LAST ONE LAUGHING (LOL)
Amazon Prime
IT turns out that comedians are just like us. They think rude words are funny.
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Amazon Prime have continued their push for more Australian content following the release of The Test and their stand-up specials by launching Last One Laughing (LOL). It's a bizarre half-game show, half-improv free-for-fall where 10 comedians battle it out for $100,000 by making the others laugh.
If you giggle, chuckle, or even smile - you're eliminated. Australian-born Hollywood actress Rebel Wilson is the encouraging host as comedians Frank Woodley, Nazeem Hussain, Anne Edmonds, Dilruk Jayasinha, Ed Kavalee, Becky Lucas, Nick Cody, Sam Simmons, Joel Creasey and Susie Youssef resort to all manner of weird and, sometimes shocking, behaviour to crack their straight-faced peers.
Simmons provides the real belly laughs for his pure absurdity, which involves a jacket full of sewn-on penises and bathing nude in an inflatable pool of Fanta. Edmonds is also entertaining with her introduction of "Carol" a sexually-explicit elderly woman who spends her free time at Crown Casino.
Despite those antics, it was Edmonds dropping a C-bomb and shouting "pussy" which brought the first eliminations.
The more conventional comedians like Youssef and Kavalee struggle to compete with the wackier personalities of Simmons, Edmonds and Woodley in the improv scenarios and become increasingly awkward as the room descends into madness.
Last One Laughing (LOL) resembles being the only sober person at a drunken party, but half the laughs come from watching comedians resort to stupidity to elicit a response. They mightn't be laughing on screen, but you'll be giggling on the couch.
OUTCRY
Stan
NETFLIX has enjoyed success of late with their true-crime documentaries Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich and Athlete A, and Outcry is Stan's turn to tap into our insatiable appetite for sex scandals.
The five-part series tells the story of Texan high school football star Greg Kelley, who was arrested in 2013 for allegedly molesting a four-year-old boy in home daycare. At 19 Kelley was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but a grassroots campaign protesting his innocence quickly gained momentum in his hometown of Leander.
In 2017 Kelley was exonerated.
Director Pat Kondelis began interviewing Kelley while he was still in prison and spoke to a host of family members, his girlfriend, football coaches and even critics for the documentary. It also delivers a fascinating insight into school football's dominance in small town USA.
In an era dominated by the rise of #MeToo and victim empowerment, Outcry provides an interesting juxtaposition by showing how innocent lives can be ruined by poor policing and a flawed judicial system.
SNOWPIERCER
Netflix
THE 2013 film Snowpiercer, directed by South Korean Bong Joon-ho, might have been hailed a post-apocalyptic masterpiece for its originality and scope, but sadly the rebooted TV series isn't as cool.
Snowpiercer is a 1001-carriage train that continually circumnavigates the globe which is locked in another ice age after scientists attempted to reverse the effects of climate change. The wealthy elites occupy the front carriages, while conditions deteriorate towards the back of the train, until you reach the impoverished "tailies" who are starving and plotting revolution.
The story follows former homicide detective Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) who is dragged from the tail to investigate a murder by powerful head of hospitality, Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly).
While Snowpiercer looks amazing, the support cast and the script is as frozen as the outside world, making for a sluggish ride.