Better Off Ted (2009)

Boo Yah! America releases a funny Sit-Com. This is right up there with the other three good ones, Reaper, Chuck and …. hmm was there a third? BLAM Arrested Development.

Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington) is head of the R & D department for Verdian Dynamics. A company that is the embodiment of all that is wrong with corporations. Portia de Rossi is Veronica, Teds boss who is a company girl with no faults, other employees Lem and Phil have arguments over whether she is a robot. Andrea Anders is Linda Zwordling the head of testing for R & D, she hates what the company does but not enough to anything serious about it, so instead she just steals the creamer.

Phil Myman (Johnathan Slavin) is hilarious as the laboratory scientist who works closely with best friend Lem (Malcolm Barrett) as they create whatever wacky invention the company wants. What the company wants can range from jet packs for kids to play with, light food packs for soldiers to freezing an employee ‘to see what happens’. At one point Phil laments that everything they create for good ends up being used for evil, but quickly realises he’s excited by his new status as an evil scientist. Isabella Acres is great as Teds Daughter Rose the real conscience of the show. While Ted teaches her right and wrong she looks to the example he sets in the job he does with ‘the company’.

The show is hilarious its fresh, funny, seriously clever, I had given up on American Sit-Coms but it seems they are actually capable! There is some serious intelligence behind the writing and gags in this show.

The company has no sense of humour, no soul and will stop at nothing to take over the world, you know like any corporation. The company is the punchline and it keeps getting funnier the adds for Veridian are hilarious!!!

Here are my faves:

Life Better

Food Yum

Nurse Jackie (2009)

This show is freakin hilarious, its about time we got a cool drs show that has balls. Forget the ever soppy ‘Greys Anatomy’ with its drama, irritating voice overs attempting to pass on boring reflections and observations. This is witty, clever and hard hitting. The pilot and first episode left me really excited about the next episode. There were so many clever twists, when you think you have the main character figured out, she does something that reminds you this is not your average tv fodder. This character is well thought out and very complicated.

Its a show about contradictions on one hand Jackie (Edie Falco) is efficient in her role as a nurse, she’s dedicated to her patients and appears to be a straight shooter. On the other hand she abuses meds, steals from patients, fills out donor forms on behalf of deceased patients and doles out her own version of justice. The show is so refreshing. Its satirical comedy with a little touch of drama. Other then Falco who is well cast as Jackie my other fave character so far is Mohammed De La Cruz or Mo Mo for short (Haaz Slieman). Looking forward to seeing more of this.

Death Proof

So the plot…  Stunt driver Mike has a bad habit of killing people in his car which he has ‘deathproofed’ (his side only – sorry ladies).

Who wouldn’t pay money to see Kurt Russell as a bad guy driving around looking for people to kill in a black American muscle car.  And who wouldn’t love seeing him cry like like a bitch when the tables are turned.

As always the stylings of Tarantino are written all over this flick with a clever soundtrack, fantastic stunts, replays of action shots and dynamic cinematography.  The technical style of filming was interesting, changing from grainy colour reminiscent of a drive in screen, to a black and white Art Nouveau feel, to bright, fully saturated colour.  The style changes can mean that it breaks your connection to the story and you have to settle and reconnect again, but this is something Tarantino does on purpose and it does seem to have a refreshing effect.  Like an interval in a play before it starts a new section.  The film is what fans expect, dialogue heavy, style conscious, graphically violent, brilliantly written and directed, with a killer cast.

A thoroughly enjoyable film.  One of my fave Tarantino films.  Zoe Bell shines as Tarantinos latest muse and as always the extras are well worth watching, a free lesson from a film great.  The story was refreshing and it was fun to watch Kurt Russell being bad!  The movie buff friend I saw it with, became ‘deathproof’ crazy!  Watching it another four times taking her total to five times in one week – a record even for her.  Be warned.

Scariest moments:
The Kurt Russell nachos scene – I’m not sure I’ll be able to eat nachos again.
The lap dance scene, with Butterfly and Kurt Russell, he looks soooo old.

Fun fact:  Tarantino originally wanted Mickey Rourke for the part of Mike but Rourke turned him down (he also turned him down for the part of Butch in Pulp Fiction which then went to Bruce Willis).

Thank You For Smoking

This hilarious satire about the smoking industry takes us into the life of a pro smoking lobbyist.  Aaron Eckhart is totally believable as the confident spin doctor who spends his days talking up the cigarette industry.  This movie is clever, funny, satirical and intelligently written; the relationships are completely believable and the relationship between the father and son is nice to watch without being sickening.  The classroom scene and the introduction to the Mod (merchants of death) Squad are my favourite scenes in the movie.  A killer cast with William. H. Macy, J.K. Simmons, Maria Bello, Aaron Eckhart, Katie Holmes and more and more and more.  Who is not in this movie?  The stand out performances for me were Aaron Eckhart, J.K. Simmons and Cameron Bright (who is young but no newcomer with more then 16 movies under his belt) was fantastic as Joey Naylor.

Californication

Funny, refreshing, bold! I enjoyed checking out the latest American offering and was impressed, I got a lot of laughs. I liked the characters, the set up etc. I think it shows promise. I’m not sure if its cos i’m a chic or because it was blatant and unnecessary but I got sick of all the tit shots well before the episode was half way through. We all get it! Duchovnys a chic magnet and likes sleeping with a lot of women. Lets all hope the rest of it is more interesting, relying more on humor and wit and less on arse and tit.