A reasonably busy April at the cinemas has meant another bigger-than-usual Film Fight, with five films.
Kick-Ass is a ridiculous film. It’s an absurd premise (a kid decides to become a super-hero and finds out he isn’t the first one to try it), that holds together remarkably well when paired up with intentionally over-the-top violence in a pseudo-comic book world. It’s bloody, and goes quite far at times (mostly when it uses Hit Girl), but manages to pull it off by making it clear that this is entertainment and clearly straight out of a graphic novel. While the story isn’t anything to right home about, and it has some cringeworthy moments, it remains entertaining to the end. (See my Kick Ass Twitter review).
Green Zone sees Matt Damon team back up with Paul Greengrass, in a plot pulled straight from a Tom Clancy novel. Yes, it’s the usual military-complex, conspiracy nonsense, but it is reasonably fun. It works best when letting Damon get into the action set-pieces and starts to wane whenever it goes near the reasons for the conspiracy. For the most part, a reasonable balance is found to keep things moving forward. Where it really falls down is in the comparisons that have been drawn to the Bourne trilogy. Even on the action side, this is a much more relaxed affair than the impossibly well-developed skills of Damon’s previous super-spy character. Worth seeing. (See my Green Zone Twitter review).
Comedy, good comedy, can be painfully uncomfortable. Either bringing up subjects that most people consider taboo to shed some light on them or by poking fun at preconceptions. It was surprising to see that Crying With Laughter managed to blend that discomfort so well into a fairly dark thriller so well. It tells the story of a stand-up who is at his make-or-break point, going further and darker with every show, as he bumps into someone he used to know who will give him an incredible story to tell. At moments the film is incredibly funny, and at others it’s horrific as you discover the painful memories that full the lead. A few of the minor characters aside, this is a fantastic film; that brings together two kinds of unease, and produces an excellent story from them. Highly recommended. (See my Crying with Laughter Twitter review).
Mike Judge has an incredibly strong legacy with Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill, Idiocracy and his classic, Office Space. It’s with that in mind that it’s fairly surprising his new movie, Extract, just isn’t that funny. There are some great moments and some well-observed characters (David Koechner delivers another great small part), but a lot of it falls flat. It’s not awful, but it is entirely forgettable. (See my Extract Twitter review).
Finally, Todd Solondz returns to the characters he introduced in Happiness 12 years ago, recasting them all in a pseudo-sequel, Life During Wartime. If you liked the first film, you’ll wish he hadn’t. It has a scant few jokes that hit the familiar territory of awkwardness that Solondz thrives in, but much of it doesn’t work. As a whole, the film lacks any real cohesion, with fairly uninteresting characters not really doing much or saying anything of real value. There’s not much of a theme, just a series of moments that hang together poorly. It’s a shame because a few of them work incredibly well: the scene where Billy is reunited with his father is absolutely gripping. A quite disappointing effort. (See my Life During Wartime Twitter review).
And the winner is… Crying With Laughter, for walking the fine line between horrific and funny extremely well.