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Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a review by Jon

Forgetting Sarah Marshall ***
3 out of 5

Peter (Jason Segel) is dumped by his girlfriend of five years, TV star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) and goes to Hawaii to forget. Unfortunately Sarah is at the same resort with her new boyfriend, a British pop-star (Russell Brand)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the closest yet that the Apatow run of comedies (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) have come to the Kevin Smith brand of heartwarming romantic comedy via outrageous gags, and while it's more the quality of Mallrats than Chasing Amy, it's a very well written and faithful script by star Jason Segel. Part of me wishes it was funnier, but maybe that would compromise the characters.

They are all very believable. Each person has their good and bad sides; nobody is perfect and everybody is in for criticism. That's important because they feel real whereas normally in a rom-com, lead characters go on "journeys" while the supporting cast don't change at all and it's vomit inducing. Here they are all well rounded. Segel in particular is nakedly honest (literally so in a couple of unfortunate scenes!) and his Dracula The Musical moments (apparently a genuine project Segel wrote years ago) work as both poignant and possibly the funniest thing in the film. Kristen Bell perhaps has the hardest job, because she's the villain of the piece, so putting across her point of view is an uphill struggle. Far better is her new boyfriend. Russell Brand plays himself really, but is far more than a mere cameo and he is excellent at portraying several layers. If anything, he is the most grounded. I know Brand in real life is Marmite to many people, but even if you detest him, don't let him put you off because not liking his character can reap rewards. Mila Kunis is adorable (oh, the irony of her voicing Meg in Family Guy!), while Jack McBrayer almost steals the show with his attempts to consummate his recent marriage. "God put our mouths on our head's for a reason!"

The middle section is very messy and seems to waste time, but it comes good in the end by continuing to surprise, even when resorting to predictable convention. Even then, I thought they'd written themselves into a corner, but it resolves gracefully. Overall I think Segel has a better ear for dialogue than the other Apatow films have showed, as they occasionally lapse into moments of being too clever for their own good. Still, they are much funnier.

Note: like any Apatow DVD, this is stuffed with extras, but personally I'd avoid them. I ruined Knocked Up for myself by watching the hours of deleted scenes, gag reels, abandoned ad-libbing, etc. The Line-O-Rama feature is a case in point; take one scene and show the 20 or so alternative lines in quick succession. Argh!

(From Jon's Random Reviews on August 30th, 2009)

Captain America (1979), a review by addicted2dvd

Captain America (1979/United States) Wikipedia |IMDb |Trailer | Shout! Factory (United States) Director: Rod Holcomb Writing: Don Ingalls (Screenwriter), Don Ingalls (Story By), Chester Krumholz (Story By) Length: 97 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: Subtitles:

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Stars:
Reb Brown as Captain America / Steve Rogers
Len Birman as Dr. Simon Mills
Heather Menzies as Dr. Wendy Day
Robin Mattson as Tina Hayden
Joseph Ruskin as Rudy Sandrini

Plot:Extras:

• Bonus Trailers

While I did have a lot of fun watching this movie. I felt it took too long for Steve Rogers to agree to become Captain America... and MUCH too long before we got to see him in the costume. Unfortunately they also modernize the costume as well. In this first movie there is actually two versions of the costume. The first one looked more like something Evel Knievel would wear. The second (at the very end of the movie) was much closer indeed... but still way off from what you see in the comics and animation. Yes this is very cheesy... and a definite sign of the times. Whenever Captain America uses his powers you heard a sound effect to let you know. Very similar to the series of the time... The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. The one thing that was missing is that Captain America never throws his shield at all in this movie. I enjoyed this movie in a nostalgic sort of way. It really brought my back to my childhood. Though I would have liked to have seen more Captain America in it. But I guess that is to be expected for the origin story.



(From March Marathon: Superhero Films on March 14th, 2016)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

1.22 Letting Go (1995-06-01)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Jeff King (Writer), Kathy Slevin (Writer)
Director: George Bloomfield
Cast: Paul Gross (Constable Benton Fraser), David Marciano (Detective Ray Vecchio), Beau Starr (Lt. Harding Welsh), Daniel Kash (Detective Louis Gardino), Tony Craig (Detective Jack Huey), Catherine Bruhier (Elaine), Melina Kanakaredes (Victoria Metcalf), Laurie Holden (Jill Kennedy), Jennifer Dale (Dr. Carter), Frances Hyland (Fraser's Grandmother), Gordon Pinsent (Fraser Sr.), Joseph Scoren (Kevin), Linda Griffiths (Bernice), Andy Marshall (Resident)

A good episode. It is Due South's take on Rear Window. This episode also deals with the aftermath of the previous two-parter.

Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on July 27th, 2009)