Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Blu-ray (Addicted)
We catch up with Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) after he has left San Diego for New York City with his now wife and co-anchor Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) and their son Walter Burgundy. But when legendary anchor Mack Tannen (Harrison Ford) decides to retire, he promotes Veronica to full time lead anchor and fires Ron. Ron’s shot at redemption comes not long after from Freddie Schapp (Dylan Baker), an executive producer at the fledgling Global News Network, the world’s first 24 hour round the clock news channel. Ron proceeds to reunite the news team of Champ (David Koechner), Brick (Steve Carell), and Brian (Paul Rudd) and brings them to New York where fame and fortune change everything.
Anchorman 2 is less a movie than a series of thinly connected sketches. Fortunately, a lot more of the gags are successful than not and contain many laugh out loud moments. Playing into this is the fact that director Adam McKay likes to simply let the camera run, evidenced by the fact that there was enough material to release an entirely different ‘super-sized’ version in theaters and on this Blu-ray on top of an extended and theatrical cut. McKay doesn’t appear to do much directing here at any point, all of these actors have been cultivating these characters for nearly a decade now. (more…)
The Way Way Back is Way Way Damn Good (Blu-ray Review)
2013 has proven to be a strong year for coming of age dramas with The Spectacular Now, The Kings of Summer and what proves to be the best of the bunch, The Way Way Back. The film from comedy veterans Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, Academy Award winners for their writing on The Descendants, is a heart wrenching and heart-warming story of an incredibly shy and downtrodden young teen finding his voice with the help of a slacker water park worker that may be the only true father figure he’s ever had.
The Way Way Back Blu-ray Review
Starring: Liam James, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Sam Rockwell, Alison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry, Amanda Peet, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon.
Written and Directed by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon
‘Despicable Me 2’ is less engaging, but delivers plenty of laughs
The writing and directing teams behind 2010’s smash hit “Despicable Me” have returned, minions in tow, with a follow up that furthers the transformation of former super villain Gru into all around good guy in “Despicable Me 2”. Universal and Illumination studios definitely know what worked best the first time around and have spent the time in the sequel to advance those storylines instead of just rehashing the original’s premise.
Despicable Me 2
Starring the voices of: Steve Carrell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Steve Coogan, Russell Brand, Ken Jeong, Elsie Fisher, Dana Gaier and Kristin Schaal
Written by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul
Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud
In Despicable Me 2, Gru (Carrell) is recruited by the Anti-Villain League, rather forcibly by agent Lucy (Wiig), to help deal with a powerful new super criminal. The mission has Gru going undercover to find out who has taken a very deadly substance inside a shopping mall. Of course Gru’s minions and girls, Margo (Cosgrove), Edith (Gaier) and Agnes (Fisher), are all back attempting to help him out, and help him find love in the process. Meanwhile, Margo’s first boyfriend has Gru seeing red. (more…)
Is ‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone’ a magical night at the cinema?
Debuting in theaters this week is the new comedy from seasoned television director (30 Rock, Royal Pains, Law & Order) Don Scardino and comedy heavyweights Steve Carell and Jim Carrey, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone“. Wonderstone takes place in the apparently cutthroat world of Vegas magicians and uses the glittery background of Vegas to frame it story. The only question that remains is whether it’s funny or not?
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Starring: Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi,Olivia Wilde, Jim Carrey, Alan Arkin, James Gandolfini and Jay Mohr
Written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
Superstar magicians Burt Wonderstone (Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Buscemi), friends and partners since they were 10 years old, have ruled the Las Vegas Strip (more…)
‘Life’s Too Short’ for Warwick Davis on DVD (review)
Life’s Too Short Season 1 DVD Review
Starring Warwick Davis, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Rosamund Hanson, Steve Brody and Jo Enright
Series created by Warwick Davis, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant
Written and Directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant
The team behind The Office and Extras, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, are back with another HBO/BBC co-production: Life’s Too Short, now available on DVD from HBO Home Entertainment. Life’s Too Short stars Warwick Davis, star of Willow and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, as he plays an egotistical and self centered version of himself. Returning to the faux documentary style with great success in the Office, the question remains will that style work for them a second time in Life’s Too Short?
The seven episode series centres on Warwick Davis, or a fictional version of him, who is one of Britain’s preeminent dwarf actors, or at least (more…)
MOVIE JUNKIE TO'S Entertainment Fix 