Well, hello there, kind folks. If you’re visiting this blog of mine, I presume that you have a certain interest in the cinema. As for me, even since my early childhood, I have had a deep love of everything related to movies and television. As far as I can remember, I have been more at ease in front of a screen than in the yard, outside, playing. It is a great way to travel, though other people’s stories, without having to foot any kind of steep bill. Over the years, I feel that movie-watching has even fuelled my own creativity.

All that being said, I welcome you in my Cinephile’s Nest. I hope you enjoy it here, feel free to come back at any time. Here you will find reviews of current movies and older ones. TV shows also. Some classics that have remained some of my favourites, some that have disappointed me. I will use a very basic star (*) system to grade them from 1 to 5 (5 being sliced bread level). Remember, these are just my tastes. I will try to explain in each review what I liked about these particular movies, without giving spoilers.

Il y aura aussi des critiques en français pour les films francophones, car j'aime également le cinéma dans ma langue maternelle. Avant d'apprendre l'anglais, plus jeune, je louais des tonnes de films traduits en français, surtout ceux de Bud Spencer et Terrence Hill. Ma mère a eu le choc de sa vie lorsqu'un jour, dans la boîte d'un de ces films, Deep Throat avait malencontreusement inséré. Une expérience formatrice pour le jeune cinéphile que je suis.

Bienvenue à tous, amusez-vous bien.

I welcome you all here, enjoy yourself.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Bo Burnham: What (2013)

Genre: Comedy
Directed by: Bo Burnham and Christopher Storer
Cast: Bo Burnham
Running time: 60 minutes



I first discovered Bo Burnham’s work online, with his infamous song about repetitive love songs (Repeat Stuff). A friend directed me to this live show of his, which is still available on Netflix, to get a better idea about his material. Right off the bat, I must say that, overall, Bo Burnham’s style is not really my thing.

In the case of What, I totally disliked the first half of the show. There is heavy use of a prerecorded narrative voice-over, and I really could not get into that. Then, Burnham was all over the place with jokes that I would call hit-and-miss. And the hits were small ones.

With the second half of the show, business picked up, so to speak. I really dug when Burnham sat down with a prop book and started reading a bunch of short poems, filled with various play-on-words. Then, he read a little story, which was also quite funny. The show ends on a strong note with Repeat Stuff.

When it comes to comedy, I have always preferred a more straight-forward approach. Going deep into a big bag of tricks, Burnham’s shtick often becomes performance art, and that’s when he tends to lose me. Some of his stuff makes me crack up, but it is definitely not a constant enough thing.


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