Amy Poehler

News, Reviews & Features
  • Review: Wine Country is a waste of a great ensemble cast

    Movie Review | Luke Whiston | 17th June 2019

    One thing that fascinates me about film-making is not the how of how movies are made, but the when. We see stars grow in real time these days and very often, once their careers have developed enough, they become producers - meaning the shows and films we watch follow their whims. That explains why we get a glut of movies about having babies, followed by a wave of thirties singleton rom-coms, and these subjects mould the wider zeitgeist. And now we're entering what should be the most interesting phase, where all your favourite stars are burnt out and holding grudges: the mid-life crisis. Fight! Fight! Fight!

  • Deconstructing Pixar's Inside Out, the film I admire most

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 29th July 2018

    There are films that I loathe, there are films that I tolerate and there are films that I enjoy, but there are few films that I truly admire. With some movies I find it best you don't think too carefully how the sausage was made, because nothing spoils the illusion of cinema more than peeking behind the, uh, sausage curtain. Remember the pre-release behind the scenes photos of Robert Zemeckis' The Walk, that showed Joseph Gordon-Levitt doing a tightrope walk on a massive green plank? Cheers for saving me £12.50, idiots. Some movies, on the other hand, practically invite you to climb into the filmmaker's headspace; they want you to know just how much effort went into its creation. Pixar's Inside Out is one of those movies, where you can't help but marvel at the myriad thought processes that led to its genius inception and flawless execution. It's the movie I admire most and I still can't stop thinking about it.

  • Inside Out

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 26th July 2015

    We've all seen the list of Pixar's story concepts throughout the years, right? 1995: What if toys had feelings, 1998: What if bugs had feelings, etc until we get to the Inside Out punchline: What if feelings had feelings? It's an apt joke, not just because you can imagine that this formula for success was actually decided years ago in a boardroom somewhere, but because Inside Out really does feel like the ultimate Pixar film. In terms of fun, emotion, gags and - yes - cries, Inside Out meets the very best of what the studio has done to date, and it does so within a simple, lovable realisation of an incredibly complicated abstract concept. This really is Pinnacle Pixar.

  • Parks and Recreation: Season One DVD

    TV Review | Ed Williamson | 2nd April 2013

    I know you have to reckon BBC4's amazing if you're middle class, but in the main I could do without hour-long documentaries about iron filings on a Thursday night. If I get a say how my licence fee's spent, though, I'm happy to sign off on Parks and Recreation.

  • Baby Mama

    Movie Review | Ali | 28th July 2008

    It's tempting to write off this lopsided baby-com as Knocked Up for chicks or Juno for grown-ups, but in reality, it's far more than a simple Judd Apatow knock-off with added lady bits. For starters, it's fronted by two of the strongest female comedians working in America today; the pairing of Tina Fey (Saturday Night Live's fir...