Watching This Is One Of "A Million Ways To Die In The West"

A Million Ways To Die In The West (2014)

Rated R

Starring  Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman

Written and Directed by Seth MacFarlane

The Story:

Albert (MacFarlane) is living the dream in the Old West until his girl (Seyfried) dumps him. Alone and sad, he bounces back when he runs into Anna (Theron) and becomes smitten. Ah, but Anna has a secret, and he's about to ride into town and show Albert that death by gunfight is at least one of a million ways to die in the west.

MacFarlane loves unleashing himself in R rated movies where he doesn't have to abide by any rating restrictions.

Which is a shame really.

I've seen a few episodes of Family Guy and I've laughed at parts, but otherwise, not a show I can bear watching repeatedly.

Much the same for his movies.

There are a few parts that are genuinely funny, but they get bogged down in the incessant "hey, let's push the boundaries, we have an R rating!"

Not to get on a soapbox, but I'm already up here...

If the joke has to work within the confines of an R rating, then it's likely not funny.

If you can remove the offending language/prop or whatever, and it's still funny, then the joke is a good one.

Case in point, the giant ice block that kills the guy in the street.

We all saw that scene in the trailer.

It's funny.  Morbid, but funny.

Amping the joke up with a ton of blood almost distracts from the humor of the situation.

A big SQUISH sound, and the horrified reactions are the joke.

And therein lies my main problem with the majority of this movie.

The setup is there, but it gets mangled in the delivery.

Which is a shame, because he's assembled a great cast that pretty much has very little to do.

Unlike Fury, where I gave the film a C and realized I should have put it in the D range, I will not make the same mistake again.

Final Grade: C-   D+

Congratulations, you're in the running for Turkey of the Year.

:)

Don't Mess With The Fro... "Undercover Brother"

Undercover Brother (2002)
Rated R for language

Starring Eddie Griffin, Chris Kattan, Denise Richards, Aunjanue Ellis, Dave Chappelle, Chi McBride, Neil Patrick Harris

Directed by Malcolm D. Lee

The Story:

"The Man" has plans to take aspiring political candidate, General Boutwell (Billy Dee Williams) off the map, and have him start a fried chicken franchise with a mental drug in the coating which will brainwash the black customers that eat the chicken, and make them act "more white".  Well, the secret group, The BROTHERHOOD is trying to stop The Man, but they need the help of the coolest agent of them all: Undercover Brother (Griffin).  Who will win this high stakes race war?!?

Forgive my description of the movie, but it's one that I have to either reveal very little, or I have to spill the whole thing.

I'd rather err on the side of caution.

This Review Is Solid!

This is one of the funniest movies I've seen, and I've watched it dozens of times since it first came out.

Hilarious from start to finish.

Griffin is on fire as Undercover Brother, and the entire cast assembled around him is terrific.

As the agents of The BROTHERHOOD, you have The Chief (McBride), Sistah Girl (Ellis) Conspiracy Brother(Chappelle) and Smart Brother (Gary Anthony Williams).  They are joined by the token white guy, Lance (Harris).

Solid!

 

To say that Harris steals nearly every scene he's in is an understatement.

And that takes some serious doing, because so does Chappelle every chance he gets, and Griffin works overtime to make sure that he remains consistently hilarious.

Success all around.

I would be remiss to not mention that Kattan probably has his best movie role as Mr. Feather, the # 1 henchman for The Man.

Then there's Denise Richards who carries herself better here as White She Devil than she ever did as a Bond Girl.

Truth in Advertising

Go ahead and watch this movie.

I dare you not to laugh.

:)

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Love it. Own it.  Watch it at least once a year.  Still hilarious every time.

It's What's on the Inside That Counts..."Beastly"

Tale as old as time...

The Story:

Kyle Kingston (Alex Pettyfer) is the rich, handsome, popular kid in school.  As he runs for student body election on nothing other than how awesome he is, he crosses paths with a witch (Mary-Kate Olsen) who slaps him with an ugly stick.  His father, aghast at what has become of his son, locks him away in a townhouse and hires a blind tutor (Neil Patrick Harris) to educate him.  Alas poor Kyle, he finds a former classmate (Vanessa Hudgens) in trouble, and makes a deal with her dad to keep her safe.  But what are the odds that she could find love with someone so...

beastly!

Bam!  How's that for a plot synopsis that ends with the title of the movie?  That's right, even I'm going to have to take a bow for that clever wordplay!

;)

This was one of the those movies that I'd never seen/heard of, and just happened to stumble across while perusing Netflix one day.  We watched it, and I have to admit...

I was impressed.

A modern day retelling that tweaked and added to the story as it saw fit, all the while staying as true as it can to the source material story.

Even better: it is never dull.

Kyle gets help from the tutor and the maid to try and woo Lindy.  Neil Patrick Harris naturally steals every minute of the movie that he is in as the blind tutor with a style all his own

As is always the case in this story, Lindy hardly finds her prince anything but charming.  Much like I lamented about the movie Penelope last month where she doesn't look nearly hideously enough as she could have, here too Kyle doesn't look too beastly, more of a tatted and pierced teenager. :)

Kyle too learns that all of his supposed friends who thought he was the best thing ever, secretly disliked him.  They only hung out with him because he was rich and popular.

Naturally, the story has to cut it close with whether the Beauty will truly love the Beast before the curse is unable to be broken.

I have a feeling you'll find the ending satisfactory.

Final Grade: B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Enjoyed it. Went out and bought a copy.  Watched it a few times since.  Good stuff!