Tag Archives: Jenny Slate

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

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Everything Everywhere All at Once
Director: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Writer: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tallie Medel, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr.
Part of: SLASH 1/2 Filmfestival
Seen on: 5.5.2022

Plot:
Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) and her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) run a laundromat together, a business that has made it possible for them to raise their daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) but that hasn’t been going that well and that is currently being audited by IRS. A fact that Evelyn’s father Gong Gong (James Hong) isn’t allowed to know. But Evelyn and Waymond have to take him with them to the appointment with their auditor Deirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis). On the way there, Waymond starts behaving strangely though, giving weird instructions to Evelyn and finally telling her that he is from a parallel universe and the multiverse needs Evelyn to save it. Evelyn would rather not, but there is no escaping Jobu Tupaki.

I had extremely high expectations for this film. Not just because everything about it looked great, but also because I loved Swiss Army Man so very much. That, of course, also made me worried, because we all know how hard sophomore works have it when the first one is simply magical. In any case, I need not have worried. Everything Everywhere All at Once is an absolute delight.

The very colorful filmposter showing drawings of characters, various symbols and a whole lot of googly eyes arranged in a psychedelic circle.
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Hotel Artemis (2018)

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Hotel Artemis
Director: Drew Pearce
Writer: Drew Pearce
Cast: Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day, Dave Bautista, Kenneth Choi
Seen on: 8.11.2020

Plot:
Hotel Artemis is a safe haven in the middle of Los Angeles, a LA in full crisis mode. All the criminals can come here in case of medical emergency, knowing they will be cared for by the Nurse (Jodie Foster) and Everest (Dave Bautista) without having to fear the police – or each other. Only called by their room names, Waikiki (Sterling K. Brown) brings in his brother Honolulu (Brian Tyree Henry) after he got shot during a robbery. But some serious shit is about to hit the fan at the usually peaceful Hotel Artemis.

Hotel Artemis, unfortunately, sounds way cooler than it is. Despite the great cast and some very nice ideas, it just never finds its feet.

The film poster showing the main characters of the film with art deco ornaments around them.
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On the Rocks (2020)

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On the Rocks
Director: Sofia Coppola
Writer: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Rashida Jones, Bill Murray, Marlon Wayans, Jessica Henwick, Jenny Slate, Barbara Bain, Kelly Lynch
Seen on: 14.10.2020

Content Note: sexism

Plot:
Laura (Rashida Jones) is a writer who is waiting for her flow to come back after having children. Meanwhile her husband Dean (Marlon Wayans) works a lot, including many business trips. When Laura tells her flighty father Felix (Bill Murray) about some weird moments she had with Dean, hinting at her suspicions that he might be cheating on her, Felix – who was never faithful in his life – is absoluletly convinced that Dean is having an affair. Despite her initial disbelief, Laura gets drawn into the surveillance mission that Felix makes out of his suspicion – a mission that keeps growing in scope.

My relationship with Coppola’s movies is rocky at best (no puns intended), and while I’d say that On the Rocks is definitely one of her films that worked more for me than others did, it still didn’t really come together for me, remaining mostly just fine.

The film poster showing Laura (Rashida Jones) and Felix (Bill Murray) sitting at a table in a bar.
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The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)

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The Secret Life of Pets 2
Director: Chris Renaud, Jonathan del Val
Writer: Brian Lynch
Sequel to: The Secret Life of Pets
Cast: Patton Oswalt, Kevin Hart, Harrison Ford, Eric Stonestreet, Jenny Slate, Tiffany Haddish, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Bobby Moynihan, Hannibal Buress, Chris Renaud, Ellie Kemper
Seen on: 4.7.2019

Content Note: ableism

Plot:
Max (Patton Oswalt) and Duke (Eric Stonestreet) have finally found a good way to live with each other, when their family grows once more: this time, it’s a baby. Max falls in love with the child – and then starts to worry about everything they ever do and all the things that could go wrong. Growing ever more anxious, Max really doesn’t know what do anymore. When the entire family goes to a farm, Max meets the farm dog Rooster (Harrison Ford) who tries to help him with his anxiety.

I have rarely seen a sequel that tried so little as The Secret Life of Pets 2. The first one already wasn’t the best film ever, but this one is a definite step down.

The film poster showing a group of dogs sitting on a water tower on a city rooftop, howling at the moon.
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Venom (2018)

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Venom
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writer: Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, Kelly Marcel
Based on: David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane‘s comics character
Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate, Melora Walters, Woody Harrelson, Peggy Lu
Seen on: 5.10.2018
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Plot:
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is a journalist and he loves to dig deep. When he gets the chance to interview Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) who runs a huge tech company, he can’t resist asking some hard questions. But that choice leads for his entire life to explode around him – he loses his job and his girlfriend Anne (Michelle Williams). A year later, he is still reeling – and still obsessed with Drake. So when he gets a chance to take another dig at him, he does – and that brings him in touch with one of Drake’s projects: Venom, an alien who hitches a ride in his body.

Venom was a lot more fun than I expected. It’s not necessarily a good film, but it is definitely entertaining and very enjoyable.

The film poster showing Tom Hardy's face, half of which is an Alien with a huge eye and a mouth with sharp teeth.
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Gifted (2017)

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Gifted
Director: Marc Webb
Writer: Tom Flynn
Cast: Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Octavia Spencer, Jenny Slate, Elizabeth Marvel, Glenn Plummer
Seen on: 18.7.2017
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Plot:
Frank (Chris Evans) raises his niece Mary (Mckenna Grace). Mary is very smart. So far, Frank was able to keep her talents under wrap, but now it’s time for her to start school. And immediately Mary’s math abilities are noticed by her teacher Bonnie (Jenny Slate). But Frank doesn’t want to place Mary in special classes. His refusal causes both Bonnie and the school to dig deeper, bringing Frank’s mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) who has very different ideas about how to raise Mary. As neither Frank nor Evelyn want to budge from their position, they take the question to court in a custody battle.

Gifted is very surprisingly a smart film about being smart. I did have a couple of issues with it, but they are not related to that. And mostly the film was engaging and emotional and went right for the feels in just the right way.

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The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

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The LEGO Batman Movie
Director: Chris McKay
Writer: Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern, John Whittington
Based on: Bob Kane‘s and Bill Finger‘s comics character
Cast: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifianakis, Jenny Slate, Jason Mantzoukas, Conan O’Brien, Doug Benson, Billy Dee Williams, Zoë Kravitz, Kate Micucci, Riki Lindhome, Eddie Izzard, Seth Green, Jemaine Clement, Ellie Kemper, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Adam Devine, Hector Elizondo, Mariah Carey
(I saw the dubbed German version, though.)
Seen on: 9.2.2017

Plot:
Bruce Wayne aka Batman (Will Arnett) leads a rather lonely existence. Between beating up criminals like the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) and eating lobster thermidor prepared by his trusted butler Alfred (Ralph Fiennes), he spends most of his time alone and in pain at the memory of the family he lost. But things change rapidly when Bruce not only accidentally adopts an orphan (Michael Cera), but the Joker and pretty much the entire league of supervillains surrender themselves to Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) who just proposed a new approach to crime for the police. But there must be something behind that surrender and Bruce has to find out.

The Lego Batman Movie is a celebration and parody of all things Batman and more. It’s as funny as it is nonsensical, and yet it manages to say more about the character Batman than more serious adaptations have managed. But at its heart, there is not much behind the jokes.

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The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

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The Secret Life of Pets
Director: Yarrow Cheney, Chris Renaud
Writer: Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio
Cast: Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper, Albert Brooks, Lake Bell, Steve Coogan
Seen on: 11.8.2016

Plot:
Max (Louis C.K.) has the best life a dog could possibly have. He loves his owner Katie (Ellie Kemper) and she loves him and takes care of him. But then one day, Katie brings home another dog, Duke (Eric Stonestreet). Duke is huge and new and he’s here to stay. Max can’t have that, especially since Duke uses his size to bully Max. Their feud takes a turn for the worse when they are both captured by animal control, and then freed by the bunny Snowball’s (Kevin Hart) Flushed Animals resistance group.

I liked much about The Secret Life of Pets, but I didn’t fall in love with it as much as I thought I might.

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Zootopia (2016)

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Zootopia
Director: Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush
Writer: Jared Bush, Phil Johnston
Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Alan Tudyk, Shakira, Kristen Bell (in a small cameo)
Seen on: 13.3.2016

Plot:
Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) has always dreamed of becoming a police officer. And although there has never been a bunny police officer before, she fights her way through the academy and into active duty in the capital – only to be relegated to doling out parking tickets. But even then she promptly finds con man Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), although she can’t actually arrest him. But when carnivores start going crazy and threaten the peace of Zootropolis, Judy realize that there are bigger fish to fry – and that she needs Nick’s help to catch them.

Zootopia is a sweet, funny, entertaining film that might not be quite as progressive as it thinks it is. But that’s debatable and it certainly is very good to watch.

zootopia

[SPOILERS]

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Obvious Child (2014)

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Obvious Child
Director: Gillian Robespierre
Writer: Gillian Robespierre
Based on: her short film
Cast: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Paul Briganti, Gaby Hoffmann, Stephen Singer, Richard Kind, Polly Draper
Part of: FrauenFilmTage
Seen on: 28.02.2015

Plot:
Donna (Jenny Slate) spends her days working in a bookshop and her nights performing as a stand-up. But life really isn’t working out for her right now – the bookshop is closing, her boyfriend dumped her, her mother (Polly Draper) wants her to become more serious. When Donna has a little break-down on stage, she decides that she really needs to get drunk. She meets Max (Jake Lacy), a guy she usually wouldn’t even approach since he’s way too goody two shoes for her taste. But in this case, they get drunk together and end up sleeping with each other. Afterwards Donna is mortified, even more so, when she realizes that she’s pregnant, so she decides to get an abortion.

Obivous Child was funny, sweet and approaches the topic of abortion in a light-hearted manner – something you don’t get to see everyday. I really enjoyed it and in particular, Jenny Slate.

obviouschild[Slight SPOILERS]

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