Comedy

It's a story we have seen many times before. A man is down on his luck with love, largely due to his irresponsible ways, until he finds redemption by coaching a little league team. Sound familiar? Got a good idea of how this movie will progress? Good, that will save me some time.

A spin-off from Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life centered around four residents of the Eastland Academy for Girls and their headmistress, Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae). The four girls were characterized in strokes as broad as they way their physical types were presented: Blair (Lisa Welchel), rich, spoiled and blonde; Jo (Nancy McKeon), tomboy and brunette; Tootie, nosy and African-American; Natalie (Mindy Cohn), fun-loving and overweight.

One of the most basic pleasures in my soul is received from a great stand-up comedian. I grew up with the likes of Richard Pryor, George Carlin and Robin Williams. As a result, I listen to many stand-up specialists whenever I can, some are funny, some are not so funny and some I don't know if I'm listening to comedy or amateur hour at 1 in the morning. Today's special is David Cross, experienced to the stand-up scene in a brand new special. Let's see how it goes.

I've seen a lot of shows come and go on Comedy Central over the years. The network really found gold when it began to air the crude animated adventures of Eric Cartman and his pals of South Park. It appears that ever since that day, the network has been searching high and low, mostly low, to catch that kind of lightening in a bottle again. Let's face it. The South Park boys aren't going to last forever. Comedy Central must certainly understand that someday they'll need another solid anchor for their network. One of the most recent attempts has been the Jeff Dunham Show. From what I've seen of this release, Comedy Central had best keep on looking.

Mel Brooks has often been called the Master of Comedy. The moniker might be a bit too grandiose, but he was certainly the master of the parody. In recent years that has become more evident than ever. Too often I've been forced to sit through something called a comedy. Not only can I do so without ever actually laughing, but there are far too many titles of late that don't even give me the chance to crack a smile. It's not that I've seen so much that it's hard to find anything original. I can still laugh like crazy when I watch a Sanford and Son episode I've seen at least 50 times or an Abbott & Costello routine

"It doesn't look like they have chicken tenders here."

How can you not like Jackie Chan? If there has been a more versatile action or martial arts star, I haven't heard from him. The man made a name for himself in China's film industry as a remarkable martial arts performer. For decades he's been the closest thing the film industry has seen to Bruce Lee. But, unlike Lee, Chan wasn't content with being the best in a single genre. When he finally came to Hollywood, he decided it was a good idea to work a bit more lightheartedness into his films,

"Even in the most primitive man, the need to create was part of his nature. This need, this talent, clearly separated early man from animals who would never know this gift. And here, in a cave somewhere in the North American Continent, about two million years ago, the first artist was born. And, of course, with the birth of the artist came the inevitable afterbirth ... the critic."

That's me. Afterbirth here. Brooks always did love to poke fun at the critics. And why not? Unfortunately, this was not one of his better films and likely received a lot of poking from the brethren.

"You, sir, are guilty of disseminating disbelief. Killing dreams. Committing first-degree murder of fantasy, which by Fairy Law, in order to pay your debt to humanity, you are hereby ordered to serve time as a Tooth Fairy. The normal sentence is one week, but because you have the nerve, the unmitigated gall, to actually call yourself a Tooth Fairy, thus making a mockery of everything we stand for, I'm sentencing you to two weeks Tooth Fairy duty."

Dwayne (once The Rock) Johnson has made a bit of a new career move over the last few years.

"The Legend Had It Coming."

It seems that pretty much every decade has had its screen version of Robin Hood; sometimes it's on television. Robin Hood is one of the most popular characters in film, and there have been plenty of versions, each with their own particular take on the multiple legends that have made up the character over the centuries. Currently Ridley Scott has just released his own epic version of the tale with perfectly-cast Russell Crowe in the title role.

"Step 1: Reconnaissance. First you need to identify your target."

If you are a regular reader here, you likely know that I have a fondness for Andy Griffith. I recently watched and reviewed in these pages one of his earlier comedy films, and rather enjoyed the old simple rural comedy. That's what makes this one so painful to write about. I think that Andy Griffith missed the boat when he was targeting the audience for his latest comedy, the sexually charged Play The Game. I'm going to just admit up front that this movie made me feel very uncomfortable.