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comedy

They Cloned Tyrone – Juel Taylor (2023)

Like “Dolomite Is My Name” (2019), this is (basically) a modern day “blaxploitation”. All actors are black, except an occasional bad guy (Kiefer Sutherland), the film plays in a black, American community, addressing the problems of that community (also being critical towards itself). The characters are stereotypical and there is a lot of humor.

A drugdealer, a prostitute and her employer investigate the death of the drug dealer. No, I did not make a typo there. The three run into a massive and shady conspiracy, created to keep the black community in check.

The film is not as funny as the info has it, but “They Cloned Tyrone” is an amusing ‘thriller comedy’.

Deadpool – Tim Miller (2016)

Because I knew neither character from the new Marvel blockbuster “Deadpool & Wolverine” I decided to watch the first “Deadpool”.

The movie is on the screwball side filled with boring (usually sex) jokes. It does not help that I am not particularly fond of Ryan Reynolds. A good point is that his girl is the beautiful Morena Baccarin whom we know from “Gotham“.

Deadpool is an antihero. He is an annoying murderer for hire, but when he gets cancer, he is transformed into a superhero. The side effects of the procedure turn this into a revenge movie though.

So we have an invincible, smart talking guy, going after the people who wrecked his life. Nothing very interesting or even enjoying.

The Fall Guy – David Leitch (2024)

When I saw the trailer, I thought (hoped) “The Fall Guy” would be a bit of a “Bullet Train“. Now I see both are from the same director.

“The Fall Guy” is more of an action romcom though, too romcom for my liking. The movie is an ode to the stunt people of Hollywood too. Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is the stunt double for Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), rapidly rising Hollywood star.

Seavers has a crush on Jody (Emily Blunt), formerly camera woman, nowadays director. This makes a large and not too interesting part of the story.

Ryder goes missing from the set and Seavers is sent out to find him, but Ryder does not want to be found and so you get a lot of action scenes and a descent ‘whodunnit’ story.

Not boring, but it seems to me that Leitch aimed for a larger and more general audience with his latest film.

Shaft – Tim Story (2019)

There are different movies with the same name. Some are with Samuel L. Jackson. They are not called 1, 2 or 3, so you have to tell them apart by year of launch and director.

In a way the main character in this version is the son of “Shaft”, Samuel L. Jackson. Shaft is a former police officer who became a private detective with a reputation. Junior’s highschool friend is found dead and when he wants to find out what happened, he turns to his estranged father.

Shaft mostly sees a white boy, spoiled by his mother. Also in his son’s request he sees an opportunity to right an old wrong. So the fast talking menace of the New York criminal milieu sets out on a mission.

Some action some humour, somewhat amusing.

Kingsman: Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn (2014)

I wanted to watch an action comedy with the intensity of “Bullet Train” or “The Hitman’s Bodyguard“. ” The Mexican” was amusing, but it does not have the amount of action that I was after. The first “Kingsman” does neither.

“Kingsman” is a bit of an adolescent 007. The Kingsmen is a private secret service, they have a vacancy and some youngsters are tested to see who fits. Samuel L. Jackson is a somewhat childish bad guy.

The film is not too great. There are a few funny scenes, but the target audience appears to be a wee bit younger than myself.

The Mexican – Gore Verbinski (2001)

  • comedy

Brad Pitt is amusing as goofy criminal for hire Jerry Welbach whose last assignments did not go as his boss had hoped. His last task will be to pick up an elaborate gun in Mexico, a country where Jerry had never been.

His girlfriend (Julia Roberts) is not amused and decides to visit Las Vegas without Jerry. Needless to say that in Mexico things do not go as planned. Jerry not only looses his contact, but also his rental car and the gun. There are more people after the gun and one group thinks it will help them if they kidnap Samantha (Roberts).

Mildly amusing dialogues, especially between Samantha and her kidnapper, mildly amusing situations. The story of the gun itself is woven through the rest of the film. The result is an alright comedy. I had hoped for a little more action though.

The Lost City – Aaron & Adam Nee (2022)

Sandra Bullock (1964) is Loretta Sage, an author of sensual adventure novels who actually wants to start to take things more slowly. She is talked into finishing her new novel. During the presentation of the boo, Sage is kidnapped and finds herself into one of her own stories.

“The Lost City” is a not-too-special India Jones type romantic comedy with an amusing Bullock and a great Brad Pitt who unfortunately has but a short part.

The Paragon – Michael Duignan (2023)

  • comedy

In a bit of a “Snatch” type comedy we follow Dutch, a somewhat questionable New Zealander who is hit by a car and left for dead. He survives and finds it his mission to catch the driver that hit him. He responds to an ad to learn how to become psychic, but of course, he did not really have to respond to that.

Dutch becomes an apprentice of Lyra who has all kinds of psychic tricks for him to learn, but Dutch is only interested in the finding of objects. When it turns out that Dutch is somewhat gifted, Lyra also has a task for him.

Somewhat screwball with witty dialogues and weird situations, the film goes from comedy drama to more of a fantasy thriller. The result is amusing, but not great.

The Mask – Chuck Russell (1994)

  • comedy

A while ago I was looking for movies that contain cartoon elements. “The Mask” was not the first one that came to mind, but somebody mentioned it. I could not find an easy way to watch it and I forgot about it until it popped up on Amazon Prime when I was looking for something else.

I am not sure if i saw the film before. I was never a bit Jim Carrey fan and comedy is not my usual genre. In any case, “The Mask” is fairly funny.

You probably know the story. The very boring bank employer Stanley Ipkiss (Carrey) finds a wooden mask that turns him into an overly hip green faced guy. Fast, unkillable and weird. In a good neo-noir story, we have a beautiful nightclubsinger in the form of Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz) who has a criminal boyfriend.

No surprises in the story and perhaps not even in the cartoon film ‘genre’ that was shortly popular in these days, but “The Mask” is -like I said- fairly funny. It did not change my opinion about rubber face Carry, so I am not planning on watching his other films that I might have missed as well.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 – James Gunn (2017)

The new troupe of heroes from ‘vol. 1‘ have become a team. The talking tree Groot has been replaced by a baby tree, but for the rest, the group remained the same. Even the villains partly did.

The movie is more to the comedy side of the Marvel franchise with silly jokes and screwball humour. The adventure this time involves the father of Peter Quill who may not have such great plans for the universe.

So there is some humour, some drama, some action, a not-too-interesting story. A bit of a filler in the Marvel franchise perhaps. Not even an addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe it seems.

Not boring, but nothing that needs to be high up on your watch list.