Word: comicality
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...point of Smart People (which is directed by Noam Murro) is to return its anti-hero to something like civility, which is not exactly a startlingly original comic notion. Neither is its familiar academic setting, where so many mid-list novels are set. Indeed, we are told by Mark Poirier (who wrote the screenplay) that he originally conceived the story as a novel about university life, which I suppose somewhat limits its appeal to a mass audience. That said, its pretty conventional characters are often pretty funny. Or maybe I should say, surprisingly interesting. Ellen Page (recently of Juno ) brings...
...behind the novel, Allende’s tales were filled with humor and wit. When pressed by audience members about the source of her humor, Allende responded that “humor is not something you do consciously. I’m not a comedian or a stand-up comic.” She also showed a self-deprecating streak, saying, “I’m a sloppy writer,” and that she was “very bad at titles.” Although she is fluent in English, Allende continues to write her novels...
...Literature to simply “Department of English” passed at yesterday’s meeting, Department Chair James T. Engell ’73 offered up a humorous yet passionate speech in favor of the change, using the current unwieldy title and overdramatic language for comic effect.“Those of you who have followed literary studies in the past few decades may wish to detect in this some secret semiotic code or bewitchment,” he said of the change. “But you won’t find...
...Rififi, in which four men break into a jewelry store through the ceiling, codified the caper plot: it shows how they plan to do it, then shows how they do it, then shows how they get caught. Except for the gimmick of the silent half-hour, and broad comic turns from a few supporting players, the film plays the material straight. Epiphanies emerge naturally, like the moments when the gang, in the apartment above the shop, chisels a hole in the floor, and we get our first, eerily surreal view of the jewelry premises, as an umbrella is lowered through...
...when movies took themselves and their subjects seriously, when a leading man didn't have to crack wise to win over the audience, when stalwart trumped facetious, and screen conversation was more eloquent and elevated. In all those decades of heroes, Heston never once played one based on a comic book; his films? sources were the Bible, ancient history and Shakespeare...