Tag: Comedy

Nonnas

2025   Netflix

Rated:  PG

Length:  1 hr  51min

Comedy ~ Drama ~ True Story

Directed by Stephen Chbosky.

Starring:  Vince Vaughn, Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire, Brenda Vaccaro with Linda Cardellini and Susan Sarandon.

Your Table Is Waiting………

FROM NEXTFLIX:

Nonnas follows Joe (Vince Vaughn), who, after losing his mom and grandmother, turns to their generations-old recipes for solace and direction. With the money from his mom’s insurance and a little help from his friends, he opens Enoteca Maria, an old-school Italian spot staffed by four grandmothers, or “nonnas,” from different cities in Italy, who share their dishes with the neighborhood.

FROM THE WEB:

Nonnas is based on the True Story of Joe Scaravella who took the insurance money from his mother’s policy and opened his Staten Island, New York Restaurant Enoteca Maria in 2007. Just like in the movie, he hired all Italian Grandmothers (Nonnas) to do the cooking. The Restaurant is still open and thriving today, and as of 2015 they have expanded the use of Nonnas as Chefs from not only Italian Ancestory but Culinary Cultures from all over the world. You can visit Joe Scaravella and Enoteca Maria on the web at their site: ENOTECA MARIA.

The filming of Nonnas took place in various places around New Jersey including: Bayonne, Paterson Great Falls National Park, Downtown Paterson, Hoboken, Jersey City and Elizabeth. In Elizabeth, New Jersey they filmed the Restaurant scenes in a now closed Italian Restaurant named Spiritos. Spiritos opened in 1932 and closed in 2020 due to the pandemic. They paid homage to the restaurant by featuring the name and date in the tiled floor in the movie, which I thought was so classy. According to a previous lifelong customer who’s mother used to work at Spiritos:

“After they permanently closed, the people in the neighborhood knew there was a movie being filmed at Spiritos in Elizabeth NJ, but we didn’t know too many details. SPIRITOS opened in 1932 and they kept everything authentic and original including the menu and decor, until they closed for good in 2020. Their ravioli was legendary and it was my favorite, but some loved the pizza best, or the veal parm, or the garlic salad… I ate there regularly throughout my life and my mom worked there for 25 years until they closed. Like all of their waitresses who were all seniors, they took the orders without ever writing them down. They didn’t serve coffee or dessert because the line of hungry customers waiting for a table used to wrap around the room. If you wanted butter you had to bring it from home because they didn’t serve it. They didn’t need it because the bread was for mopping up the “red lead”, as their hearty gravy was nicknamed.”

“What a beautiful way to honor the history of such a special place that sadly had to close, than by using it as a set for a movie that celebrates the traditions, food, and love that the restaurant left behind.  Spiritos brought family, food, love and tradition to the table, and it’s clear that the NONNAS movie is going to do the same.”

FROM BOBBY:

I am always on the hunt for the latest movies to watch and had my eye on NONNAS. I am a Vince Vaughan fan from way back and when I read the movie description about a guy opening a restaurant to honor his late Italian Mother and Grandmother, I was in. As I started to watch and saw from the very beginning that it was a true story, I started googling on my phone. It was indeed a true story and it gets even better, he wanted to use real Italian Grandmothers, Nonnas, to do the cooking. Joe Scaravella wanted to bring the love and warmth of an Italian family gathering, and the food his Mom and Nonna made to the masses in a restaurant, to honor them and spread the love.

Are you kidding me? We need more of this in our world, how is this not a major headline story? Well, ok…I guess a major Motion Picture is good enough. I was hooked from the very beginning as Joe watched his Mom and Nonna in the kitchen, I swear I could smell the food cooking in the kitchen. And then along comes Linda Cardellini, I am a fan! Susan Sarandon and all the Nonnas were loveable in this, I love how Roberta and Antonella show their love for each other with such disdain at first!

I love Italian food and love to cook. I’ve worked in an Italian Restaurant in another life and there is something very special about all day simmered Red Gravy (Tomato Sauce). I have an Italian friend up in Pittsburgh who grew up like Joe did and told me stories about Sunday family gatherings and the infamous “Sunday Gravy” sauces his mom and Nonna would make. I love this story and I love the movie. I have to tip my hat to Joe Scaravella, his Nonnas and Enoteca Maria. And I think Netflix, Vince Vaughan, Linda Carellini, Susan Sarandon, Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire and Brenda Vaccaro all did a fantastic job of bringing the warmth and love of Joe’s story to life.

Highly Recommended!

A Simple Favor 2 (Another Simple Favor)

2025   Amazon MGM Studios

Rated: R

Length:  2 hr

Comedy ~ Mystery ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Paul Feig

Starring:  Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Bashir Salahuddin, Michele Morrone, Elena Sofia Ricci, Elizabeth Perkins, Alex Newell, and Allison Janney.

Every friendship has its twists.

From Amazon Prime’s Official Website:

Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) reunite on the beautiful island of Capri, Italy, for Emily’s extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman. Along with the glamorous guests, expect murder and betrayal to RSVP for a wedding with more twists and turns than the road from the Marina Grande to the Capri town square.

From Bobby:

Another Simple Favor picks up five years after A Simple Favor ends. Emily is in prison for the deaths of her sister Faith and her Father. Stephanie has gone from Busy Single Mom Blogger to a True Crime Blogger and Author, with a new book just released about Emily’s case and story. She is about to speak at a book release event in a local Warfield, Connecticut Book shop when guess who walks in……

EMILY!?

Who tells Stephanie and everyone there that she has been released from prison on a technicality and that she is going to get married. AND she wants Stephanie to be her Maid of Honor at the wedding in Capri, Italy. Emily informs Stephanie that if she refuses she will sue her for telling her story and using her likeness on the cover of the book without her permission. Realizing that she has no choice and that it might be good material for another book, Stephanie and her PR agent join Emily on her Fiancé’s Private jet and head to Capri, Italy. Whereas you might expect there are more twists and turns than the first movie.

SO what did I think of Another Simple Favor with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively? Absolutely Beautiful! What? No, not Anna ….well yes, Anna. Anna Kendrick is Beautiful. But no…..What? Blake? No not Blake…well ok yes Blake is Beautiful but I’m talking about Capri, Italy. Holy Toledo, absolutely beautiful! Oh take me there now and I will never leave….Ok, back to the movie. It is always a hard job to top the original with a sequel. History has never been on the side of the sequel, they usually pale in comparison.

But I thought it was good, I think you have to have seen the first one to appreciate it. It did take some goofy twists and turns but I think the movie had to to stand up to the first and in a sense poke fun at itself. And I love seeing Anna Kendrick in action. It made me wonder at the end if it was setting itself up for a third installment in the franchise when the mother in law says…”I have A Simple Favor to ask….”

Time will tell……….

Streaming On Amazon Prime

(L to R): Detective Summerville (Bashir Salahuddin), Vicky (Alex Newell), Darren (Andrew Rannells), Sona (Aparna Nancherla) and Stacey (Kelly McCormack) in ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR.
(L to R) Emily (Blake LIvely), Dante (Michele Morrone), Vicky (Alex Newell) and Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) in ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR.
Anna Kendrick stars as ‘Stephanie Smothers’ in ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR.

A Simple Favor

2018   Lionsgate

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  57min

Comedy ~ Mystery ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Paul Feig

Starring:  Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, and Andrew Rannells.

What happened to Emily?

Anna Kendrick stars as Stephanie Smothers, a widowed mother of a young boy in Warfield, Connecticut. She is a nerdy over-achieving Mom Vlogger with a dark past and secrets to hide. Her son Miles has become good friends with Nicky whose mother is Emily Nelson (Blake Lively). One day as Stephanie is picking up Miles after school, Nicky and Miles express their desire to hang together and have a “Play-date”. Just as Stephanie tells Nicky they can’t because his mom isn’t there to grant permission, Nicky’s mom Emily arrives to pick up Nicky. The boys beg for permission and Emily asks Stephanie if she wants to go to her house for an adult beverage while the kids play.

Stephanie and Emily become good friends and Emily starts asking Stephanie for small favors…..”I have A Small Favor to ask…” starting with watching or picking up her son Nicky because she is very busy with her work. Things progress with Stephanie seeing Miles more than her mother Emily until one day Emily tells Stephanie that she has an emergency trip she must make to Miami for business. Days pass and Stephanie becomes more and more concerned about Emily as she seems to have vanished. Stephanie goes to Emily’s office to find answers and discovers a picture of Emily with the caption “Gotta have Faith”. Sensing a clue, she steals the picture and the mailer that it came in from her office.

Stephanie turns into a private detective and starts investigating Emily’s past and whereabouts and, thanks to a tip from one of her Vlog viewers, uncovers Emily’s dark past. All the while broadcasting her progress on her Vlog. It is interesting how Stephanie in the beginning seems like a nerdy goody two shoes but evolves into a super sleuth with her own dark secrets.

The movie is based on the Novel A Simple Favor by Darcy Bell. I love the twists and turns in this film, ones you never see coming. It is an interesting performance by Anna Kendrick as the nerdy do good single Mom who becomes caught up in the dark and sinister plot involving Emily and her dark past. Blake Lively from the beginning as Emily hints at deeper and darker things to come, you just get the sense there is trouble boiling beneath the surface.

I have seen this movie at least once before, actually I think I did watch it when it first came out and again about two years ago. I watched it last night before I watch Another Simple Favor, the sequel (Now Streaming On Amazon Prime) tonight. I am a couple of days behind given it came out on Thursday but My father ended up in the hospital and threw things off a bit. The good news is he is home and doing well and tonight we get to watch Anna Kendrick in action again!

Dog

2022   Amazon MGM Studios

Rated: PG-13

Length:  1 hr  41min

Comedy ~ Drama

Directed by:  Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin.

Starring:  Channing Tatum, Jane Adams, Kevin Nash, Q’orianka Kilcher, Ethan Suplee, Emmy Raver-Lampman, and Nicole LaLiberte.

“A filthy animal unfit for human company and a…DOG”

SYNOPSIS (From The Movie Website):

In this road-trip comedy, two hard-charging former Army Rangers paired against their will — Briggs (Channing Tatum) and a Belgian Malinois named Lulu — race down the Pacific Coast in hopes of making it to a fellow soldier’s funeral on time. Along the way, they’ll drive each other completely crazy, confront the possibility that pet psychics are real, and begin to reckon with the one thing they were trained never to do: surrender.

THE BACK STORY:

The Road Trip:

In Channing Tatum’s Interview with Ethan Alter at Yahoo Entertainment News, he talks about how his one last road trip with his real life Dog Lulu inspired the movie Dog.

Channing Tatum is a big believer in channeling grief into art. In 2018, the Magic Mike star hit the road for one last ride with his longtime canine companion, Lulu — a pit bull Catahoula mix he shared with his ex-wife, Jenna Dewan. Diagnosed with cancer, Lulu didn’t have long for the world and Tatum wanted to make every last moment with her count.

“When I went on my last road trip with my puppy, [I experienced] that feeling of, ‘There’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing left to do,'” he tells Yahoo Entertainment now. “You just have to accept it and be thankful for the time that you did get and know that they’re not supposed to be here forever. I’m supposed to go on and she has to go someplace else.” 

But that last road trip with Lulu also marked a new beginning for Tatum. The experience served as the touchstone for the new drama, Dog, his first starring role since 2017’s Logan Lucky, and the first film that he’s directed alongside his regular collaborator, Reid Carolin. In the film, Tatum plays Briggs, an army veteran who is tasked with driving a skittish military dog — a Dutch Shepard appropriately named Lulu — hundreds of miles to her handler’s funeral, giving them plenty of time to tussle, and bond, along the way.

The Dogs:

In the MovieMaker article by Margeaux Sippell on July 3, 2024 she reveals how three dogs played the part of Lulu in the Movie Dog:

There are actually three different dogs who played Lulu. Their names are Britta, Lana 5, and Zuza, and though they look similar to German Shepherds, they’re actually Belgian Malinois, a breed well suited to police or military work. The production team got them from a kennel in Amsterdam that trains dogs for military service. And the story of how the three dogs got adopted by their current owners is just as heartwarming as the movie itself.

“They’re such high energy, aggressive dogs that they each got assigned to a trainer, and the trainers all said at the very beginning, ‘There’s no way we’re taking these dogs home, so we have to figure out when the movie’s over what we’re going to do, who we’re going to adopt them out to,’” Carolin said. 

Then the pandemic hit, and production was halted for nine months — giving Tatum and the trainers ample time to work with each dog to get them ready for the movie. The result was a powerful bonding experience that started out reluctant, just like the plot of the movie, but ended with all three of the trainers deciding to adopt the dogs they worked with.

THE REVIEW:

Do you like Channing Tatum? 

a) NO ~ Don’t Watch 

b) Yes ~ Continue on

Do you like Dogs?

a) NO ~ Don’t Watch 

b) Yes ~ Continue on

Seriously if you don’t like dogs than this isn’t the movie for you, and if you’re not a Channing Tatum fan you’re probably not going to like it. Because it is a Dog movie, aimed right at Dog lovers. If you’ve ever had a dog, you know what I mean. They become a family member, you become very attached to them.

Well now that I’ve said that, I might have been wrong………….maybe you are a cat lover (Or a pet-lover period) that LOVES, I mean LOVES Channing Tatum. Then you might like it because you can relate to the story about a pet that you absolutely became emotionally attached to, and you want to watch Channing in action. Ok, my bad…….. Carry on.

Bur Seriously, it is that kind of movie. A guy and his dog go on one last road trip and bond. Yup, you know what I mean, right to the heart this one. I liked it but I am a dog lover and a Channing Tatum fan. There were good laughs and drama on that road trip. Definitely entertaining and heartwarming.

So really, what’s not to like? There’s Channing Tatum, there’s a gorgeous Belgian Malinois (actually three), there’s Marijauna (if that makes you happy……), Pet Psychics, Tantra Healing (I think mine needs some healing…), a vintage Ford Bronco (I want one..), and a road trip (I’m ready, let’s go!).

Yes, you should watch it. I did and liked it.

From Channing Tatum’s Facebook Post:

A little over a year ago I got back from a road trip where I said goodbye to my best friend. Now I’m making a movie inspired by her. So proud to announce that DOG will be released by MGM Studios and in theaters next Valentine’s Day weekend. March 2, 2020

Channing and Lulu
Channing and Lulu
Channing and Lulu

The Burial

2023   Amazon MGM Studios

Rated:  R

Length:  2 hr  7min

Comedy ~ Drama ~ True Story

Directed by:  Maggie Betts

Starring:  Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones, Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, and Bill Camp, and Alan Ruck.

“Jerry’s a… a dream client. He’s got a great narrative. He’s a war hero. A decorated war hero. He served in World War II. He was, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross… for service for his country.”

Tommy Lee Jones stars as Jeremiah O’Keefe, an honest hard working Businessman and Family Man from Mississippi. He runs a chain of Funeral Businesses and a Funeral Insurance Company. Jeremiah found himself in trouble with the Mississippi State Insurance Commission after one of his Business Associates got him involved in a Ponzi scheme and he lost a lot of money. His Contract Lawyer, Mike Allred (Alan Ruck) suggests they set up a meeting with The Loewen Group from Canada who have been buying up privately owned Funeral Businesses that find themselves in financial trouble. Jeremiah agrees and they meet with the head of The Loewen Group, Raymond Loewen (Bill Camp).

Jeremiah and Raymond reach an agreement for The Loewen Group to buy three of Jeremiah’s Funeral Businesses, but Jeremiah stipulates that they must promise not to sell them Funeral Insurance. Jeremiah wants to keep that aspect of their business for himself. They shake hands on it but months later the Loewen group is stalling on any payments and has sold their own Insurance to those businesses, reneging on the handshake deal. Infuriated, Jeremiah takes notice of a flashy personal Injury Lawyer from Florida named Willie E. Gary (Jamie Foxx). Jeremiah and his young Lawyer Hal Dockins (Mamoudou Athie) convince Willie to take the case and file a lawsuit against The Loewen Group.  The showdown is on as Jeremiah O’Keefe and his lawyers and the flamboyant Willie E. Gary and his team of lawyers take on the very successful and powerful Loewen Group.

I have to point out the racial overtones in the story because they play a part in the story and the trial. Jeremiah O’Keefe and his Contract Lawyer Mike Allred are successful old school white folks from Mississippi, who grew up in a very segregated and racist environment. White is white, and black is black. Although Jeremiah seems less prejudiced than Mike Allred who is definitely old school Racist, with family ties to the K.K.K.  Jeremiah’s Lawyer is a young well educated Black Lawyer, and Willie E. Gary and his team of Lawyers are all black. Raymond Loewen and his Corporate team of Lawyers are white Canadian. The Contract Lawyer that the Loewen Group hire to head the legal team for this case is a Black Female Trial Lawyer (Jurnee Smollett) with tons of experience winning cases.

The Lawsuit was filed and the trial was held in Hinds County, Mississippi, a predominantly African American Community. The filmmakers wanted to highlight the dynamic of a white plaintiff facing a predominantly Black jury, leading Jeremiah O’ Keefe to hire a prominent Black lawyer, Willie Gary, to navigate this situation and appeal to the jury composition. Jeremiah was confidant that his contract Lawyer and old friend Mike Allred was too white, southern and racist to win the case given the environment in which it was held. The Trial in itself is a study in racism in the deep south.

I love this movie, I have seen it several times. I am a Tommy Lee Jones fan from way back and I think this is one of his best. I have gained new found respect for Jamie Foxx recently after watching his special on Netflix, where he addresses the health and life scare that he had. I liked him in this as the flamboyant Willie E. Gary. And I love the True Story movies, and I love the underdog stories and this one is both. I think it is a really good movie and I would definitely recommend it. Amazon bills it as a Comedy Drama and it does have it’s comedic moments, but I would say it is more of a courtroom little guy against the big guy drama than a comedy.

Highly Recommended!