Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues 2013 7 out of 10

Anchorman 2  2013   7 out of 10

The Movie

Anchorman 2 was an a really mixed bag of a movie.   As a full movie is was a little underwhelming and typical of a comedy sequel that doesn't live up to the expectations of the original.  It was a very silly film with a plot that was really unimportant to the experience or enjoyment of the film.   Some moments in the film were just plain dumb,  other moments were laugh out loud brilliant (like the Cruise control RV crash).  So despite it flaws any comedy in this day and age that can make me laugh out loud has done something right.  Too many modern day comedies feel like a bunch of unconnected sketches and Anchorman 2 suffers from that as well. The only recent movie that succeeds for me in having a fully functional 1980's era comedy plot was We Are the Millers. 

How to rate this film?

 It is really hard for me to rate it.....I remember the first time I watched the original Anchorman and gave it a 6 out of 10, but like many other Will Ferrell movies.... it grew on me to eventually be a 9 out of 10 and a comedy classic.   Will Ferrell just makes me laugh for some reason  (unlike say Jack Black).   Even in a bad SNL sketch--he found ways to shine and as a result this film will probably grow on me as well,  despite its not having a quality plot  and re threading on much of what it had already done in the original.  The star studded newscaster battle was great in the original and just fell flat for me the second time around.  It was a very inconsistent film and yet its high moments help to wash away some of its really dumb moments when reflecting on it a day later.

So for now it gets a 7 out of 10 for me.....

The DVD

 The DVD definitely enhances the movie.  The menu screen is super funny ---watching the stars doing bad disco dancing (Carrell kills it with his lackluster dance moves.)   The gag reel is almost more enjoyable than the movie itself.  Watching the extras it definitely looks like the actors truly enjoyed making the movie.  I haven't even dug into half of the extras yet---but with all the different improv lines and behind the scenes features, it is definitely on its way to being a great DVD and definitely worth buying for any Will Ferrell fan.

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Animated movie # 7: Despicable Me 2 2013 6 out of 10

Despicable Me 2 2013 6 out of 10 

Despicable Me 2 cleaned up at the box office earning over 360 million domestically and almost a billion worldwide, which means a Despicable Me 3 is probably on its way soon.  I personally thought it was just a very average animated movie.   It wasn't even as good as the first one which was also very ordinary. At least the first one had the Willie Coyote type action sequences between the two villains.  Now Gru (voiced again by Steve Carrell) is a father figure and no longer has the evil that made him entertaining the first time around.  Apparently all the audience needs is a bunch of random Minion scenes which the kids seem to love.  The minions are a bunch of bumbling yellow creatures that mumble incoherently and look like beans.  They are slightly funny --but not funny in the way that say Olaf is the blockbuster Frozen.   I guess maybe once again (with the exception of How to Train a Dragon) Dreamworks animated humor just doesn't work for me.  Despicable Me 2 despite its success just left me feeling nothing and confirmed once again that I'm definitely a Pixar/Disney kind of guy.

Here are my thoughts on the original Despicable Me

http://bradgeekness.blogspot.com/2012/07/animated-movies-movie-2-despicable-me.html

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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone 2013 6 out of 10

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone  2013   6 out of 10

I found Burt Wonderstone to be good, but not really incredible.  

I liked the premise of the movie and loved the posters, but expected a little more from the movie .   It stars Steve Carell  as Burt Wonderstone  and Steve Buscemi as Anton Marvelton as   two  Vegas magicians whose  Siegfried and Roy/ David Copperfield like act is getting old.  A newcomer in the form of Jim Carrey comes into town with a David  Blane/ Chris Angel type act that threatens  Burt's career and friendship with his partner.   A magician's battle of magic acts occurs after Burt loses his gig at Bally's.    The movie was enjoyable, but the plot is  too predictable  (It felt like a movie that Will Ferrell should have been in).  

With the talents of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell the magician's battle could have been more Incredible.    Watching this movie I again thought......I would much rather have seen another season of Michael Scott on the office instead of whatever 2 movies Steve Carrell could do in that same amount of time.  And I also wondered......what happened to Jim Carrey?   He used to own the box office...and now is playing second fiddle to Steve Carrell.   That being said the movie does have moments,  just nothing incredible to be worthy of its title.

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Animated Movies: Movie #2 Despicable Me 2010 6 out 10

Despicable Me is a decent Animated movie starring Steve Carell of The Office fame as Gru a Super Villian and isn't as Super as he used to be. The movie definitely has its moments --but many of the best of them like the Willie Coyote style attempts to get into a competing Super Villains lair were already in the trailers. The little unexplained yellow Miniions of his delight children every time they are on screen with comic relief. It has a very similiar theme to Megamind (imagine that--because similiar animated movies never come out around the same time coughs under his breath....A Bug's Life and Ants). The movie is good but not great, the animation decent but not excellent, the story okay but not wonderful. I can't put my finger on what is missing -but once it ended I wasn't thinking about it at all really. Maybe it was because I had seen a Pixar movie the same week, or that I was still thinking about how I enjoy Tangled a little bit more my step daughter watches it. I can't see myself watching Despicable Me again. It just didn't have that magic that a Pixar or Disney Classic does. If you haven't seen it your kids will like it....But your kids are probably already trying to drag you out to that Smurfs movie too..... And like i always say..."What do I know?---NOT SO MUCH apparently since a Sequel is already in the works because of how much money it made. So in summary enjoyable but not memorable

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Crazy, Stupid , Love 2011 8 out of 10

Crazy, Stupid , Love is one of the better comedy romances of  2011.   Steve Carell was great as a man whose wife played by Julianne Moore tells him at dinner that she wants  a divorce.  She continues to explain why on the drive home telling him about how she cheated on him with Kevin Bacon, leading to him throwing himself from the moving car.  The movie follows his attempts to deal with his newfound status and get back out there.  To do this he ends up getting some help from ladies man  Ryan Gosling.   The movie has several  sub stories,   one of which  is Ryan Gosling's character falling in love and changing from the One Night Stand life he lives.  Another follows his son crushing on the babysitter and the babysitter crushing on Steve Carell.  The movie has a good mix of drama and comedy and the sub stories all dovetail perfectly at the end of the film in  grand comic fashion.    That scene reminded me of one of the all-time great Frasier episodes where everyone at the ski lodge liked someone else. Speaking of TV,  as much as I loved Carell in this film and Dan in Real Life (which also dealt with love and relationships)  I can’t help but miss his character from The Office.  The show just isn’t the same and without him as Michael Scott I don’t think it will be around much longer.    I enjoy Steve Carell's   movies but at the expense of 22 episodes of The Office I  would  rather he was still on the small screen.  Nothing that happens in the movies he  is as funny as the best moments from the TV Show.

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