Tag: Comedy
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Marley and Me. Dir. David Frankel. 20th Century Fox. 2008.
Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feelin? This is the one question undoubtedly playing on John Grogan’s mind when looking at his cushion shredding, underwear stealing, jewellery eating, chaos causing canine; an ebullient bundle of joy whom he later asserts is “the world’s worst dog.” It goes…
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Snatch. Dir. Guy Ritchie. Columbia Pictures. 2000.
What do you get when you cross an unlicensed boxing match, a gang of angry gypsies and an 86-carat diamond that everybody wants to get their hands on? Guy Ritchie’s Snatch.[i] The film revolves around the adventures of: Turkish (Jason Statham)and his sidekick Tommy (Stephen Graham): two boxing promoters tasked with finding a boxer for the fight, whilst trying…
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We Bought a Zoo. Dir. Cameron Crowe. 20th Century Fox. 2011.
We Bought a Zoo is a film loosely based on a memoir of the same name by Benjamin Mee which describes his purchase and restoration of the failing Dartmoor Wildlife Park – subsequently renamed Dartmoor Zoological Park – in preparation for its reopening. In the film, the death of Benjamin’s wife has led to a…
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Babe. Dir. Chris Noonan. Universal Pictures. 1995.
Based on Dick King Smith’s “The Sheep Pig”, Babe is the story of a young pig that is taken in by sheep dogs and the farmer Hoggett who eventually becomes a sheep herder himself. At the beginning of the film we first meet Babe in a pig farm where the pigs are shipped to meat factories.…
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The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Dir. Wes Anderson. Touchstone Pictures. 2004.
Animal Misunderstanding and Mystery in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou In The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (dir. Wes Anderson, 2004) Zissou, the famous oceanographer, tackles familial issues while on board his ship The Belfonte. When Ned Plimpton, a man claiming to be his son, comes on board, Zissou’s marriage begins to…
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Mouse Hunt. Dir. Gore Verbinski. Dreamworks. 1997.
Mouse Hunt is the story of two brothers, Ernie and Lars, who, following the death of their father, go through many financial setbacks. Ernie loses his restaurant due to a cockroach that he accidently brings there with a box of cigars he got from his father’s last possessions. The cockroach ends up being eaten by…
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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Dir. Wes Anderson. Buena Vista Pictures. 2004.
Wes Anderson’s fourth full-length film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, details the life of oceanographer and documentarian Steve Zissou following the death of his professional partner and best friend. The film, like many directed by Wes Anderson, ultimately became a cult classic, but not before being met with serious criticism from film critics. The dissonance…
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Gates of Heaven. Dir. Errol Morris. New Yorker Films. 1978.
Figure 1: The original cinematic release poster for Gates of Heaven. Eighty-Five minutes of predominantly medium close-up shots without narration with a focus, superficially at least, on the pet cemetery business. You may think that the initial prognosis for Errol Morris’s 1978 debut Gates of Heaven is bleak; indeed you would be in good company.[1] Morris’s fleeting between concepts led…
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Stuart Little. Dir. Rob Minkoff. Columbia Pictures. 1999.
Columbia Pictures’ Stuart Little (1999) follows the Little family’s adoption of an anthropomorphic mouse, Stuart, whose debonair mannerisms and soaring intelligence allow the family to embrace him as an addition to their brood. Whilst Eleanor and Frederick Little’s son George does not conceal his initial doubts regarding the adoption of a rodent, the film presents the notion…