Word: slapstick
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...conversation which the remake thinks is worth your time. Forced to be expressive in a medium in which dialogue could only be written on intermittent frames, Buster Keaton, film pioneer and comedy legend, relied instead on visual complexity and sophistication: carefully wrought facial reactions, exquisitely timed double takes, graceful slapstick and outrageous acrobatics. He was a master of both subtlety and extravagance--he was called "Old Stoneface" for his constant deadpan which could somehowwhere the facade of a house falls over on him but doesn't touch him as he goes through a window-- that's just one example). Seven...
...Preceding Firebired comes The Princess and the Pea, Daniel Pelzig's wacky, slapstick parody on traditional storybook-ballets that was wildly successful in its 1995 premier. I felt The Princess and the Pea overly goofy; as a balletomane, I wished there had been more classical dancing. But for others, who often find long, conventional ballet-stories tiresome, this may just what they needed to rekindle an interest in ballet...
...then so did Deep Blue Sea, and I enjoyed every moment of that because it did such a good job of subverting its own genre. Director Damon Santostefano shows little creative flair, however, and spends most of his time desperately trying to find a comic tone, shifting between broad slapstick and homosexual farce...
...Despite Superstar's many faults, hardcore SNL fans should not despair. There are still plenty of funny bits to counter the film's doldrums. The sequence in which Mary Katherine's grandmother reveals the truth about her parents' death is the inspired slapstick that leads to laughing out loud. Equally funny is the short episode in which Evian visits Sky's house to apologize, showcasing Will Ferrel's bufoonish charm. Parochial school jokes are few, but sometimes memorable. Note the sponsors on the banners announcing the student talent competition. And there are all of Mary Katherine's usual quirks--sticking...
...darkest and most unsettling in the Potter books to date. It creates a vivid physical embodiment of a painful mental state, which Muggles call depression, and it demonstrates Rowling's considerable emotional range. She can be both genuinely scary and consistently funny, adept at both broad slapstick and allusive puns and wordplay. She appeals to the peanut gallery with such items as Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, a wizard candy that means what it says on its package; it offers every flavor, ranging from chocolate and peppermint to liver and tripe and earwax. But Rowling also names the Hogwarts...