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1 week ago | 
punchdrunkcritics.com | Cortland Jacoby
Bride Hard wants to be a Paul Feig movie so bad. Known for his female-led comedies in the late 2000s and 2010s, Feig is known for his acute ability to combine humor, pathos, and action to move the story along in memorable and hilarious ways. The essence of his best, such as The Heat, Spy, and of course Bridesmaids, make up the DNA of Bride Hard without any of the tact and care that those films are known for.
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1 week ago | 
punchdrunkcritics.com | Cortland Jacoby
Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells worked together for years on the Netflix hit cartoon Big Mouth. If you believed the show, known for descriptive and creative depictions of sex, lacked a bloody slasher element, their latest film may be for you. I Don’t Understand You is a violent, dark comedy that keeps you guessing on which twisted direction writers and directors David Joseph Craig and Brian Crano will go next.
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1 month ago | 
punchdrunkcritics.com | Cortland Jacoby
Jane Austen fans have long joked that the infamous British author has ruined men for them. Most males lack the wit and romantic tendencies of Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wentworth, or Colonel Brandon. This concept is loosely explored in Laura Piani’s French and English production Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.
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1 month ago | 
awfj.org | Cortland Jacoby
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With online gambling normalized across North America now, it was only a matter of time before its effects on family dynamics were explored in cinematic melodrama. Filmmaker Gillian McKercher uses her second feature to explore what is really lost when you give up the poker table and what you risk going back to it. Longtime character actor Terry Chen sets the tone as Lucky Lee, a family man and recovering gambler.
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1 month ago | 
awfj.org | Cortland Jacoby
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Misfits. Assemble. After multiple movies and projects where they were supporting characters, Marvel has finally brought its most dysfunctional antiheroes together in Thunderbolts*. They’re here to kick butt and take names – or at least try to.
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1 month ago | 
punchdrunkcritics.com | Cortland Jacoby
In Amalia Ulman’s surrealist satire, Magic Farm, a group of self-absorbed independent music journalists fly down to Argentina on a whim to uncover the latest music craze. When they can’t find their contact, they decide to fabricate their story, oblivious to the small town’s real problems. I sat down with Magic Farm filmmaker and star Amalia Ulman, along with cast members Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff and Joe Apollonio to talk about what drew them to the project and how they see their characters.
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1 month ago | 
punchdrunkcritics.com | Cortland Jacoby
Practical effects are on display in director Isaiah Saxon’s feature debut, The Legend of Ochi. Channeling an ‘80s style of filmmaking with puppets and models, the first-time director shows us the darker side of animal and human friendships and an even nastier side of broken families. Young Yuri (Helena Zengal) lives on a fictional primitive Balkan island with her father, Maxim (William Dafoe), and adopted brother, Petro (Finn Wolfhard).
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2 months ago | 
punchdrunkcritics.com | Cortland Jacoby
In 1993, Ang Lee released his second film, The Wedding Banquet. It followed a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant who, while in a relationship with a white gay man, placates his parents by marrying a Chinese woman to help her get a green card. Of course, his plan of hiding his sexuality goes awry especially when a pregnancy enters the picture.
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2 months ago | 
punchdrunkcritics.com | Cortland Jacoby
Working with anyone on a movie set is hard, but for director Roshan Sethi, collaborating with his partner, actor Karan Soni (we spoke to both previously for 7 Days), on A Nice Indian Boy wasn’t as hard as you might think. “We had almost no conflict while making this, which people never believe,” he told me about filming their new romcom. “The only things that always come up for me are that I am so attuned to Karan’s emotions that sometimes I forget he’s just acting, and that really throws me.
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2 months ago | 
punchdrunkcritics.com | Cortland Jacoby
On paper, G20 looks like your White House Downs, your Olympus Has Fallens. The new Amazon Prime Video blockbuster centers on a plot targeting the American president at an international conference. There’s plenty of explosions, intrigue, and drama to go around. G20 should feel dated or derivative, but with Viola Davis at the helm, the film is a fresh take on the political-action popcorn flick.
