black comedy

THE PROFESSOR

Cert 15 Stars 2

Johnny Depp stars in this comedy-drama as a married father diagnosed with cancer whose given six months to live, and begins a drink, drug and sex-fuelled campaign against the staid university authorities.

Possibly inspired by the material which allows Depp to dress and behave as a doomed yet righteous and narcissistic romantic 18th century poet, the star seems at least semi-motivated and involved, which is good to see after so the disappointments of his recent output.

Even so this exploration of the hypocrisy of middle-class morality is sadly sluggish, dull and indulgent, and teaches us nothing.

 

WILSON

Cert 15 92mins Stars 3

Since Woody Harrelson found fame as a dim barman in TV’s Cheers, he’s been a reliably entertaining and muscular comic actor in a busy career. Occasionally the 55 year old is accused of acting and has deservedly picked up two Oscar nominations.

One of my favourite actors, he’s at the centre of everything that’s good about this oddball black comedy-drama.

Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Daniel Clowes, Harrelson stars as a curmudgeonly couch potato who re-evaluates his life when his dad dies.

His life spirals in unexpected ways when he decides to track down his wayward ex wife, Pippi. With tattoos and scarecrow hair, Laura Dern is more than Wilson’s match.

The sweary script is is full of eccentric performances, gripes about modern technology and merrily mocks the moneyed middle class.

However it has a sweet heart and is disappointingly as enamoured of second chances and the importance of family as any mainstream Hollywood film.

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS

Cert 15 89mins Stars 3

Sex among the upper classes is explored in this comedy drama which mixes a film noir detective story and the novels of Evelyn Waugh with mild successful.

It’s based on a novel by Stephen Fry, and his over bearing smug pomposity weighs down every line of dialogue.

Roger Allam plays a failed poet who wallows in the caustic mud of his own cynicism. His voice over is full of cruel asides and flowery language, which delights in its public schoolboy humour and obsesses over bodily fluids and functions.

The whiskey sodden writer is employed by a glamorous blonde to investigate a miraculous healing which took place at a large country house.

Fry previously directed a big screen adaptation of Waugh’s Vile Bodies, called Bright Young Things. And there as here, he fails to make us care about his herd of posh idiots.

However the jolly jazz era inspired soundtrack help make it surprisingly brisk on its feet.

 

COLOSSAL

Cert 15 109mins Stars 4

Despite the giant lizard co-star which is seen stomping across the Seoul skyline, it’s Anne Hathaway’s talent which dominates this sci-fi black comedy.

The Oscar winner is permanently dishevelled under a heavy fringe and black eyeliner, she’s an irresistible combination of vulnerability, determination, comic ability and sex appeal.

She plays Gloria, a thirty-something writer whose inner demons have prompted a retreat to her small hometown in the US. She wakes one hungover afternoon to discover a real monster has appeared in South Korea.

Though the twisted script threatens to be a romantic uplifting tale of empowerment, we’re repeatedly pushed off balance by its dark turns into childhood trauma, domestic violence and alcoholism.

The creature is designed in homage to Japan’s Godzilla, and this is easily more entertaining than Hollywood’s two most recent attempts to make a Godzilla movie.

But for all the monsters on display, it’s the green-eyed variety which is the most colossal and terrifying.

I, TONYA

Cert 15 119mins Stars 4

This sharp and alarmingly funny real life ice skating drama scores highly for artistic interpretation and technical accomplishment.

Aussie actress Margot Robbie has been deservedly Oscar nominated for her unruly, sympathetic and physically demanding performance as disgraced skater Tonya Harding.

The 23 year old Olympian became infamous in 1994 when her rival Nancy Kerrigan was attacked with a steel baton.

Blisteringly bracing and based on interviews with the key players of Team Harding, this is a very knowing tale of denial, delusion, snobbery and celebrity. Kerrigan’s voice isn’t heard.

We hear Harding’s story via Robbie’s brash turn as the first woman to perform the notoriously difficult triple salchow in competition.

A redneck prodigy, she grows up an unrepentant, athletic and brazen success. With her bad hair colour, tiny outfits and being forced to try to act posh to succeed, she’s basically all five Spice girls rolled into one. But with Olympic talent.

Fellow Oscar nominee Alison Janney won best supporting actress BAFTA as her chain smoking, foul mouthed domineering parent. She’s the most terrifying mother in cinema since Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

Best known as Marvel’s Winter Soldier, Sebastian Stan plays Harding’s husband Jeff as a violent and emotionally abusive idiot.

Both deny culpability in the unforgivable assault on Kerrigan which is referred to as ‘the incident’. We see it executed with extraordinary ineptitude by a third party.

Though the graphic domestic violence is condemned, the film’s raucous tone makes it bearable to watch and also highlights the mostly male stupidity on show.

Robbie uses her power as the film’s producer to craft a film which never preaches but lifts the lid on sporting concerns. These include the partiality of competition judges, abuse of aspiring stars, and the crossover between the media, corporate sponsorship and success.

With the world’s eye on the Winter Olympics, Tonya’s cautionary tale is as well timed as her dazzling routines.

 

 

HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES

Cert 15 103mins Stars 3

Three sex hungry teenagers have a very close encounter in this raucous and oddball 1970’s-set British sci-fi comedy.

Looking for an late night party in Croydon, the lads mistakenly blag their way into an avant garde latex fetish swingers club. Which almost always never happened to me when I lived in the South London borough.

Based on a short story from the weird and wonderful mind of  writer, Neil Gaiman, the central joke is no one can tell the difference between punks, aliens and Americans.

Dazzlingly put together by Brit multi-Oscar winning costume designer, Sandy Powell, the costumes are a riot of electric colours.

Nicole Kidman unleashes her inner anarchist as a punk matriarch called Boudicca, and Elle Fanning is demented as an alien with only 48 hours to experience life, or at least Croydon.

For all its punk posturing the film is more fun than ferocious, and its alarming appearance disguises a surprisingly sweet nature.

 

THE BELKO EXPERIMENT

Cert 18 89mins Stars 4

A first day at a new job turns out to be a really bad day at the office in this fierce and funny action thriller.

A blood soaked satire on corporate downsizing full of gleeful gore, it deserves to put to the top of your cinema-going in-tray.

Melonie Diaz stars as Dany Wilkins, a US citizen newly employed by recruitment firm, Belko. They’re based in an isolated office block on the outskirts of Bogota, Colombia.

With no warning, the building is sealed by armed guards and the 80 US staff are told by the tannoy announcer they must kill each other in order to survive.

Shock quickly turns to violence as the rationalisation of the workforce begins.

It’s written by James Gunn, the director of upcoming Marvel’s sci-fi romp, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2. He sketches the characters with efficiency, and expertly keeps us guessing who will dodge the bullet and who gets the chop.

 

SWISS ARMY MAN

Cert 15 Stars 3

In this remarkably odd black comedy, former Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe takes on his most fantastical role yet.

He plays a farting corpse called Manny, who inspires a shipwrecked soul to use him as a jetski to the mainline. After this curious beginning, it all becomes a bit weird.

On his mission to return home, Paul Dano’s Hank utilises the cadaver as a host more practical devices, such as a compass and a gun.

There’s a wonderful chemistry between Dano and Radcliffe, even if the biology and physics are tested to their limits.

GET OUT

Cert 15 Stars 4

Fear, prejudice, and hypocrisy are shown the door in this fiendish and clever comedy horror.

It’s an excruciating comedy of manners which takes a darkly violent twist. A racial riff on the sci-fi satire, The Stepford Wives, it includes echoes of comic Steve Martin’s early, funny films, such as The Jerk.

The smart script and knowing cast gleefully collude to laugh at the fears of white America, while highlighting where the balance of power really lies.

Brit star Daniel Kaluuya stars as a middle class photographer who is accompanying his white girlfriend to meet her wealthy parents at their big house in the country. But Rose hasn’t told them he’s black.

Director Jordan Peele had a surprise hit last year when he wrote and starred in kitty kidnap crime caper, Keanu. Get Out has so far scored for a cool £93 million at the box office. Hugely impressive for a film which cost a paltry £4 million.

Get out and go see it.

 

OPERATION AVALANCHE

Cert 15 Stars 3

This playful mockumentary plays on the conspiracy theory the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing was faked by NASA.

Posing as documentarians, two less than special FBI agents are sent to infiltrate NASA. They’re tasked to find Soviet spies, and clearly aren’t rocket scientists.

Instead they discover it’s impossible to return a man safely from the moon, and are roped into a politically expedient plot to fake the landing.

The commendably straight-faced actors take it all very seriously, and the photography captures the grainy feel of  1960s home movie.

Lacking any stars, this is an enjoyably knock-about enterprise.