Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 21st, 2009
In the first season of Showtime’s Californication, we were introduced to David Duchovny’s character, bitter yet upbeat writer Hank Moody. Hank, after moving to Los Angeles on the heels of his first novel - a critical darling entitled “God Hates Us All” - has recently lost his long-time love and, by extension, his daughter, to a straight-arrow bore who makes his girlfriend Karen (Natascha McElhone) feel safe.
The first season told us the story of Hank’s attempts to win Karen back and his increasingly perilous relationship with a sixteen-year-old Lolita whose inclination for combining sex with a wicked right hook leads to one of television’s all-time great novel titles. Oh yeah, and it also featured lots and lots of raunchy sex between Hank and many gorgeous women. This was a major reason for the show’s notoriety, but what really makes the show work is Duchovny’s portrayal of Hank. He imbues him with a charming kind of good-natured nihilism and, even when he is being a grade-A jackass, we still like him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 19th, 2009
You know, I was watching this episode of the popular Showtime series Dexter the other night. There was this murder victim who had taken off work early to go and see a romantic comedy with his girlfriend. He ended up getting his head bashed in and dead. Is it saying something about my own bias that the first thing that came to my mind was that it was a lucky thing he got his skull caved in before he had to go to the romantic comedy? Romantic comedies. Chick flicks. Date movies. Whatever it is that you want to call them, ladies, they are the stuff of nightmares for your significant others. It might appear to be harmless enough fun for you girls out there, but for your guy? I guarantee he’s squirming in his seat the entire time. You do know that he doesn’t really have a bladder problem, don’t you? There’s a reason he has to go to the bathroom 20 times in those 2 hours. It’s even worse when we’re watching them at home. Here’s a helpful dating tip: Don’t ask him if he wants you to put it on pause on one of those 20 bathroom breaks. It might also be advisable to keep any sharp objects, firearms, or prescription drugs out of reach of your guy during date movie nights. There isn’t a guy out there who wouldn’t opt for a painful visit to the emergency room over another hour watching a romantic comedy. We’ll do it; after all a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do. Just don’t forget the poor sap deserves to be amply rewarded when the film’s over. Now if you’re a guy and you find yourself, like me, watching this one by yourself…. not that there’s anything wrong with that… I hope you have a good reason. Mine is to write this here review. Just another bullet I take for you, my gentle readers.
Andie Anderson (Hudson) writes the “How To…” column for Composure Magazine, the fastest growing women’s magazine in the country. You know the kind of articles I’m talking about here: “How to talk your way out of a ticket”, “How to lose weight in 5 Days And Still Eat All You Want”. It’s those female lifestyle burning questions. But, Andi wants to write about more serious issues like politics and religion. Her editor (Neuwirth) promises her a shot at writing about what she wants if she turns in a killer article. She decides to call it “How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days”. It’s a kind of dating tips in reverse. She’ll get a guy into her and then begin to pull out all of those don’t do’s in a relationship: acting clingy, whining, feminizing his apartment, dragging him to a Celine Dion concert, and one she forgot: taking him to see How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. Enter Ben Berry (McConaughey). He’s an ad executive who wants to land a hot new diamond account. He’s got to convince his boss and a couple of female coworkers that he understands women enough to lead the campaign. He makes a bet that he could get a woman to fall completely in love with him in just, you guessed it, 10 days. His coworkers will pick out a woman at random, and that’s Ben’s target. You already know where this is going, don’t you? The two hook up and begin their cross purposes campaigns, each without the other knowing. The usual romantic comedy moments ensue, and the two genuinely fall in love with each other. It’s all leading to the big diamond gala 10 days later. Both bosses are in attendance, and the secrets get out with the expected results.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 13th, 2009
The cast and crew of I Love You, Man constantly refer to the film as a “bromance”. I’m not exactly sure what they mean by that, but I was actually pretty pleased with the clever turn on the typically droll romantic comedy. Maybe someone’s finally come up with a romantic comedy that actually can appeal to men. Whatever you call it, I Love You, Man is a bit of a refreshing take on today’s innuendo comedy. Writer/director John Hamburg has turned a pretty inane idea into a rather funny little comedy that just might be the compromise between a chick flick and something we won’t have to squirm in our seats just to make our dates happy. You know, to make up for all of those Clint Eastwood/Bruce Willis action flicks that have the same effect on most of the women as romantic comedies have on the guys. A hybrid is born. And it kind of works.
Peter Klaven (Rudd) has just proposed to his long time girlfriend, Zooey (Jones). She’s terribly excited and immediately wants to call her best friends to share the news. Peter is quickly uncomfortable with how much intimate information her friends seem to have. It hits home with him that he doesn’t really have any close friends to share the good news with. Apparently, Peter’s always been a better “girlfriend” and buddy friend. With an impending wedding and no one to fill the best man shoes, he sets out to make a close friend. Predictably, the results are some pretty wild and funny moments. One of his prospects mistakes his attention as a gay pass, and he ends up throwing up on another. All the while he’s trying to sell Lou Ferrigno’s house to make enough money to buy his own dream piece of property. At first Zooey encourages the friendship hunt, and Peter finally meets Sydney Fife (Segel) at one of Ferrigno’s open houses. He’s immediately attracted to Sydney’s brutal open honesty and unwillingness to put on pretenses. The two discover they share a few things in common. Both are garage band musicians with a hero worship for the band Rush. Before long they have become inseparable, and suddenly Zooey is getting jealous of Peter’s new best friend. Together they go through the ups and downs of making the many relationships work.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 13th, 2009
Chris Rock has been one of those comedians that either hits a home run or strikes completely out. I’ve seen quite a bit of his stand-up and found I loved it or hated it. He’s not afraid to play the race card. Hell, Chris plays the whole dang deck at times, and Everybody Hates Chris is no different. The comedy is based, loosely I’m sure, on the young adolescent life of Chris Rock. It’s a black comedy that will bring back memories of those 1970’s shows we all watched as kids. Like Good Times and even Sanford And Son, the show is loaded with stereotypes. All of the white characters are bumbling fools who are often played as racists themselves. Chris’s school teacher, Mrs. Morello (Mazarella), is the most obvious example. She’s constantly trying to talk “hood” with the boys and making politically incorrect observations loaded with outrageous clichés. Of course, it’s all in fun, and if you’re willing to overlook the often sensitive language and plots, you’re in for some laughs along the way. I like that the show never really takes itself seriously and challenges the viewer to simply lighten up. Basically, this ain’t no Cosby Show.
Chris Rock narrates each episode from his current place in life. The interjections are often humorous commentary on the pains of growing up, particularly black. At times Chris is just annoying, and he tries too often to be over the top. Tyler James Williams plays the young Chris. He kind of looks like him enough, and I can see some of Rock’s mannerisms in the boy. Terry Crews is the standout actor, playing Chris Rock’s father, Julius. The big guy always seems to mean well but doesn’t always have his stuff together. He could have been a young Fred Sanford. Tichina Arnold is Mom and the domineering force in the life of our young comedian to be. She’s best known for her excellent turn as Pamela in Martin, another stand-up sit-com vehicle. Chris’s siblings are played by Tequan Richmond and Imani Hakim. Hakim is absolutely hilarious and seems so much older than her age as an actor. She manages the little sister act, while all the while you know there is so much going on there. She’s a constant burst of energy and often exhausting to watch. A very promising young actress. Finally, Vincent Martella plays Greg, the token white dude. He’s Chris’s best bud and is honestly the most stereotypical white kid I’ve seen on television. Together it’s a good ensemble, and the show can be quite clever at its best, simply funny at its worst.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 13th, 2009
Next month, my mom turns fifty-eight years young (I would say old, but I’m pretty sure she can still reach across county lines and wallop me one). She’s been around for quite a while and despite the typical things that age do to people, she’s still a kicking. This usually means gossiping to neighbors, clipping coupons and watching soap operas. My mom has watched a lot of soap operas including General Hospital, Young & The Restless and some night time ones too. The night time soap operas I speak of are of yesteryear like Dallas or Dynasty. That’s why when I saw “These Old Broads”, I knew in a minute who this release was aimed at.
In the early 1960’s, there was a musical made called “Boy Crazy”. It became a cult sensation up until this very day. It starred Kate Westbourne, Piper Grayson & Addie Holden (played by Shirley MacLaine, Debbie Reynolds, & Joan Collins respectively) who were known for their beauty, charm & musical talent. They were also known for their backstage antics which included cat fights and sleeping with directors.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 13th, 2009
Unable to face life as a lawyer, having been pushed into law school by his father (Tom Hanks), Troy Gable (Colin Hanks, looking uncannily like his father) aspires to become a writer. In order to put food on the table, he becomes the road manager for Buck Howard (John Malkovich), a former big-name mentalist who now works half-empty theatres in towns Troy didn't even know existed. By turns charming and tyrannical, Buck keeps hoping for the big comeback and return to his Tonight Show glory days, and drags Troy along for a bumpy ride down the back roads of show business.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 11th, 2009
Why does every Adam Sandler character seem to be Happy Gilmore? I don’t know if there’s an actor out there, comedian or otherwise, who has made so many movies essentially playing the same character. If it seems at times like I really hate Sandler, believe it or not, I don’t. The guy has a charm and natural ability that can, when he works at it, come off as a very entertaining couple of hours at the movies. Unfortunately, he’s not willing to work at it, and so continues to bombard us with new versions of the same character and story.
You’ve seen it all before. Young guy with some kind of a mental problem or at least simplemindedness ends up overcoming his self esteem issues and becomes a hero. It’s no different here. This time the guy is Bobby Boucher (Sandler) who takes his waterboy duties with the local college football team a little too seriously. Taste testing the water and making sure the serving temperature is just right are just a couple of ways that Bobby looks like an idiot to the team’s players and coaches. He’s picked on, and for good reason. Finally the coach considers him too much of a distraction and fires the kid. Bobby’s thrown into a deep depression and no one seems to understand him. That goes doubly for the moviegoers caught paying out good money for the movie. He ends up getting another, non-paying gig at SCLSU, the losingest school in the state. Once again he’s picked on. This time the frustration builds, and Bobby ends up tackling one of his tormentors on the team. When Coach Klein (Winkler) sees the amazing tackle he decides to give Bobby a shot to make the team. Predictably, Bobby becomes a star, elevating the crappy team into the championship. Of course, just as easy to predict, you know what team they face in the big game. Yes, it’s Bobby’s old team. It just so happens the coaches are old rivals, and so it’s personal all around. The rival coach tries to get Bobby disqualified for the big game, but of course we have to have that moment when Bobby realizes everybody is counting on him and that he’s a hero. Again, the operative word here is predictable.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 6th, 2009
Daisato (director/co-writer Hitosi Matumoto) is having his daily life filmed by a TV crew. This life is pretty depressing. He doesn't make much money, his wife has left him, and his neighbours hate him. His job isn't exactly low-stress, either: he is Big Man Japan, a hereditary job that involves defending Japan against monster attacks. So whenever he gets the call, he has to run to the nearest power plant, get himself zapped until he grows into a 50-foot giant, and do battle with various bizarre creatures (one looks like a plucked chicken with a huge eyeball/penis appendage). But though he does his best, his ratings are down, his show is broadcast in the dead hours of the morning, his agent appears to be taking advantage of him, and there's a new monster in town that mops the floor with him on their first encounter.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 5th, 2009
As a kid, I was a huge Lost In Space fan. We loved Dr. Smith in particular and would go around our neighborhoods moaning, “The pain, oh the pain” in some mock imitation of the deliciously bad character. I think I finally know what he was talking about. I’m a man, and so I won’t even begin to pretend that I can understand what labor pains feel like. I believe it when I’m told there’s no worse suffering in the human experience, except for one. Yes, my gentle female readers, no matter how much torture childbirth might be for you, I bet it can’t compare to the mental anguish of having to sit through Labor Pains. Since this film was written and directed by women, I suspect it just might actually be some female plot to get guys like me to appreciate true suffering.
In the first place, we have Lindsay Lohan. I mean seriously. Is there anyone out there who actually thinks she’s a gifted actress? Is she really on anyone’s dream cast? Name one good movie she’s been involved in. I hear someone in the back screaming out Mean Girls. Forget about it. She has a reputation of showing up whenever she feels like it, arguing or downright fighting with cast and crew. She’s been known to “accidentally” walk off with stuff that doesn’t belong to her, and she’s pretty much a temper tantrum throwing brat when she doesn’t get her way. I’m tired of the press hanging on each and every emotion implosion like it was actually important. Do you really care how many times she splits up and gets back together with her lesbian DJ friend? How many pictures do we need of her crying on the lady’s front porch beggin’ for another chance, only to be dropping F bombs in anger a day later? The woman’s a train wreck. Is it any surprise at all that her films are crap? I can honestly say knowing all of these gross intimate details has not improved the quality of my life. What would help my job as a reviewer is if she’d stop trying to make movies. In a nice piece of irony, a character asks Thea if she wants people to see her as a “wayward skank”. Well…Lindsay?
Posted in: Comedy, Disc Reviews, Fox, No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 5th, 2009
Name: Miss March Measurements: 89 minutes/90 minutes (unrated version)
Birthdate: March 13, 2009 Weight: $ 4 Million at the box office
![How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/how-to-lose-a-guy-in-10-days-blu-r-large.jpg)
![I Love You, Man [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/i-love-you-man-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![The Waterboy [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-waterboy-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Labor Pains [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/labor-pains-blu-ray-large.jpg)
