Comedy

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

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  • 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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Everything Must Go

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Everything Must Go
  • IMDB: link

everything-must-go-posterNick Halsey (Will Ferrell) is having a really bad day. In the first few minutes of the film he loses his job, his wife locks him out of the house and leaves town (first throwing all his possessions on the front lawn), his car is repossessed, his bank accounts are locked out, and he falls off the wagon and begins drinking again.

Unable to deal with the situation Nick begins living on his front lawn, drinking all day long, and pretending to hold a yard sale to keep the police from arresting him. During his plummet to rock bottom he meets a new neighbor (Rebecca Hall), befriends a neighborhood kid with little direction (Christopher Jordan Wallace), and discovers a few tawdry secrets about his neighbors (Stephen Root, Rosalie Michaels).

The script from writer/director Dan Rush (based on a short story by Raymond Carver) isn’t all that original, but it is told well. We’ve seen the tale before, perhaps not as ridiculous as this (really? he has no recourse to access his bank accounts?) as he discovers, both literally and figuratively, Everything Must Go.

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Hop

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hop
  • IMDB: link

hop-posterThe opening sequence of Hop is not only entertaining but a visual feast that conjures images of Gene Wilder and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Sadly, the effort and care that went into crafting this sequence is absent from almost every other frame of the film.

Our story centers around two selfish and somewhat unlikeable characters. The first is E.B. (voiced by Russell Brand) who leaves Easter Island days before he’s scheduled to take on the responsibilities as the new Easter Bunny. E.B. would rather play the drums than be burdened by the duty being asked of him by his father (Hugh Laurie), the current Easter Bunny.

James Marsden stars as our second lead, the lazy and unfocused Fred O’Hare (O’Hare, get it? *sigh*) still looking for that “dare to be great opportunity.” His parents (Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins) would just like for him to find a “get a job and move out of the house opportunity.”

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