Comedy | www.jaredmobarak.com

TIFF13 REVIEW: Begin Again [Can a Song Save Your Life?] [2014]

2013/09/082014/05/15 Jared Mobarak

“Yeah. I just phased out my cassettes.” To answer the title’s question—Can a Song Save Your Life?—writer/director John Carney says, “Yes.” A song can save someone from jumping off a subway platform and someone else from the searing emotional pain of being scorned in love. Music in general is an art form that can move us to tears with one simple chord or touchingly real lyric. It alters us in a way that can’t be explained; the same song telling a person there is purpose while the guy standing a…

TIFF13 REVIEW: The Double [2014]

2013/09/082014/05/01 Jared Mobarak

“It’s terrible to be alone too much” Comically dry like director Richard Ayoade‘s debut Submarine, his sophomore effort takes more than a few steps towards an even more arid realm of complete existentialist surrealism. Adapted by he and Avi Korine, The Double brings Fyodor Dostoyevsky‘s novella to the big screen with a surefire confidence in its visual form and an eccentric comedy that should go a long way towards securing “The IT Crowd” starrer as a permanent, unique voice in contemporary cinema. There is a definite stylistic kinship to his…

TIFF13 REVIEW: The F Word [2014]

2013/09/082013/11/04 Jared Mobarak

“Love is stupid monkeys dancing in a slapstick hurricane” I’m officially a sucker for romantic comedies where guy meets girl by engaging in sarcastically cynical conversation consisting more of glib quips than substantive information. It’s more than likely because that’s exactly what my girlfriend and I do even to this day and most definitely because I’m a hopeless romantic just like the male leads generally are. There is something absolutely relatable to the awkwardly genuine smiles of two introverts connecting with an acquired humor made funnier by the fact everyone…

TIFF13 REVIEW: All Cheerleaders Die [2014]

2013/09/062013/12/19 Jared Mobarak

“It’s supposed to be cold, right?” Oh those silly amateur Wiccans trying to play God. Haven’t they learned it never ends well? You bring one cat back to life and you think you can change the course of nature all because you’re in love. It’s a sweet thought sure, but as anyone who has ever seen a horror film knows, there are always consequences. That whole “one life for another” stuff does its best to balance out the universe without fail. Thankfully Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson know how to…

TIFF13 REVIEW: The Art of the Steal [2013]

2013/09/062013/09/16 Jared Mobarak

“Oh. So you’re a wizard now.” When you’re looking to create a successful heist flick it’s usually a good idea to keep things simple. Make everything as airtight as possible, don’t try for too many twists and turns, and maybe throw in a double cross to add a bit of intrigue. This is something that the underrated television show “Leverage” excelled at, allowing its stellar cast to shine above its crime of the week formula. When the theft itself is a foregone conclusion and you know it will all end…

TIFF13 REVIEW: Asphalt Watches [2014]

2013/08/282014/05/19 Jared Mobarak

“Hey! Don’t forget your Boston Piiiiiiiiiizzzzzzaaassssss.” I’m not one to condone illicit drug use, but you might want to take something if it’s available before sitting down to watch Asphalt Watches since its animated road trip plays out as though its creators were doing the same while producing it. Based on writers/directors Shayne Ehman and Seth Scriver‘s eight-day hitchhiking journey across Canada, everything you see really did happen. Rather than simply recount their adventure, however, they’ve decided to give each other cartoon avatars with which to engage the nightmarish menagerie…

TIFF13 REVIEW: 2013 Short Cuts Canada Programmes

2013/08/272013/09/16 Jared Mobarak

Programme 1 A far cry from the documentary short Joda—a visual letter to Jafar Panahi—that was included in the TIFF Short Cuts Canada Programme last year, graphic designer turned filmmaker Theodore Ushev’s Gloria Victoria is all about the visceral and aural capabilities of film without something as unnecessary as words. Full of sumptuous textured layers formed by sketch drawings, Russian Constructivist elements, what I believe were faces from Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, and more, the rising crescendo of Shostakovich’s “Invasion” from Symphony No. 7 helps spur on an emotive war in…

REVIEW: American Milkshake [2013]

2013/08/272013/09/04 Jared Mobarak

“I wish I was one of them” As someone who graduated with the Class of 2000, the idea of high school comedy American Milkshake taking place in the 90s definitely piqued my interest. I often joke I’m a child of the 80s despite knowing the descriptor doesn’t fit someone who was only eight at decade’s end, so seeing a film try to do to my teen years what The Breakfast Club did to the previous generation’s seemed exciting. After watching writers/directors David Andalman and Mariko Munro’s creation, however, I’m beginning…

REVIEW: Dean Slater: Resident Advisor [2013]

2013/08/252013/08/27 Jared Mobarak

“Not all my people fit into a bento box” There was little chance I’d ever truly enjoy the Sander Brothers’ debut feature Dean Slater: Resident Advisor, so the real challenge became seeing if it could at least entertain me. Chock full of fart jokes and displays of public urination, one needs to be of a certain taste to appreciate the type of comedy director Colin Sander and his co-writers Christian and Scott have brought to the table. As such, the film will probably play well with freshmen co-eds about to…

REVIEW: The World’s End [2013]

2013/08/242015/07/25 Jared Mobarak

“Lets Boo-Boo” The Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy—a label jokingly coined during the press tour for its second entry—has come to a close with a mint chocolate chip wrapper flapping in the wind. Following horror comedy Shaun of the Dead and bromance actioner Hot Fuzz, The World’s End‘s sci-fi apocalypse makes good use of its title with some fire and brimstone and robots spraying blue blood. The old “Spaced” team took a hiatus when writer/director Edgar Wright delved into comic adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and writer/star Simon Pegg and…

REVIEW: Afternoon Delight [2013]

2013/08/232013/08/30 Jared Mobarak

“I’m gonna go put Bonnet out” For a woman like Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) who after a few too many drinks will candidly admit to a wild college life in her twenties, a sexual awakening wasn’t supposed to be something she had yet to experience. She’d done it all already; that’s what that decade of her life was for. Now is the time to be a wife, a mother, and an adult with responsibilities who understands the consequences of her actions. But what if that isn’t working? What if living the…