Tag: Jason Schwartzmann

Quiz Lady (2023) | REVIEW

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh in Jessica Yu’s Quiz Lady — PHOTO: 20th Century Studios.

Directed by Jessica Yu — Screenplay by Jen D’Angelo.

Jessica Yu’s Quiz Lady follows Anne (played by Awkwafina), a young woman with social anxiety and an obsession with a certain game show named ‘Can’t Stop the Quiz.’ One day, she is informed that her mother has fled the home that she was in and left for Macau presumably to gamble and get out of her gambling debt in America. This information also reaches Anne’s older sister Jenny (played by Sandra Oh), who is a decidedly more outgoing party girl, and they reconnect for a few days. On one of those days, Jenny secretly records and uploads a video of Anne watching her favorite game show. It becomes an instant hit online as Anne knows every single answer to every single question.

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Asteroid City (2023) | REVIEW

Jason Schwartzman’s Augie Steenbeck leaning out of a window in Wes Anderson’s ASTEROID CITY — PHOTO: Focus Features / Universal Pictures International.

Directed by Wes Anderson — Screenplay by Wes Anderson — Story by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola.

Everyone who has ever seen one Wes Anderson film knows exactly what a Wes Anderson film looks like. His signature style has made him a lot of fans and admirers over the years, and it has also earned him some notable imitators. Nowadays, with the advent of AI, automatically generated images, and the like, a trend of recreating fake film trailers in the style of Wes Anderson has surfaced. You can now go online and find several videos hyping up fake Wes Anderson-style films with AI-generated images of well-known actors that don’t exactly look right (I even saw one for a fake American adaptation of the iconic Danish Olsen Gang films). With the emergence of such artificiality leading to so many conflicting emotions, might I suggest that you check out the real thing? Asteroid City, Wes Anderson’s eleventh feature-length film, is well worth seeking out. As a matter of fact, I think it might be one of his best. 

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REVIEW: The Polka King (2018)

Release Poster – Netflix

The following is a review of The Polka King – Directed by Maya Forbes.

The Polka King is a comedic biopic that tells the true story about Jan Lewan (played by Jack Black), a Polish polka band leader and con artist, who became a convicted criminal while exploring the depths of the American Dream. The film is far more interested in his successes and deceptions than in his time in prison, however, and that gives us plenty of time to see surprisingly strong supporting cast of actors like Jenny Slate — playing his wife, Marla Lewan; Jacki Weaver — his mother-in-law, Barb; and Jason Schwartzman — his good friend and one of the band members in his polka band.
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REVIEW: Mozart in the Jungle – Season Two (2015)

Mozart in the Jungle - Review

The following is a review of the second season of Amazon Studio’s Mozart in the Jungle, available on Amazon Video, and on Viaplay in Denmark.

When Mozart in the Jungle won the Golden Globe for ‘Best Series – Musical or Comedy’ in 2016, I have to admit that I was a bit stunned. I had never heard of the show, but I was intrigued by it when I saw Gael García Bernal grab his award for ‘Best Actor – Musical or Comedy’. Bernal was the guy I chose to binge-watch both seasons in three days for, and season two of Mozart in the Jungle really relies heavily on his performance and character. Mozart in the Jungle: Season Two is really, really good. Continue reading “REVIEW: Mozart in the Jungle – Season Two (2015)” →

REVIEW: Mozart in the Jungle – Season One (2014)

Mozart in the Jungle - Review

The following is a review of the first season of Amazon Studio’s Mozart in the Jungle, available on Amazon Video, and on Viaplay in Denmark.

Based on the memoir of Blair Tindall, Mozart in the Jungle is a ‘dramedy’ featuring beautiful classical music. Set in New York City, the show follows Hailey Rutledge (Lola Kirke), a young and talented oboist, who is suddenly given an opportunity to shine on one of the grandest stages of them all. Meanwhile, it is a time of massive change as a legendary conductor (Malcolm McDowell) makes way for a new, far more eccentric, edition (Gael García Bernal) at the Avery Fisher Hall.  Continue reading “REVIEW: Mozart in the Jungle – Season One (2014)” →

REVIEW: Wet Hot American Summer – First Day of Camp (2015)

First Day of Camp

“Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp” is available on Netflix and functions as a prequel to the 2001 comedy “Wet Hot American Summer”

Let me preface this by saying that I didn’t watch the original film when it was first released. Somehow I had never heard of the film until a few years ago. Before watching the film I considered it a potential hidden gem featuring some of my favorite actors. Then I watched it, and I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked the film – but I never loved it. Somehow this prequel show made me a believer. Continue reading “REVIEW: Wet Hot American Summer – First Day of Camp (2015)” →