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Shrek the Third, a review by RossRoy

Original Title: Shrek the Third Year: 2007 Country: United States Director: Chris Miller Rating: G Length: 93 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Surround, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

What they say
Get ready for Thirds -- the greatest fairy tale never told continues with a whole new hilarious comedy of royal proportions. When his frog-in-law suddenly croaks, Shrek embarks on another whirlwind adventure with Donkey and Puss In Boots to find the rightful heir to the throne. Everyone's favourite cast of characters is back, along with a magical misguided Merlin, an awkward Arthur, a powerful posse of princesses, and a bundle of unexpected arrivals. Only Shrek can tell a tale where everyone lives happily ever laughter!

My Thoughts
Here's a movie from which I had seen bits and pieces, here and there, because it's one of the niece's favourite movie. But I never sat down to watch it, straight through, from beginning to end. Until now.

Well, I don't know if it's the novelty of kind of perversing the traditional fairy tales that is wearing off or what, but I found this installment lacking, as opposed to the first two. Shrek 1 and 2 rank among my most favouritest animated movies, but this third one is lacking something. And you know what, I think it's because we've seen it all before. It felt like a retelling of Part 1, but with Arthur switched out for Fiona. I mean, it is again Shrek sets out to find someone, comes back, gets double crossed, fights to regain what he's lost, wins the fight, and lives happily ever after. Rinse, lather, repeat, yawn! Next!

That's not to say it is all bad though. There are a few good flashes here and there. I like the final fight too. But the freshness of it has worn out. Guess it's time Dreamworks moved on to another franchise. They've milked Shrek for all its worth.

Rating:

(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on May 30th, 2008)

Easy Living, a review by Antares

Easy Living (1937) 72/100 - This is one of those films that's been getting a lot of discussion lately as a lost gem of the screwball comedy era. But to be honest, you would think that a screenplay written by Preston Sturges, the Shakespeare of screwball, would be a gut busting ride, but for a few glitches, never finds it's course to classic comedy. It's as if someone at Paramount was given a set of blueprints for how to make a screwball comedy and everyone except Jean Arthur and Luis Alberni was manufacturing their roles to specification. Edward Arnold and Ray Milland spend the first 45 minutes of the film yelling their lines as if high volume made the lines funnier...well... it doesn't. It just makes the proceedings seem a bit amateurish. The film only really gets its footing once Jean Arthur takes up residence at Mr. Louis Louis' swanky hotel. The scenes with her and Alberni are priceless and for my money, Alberni steals almost every scene he's in. That isn't to say that Jean Arthur doesn't carry her weight, quite the contrary, she just radiates in this role. I've never seen her look more beautiful in a film and her performance proves that she was the queen of screwball comedy. It's too bad the first 45 minutes aren't as funny as the last 45 minutes, because this could have been a contender for top screwball comedy of all time. But alas, it's really only worth watching for the reasons I stated.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on October 18th, 2012)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

NewsRadio: Seasons One and Two (1995/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 658 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Portuguese

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Plot:NewsRadio
1.01 The Pilot
Writer: Paul Simms (Created By), Paul Simms (Writer)
Director: James Burrows
Cast: Dave Foley (Dave Nelson), Stephen Root (Jimmy James), Andy Dick (Matthew Brock), Maura Tierney (Lisa Miller), Vicki Lewis (Beth), Ella Joyce (Catherine Duke), Phil Hartman (Bill McNeal), Kurt Fuller (Ed), Greg Lee (Rick), Wallace Langham (Jeff), Beau Billingslea (The Security Guard)

A fun series with the great late Phil Hartman. Another great actor in this series is Stephen Root (Milton from Office Space) who plays the boss.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 13th, 2012)