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"MACGRUBER" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) Unrated Studio: Rogue Pictures Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Will Forte brings his SNL character MacGruber to the big screen in this send-up of 80s and 90s action films. The brilliant soldier MacGruber is brought out of self-inflicted exile to take down the villainous Dieter VonCunth (Val Kilmer), a ruthless arms dealer who has stolen a nuclear warhead. MacGruber partners with a young lieutenant (Ryan Phillippe) and his sexy sidekick Vicki (Kristen Wiig) to go after VonCunth and take him out of the picture.
WHAT I LIKED
I think I’m one of the few people on the planet that enjoyed “MacGruber” in the theaters. It just made me laugh. It’s not quite a spoof movie – surely not like the crap that Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer poop out on a yearly basis. But it’s not to be taken seriously at all. Rather, it’s a silly film told with the utmost seriousness.
To really appreciate “MacGruber,” you have to have a love for those 80s and 90s action films you see on HBO and Showtime. You know... the ones that always have a saxaphone somewhere in the soundtrack. The obvious parody is the “MacGyver” television show, which is where MacGruber gets his outfit, his gadgets and some of his principles. But this movie goes farther.
“MacGruber” is just a silly movie that gives an SNL character a full-length feature. It didn’t connect wtih audiences, but it’s a hell of a lot more cohesive of a film than many other SNL retreads like “Coneheads” and “Blues Brothers 2000.”
What really made this film work for me – beyond the crass sexual humor and toilet jokes, which seem to always be a winner in my immature book – is the fact that the movie just exists on its own. It’s not winking and nodding at the audience constantly, and it refuses to explain its jokes like the modern spoofs do now.
And it never lets a joke about a Blaupunkt or a Cunth pun go out of style.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Sure, there’s some things to complain about with this film, but I didn’t notice them. I had a blast watching “MacGruber.” It made me laugh, and that’s all I wanted from it.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The Blu-ray comes with a deleted scene, a gag reel and a cast/crew commentary.
The disc also has the theatrical cut of the film, but who wants to see that? Go for the extra four minutes.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Anyone who doesn’t think Cunth puns get old.
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"THE LAST SONG" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) Rated PG Studio: Touchstone Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Miley Cyrus gets a shot at a more grown-up acting role in the adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ book “The Last Song.” When Ronnie (Cyrus) and her brother move to Georgia to live with her dad for the summer, she isn’t happy. However, she soon meets a good looking boy on the beach who is more than she gives him credit for. They find a connection with saving the local sea turtles. And as they grow closer, Ronnie’s father uses music to reconnect with his daughter.
WHAT I LIKED
I have a confession to make... I like Miley Cyrus. I understand that she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and has had many more advantages than most aspiring musicians and actors have. Sure, her landing the “Hannah Montana” show probably had more to do with her father’s connection that her talent, but I don’t have a problem with her as a singer or an actor.
So there.
With that said, I think Cyrus is making a fine transition into grown-up acting. She’s still rough around the edges, but that’s more from the fact that she never had to prove herself on the Disney Channel. While this is still a Disney property, Cyrus is given a chance to stretch her acting wings and actually get into a real character. With so many young stars either unable to bridge the gap between child star and grown-up actor, or simply just imploding in the tabloids, I think Cyrus has a shot.
This is a good role for her to transition with because the girls that were ten when “Hannah Montana” started are well into their teenage years now, and this is who the movie is going for.
I’m not a teenage girl, so I wasn’t a fan of the film. But the locations looked great and the cast did a fine job acting.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
My problems with “The Last Song” result more from the involvment of Nicholas Sparks than anything else. He operates with such a formula. I’d list the elements to that formula, but it would spoil certain elements of the plot. So if you like the standard twists and turns of Sparks’ stories, you’ll enjoy this. Otherwise, you’ll be rolling your eyes a lot. It’s a bit contrived.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The Blu-ray comes bundled with the DVD, both of which include an audio commentary, a set tour with Cyrus’ on-screen brother Bobby Coleman, her music video of “When I Look at You” and the making of the video.
Features exclusive to the Blu-ray include an alternate opening sequence and deleted scenes.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Teenage fans of Miley Cyrus and book group readers who love Nicholas Sparks’ novels.
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"THE BREAKFAST CLUB: 25th ANNIVERARY EDITION" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: ***** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars) Rated R Studio: Universal Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
John Hughes’ most celebrated film turns 25 this year, and Universal has brought it to Blu-ray. “The Breakfast Club” tells the story of five high school students spending a Saturday in detention. They come into the library as their stereotypes of a jock, a princess, a brain, a criminal and a basket case. However, after spending a day with each other, they learn that each one is more than their own label.
WHAT I LIKED
I was only fourteen when “The Breakfast Club” came out, and with it being an R-rated film, I didn’t get a chance to see it in the theaters. However, I saw it pretty soon after it hit VHS, and I loved it then. It spoke to my generation. Thinking back to my school days in the 1980s, I can’t come up with a more iconic and inspriational piece for my generation.
“The Breakfast Club” could have been a theater play with its simplicity and character study. It’s nothing too complex, and sure it falls into cliche a few times, but it’s forever relateable. After all, who hasn’t been able to watch this film and name an example of each kid from his or her high school. I know I can (though they will remain nameless to protect the innocent and the guilty).
“The Breakfast Club” wasn’t a coming-of-age film. Rather, it was an awakening for anyone watching it. It showed how people really are, warts and all. The actions of the characters in this film are not perfect. They are not always pretty. Sometimes they are downright ugly. Mean things are said and not taken back. And when you step back from teh story, things down wrap up like they should. But they wrap up like they would.
As a child of this era, I have a very personal connection to this movie, and it’s one of those films I can watch again and again. In fact, when I put this Blu-ray in to revisit it probably for the first time in the better part of two decades, I though I’d stop it in the middle. But even though I started it at 5 a.m., I watched the whole damn thing without pausing once.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Sure, I don’t like what some of the kids do in this film, but that’s life. And that’s why it’s such a great film.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The 25th anniversary Blu-ray comes with a 12-part documentary looking back on the film, featuring interviews with Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and other cast members. It’s almost as interesting and compelling as the film itsle.f
There’s also a documentary called “The Most Convenient Definitions: The Origins of the Brat Pack” which gives the members of said Brat Pack a chance to defend themselves. Finally, there’s a feature commentary with Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall, not nearly as confrontational as they are in the film.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Children of the 80s and probably modern-day high school kids.
