Shane Black might not have invented the R-Rated Buddy Comedy, but he definitely perfected it, being the brainchild behind Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight and his own directorial debut, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. After a brief stint in the Marvel Machine, Black is back to what he does best with The Nice Guys, a film as seedy, profane and hilarious as its lead characters and – from the way the box office is looking – a firm contender for Most Under-appreciated Film of 2016.
by Kevin Muller
Parody is truly an art form. Mel Brooks, who did “Space Balls”, “History of the World: part 1,” and many others are that deemed classic, and David Zucker, who directed the hilarious “The Naked Gun” series, were masters of making the silly seem easy. Though it may appear that way, it is anything but simple. When it doesn’t work, it just fails horribly and isn’t even in the slightest bit funny or have any redeeming qualities. Over the last ten years, many parodies have been released and have been forgotten. Those specific movies fail to hit the balance correctly and just come off as plain idiotic, but not in a good way. How does the musical comedy group ‘The Lonely Island” do in this genre?
JUNE 12th EPISODE
Episode #58 (season 6, episode 8): “No One”
Debut: SUNDAY, JUNE 12 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
Other HBO playdates: June 12 (11:35 p.m., 2:00 a.m.), 13 (12:30 a.m.), 14 (9:00 p.m., 1:50 a.m.), 16 (11:00 p.m.), 17 (9:00 p.m.), 18 (12:10 a.m.) and 24 (8:00 p.m.) HBO2 playdates: June 13 (8:30 p.m.), 17 (1:00 a.m.), 18 (4:00 p.m.), 19 (8:00 p.m.) and 26 (7:00 p.m.)
While Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) weighs his options, Cersei (Lena Headey) answers a request. Tyrion’s (Peter Dinklage) plans bear fruit. Arya (Maisie Williams) faces a new test.
Written by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss; directed by Mark Mylod.
by Kevin Muller
You have to hand it to the “X-men” franchise. Not only is it still going strong, 16 years after the first film, but it was the jumping point for many of the comic book blockbusters we all admire today. Christopher Nolan, who directed ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy”, has stated that he was influenced by the way Bryan Singer, this film’s director, and the director of the 2000 original film, grounded everything from the look to the themes into reality. Singer followed it up with the equally worthy “X2” before departing and giving the reigns to Brett Ratner. The general consensus of Ratner’s film was that it was garbage so when Singer was announced to come back and helm 2014’s “X-men: Days of Future Past,” fans rejoiced. That film was a triumph both with fans and financially. The amazing thing that Singer achieved was erasing everything that happened in Ratner’s film and his own, to create a new time line through the element of time travel. This now gives him the ability to recast the roles that were made famous by other actors without anyone batting an eye.
HBO will mark the 15th anniversary of the debut of SIX FEET UNDER with a marathon of the entire run of the hit drama series on HBO2, presenting all 63 episodes back-to-back starting tomorrow, Thursday, June 2 at 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT), and concluding Sunday, June 5 at 12:20 p.m.
by Kevin Muller
Joss Whedon, the geek savior of television and movies, hit it big with 2012’s ‘The Avengers.” It was a buildup of not only the super heroes, but the promise of what everyone was waiting for, a team movie that would fulfill so many dreams of the loyal fans of these characters. Whedon hit it out of the park giving us great acting and snappy dialogue to make the movie a massive success both critically and financially. We all anticipated the phase 2 Avengers movie that we had to wait three years to drop. Fast forward three years and three solo films later, and you would’ve thought that Whedon created a cinematic abortion with “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
