Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 19th, 2012
The debut season of this Comedy Central program was entitled "Hoodies" on it's DVD and Blu Ray release. Season 2 is called "Deep V's" in honour of the garment Daniel Tosh, the host, wears in each episode. Very little is different as far as format or new segments are concernced since the last time I wrote about this show (https://upcomingdiscs.com/2012/06/05/tosh-o-hoodies-blu-ray/. To avoid redundancy I shall simply add to that review with a couple new relevant points for this season.
YouTube had all but killed off the idea of mailing silly home videos to the likes of America’s Funniest Home Videos. These days, people prefer to stream dozens of videos on their computers and save themselves from the watered down jokes of Bob Saget or current host Tom Bergeron. Tosh.O takes a similar format of displaying such silly videos, but focuses on things that have gone “viral” online. Like AFHV, Tosh.O adds their own commentary and sketches to the presentation but in a much more crass, cable-savvy manner.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 17th, 2012
Most Disney live-action kid’s films do not have a kind memory in my heart. They feel contrived, full of soft characters and contain tons of bad comedy. They also proceed to force upon the audience some kind of weak message about morals and attempt to make us feel better about ourselves. This never works. However, today I have a shining light in the sea of bad Disney live-efforts and that film is the 1995 cult classic, Heavyweights.
The clock counts away the seconds until 3:00pm. The bell rings, it is the last day of school. Gerry Garner (played by Aaron Schwartz) misses his school bus and tries to run after it to no avail. He eventually gets home through some mishaps and his parents (played by Jeffery Tambor and Nancy Ringham) call him into the living room. There Gerry runs into a gentleman named Roger Johnson (played by Tim Blake Nelson).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 13th, 2012
A small mining community in Western Australia get visited by a vagabond dog. This Red Dog (named after the fact that the red dust of that desert region stained his fur that colour) has a deeply significant effect on every worker's life yet not one of them can truly claim to own him until an American bus driver begins working there. Red Dog was a big fan of hitchhiking across the country and seems to be attracted to riding great distances on a bus with his new best (human) friend.
I should have known what I was getting into when I saw that this was a dog story. All the best dog films are incredibly sad. This film was based on true events and its saddest portions include heavy references to the saddest (true) dog story of all time (nope, not Old Yeller), Hachi-ko, the story of a dog that waits for his master after they have died (was adapted twice onto film, as well as laid out the groundwork for the most depressing episode of Futurama “Jurassic Bark”). The story begins with miners resolving that they cannot shoot Red Dog after he ate poison, but this is not the saddest part. Over half way through the audience gets an emotional kick to the throat that I, for one, was not prepared for. By no means is this a criticism of their storytelling, more a warning to those that may think they're in for a family-ready delight (ok...they ARE but certainly not without a box of tissues as a prerequisite).
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on December 11th, 2012
Even if you managed to catch the little-seen Budz House when it was released on DVD earlier this year, chances are you weren’t exactly begging for more. (At least not if you’re one of my esteemed colleagues.) The cast of the wannabe cult stoner comedy featured a handful of comedians, some of whom have reunited for this hybrid talk show/stand-up special. Although too many of the jokes rely on tired clichés, these live performers seemed infinitely more comfortable in their natural habitat.
The 67-minute special is hosted by actor/comedian Faizon Love, who played a character named (wait for it) Big Shitty in Budz House. We first see Love hanging out in a green room with some of his fellow Budz House actors talking about what they want to do next with their lives. Two female cast members say they want to be Avatars — one blue and one red — while another actor wants actress Danielle E. Hawkins to fart in his face. I realize the previous sentence sounds like something I made up just to see if you’re still paying attention, but I promise you this actually happened. After resisting the strong urge to turn this off after less than two minutes, Love reveals that he’s always wanted to host a talk show. And we’re off!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 6th, 2012
"I'm back. You're welcome."
I didn't see the series during either of its first two seasons on HBO. When the second season arrived to be reviewed I was more than a little nervous about jumping in without knowing what had come before. Certainly, I checked out the buzz on the show and got an idea of what it was about. But nothing could have prepared me for what I finally encountered when I popped that first disc in my Blu-ray player. It's safe to say that you can join this show for the third season without having seen the first two. I'm sure it helps, but it didn't take me more than five minutes to completely understand who and what Kenny Powers was. He literally speaks for himself. I'll give you a quick up-date.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 4th, 2012
Stemming from a backdoor pilot episode within the series Girlfriends, The Game is a comedy series about a woman (played by Tia Mowry Hardict) who gave up her career as a doctor in light of the success of her boyfriend's being a star athlete (this is the first pang of misogyny, with more to come). This is the show's fifth season, which is its second after being canceled by CW and revived by BET.
Most of the male, lead characters in this show are current or former members of a fictional professional football team called the San Diego Sabers. In fact, most of them seem to have been cut from the team for one reason or another but coast day to day on their fame and burn through their riches. The first few episodes do siphon some comedy from this situation when the character Derwin Davis (played by Pooch Hall, which is a perfect name for a baseball player...but that has nothing to do with anything) has to sell off his cars, home and learns the true cost of all things he used to buy while abiding with the “baller's code.” Suddenly a $900 bottle of champagne is no longer casually sent to friend's tables at the bar.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on December 4th, 2012
Help me out here. I know the traditional gift for a couple’s 25th wedding anniversary is silver and that gold is supposed to mark 50 years. But what do you get a spouse to commemorate your considerably less ceremonial 31-year wedding anniversary? I’m not sure what the answer is, but I don’t think one week of intensive marriage counseling is the conventional way to go.
Kay (Meryl Streep) is desperate to reconnect with her husband, Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones). Kay and Arnold are unquestionably devoted to each other, but their love life is mired in a years-long rut. (They sleep in separate bedrooms and we eventually learn they haven’t had sex in nearly five years.) To help reignite the spark in their marriage, Kay signs the couple up for a weeklong series of sessions with renowned couples’ specialist Dr. Bernard Feld (Steve Carell) in the quaint town of Great Hope Springs, Maine.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 28th, 2012
"I promise you the secrets of the universe, nothing more..."
It's been an astonishing 15 years since Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones first teamed up as Agents J and K respectively for the intergalactic police force Men In Black. The film was like a breath of fresh air. It combined top-flight science fiction fantasy with whimsical humor. It was a hit at the box office, and like most wonderfully original hits it was quickly followed by a sequel that had almost none of the cleverness and freshness of the original film. The film was so unmemorable that I sat with other critics getting ready to see Men In Black 3 and none of us could actually remember what the second film was even about. Years went by and most of us put the franchise in our rearview mirror.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on November 27th, 2012
“‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the hood/Not a hater was stirring, cuz it was all good.”
With Thanksgiving in our rearview mirror, ‘tis officially the season of packed shopping malls and cheesy Christmas movies. Most of these flicks will air on ABC Family or the Hallmark Channel over the next few weeks, but Santa got ahead of himself and recently delivered Christmas in Compton to my doorstep. Though the film has more on its mind than its dopey cover art suggests, I kinda wish Santa had also left me a gift receipt.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 21st, 2012
A single father gets a major job offer working in a prestigious Chicago restaurant, but the job requires him to move his entire family from out of their hometown of Toledo. They are set up with a new apartment but their dog, Shakey, is not permitted in the building. This family must then decide whether staying for this swanky job is worth losing a member of the family, or is there any other alternatives to losing Shakey?
I have had a bad string of luck when it comes to reviewing films that place “Family Approved” on their cover. To me, this has become a badge of low quality. Alas, this film is not the redeemer I'd hope it would be but it does have a couple bright spots I shall mention.
