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Besides very likely having the best title of any movie this year, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn might give Pam & Tommy a run for its money when it comes to comedies about a private sex tape finding its way online.

Radu Jude’s latest follows a teacher whose sex tape leaks online and then has to confront a community about it to see whether they will let her keep her job or not. Though not nearly as high profile a story as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape and the scandal that followed (and hailing all the way from Romania), Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn does seem to promise a very fun discussion on voyeurism and obscenity and what looks to be one of the funniest scenes in a movie (as the teacher has to sit and watch teachers and parents watch her sex tape in front of her).

Get a taste of what’s to come yourself with the trailer for Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn here, then look for it in limited release in the U.S. staring Fri. Nov. 19th.

“Love, Gilda” Documentary Affectionately Shows How Gilda Radner Had That Magical ‘It’ Quality, On and Off Stage

September 19, 2018

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As mentioned in the headline, Gilda Radner, one of the first breakout stars of Saturday Night Live, undeniably had “it”.

For several decades now, an oft-remarked quality brought up in evaluating talent in Hollywood is the vaguely defined (perhaps intentionally so) notion of having “it”. “It” could be understood as an undeniable magnetism and charm that emanates from a person and their mere presence on stage and screen, but the biz powers that be like keeping such a thing shrouded in a bit of mystery.

The documentary Love, Gilda, directed by Lisa D’Apolito, showcases, via clips of her several TV performances and appearances, home video, and diary entries (lovingly read by modern day SNL alums including Amy Poehler, Cecily Strong, Maya Rudolph, and Bill Hader), just how much Gilda shone wherever she was no matter what she was going through. Even in a long, hard fought battle with cancer, you can see that Gilda’s spirit couldn’t be tamped down as she was one of the very first comedians to publicly joke about having cancer on TV.

For many, Love, Gilda might be a beautiful tear jerker portrait that will also have you laughing because, again, Gilda just had “it”.

Love, Gilda is set to hit select theaters this Friday, September 21st. See where it’s playing and get your tickets here.

Go Watch Andrew Bujalski’s Latest Film “Support the Girls”

August 24, 2018

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At first glance, it might seem like Andrew Bujalski is making a hard pivot from his previous abstract comedy Computer Chess by doing a comedy following the lives of the women who work at a Hooters-like sports bar. Support The Girls certainly is indeed not a mysterious comedy following teams and their computers playing other computers in chess, but Bujalski’s mischievous, off-beat sensibilities are still present here.

In fact, the way that Regina Hall’s Lisa has her life as the general manager of Double Whammies unravel over the course of a day seems almost akin to a comedic reimagining of 2013′s Locke than just a standard comedy about finding family wherever you can and staying together when you find it.

Also, it definitely should be noted that Regina Hall, Haley Lu Richardson, and Shayna McHayle’s performances offer so much heart that you can’t help but think of the virtues of the movie’s title throughout. Such a film is especially timely in this era of #MeToo, but it has so much humanity that we would like to think that it would have been timely well before now.

In any case, you should go see Support The Girls as it’s now playing in theaters. Get showtimes here.

Gilda Radner Documentary “Love, Gilda” Will Feature Gilda Audiotapes, Home Movies, and Diaries

July 26, 2018

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After docs on Garry Shandling and Robin Williams, the latest documentary that will dive deep into the life of a comedian that brought joy to so many will be Love, Gilda (directed Lisa D’Apolito) following the one and only Gilda Radner.

There will be, of course, plenty of talking head interviews (that include Lorne Michaels, Martin Short, and more) as well as a collection of various media from Gilda’s personal life showcasing her rise to one of SNL’s first legitimate stars. An intriguing part of the doc will be Radner’s words from her diaries being read from the likes of Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Cecily Strong.

See for yourself in the trailer here, then look for Love, Gilda in theaters starting Friday, September 21st.

“Under The Tree” Serves Up a Great Dark Comedy, Icelandic Style (Extra Dark, That Is)

July 5, 2018

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We got a sense from the Icelandic History episode of The Dollop that folks from Iceland have a deliciously bleak sense of humor akin to The Coen Brothers.

Iceland’s latest comedy export, the film Under The Tree, relishes in this sort of dark comedy that’s so dark and dry, it’s hilarious how dark, dry, and schadenfreude-laden it is. A very muted color palate only amplifies the effect.

A neighborly dispute over trimming a tree goes horribly, horribly (and we really want to stress the word “horribly” here) awry. Yet, the leads are all kind of despicable in their own way making it fun, albeit in a somewhat sinister way, to watch them destroy each other (in the same fashion you root for no one to win in an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia).

Under The Tree, directed by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson and co-written by Hafsteinn and Huldar Breiðfjörð, opens in limited release this Friday, July 6th and, as such, will be playing in LA. Get your tickets here.

Trailer for “Support The Girls” Offers Up Timely Indie Workplace Comedy for 2018

June 26, 2018

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From Computer Chess alone, we’ve become Andrew Bujalski fans and, subsequently, were really excited to see what he came up with next.

The trailer for his latest, Support the Girls, delivers in getting us hyped for another Bujalski off-beat comedy. Though, rather than a weird look into the early days of chess playing computers, we’re going into the inner workings of a Hooters-esque bar with what seems to be a shining lead in Regina Hall.

Perhaps, this will be a sweeter version of Party Down set in a sports bar and will be a timely story in the era of #MeToo and #TimesUp.

See for yourself in this trailer.

If your interest is hooked like ours is, then look for Support The Girls in theaters starting August 24th.

Trailer for “Damsel” Hints at an Off-Kilter Western Romantic Comedy

May 22, 2018

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Well, The Zellner Brothers (David and Nathan), the minds behind the wondrous Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, have their next genre bending offering, Damsel, on deck.

From the trailer, the look and feel of a Western movie gets subverted by the almost quixotic journey of a young man played by Robert Pattinson to marry the love of his life played by Mia Wasikowska, despite her feelings to the contrary.

Oh yeah, the adorable tiny horse is almost some frosting of magical realism added to the whole ordeal. In short, we’re sold on going to seeing it as soon as we can.

See for yourself in said trailer, then look for Damsel in theaters on June 22nd.

Gilda Radner Documentary ‘Love, Gilda’ Will Get Theatrical Release

May 9, 2018

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Gilda Radner Documentary ‘Love, Gilda’ Will Get Theatrical Release

The documentary about the life of legendary comedian and SNL star Gilda Radner will make a run in theaters later this year thanks to Magnolia Pictures.

Director Lisa D’Apolito used rare personal recordings and journal entries to tell Radner’s story in her own voice. Interviewees includes Michael Radner and SNL alumni Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Alan Zweibel, Laraine Newman and Martin Short. Radner’s writings are read by the likes of Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Cecily Strong and Bill Hader.

As a great doc about Garry Shandling came out earlier this year, uplifting docs about celebrated late comedians might just be a trend for the rest of 2018.

Please Go Watch “The Square” and Enjoy a Spectacular Takedown of Modern Art Pretension

October 30, 2017

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Swedish writer/director Ruben Östlund seems to enjoy thematically subverting outdated notions of privilege in his films and we love him for it.

In Force Majeure, masculinity got a great send-up. In his latest film, The Square, the often pretentious modern and contemporary art world teeming with so much self-importance that it forgets about what it’s trying to say gets a similar treatment from Östlund.

Even though it’s a laugh-out loud satire that often follows Murphy’s Law, The Square landed the coveted Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Comedy isn’t often honored at such high levels of merit in the film world, but Östlund earns it with making this movie as exquisite in its mise-en-scene as it is unflinching in its indictment of high class snobbery stemming from the very insular art world with pitch perfect performances from Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and the guy playing the artist playing the primate, Terry Notary.

We highly urge you to see it as its currently in limited release and will be expanding to more theaters in the coming weeks. Find a showtime, release date for a theater near you here.

Trailer for Janicza Bravo and Brett Gelman’s Lemon Hints at a Dark, Offbeat Comedy Gem

July 10, 2017

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If you’ve been missing Brett Gelman since he left Adult Swim, fret not.

He and Janicza Bravo have created Lemon, a dark indie comedy that dazzled while playing the film festival circuit, and will be coming to the rest of us next month.

The trailer itself is pretty satisfying with enticing appearances by Megan Mullally, Judy Greer, Michael Cera, Nia Long, Gillian Jacobs, and Fred Melamed to name a few.

See for yourself here.

Look for Lemon in theaters, On Demand, on Amazon Video and iTunes on Friday, August 18th.

Trailer for “Person to Person” Promises a Charming Ensemble NYC Comedy

June 27, 2017

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Dustin Guy Defa took a short film called “Person to Person” and got to expand it into a full fledged feature with an impressive cast of Abbi Jacobson, Michael Cera, Tavi Gevinson, and Philip Baker Hall as well as original cast member, Bene Coopersmith.

The trailer echoes a sort of ensemble comedy from yesteryear while bringing some of the self-awareness and cleverness of contemporary indie comedies.

As to whether that’ll carry through the whole movie, we’ll all get to see the feature length version of Person to Person hits theaters and VOD on July 28th.

Comedies From 2015 Sundance That You Might Have a Chance To See in Theaters

This year’s Sundance Film Festival has distributors combing through the big bills in their wallets for comedy/dramedy.

Even though, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl ended up not setting a buy record at the festival, it still carried a decently sized price tag in the mid 7 figure range.

Other films that might potentially rule the specialty box office and beyond this year include:

–Kevin Pollak’s documentary Misery Loves Comedy acquired by Tribeca Film.

–The D Train with Jack Black, James Marsden, Kathryn Hahn, Jeffrey Tambor, Mike White, and Kyle Bornheimer bought up by IFC Films for $3 million.

-The world rights for Results from Andrew Bujalski, the man who brought Computer Chess into the world, acquired by Magnolia Pictures.

–The North American rights to Don Verdean with Sam Rockwell, Danny McBride, Leslie Bibb, Jemaine Clement, Will Forte, and Amy Ryan from Jared Hess acquired by Lionsgate.

–The U.S. rights to The Bronze starring and co-written by Melissa Rauch acquired by Relativity for $3 million.

–The Overnight produced by The Duplass Brothers and Adam & Naomi Scott’s Gettin’ Rad bought up by The Orchard for $4 million.

–The world rights to Tangerine, also produced by The Duplass Brothers, acquired by Magnolia Pictures.

–Dope with Zoe Kravitz, the voice of Forest Whitaker, Blake Anderson, and more bought up by Open Road Films and Sony Pictures for $7 million.

–Mistress America from Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig bought up by Fox Searchlight for $6.5 million before it even played at the festival.

It’s inevitable that we’ll all be obsessing over their trailers in the coming months.

Richard Ayoade’s ‘The Double’ to Get Theatrical Release

October 16, 2013

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Richard Ayoade’s ‘The Double’ to Get Theatrical Release

The darkly comedic The Double from Richard Ayoade starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska just got acquired by Magnolia Pictures and is set to be released in theaters sometime next year.

If you’re not familiar, here’s the trailer and then get excited for it coming in 2014.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa Possibly Coming Stateside Next Year

August 20, 2013

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Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa Possibly Coming Stateside Next Year

Magnolia Pictures has just acquired Steve Coogan vehicle “Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa” (and we hope that you’re familiar with Steve Coogan and/or his radio DJ character Alan Partridge; if not, fix that now please). Not to mention that Veep’s own Armando Ianucci as well as Coogan are writers on the movie, you should get all excited for a potential 2014 release.

Here’s the trailer for Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa by the way if you haven’t seen it yet.

Please Enjoy a Trailer for the Best Named Movie of 2021, “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”

“Love, Gilda” Documentary Affectionately Shows How Gilda Radner Had That Magical ‘It’ Quality, On and Off Stage

Go Watch Andrew Bujalski’s Latest Film “Support the Girls”

Gilda Radner Documentary “Love, Gilda” Will Feature Gilda Audiotapes, Home Movies, and Diaries

“Under The Tree” Serves Up a Great Dark Comedy, Icelandic Style (Extra Dark, That Is)

Trailer for “Support The Girls” Offers Up Timely Indie Workplace Comedy for 2018

Trailer for “Damsel” Hints at an Off-Kilter Western Romantic Comedy

Gilda Radner Documentary ‘Love, Gilda’ Will Get Theatrical Release

Please Go Watch “The Square” and Enjoy a Spectacular Takedown of Modern Art Pretension

Trailer for Janicza Bravo and Brett Gelman’s Lemon Hints at a Dark, Offbeat Comedy Gem

Look for Lemon in theaters, On Demand, on Amazon Video and iTunes on Friday, August 18th.

Trailer for “Person to Person” Promises a Charming Ensemble NYC Comedy

Comedies From 2015 Sundance That You Might Have a Chance To See in Theaters

Richard Ayoade’s ‘The Double’ to Get Theatrical Release

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa Possibly Coming Stateside Next Year