Humor


  • Pocket Review, Title Broadway Danny Rose, Studio MGM/UA, Rating 4.5,

     

    Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

    Director: Woody Allen

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    Broadway Danny Rose: A movie that never gets old

    The top of my Woody Allen movie list is reserved for Broadway Danny Rose'. The movie opens with a scene at the Carnegie Deli, with a bunch of (actual) Borscht Belt comedians swapping stories on a lazy afternoon, and one of them begins to tell Danny's story. Danny is a very small-time theatrical agent in New York City, kind of the Charlie Brown of agents, who never seems to get a break. He works his butt off for small-time acts: Balloon folders, waterglass musicians,one-legged tap-dancers, stuttering ventriloquists, and the like.

  •   -CC0 PD, .

    CC0 PD.

     

    Humor,  Observations

    Punctuated equilibrium

    American football combines two of the worst things in American life: It is violence punctuated by committee meetings. – George Will, occasionally lucid, occasionally witty. Re-quoted from Lexington, the Economist.

  • Pocket Review, Title The Incredibles, Studio Disney / Pixar Studios, Rating 5.0,

     

    The Incredibles (2004)

    Director: Brad Bird

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    The Incredibles: A movie that never gets old

    The best cartoons growing up were ones that were aimed at both kids and adults, like the Looney Tunes with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, or the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The Incredibles manages this multi-layered presence with masterful ease at feature length.

  • Pocket Review, Title Dumb And Dumber, Studio New Line Home Entertainment, Rating 3.5,

     

    Dumb And Dumber (1994)

    Director: Bobby Farrelly

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    Dumb and Dumber: A movie that never gets old

    This movie just makes me laugh. Usually, movies that feature juvenile humor begin to pale at some point, but Jim Carrey holds my attention as a completely oblivious, selfish idiot.

  • Movie Review, Title One, Two, Three, Studio MGM/UA, Rating 5.0,

     

    One, Two, Three (1961)

    Director: Billy Wilder

    Movie Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    One Two Three: A movie that never gets old

    This is a highly informed madcap comedy set in the heart of the Cold War, geographically and in time: Berlin of 1961, just before the Wall went up. Billy Wilder cranks up the pace from the beginning and leaves you out of breath at the end.

  • Pocket Review, Title The Jerk, Studio Universal Studios, Rating 4.0,

     

    The Jerk (1979)

    Director: Carl Reiner

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    The Jerk: A movie that never gets old

    The Jerk is a naïf, a not-quite-holy fool, who finds his life one astonishment after another. It is the most maniacal and subversive of Steve Martin and Carl Reiner's movies together. This film provides the perfect vehicle for Martin's comic style, which I have always enjoyed.

  •   -Frog, saved from Frog

    Attrib: saved from Frog's Recycled Jokebook Facebook page, Frog.

     

    Humor,  Observations

    Celebrating Frog – street jokester of Eugene

    What does a dyslexic, agnostic insomniac do at night? He lies awake contemplating the existence of doG.

    Years ago, my brother Craig and I were walking together on the way to somewhere in Eugene, Oregon, when a veritable gnome of a man approached us, towing a child's red wagon filled with what appeared to be hefty pamphlets. He introduced himself cheerfully as Frog, told us the joke above and offered to sell us one of his joke books that he carried in his red wagon.

  • Movie Review, Title Fargo, Studio MGM/UA, Rating 4.5,

     

    Fargo (1996)

    Director: Joel Coen

    Movie Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    Fargo: A movie that never gets old

    Fargo is an almost blissfully surreal take on what the world would be like if everyone had an IQ of 88, building a structure of nincompoopery around a more typical tale of desperate crime gone wrong. This movie could be the Coen brother's extended take on Woody Allen's joke about a village idiot's convention in Love and Death

  • Pocket Review, Title Auntie Mame, Studio Warner Bros., Rating 4.0,

     

    Auntie Mame (1958)

    Director: Morton DaCosta

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    Auntie Mame: A movie that never gets old

    Mame is a free-spirited woman who believes that 'Life is a banquet - and most poor suckers are starving to death.' She is given care of her nephew when her brother unexpectedly dies, and raises him in her very unconventional world, against the wishes of his legal guardian, an often perplexed conservative banker played with great comic style by Fred Clark . It is Rosalind Russell's best role.

  • Pocket Review, Title Moonstruck, Studio MGM/UA, Rating 5.0,

     

    Moonstruck (1987)

    Director: Norman Jewison

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    Moonstruck: A movie that never gets old

    This is the Godfather without the criminals, an affectionately detailed slice of love-deranged Brooklyn Italian family life. It is such a happy, funny movie. The operatic theme of unexpected love is done to perfection here.

  • Pocket Review, Title Nobody's Fool, Studio Paramount Pictures, Rating 4.5,

     

    Nobody's Fool (1994)

    Director: Robert Benton

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    Nobody’s Fool: A movie that never gets old

    This is a story of an aging small town man with deep flaws, played superbly by Paul Newman, one who abandoned his family and has lived from hand to mouth. Yet he has built a life caring for his friends.

  • Pocket Review, Title Arthur, Studio Warner Bros., Rating 4.5,

     

    Arthur (1981)

    Director: Steve Gordon

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    Arthur: A movie that never gets old

    When Arthur first came out, Dudley Moore's comic acting had already gotten my attention, but the premise seemed like it was built on a single joke, and I had no interest in seeing it. After some critical acclaim, I reluctantly joined the queue, and was amazed at what was conjured out of rich drunk guy jokes.

  • Humor,  Observations

    Macroeconomics, the rap version

    John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek rap out their macroeconomic differences in Fear the Boom and Bust. This parody is funny, but is also a 'simple' primer on the extremes of our current economic choices.

  •   -CC0 PD, .

    CC0 PD.

     

    Humor,  Observations,  Science

    "Superman violates the laws of physics!" (I will never live that down.)

    Many years ago, my wife and I viewed the Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, which featured a scene wherein Superman sees Lois Lane being crushed in an earthquake, and so he flies around the earth faster than the speed of light so that he can go back in time and rescue Lois just before she is crushed.

    My immediate response to this was "That couldn't happen; nothing can move faster than the speed of light." My wife's response was to start giggling without pause.

  • Book review, Title Sh*t My Dad Says, Author Justin Halpern, Rating 3.5,

    Sh*t My Dad Says

    Justin Halpern

    Book review

    Humor,  Reviews

    Candid, loving portrait of Dad

    Pungent humor is the outward appeal of this loving and candid portrait of Dad; that it is often poignant and contains a surprising amount of insight is the hidden delight.