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Bren (4 KP) rated A Very Fatal Murder in Podcasts
Jun 2, 2018
Short and Satirical
I really enjoyed this podcast from the Onion. In this, we are listening to "OPR" which styled itself very much like something you would hear on NPR, complete with a fake pledge break about halfway through. I found it by mistake when I looking for a new True Crime podcast to listen to. I was glad I did. The satirical tones were pretty good, and while I generally believe you can't take satire too far, this did have some gags that were a bit much or seemed to drag on to me. Overall, it was well done and very much worth a listen!
Hilarious (2 more)
Ska Music
Satire
Absolutely superb...until the cast change.
Contains spoilers, click to show
This is a truly superb show, or at least it was to start with. The humour can be brilliantly stupid, and the casting is absolutely perfect.
Unfortunately, with the start of series 4, there came a new cast member following a previous character being killed off, possibly due to other acting commitments. But the show shouldn't have replaced the character. The new casting replaces the young, daft, jack-the-lad character with an irritating Essex boy type character, who now seems completely out of place with the programme and the rest of the cast.
Unfortunately, with the start of series 4, there came a new cast member following a previous character being killed off, possibly due to other acting commitments. But the show shouldn't have replaced the character. The new casting replaces the young, daft, jack-the-lad character with an irritating Essex boy type character, who now seems completely out of place with the programme and the rest of the cast.
Bostonian916 (449 KP) rated The Dead Don't Die (2019) in Movies
Jun 27, 2020
I've seen some pretty tough reviews for this movie. However, I thought it was funny.
It was predictable. It wasn't earth shattering in any way. It didn't redefine a genre. But it WAS funny for the sake of being funny. Adam Driver and Bill Murray killed it (get it? get it?) as country bumpkin deputy's who are faced with a zombie intrusion. Satire throughout was quite funny.
I wouldn't go into this movie expecting it to change my views on anything. Just go into it expecting to have a few laughs for an hour and a half and you'll enjoy yourself. Improper expectations are the birth of terrible reviews.
It was predictable. It wasn't earth shattering in any way. It didn't redefine a genre. But it WAS funny for the sake of being funny. Adam Driver and Bill Murray killed it (get it? get it?) as country bumpkin deputy's who are faced with a zombie intrusion. Satire throughout was quite funny.
I wouldn't go into this movie expecting it to change my views on anything. Just go into it expecting to have a few laughs for an hour and a half and you'll enjoy yourself. Improper expectations are the birth of terrible reviews.
Hugh Bonneville recommended Being There (1979) in Movies (curated)
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Don't Look Up (2021) in Movies
Jan 9, 2022
A Brilliant Satire
Satire is a tricky thing to get right, there is a balance between humor and pathos that must be struck in order to drive home the point.
The Netflix Original Satire, DON’T LOOK UP, Directed by Adam McKay (THE BIG SHORT) finds the right line, beautifully.
A send-up of the Climate Change debate (but also, a condemnation of the reaction to the current Global Virus), DON’T LOOK UP has a who’s who of performers that are at the top of their game and delivers a top-notch entertainment that also makes you think.
The plot of the film is simple enough - a PhD Student (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers a “planet killing” comet that is on a collision course with Earth and, joined by her Professor (Leonardo DiCaprio), tries to get the “powers-that-be” to listen to the threat.
DiCaprio (in essence, in the Anthony Fauci role) is superb as the Professor that tries to convince the Politicians about the Science of the threat. His frustration at hitting the brick wall of “political spin” crescendos in an absurdly bravura performance.
Meryl Streep is brilliant (of course) as the President who is more interested in how this situation affects her, politically, than how it affects the populace. She is joined by a sychophantic Jonah Hill (as her son and Chief of Staff). Hill has never been better and understands the nature of this character and mines it for comedic gold.
Cate Blanchette and Tyler Perry are also strong as the Cable News Anchors who are more interested in keeping the conversation “light and fun” and they actually have good “co-anchor” chemistry with each other.
Timothee Chalamet, Mark Rylance, Rob Morgan, Ron Perlman and, yes, Ariana Grande are also strong in smaller, almost cameo, roles.
But the standout star of this film is Jennifer Lawrence as PhD student Kate DiBiasky, the person who discovers the comet (and for whom the comet is named). It is easy to forget just how strong of a performer that Lawrence is but she goes toe-to-toe with Streep/DiCaprio/Blanchette et al and more than holds her own. Her character/performance is the backbone - and conscience - that holds this film together.
Of course, credit for all of this must go to Writer/Director Adam McKay who showed in THE BIG SHORT that he is more than “the comedy Director” of such films like ANCHORMAN and he puts that ability to work, strongly, in this film. He clearly had a vision of what he wanted to put across in this film and straddles the line between humor and seriousness in such a way that no matter what side of the “Global Change” and “Global Pandemic” crisis you are on, you will think that this film skewers you and favors the other side.
Which is the sign of a terrific satire.
Letter Grade: A-
8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
The Netflix Original Satire, DON’T LOOK UP, Directed by Adam McKay (THE BIG SHORT) finds the right line, beautifully.
A send-up of the Climate Change debate (but also, a condemnation of the reaction to the current Global Virus), DON’T LOOK UP has a who’s who of performers that are at the top of their game and delivers a top-notch entertainment that also makes you think.
The plot of the film is simple enough - a PhD Student (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers a “planet killing” comet that is on a collision course with Earth and, joined by her Professor (Leonardo DiCaprio), tries to get the “powers-that-be” to listen to the threat.
DiCaprio (in essence, in the Anthony Fauci role) is superb as the Professor that tries to convince the Politicians about the Science of the threat. His frustration at hitting the brick wall of “political spin” crescendos in an absurdly bravura performance.
Meryl Streep is brilliant (of course) as the President who is more interested in how this situation affects her, politically, than how it affects the populace. She is joined by a sychophantic Jonah Hill (as her son and Chief of Staff). Hill has never been better and understands the nature of this character and mines it for comedic gold.
Cate Blanchette and Tyler Perry are also strong as the Cable News Anchors who are more interested in keeping the conversation “light and fun” and they actually have good “co-anchor” chemistry with each other.
Timothee Chalamet, Mark Rylance, Rob Morgan, Ron Perlman and, yes, Ariana Grande are also strong in smaller, almost cameo, roles.
But the standout star of this film is Jennifer Lawrence as PhD student Kate DiBiasky, the person who discovers the comet (and for whom the comet is named). It is easy to forget just how strong of a performer that Lawrence is but she goes toe-to-toe with Streep/DiCaprio/Blanchette et al and more than holds her own. Her character/performance is the backbone - and conscience - that holds this film together.
Of course, credit for all of this must go to Writer/Director Adam McKay who showed in THE BIG SHORT that he is more than “the comedy Director” of such films like ANCHORMAN and he puts that ability to work, strongly, in this film. He clearly had a vision of what he wanted to put across in this film and straddles the line between humor and seriousness in such a way that no matter what side of the “Global Change” and “Global Pandemic” crisis you are on, you will think that this film skewers you and favors the other side.
Which is the sign of a terrific satire.
Letter Grade: A-
8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Miss March (2009) in Movies
Oct 1, 2020 (Updated Oct 8, 2020)
Bizarre, funny, and lovingly goofy enough to get a pass; but for being barely 90 or so minutes this doesn't just tread water it *drowns* before even the hour + ten mark. Still liked it, saw what this was going for immediately - a mostly effective satire of the usually ignominious teen sex genre at the time and its far past tired formula, as well as the way the 2000s noxious 'sex culture' warped its young men into Neanderthal-esque sexists (both the open kind and those who were brainwashed enough to think that they weren't) who saw women as nothing more than empty meat ciphers to project their selfish desires onto. Can't believe so many people misunderstood this but then again, the WKUK bunch have always been far ahead of their time anyway. That being said however, I have very similar problems with this as I did with a genre satire such as 𝘏𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘵 in that it sets up its tropes to lambast and then not much sooner does it start to embrace them itself. Though this is still ten trillion times better than some bottom-of-the-barrel, spoon-fed meta horseshit like 𝘐𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘐𝘵 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤? - Trevor Moore's quintessential dopey dudebro is deeply hysterical, and both he and Cregger are pitch-perfect as always. For all its grinding halts and hit-or-miss jokes this still remains a smart, unfiltered sideshow of point-blank slapstick and caustic gross-out gags that certainly catered to my inner imbecile.
Deborah (162 KP) rated Habits of the House (Love & Inheritance Trilogy, #1) in Books
Dec 21, 2018
I really expected to like this book, but it didn't really live up to my expectations. Plot is aristocratic family, land rich and cash poor and what are they going to do about it. Nothing really new there either. Some other reviewers have seen this as a brilliant satire, but I'm afraid for me it was just a novel with lots of characters, many very undeveloped and most of them not even very likeable.
It is supposed to be the first part of Weldon's Love & Inheritance trilogy, but a lot of lose ends are tied up and this could really be a standalone novel. Certainly I'm far from feeling the compulsion to read the next two volumes.
It is supposed to be the first part of Weldon's Love & Inheritance trilogy, but a lot of lose ends are tied up and this could really be a standalone novel. Certainly I'm far from feeling the compulsion to read the next two volumes.
Christopher Hobbs recommended Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Mr.Hulot's Holiday) (1953) in Movies (curated)
Lev Kalman recommended Blood for Dracula (1974) in Movies (curated)
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Dakota and the American Dream in Books
Apr 24, 2020
"Dakota was tired of playing catch with his mother at the park," so he rested on a bench but was soon distracted by a peculiar talking squirrel. Chasing after the strange creature, Dakota finds himself in a fantasy world full of anthropomorphic animals. Before he knows what is happening, Dakota finds himself working for Corporate America with its odd rules and unhappy employees.
The fantasy world of Sameer Garach's Dakota and the American Dream is a satire of modern-day America. From a ten year old's perspective, the short story covers the corporate ladder, hierarchy, racism, discrimination, career success and an extreme love of coffee. Whilst all this is humorous to the adult mind, there is an alarming amount of truth that paints the "American Dream" as a corrupt society.
From the very start, Dakota's experience feels remarkably like Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and could almost be said to be a 21st-century version of the classic children's book. Most of Dakota's story will go over the heads of young readers, however, adults will enjoy the humour and childhood innocence as well as appreciate the connection with their favourite books as a child.
As a parody of both real life and fiction, Dakota and the American Dream is a clever story that entertains and makes you think. Although sometimes extreme, it is amusing to read about everyday life being acted out by squirrels, mice, rats, a cowardly lion, an 800-pound Gorilla and many more bizarre creatures. If the humour and satire was stripped away, we would be left with a child's confusion about the way America works with many things appearing stupid or unfair.
The fantasy world of Sameer Garach's Dakota and the American Dream is a satire of modern-day America. From a ten year old's perspective, the short story covers the corporate ladder, hierarchy, racism, discrimination, career success and an extreme love of coffee. Whilst all this is humorous to the adult mind, there is an alarming amount of truth that paints the "American Dream" as a corrupt society.
From the very start, Dakota's experience feels remarkably like Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and could almost be said to be a 21st-century version of the classic children's book. Most of Dakota's story will go over the heads of young readers, however, adults will enjoy the humour and childhood innocence as well as appreciate the connection with their favourite books as a child.
As a parody of both real life and fiction, Dakota and the American Dream is a clever story that entertains and makes you think. Although sometimes extreme, it is amusing to read about everyday life being acted out by squirrels, mice, rats, a cowardly lion, an 800-pound Gorilla and many more bizarre creatures. If the humour and satire was stripped away, we would be left with a child's confusion about the way America works with many things appearing stupid or unfair.