Comedy

The Croods

  • Title: The Croods
  • IMDB: link

the-croods-posterIf you follow show business, you’ve probably heard that DreamWorks Animation isn’t doing too hot. Ever since they mercifully let their not-so-jolly green giant retire, they’ve struggled to find any other banner property to prop their studio on. And last year’s Rise of the Guardians was especially disappointing at the box office. To make things worse, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s studio laid off hundreds and had to break off from long-time distributor Paramount Pictures.

All of this culminates with The Croods, which DreamWorks desperately needs to be a hit to avoid slipping further into uncertainty. But The Croods is somewhat of a mixed bag. If the studio was going for a Hail Mary they failed, but it’s still a passable family film that should go down as a safe play.

The Croods is the prehistoric tale of a family of Neanderthals that have survived in a scant desert the only way they know how: by hiding in the dark almost constantly. Eldest child Eep (voiced by Emma Stone) is a teenager trying to escape the protective hold her father (Nicholas Cage! As a stupid caveman!) has held his family under to keep them from being eaten by something.

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Psych – No Country for Two Old Men

  • Title: Psych – Psych – No Country for Two Old Men
  • tv.com: link

“Gus, don’t be the remake of Yours, Mine and Ours. For that matter don’t be the original, either.”

Psych - No Country for Two Old Men

After celebrating moving in with Juliet (Maggie Lawson) with their friends and family Shawn (James Roday) goes a bit overboard in his attempts to force Henry (Corbin Bernsen) into a friendship with Juliet’s stepfather Lloyd (Jeffrey Tambor). A simple package pick-up escalates quickly and gets his father shot at (twice). Henry’s ever-lessening trust in Lloyd isn’t improved by an impromptu plane ride into Mexico, being thrown into a Mexican jail, and being kidnapped by the most wanted man in Mexico (Tony Plana).

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The Closet Reconfiguration

  • Title: The Big Bang Theory – The Closet Reconfiguration
  • tv.com: link

The Big Bang Theory – The Closet Reconfiguration

While rearranging Howard (Simon Helberg) and Bernadette’s (Melissa Rauch) closets during the pair’s dinner party for the gang Sheldon (Jim Parsons) discovers an unopened letter to Howard from his father with whom the engineer has neither heard from nor spoken to since he was 11 years-old. Rather than read the letter Howard decides to burn it, but taking Amy’s (Mayim Bialik) suggestion, a curious Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and Bernadette trick Sheldon, who read the letter before showing it to Howard, into divulging its contents.

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Community – Advanced Documentary Filmmaking

  • Title: Community – Advanced Documentary Filmmaking
  • tv.com: link

“Enjoy your collective delusion. I’m going to go get a sandwich, which, unlike Changnesia, is real.”

Community - Advanced Documentary Filmmaking

Abed (Danny Pudi) takes up the role of documentary filmmaker (again) focusing on the mystery behind Chang’s (Ken Jeong) amnesia. In order to offset the monetary strain of searching for the cause of “Changnesia” the Dean (Jim Rash) enlists the support of the entire Greendale community to help the school procure a $40,000 grant from the MacGuffin Neurological Institute. And so, despite Jeff’s (Joel McHale) objections, the Study Group decides to help their troubled former enemy.

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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and the Brain Rapist

  • Title: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
  • IMDB: link

The Incredible Burt WonderstoneThe Incredible Burt Wonderstone is an odd film about the change in magic from old school tricks and illusion to elaborate and dangerous stunts of endurance during the 1990’s, and the petty jealousies that go on behind the curtain, that feels at least a decade late. Written by Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley (who gave us the equally uneven Horrible Bosses) the script is inconsistent, especially during the movie’s third act, but it delivers a surprising number of laughs when it embraces the sheer absurdity of its premise and characters with a gleeful zeal.

The film stars Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi as a pair of old school Las Vegas magicians Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton (think Siegfried & Roy without the tigers) whose act and decades of friendship have seen better days. The pair’s partnership comes to an end when popular new street magician Steve Gray (Jim Carrey as a mix of David Blaine and Criss Angel) forces the pair into uncharted territory doing dangerous stunts that leave Anton severely injured and Burt out on the street looking for a new job.

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