Shattering the Celluloid Ceiling
To celebrate the last decade 2010-2019 we are counting down the best actresses and discussing some of their most notable and memorable performances of the last decade. With the help of Film Twitter, the ITOL team have selected 30 actresses. Entry No. 24 is Melissa McCarthy, and guest writer Billie Melissa discusses McCarthy's career over the last decade
January 20th, 2020 is a date that will go down in infamy as the end of one the greatest eras in modern television : the brief but powerful reign of "Bojack Horseman", star of screen and book. Five and a half moving, funny, poignant, brilliant seasons have left little doubt that Raphael Bob Waksberg and friends will knock the final six episodes out of the park but there are many questions left about how our dubious hero will say his final goodbyes. Besides "The Office" ( the soundtrack of my life) there are few shows I have examined as carefully or studied as intensely as "Bojack Horseman". It is the only show I’ve ever loved enough to consider a fan tattoo. My careful examination of a show that rewards careful examination has revealed the following : Bojack Horseman’s (Will Arnett) life is in danger.
Staring Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, Olivia Wilde's comedic coming-of-age film "Booksmart" follows two overachievers who attempt to cram years of high school fun into one night. Yet, their friendship will be tested when they are confronted with the changes and obstacles that come with graduation and growing up. One of the main messages of this film revolves around the importance of experience and breaking out of your comfort zone. Best buds, Molly and Amy both seem to have wasted the fun times of high school by relentlessly studying so they decide to turn the night before graduation into the ultimate high school experience.
Written, directed, and edited by Amy Taylor, this mockumentary takes aim at hubris, toxic masculinity, and violence.
“Hunter’s Weekend” (2018) follows two park rangers as they prepare for their annual hunter’s weekend. Lyle (Benjamin Geunther) and Victor (Christopher J. Young) are prepared for what they hope is another great experience when one of the selected hunters is found dead. “We have really strict rules about hunting other competitors.”
Why would they have such strict rules? Oh, because everyone who is there to hunt hunts, actual people, like Richard Connell’s short story, The Most Dangerous Games, or the grounded Universal film, “The Hunt.” On top of that, the hunters are not just normal hunters but actual serial killers. With the death of the participant, Lyle and Victor go on the hunt (pun intended) for the killer.
In a day and age when the entire world is crumbling around us, it is nice to have shows with heart but also do not take themselves seriously. “Perfect Harmony” is just that show.
The overarching premise of the show is Arthur (Bradley Whitford) plays a recently widowed Ivy League music professor becomes the director of a rural Kentucky church choir. Ginny (Anna Camp) is his main confidant and part of the reason he agrees to direct her church’s choir. That and to beat the local mega church which refused his late wife’s wish to be buried in their cemetery.
Given how much the late night talk show has been revitalised in recent years with the advent of online video, it’s shocking it has taken Hollywood this long to make a modern comedy set within that world. After all, there’s nothing more tantalising for a comedian to write than a movie about the nature of comedy. But with "Late Night", the filmmakers have gone beyond merely dramatising the ins and outs of putting on a show and made something of a landmark to the current state of media; an encapsulation of everything both great and terrible about it, and a clear vision of how we can make it better.
"Late Night" hits a lot of the expected beats of the workplace comedy: the fresh-faced newstart comes in, the veterans are dubious of them, they make their early mistakes but learn the ropes, they bring fresh ideas to the table, and eventually gain the trust of their new colleagues. However, getting past the formulaic structure, it’s clear that the filmmakers are using the familiar platform as a building block to share topical ideas.
As part of their Huluween celebration, Hulu released “Little Monsters” (written and directed by Abe Forsythe) on October 11, 2019. The comedic zombie-horror flick comes just in time for spooky season and boasts a star-studded cast including Lupita Nyong’o (“Us”, “12 Years a Slave”, “Black Panther”) and Josh Gad (“Frozen”, “Beauty and the Beast”). Even with so many of the right ingredients, “Little Monsters” doesn’t follow through. Many of the jokes fall flat and the one-note characters make the film drag even though it’s just over ninety minutes long.
Cinematic comedies can be a curious thing to examine, due to the fact that humour is very subjective. No matter how far out the premise a comedy may be, the humour can always reach its mark if one can relate to it and if it is delivered with panache. It could be a revisionist parody of the King Arthurian legend like Terry Jones' and Terry Gilliam's "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) or a taboo black comedy about the twisted human behaviour behind rape like Paul Verhoeven's "Elle" (2016); if the execution and immersion of the humour and filmmaking work, comedy can always have the ability to reach for greener pastures.
It’s always a refreshing experience to see films with female protagonists; films which tell a woman’s story--the kind of story that is unique to the female lived experience. These female-focused stories are just as valid as the ones that men have, and we see male stories embodied in films constantly. Being a man is not the default state of what it means to be human.
