DVDpedia : Library : Title : Y

Theatrical: 2009

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 196

Summary: Director Harold Ramis leans away from the "Groundhog Day" side of his personality and toward the "Caddyshack" side with "Year One", a broad comedy set in more-or-less ancient times. The film's cockeyed timeline puts two wandering cavemen (Jack Black and Michael Cera) through a rapid-fire series of biblical events: Cain (David Cross) slaying Abel (Paul Rudd), Abraham (Hank Azaria) preparing to smite his son Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and everybody converging on Sodom, the Genesis equivalent of Las Vegas. The jokes range from droll religious references to Apatow-ready testicular gags, but almost all of the real humor comes from the efforts of the performers to put things across. Black and Cera couldn't be more different in their styles, but each manages to conjure up some laughs just by working in his particular vein: one can appreciate Black's exuberant extrovert pouncing all over the material like a needy Golden Retriever and also savor Cera's muttering wallflower as he flicks in his sidelong observations. Azaria and Oliver Platt are given very long leashes--they know what to do with that kind of room--and Ramis himself plays a mighty-bearded Adam, but it's all not quite enough to prevent "Year One" from falling into that hard-luck zone with "Caveman" and "Wholly Moses": one more comedy that suggests the ancient world wasn't really all that funny. "--Robert Horton"




Stills from "Year One" (Click for larger image)

Theatrical:

Studio: Touchstone Pictures

Genre: Accessories & Supplies

Summary: Movie Summary YOU AGAIN the nonstop laugh fest is pure fun that features an all star cast with comedy pedigrees including Kristen Bell Jamie Lee Curtis Sigourney Weaver and the always outrageous Betty White. For Marni (Bell) high school was a horror movie and her brother s wedding is the sequel when her archrival comes back to haunt her as his bride. It s nice girl versus mean girl in this hysterical reunion with the one person Marni would really like to forget. And if that weren t enough Marni s mom (Curtis) reunites with her own high school nemesis (Weaver). Complete with hilarious never before seen bonus material YOU AGAIN is one crazy comedy that ll keep you laughing again and again. DVD Details * Actor(s): Sigourney Weaver :search Sigourney Weaver Jamie Lee Curtis :search Jamie Lee Curtis Betty White :search Betty White Kristin Bell :search Kristin Bell Kristin Chenoweth :search Kristin Chenoweth * Format: Color Widescreen * Soundtrack: English French Spanish * Subtitles: English Spanish French * Additional: Closed Captioned Additional Footage * Rating: PG * MSRP: $29.99 * Release Date: 2 8 2011 * Number of Discs: 1

Theatrical: 2008

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 113

Summary: If "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" feels like an extended and crazed sketch from "Saturday Night Live", there are reasons for that. "Zohan"'s star and "SNL" alumnus Adam Sandler is joined by several fellow cast members (in uncredited cameo roles) from his years on the NBC show. But Sandler also co-wrote the film's absurdist script with "SNL" veteran writer and sometime-performer Robert Smigel. Echoes of a few of their classic skits on the show--built around high-strung Israeli characters obsessed with disco and selling junk electronics out of a New York shop--are in revisited in "Zohan" and are a lot of fun to see again. "Zohan" is unbridled nonsense thrown at the wall, but with a sunny disposition that proves surprisingly persuasive. Sandler stars as an Israeli intelligence operative who fakes his death to reinvent himself in New York City as a hairdresser. Putting the lie to assumptions that any man in that professional field must be gay, Zohan routinely provides raucous sexual favors for all of his older female customers. The sight of bottles of gels and hairsprays falling off shelves while the indefatigable Zohan pleasures randy grannies on the other side of a salon wall is pure SNL, and is funnier than it might sound. The silly story involves an old, Palestinian enemy of Zohan, the Phantom (John Turturro), showing up in Manhattan, but everything is really leading to a Big Apple version of the resolution of Israeli-Palestinian conflicts we'd all like to see on a large scale. The film is almost instantly forgettable, and there are many times it veers toward the dumb, but it also sells itself well as a nutty concept. "--Tom Keogh"

Stills from " You Don’t Mess with the Zohan " (click for larger image)

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Ifc

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 93

Summary: Ben Kingsley is remarkable in "You Kill Me", a comedy-drama with an absurdist touch. The Oscar-winning British actor plays Frank Falenczyk, an alcoholic hitman from New York sent by his boss, Roman (Philip Baker Hall), to dry out in San Francisco just when a new crime lord (Dennis Farina) is moving in on Roman's turf. Frank reluctantly follows instructions and takes a Bay Area apartment, finds a part-time job as a mortician, and attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Acquiring a thoughtful sponsor and friend (Luke Wilson) through AA, Frank begins reflecting seriously about his life and responsibilities, and even becomes romantically involved with a delightfully acerbic woman (Téa Leoni).
Feeling respected and loved in the early days of his sobriety, Frank does what a lot of people do in similar situations: take stock of past mistakes and be completely honest with everyone. When he reveals to his companions and AA group that he has, at times, seriously messed up his work as a killer because of booze, the universal response is supportive with only a streak of, well, moral ambivalence. From there, the sky's the limit for a hired gun with a boost in self-esteem. "You Kill Me" is the kind of movie that can get an audience to suspend disbelief significantly without drawing too much attention to that fact. But that doesn't mean the film's noir roots don't show. Director John Dahl ("The Last Seduction") has made "You Kill Me" as tough as any other movie he's shot, and his fascination with human weakness and resilience in the face of unexpected obstacles enriches a wonderful story. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 1967

Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 117

Summary: The film boasts the best of the Bond title songs (this one sung on a dreamy track by Nancy Sinatra), but the movie itself is one of the weaker ones of the Sean Connery phase of the 007 franchise. The story concerns an effort by the evil organization SPECTRE to start a world war, but the not-so-super villain behind the plot is the awfully civilized Donald Pleasence. The thin script is by Roald Dahl (shouldn't we have expected a better Bond nemesis from the creator of mad genius "Willy Wonka"?), and direction is by British veteran Lewis Gilbert ("Alfie"). But the movie can't hold a candle to "Dr. No", "From Russia with Love", or "Goldfinger". --"Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 2006

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 110

Summary: There are a lot of broad comedies about men refusing to grow up, but few have the sly bite of "You, Me and Dupree". Even though Carl (Matt Dillon, "Crash", "There's Something About Mary") is newly married to Molly (Kate Hudson, "Almost Famous", "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"), when his best friend Dupree (Owen Wilson, "Wedding Crashers", "The Life Aquatic") ends up homeless, Carl invites Dupree into their house--in which Dupree promptly makes himself at home, culminating in setting the place on fire during lurid sex. But though he's trapped between his wife and his best friend, Carl may have bigger problems as his boss--and father-in-law--hates him and is sneakily working against his marriage. "You, Me and Dupree" seems at first glance to be a frat-boy farce about men being emasculated by their wives, but the well-written script, guided with a sure hand by director team Joe and Anthony Russo (who each directed episodes of the top-notch TV series "Arrested Development"), successfully walks a treacherous path between multi-layered characters and comic events, and is all the funnier as a result. Michael Douglas ("Wonder Boys", "Fatal Attraction") turns in a sharp, nasty performance as Molly's overly-possessive father. Also featuring Seth Rogan ("The 40 Year Old Virgin"). "--Bret Fetzer"

Theatrical: 1974

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 106

Summary: If you were to argue that Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein ranks among the top-ten funniest movies of all time, nobody could reasonably dispute the claim. Spoofing classic horror in the way that Brooks's previous film Blazing Saddles sent up classic Westerns, the movie is both a loving tribute and a raucous, irreverent parody of Universal's classic horror films Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Filming in glorious black and white, Brooks re-created the Frankenstein laboratory using the same equipment from the original Frankenstein (courtesy of designer Kenneth Strickfaden), and this loving attention to physical and stylistic detail creates a solid foundation for nonstop comedy. The story, of course, involves Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) and his effort to resume experiments in re-animation pioneered by his late father. (He's got some help, since dad left behind a book titled How I Did It.) Assisting him is the hapless hunchback Igor (Marty Feldman) and the buxom but none-too-bright maiden Inga (Teri Garr), and when Frankenstein succeeds in creating his monster (Peter Boyle), the stage is set for an outrageous revision of the Frankenstein legend. With comedy highlights too numerous to mention, Brooks guides his brilliant cast (also including Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman in a classic cameo role) through scene after scene of inspired hilarity. Indeed, Young Frankenstein is a charmed film, nothing less than a comedy classic, representing the finest work from everyone involved. Not one joke has lost its payoff, and none of the countless gags have lost their zany appeal. From a career that includes some of the best comedies ever made, this is the film for which Mel Brooks will be most fondly remembered. Befitting a classic, the Special Edition DVD includes audio commentary by Mel Brooks, a "making of" documentary, interviews with the cast, hilarious bloopers and outtakes, and the original theatrical trailers. No video library should be without a copy of Young Frankenstein. And just remember--that's Fronkensteen. --Jeff Shannon


Beyond Young Frankenstein
High Anxiety

Spaceballs
Blazing Saddles


Stills from Young Frankenstein (Click for larger image)

 
   

Theatrical: 1988

Studio: Lions Gate

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 107

Summary: Part of what was touted as a late-1980s revival of Westerns (and you can see how long that lasted), this good-looking, empty-brained film was like a spurs-and-chaps version of a Joel Schumacher movie, filled with pretty faces, prettier imagery, and absolutely no new ideas. The idiotically grinning Emilio Estevez is cast as Billy the Kid, who slowly accumulates a gang of Brat Pack buddies (Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland, Dermot Mulroney) and fashions them into a group of male models with six-guns. The action is confused and the script is trite, though Terence Stamp is intriguing as the old reprobate who helps the gang get its act together. Followed by an even worse sequel. "--Marshall Fine"

Theatrical: 1990

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 104

Summary: This time around, the Brat Packers (Emilio Estevez, Christian Slater, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland) are on the run from the law and making a break for the border. Sutherland is yanked from his school-teaching job back East and extradited for trial, until he's liberated by the other members of the gang. There's a memorable scrap between Phillips and Slater, and a couple of pretty decent firefights, but all in all this is rather forgettable fare. It taps into the futility and camaraderie of classics like "The Wild Bunch" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", but Sam Peckinpah or George Roy Hill it ain't. Jon Bon Jovi adds to the Rock-Stars-in-the-Old-West feel of this one, rife as it is with non-period dialogue and long, blowy hair. Still, fans of the original movie may find plenty to like in this sequel, even if it comes across as being a bit tired and turgid (notice there never was a "Young Guns III"). "--Jerry Renshaw"