Dying Is Easy. Comedy Is Hard.

Being funny in books, on the big screen, and on the little screens too.

Browsing Posts published in April, 2011

“Source Code” was a technology-based movie that successfully ducks every technical aspect of how the laws of nature were manipulated for the good of the story. And that’s just fine with me. I think “The Matrix” lost its soul in trying to explain it in the sequels. “Source Code” was closer to “Groundhog Day”, and [...]

The best and most effective jokes reveal some inner truth about the joke’s target. In the context of a story, the wonderful part is that they also advance the story, and the audience hardly has a reason to notice it is a “joke” except that they are laughing. These are fifth degree jokes. Fifth degree [...]

Elvis and Annabelle is a cute, quirky film that is worth tracking down. It’s an indie that got made, most likely, because Joe Montegna liked the script, and wanted to play the pleasantly demented golfer whose son covers for him in their funeral parlor. It won some awards at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Elvis, [...]