Well, this episode should be easy right? Everybody loves to have fun, so I bet you've watched tons of comedies already. Whether it's just to make you laugh, or make you think, a good comedy always seems to turn your day around. Prepare yourself with a pair of humour goggles and you're ready to face the world. Well, that's what I do anyway.
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| Goggles on!! Shall we begin? |
3. Comedy
Since general comedies are sweet, funny and light-hearted, I seem to watch lots and lots of those. However, most fun flicks these days have the same problem: being unoriginal, unrealistic and
provide cheap laughs (I'm looking at you Tyler Perry =,=). There are still some good gems lying out there though,
if you look into the right places. That's why I often base on these following categories in order to find a decent comedy.
- Plotlines: To me, one of the most attracting things about comedies is the witty, quirky and funny
conversations among characters. Old movies, mostly in the 60s to 80s, are highly recommended. In the past, they rely more on the sophisticated humor, rather than on special effects and complex filming techniques. With this in mind, I found The Odd Couple (1968, and its sequel 1998), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) and Woody Allen's underrated Everything You Always
Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask) (1972) to be the best - those can still be hilarious if you just read the scripts.
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| Dr Strangelove - The title says it all. It's as satirical as it gets. |
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| The Odd Couple (1968) One of the things that I love the most about this movie, is the series of long-take scenes, when the characters just go from a room to another while continuing their conversations, which makes it so real and authentic. |
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| Ever wonder about the sperm convention before going in??? It turns out to be quite amusing and very educating. Details in Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex* (1972) |
- Directors: Well, there are actually a few filmmakers out there that I can trust when it comes to comedy. On top of the list, it's Wes Anderson. This guy doesn't just make high quality fun flicks, his movies are visually gorgeous!! His trademarks - including symmetrical framing, which is stunning btw, and vivid coloring - make his films look like a series of beautiful paintings. Recommended movies: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums.
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| The Grand Budapest Hotel |
Still on the subject of comedy directors... Edgar Wright. My gosh, he's the hero of my boring desperate hours. This guy is awesome! I've been watching his stuffs way back when he directed a small TV series called Spaced (which is brilliant). He's the one you need when you want an action/apocalyptic/ridiculous romance comedy. His style is solid, you can even guess his movie within a few minutes. It's fast jump-cuts, quick conversations, hilarious sound effect, and purposed scenes repetitions. There’s no such thing as lazy camera work with this guy. Everything from sudden close-ups to a camera panning is carefully thought out. Not to mention the perfect chemistry between characters (mostly between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost). Recommended movies: Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End and Scott Pilgrim vs The World.
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| Yep, this is what you look like when watching Hot Fuzz |
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| And then you look like this when watching Shaun of The Dead |
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| But yeah.. you'll thank me later. |
Another director, Judd Apatow is quite well-known with his rom-com work, but I only like his amazing The 40-year-old Virgin, the rest is just kinda ok to me. John Hughes (Home Alone, The Breakfast Club) also makes great comedies, but I'm gonna talk about him later in my Teen Movies list.
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| Ok.. let's slowly walk out of this director category in virgin style |
- Actors: Everyone has their own favorite comedic actors, and for me, it's Bill Murray and Jim Carrey. Not all of their movies are great, but watching them always make me laugh. From Mr Bill Murray, I highly recommend Lost In Translation and Groundhog Day, two of his best drama/comedy films. And from Jim Carrey, Liar Liar and Truman Show.
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| "It't Groundhog Day... Again." |
- Chemistry: In movies, it is crucial to have an ensemble cast who work well together. The chemistry among characters is even more important when it comes to comedies. That's why you often see a member of Saturday Night Live help out another in his own movie. Because they know each other so well, their chemistry seems more believable, and the audience feel like they're watching friends in real life. A lot of famous duo/trio/ensemble cast succeed this method, naming Pegg and Frost (mentioned above), Fey and Poehler, Cho and Penn, Black and Gass, and the whole bunch of legendary Monty Python. [Never heard of Monty Python???
Just kidding. Those guys are ancient, really.] From that they give us one of the most joyful things to watch: Silly and
ridiculous bromance. For the best thing about
friendship is when we do crazy shit together - these movies are often somewhat
predictable, but still very enjoyable. Recommended movies: The Big Lebowski, Tropic Thunder, The Hangover, Ted, Harold and Kumar, Superbad, This
Is The End and Monty Python movies. Keep in mind that these hilarious friendship movies may contain super immature jokes (like dick jokes, mostly), so if you find that offensive, don't watch.
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| The Big Lebowski |
~moving on..
4. Black
Comedy
or Dark Comedy - is a branch of Comedy, but much deeper and more depressing the more you think
about it. It's mostly used to convey a satire message. Therefore, these movies are often served with a thick sauce of irony, a base of
despair and a pinch of sudden violence. And for the complex texture of the dish, I'm hooked. It's most of what I've ever watched really. There was a phase in which I only saw black comedies. I was addicted to it, intrigued by the meaning behind the laugh.
The subjects frequently mentioned in dark comedies include murder, violence, desperate and suicidal cases, internal crisis, and death. It seems these movies are not written to BE funny, but to SEARCH for a thin light of humour in self-suffering.
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| The Killing Joke (1988) |
That's why a message is much more powerful in a dark comedy - because it's crushed between a smile and and a stream of tears. It makes you think. The following movies are beautiful like that and I hope you'll learn something good from them.
- Life Is Beautiful: a tragicomedy about love and hope in a nazi concentration camp.
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| You'll cry. I guarantee it. |
- Harold and Maude: Are you fascinated by death? It's ok, just find a partner with the same interest.
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| Just when you thought it couldn't get any weirder.. |
- Little Miss Sunshine: Be whoever you wanna be, no one can stop you.
- Fargo (1996): A twisted kidnap/murder story, from the Coen brothers
- All About Schmidt: a beautiful story of a retired, widowed old man, on a road trip, finding a way to deal with the new-found loneliness.
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| Absolutely breathtaking journey |
- American Beauty: a man who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend.
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| Kevin Spacey's Oscar worthy performance |
- Adaptation: A screenwriter struggling with writer block and an unexpected discovery.
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| definitely the best I've ever seen from Nic Cage |
- In Bruges: A couple of gangsters with moral issues.
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| Colin Farrell is so underrated. And this flick is awesome. |
- Seven Psychopaths: Another Colin Farrell movie, and obviously, it's about psychopaths.
- American Psycho: I was considering this movie to be in my Horror list. But the more I think about it, the closer I get to the conclusion that this is definitely a satire/black comedy. It offers everything in contrast: truth and lies, mask and unmask, fiction and reality. Patrick Bateman is trapped in his own endless loop of guilt and insanity. I'd probably go to hell to laugh at this, but indeed, it's a haunting and shivery laugh.
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That's it for this episode. Sorry for the long post, I just can't seem to keep it short and sweet. The list went from light-hearted to dark and twisted comedies. I hope you find your type of laugh.
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| Peace! |
