Well, that is sort of what is happening in this movie!

Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) is going nowhere in life, and her slacker roommate (Jordan Gavaris) is going there with her. Joey was recently in a relationship with someone though, Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), who just knows how to drive her insane. He speaks so calmly, he can dance, and well, he has tentacles.

Oh yes, he is actually an alien on earth, and building a society. But that touch? That ALIEN TENTACLE TOUCH? Just does something for her. Hell, it does something for her roommate too. It is clearly the best thing in this world, and it is from off world. It is like the best drug, and they need it more, and more, and more.

But, why can her roommate join in? Why isn’t she good enough for herself for Brian? Does Brian have any ulterior motives? You know it!

Also starring Marlene Forte.

That tentacle touch drives my world into new colors.

For a film about an alien’s super sexy tentacle touch, I expected, and this might come across as crude, a lot more sexy tentacle touch! Come on, if you are going to make it a little erotic, give me more than a couple strange colored vague scenes. Make me want that tentacle touch. Not that tentacle touches were on my mind the past. Like, if you are an independent movie with a real freaky theme, I would hope you really get freaky with it, you know?

And that is the main part of complaint. Give me more weird stuff!

Because the three leads all did a really great job. Main character, roommate, and alien, they were all super strange and I loved their roles in this movie. I think the ending gets a little messy in a good way, and things of course crumble down, but this is a movie that could do more showing and less yapping.

I am just saying, the people who are into this thing, might be disappointed with how little we get, and the people who aren’t …well, aren’t going to watch it anyways.

Maybe the next sexy alien tentacle movie will deliver more, but for now, this was a decent first shot!

2 out of 4.

Désolé, Pardon, Je m’excuse was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2025! It had its showing on Wednesday, July 30th as part of the festival, and it was the World Premiere of this film!

Who doesn’t love a good torture flick? Wait, not torture flick, but actually someone getting tortured. Yeah, apparently in this world people can just release videos of themselves torturing people and people just like, watch it and think its interesting. Go figure.

Ella (Eva Prévost) works in some job and has to do customer support, but when these new torture videos hit the net she is all over it. Who cares about jobs and responsibilities? And for some reason, her boss (Tobie Pelletier) is totally fine with it, because she is hot. Anyways, Ella has dreams of getting into the torture game. It sounds fun! So she begs to take her bosses AirBnB so she can torture someone to death. Again, normal thing to do.

He says she should start smaller, maybe a nice dog, but sure, she can have two days.

Well, long story short, she ends up capturing a guy to torture accidentally. And it doesn’t go well! More and more people get involved, and well, shenanigans!

Also starring Luc-Olivier Boutet, Julianne Boucher-Telmosse, Jo Cormier, and Guy Jodoin.

Getting tortured is best done with someone who can smile.

Well. First thing that takes getting used to is how really into torture the people in the world seem to be. Like, the beginning is so silly, it is almost confusing as a viewer. But once the plot gets established, and Ella gets going, we realize she is just a confused young woman who doesn’t know anything and just wants to help people. Even if she is bad at it.

Honestly, the movie was a blast though. The main character is just so…silly and yet earnest at the same time. She is hard to describe, but she is the main character and we are here to figure out how to get out of her weird scenario that she is totally responsible for. I didn’t expect a second person to get involved, nor did I expect 5 or more.

And yet, the movie goes in a way that makes sense, and ends in a way unexpected. Another fun slight contradiction, but this is the realty and we have to accept it.

3 out of 4.

Buffet Infinity was watched as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival 2025! It had its showing on Monday, July 28th as part of the festival, and it was the World Premiere of this film!

What if you went to a buffet that had…everything? Every food you can imagine, and every food you cannot imagine. Endless refills, for affordable prices? A fantasy for sure, and, that is still true in this movie. But let us set up the scene.

Somewhere in the US, there is a town, that is set in the 80s or 90s, a little vague on purpose I imagine. And in this town, we watch TV and are channel surfers through the local channels. And we apparently watch a lot of advertisements. Because that is what this movie is. Local ads, and news reports, and occasionally something else a little bit weird.

We will learn about insurance agents, lawyers, pawn shops, and the local restaurants, like a really good sandwich shop, and a new buffet. They want you to come out and visit them. But, somehow, people end up going missing. Large groups of missing adults, and kids. Where are they going? Why is the restaurant getting bigger? Is any store actually manned by real people, or is everything a lie? What is the BUDGET of these local eateries and businesses to make so many commercials?

A mystery and a strange one, for sure…

Missing Person? Probably not important!

Buffet Infinity is what we call one of them there experimental movies. You go in with an open mind, and you are going to get a very different movie experience than you are used to. And it is a movie that surprisingly, would benefit from multiple watches I imagine. To watch as things get more bizarre, to pick up more clues along the way.

As I saw it as a screener, I also had the benefit to watch it in breaks. I might have lost info, but I definitely saved myself a headache at one moment, which I believe was a personal sick issue, but the type of film that it was, constantly shifting its commercials/news/frantic nature, it didn’t help. I love it when movies try something, and this is the type of thing that would take a person a lot of planning to do. I guess local TV ads are relatively easy to make, that is how local businesses can get it done. But to plan on where your ads go, and how they evolve, and to make the thing longer than 30 minutes? That requires a lot of creativity.

This film was less scary, and more bizarre and amusing. It has the vibe completely correct for this type of movie, and likely a budget to match. I can say with all certainty that I am still not fully sure what happened by the end, but the ride was worth it for me.

3 out of 4.

Fucktoys was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2025! It had its showing on Friday, May 16th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle Premiere of this film! You can see my interview with the director, Annapurna Sriram, here!

Trashtown is not the world you know, it is a sort of alternate universe, where the depraved and hidden aspects of society are allowed to flourish and everyone can live the life they want to live. Without getting judged and ridiculed in response. Sex, drugs, and a little rock and role. Prostitution, psychics, fetish life, showing off your body, all of this and more exist in Trashtown.

Which brings us to our hero on a new adventure, AP (Annapurna Sriram), who has felt down in her life. And according to her psychic, she has been CURSED. But it isn’t that big of a deal, a curse can be gotten rid of with a specific ritual, which would just cost her about $1,000. Hey, that’s a good deal to get rid of a curse. So AP, who already is a sex worker, decides to put her work into overtime to get the cash and get rid of the curse ASAP.

Along the way, she gets to meet Danni (Sadie Scott), an old friend, who is back in AP’s life, and they are going to help her get the money for the curse, and AP is going to help Danni get some work in the process.

Also featuring others like François Arnaud, Damian Young, Brandon Flynn, and Big Freedia.

When the drugs finally hit, your experiences may vary.

Fucktoys does a good amount right for what I would describe as a very experimental movie. First, it gives traditionally underused actors and actresses the ability to play roles they may have always wanted to play, but never an outlet to play them. It gives underrepresented groups more screen time, without making their underrepresented qualities their reason for the role. Everyone just plays a person! It is wonderful to see.

The film intentionally gives off a seedy 70’s indie exploitation film vibe, with the film used and the scenery. I honestly couldn’t tell you when it was set, as the technology use was not fore front. Did someone use a cell phone? Probably! I don’t remember. And it didn’t matter too much to the story, so the strange world created can also be independent of any time period. It can just be free love, man.

Despite the very unique vibes, and free spirited nature of the film, it does seem to still lack something else. No character fully stands out to me. Everyone just exists. The plot feels like a loose vehicle to show off the world, and that is it. For the main character it becomes a repeating loop of “let’s do this activity” and then something goes bad, so her attempts to get the $1000 keep faltering. So the story is light, and almost like a TV pilot just to introduce various concepts. I wish the story had some more intensity too it, but at the same time, the light hearted nature of Trashtown was also the point.

2 out of 4.

Four Mothers was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2025! It was the opening night film of the festival, on Thursday, May 15, and it was the Seattle Premiere of this film!

How many mothers is the right number of mothers to have? An average number has to be somewhere around 1 I imagine, but people sometimes have fewer, sometime they have more. But rarely do they have four. And thankfully, our lead doesn’t actually have four here either.

Edvard (James McArdle) is a romance novelist for the YA crowd. He is a gay man, and his books feature gay romance, but he thinks his writing is a bit better and more important than simple romance. Right now his book is set to come out in America, and it is getting strong buzz before it comes out. So he wants to really capitulate on the buzz and maybe earn him the success he always felt he deserved.

Unfortunately for Edvard, he also lives with his mother, Alma (Fionnula Flanagan), who doesn’t speak anymore and uses a tablet to speak instead. She is old, she is closed to death, and he is her caretaker. It does mean he has no social life and he is thinking about of leaving her in a home, just to give him some time to find that life success. But he is also a coward and doesn’t think he can do it.

Regardless, he is about to set up a US tour for his book when his two best friends, also gay and also caretaking their moms, decide to ditch their mothers on his door step so they can go to a big pride festival for a few days. And his therapist, older, in the same scenario, drops his mom off too. Oh look. Four moms! So now he has to juggle four older women, with different schedules and temperaments, while he is trying to do something great in his life at the same time. Hooray!

The other mothers are played by Dearbhla Molloy, Stella McCusker, and Paddy Glynn.

They are probably not watching porn here. I think we need more Irish films for sure. Such a small country, with a small population, but they got stories to say too, even if things get a little bit US centric with the plot line. (Damn United States, always butting in other countries stories…).

Anyways, I will say I liked this concept for a story. A struggling author of a niche topic, looking to get big, dealing with underrepresented groups could lead to a lot of things. And this is a caretaker story at the same time, and caretakers, despite being a pretty large group, are often underrepresented in media as well. Or, if they are represented it is usually more of a tragedy drama, than a comedy or uplifting drama. This falls into the latter category. And, because of that, I don’t think it is able to reach the lofty goals it aspires to be.

The stronger emotional moments I feel go away too quickly. For example, the father who is clearly not in the picture, and his story, is brought up and leads to conflict, but only in smaller amounts despite holding a lot of weight. The idea of a temporary home while he invoked on a 2-3 week US tour made a lot of sense, and the drama behind it felt…extra. It was a shame. The film didn’t seen to hint enough to find out why certain decisions were derisive, and I just felt bad for the main character most of the film.

The ending itself is exactly where someone would probably assume this movie landed. You know, knowing it is a comedy/drama instead of a tragedy/drama. So I wasn’t surprised when we arrived at the ending. But unfortunately the journey wasn’t fully worth it either.

All of that to say, I liked most of the main characters, including our main guy. I think the side stories of his life had a lot of heart behind them, and the acting from everyone was still top notch. But pleasant films aren’t always going to be the most exciting films.

2 out of 4.

Butterflies (Perhoset) was watched as part of Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival 2025! It has its showing on Sunday, April 27th as part of the festival.

Working women never have it easy. Just ask Siiri (Aska Korttila), a working woman, and she doesn’t have it easy!

Specifically she has a government job. No, not one she was voted in, like a politician. She works for one of them, Lena-Maj (Leea Klemola), as some high level of assistant. She has to help her get from place A to B, get her in contact with people, book their hotels, book their cars, handle her meeting notices and phone calls. It is a lot of work. There is even another assistant, who is much worse at the job, but he is cool so he gets away with it.

Regardless, Siiri is now in her home town where she doesn’t want to be, because that is the next stop in the tour. And thankfully, it is a quick one. But because her boss’s husband picks that time to let her know he wants a divorce, so Lena-Maj agrees to stay in the town for their little festival all weekend to try and have fun and avoid reality. And now, Siiri can’t escape her own!

Which means dealing with her father (Jani Volanen). She doesn’t like him. He is a screw up. And he knows it. But he just wants to help her, even if he cant help himself. And it turns out that the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree.

Also starring Alex Anton.

The fields that grow her sorrows are bountiful.

The two leads in this film are uncomfortable people to watch. They rolled low on charisma and luck, and things don’t go their way. They are not the life of the party (despite the dad being a semi successful musician or something like that)? So if you are going to watch this movie, you are going to have to be willing to deal with that uncomfortableness.

I think the situations presented in this film were decent. I think they could have escalated a bit more, and often kept staying in rather…tame situations. It never made it to the next level. And worst of all, it didn’t feel like it was worth it at the end. It reminds me of a Blink-182 lyric, “Work sucks, I know”. But this is a movie where unfortunate things happen without a great level of payoff. “Life sucks, and then you die,” another song quote reference from The Fools.

A way to describe this could be a black comedy, but usually those movies go darker and potentially include death. So a black comedy without the extreme elements? With a bit of that “British” humor behind it.

It certainly achieves that result, but I wish it went to those greater levels.

2 out of 4.

American Dreamer was watched as a screener. It is now out on Digital!

When it comes to the American Dream, usually it involves money, family, a house, and fun. Probably even a green yard and space to frolic.

For Phil (Peter Dinklage), he is a college professor of Economics, so he has served his time well and went to school. He should be able to afford that American Dream everyone talks about? Hell no, he lives in a small apartment, with an old car, and dreams of owning a home, but the price of that has skyrocketed beyond ability. Everything is lost.

Thankfully, Phil does see an ad for a very large mansion like building, with a giant yard, and lake access. It has a hefty fee, out of his range, but there is a secondary, cheaper fee. He can buy it for half of the price listed, if the current owner can stay in it until her death, then he will own the whole thing. He just has to keep to his portion of the house and lawn until then.

Unfortunately for Phil, this dream opportunity can become a nightmare. He has to get rid of everything to afford his share, things keep going wrong, and the live-in woman, Astrid (Shirley MacLaine), might have actual children. This is going to create a will dispute and he might not even get any part of the house once she passes. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

Also starring Danny Pudi, Matt Dillon, Michelle Mylett, Kimberly Quinn, and Danny Glover.

I too get that look when I find myself living with an old lady. It happens so often!

This movie had a bigger slapstick nature than I thought. Sure the poster shows him looking beat up, but I still didn’t expect to see my man Dinklage slip out of a shower and fall ass up onto the floor.

It was a highlight to see the cameos throughout the film. I enjoyed Glover praying a private eye who was incredibly good at his job, and offended at the same time. Pudi as some sort of HR/Dean/something at the college felt like a good fit for him.

The movie had an interesting plot line for a story, but the main issue is how little the main plot seemed to really get going. I felt no real chemistry between our main character and his housemate. I didn’t feel much between them and the antagonizing daughter. The plot with the grad student just sort of fizzled out into nothing. And I never really understood why Dinklage’s character just gave up so much over his dream, and so quickly.

Regardless, the movie has its interesting moments and decent enough twist to it. It is not a turd, or anything, it just could have use a lot more polish.

2 out of 4.

Greedy People was sent to me early as a screener.

Money money money, makes the world go round, and can make people act very differently. Will (Himesh Patel) is on his first day on the job in a new area. He just moved here recently with his wife (Lily James) who is pregnant. Oh, and this job is of course being a cop. Oh man.

His partner, Terry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is an old hat at this job and really tells him on what he needs to know about the area. Truth is, its a very low crime city, so they aren’t going to have to do much at all. And make sure he doesn’t kill anyone! Well. Unfortunately due to events, and Terry not being that great of a person, Will accidentally kills someone! And while deciding what to do about it with Terry, they also…find a shit ton of cash!

Time to cover this up and make it look like a break in. The two agree to hide the cash in a storage unit, until things die down, and then start living life a little bit better. But of course, that is NOT what is going to happen. You see, the victim’s husband (Tim Blake Nelson) was actually already planning on ordering a hit on her that same day, so things just start to escalate from there, as more and more people get involved. That’s right. We are going to get a body count, because damn it, piles of money are just so exciting.

Also starring Jim Gaffigan, Joey Lauren Adams, José María Yazpik, Nina Arianda, Simon Rex, Traci Lords, and Uzo Aduba.

Just think of how much cash you could fit in JG-L’s mouth right there. Honestly, as a movie watcher and movie writer, and dare I say, movie critic, I get asked a lot about my favorite movies and least favorite movies. I also get asked about my favorite genre of movie. I think I finally have an answer for that, as I have hemmed and hawed in the past of various umbrella terms. I think I finally have a very specific answer. “Dark Comedies where things spiral out of control for regular people and a lot of people die.” Yeah, that might be my favorite drama.

From things like Fargo or Heathers or more recent bizarre ones like Arizona and The Death of Stalin. I almost always have a great and silly time. So, that is all to say, the same was true for Greedy People. A lot of people involved, mostly normal individuals, living their life, finding themselves a victim or a perpetuator of violence for one reason or another.

Patel is the lead of this film, but he ends up playing a mostly straight guy role throughout the proceedings. The remaining cast of characters is what really drives this movie forward. James, a pregnant and worried wife, amazing. Gorgon-Levitt, who has to play a lot of timid characters, was really let off of his leashes for this role. His character starts off as a normal shitty cop, sleazy, but becomes a scary force later on, with a just strong growling voice at times. Nelson, getting up in age, still can kick it like a Coen Bros film and give us a weird side character with special motives. Heck, Gaffigan played a literal hitman. I won’t say it is a role that is definitely suitable for him, but I will say it was notably different role for him, so its good to see him branch out and try something.

If you want main characters dying. This is the movie for you. If you like spiraling in a slightly comedic and deadly way. This is the movie for you. I had a lot of fun with this.

4 out of 4.

Killing Romance was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Saturday, May 18th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle premiere of this film!

First, Hwang Yeo-Rae (Lee Ha-nee) gets famous! A viral person, a superstar singer, and an actress, and she is everywhere. She rises so fast, she gets put in the lead of the most expensive film of all time, and it is a dud. Her acting falls flat, she is a laughing stock. Sure, people love her for this, but she thinks this is a tragedy and her life is over.

Then she meets Jonathan Na (Lee Sun-kyun), a very rich, powerful man, who helps her out of a jam, and seems to like her. Perfect. They live away from Korea for so many years, and eventually return, Hwang now a house wife, with the world forgotten about her.

But then she meets Kim Beom-Woo (Gong Myoung). No, this is not a love thing. This is just a guy who happens to be a super fan of her work. Apparently there is a lot of them ou there. Kim is stuck in a house hold where he cannot pass the college entrance exam, and cannot go to Seoul University like everyone else in his family has ever done. He is a disappointment. But he is able to get a script to Hwang when the couple moves next door.

A script? For a musical? Can this be Hwang’s next big break? Well, no, because Jonathan says no. He cancels the whole thing. He is powerful. He is strong. He is rich. He is controlling over Hwang. He can get people killed. Hwang realizes she needs out of this relationship, it is toxic. But to do that, either Jonathan will have to die, or she will have to kill herself.

Also starring Bae Yoo-ram, Pierce Conran, and Shim Dal-gi.

Gosh, I am already in love with this guy myself. I need to of course start this section talking about Lee Sun-kyun, who tragically passed away in December. I won’t go more into the story and circumstances of his death, but they were very tragic from almost every standpoint. He was famously known as the rich dad in the Parasite movie from a few years ago. I don’t know if this is his last movie, but it is certainly now one of the last ones. And it is tragic that this is a movie where the main plotline is to actually try and kill his character.

And he destroyed this role as the toxic mean husband.

Killing Romance is certainly a movie that is indescribable in many ways. It is a BIZARRE film. It is wacky. It is strange. It is an experience.

I think the offput nature of the film, the switching aspect ratios, the switching of quality, the terrible background scenes, the zany nature of Jonathan’s character, are all just certain features that highlight the absurdity of cinema. I know this isn’t a negative of Korean cinema or anything like that. This is just a movie that wants to do its own thing, and is unapologetic in the process.

Is Killing Romance itself a good film? Honestly, hard to tell. I did enjoy my watch overall, and I appreciated the creative output. And again, if this one is Sun-kyun’s swan song, it was certainly a cherry on top.

2 out of 4.

We Strangers was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Friday, May 17th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle premiere of this film!

Ray Martin (Kirby) has a shitty job, that frankly, she doesn’t love. She is a room/home/building cleaner. She works for a service, they provide the jobs and locations, she does the work, she gets paid. It is one of those things where she knows they obviously pay the company a lot and she only gets a fraction of the services, but at least she gets to mostly work alone and not interact with the clients.

After working on an office building that a new client bought, but needed it de-trashed, sees how she did, he wonders if he can hire her personally. Just some rich doctor guy, let her say a much higher value than she normally makes, and he said sure. He just needs his own house cleaned, and is willing to pay top dollar.

Now, during that clean? A neighbor sees her, questions her, and apparently talks to the client about it. Because now she wants a cleaner. The doctor weirdly pays for it, but hey, money is money. This leads her to suddenly more and more clients, who have their own intricacies and secrets that she is going to discover. Like, one of the clients believes in ghosts and mediums. Seems like a great time for Ray to mention she totally can do that as well, and make house calls. Talk to ghosts? For cash? Sure. Why not.

Also starring Hari Dhillon, Maria Dizzia, Paul Adelstein, Sarah Goldberg, and Tina Lifford.

Sometimes you just gotta stare off, to help find those ghost spirits. Yeah, fuck the rich. Spending lavish money on services, but treating the people in those services as lesser individuals. I think that is a big theme at SIFF this year. Fuck the rich.

Kirby does a great role as the lead. She isn’t overacting in any sense. She just seems like a normal person. It is the rich people with the eccentricities who are acting strange comparatively, even when Kirby is talking to spirits. The secrets between the rich folk are pretty obvious to discern, and not as extra as one would hope. You know, me, a movie goer, looking for drama.

Unfortunately for We Strangers, which I can say is well made enough, well acted enough, is just an okay variation of this story. No giant “fuck yous” as the end. Everything remains subtle. Everything stays chill. Just too chill for it to have higher than a 2 rating.

2 out of 4.