Funny or Die Presents Oddball Comedy and Curosity Festival 2015

Bitch Fest
As a person who attends many shows, festivals, and events related to music, entertainment, or the like, it is expected that they never EVER start on time.  The only event that starts on time is church, with a close second being the opera.  Even at the movie theater when a film is supposed to start at the time printed on the stub, it does, but not after 15-20 minutes of commercials and previews.

Therefore, when an event is supposed to start at 5:15 PM, I don't expect it to start at that time.  When Kumail Nanjiani played the Trocadero Theatre on Thursday, September 10th at 7:30 PM, his opening act started around 7:40 PM with Kumail probably hitting the stage closer to 8:00 PM.  That was acceptable and it was a very funny show.  We left towards the tail end of the Q&A portion to catch the train and arrive home at a decent time.

What annoys me is when a venue is intentionally vague so they can profit off the public.  I understand that there is a cost to use the venue - the Susquehanna Bank Center - employing staff at said venue, and of course, the cost of having the ten main comics as well as the "opening act" comics.  A business has to make money, but being intentionally vague feels dishonest, especially on a Sunday evening when many people have work the next day.

First off, there was no schedule released until arriving at the destination.  The list of main comics could be found on the site, but not their scheduled times.  I spoke to many other attendees who were also surprised by this so I knew I wasn't the only one. 

Lastly, before I review the comics, I was upset that I didn't get to see Aziz Ansari perform.  He went on close to his 10:20 start time, but the public transportation schedule dictated our departure.  UBER/LYFT was charging premium pricing at the time so fuck them too.

The Comics
The "opening act" comics performed from 5:20 PM to sometime after 6:40 PM at the festival stage.  I don't know where the festival stage was located, but since we purchased lawn seating, our priority was securing a good spot on the lawn facing the main stage.  The first main comic was slated to begin at 7:10 PM.

Nikki Glaser was your typical female comic talking about relationships, marriage, and children.  Some of her material related to us (my girlfriend and I) personally which that made us laugh despite it following the female comic blueprint.

Jay Pharoah is excellent at his impressions so I was looking forward to that part of his act.  His Kevin Hart was perfect.  He did some Eddie Murphy and Louie C.K., which was funny, but then he did too much Eddie and started to sing a song from "Coming to America".  At that point I took a bathroom break and I don't remember much else.  I think he sang something else, but I don't recall.

Michael Che, of SNL Weekend Update, was Michael Che.  He did his set, leaned on the mic stand, and finished.  I think I remember laughing, but I don't know if his lack of charisma is just his act or how he is all the time.

Anthony Jeselnik is my favorite comedian right now, yet sadly, while I did enjoy his set, I felt it was made up of material I have already heard before from his 2014 tour, mixed with some jokes from the most recent season of Last Comic Standing.  His ending Grandma joke was one I definitely heard before, one which I forgot the punch line, so it was a mixed bag that made me feel that, while he has a strong presence, he probably has newer material that he decided not to showcase at this event.

Bridget Everett was the highlight of the night.  She didn't tell conventional jokes nor did she do a conventional stand-up routine.  She mostly sang which I normally don't find funny, but her simple crowd work with her unexpected act had me laughing the most and hardest I had all evening compared to the comics that appeared before and (spoiler alert) after her. 

There was a short break between the first five comics and the last five comics, which was a nice reprieve.

Nick Kroll was the first to begin after the break.  I enjoy his character on The League, but his characters in the Nick Kroll show are all the same and are all not funny.  Thankfully, his set did not disappoint, but I did start to lose interest.  While he was entertaining, the energy that Bridget displayed was gone and it just felt all down hill from there.

Dave Attell, while a comedian I quite enjoy, didn't capture the energy back either.  His set was very good, but like Nick's and everyone before, save for Bridget, started to blend together.  I recall a lot of poop jokes, Philadelphia/Camden jokes, Donald Trump jokes, and "there are a lot of white people" here jokes.

John Mulaney was a breath of fresh air.  He did repeat a joke or two, or did variations of jokes I've heard from his Netflix special "New in Town" from 2012 which I happened to watch again recently.  He's very charismatic in his anti-hero persona and his cadence reminds me of a friend of mine, so he definitely drew me in and did not disappoint.

Amy Schumer, coasting in on her success of "Trainwreck", did not impress me.  As a fan of her Comedy Central show, "Inside Amy Schumer", most of her set fell flat.  At this point, the energy level of the crowd seemed steady if not low, and as the temperature decreased, so did my interest in her set.

I was looking forward to Aziz, but as mentioned earlier, we missed his set.  While I packed up our belongings, he started with "there are a lot of white people" here, so I shrugged my shoulders as I trudged out of the venue.

Despite the negativity and complaints, overall I was entertained.  Ignoring the outrageous costs of the food and beer, the ticket price of $30 per person for lawn seating for the time spent and variety of comedians was well worth it.  They all did a hell of a job.  Even though public transportation was the reason for early departure, it allowed us to drink as much as we chose, and also it saved us from spending $30 on parking and battling traffic.

McFarland, USA [2015] review

Kevin Costner plays Kevin Costner who does just enough to keep us interested. The real stars are the Mexican-American high school students who unfortunatelyhave to share screen time and story with the actors playing Kevin Costner's family AND the Mexican-Americans adults that are portrayed as gangsters, but SPOILER ALERT, are simply just a group of automobile enthusiasts. The movie thinks that the story of these cross country runners wouldn't be interesting enough that they had to pad it with side stories that just distracted from the main plot. I enjoyed the main plot and there is one specific scene towards the end of the movie that really pulls at the heartstrings. Also since this was based off a true story, I really enjoyed the recap of the current status of the original cross country team as well as the real life coach that Costner portrayed. It was definitely better than Disney's "Million Dollar Arm", and part of me thinks that they could have cast Jon Hamm in Kevin Costner's role and you could have still had the same movie. All in all, it may not sound like it, but it was enjoyable and the end was just enough to save it.

Kingsman: The Secret Service [2014] review

Many months ago, when I first saw trailers for this film, it put a bad taste in my mouth. The actors came off very conceded so I had no interest in it. Also, I enjoy some British humor, but some can really turn me off. Regardless, a friend highly recommended it so I put it on my Netflix queue and here we are. I'm happy to report that the movie was actually good and very entertaining. There were some predictable parts, but the non-predictable parts were very well done. I didn't like the main character at first as he reminded me of a British Eminem, but thankfully he grew on me. He does pull of some crazy parkour moves towards the beginning that seemed to come out of nowhere, but later it's mentioned that he dropped out of the military, so he probably learned it there (ha, ha). The cinematography of the church scene, in particular, was very well done and probably my favorite scene. I definitely recommend that you add this movie to your queue. I wouldn't mind watching it again in a few months.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ [2015] review

Another successful return to the world of Dragon Ball Z. There was a good amount of humor spread out throughout the film, even during the very serious scenes. I would have like more in movie explanation why Goku and Vegeta had blue hair, but I was to find some what of an answer online after the movie. As a casual fan I was able to follow most of the "inside" jokes, as well as appreciate some of the characters' "signature" moves/attacks. It did seem that a lot of characters were sidelined (not even shown) and even Vegeta himself felt sidelined, but the movie alludes that the Saiyans will need to eventually put aside their pride and work together, which is something they won't be doing anytime soon because 1) it would be against their character to do so and 2) the movie would be over too quickly.

Inherent Vice [2014] review

In the first few minutes, as the plot unfolds, it becomes apparent that everything is somehow connected. While I enjoy a good mystery, I felt that I needed to map it out on paper and utilize the subtitles to keep it all straight. This movie was more enjoyable when I went back to re-watch certain scenes. I found a lot of humor in the first half of the movie, but unfortunately, the pacing of the second half of the movie slowed down considerably where it didn't pick up back again until the climax/finale. So while there were some success with the plot, it was hard to ignore the weaknesses.

As for the characters, I did enjoy all the recognizable faces as well as the acting. Even though Reese Witherspoon had a small role in the film, I did enjoy seeing her and Phoenix act together again. Some of the stoner type of acting grated on me a bit, but thankfully it didn't detract too much and sometimes it added to the humor, especially in the way the hippies were treated by the police.

I'd give this movie 3/5 stars with it potentially earning .5 to 1.0 points on a full second watch.

Focus [2015] review

Despite the negative reviews, I really enjoyed the twists and turns of this movie. I thought Will Smith and Margot Robbie worked well for the most part, but I found it difficult to feel any real chemistry when both characters didn't trust each other, and as an audience member, I didn't trust them because I was waiting for the next twist. I thought I had guessed the final scene, but it turned out I was only half right so I was happy to be proven wrong.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation [2015] review

I liked it. The opera scene was fun, the water sequence was a stretch, the knife fight wasn't needed, and of course the movie wouldn't be complete without the obligatory car chase. I would say that I liked Ant-man slightly more as it had more humor and less predictability. I do have to praise Cruise. He doesn't phone it in and he continues to be a pleasure to watch, at least in this franchise.