ruben ostlund – The Comedy Bureau

TCB Debriefing 5/11-5/18: Spaghetti Fest, Nikki Glaser, Conan O’Brien Must Go, Hulu, Ramy Youssef/Will Ferrell, Only Murders in the Building, Blair Socci, Seth Meyers, Happy Gilmore, Entertainment System Is Down, Rick & Morty: The Anime

May 18, 2024

blair socci, conan o'brien must go, happy gilmore, hulu, molly gordon, nikki glaser, only murders in the building, ramy youssef, rick and morty, ruben ostlund, seth meyers, spaghetti fest, will ferrell

1. The Elysian is getting ready for the 3rd edition of its never-before-seen-genre/definition-defying comedy festival, Spaghetti Fest, where they look to present completely original, brand new productions that pretty much swing for the fences with whatever their intended goal is. Submissions are open, but are due Jun. 15th for the fest set for this November. Get more details/submit here.

2. Nikki Glaser dazzled the world of Netflix with her set on The Roast of Tom Brady (and blew everyone out of the water; no one even came close to her set). Her brand spankin’ new hour special, Someday You’ll Die is a further display of Nikki still ascending in her comedy powers. She never fails to put on a clinic with stand-up in regards to word economy, diction, delivery, stage presence, and the always tricky part of verisimilitude in one’s performance, but also, sneakily, goes on a journey of comedically exploring the inevitability of death from her vantage point. It’s material that should come off darker, but Glaser’s joke writing and telling are simply that death comes off a much more light topic. Nikki Glaser: Someday You’ll Die is now streaming on Max.

3. Max finally made a smart decision regarding a TV show and renewed Conan O’Brien Must Go for a second season. Fingers crossed that O’Brien can not only travel to way more places for this second season, but will also get Werner Herzog for another brilliant, scorching intro.

4. We were wondering when Hulu was going to get into the comedy specials game with Netflix, Max, and Amazon already firmly planted in it. Looks like that time is now and they’re leading off with a sure bet in Jim Gaffigan (Variety).

5. Coming off the heat from Ramy Youssef in Poor Things, Josh Rabinowitz co-writing Babes, and Will Ferrell being Will Ferrell, the idea of a golf comedy with all these folks is pretty enticing (Variety).

6. Thank goodness that Only Murders in the Building is back for a fourth season and keeping Steve Martin in comedy and Martin Short on screen regularly as it should be. Take a gander at season 4, due out on Aug. 27th on Hulu, with the teaser here.

7. Both figuratively and literally, Blair Socci is one of the most unique and entertaining voices in stand-up comedy right now. See this notion in action with her Don’t Tell Comedy set here.

8. Seth Meyers and his revolutionary casual look as host of Late Night will keep on keepin’ on through 2028 as Meyers just renewed his NBCU deal this past week (Variety).

9. Many millennials are probably getting a sequel that they’ve wanted for a long, long time with Netflix greenlighting a sequel to one of Adam Sandler’s classics, Happy Gilmore (Deadline).

10. Molly Gordon is sitting back at the director’s chair for a new project, Small Parts, after pretty much nothing but love (and well deserved) for Theater Camp last year. Carmy really f’d up, didn’t he? (Deadline).

11. Ruben Östlund, the amazing comedy auteur behind Force Majeure and The Square and Triangle of Sadness, will have Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, and Daniel Brühl for his latest pic, the wonderfully titled, The Entertainment System of Down. That will have made Östlund taken down masculinity, the art world, rich/beautiful people, and, thankfully, “the biz”.

12. Rick and Morty is officially a cinematic universe unto itself with this first look at Rick and Morty: The Anime, due out to Adult Swim and Max later this year.

13. We’ll leave you with this: Timing standing ovations should be outlawed.

Pick of the Day: Set Sail with Ruben Östlund: An American Cinematheque Retrospective (in LA) 1/8

December 21, 2022

News

american cinematheque, force majeure, los angeles comedy, los feliz, ruben ostlund, the square, triangle of sadness

We’ve sung the praises of internationally renowned auteur Ruben Östlund plenty of times here at The Comedy Bureau. He is one a handful of directors that really extoll high artistry in the realm of comedy on film. The trio of works, Force Majeure, The Square, and Östlund’s latest, Triangle of Sadness simultaneously are some of the funniest movies we’ve seen on this side of the millennium and profoundly moving and prodding works of cultural dissection.

Of course, it just stands to reason that Ruben ought to get his own retrospective at American Cinematheque. On Sun. Jan. 8th, The Los Feliz 3 will host such a thing with Ruben Östlund himself, in person, introducing each screening. A run of four films will include Luis Buñuel’s Viridiana at 1PM, then The Square at 3:15PM, an American Cinematheque members only screening of Triangle of Sadness (w/Q&A featuring Dolly de Leon and Bill Hader) at 6:30PM, and Force Majeure at 10PM.

Tickets for non-members are $15 per screening, but it all seems worth it in our opinion (fingers crossed that you’ve finished all your holiday shopping already).

Go get tickets for Set Sail with Ruben Östlund: An American Cinematheque Retrospective here

Ruben Östlund Will Likely Cement Himself as One of Comedy’s Premier Auteurs with Triangle of Sadness

August 9, 2022

News

ruben ostlund, trailer, triangle of sadness

Between Force Majeure and The Square, Sweden’s Ruben Östlund has already put himself in the upper echelons of comedy filmmaking, certainly a far cry from most comedies that come through your local multiplex. In fact, those are such high art/arthouse comedies that they don’t seem like they’re in a category all their own along with a handful of films from Wes Anderson, Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Favourite), and Armando Iannucci (Death of Stalin).

Östlund’s latest offering, Triangle of Sadness, which nabbed the Cannes Film Festival’s highest honor, the Palme D’or, looks like it will be yet another benchmark setting comedy that’s so searing in its pin-prickly nuances about privilege and the blindest of blindspots for people that are the most out of touch. The trailer finally made its way online and Östlund set his sights for his ornate satire towards the 1% and the ultra-beautiful as opposed to toxic masculinity or the modern art world and it might be his boldest, most cutting work yet.

With that in mind, Östlund’s name should be far more renowned, especially when, Downhill, an English language remake of Force Majeure bombed in nearly every way and is one of the few voices in cinema that the Academy will have in the running during awards season.

See all of this for yourself in the first “delicious” official trailer of Triangle of Sadness, then get ready to buy tickets for wherever it’s playing on Oct. 7th.

Also, round of applause for the best movie poster in probably the last decade.

Satirical Auteur Ruben Östlund’s Latest “Triangle of Sadness” Finally Wraps Shooting

November 17, 2020

News

ruben ostlund, triangle of sadness

(via Deadline)

As you well know by know, all film and TV production around the world was severely disrupted by COVID-19. In fact, it still is very much disrupted as crew members keep testing positive in certain productions and other productions find that they are not taking enough precautions and transmission of the virus continues.

However, there are and will continue to be some success stories. One of those is Ruben Östlund’s latest work, Triangle of Sadness, which ending up going on a nine month long shoot with several delays, when principal photography had been slated for maybe three or four months.

Östlund is the mind behind some of the most adept, sharply observed, hysterical satirical comedies within the last decade. Both Force Majeure and The Square, which won the much coveted Palme D’Or at Cannes, will both stand as master works for shrewdly sending up both masculinity and the overly self-important world of high art. As such, his next film would be highly anticipated by us and anyone else looking for high brow comedies of the sort that actually get into awards consideration.

Triangle of Sadness will be Östlund’s dissection of the fashion industry and class hierarchy by following the sinking of a yacht that leaves models, billionaires, and a cleaning lady on a deserted island to fend for themselves. We’re very excited to see what Ruben has worked up, not only through the pandemic, but with what we’re sure will be searing commentary on the fashion industry

There is no release date yet, but let’s hope for Triangle of Sadness to hopefully hit some sort of screen in 2021.

January 3, 2018

Uncategorized

claes bang, dominic west, elisabeth moss, free screening, los angeles, ruben ostlund, terry notary, the square

The Square was one of our favorites from 2017 and there’s a free screening of it tomorrow at USC. RSVP here.

The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.

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

October 30, 2017

Uncategorized

cannes film festival, magnolia pictures, ruben ostlund, the square

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 Ruben Östlund’s The Square Shows Chaos Run Amok in the Contemporary Art World

September 6, 2017

Uncategorized

claes bang, dominic west, elisabeth moss, ruben ostlund, the square, trailer

Swedish director Ruben Östlund is one of the rare modern day auteurs that deals often in comedy. 2014′s Force Majeure made Östlund’s presence known as someone who can make a high art comedy film that isn’t covered in pretension.

Östlund’s latest, The Square, nabbed one of cinema’s most revered prizes, The Cannes Palme d’Or, which isn’t an award that ever really goes to any sort of comedic work. Even more impressive, he seems to have made a truly international movie with stars from all over the globe (Claes Bang from Denmark, Dominic West from UK, Elisabeth Moss from the US) without having it seemed forced.

On top of all of that, The Square appears to be a devilishly calculated, comedic dressing down of the art world and the people who run it.

See all of this for yourself in the trailer here.

The Square starts its theatrical release on October 27th.

You Probably Won’t See a More Dryly Funny Movie Involving an Avalanche Than “Force Majeure”

November 29, 2014

Uncategorized

dramedy, force majeure, french alps, ruben ostlund, sweden

Really, the avalanche is tangential to what’s so funny about Swedish dramedy, “Force Majeure” from Ruben Östlund. A Swedish family of four goes to the French Alps on vacation and goes through briefly traumatic experience, but then goes on to deal with something more profound in how misinformed their traditional gender and family roles are.

If you’re into seeing what appears to be a happily married couple with two kids subversively, but hysterically question why they’re with each other, Force Majeure is the movie for you.

Catch it in the handful of theaters that it’s still playing it in LA.