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Showing posts with the label Jeffrey Tambor

Paul | Average Guy Movie Review | Movierob's Genre Grandeur

This month I was asked to choose the genre for Movierob's Genre Grandeur. Having studied the list of genres that have gone before, I realised there was one that hadn't been chosen...road trip movies. There are so many great road trip movies; Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Smokey and the Bandit, Thelma and Louise, Midnight Run, Due Date, Fanboys, The Hitman's Bodyguard, Dumb and Dumber, and even one called Road Trip.  Most of them involve crazy adventures, insane stunts, a lot of bickering and laughing and many modes of transport. Although I don't think any of them ever found an alien, which is exactly what happens in the movie I've chosen to review; "Paul".  After visiting Comic Con, Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) travel across the US visiting famous UFO related locations. Along the way they pick up Paul, an alien on the run from the government, who they have to help get home before the "Big Guy" catches up with them.

The Death of Stalin | Average Guy Movie Review

Armando Ianucci, the man behind Veep, In the Loop and The Thick of It brings us a satirical look at the death of one of the world's most infamous dictators. As the highest ranking members of the Soviet government scramble to deal with the crisis, things quickly devolve into a mad scramble for power. But who will be left on top when the dust settles? The genius of The Death of Stalin is that Ianucci has made a comedy about one of the darkest periods in our history, without shying away from the dark parts. Which is no mean feat given the subject matter! There's murder, political in-fighting, the rounding up of civilians for interrogation (and possibly worse), Lavrentiy Beria (Simon Russell Beale) - the Head of the NKVD (Soviet Secret Police) - was a serial rapist who used his position to abduct women off the street. Everyone, and I mean everyone was afraid to speak because one wrong word could result in death or a one way ticket to a gulag. And yet watching these bumbling