“Tonight’s special is LEG OF LAMB”

I absolutely love stand-up comedy. It is by far one of my favorite forms of entertainment. I would much rather watch a comic’s one-hour special than watch Hollywood’s latest zany summer comedy. I firmly believe that stand-up comedians are a group of modern day philosophers who have taken their analyses of social interactions and created a highly entertaining and intellectual form of art. While I appreciate all comics, currently my favorites are Tom Segura, Todd Glass, Greg Proops, Bo Burnham, and of course, Brian Regan.

I was a little hesitant with picking up this film.  I wasn’t sure if a film about a grandmother spending the day raising money to pay for her granddaughter’s abortion was a film I could find the humor in.  Well, I’m glad I took a chance on this film; not only does this film have so many layers beneath its overall plot, but it never once attempts to have an agenda towards its audience.  Considering the potentially heavy subject matter, the film instead keeps its attention on what matters most, the people who come in and out of our lives whether they are friends or family; in the end it’s how we treat them that make us who we are.

“Take hope from the heart of a man, and you make him a beast or prey. And the beast eats away at you if you’re not careful. The beast will eat it all, and you will have nothing, and you are nothing.”

Patrick Swayze stars as Charles Barker, an FBI undercover specialist. He handles the deep cover missions, the kind that require a total commitment to the mission. He’s the kind of agent whoknows where the line is so that he knows where to cross it.

"Will you follow me, one last time?"

It's time to say goodbye to Middle Earth, at least from a cinematic perspective. The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies marks the last time we shall see Peter Jackson's version of Middle Earth. Sure, Ian McKellen has told us he wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of a return. I would. There is certainly enough work from Tolkien to support future adventures, but the rights to anything beyond these books belongs to the Tolkien estate.

"I will talk to you of Art, for there is nothing else to talk about, for there is nothing else... Life is an obscure hobo bumming a ride on the omnibus of Art. Burn gas, buggies, and whip your sour cream of circumstance and hope, and go ahead and sleep your bloody heads off. Creation is, all else is not."

Enter The Film Detective. Founded by Philip Hopkins, the organization has made it something of a mission to re-master old cult favorite films for broadcast and the high-definition video market. They have a working library of about 3,000 titles.

Before we start, I want you to know something...I'm not a rat.”

I could get into *a lot* of trouble if anybody found out I was talking to you. After all, there is absolutely, positively nothing worse than a rat, a point that is made crystal clear in Black Mass. But I'm putting my neck on the line here because I figured you'd want to know this fact-based crime drama marks the welcome return of Johnny Depp, who has spent the better part of the past decade in the Magic Kingdom loony wilderness.

On the surface MI-5 looks to be a mundane direct-to-video film attempting to cash in on a couple of things. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is the fifth in the series and often referred to as MI:5. The new James Bond film has a plot involving the head of MI-5 attempting to take down the MI-6 department and our beloved 007. None of these would contribute to the fortuitous name. Rather it’s the difference in racial sensitivity between Britain and the United States. MI-5 is actually a feature-film version of the long-running British series Spooks. The film’s original title happens to be Spooks: The Greater Good.

I earn money…I meet people…I can pay my debts…I can buy nice things for myself.”

Taken at face value, all of those pursuits sound totally admirable, especially when you consider that the person earning that money, meeting those new people, and buying those nice things is a bitter old woman who slowly comes out of her caustic shell. I mean, the only minor hiccup here is that Paulette — the title character in this wacky, soufflé-light French comedy — turns her miserable life around by selling drugs.

Baby here again. Yeah, I'm that German Shepherd Chow that keeps you UPS/Fed Ex guys on their toes. I just turned 15 at Christmas, and everyone around here keeps calling me an old dog. Apparently that means I can't learn new tricks, and maybe it's time for me to retire. I'll tell you what. Just come around here when everyone else is sleeping, and I'll show you a few new tricks I bet you haven't seen before. And that spells T E E T H. And as for retiring? Not sure what that means, except that I'm not tired to begin with.

Who's up for mid-week Mass? You don't even have to put on your Sunday best...in fact, all you have to do is pop in Black Mass, the star-studded Johnny Depp crime drama from Warner Bros. that highlights this week's Tuesday Round Up. The studio also mines drama from The 33. RLJ Entertainment engages in Criminal Activities, Sony mingles with Saints & Strangers, and Comedy Central yuks it up with Brian Regan: Live From Radio City Music Hall. Cohen Media Group fraternizes with the three-film Taviani Brothers Collection, Lionsgate races to the Wiener Dog Internationals, and Cinedigm eggs us on with Hatched.

HBO joins hands with Togetherness: The Complete First Season and continues its quarter-life crisis with Girls: The Complete Fourth Season. CBS whistles through The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Series, and tells the story of The Brady Kids: The Complete Animated Series. Finally, Shout! Factory enlists in the two-film McHale's Navy/McHale's Navy Joins the Airforce.