Safety Last!: while this film has just a sliver of a plot, what matters the most is that the character played by Harold Lloyd is both engaging and relatable; a common man with some of the physical prowess of Buster Keaton and the mischief of Charlie Chaplin, but somehow still quite unique. Nevertheless, the set piece at the center of this film is what makes this iconic; extremely well-done (shot and edited beautifully), taking turns being hilarious and thrilling (quite often, […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: comedy

Chef: while the main storyline is cute (and simple) enough, it is the sweet father-son relationship that is told in parallel that raises this film above the usual for this genre. The nice cast cruises along, without much to do, but Jon Favreau is a nice presence and Robert Downey Jr. almost steals the movie in his scene. Visually, it’s crisp and clean; the highlights are the cooking scenes, which are attractive and hunger-inducing, but almost excessive. Also deserving some mention […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: comedy

The Grand Budapest Hotel: despite its peculiar brand of humor, emotional detachment and gallery of weird characters, the intricate story told by this film touches the right (mostly sorrowful) notes. Anchored by a convincing performance by Ralph Fiennes, the whole (enormous) cast is all a pleasure to watch. Visually, as one can expect in anything by Wes Anderson, this is a great example of precise and stylized (but not overly precious) filmmaking; the same can be said about Alexandre Desplat’s score. […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: comedy