Strange Relations (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)Until two weeks ago, I had never heard of this movie. I began watching about a half hour into it the other day when I came across it on Showtime and remained planted until it was over. Brilliant display of real people underneath the pretensions and dysfunctions of cultural and class differences within a family. Paul Reiser was excellent in this movie, as were all of the lead characters. Although a drama, there are a lot of surprisingly funny moments in this film. A good watch.

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The Ladies Man (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)I came to appreciate this movie a little more after a second viewing. Sure, it's a really, really dumb movie, and Tim Meadows' Saturday Night Live character Leon Phelps, aka The Ladies' Man, is stretched just about as far as he can be without snapping, but there are laughs to be found here, and the film really isn't as raunchy as you might think. Leon Phelps is the perpetual 70s swinger who dispenses all of his wisdom in the ways of love on his own late night radio program. A lot of that wisdom involves some rather unsavory advice, most of it involving "da butt" in some fashion, and Leon soon finds himself out of work alongside his attractive producer Julie (Karyn Parsons, who turns in a pretty impressive performance). Unable to find a new radio job, Leon's troubles only increase when his womanizing ways make him the target of a group of men looking for the guy who seduced all their wives. SNL's Will Farrel turns in a particularly memorable performance as the ring leader of the group and a really, really devoted Greco-Roman wrestler whose wife somehow doesn't understand his need to get oiled up and practice wrestling day and night with his friend Bryan. With so much going on in his life, will Leon find the answer to all his money woes with a "Sweet Thing" from his past (if he can only remember which one of his former ladies she is), or will true love sneak up on him and make him a changed man?
The Ladies' Man features some notable names in its cast list: e.g., Tiffani Amber-Thiessen, Julianne Moore (in an inexplicable little cameo), and the ultimate ladies' man himself, Billie Dee Williams. Billie Dee's presence lends a sense of class that is altogether missing without him, although he does play a prominent role in an unforgettable and hilarious practical joke of pretty crude proportions. When it comes right down to it, The Ladies' Man must be judged in terms of its comedic aspects, and I have to say I found the movie quite funny. If you found Tim Meadows' Ladies Man character on Saturday Night Live funny, odds are you will enjoy this movie.

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LEON PHELPS IS A SWEET-NATURED, INEXPLICABLY IRRESISTIBLE LOVEEXPERT WHO TRIES TO SOLVE THE WORLD'S ROMANTIC PROBLEMS WITHHILARIOUS RESULTS.

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Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)In "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Woody Allen begs to contradict another pundit of his age, Mick Jagger. Woody demonstrates in his latest movie that you can't EVER get what you want, and you also can't get what you need. He demonstrates this in the story of how Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), two lovely young Americans staying in Barcelona for a few months, react to the romantic overtures of the dashing, primally sexy artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem). Vicky--a master's candidate in "Catalan identity," although she is not Catalan and barely speaks Catalan or even Spanish--finds that sex with Juan Antonio shakes up her previously solid feelings for her dullish American fiance, Doug (Chris Messina). Cristina--a dilettantish photographer/filmmaker who is defined by the fact that she only knows what she DOESN'T want in a relationship with a man--finds greater satisfaction with Juan Antonio, at least until Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz), Juan Antonio's volatile, insanely jealous ex-wife, shows up.
Some critics have opined that "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is a hackneyed blast at naive Americans left at sea by European sexual sophistication. However, I think it's more a delineation of Woody's basic belief that happiness in love is transitory at best. How can you possibly hold up Juan Antonio and Maria Elena--who are constantly at each other's throats, to the point that Maria Elena brandishes knives and guns--as an example of sexual sophistication? They can't live with each other, they can't live without each other, but she may end up killing him, herself, and a few innocent bystanders. As enacted in a scintillating performance by Cruz, Maria Elena embodies the eternal irrationality of love, a blind craziness that--at least in Woody's view--stamps an irrevocable expiration date on even the tenderest, most ardent love.
Not quite a comedy but certainly not a tragedy, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is a rueful commentary on the constant dissatisfactions of love and life, made all the more bittersweet by the heartbreakingly beautiful scenes of Barcelona and Catalunya wrapped in golden light by photographer Javier Aguirresarobe. The film offers us multiple pleasures--not least the excellent performances--yet, in the end, it feels slight. There are too many of Woody's familiar tropes for us to take the film at face value, especially the overly familiar characters; personally, I'm tired of the gorgeous, nubile young "Woody women" who are drawn vaguely toward a career in the arts yet are completely confused about everything except their need for hot sex. And, yes, Woody, we got the point decades ago that you consider life and the Universe meaningless; why do you always have to have one character in every movie (in this case, Juan Antonio) declare that belief baldly? "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is worth seeing, but it falls short of being one of Woody's masterpieces.

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Oscar winner Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men), Oscar nominee Penelope Cruz (Volver) and Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johansson (The Nanny Diaries) light up the stunning city of Barcelona in this sexy romantic comedy. Vicky and Cristina are two young Americans spending a summer in Spain, who meet a charming Casanova and his beautiful but volatile ex-wife. When they all become romantically entangled, the smoldering sparks begin to fly in hilarious fashion. Critics rave, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is one of Woody Allen s finest films, with bravura performances from its incredible cast (Jeffrey Lyons, Reel Talk/NBC).

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Da Ali G Show - The Complete Second Season (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)Mr. Cohen has received all kinds of accolades for his three stunningly vivid personas: Ali G, Borat, and Bruno.
But aside from the ultra-offensive and seemingly obvious ignorance lay some great social commentary. Through his characters, Cohen is able to expose the still present social bigotries of this country that so many argue went away with civil rights, but that are still so firmly rooted at the core of this nation. A Cambridge graduate, and Jew, Cohen is most impressive as Borat, the anti-Jewish video journalist from Kazakhstan. In this guise he offers up some of the most ridiculously awkward moments, and shines the darkest of lights on "The U, S, and A". As disturbing as it is hilarious is the Borat-led country song, "Throw the Jew Down the Well" in which a slew of stereotypically deep country town folk join in emphatically by the song's final chorus.
This is just a taste of the type of humor/commentary you will find in this great collection (as well as a real Harvard address, I mean, I know he graduated Cambridge, but Hah-vahd, wat wuh yeh thinkin?). Each character, the over-ghettotized clown from Stains (Ali G), the inept foreigner, and the most stereotyped gay man, feigns ignorance as the main selling point for this show, and the reactions from such guests as Noam Chomsky, DEA/FBI agents, Sam Donalson, and wildlife activists ranges from bewilderment, to utter confusion, to frustration, anger, embarassment, etc., etc., etc.
If you can tolerate tongue in cheek humor, and like a little side of social commentary thrown in, this is the perfect set for you. Since there are 6 episodes with seasons one and two, and each episode includes at least one Ali G, Borat, and Bruno skit, I will not suggest buying one over the other. You'll end up going straight to your favorite segments instead of watching the whole way through anyway. Just go out and buy both seasons; "If you do not, I will crush you."

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The Emmy nominated, BAFTA Award-winning Ali G is back! British comedic genius, Sacha Baron Cohen, slips into the skins of his devilish alter egos, Ali G, Borat and Bruno to create loads of hilarious riffs at the expense of American culture in the second season of the international phenomenon called "riotous", by The Dallas Morning News and "deliciously wicked," by the Boston Globe.

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