comedy

The Beginning of a Beautiful Affair Between Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond

The Beginning of a Beautiful Affair Between Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond

Love in the Afternoon deserves credit for its artistic merit but also for serving as the beginning of a beautiful affair between Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond.

Director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet on Debut Romantic Comedy ‘Anaïs in Love’

Director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet on Debut Romantic Comedy ‘Anaïs in Love’

Director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet talks with PopMatters about challenging the idea of cinema as an image-based art with her romantic comedy, Anaïs in Love.

‘Charade’ after 60 Years: A Crossroad Film For Its Golden Age Stars

‘Charade’ after 60 Years: A Crossroad Film For Its Golden Age Stars

When you need a break from today’s harsh realities, you need a film like the 1963 comedy/mystery/romance ‘Charade’, starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.

Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford Play ’60s Spy Hipsters, Baby

Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford Play ’60s Spy Hipsters, Baby

Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford camp up their too cool for school ’60s spy hipsters personas for Richard Donner and Jerry Lewis comedies Salt and Pepper and One More Time.

In David Lean’s ‘Summertime’ Only the Dreaming Is Easy

In David Lean’s ‘Summertime’ Only the Dreaming Is Easy

David Lean’s Summertime emerged as Hollywood was negotiating how adultery could be handled. The tawdry subject became the province of only the classiest actors.

‘The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet’ and the Nerve-Wracking Nature of Nothingness in 1950s White America

‘The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet’ and the Nerve-Wracking Nature of Nothingness in 1950s White America

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet impresses me not for its alleged blandness but for its ingenious minimalism, its meta-structure, and its nerve-wracking nature of nothingness.

Silent Screen Diva Marion Davies’ Enjoyable Nonsense

Silent Screen Diva Marion Davies’ Enjoyable Nonsense

Silent screen star Marion Davies makes these two restored films by directors George Hill and Sidney Franklin irresistibly delightful.

‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’: Queer Acceptance at the Edge of Oblivion

‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’: Queer Acceptance at the Edge of Oblivion

Balancing its serious side with silliness and sincerity, queer-positive Everything Everywhere All At Once speaks to a communal determination to press forward, even when it seems the whole world is pressing back.

Neorealism Meets Fairy Tale in Vittorio De Sica’s ‘Miracle in Milan’

Neorealism Meets Fairy Tale in Vittorio De Sica’s ‘Miracle in Milan’

If the escapism in Vittorio De Sica’s Miracle in Milan seems simple-minded, even simpler is the cure to society’s ills.

Comedy/Drama ‘Somebody Somewhere’ Won’t Let Kansas Be the Joke

Comedy/Drama ‘Somebody Somewhere’ Won’t Let Kansas Be the Joke

Set in America’s “flyover country”, HBO comedy/drama Somebody Somewhere, starring Bridget Everett, defies small-town America stereotyping.

Writer/Comedian Amy Silverberg Wants Freedom on the Stage and the Page

Writer/Comedian Amy Silverberg Wants Freedom on the Stage and the Page

Amy Silverberg’s comedy is at once wry, playful, and at times beautifully filthy, like the trash-riddled Santa Monica Pier during a pink-tangerine sunset.

Tied and Noosed ‘Dancing Pirate’ Waltzes into Technicolor

Tied and Noosed ‘Dancing Pirate’ Waltzes into Technicolor

Restored 1936 Technicolor film Dancing Pirate crosses the early talkies’ vogue for absurd musicals with its other vogue for Hollywood Mexicana.