Theater Review: The Muppets

It's truly hard to believe that the last great Muppet movie was created way back in 1992. And, even that was considered somewhat a flop.

With the death of Jim Henson in 1990, The Muppet Christmas Carol was created and released in 1992 - the first film to not involve Henson at the helm. When it was released, however, it was considered a flop at the box office despite its favorable critical response.

Since then, the Muppets have been a part of a handful of underwhelming films such as Muppets in Space, Muppet Treasure Island and The Muppet Wizard of Oz.

Thankfully, despite being missing from the public's eye for quite awhile now, the Muppets are back and in a big way.

Jason Segel of How I Met Your Mother and Forgetting Sarah Marshall penned a beautiful film that brought the Muppets back to their roots.

Segel stars in The Muppets as Gary, a man from a city called Smalltown (think Pleasantville). Gary is dating Mary (Amy Adams), and they have the perfect relationship - except for Gary's brother, Walter (Peter Linz).

Walter is a bit different than Gary, in fact he looks more Muppet than human. Gary has always felt that he needs to take care of Walter, and so that gets in the way of Gary and Mary's relationship.

Growing up, Walter had always felt different - until they happen across The Muppet Show on television and Walter becomes entranced with them.

Gary and Mary are traveling to LA for a trip on their anniversary - and Gary surprises Walter with a bus ticket of his own. This is exciting to Walter - you see the Muppet Studios are located in LA, but also a wrench in the plans of Mary.

When they arrive in LA, the trio arrive at the Muppet Studios only to find out that it has been pretty much abandoned and is falling apart. Walter sneaks his way into Kermit's old office only to stumble across a meeting between Statler, Waldorf and Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) who are going over the old lease to the Studios. Richman will own the Studios, which apparently has oil buried underneath it, unless the Muppets can buy it back for $10 million.

Problem is the Muppets have disbanded and it's up to Gary, Mary and Walter to get them all back together again to save the Studios.

I have to say, I have always loved the Muppets. The original three movies are amazing and The Muppets Christmas Carol is a staple in our household every Christmas. So, when I heard that Segel was overtaking this I was extremely happy. Disney purchased the rights to the Muppets (but not Sesame Street or Fraggle Rock) in 2004. I was elated then because I assumed that under the Disney banner the Muppets would become something again. But, nothing happened until Segel got his hands on them.

The movie is everything you remember. It has great musical numbers. A ton of great laugh-out-loud moments. And, of course, those touching moments that the Muppets always seem to provide.

It was exciting to share the Muppets with both my parents who introduced them to me - and my wife and son. And, I definitely left the theater with a smile on my face and a new tune stuck in my head.

Grade:

10/50: Despicable Me

When I first saw this preview last year during a very rare trip to the theater I didn't know what to expect. And honestly, I never really became interested in seeing it even after the full trailer was released.

However, Despicable Me began to get some good press and, of course, any time there is a somewhat decent cartoon film out my son will want to see it.

As it was not as good as either How To Train Your Dragon or Toy Story 3 it was still a decent enough film - and it made me laugh a handful of times.

The premise is this, Gru (Steve Carell) is a want-to-be super villain. He has come up with a way to be the greatest super villain in the world by stealing a shrink ray gun and shrinking - then stealing - the moon.

He goes to a bank that deals exclusively with loaning money to super villains run by Mr. Perkins (Will Arnett). Perkins agrees to Gru's plan if he can steal the shrink ray gun. However, another up-and-coming villain named Vector (Jason Segel) steals the gun first.

In order to break into Vector's house/workshop, Gru decides to adopt a trio of sisters, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher).

Of course, things go wrong and what you expect to happen does begin to happen - but it is done rather well.

Now, we come to the minions. Gru has a huge amount of 'people' working for him that are called the minions. When I first saw these creatures I thought they were a bit of a ripoff of the aliens from Toy Story. And, to a small extent they are. However, they were very funny and actually sweet - so they fit in nicely.

So, it wasn't an amazing film, but it was a nice watch and I did laugh a few times - plus my son liked it, so there's that.

Grade:

Freaks & Geeks

With the huge explosion of all things Judd Apatow nowadays, I felt it was only right for me to try and check out his original television show, Freaks & Geeks.
The show was on NBC during the 1999-2000 television schedule, but unfortunately due to low viewership was canceled after only 12 episodes had aired. The show, however, did complete filming 18 episodes which are now available on DVD.

I have only watched three episodes so far, but I am pretty entertained.

The show is more of a dramedy, which is hard to believe coming from a guy like Apatow - but then again if you think 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up all had underlying messages, despite the outrageous comedy factor.

Anyway, Freaks & Geeks is about Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) and her brother Sam (John Francis Daley).

From the pilot, we learn that Lindsay is starting to rebel after the death of her grandmother, whom she was really close. She was formally a mathlete, straight-A student, and best friends with Millie Kentner (Sarah Hagan), a very relgious girl.

She sort of veers from that path of life into trying to fit in with the "Freaks". These are the kids who would rather skip class, smoke and could care less about high school. The main "Freak" is Dan Desario (James Franco), whom it is obvious Lindsay has a bit of a thing for. He is followed by his two friends, Nick Andopolis (Jason Segel) and Ken Miller (Seth Rogen). A fourth "Freak", Kim Kelly (Busy Phillips), is Dan's on-and-off girlfriend, and gives Lindsay a bit of a hard time.

On the other side of things, Sam is a freshman in high school who is considered a "Geek". He hangs around with his two best friends, Neal Schweiber (Samm Levine) and Bill Haverchuck (Martin Starr). They are in between trying to figure out what is cool and not - and also trying to not get beaten up by Alan White (Chauncey Leopardi).

It's sort of amazing to see the amount of people getting their start in this show. Linda Cardellini now plays Sam Taggart on ER. James Franco has shot up the A-list movie star, especially with the role as Harry Osborne in Spiderman. Jason Segel, despite being part of the new Apatow Universe, is now a star on How I Met Your Mother. Seth Rogen is the king of the Apatow Universe now, and is bringing Martin Starr along with him in smaller roles. John Francis Daley now plays Dr. Lance Sweets on Bones. Samm Levine, however, is due to star in the new Quentin Tarantino movie.

Though I am only three episodes in, I am upset I didn't watch this show from the start. It's just another show that never truly got a chance in this day and age of neilson ratings. A lot of great shows have been canceled due to bad ratings, which usually comes from bad marketing.

Give this show a look if you happen to like the Apatow movies or any of the above people.

I am hoping to check out Apatow's second television try in Undeclared when I am finished. Another show that probably didn't get it's fair shake.

Iron Man/Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I did something this past weekend that I am normally not accustomed to doing. And I can now sort of see why I never do it, although I must admit it was worth it.

I have gotten pretty accurate in returning my Netflix DVDs in order for them to return on a Monday. When this happens, I almost always get a movie that is coming out brand spanking new on Tuesday - I usually get them on Wednesday. Anyway, if you miss out on getting them right away - it could be months before you luck out and get one.

Last Tuesday, two movies I have been longing to see since they were released in the theater dropped on DVD - Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Iron Man. I told myself not to send back the Netflix DVDs until a certain time so that I could get both of these on Wednesday. But, without thinking, I tossed my returning DVDs into the mail and they got to Netflix way before they are allowed to ship me the brand spanking new movies. So, I screwed up.

Anyway, with movies like these two I would never had received them from Netflix until possibly Christmas - so I blew the dust off of my Blockbuster card and traveled over to rent these two movies. In the end, it cost me nearly 12 dollars. I have certainly learned my lesson.

But was it worth it?

(Possible Spoilers hidden in the article)

I will start with Iron Man as I have heard so many great things about the movie this summer. From what I could tell it was the best movie of the summer not named The Dark Knight.

Anyway, after watching the film I think I have to agree with all of the buzz. Robert Downey Jr. was simply amazing as Tony Stark/Iron Man, and I can see why is stock has risen to astronomical preportions.

I had done my best to sort of hide under a rock and not get the total idea of the movie, so it was pretty surprising to me when I saw a bald Jeff Bridges as Tony's right hand man, and eventual villain.

I had read a few opinions on the choice for Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Stark's secretary/obvious love interest. I must admit, I have never really seen Paltrow as an A-list actress, but her performance in this film I felt was very strong.

Hidden throughout the entire film were hints as to a sequel, which after the enormous box-office draw the film has seen, was already green-lit. It was fun to pick up on some of the lines and scenes of things that might become.

Anyway, to wrap up I was very much impressed with the entire story-line of Iron Man. It did what other successful comicbook adapdations were able to do. It told the story of Tony Stark, how he became Iron Man and his reasons behind his transformation, while also providing a serperate storyline that helped Iron Man become a true superhero. All the while keeping the audience entertained.

Grade:

The other film I was able to catch was Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The movie was penned by Jason Segel of How I Met Your Mother fame. It is loosely based on a relationship that Segel himself had with, according to sources, Linda Cardellini of ER.

Segel is Peter Bretter, a musician who has been doing the music in the hit television show Crime Scene. His girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), just so happens to be the star of the television series.

Marshall, however, breaks Bretter's heart when she leaves him for another man. Bretter has a difficult time getting over her and his half-brother/friend Brian Bretter (Bill Hader) tells him to go on vacation and try and forget about her.

Bretter takes the advice and heads off to Hawaii, and checks into a hotel where Marshall also happens to be staying at with her new boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), a pop singer.

This throws Bretter into yet another crying-fest, until he befriends a hotel worker Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis).

I'll leave the plot at that, because everything else that happens is pretty important to the ending. I will say that the full-frontal scenes of Segel were definitely turn-away worthy. Although perhaps the ladies will enjoy it - I don't know, the wife didn't give me a thumbs up or anything. Brand was pretty decent in the film, I did find him a little over-the-top, but some of his lines were pretty funny. Jonah Hill makes another appearance in an Apatow-movie, as a host at the hotel's restaurant - but his role was a little flat for me. Paul Rudd makes a small cameo in the film, his role was a little better than Hill's but not by much.

I enjoyed the film a lot, but I guess I actually came away a little disappointed due to the amount of hype I put into seeing it. I think I'll have to see it again to truly appreciate it, but I do know I had a handful of laugh out loud moments, which always makes a movie watchable for me.

Grade: