TV Show Review - The White Lotus (Season 1)

Season: 1
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Number of episodes: 6
Year: 2021
Starring: Murray Bartlett, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Alexandra Daddario, Sydney Sweeney, Fred Hechinger, Jake Lacy, Brittany O’Grady, Natasha Rothwell, Molly Shannon

Description: Set in a tropical resort, it follows the exploits of various guests and employees over the span of a week.
 
Review: Vacationing is something people like to do. To let go of everything, and in the case of many vacationers, get yourself well pampered at an all-inclusive resort. A single women, a family plus the daughter’s friend and a newly wed couple all arrive at the same time, at the Hawaiian resort The White Lotus. The staff of the hotel is awaiting their guests and everything looks promising. But it’s going to be one hell of a week.

What an entertaining series. In a satirical and humorous way, they basically take everything and everyone to task. No one is perfect and everyone has their secrets and struggles. And since all of the characters we follow are either quirky, peculiar, irritating or highly unlikeable, the perfect vacation they all wished for, doesn’t go as planned. And this creates some fantastic, uncomfortable, silly, hilarious and embarrassing moments.

Each character has a role in the story. Ten of them to be exact. First there is the Mosbacher family. At the head, mother Nicole, a successful business woman who calls the shots. Her husband Mark has a health scare, son Quinn is simply bored and daughter Olivia brought her best friend Paula, who just want to relax and read complex literature. Then there is the newlywed couple, Rachel and Shane. They married quick after meeting and are now on their honeymoon. Where Rachel is a freelance journalist who wants to make it in the world, her rich new husband believes she doesn’t need to work anymore and just be his beautiful wife. Tanya came to Hawaii to spread her mother’s ashes, she is a lonely woman who befriends the owner of the resort’s spa, Belinda. And finally we have Armond, the resort manager, trying to make sure every guest is happy and taken care of. Which is a big challenge with the new arrivals.

Talking about Armond. He’s portrayed by Murray Bartlett and he is the absolute highlight of this series. I love everything he does in this series, he is so funny. And as a former customer service employee, I know exactly how it feels like to always try to please everyone, even the ones that you actually want to strangle. Always with a smile on your face, but mentally slapping the person opposite you complaining once again. Bartlett got a well-deserved Emmy Award for his role and he lifted “The White Lotus” to a higher level.
 
The ending of the show wasn’t all I hoped for. At least not for all characters. I especially didn’t like what they did with Rachel and Shane. I did like Quinn’s ending though. But overall, “The White Lotus” was a very enjoyable series, easy to watch. And there is a second season coming, which will be starring a bunch of new characters and is set at a different location.

00s Movie Review: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Director: Adam McKay
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 108 minutes
Year: 2006
Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Leslie Bibb, Gary Cole, Jane Lynch, Michael Clarke Duncan, Amy Adams, David Koechner, Rob Riggle, Molly Shannon, Greg Germann

Description: Number one NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) stays atop the heap thanks to a pact with his best friend and teammate, Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly) But when a French Formula One driver (Sacha Baron Cohen), makes his way up the ladder, Ricky Bobby's talent and devotion are put to the test.

Review: NASCAR: fast cars driving hundreds of laps on a simple oval track. In America it’s one of the most viewed sports. The NASCAR world was already put in the spotlight with the Tom Cruise film “Days of Thunder” and in the animated Disney film “Cars”. In “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Rocky Bobby” it takes on the comedy genre and the world is brought to us with a big fat wink.
We follow Ricky Bobby, a successful NASCAR driver. At first, everything goes uphill for him. Rocky becomes an egocentric superstar, but eventually ends up in the gutter. And everything that he once had and loved, slips through his fingers. And although this all sounds super cliché, which it is, the film is so entertaining and funny.
Will Ferrell is one of those actors that makes me laugh, no matter what. I just have to look at him and he cracks me up. And surely not everyone likes his humor. If you don’t like Will Ferrell’s films or roles, you don’t like this one either. Because it’s Will Ferrell, being Will Ferrell. The humor is never subtle, yet very hilarious.
Sacha Baron Cohen is really funny as Ricky Bobby’s big rival, Jean Girard. The way he pronounces Rocky Bobby is something that cracks me up constantly, even now, while writing this review and saying it in my head. My dad can do a killer impression of him by the way!
“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” is definitely not a masterpiece or one of America’s best comedies. But somehow, this movie always makes me laugh out loud and that’s what a fun comedy should do.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 68: Happiness

Director: Tod Solondz
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 134 minutes
Year: 1998
Starring: Jane Adams, Dylan Baker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jon Lovitz, Jared Harris, Lara Flynn Boyle, Molly Shannon

Description: The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.

Review: Looking for a film about happy families, happy relationships and happy people. Then “Happiness” is not your movie. It’s a very misleading title. The people in this movie are anything but happy and happiness is not present.
We follow several people. Like Joy Jordan, who claims to be very happy but isn’t everything but that. She is super nice, but is humiliated and broken over and over again. Her sister Trish thinks she has it all, but she doesn’t know that her husband jerks off to teen magazines and likes young boys. And he openly discusses sex with their young son. And then there is Alan, a lonely single man, who calls random women and talks dirty to them.
I guess “Happiness” isn’t for me.

Rating: 2/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 99: Wet Hot American Summer

Director: David Wain
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 2001
Starring: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Meloni, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Marguerite Moreau

Description: Set on the last day of camp, in the hot summer of 1981, a group of counselors try to complete their unfinished business before the day ends.

Review: It’s August 1981. The campleaders at Camp Firewood are trying to make the best of the last day of summer camp.
The movies has some big names: Paul Rudd, Janeane Garofalo, Elizabeth Banks, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler. And they all have done some really funny things. Well, this is not one one of those movies. I love a good satire and spoof when done well, but “Wet Hot American Summer” is just not funny and sometimes it goes a little too far into the absurdism that it’s just not funny anymore.
I did like Paul Rudd and Christopher Meloni though, but overall the movie is not that interesting and there is some really bad acting in it. “Wet Hot American Summer” is not a good comedy, because it isn’t funny enough.

Rating: 2/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 94: Hotel Transylvania 2

Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Genre: Animation/ Comedy/ Fantasy/ Adventure
Runtime: 89 minutes
Year: 2015
Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Fran Drescher, Molly Shannon, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Dana Carvey, Rob Riggle, Mel Brooks, Chris Kattan, Jon Lovitz

Description: Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his friends try to bring out the monster in his half human, half vampire grandson in order to keep Mavis (Selene Gomez) from leaving the hotel.

Review: A couple of years ago Sony brought us “Hotel Transylvania”, not one of the best animations, but successful and very enjoyable. And because the young audience liked it, the inevitable happened: a sequel.
At the end of “Hotel Transylvania” hotel ownder Dracula realizes that he has to let his daughter go and let her live her own life. In this second film, it looks like he has taken a step back. Mavis marries Johnny and together they have a son. Dracula doesn’t want little Dennis to grow up in the ‘normal’ world, but as a monster.
The opening of the film is a bit rushed, a lot happens in the first half hour. The film is beautifully animated and has some really good jokes. And although “Hotel Transalvania 2” is entertaining, it brings us nothing really new or memorable.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 155: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Genre: Drama/ Comedy

Runtime: 105 minutes

Year: 2015

Starring: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cook, Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon, Jon Bernthal, Katherine Hughes

Description: High schooler Greg (Thomas Mann), who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl (RJ Cyler), finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate (Olivia Cook) who has just been diagnosed with cancer.

Review: The “me” in the title is Greg, a teenager with the perfect strategy to survive high school. Make sure you don’t make any real friends, but stay in contact with the different groups, without anyone else noticing it. It works for Greg, but he doesn’t have any strong connections. The only one he has known since kindergarten is Earl, who he calls his co-worker. Together they have made several parodies to famous movies like “A Sockwork Orange”, “The Seven Seals” and “Vere’d He Go”. When Greg’s mom hears that Rachel, a girl in his school, is diagnosed with leukemia, she forces him to visit her. But that forced visit slowly grows into a friendship. Greg warns us, it’s not a movie about love.

The movie is filled with humor, silly and loveable characters, unexpected situations and drama. This is a movie that a film lover like me can appreciate. Not only because of how well this movie was made and the artistic side of it, but also the awesome pop culture references.

“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” manages to amaze the audience in every way. A movie from the heart, beautifully made and extremely honest. A definite must see.

Rating: 5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 126: Hotel Transylvania

Director: Genndy Tartakovsky

Genre: Animation/ Comedy/ Family

Runtime: 91 minutes

Year: 2012

Starring: Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, David Spade, Fran Drescher, Jon Lovitz, Molly Shannon, Cee-Lo Green, Rob Riggle, Chris Parnell

Description: Dracula (Adan Sandler), who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy (Andy Samberg) discovers the resort and falls for the count's teen-aged daughter (Selena Gomez).

Review: Prejudices are everywhere: in our society kids are afraid of monster, but in the monster society kids are thought the be afraid of people. And not without reason, because the men armed with pitchforks and fire are a true threat to vampires, werewolves and zombies. But times change. Dracula, who is a lot nicer than you might think, build a giant castle behind a haunted forest and a creepy cemetery and turned it into Hotel Transylvania. Monsters can come over but it’s human-free.

Besides the owner of a hotel, Dracula is a single dad of Mavis, who just turned 118. This means not only a big party, but Mavis is a grown up now. And she is allowed to go outside and discover the world. Dracula pulled off some tricks so that Mavis will never go outside again. When this works, Dracula is glad that he succeeded in protecting Mavis. That is until they are visited by Jonathan, a human backpacker.

The animation by Sony doesn’t only look good, the humor is outstanding and well dosed and it’s enjoyable for the entire family. Some jokes are a bit easy, but the overall humor is great. The story might be predictable, but who cares. “Hotel Transylvania” is a very entertaining amination, perfect for some quality time with the family. Or just for fun off course.

Rating: 3,5/ 5