comedy
‘Frankie Freako’ Review – Throwback Creature Feature Is Pretty Good Pizza
Writer/director Steven Kostanski is doubling down on more of the humor that made Psycho Goreman an outlier for horror comedies within the past few years. This time around it comes in a pint-sized form (give or take a few ounces). Frankie Freako is, largely, a puppet-centric original creature feature that lifts from various Gremlins-adjacent cinematic riffs like a spoiled grade-schooler would when trick-or-treating, regardless of a babysitter’s presence. You could say that Frankie Freako meets ex...
Dream Team
Minh T Mia as Dr. Veronica Beef in Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn's DREAM TEAM. Photo by Whitney Horn. Courtesy of Yellow Veil Pictures. Writers and directors Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn have carved out a specific cavern of cinema out for themselves. It’s completely autonomous of the conventions filmic “aesthetics” populate within A24-like fuzzy film filters although it may look just like one. The difference is Dream Team’s attitude, which is something admirably peculiar and offers something wholehea...
‘Rats!’ Review – Welcome To The Weird World Of 2007
It’s hard to describe what it was really like to be going through adolescence during the first decade of the 2000s. A multitude of cultural journeys in America intricately overlapped during a time that felt simple to those of us too young to parse the reality of the USA’s foretold doom. And to help tell the story of one mixed-up individual deep in issues they understand more than the average adult, we’re thrown into Rats! as Raphael (Luke Wilcox) is forced to work with the police against a famil...
“Pop” Culture Horror — The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
A feature-length, fully animated Looney Tunes movie seems like something we would have gotten a lot more of in this world. But this is the first and only original film in the history of the studio. Though there is a certain apprehension towards how different Looney Tunes feels nowadays, seeing Porky Pig and Daffy Duck’s buddy slapstick adventure unfold returns us to what has made the Warner Bros. animation powerhouse so special. Director Peter Browngardt guides his beloved odd couple duo into ne...
‘Endless Cookie’ Review – Boundless Delights And The Eternal Story
Chaos, Coyotes & Palm Trees
John Mulaney’s pop-up Netflix show Everybody’s In L.A. is my absolute new favorite thing. If you’re not watching, you’re missing out on something special.
The Barenaked Truth
When an artist brings up cancel culture, it’s usually because they’re super-edgy or deeply political. So why are the Barenaked Ladies doing it?
Looking For Reasons To Laugh
Why “canned laughter,” a controversial element of most television comedy, feels so unnerving in its absence—and why it’s so fascinating in the first place.
Eat Them Up, Yum!
How Barnes & Barnes’ oddball hit “Fish Heads,” complete with music video directed by Bill Paxton (really), became an unlikely breakout star of novelty music.
What if Tedium … Had Lyrics?
A conversation with video game music icon Brent Black (aka Brentalfloss) about his music, thoughts on YouTube, and using your words.
Let’s Be Frank
The story of Frank Sidebottom, a character with a giant head who obsessed over both pop music and his hometown of Timperley.