The Other Guys (2010)

While many people may see the ‘80s as the age of John Hughes and teenage films, I always saw it as the age of the “buddy cop” films; an era of police detectives (usually never police officers) being forced to pair with their complete opposites who eventually become good friends through killing multiple bad guys. Do you want proof? Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours, Red Heat, Beverly Hills Cop, Alien Nation, Turner & Hooch, K-9, Tango and Cash and the Miami Vice TV series were all released in the ‘80s and are considered classics of the genre, though, of course, there was oversaturisation with other crap like Collision Course. Now, much like the pseudo-Exploitation films of recent years, the genre is trying to make a modern comeback with some mixed success, with the good end of the spectrum containing Hot Fuzz and the bad end containing Cop Out. So, let us see where Adam McKay’s The Other Guys stands.

Cyrus (2010)

I hope you’ve never heard of the “Mumblecore” film movement and genre of the independent film world or this diatribe will be entirely pointless. Mumblecore is one of the many forms of independent filmmaking, with many directors being acolytes. The first film considered a Mumblecore film was Andrew Bujalski’s Funny Ha Ha. What defines a Mumblecore film is a low budget, use of non-professional actors, although Jay and Mark Duplass (the directors of this review’s subject) use professional actors, and a lot of improvisational acting. The plot and story usually revolve around a post-college relationship between two White (Not always; Medicine for Melancholy used Black protagonists) heterosexuals. Now, that all that copy and paste from Wikipedia is out of the way, let us review Mumblecore comedy-drama, Cyrus.

Black Dynamite (2009)

Spoof films haven‘t exactly been anticipated with admirable gusto from audiences recently, but who can blame them when most Spoof films are made by the sultans of shit, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. That’s right, the fuck-tards who made the Scary Movie series, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans and Vampires Sucks, all of which are about as entertaining as being stabbed with a knife made of salt and hepatitis. Each of their films are just terrible and unfunny; what they think is a clever comedic spoof of something is just a pop culture reference with a dick and/or fart and/or sex and/or MILF joke, also known as ‘unfunny Family Guy sketch’. And because each film made ridiculous amounts of money (some make triple their budget), those two assassins of comedy have a poisonous grip on the Spoof genre, so it is no surprise that most Spoof films just fly under the radar of audiences for fear of being the same as the cinematic abortions of Friedberg and Seltzer. A fact that is a shame for Black Dynamite, because it is a brilliant and funny Spoof film that completely trumps Friedberg and Seltzer’s entire filmography.

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Joel and Ethan Coen, better known as the Coen Brothers, are possibly the masters of the cult film. Every film they have made has never reach a large mainstream success; I could ask anyone in the UK if they ever saw James Cameron’s Avatar and every single one would say “yes“, but only a few would answer in the affirmative to seeing Fargo, Miller’s Crossing or, this review’s subject, The Big Lebowski or to even knowing who the Coen Brothers are. This is a shame because, not to sound disparaging to Avatar or James Cameron, they are brilliant films and filmmakers that trump many over-hyped mainstream films. Especially with The Big Lebowski, a surreal, eccentric and humorous film that has become one of my all time favourite Comedy or Film Noir or Mystery Thriller and one of my all time favourite films.

Superbad (2007)

The early years of the first decade of the 21st century were greatly defined by the films of Judd Apatow. Everyone who lived in those years, almost definitely saw Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Knocked Up and loved them and made Apatow’s name one known in every Hollywood studio. After the hit Knocked Up, he produced a comedy teen film directed by Greg Mottola (Who would later direct and write hit comedy Adventureland), a film that would forever resonate through history with one word; McLovin. Let’s talk about Superbad.

Postal (2007)

What to say about German director Uwe Boll? Only that he is possibly the worst director of all time and that’s including Ed Wood and Bruno Mattei. Most of his films are based on video games and that should spell it all out since every single FUCKING video game film adaptation has failed…miserably. He also intentionally makes sure his films suck so that he can exercise a German tax law that allows investors to have a tax write-off if a German-owned film lost money. In 2005, that law was changed and that meant that Boll would have to put real effort in his films to get more funding and money, and guess what, his films are still crap. Well, except for one; a film based on a video game directed by Uwe Boll that has become one of my favourite films. I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

How does one define a film like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World? It such a different film, taking on the tried and tested story of love and discovery, and fills it in-between with surreal humour, lovable characters, strange plot, kinetic and impressive fights, wonderful dialogue and everything that every great films do right.
I already had high expectations for this film considering its director, Edgar Wright, is a man whose previous works I have thoroughly enjoyed. But did it live up to those expectations, hypothetical question mark?