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Reviews
Unfrosted (2024)
It ain't exactly King Lear
But I laughed a lot. Seinfeld's fanciful movie is candy-colored, sugary treat. It moves like lightning bounding from gag-to-gag, featuring about a hundred great cameos from most - if not all - of the funniest people currently working in comedy while also managing to name-check every beloved pop culture element we can think of from the '60s, from hobo bindles to Silly Puddy, from Chubby Checker to the Doublemint Twins. Plus the whole thing culminates in a delightful Mad Men spoof, so spot-on it made me want to go back and rewatch all seven seasons. I loved Unfrosted. It's good harmless idiotic fun.
Topsy-Turvy (1999)
The Best
"Topsy Turvey" is the best film about putting on a show ever made. Leigh takes us through every aspect of the conception and production of a show, emphasizing the painful backstage politics and the alienation of the creative process. Again, there has never been a more insightful and fully explored portrayal of show business in any movie. And the truths explored are universal to every aspect of modern show business -- theater, film and television. It should be standard viewing at every film, theater and communication program. I would also highly recommend a book by William Goldman called The Season about Broadway, which contains similar insights applicable to all forms of entertainment. (This review is by a long-time entertainment industry professional with extensive top-level experience in theater, film and TV.)
High Hopes (1988)
Really lovely movie
Of course the marketing people hype every movie like it's a cross between "Titanic" and "Wedding Crashers" but there is such a thing as a small lovely film and "High Hopes" is it. It's a comedy but nobody passes gas or accidentally drinks urine, so it's a cut above any comedy produced in the U.S. during the last thirty years. It's just about people, working class people in London trying to get by. But its got a good heart and the smiles it provides will stick with you longer than the brain-dead belly laughs strained over in Hollywood comedies. It just feels like real life. The actors don't seem to be acting. And you end up pretty hopeful regarding the human condition.