Comedy

Due Date

  • Title: Due Date
  • IMDB: link

“Oh God! I’m so stupid.”

The one constant thought that kept running through my head while watching Due Date was how much it reminded me of a film I would much rather be watching – Planes, Trains & Automobiles. It’s almost as if director Todd Phillips and the four screenwriters attributed to the film (really, it took four of you to write this?) set out to make a more intense, edgier, dumber version of the film more closely resembling the adolescent tone of Phillips earlier work – Road Trip.

Now you may think to yourself, as I did, “Gee, that sounds like the dumbest idea ever.” And, no surprise here, you’d be right.

As the film opens Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) is on his way home to his loving wife (Michelle Monaghan) but his course is derailed before he even steps inside the airport by the incredibly obnoxious Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis). What follows is a predictable Odd Couple mismatched pairing as the two are forced to travel cross country together in order to get Peter home in time for the birth of his first child.

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The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Third Season

  • Title: The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Third Season
  • tv.com: link

This season finally puts Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Penny (Kaley Cuoco) toghether in a real relationship as well as giving Jim Parsons plenty of fun crazy to play as Doctor Sheldon Cooper. (Sorry, Sheldon’s not crazy. His mother had him tested.) Parsons even took home the Emmy for Best Actor for this season.

Season Three also includes a trip to the emergency room, two appearances by Sheldon’s arch-nemesis Wil Wheaton, Howard (Simon Helberg) gets a girlfriend (Melissa Rauch) and gets a fantasy visit from Katee Sackhoff, Raj (Kunal Nayyar) faces possible deportation, the one ring to rule them all, Sheldon’s short stint working at the Cheesecake Factory, and we finally get the story of how Leonard and Sheldon met.

In terms of extras the three-disc set is a little light but the third disc does include a set tour and a disciussion of the show’s third season by the show’s creators over dinner. The version I picked up also included a “Bazinga t-shirt” for the same price. (I wish other DVD-sets would do this!)

Fans of the show’s nerdy humor should enjoy this season which includes several memorable moments and some fun scenes of my favorite relationship on the show between Sheldon and Penny (such as this one) as well.

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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

  • Title: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
  • IMDb: link

scott-pilgrim-nesBryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim relies heavily on video game style and super-hero fantasies built over an emotional story between a slacker Canadian and, quite literally, the girl of his dreams. Eric and our own alphamonkey have a few words of their own to say on the subject of the new film from director Edgar Wright, so I thought I’d take things to another level putting the film to the test in the form of an old school video game review.

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The Other Guys

  • Title: The Other Guys
  • IMDB: link

In case you weren’t aware, Step Brothers is the greatest achievement ever in cinema ever.

Okay, it’s not. But at the rate that I, a film dork, think back to the Comedy Extroardinaire from Will Ferrell and frequent collaborator writer / director Adam McKay, it certainly would seem to own a spot on AFI’s top hundred. Following up solid laughers Anchorman and Talladega Nights, the McKay / Ferrell team has proved maybe the most bankable in Hollywood when it comes to laughs. If you’ve gone the past six years without someone quoting a Ron Burgundy line to you, it’s because you haven’t talked to anyone the past six years.

And, as a fan of the divisive Step Brothers, I, more than most, was totally excited for McKay and Ferrell’s newest film, The Other Guys. Maybe it’s because of these high expectations, but this fourth film from the duo appears to be the first hiccup, and unfortunately not a small one.

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Psych – Romeo and Juliet and Juliet

  • Title: Psych – Romeo and Juliet and Juliet
  • tv.com: link

Let’s take a moment to celebrate the return of Psych for a fifth season. The opener, entitled “Romeo and Juliet and Juliet” involves rival Chinese Triad families, kidnapping, and a pair of star-crossed lovers. Here’s a clip of Shawn and Gus stealthily tracking a ninja (and not so stealthily breaking into his lair). Great stuff! The new season continues tonight on USA.

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