Although Don’t Look Up, the newest film from director Adam McKay, is fiction, it feels very real. McKay has done this before, most notably with The Big Short in 2015. His clever direction and his ability to add spices of humor really come together in Don’t Look Up. It is a dark but lethally funny comedy filled with plenty of adrenaline.

In Don’t Look Up, we are introduced to unknown astronomers Dr. Randall Mindy and Dr. Kate Dibiasky, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, who make a harrowing discovery. While studying the earth’s crust and its orbit they realize that a comet is on a collision course with the earth. Though they are brilliant astronomers, they can’t get anyone to take them seriously because neither of them came from an Ivy League school.

Mindy and Dibiasky do eventually get the attention of egotistical United States President Janie Orlean, played by Meryl Streep, but she cares more about publicity than she does about the fate of the world. Her son Jason, played by Jonah Hill, who is her Chief of Staff, is in way over his head.

This marks Hill’s second film with DiCaprio, their first one being Wolf of Wall Street(2013). In that film Hill and DiCaprio were on the same side, but in Don’t Look Upthey are closer to enemies. DiCaprio has almost the same attitude in this film as he had in Wolf, but here he plays a good guy trying to save the world. Hill is fantastic as his mother’s Chief of Staff, and Meryl Streep can of course still pull off a powerful, egotistical woman with aplomb. Three and a half stars for Don’t Look Up.

The Humans, directed by Stephen Karam, is a film adaptation of his one-act play of the same name. It is a dark comedy with lots of family tensions, realism, and irony. The darkness of the film’s cinematography sets the tone for this haunting, and sometimes funny movie.

The Humans is set in Manhattan, in an old duplex with lots of maintenance issues. It centers on the Blake family, which include Erik, played by Richard Jenkins, Erik’s wife Deirdre, played by Jay Houdyshell, their daughter Aimee, played by Amy Schumer, and younger daughter Brigid, played by Beanie Feldstein. There is also Brigid’s boyfriend Richard, played by Steven Yeun, and grandma Momo, played by June Squibb.

The Blake family is together for the Thanksgiving holiday, but as soon as they are all together the resentments start to build, with everyone struggling to get along. The dialogue between the characters in The Humans is often a recipe for disaster, as they struggle to find peace in each other’s company, and the problems with the duplex is the source of much annoyance between the characters. The performances by Richard Jenkins and Steven Yeun, both playing self-centered, melancholy characters, probably stand out the most in the film.

I found myself enthralled at times during The Humans, but it ultimately feels like a watch once film. It is a worth it, though, for those who love play adaptations and twisted family dynamics. Three stars for The Humans.

I am a fan of bizarre comedies, even if they push the envelope in terms of subjects and boundaries, because that is where the plot can be the funniest. Some may view director Sean Baker’s newest film, Red Rocket, as having a bizarre concept or premise. The film is indeed twisted, but its bizarre premise is the genius of Red Rocket.

In Red Rocket, Simon Rex plays Mikey Saber, a negative person who is a has-been adult film star and a failing actor. Mikey leaves Los Angeles for his small Texas hometown, where he moves in with his estranged wife and mother-in-law. He can’t find work and has a drug problem, but he thinks his life is starting to move forward when he meets a girl named Strawberry, played by Suzanna Son. Mikey is love crazy for Strawberry, but his life goes south as his judgment worsens. Red Rocket is a recipe-for-disaster film where I found myself hoping for more disasters. I haven’t laughed so hard at a film with such a strange plot as this in ages.

The performance by Simon Rex as Mikey is right up his alley, since he was actually an adult film star at one time and he has played unconventional roles in movies and TV. This one, though, is his best unconventional role yet. Rex will have his fans laughing until it hurts with Red Rocket.

Red Rocket is a daring and hysterical comedy, and it will get the NSYNC song, “Bye, Bye, Bye”, stuck in your head because it is played over and over in the film. I promise, though, that the song will only add to the joyous entertainment of Red Rocket. Three and a half stars for the hilarious Red Rocket.