The Comedians

Alyson Reviews, Small Screen Spotlight, SXSW

    Cast: Billy Crystal, Josh Gad, Stephnie Weir, Megan Ferguson Director: Larry Charles, Richie Keen Creators: Larry Charles, Billy Crystal, Matt Nix, Ben Wexler Billy Crystal and Josh Gad star in a hyper-realistic comedy show about them trying to start a comedy show. Think Curb Your Enthusiasm meets Inception. I only say that because it’s a show within a show. The style resembles Curb Your Enthusiasm and Louie. The premise is that Billy Crystal and Josh Gad are both trying to start the next thing in their career when they reluctantly get matched up to start a modern-day variety show with one another. I had a chance to see …

Ex Machina

Charles Blog Posts, Reviews, SXSW

As I watched this movie, one thought kept occurring to me: This is what A.I. might have looked like had Stanley Kubrick directed it himself. Despite my feelings toward both Kubrick and to Spielberg’s flawed version of A.I., I knew this thought wasn’t a bad thing, or at least I wasn’t associating it with a criticism of Ex Machina. And it certainly wasn’t a knock against Alex Garland, who makes his directorial debut here. No, in fact, it was quite the opposite. This is a film that deals with artificial intelligence in a realistic and frank manner that is rarely seen onscreen. It’s not an action movie about cybernetic machines …

Hello, My Name is Doris

Alyson Reviews, Small Screen Spotlight, SXSW Leave a Comment

    Cast: Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Stephen Root, Peter Gallagher, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Don Stark, Tyne Daly, Natasha Lyonne, Rich Sommer, Caroline Aaron Director: Michael Showalter Screenwriters: Laura Terruso, Michael Showalter Rated: Not Yet Rated Runtime: 95 min Doris (Sally Field) is a 60-year-old woman who is learning to connect with others again after her mother passes away. She is eccentric, to the point of being a hipster to the younger crowd. She becomes obsessed with a man thirty years her junior, and desperately pursues him, with the help of her best friend’s granddaughter and a self-help seminar run by Peter Gallagher. The movie lends itself to a completely different …