Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

I have to admit I wasn't one of the people who at first got the whole appeal when it came to the first Anchorman film, I didn't and I'm not the biggest Will Ferrell fan either. But I did find the first film really funny when I did get round to watching it and so I was interested to see where the characters were now and what they could get up to. 

Following on from the first film we see Ron Burgundy presenting with his wife Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), fired because of incompetence and stupidity Ron  is soon enough a down and out. Struggling to make a living, being fired from Sea World and with the original news team now split up they all have their own lives. Ron (Will Ferrell) is jobless, Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) is the top cat photographer, Champ Kind (David Koechner) owns a chicken restaraunt and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) is dead but not really dead. 

Recruited by a new 24 hour news channel GNN (Global News Network) the newsteam start off at the bottom again doing the midnight shift. Deciding to show people what they want to watch instead of what they need to watch the news team are a massive success and are soon enough back on top. 

The film in my eyes takes a stupid turn and it goes off into ridiculous territory, going blind, nursing a shark called Doby and finally a celebrity packed final showdown of various other news anchors it becomes stupid. I have to say to me it felt more of a Brick film, the best and most funniest scenes are the ones where he is on screen and especially his relationship with Chani (Kristen Wiig). Both of them bring forward the at times strange, demented yet funny characters that steal the whole film and would have been better with just those two. 

The storyline for me was just too flaky and it wasn't linear enough, a feeling that their must have been ALOT of footage filmed for the movie and only the best was kept and alot of fat was trimmed off. Ferrell is of course great as Burgundy but lines like "by the beard of Zeus" and many others we have seen before from the first film and feels stale. For any devout Anchorman fans they will love seeing their fave characters back on screen but for me it just felt all too seen it before and not enough original material. No doubt we'll see an Anchorman 3 and maybe a 4th but lets hope some new material is brought in.

5/10.

Bad Grandpa!!!!

Bad Grandpa.

It's been a good few years in which we have been subjected to the sheer stupidity of the funny situations the Jackass team put themselves in. This time round the Jackass team have come up with a more story based film and I have to say with the ammount of Jackass shenanigans it is really funny and feels fresh and new.

Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) is an 86 year old man who has recently lost his wife, with his daughter being sent to prison he has the task of taking his grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll) to his father. With the two of them never having any contact and knowing each other they have to learn to get along in order to drive across the US.

Obviously with a grandson who is a little mischievous both of them get up to some stupid antics, Irving getting his penis stuck in a vending machine and stretching it,  Billy trying to gain entry into a strip club, Irving having explosive shitting and kissing his own granddaughter passionately the list of antics is endless. 

Theirs not alot to the plot of the film but it does have the Jackass candid camera elements thrown into the plot between the Grandpa and Grandson and it works really well. Both characters are both as worse as each other and they both fool so many members of the public into thinking they're real situations taking place. 

Scenes where penises stretch, shit is thrown on walls, chairs are knocked over, bodies flung through windows and testicles are shown it's all part of the fun and I could have watched it for another few hours. Knoxville is obviously a pro when it comes to playing Irving and just transforms perfectly into this old 86 year old naughty grandpa and Jackson as Billy just plays along with it. 

Knoxville has said in interviews he met the kid when he followed Knoxville around on set and kept hitting him in the balls and wanted him on a future Jackass project. And this is the perfect setting for him to unleash his antics, Jackson is a perfect little hellraiser and he plays up to the cameras so perfectly and is willing to do anything to get a reaction and a laugh. 

The finest moment for me in which I was in stitches with laughter would be where they dress Jackson up as a little girl for the beauty pageant and Jackson does a routine of pole dancing to Motley Crue's 'Cherry Pie' song. The fact Irving comes on-stage and starts firing off dollar bills Billy's way just had me crying with laughter. 

Being a massive Jackass fan I loved this film because it brought back some of the old style Jackass stunts but it didn't present it in a way we've seen before. If this was Jackass the movie 5 or 6 people would have been bored of it but bringing in a moral storyline to take you along was genius and Jeff Tremaine and Johnny Knoxville have created something really funny. 

A laugh out loud funny, crude, ridiculous, cringe worthy, Jackass film that Knoxville and co should be proud of, LONG LIVE Jackass.

8/10.

We're The Millers!!!!

We're The Millers.

Yet another funny laugh out loud comedy comes to our screens and I have to say for once I fully enjoyed myself. Given the stupidly at times ridiculous earlier years release of This Is The End I found this film alot more grounded and an all round funny film.

As we see a drug dealer David (Jason Sudeikis) selling his usual marijuana to his clients he soon enough is robbed of his stash and has to go speak to his boss Brad (Ed Helms). The only way to wipe out his debts is to go into Mexico and pick up some drugs for Brad and bring them back into the US, simple right, no. 

Thinking about how to get the drugs back into the country he comes up with a genius idea, pretend to be part of a travelling family as they always get past the police and are un-noticed. Recruiting the geeky kid Kenny (Will Poulter) from his building as his son, a runaway homeless girl Casey (Emma Roberts) as his daughter and a stripper Rose (Jennifer Anniston) from his local strip club he is soon on his way to Mexico.

As the pretend family pick up the drugs they soon enough encounter a whole array of situations, from breaking down and meeting a swinging couple to Kenny being bitten by a tarantula the fake family goes through everything a normal family would. As a mixup of identity's the family is soon on the run and it's a race against time to get the RV and drugs back to Brad in time for David to get his cut of the money. 

The laughs are funny and the gags are something you wouldn't have seen before. How the four of them get along is just like what a normal holidaying family would go through as they protect Casey from pressuring boys David and Rose step in to the role as her real parents. As Kenny learns how to kiss for the first time Casey and Rose are on hand to give him advice and some practice as well which obviously ends in an awkward situation. 

I can't give too much away but if your after a bit of a laugh and a film to just not think about and go with the flow then check it out. The storyline is basic and it does have a nice ending to it about how they change as people and are brought together for an extra period of time. Anniston is on form as Rose and really excels as the stripper, with some impressive dance moves which have been sexed up to pull viewers in she is impressive. Sudeikis plays the obnoxious, lazy, self centered father figure well who only looks out for himself. Poulter and Roberts are great kids and really bring some laughs on screen especially Kenny singing along to the radio. 

This film is what it is, it's a funny comedy film with a basic storyline but that's what it was made for to be a funny comedy film. You don't have to think about it just watch it and enjoy the laughs along the way.

7/10.