Where is the American dream bred? In the heart or in the head? Director-Writer Ziyu Luo’s “American Daydream” is a classic ode to the idea of the American dream and our pursuit of it. Is the “American Dream” an unreachable goal, or something that we each have within us, personally? Recently having its world premiere at the HollyShorts Film Festival, “American Daydream” is a brilliant beautiful short drama comedy that explores ideas about immigration, assimilation and Americanization.
Tag Archives: Comedy
The Miracle Fighters (aka Kei moon duen gap) (1982) [Eureka Entertainment]
Available from Eureka Entertainment
A condemned man takes the emperor’s son hostage to escape. Years later, the emperor’s wizard finds him because of a necklace the boy wears.
Five Favorite Channing Tatum Cameos
Channing Tatum originally began his career being pegged as the dreamy bad boy who was mostly in romance movies. Over the course of his career, he’s also garnered an admirable sense of self-awareness never being afraid to poke fun at himself thus setting himself up as one of the big-time actors who love to make cameos in random movies. Tatum has popped up in many movies over the last ten years, including “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Whether you like him or not, Tatum has offered up some surprising cameos over the years, here are my favorites.
Every Bugs Bunny Ever: 8 Ball Bunny (1950)
8 Ball Bunny (1950)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Michael Maltese
Animation by Phil Monroe
Music by Carl Stalling
It’s the return of Playboy Penguin, the inadvertent hero we haven’t seen since 1949’s “Frigid Hare.”
This time the Playboy Penguin returns for his second and last collaboration with Bugs Bunny as his show “The Brooklyn Ice Frolics” leaves town without him. He accidentally falls in to Bugs’ rabbit hole garnering the sympathy of Bugs who agrees to take him back home. Little does he know home is the North Pole. Ooh! I’m Dy-ing! There is so much to unwrap with “8 Ball Bunny” as this is probably one of the best Chuck Jones outputs for Bugs that’s ever been made. It’s hysterical, it’s clever, it’s quotable, and it even has a three act structure.
Brave Citizen (2024) [Fantasia Film Festival 2024]
Deep down there’s a great movie within “Brave Citizen.” The South Korean film by Park jin-pyo has a great premise, and a great cause to fight for that could serve as a catalyst for an interesting superhero tale. Instead “Brave Citizen” is bogged down in so much exposition and sub-plots and commentary that is loses sight of its original intent. There’s no reason a movie like “Brave Citizen” should be so long, and I say that as someone that almost never cares about run time.
But Park jin-pyo and the writers take so long to get to the actual point that by the time we do get an idea what they’re aiming in the realm of superheroes meets bringing down the affluent, the movie has already worn out its welcome.
Every Bugs Bunny Ever: What’s Up, Doc? (1950)
What’s Up Doc? (1950)
Directed by Bob McKimson
Written by William Foster
Animation by JC Melendez
Music by Carl Stalling
And so it was: the birth of “What’s up, Doc?”
At least that’s how Bugs Bunny sees it. Although we know better, the big star known as Bugs prefers to think of it as a fluke that turned in to a successful shtick for a young Bugs Bunny. “What’s up, Doc?” is a pretty important short in the Bugs Bunny library even though pretty much all of his are just self contained stories with loose continuity. For example, the set up here is similar to “A Hare Grows in Manhattan” where Bugs even tells a different story of how he grew up and became a performer. Like Vaudeville, they all work within the confines of their frame work, and they’re just there as a reason to tell jokes and deliver some great gags.
And Now I Lay Me Down (2024)
I really have to give it to Jane Kaczmarek who stars in “And Now I Lay Me Down.” She really is a marvel in what is a pretty gut wrenching movie that approaches a serious topic with a tongue in cheek. Kaczmarek is essentially the only cast member in the entirety of Rani DeMuth’s short drama comedy and commands a lot of the screen with such an immense powerful and intense sadness.