Category Archives: Eccentric cast of characters

2019, Acceptable Trash, Art Critic, Art Marketing, Art theft, Artsy Fartsy, B-movie, Bisexual theme, Bloody scenes, Eccentric cast of characters, Greed, Horror, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Sex Scenes

Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

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From Netflix:

A feared critic, an icy gallery owner and an ambitious assistant snap up a recently deceased artist’s stash of paintings — with dire consequences.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 52 minute horror of a film.

Perhaps the first horror is that  an accomplished actor such as Jake Gyllenhaal allowed himself to appear in this schlock festival.  Perhaps the second horror is that I allowed myself to watch the entire mess.

Imagine Gyllenhaal appearing as an effete, almost effeminate bisexual art critic. At first I did not recognize him.  As a first guess maybe he needed the money. Or maybe he just wanted to add a horror film to his remarkable resumé.

If there is an underlying theme in the film, it is that the collective of art critics here are a rare species that speak an inscrutable art language consisting of meaningless gibberish while all the time they are really only interested in fooling their clients into spending vast sums of money.

Alas, their greed is their undoing!

If you can afford to waste two hours of your life, then have at it!

 

2021, Accidental Death, Action sequences, Addiction, Black humor, Bloody scenes, Brother-Sister relations, Comedy, Cover-up, Defies Categorization, Drama, Eccentric cast of characters, Ethical struggles, Fist Fight, Forensics, Funeral Director, Hopeless Love, Murder, Murder Investigation, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Norwegian, Norwegian Comedy, Nudity, Outrageous Behavior, Plot twists, Police Investigation, Problematic Ending, Quirky, Small Town

Post Mortem: No One Dies In Skarnes (2021)

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From IMDB:

Live Hallangen is declared dead but hours later she suddenly wakes up with a sudden urge for blood. Meanwhile, her brother Odd tries to keep the family driven funeral home afloat.

From Netflix:

It’s just another average day in this small Norwegian town
until a young woman is found dead in a field. But things are not as they seem.

From Netflix you can stream 6 episodes of this Norwegian series. Each episode lasts about 44 minutes.

Categories such as comedy, drama, and thriller have been applied to this off-beat series.  If I tell you what the series is about, I am afraid you will not watch it.  Let me begin, therefore,  by saying that no matter the theme, this is NOT a vampire story.   More than any other characterization,  for me “comedy” rings true because it shows Live (pronounced Lee-Va ), her brother Odd, the policeman Reinert. and Dr. Sverre getting in deeper and deeper in their combined efforts to conceal the truth about them and the strange secret of the town of Skarnes while trying desperately to keep the chief of police, Judith, off their trail.  Some comedies such as this one are built on a succession of outrageous events. When was the last time you saw a completely clothed woman having a mud fist fight with a completely naked man with a plastic bag tied over his head?

Well done and well worth the watch.

 

2005, Action Hero, Action sequences, Amusing banter, Black humor, Bloody scenes, Bromance, Car Chase, Comedy, Complicated, Detective, Eccentric cast of characters, Gay theme, Kanopy streaming, Mayhem, Murder, Outrageous Behavior, Romance, Satirical ultra-violence, Suspense, Torture, Uncategorized, Violent, Witty dialog

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

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From Kanopy:

From producer Joel Silver and screenwriter Shane Black, both of Lethal Weapon fame, comes an action-comedy spoof of rough-and-tumble buddy films–KISS KISS BANG BANG. A private detective (Val Kilmer – Alexander), a thief posing as a struggling actor (Robert Downey Jr. – Gothika) and an actual struggling actress (Michelle Monaghan – The Bourne Supremacy) become entangled in a murder mystery filled with twists, turns, betrayal and, most importantly, romance.

From Kanopy you can stream this 103 minute complete film.

Is it possible to call a film a comedy in which there is a succession of murders by gun shot ?  No matter what that says about our current culture,  the non-stop action and the rapid-fire bromantic (yes, Webster lists that word) dialog was just plain fun.

Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey) is a screw-up from start to finish whose skin is regularly saved by Gay Perry (Val Kilmer). Yes, Kilmer plays a gay man named Gay Perry.

Yet another violent guilty pleasure.

2016, Action sequences, Coarse manners, Defies Categorization, Eccentric cast of characters, Exaggeration Comedy, Explicit sexual discussion, Father-son relations, Friendship, Improbable details, Kanopy streaming, Masturbation, Must suspend disbelief, Offbeat, Philosophic Discussions, Vulgar

Swiss Army Man (2016)

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From Kanopy:

Hank (Paul Dano) is stranded on a deserted island and given up all hope. Everything changes when a corpse named Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) washes ashore. The two become fast friends, and go on an epic adventure to bring Hank back to the woman of his dreams.

From Kanopy you can stream this 98 minute complete film.

Easily one of the strangest films I have ever seen.  No holds are barred in the outrageous conversations,  more than frank sexual discussions, and visual effects.

Just one example should convince you that this adventure is not your average film experience.  As Hank prepares to commit suicide on a deserted island, he spots a corpse that has just come in from the sea and landed on the beach.  This corpse noisily farts repeatedly. Eventually Hank uses Manny as a flotation device and the two sail off into the sea using Manny’s fart power as an outboard motor.

Heard enough?   Keep an open mind and I’ll bet you can’t stop watching.

2014, America of the 1960s, America of the 1970s, Based on a Book, Coarse manners, Cocaine, Crime, Crude Talk, Detective, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Dysfunctional Lives, Eccentric cast of characters, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Kanopy streaming, Nudity, Offbeat, Old-Fashioned, Period Piece, Politicians, Quirky

Inherent Vice (2014)

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From Kanopy you can stream this 149 minute feature film.  Kanopy’s own summary is:

Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master, There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Boogie Nights) reteams with The Master star Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator, Her, Walk the Line) for this darkly comic adaptation of the 2009 Thomas Pynchon novel, set in late-sixties Los Angeles. When private eye Doc Sportello’s ex-old lady suddenly out of nowhere shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer boyfriend whom she just happens to be in love with, and a plot by his wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a loony bin…well, easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the psychedelic ’60s and paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that “love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip” or “groovy,” that’s being way too overused—except this one usually leads to trouble.

If you enjoy period pieces you will enjoy watching  bearded Joaquin Phoenix cleverly disguised as a hippy private investigator.  Consider the impressive list of actors:

Benicio Del Toro, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Katherine Waterston, Martin Short, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon.

Slow, complicated, and historic.  Many references to the Vietnam period politics (Nixon, etc). Very frank sexual discussions and situations  accompanied by full nudity.

Probably not for everyone.

1999, Amazon Prime, Bad Acting, Comedy, Eccentric cast of characters, Eccentric Detective, Explicit sexual discussion, Happy ending, Love Story, Male Prostitute for Women, Mostly About Sex, Nudity, Outrageous Behavior, Sex Scenes, Slapstick, Somewhat ridiculous plot, Tourette's Syndrome, Trash, Vulgar

Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999)

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From IMDB:

An average aquarium cleaner house-sits for a gigolo, only to be forced to become one himself.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 28 minute comedy film.

It seems I have reached the very bottom. Rob Schneider plays the hapless aquarium cleaner in a very trashy film that offers crude language,  a large set of strange and bizarre women who will pay for our hero’s services, and some genuine belly laughs.

Our gigolo actually never has sex with his “clients”,  instead trying to make each woman happier about herself.

You must appreciate slapstick comedy to enjoy yourself.

I LOVE TRASH!

2016, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Amazon Prime, Amusing banter, Barely Acceptable Trash, Coarse manners, Comedy, Contract Killing, Crude Talk, Eccentric cast of characters, Exaggeration Comedy, Explicit sex, Father-daughter relations, Friendship, Gay theme, Often downright silly, Outrageous Behavior, Quirky, Sex Scenes, Violent, Vulgar

Nice Package (2016)

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From IMDB:

A wannabe professional thief, his gay best friend, a sexy hostage, some thugs and a mystery package everyone wants.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 38 minute complete film.

If vulgarity, goofy characters, tongue-in-cheek violence, satiric sex scenes, and absurd conversations are your thing, this barely acceptable trash will hopefully provide you with some laughs.

Motto: I LOVE TRASH!

2016, Abduction, Action sequences, Amusing banter, Art appreciation, Art forgery, Art theft, Attempted Murder, Based on a Book, Character Driven, Comic Moments, Contract Killing, Crime, Eccentric cast of characters, Flirting, German, Love Story, Luxury Appreciation, MHz Choice, Murder, Suspense, Theft

Allmen (2016)

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From MHz Choice:

Humorous, fast-paced detective stories about the exploits of Johann Friedrich von Allmen, gentleman art thief turned amateur sleuth. Based on the novels by Martin Suter.

From MHz Choice you can stream 3 episodes of this German series. Each episode lasts about 1 hour and 27 minutes. English subtitles.

Allmen is a gentlemen with champagne tastes but unfortunately often in great debt to such an extreme that he is about to be evicted from his palatial family estate.  At every turn he is accompanied by his faithful but usually worried valet Carlos.  In fact Carlos has every right to fear of the safety of his boss who constantly puts the both of them in mortal danger. Allmen could be described both as an expert in the finer things of life and also as a clever deadbeat.  Watch him bluff his way into getting a suite in a luxurious hotel without paying a dime.  Along the way and throughout the series he is involved with the beautiful millionairess Joelle ‘Jojo’ Hirt.   Carlos also finds the love of his life, Maria Moreno.

Think of the series as a mannered theatrical tour through beautiful places accompanied by detailed discussions of luxury possessions and consistently droll conversations.

 

2021, AIDS, Alcoholism, Based on true facts, Blackmail, Character Driven, Cocaine, Drama, Drugs, Eccentric cast of characters, Emotional abuse, Explicit sex, Fashion, Gay Prostitution, Gay theme, Jealousy, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Occasionaly violent, Promiscuity, Revenge, Sexual promiscuity, Vulgar

Halston (2021)

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From IMDB:

It tracks Halston as he leverages his single, invented name into a worldwide fashion empire that’s synonymous with luxury, sex, status and fame, literally defining the era.

From Netflix you can stream the 5 episodes of this series. Each episode lasts between 44 and 53 minutes.

You need not be one bit interested in fashion to enjoy this acting tour de force.   Ewen McGregor at 50 years of age puts on one of the best performances of his long career. Just take a look at his resume.

If there is a theme here, it is the often typical “rise and fall”  of a public personality (e.g. Senator McCarthy,  Jeffrey Epstein, hopefully Donald Trump).  We can only trust that the details are true to life.  Before this film I personally never heard of Halston, but I do vaguely remember Jackie Kennedy’s pill box hat.

Notice the actor Bill Pullman who plays the business man David Mahoney.  He played Harry Ambrose in the creepy three season series called The Sinner which was reviewed earlier in this blog and strongly recommended.

Hopefully you will not find McGregor’s pitch perfect effete  portrayal and the explicitly strong gay theme too off-putting.  Just admire the acting.

2010, Acceptable Trash, Amazon Prime, Amusing banter, Comedy, Corny at times, Crude Talk, Eccentric cast of characters, Exaggeration Comedy, Father-son relations, Love Story, Mother-son relations, Sight Gags, Slapstick

Cougar Town (2010)

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From Amazon Prime Video:

Courtney Cox stars as Jules, a recently divorced single mother exploring the truths about dating and aging. While most women in their twenties go through life experiencing the challenges and pitfalls of meeting men, Jules took on the responsibilities of marriage Now in her forties, she embarks on a journey to self-discovery surrounded by divorcees and singletons eager re-live a time gone by.

From Amazon you can stream this 6 season  comic soap opera. Seasons and number of episodes are: 1 has 24, 2 has 22, 3 has 15, 4 has 15, 5 has 13, 6 has 13 making a total of 102 trashy and funny episodes. Each of the 102 episodes lasts about 22 minutes.

“Acceptable trash” is probably the most accurate characterization of this binge festival.  Making it the last video I watched in the day just put me in a good mood. Humor style remains constant but there is enough clever repartee to keep the fun going.  Almost all the characters are around for the entire collection except for Bobby Cobb who leaves  at the beginning of season 6.  Eight constant characters are the main actors:

  • Courteney Cox plays Jules Cobb, the lead female character.
  • Christa Miller plays Ellie Torres, the cynical people-hater.
  • Busy Philipps plays Laurie Keller, the slut-proud dumb blond.
  • Dan Byrd plays Travis Cobb, son of Jules and Bobby.
  • Josh Hopkins plays Grayson Ellis,  Jules’ new neighbor boy friend.
  • Ian Gomez plays Andy Torres, Ellie’s husband.
  • Brian Van Holt plays Bobby Cobb, Jules’ divorced husband.
  • Bob Clendenin plays Tom, the misfit surgeon neighbor.

Courteney Cox might be familiar to you as Monica from “Friends.”

When I had seen all 102 short , funny,  trashy, and sometimes corny episodes I felt bereft.  Enjoy the nonsense!