Lake Bell
More stories
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Potential Powerhouse – How to Fix ‘Pride and Glory’
The procedural crime thriller, tales of murder investigation and corruption, a hallmark of hard boiled fiction from the 1970’s onwards, has tailed off. This is particularly frustrating when such a film emerges that should really have been a shot in the arm but was instead a bullet in the head. Step forward the hugely promising and ultimately disappointing Pride and Glory, a true Jekyll and Hyde. More
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Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 145: ‘Million Dollar Arm’
There are few things more associated with summer in America than our national pastime of baseball. So there’s no better time for Walt Disney Pictures to release a baseball drama based on a true story, right? Well, while that may be true in theory, in execution, their latest film, Million Dollar Arm, is missing the […] More
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‘Million Dollar Arm’ a decent, but not truly memorable, sports drama/showcase for Jon Hamm
Million Dollar Arm Written by Tom McCarthy Directed by Craig Gillespie USA, 2014 There’s a scene roughly halfway through Million Dollar Arm that speaks to the film’s inherently generic nature. In it, our ostensible hero, workaholic agent/pitchman Don Draper—er, J.B. Bernstein (Jon Hamm) is brought in to talk with USC baseball coach Tom House (Bill […] More
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‘In a World…’ aims for female equality, but gets trapped by the same clichés it’s trying to avoid
In A World… Written and directed by Lake Bell USA, 2013 In A World… tells the story of Carol Solomon (Lake Bell), a struggling young voice coach who lives in the shadows of her acknowledged “king of voiceovers” father, Sam Soto (Fred Melamed). Sam kicks Carol out of his house so he can live alone […] More
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Sunday Shorts: ‘¡El Tonto!’, co-written and directed by Lake Bell
Today’s film is the 2012 short ¡El Tonto!. The film stars Kyle Mooney, and is co-written by Ben Sayeg and Lake Bell, the latter of whom also takes on directing duties. Bell has built a decade-long career in memorable supporting turns in both film and television, from shows such as Boston Legal, How To Make […] More
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‘In a World…’, Lake Bell’s filmmaking debut and Sundance hit, releases its first trailer
Lake Bell has been a familiar name and face to comedy fans for nearly a decade, with standout supporting turns in movies such as What Happens in Vegas and It’s Complicated, as well as tv shows such as Childrens’ Hospital. However, for her next project, Bell decided to step in behind the camera, taking on […] More
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Sundance London 2013 – Part Four: ‘Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes’ conforms to the worst indie stereotypes
Over the years, voice-overs in trailers have largely been substituted for flashes of capitalised text and droning horns as a means of pressing the imprint of a film on one’s memory. As with most things that die out quietly with the passage of time, we probably took the sounds of Don LaFontaine’s throaty tones far […] More