A rainy night alone is one of the few situations that genuinely calls for a great film. No interruptions, no compromises on what to watch, no one talking over the quiet moments.
Looking back, the 2000s were a golden era for this kind of filmmaking - studios still willing to fund serious work, directors still pushing at the edges of what was expected.
Great comedy is harder than drama. The timing has to be precise, the characters have to be real, and the laughs have to be earned rather than demanded.
Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
Ninjas with bloodline limits begin disappearing in all the countries and blame points toward the fire nation. By Tsunade's order, Kakashi is sacrificed to prevent an all out war. After inheriting charms left by Kakashi, Naruto fights through friends and foes to prevent his death while changing the minds of those who've inherited the will of fire.
The Planet Express crew return from cancellation, only to be robbed blind by hideous "sprunging" scam artists. Things go from bad to worse when the scammers hack Bender, start traveling through time, and take Earth over entirely! Will the crew be able to save the day, or will Bender's larcenous tendencies and their general incompetence doom them all?
History's favorite Gauls assist Queen Cleopatra when she wagers that the Egyptian people can build a palace for Julius Caesar in just three months.
Manny the mammoth, Sid the loquacious sloth, and Diego the sabre-toothed tiger go on a comical quest to return a human baby back to his father, across a world on the brink of an ice age.
The comedies that age well are the ones built on character. Jokes change. Human behaviour doesn't. These films are about people, not punchlines.
Wallace and Gromit open a bakery, accidentally getting tied up with a murder mystery in the process. But when Wallace falls in love, Gromit is left to solve the case by himself.
An Eastern European tourist unexpectedly finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.
A documentary about the corrupt health care system in The United States whose main goal is to make profit even if it means losing people's lives. "The more people you deny health insurance, the more money we make" is the business model for health care providers in America.
When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
Set in 1992, a manager Vincent has to run a children's holiday camp for three weeks and to face the unexpected concerning the place, his colleagues, various problems linked to children about the rooms, trips, their belongings...
A twist only works if the film has earned it. These films plant their revelations early, play fair, and still manage to blindside you.
A great comedy earns its place in memory not through jokes but through character. The funniest moments are the ones that are also somehow true.