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DVD Review: 17 Again: Zac Efron, Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Michelle Trachtenberg, Burr Steers: Movies & TV

Amazon.com
Zac Efron breaks free of his High School Musical legacy with 17 Again, leading a pack of fine comic actors in a body-switching comedy that freshens the genre with good ideas. Efron plays Mike, a high-school basketball star who blows a college scholarship in 1989 to marry his sweetheart. Cut to 2009, and late-30s Mike (Matthew Perry) is a sour guy passed over for a promotion and feeling estranged from that wife, Scarlett (Leslie Mann), and teen kids (Michelle Trachtenberg, Sterling Knight). Magical intervention causes Mike to turn 17 once more–albeit in the present–and tackle his failures with a fresh start. As the hot new kid in his children’s high school, Mike proves a better father to them as their peer than as a man, while Scarlett sees in him everything that attracted her to her husband two decades before. Writer Jason Filardi and director Burr Steers demonstrate an imaginative and supple wit in such half-expected scenes as Mike’s confrontations with a school bully and his unsuspecting daughter’s flirtations with him. But it’s Efron who carries some truly delicate moments and proves to be genuinely sympathetic when emotions get thick and heavy. Thomas Lennon is also entertaining as a wealthy Star Wars nerd who pretends to be Mike’s father, but his slightly excessive screen time suggests the filmmakers weren’t entirely sure Efron could do what needed to be done. If so, they were mistaken. –Tom Keogh

Product Description
Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 08/11/2009 Run time: 102 minutes Rating: Pg13

Not what I expected,

By Olivia Joy (USA) -

This review is from: 17 Again [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)

There seems like so much I could say about this movie. My initial thoughts are:
-Too adult in nature for Zac Efron’s kid fans
-Has good themes and messages
-Most of the funny parts are in the previews

17 Again is one of those half and half films–half of it is good, moral, and entertaining, and half of it is raunchy, mature in nature, and unnecessary. The plot goes something like this: Middle-aged Mike is unhappy with his life and about to get a divorce from his wife. He and his kids are like strangers to each other, even though he genuinely cares for them. One night Mike mysteriously transports to the age of 17 in present times. He decides (with the help of his MAJOR sci-fi freak best friend) to go back to high school and help put his kids on the right path. So Mike (under the name of Mark) goes back to school and spends his time lecturing his kids about who they should date, helping them onto sports teams, or romancing their mom (who is also his wife).

Some of the funniest parts are the most awkward ones. Teenage Mike/Mark dancing with his wife (to his wife, he is just her son’s friend) and being found by their son. Mike/Mark’s daughter wants to start a relationship with the teenage Mike/Mark, not knowing that he is actually her dad. When he tells her that they can never be together, she at first thinks that he is gay. There is one use of the b-word and some other mild profanities. Mike/Mark’s daughter has a pompous, lustful boyfriend. Mike’s best friend is seen in bed (fully clothed) with the school principal (at the end of the film, right before the credits).

I was surprised at the amount of good messages in this movie. Mike (when he is actually 17 in high school sometime in the 1980’s) gives up his college dreams to marry his pregnant girlfriend. When he is an adult, he strives to spend time with his kids and shows genuine interest in their lives. When he goes back to the age of 17 through the warp thing, he makes it his goal to help his kids get their lives on the right track. He speaks about abstinence to the entire Health class. He does everything he can to get his daughter’s messed-up boyfriend away from her.

Without the sexual jokes and overtones, this movie would be great for kids and teens. Unfortunately, the crude humor ruins it, even if kids don’t understand all of the “jokes”. Zac Efron is at his best in this film and captures a sensible, struggling teenage dad very well. Don’t expect it to be any funnier than you see in the previews, though. Most of the funny parts are in the previews. Overall, it was an enjoyable two hours of reliving high school.

Zac Efron delivers…,

By Anthony Manno (Mt. Prospect, IL United States) -

This review is from: 17 Again [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)

Mike O’Donnell is the star basketball player in 1989. He has a big chance of receiving a major scholarship–this all changes the night of the game.

Twenty years later, Mike is living with his best friend Ned. His wife has filed for divorce. Mike goes to pick his children up from school and runs into a strange (mostly unexplained) janitor who asks him if he would like to be seventeen all over again.

Later that night, Mike falls into a watery vortex and is seventeen again, but he is not reliving his senior year in 1989…but right now in 2009.

The movie is a little hard to follow at times, and the ending is rushed–and some viewers will question how this resolution was reached based on a few scenes. But just go with it.

Zac Efron proves that he is more than “High School Musical” material. The young actor delivers his lines in a way that makes you believe that he is both 17 and 37.

Parents note that this movie is rated PG-13. It contains fighting, sexual references, teenage drinking, and some language.

Cute,

By LK -

This review is from: 17 Again [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)

This was a pretty fun movie to watch. I like this particular type of story, so I knew going in that I’d have some fun with it.

Zac Efron is actually a decent actor, and he was far less orange in this movie than he typically is.

He had great chemistry with his costars, played the displaced middle aged guy pretty well, handled the fatherly vibe with his son and daughter in a believeable fashion.
My problems with the movie include:

1) Matthew Perry and Zac Efron look nothing alike. I’m 26 years out of high school and while I don’t look 17, I still look like my younger self.
Maybe David Cassidy should have been chosen for the older role, but then they would have had to go for a much older ‘older role’ which would have made the wife/kid attraction seriously creepy.

2) The mom hardly EVER interacted with her kids. She had some interaction/fondness for her son, but almost none with her daughter. When the daughter and mother were together in scenes it was if they didn’t know each other. The daughter is dating a very inappropriate guy who behaves abusively to the son in their own house and neither parent was aware?

Overall, fun movie to watch. Could have been far better if the writers had bothered to script a better plot. Lack of back story on the characters made it hard to really understand the wife’s rage, or the children’s complete dismissal of the father.

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DVD Review: I Love You, Man: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel: Movies & TV

Amazon.com

At once sweet, genuinely funny, and painfully awkward, I Love You, Man is that type of film that used to feel like a rare event, but these days is a lot more common thanks to Judd Apatow’s new hit factory. His stock ensemble of actors, writers, and directors have managed to hone in on the perfect formula of raunchy and sweet.  Apatow wasn’t involved in this production, but his mark is all over it just the same.  Paul Rudd has to be the most infinitely likeable man in Hollywood; he manages to capture the ideal blend of sincerity and awkwardness but never comes off as annoying.  As Sidney, Jason Segal departs from the neurotic and insecure roles that have nearly made him a household name in Freaks and Geeks and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  He channels instead the endearingly arrogant and emotionally stunted man-boy who is both life of the party and sad clown.  The story is pretty simple–making friends tends to get more and more challenging as we get older and more settled into our lives.  That’s never been truer than for Peter Klaven, a so-called “Girlfriend Guy” who’s never really had a best guy friend.  As Peter begins to plan the rest of his life with the girl of his dreams (Parks and Recreation’s Rashida Jones), the pressure to find a best man and not feel like a friendless freak becomes more intense.  Enter Sidney, a Venice Beach-dwelling, super-laid-back, Rush-loving, vaguely employed (but clearly successful) financial planner with no desire to commit, a room in his house dedicated to all things masculine and an intense desire to have a good time as often as possible.  Soul mates, right?  As directed by John Hamburg (Along Came Polly, Stella), I Love You, Man is consistently funny and totally relatable.   With strong supporting performances from Jones, Andy Samberg, Jon Favreau, Jamie Pressely, and even Lou Ferrigno (!), I Love You, Man is a little less raunch and a lot more sweet than some of this crew’s other hits, with quite a few laugh-out-loud moments.  –Kira Canny

Stills from I Love You, Man (Click for larger image)

Product Description
DVD Features:
•Commentary: Commentary by Director John Hamburg and Actors Paul Rudd and Jason Segel
• Featurette: The Making of I Love You, Man
• Additional Scenes: Extras
• Additional Scenes: Extended Scenes
• Additional Scenes: Deleted Scenes
• Featurette: Gag Reel
• Easter Eggs: Easter Eggs

The Comical Fate of the Sensitive Male,

By Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) -
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)
  

This review is from: I Love You, Man [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)

At the core of what looks on the surface to be a standard summer buddy movie is an intriguing premise: What does become of the overly sensitized male when confronted with the reality that all his closest friends are female and that he is at a complete loss to find any groomsmen, in particular, a best man, for his wedding? It’s not an earth-shattering dilemma to address, yet the situation gives rise to a lot of amusing questions about what constitutes masculine behavior in our supposedly evolved society. Fortunately, director/co-writer John Hamburg (Along Came Polly) has fashioned a 2009 comedy (with co-writer Larry Levin) full of shrewd observations and hilarious gags that transcend formula and elevate the story into something fresh and genuinely likeable.

When sweet-natured L.A. real estate broker Peter Klaven decides to marry Zooey, his girlfriend of eight months, it dawns on both of them that he has no close male friends. Whispers about his manhood and her fear of him being too clingy as a husband lead Peter to set up a series of disastrous man-dates, one being the predictable mistaken gay date. However, it’s at an open house at Lou Ferrigno’s manse that he meets his personality opposite - Sydney Fife, a slovenly, blunt albeit socially observant slacker. As it turns out, their differences complement one another in a way that makes them best buddies almost from the get-go - that and a common obsession for the 1970’s power band Rush. Naturally, Zooey starts to resent Sydney’s burgeoning role in Peter’s life - and things get complicated before the inevitable conclusion.

Two of Judd Apatow’s familiar rep company star. Finally at the center of a major movie, Paul Rudd is ideally cast as Peter since the role takes advantage of how he combines his boyish charm and unpredictable nebbishness into a memorable character. In fact, he manages to give Peter’s awkward attempts to overcome his social anxiety a certain emotional resonance. We feel every painful step he takes in replicating Sydney’s free spirit, and it becomes easy to root for his success. Much better cast here than as the self-conscious lead in last year’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel offers his doughy likeability to a role that suits his casual, lumbering personality, even when he exposes an intimate secret between Peter and Zooey in a wedding party dinner toast.

If the interplay between Rudd and Segel feels familiar from Apatow comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, it is a coincidence that Hamburg takes full advantage of to keep the movie comically involving. Rashida Jones brings a raspy appeal to Zooey, although she is kept mostly at the sidelines. Also underused are Jaime Pressly as Zooey’s tart-tongued friend Denise and as Peter’s parents, J.K. Simmons (playing the same wiseass father he played in Juno) and especially Jane Curtin. Jon Favreau has a thankless role as Denise’s alpha-male jerk of a husband, while Andy Samberg makes a most unconvincing gay as Peter’s sleep-around, personal trainer brother. There are plenty of laughs throughout its slightly long 105-minute running time, but what may surprise you is the number of insightful moments that this affectionate, satirical comedy provides.

The Rebirth Of Platonic Love Between Men!,

By Happy Camper (Baltimore, Maryland USA) -

This review is from: I Love You, Man [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)

The United States, in general, is quite a homophobic country. Men are expected to have platonic feelings of love only for immediate family members, such as parents, grandparents, siblings and their own offspring. Sharing one’s nonsexual feelings of love outside this tiny world is basically considered taboo. In other cultures this is certainly not the case, something I had the good fortune to experience first hand!

I Love You, Man does a superb job of comparing and contrasting heterosexual women’s emotionally rich, same-sex friendships with heterosexual men’s typically barren, same-sex friendships. It exposes the hypocrisy that it’s okay for women to hug and be emotionally close and talk in graphic details about their sex lives amongst themselves, but NOT for a man to do the same exact thing!

What a refreshing and insightful film! This brilliant story also compares male homosexual and heterosexual same-sex relationships and on the surface, at least, they are indistinguishable! This might be news to some people - but all well-adjusted human beings have a yearning for emotionally rewarding relationships!

And, one person can not fulfill ALL your emotional needs! It’s really that simple!

Thank you Hollywood for taking such a risk in making such a profound film with a great sense of humor! It shows you believe a certain segment of the American public is mature enough to want to explore the meaning of platonic love between men!

Platonic Studies

ONE OF THE SMARTEST ROMANTIC COMEDIES EVER MADE!,

By ! MR. KNOW IT ALL ;-b “DR SHOCK” (TRI STATE AREA) -

Not since ‘Tootsie’ has a romantic comedy had so much to say about the double standard that plagues are world. What could have been just another run of the mill sweetheart flick is more profound than the producers might have anticipated. Rudd has established himself as an excellent leading man that women adore and men can identify with. He’s a very likable guy and his relationship with Segel seems awkward at first, but soon blossoms into a very realistic one.

Any movie that features one of my favorite bands Rush live in concert has already got my attention, but like ‘Tootsie’, this smart and very funny film is much deeper than the title suggest. It’s a thought provoking movie with plenty of good laughs and you won’t get sick from too much sugar.

The DVD has an excellent transfer and some interesting and funny extras.
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DVD Review: 17 Again (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]: Zac Efron, Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Michelle Trachtenberg, Burr Steers: Movies & TV

Amazon.com
Zac Efron breaks free of his High School Musical legacy with 17 Again, leading a pack of fine comic actors in a body-switching comedy that freshens the genre with good ideas. Efron plays Mike, a high-school basketball star who blows a college scholarship in 1989 to marry his sweetheart. Cut to 2009, and late-30s Mike (Matthew Perry) is a sour guy passed over for a promotion and feeling estranged from that wife, Scarlett (Leslie Mann), and teen kids (Michelle Trachtenberg, Sterling Knight). Magical intervention causes Mike to turn 17 once more–albeit in the present–and tackle his failures with a fresh start. As the hot new kid in his children’s high school, Mike proves a better father to them as their peer than as a man, while Scarlett sees in him everything that attracted her to her husband two decades before. Writer Jason Filardi and director Burr Steers demonstrate an imaginative and supple wit in such half-expected scenes as Mike’s confrontations with a school bully and his unsuspecting daughter’s flirtations with him. But it’s Efron who carries some truly delicate moments and proves to be genuinely sympathetic when emotions get thick and heavy. Thomas Lennon is also entertaining as a wealthy Star Wars nerd who pretends to be Mike’s father, but his slightly excessive screen time suggests the filmmakers weren’t entirely sure Efron could do what needed to be done. If so, they were mistaken. –Tom Keogh

Product Description
Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 08/11/2009 Run time: 102 minutes Rating: Pg13

Not what I expected,

By Olivia Joy (USA) -

This review is from: 17 Again [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)

There seems like so much I could say about this movie. My initial thoughts are:
-Too adult in nature for Zac Efron’s kid fans
-Has good themes and messages
-Most of the funny parts are in the previews

17 Again is one of those half and half films–half of it is good, moral, and entertaining, and half of it is raunchy, mature in nature, and unnecessary. The plot goes something like this: Middle-aged Mike is unhappy with his life and about to get a divorce from his wife. He and his kids are like strangers to each other, even though he genuinely cares for them. One night Mike mysteriously transports to the age of 17 in present times. He decides (with the help of his MAJOR sci-fi freak best friend) to go back to high school and help put his kids on the right path. So Mike (under the name of Mark) goes back to school and spends his time lecturing his kids about who they should date, helping them onto sports teams, or romancing their mom (who is also his wife).

Some of the funniest parts are the most awkward ones. Teenage Mike/Mark dancing with his wife (to his wife, he is just her son’s friend) and being found by their son. Mike/Mark’s daughter wants to start a relationship with the teenage Mike/Mark, not knowing that he is actually her dad. When he tells her that they can never be together, she at first thinks that he is gay. There is one use of the b-word and some other mild profanities. Mike/Mark’s daughter has a pompous, lustful boyfriend. Mike’s best friend is seen in bed (fully clothed) with the school principal (at the end of the film, right before the credits).

I was surprised at the amount of good messages in this movie. Mike (when he is actually 17 in high school sometime in the 1980’s) gives up his college dreams to marry his pregnant girlfriend. When he is an adult, he strives to spend time with his kids and shows genuine interest in their lives. When he goes back to the age of 17 through the warp thing, he makes it his goal to help his kids get their lives on the right track. He speaks about abstinence to the entire Health class. He does everything he can to get his daughter’s messed-up boyfriend away from her.

Without the sexual jokes and overtones, this movie would be great for kids and teens. Unfortunately, the crude humor ruins it, even if kids don’t understand all of the “jokes”. Zac Efron is at his best in this film and captures a sensible, struggling teenage dad very well. Don’t expect it to be any funnier than you see in the previews, though. Most of the funny parts are in the previews. Overall, it was an enjoyable two hours of reliving high school.

Zac Efron delivers…,

By Anthony Manno (Mt. Prospect, IL United States) -

This review is from: 17 Again [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)

Mike O’Donnell is the star basketball player in 1989. He has a big chance of receiving a major scholarship–this all changes the night of the game.

Twenty years later, Mike is living with his best friend Ned. His wife has filed for divorce. Mike goes to pick his children up from school and runs into a strange (mostly unexplained) janitor who asks him if he would like to be seventeen all over again.

Later that night, Mike falls into a watery vortex and is seventeen again, but he is not reliving his senior year in 1989…but right now in 2009.

The movie is a little hard to follow at times, and the ending is rushed–and some viewers will question how this resolution was reached based on a few scenes. But just go with it.

Zac Efron proves that he is more than “High School Musical” material. The young actor delivers his lines in a way that makes you believe that he is both 17 and 37.

Parents note that this movie is rated PG-13. It contains fighting, sexual references, teenage drinking, and some language.

Cute,

By LK -

This review is from: 17 Again [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)

This was a pretty fun movie to watch. I like this particular type of story, so I knew going in that I’d have some fun with it.

Zac Efron is actually a decent actor, and he was far less orange in this movie than he typically is.

He had great chemistry with his costars, played the displaced middle aged guy pretty well, handled the fatherly vibe with his son and daughter in a believeable fashion.
My problems with the movie include:

1) Matthew Perry and Zac Efron look nothing alike. I’m 26 years out of high school and while I don’t look 17, I still look like my younger self.
Maybe David Cassidy should have been chosen for the older role, but then they would have had to go for a much older ‘older role’ which would have made the wife/kid attraction seriously creepy.

2) The mom hardly EVER interacted with her kids. She had some interaction/fondness for her son, but almost none with her daughter. When the daughter and mother were together in scenes it was if they didn’t know each other. The daughter is dating a very inappropriate guy who behaves abusively to the son in their own house and neither parent was aware?

Overall, fun movie to watch. Could have been far better if the writers had bothered to script a better plot. Lack of back story on the characters made it hard to really understand the wife’s rage, or the children’s complete dismissal of the father.

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DVD Review: The Mysteries of Pittsburgh: Nick Nolte, Mena Suvari, Peter Sarsgaard, Jon Foster, Sienna Miller, Rawson Marshall Thurber, Omid Abtahi, Keith Michael Gregory: Movies & TV

Product Description
A recent college grad spends his final summer with a girl and her adventurous boyfriend before heading into a job his father wants him to take and along the way realizes what he wants more out of his life. Based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Michael Chabon.

don’t expect the film to follow the book and you’ll enjoy watching it,

By AIROLF (USA) -

The beginning captivates the viewer and the movies has a decent story. Having said that, it’s also worth mentioning that the storyline is hardly Michael Chabon’s and why the changes were made (from the book) is unclear, however, as a stand-alone it seems to work (if you ignore that it’s a novel adaptation and think of it as a standalone film). It’s no the most engaging movie nor is it the worst movie ever. If you haven’t read the book or don’t mind watching the movie and can refrain from comparing it to the book, there’s a good chance that you’ll like it.

One Wild Summer,

By Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas) -
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)
  

“The Mysteries of Pittsburgh”

One Wild Summer

Amos Lassen

Adapted from the novel by Michael Chabon, “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” is the story of one wild summer for Art Bechstein (Jon Foster). Art has sex with both men and women but does not identify himself sexually. He just graduated from college and he is to spend the summer studying for his license as a stockbroker. His father (Nick Nolte) is a gangster and keeps his son away from the family business and Art takes a job working in a bookstore. He sleeps with Phlox (Mena Suvari), his supervisor and she thinks that there is more to the relationship than does Art. Then he meets Jane (Sienna Miller) and Cleveland (Peter Sarsgaard) and things start to change. Cleveland is a bit of a thug while Jane is from a rich family but is on an adventure. Immediately there is sexual tension between the three and there is flirtation all around which eventually blows up in everyone’s face.
The film is set in Pittsburgh in the early 1980’s. We see Art having the feeling that he does not exist anymore and his summer is quite mundane until he meets Cleveland and Jane. They show him a side of Pittsburgh that he had never seen before and Art finds himself in the midst of an experience in which family, friends and love take on completely different meanings.
This is the story of new found freedom and the excitement that life can bring. Director Rawson Marshall Thurber made this film with little thought unfortunately and what could have been a wonderful film comes in as mediocre at best. Art is a hard character to follow because he is so totally uninteresting–he is devoid of ambitions and goals. He walks through life and never gets interesting; he is totally passive and follows what others do without letting us know anything about himself. Since he is the central character, the other members of the cast have nowhere to go either and they treat life as a party. The movie itself is simply a shallow look at what could have been an excellent film. There is a lot of sex, both gay and straight, lots of arguments, more sex, a wild chase scene and a death but none of it seems to really matter. All of the characters are one-dimensional and stand-ins for actual people who would handle the situations differently. We never are let into their characters and we never get any ideas as to why they act the way that they do. We do see them do lots of things but we never see why.
I remember loving the book but it has been severely altered for the movie and what really hurts is that it appears that the movie was made earnestly and the screenplay is underdeveloped. There is a redeeming factor though–gay comes out of the closet and onto the big screen so it is not a total loss
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DVD Review: Flight of the Conchords: The Complete Second Season: Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie: Movies & TV

Amazon.com

Stills from Flight of the Conchords: The Complete Second Season (click for larger image)

Product Description
Flight of the Conchords follows the trials and tribulations of a two man, digi-folk band from New Zealand as they try to make a name for themselves in their adopted home of New York City. The band is made up of Bret McKenzie on guitar and vocals, and Jemaine Clement on guitar and vocals.

Wow–this is what I call performance art!,

By carol irvin “carol irvin” (sagamore hills, OH, United States) -
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)
  

I can think of other excellent comedy duos. I can think of other musical duos which I really enjoy and put on my ipod. I can think of other performance artists who do leading edge work which is visually experimental. I cannot think of any other duo, either currently or in the past, who can do all three and do them all well. The only act this even sort of reminds of is Martin & Lewis because Dean Martin could sing and their comedy was pretty good for its day. I wouldn’t go so far as to call Martin & Lewis’s work performance art though. Other than Martin & Lewis, I can’t think of anyone else like these guys at all.

Why are viewers here debating season 1 versus season 2? This is not remotely like anything else out there and it is so innovative that I can scarcely believe that it survived for a second season. If it had been on anything but HBO I think it would have been too leading edge and been cancelled after the first season. I’m not comparing the two; I am in grovel mode that there were two seasons!

Ok, here is the premise. There are two musicians from New Zealand who come to New York City (of all places) to break into the entertainment world as musicians. Their manager works for the New Zealand Commission in New York City and that job is such a no brainer that he basically can do whatever he wants with his time. The band has exactly one fan, a woman. The only reason she is a fan is that she has the hots for Bret. The guys are poor as can be. They live together in a subsistence lifestyle. And they are complete nerds on top of everything else. At first I liked Bret best because (being a woman), I found him cuter. But Jemaine has grown on me and I’ve gotten past his awful glasses and sideburns (’70s style sideburns). Their manager I find positively uproarious. Even the fan has her moments. Very often the guys deliver their lines in complete deadpan, which makes it even funnier. Oh, and they are more often than not a disaster with women. They have dates on the show and these dates rival anything we saw on SEINFELD or FRASIER (which heretofore covered dating hell rather definitively).

The best part of all is when the guys break out into song and movement, usually in an outrageous MTV kind of music video style, to comment on the latest bizarre aspect of their lives. Those performances are worth playing again and again.

I do listen to the songs on my ipod and I enjoy their music. I am not alone as their music has been voted on favorably in the NPR yearly music polls. Bob Bollein of NPR’s ALL SONGS CONSIDERED was very taken with their musical numbers without knowing a thing about their tv show. So their music is an important component of the show for me.

Funny as Bret and Jermaine are, Rhys Darby as Murray their manager deserves a special mention. He just slays me and I love every minute he is onscreen. I adore his band meetings, especially when he takes attendance and there is NEVER anyone but the three of them in the room.

loved it,

By Caraculiambro (La Mancha and environs) -

There’s a disturbing number of reviewers here saying the second season — especially the songs — wasn’t as good as the first.

Lemme horn in: I thought the second season was better. At least, I couldn’t get through it without having to pause the DVD repeatedly on account of my laughing so hard I couldn’t continue.

I don’t remember that happening when I watched the first season. Possibly that is because I know the characters better and feel more comfortable with them. For example, I had to watch several episodes of the first season before I caught on to the fact that they were supposed to be in New York, that they weren’t gay, etc.

Not being plagued with such questions when I sat down to the second season, I found myself able to enjoy it much more.

Delights Abound,

By Thom Tee “TV Box Set Lover” (New York, NY) -

Much more fun had in second season. Most memorable? How about Village People cowboy (Randy Jones) appearing as a grouchy bouncer, then leading a line dance in “Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor”? Love it love it love it!
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DVD Review: Sling Blade [Blu-ray]: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, J.T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, Robert Duvall, Rick Dial, Brent Briscoe, Christine Renee Ward, Sarah Boss: Movies & TV

Amazon.com
Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed, and starred in this mesmerizing drama with haunting overtones of To Kill a Mockingbird. Thornton plays a mentally retarded man who has spent 20 years in a psychiatric hospital for killing his mother and her lover. Released into the community from which he came, he befriends and protects a lonely boy regularly harassed and abused by his mom’s boyfriend (a terrific performance by Dwight Yoakam). The story is ultimately about sacrifice, but Thornton certainly doesn’t get twinkly about it. Some of the best material concerns the hero’s no-big-deal efforts to integrate into a “normal” life: working, eating fast food, earning admiration for his handyman skills, and attaining a semblance of community among other damaged souls. John Ritter has a great part as a gay shopkeeper who tries to assuage his own loneliness by spilling his guts out to Thornton’s uncomprehending character. –Tom Keogh

Product Description
For the first time, Miramax proudly presents this riveting motion picture in the phenomenal intensity of Blu-ray DiscTM. Applauded by critics and moviegoers alike, the award-winning masterpiece written/directed by and starring Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa) achieves new heights of greatness in high definition. 25 years after committing an unthinkable crime, a quiet man named Karl (Thornton) finally returns home. Once there, he s befriended by a fatherless boy and his mother. But when his newfound peace is shattered by the mother s abusive boyfriend (Grammy winner Dwight Yoakam), Karl is suddenly placed on a collision course with his past! Also starring Robert Duvall, John Ritter and J.T. Walsh, this emotional powerhouse is an unforgettable experience for the eyes and ears as well as the heart. Feel the stirring power of Sling Blade as never before in Blu-rayTM high definition.

living inside one’s own heart,

By Shelley Shay (Denton, TX **(God Bless the USA!!)**) -
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)
  

This review is from: Sling Blade (DVD)

With the parodies and jokes surrounding the lead character of this film stating, “I like the way you talk,” I was not expecting this film to be anything I’d be impressed with. Boy, was I wrong. This a fantastic film.

Billy Bob Thornton plays Karl Childers, a man about to be released from a mental hospital after staying there for 30 years. Karl killed his own mother and her lover when he was only about 12 years old and you wonder from the beginning of this film - why are they letting him out?

Some people call him slow, some people say he’s retarded - but as each scene comes and goes, you realize that there is a lot more going on inside Karl’s head than anyone else believes.

While autism is not mentioned by name in the film, it’s obvious that this character was modeled after an autistic person. He does not maintain eye contact and rarely exhibits emotion or speaks.

He returns to his childhood hometown after being released from the hospital and puts his mechanical skills to good use as a small engine wiz at a local mechanic shop.

He befriends Frank (Lucas Black), a young boy who reminds Karl of the kind of life he could have had, if he had only had different parents. Frank’s mother has a psycho for a boyfriend (masterfully played by Dwight Yoakum) who treats Frank and his mother like garbage and threatens to kill them if the relationship ever ends.

Small town folks have big hearts, but sometimes small minds. Frank’s mother (Natalie Camerday) has a best friend who is gay (well acted by John Ritter) and he must hide his relationships from the townsfolk. Her friend Vaughn wants to go to a a bigger city with wider acceptance of his lifestyle, but he continues to stay to act as a guardian angel for his friend and her son.

As Karl meets and interacts with the new friends (and enemies) he meets, he reveals some of his darker secrets with his friend, Frank. While he shows almost no emotion, Karl’s story evokes tears from all but the most stony-hearted viewer. He not only feels great pain of what he has experienced and what he has done, he feels great empathy for Frank and his mother and holds their friendship dear to his heart.

There is violence in the film, but the most violent of scenes is just audible - nothing is seen, just heard. This film is too intense for young viewers, but teenagers should have no problem with it.

This film really makes you think - about what goes on in the minds of those who are mentally different in any way - and how all emotions are universal.

A Cut Above the Rest,

By A Customer

This review is from: Sling Blade [VHS] (VHS Tape)

We know well the visage of the desolate, decadent, sometimes lascivious Southern landscape from the works of William Faulkner and others. Not unlike Faulkner, Billy Bob Thornton’s Sling Blade guides us guiltily toward the region’s historical and modern undercurrents of social prejudices, ignored dysfunction, sought acceptance, and resulting violence. The film addresses a universal human condition, however, and not the region.

The title of the film looms over the audience as Thornton urges fondness while successfully negotiating the fine line between our fear of, and affection for Karl Childers (Thornton), a recently released mental patient committed as a child for violently murdering his mother and her boyfriend. Sling Blade is a study in tension with thick suspense built through superior character development resulting in conflicts that escalate into deliberate, almost real-time rhythms.

The story is one of need and moreover of acceptance, as the collection of limping characters, directly or not, seek it, and to some degree, with the help of Karl, attain it. The boy, Frank (Lucas Black), seeks the love of a father figure after the suicide of his own. Linda, the mother (Natalie Canderday), requires the general acceptance of her perceived role as a Southern woman, and subsequently the acceptance from a mate, which is evident in her destructive dependence upon her demonic, red-neck boyfriend, Doyle (Dwight Yoakam). Her own deep need renders her perhaps overly accepting of others, including Karl, whom most mothers wouldn’t let within ten feet of there sons. Vaughn (John Ritter), like the others, seeks love, and on an outward scale, struggles with his half-open homosexuality in the small Southern town. Doyle, not unlike Linda, wants acceptance of his perceived role as a family head and wants to be loved as well, but lacks even the basic tools to a gain it. And finally Karl, the most dynamic character in the film, seeks acceptance only from himself as he works to garner love and to construct some semblance of a life within the limited bounds of his mental capacity, his stunted development, and his own set of morals.

While the climax of the film is somewhat telegraphed, it is more inevitable than predictable, and the audience is left alone with the wonderment and self-examination over the questionable choice of a sympathetic character. From Sling Blade we leave with the unsolicited lesson that tenderness and brutality sometimes share the same origin.

Redneck auteur extraordinaire!,

By Jeffrey Few (Seattle, WA USA) -

This review is from: Sling Blade (DVD)

A little-known fact: Billy Bob Thornton–star, director and writer of this amazing film–is the greatest southern voice since William Faulkner. This film is essential southern gothic retooled for the New South of mini-malls and subdivisions. The old demons still lurk, most graphically through Doyle (played remarkably by Dwight Yoakam). Watch for a cameo appearance from indie/y’allternative musician Vic Chesnutt! Besides being an incredibly important film about the South, it’s emotional rollercoaster ride: from Carl (Thornton) and his shocking past, to the awkwardness of his first days away from institutionalization, to the amazing paternal relationship he forges with a neglected boy–the one person who will accept him unconditionally. Heart-wrenching, dark and beautiful.
Search Sling Blade [Blu-ray]: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, J.T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, Robert Duvall, Rick Dial, Brent Briscoe, Christine Renee Ward, Sarah Boss: Movies & TV from AmAzon

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