Comedy

Futurama – Law and Oracle

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Futurama – Law and Oracle
  • tv.com: link

Tired of his dead-end job as a delivery boy, Fry (Billy West) sets out to find a new career… as a cop. Although I thought the previous episodes of this season were okay (if nothing special), here for the first time the show really delivers with an episode that spoofs everything from Police Academy to the original Tron. The only real disappointment to this episode is that it ends far too soon. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Philip J. Fry: Space Cop.

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Horrible Bosses, average comedy

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Horrible Bosses
  • IMDB: link

Horrible Bosses posterDon’t you wish you could kill your boss? Wouldn’t it be cool if you’re two best friends felt the same way and you all decided to go into it together? That’s the basic premise of Horrible Bosses, a foul-mouthed raunchy comedy that is neither as dark or as funny as it needs to be.

It isn’t that the movie is bad, I’ll admit to laughing at some of the ridiculous antics displayed on-screen. Not big laughs, but laughs none the less. The problem is it just isn’t that memorable.

One of the cardinal rules to screenwriting is to never mention or evoke memories of better movies, thereby reminding the audience of films they would rather be watching. A clever homage, maybe, but it can backfire at least as often as it succeeds. Namedropping movies the audience would rather be watching, yeah, that’s not such a great idea.

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Psych – The Complete Fifth Season

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Psych – The Complete Fifth Season
  • tv.com: link

psych-season-five-dvdAfter five seasons on the air Psych delivers what is arguably its best season to date. Why own the Complete Fifth Season on DVD? Oh, let me count the reasons!

The season stars with a terrific Kung Fu episode before giving us aliens, a Scooby-Doo mystery, drag racing Fast and Furious-style, the return of master art thief Despereaux (Cary Elwes), a spy (Franka Potente) on the run, an opening composed by Tears for Fears, and a Polar Bear wanted for murder.

We also get an episode that pits Gus (Dulé Hill) &; Lasseter (Timothy Omundson) against Juliet (Maggie Lawson) & Shawn (James Roday), Shawn and Gus compete against couple of Henry’s old cop buddies (Carl Weathers, William Devane) to solve a case, a Police Academy episode featuring The Karate Kid‘s Ralph Macchio, a Pych version of It’s a Wonderful Life with UPN Sitcom Gus and Bad Santa‘s Tony Cox, and the return of serial killers Yin (Peter Weller) and Yang (Ally Sheedy).

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The Hangover Part II

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Hangover Part II
  • IMDB: link

hangover-part-ii-posterPhil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Doug (Justin Bartha) and Stu (Ed Helms) are reunited in Thailand for Stu’s wedding to his new bride (Jamie Chung) in this sequel to the surprise box office hit of 2009. Once again things get crazy and a forgotten night leads to a blurry-eyed morning in a hotel room and the search for a lost member of the Wolfpack, this time the bride’s 16 year-old brother (Mason Lee).

Like most sequels, this one is far too similar to the original with almost the identical setup and resolution we got the first time around. But hey, this one has a monkey! Director Todd Phillips‘ logic is simple: If it worked once why not try it again? Not only do we get drugged-induced haziness but mistaken identity, kidnapping, and Stu’s crying over an unexpected change to his appearance.

This time the drugged setup feels even more forced the the original and creates an unnecessary change to Galifianakis’ character who was always creepy and strange, but here comes off much meaner than in the first film.

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No Strings Attached

/ / Home Video
  • Title: No Strings Attached
  • IMDB: link

no-strings-attached-blu-rayThe subject of friends with benefits usually makes for lackluster Hollywood scripts. No Strings Attached is no exception. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher star as acquaintances who meet occasionally over the years and eventually get together in as sex friends who “use each other for sex at all hours of the day and night.” The story obviously wants us to root for these two wacky kids to get together in a real relationship, but gives us no real reason to do so.

There are also subplots about his career as a hopeful writer in show business and his father (Kevin Kline) dating his former girlfriend (Ophelia Lovibond), but neither of these amount to much. And, in true Apatowian homage (nicer than saying rip-off), we also get several scenes with and his friends (Jake M. Johnson, Ludacris) and and her friends (Greta Gerwig, Mindy Kaling) discussing relationships, sex, and menstruation with slightly inappropriate (but only occasionally funny) ways.

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