Comedy

Sports Night

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Sports Night – The Complete Series
  • tv.com: link

sports-night-dvdIf you blinked at the end of the last millennium you probably missed Sports Night.  The brainchild of Aaron Sorkin hit the ABC airwaves in the fall of 1998.  Although critically acclaimed, it won many awards including three Emmys, the show never really hit it big (especially compared to The West Wing). 

As his second show became a huge success, this first foray into television slowly faded into syndication.  The tagline for the show was:  It’s a show about a show about sports, that isn’t about sports at all.  I would be hard pressed to sum it up better.  An extremely well written high paced workplace comedy that is filled with kinetic energy, big laughs, snappy dialogue and one hell of a great cast.  I only wish it could have run for more than two seasons.

Continental Corp owns the Continental Sports Channel, or CSC, a third place network which airs a third place sports highlight show known as Sports Night. 

…

Sports NightRead More »

Sports Night Read More »

Sydney White and the 7 Dorks

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Sydney White
  • IMDb: link

sydney-white-poster

Hi-ho, hi-ho it’s off to mediocrity we go.  Sydney White falls far short of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in its attempt to tell a modern version of the fairy tale.  Is it cute?  Yes, in fact it’s just so damn precious it gives The Care Bears a run for their money.

Amanda Bynes stars as tomboyish Sydney White.  Sydney embarks on a new adventure to attend the college where her parents met and pledge the sorority her mother loved so dearly.

Raised by her father (John Schneider) on his various construction sites, after her mother’s death, Sydney is far from the ideal candidate the Kappa president Rachel Witchburn (Sara Paxton) wants in her house.  It also doesn’t help that Rachel’s ex (Matt Long), the kindest and sweetest frat guy ever imagined on film, or anywhere else, falls for Sydney’s charms in record time.

…

Sydney White and the 7 DorksRead More »

Sydney White and the 7 Dorks Read More »

The Hunting Party

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Hunting Party
  • IMDB: link

“Awards are like hemorrhoids; eventually every asshole gets some.”

Based, in part, on true events, The Hunting Party tells the tale of a small group of newsmen who do in hours what the C.I.A. can’t do in months – track down the number one war criminal is Bosnia. Filled with humor, drama, and packed with emotion, the film is about friendship, glory, revenge, and the freedom of the press.

Duck (Terrence Howard) is a camera man with the cushiest and highest paid job in the business.  Traveling to Bosnia for a report he encounters his old friend and former partner Simon (Richard Gere) down on his luck and doing whatever he can to survive.  Simon offers Duck a chance to relive the glory days and scoop the biggest story of the year by finding the number one war criminal in Bosnia – the Fox (Ljubomir Kerekes).

…

The Hunting PartyRead More »

The Hunting Party Read More »

Balls of Fury Sure, but Where’s the Heart?

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Balls of Fury
  • IMDb: link

“Ping-pong isn’t played for trophies; it’s played in dark alleys for hard cash and ugly women.”
 

Balls of Fury

Years ago Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler) blew his chance at the 1988 Olympic Games.  Not a washed-up has-been and punchline Fogler is offered a chance by FBI Agent Ernie Rodriquez (George Lopez) to return to glory and avenge the death of his father (Robert Patrick) by entering a secret underground tournament held by the man responsible, the crime lord Feng (Christoper Walken).

The film is filled with predictable dumb and gross-out humor and cheesy cliched training scenes involving a blind ping-pong master (James Hong) and his sexy niece (Maggie Q).  And you know it’s not a comedy without a suppository joke and male sex slaves!  *Sigh*

The acting is okay, at times, and Fogler comes off as a poor man’s Jack Black.  Walken is back to his silly over-the-top performance he gives in films like these, and Maggie Q looks good in short-shorts and Aisha Tyler spends the movie in a leather dominatrix outfit.  Yes, pre-teen males are obviously the target audience here.

…

Balls of Fury Sure, but Where’s the Heart?Read More »

Balls of Fury Sure, but Where’s the Heart? Read More »

Ten is the Funniest Number

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Ten
  • IMDb: link

“I’ve got the Ten Commandments over there and I’m going to give you ten stories.  Each one of them correlates to one of the Commandments.  So let’s get right into it.  Sorry I was late.”
 

The Ten

Paul Rudd works as our narrator and guide on this series of interlocking stories (some characters reappear in multiple vignettes), while not dealing with his own problems with his wife (Famke Janssen) and his mistress (Jessica Alba) all of which will be resolved in the adultery vignette [VI.].  Rudd, in front of a pair of huge stone tablets presents each story to the audience.  Here they are (I’ve numbered which commandment goes with each story).

[I.] After being paralyzed Adam Broady is worshiped as a hero and deasl with how his new fame changes the relationship with his girlfriend (Winona Ryder).  [II.] Gretchen Mol plays a mousy librarian who travels to Mexico and has a sexual awakening with the help of Jesus Christ (Justin Theroux).  [III.] A.D. Miles skips church to hang out at home naked with all his friends.  [IV.] Kerri Kenney hires an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator (Oliver Platt) as a father figure for her children.  [V.] A doctor (Ken Marino) kills a patient as a “goof.”  [VII.] Wynona Ryder lusts after a ventriloquist’s puppet and steals it for sexual pleasure.  [VIII.] A cartoon Rhino learns the consequences of lying and gossip.  [IX.] A prisoner (Rob Corddry) covets the “wife” (Marino) of another inmate.  [X.] Liev Schreiber covets his neighbor’s (Joe Lo Truglio) CAT Scan machine.

…

Ten is the Funniest NumberRead More »

Ten is the Funniest Number Read More »