Flight of the Conchords is a mild mannered, good-natured kiwi take on the increasingly popular novelty song duo comedy genre, so recently taken to extraordinary heights by The Mighty Boosh. Jemaine and Bret are super charming protagonists and get great support from a cast of lovable oddballs: Murray, their ginger-balled band manager being my favorite; creepy/cutesy stalker Mel, a criminally underused Eugene Mirman and Thoroughly Modern Millie as Brett's girlfriend are also noteworthy.

I have to say, I liked the show a lot it premiered on HBO a couple of years ago, but I think The Boosh has spoiled me since and when Netflix sent season one last week it took a little while for me to fall under its milder, subtler spell – but it did win me over and I find myself just feeling nice when I think of the hours I've spent with the boys.

The musical numbers themselves are pretty great too – whether it's the freaky voice of David Bowie or the imitable sounds of the Pet Shop Boys lamenting life on the mean streets, the songs are pretty right on and always funny, but sometimes, you know, they could be a little shorter. .. but why quibble over small imperfections? It's a fun show made by people that seem genuinely nice, so enjoy it!

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Posted on October 12, 2009

Community is by no means a perfected stroke of television genius, but with a cast that includes Chevy Chase and Joel McHale, it was the new show I was the most hopeful and curious about.

I have to say I laughed several times and even though the pacing was off – it seemed like the makers were forced to cram the events of an hour into a half hour – or at least has stopped a few classes short in their script writing workshop, I think the show has great potential once it finds its stride. Many great sitcoms have started far weaker than this one.

McHale is almost comfortable as a douchey lawyer forced to attend community college along side a ragtag group of misfits like Danny Pudi as Abed, who for better or worse makes asperger syndrome extremely funny and Ken Jeong who was not even featured in the pilot, but made me excited for his introduction based on commercial clips. Chase is fairly subtle and might has actually chosen wisely for his small screen return. I hope so, because I'd love to add another enjoyable comedy to my weekly viewing, especially one with such a great cast.

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Posted on September 21, 2009

Undoubtedly, the images I posted over on RC are going to make Hardbodies look like a lot more fun than it is. The film is no B-movie delight like Joysticks, mostly because of an overwhelming grossness factor.

The plot concerns a homeless surfer named Scotty Palmer who gains employment as a sort of pimp to three “sex geezers”- old men who have moved in together to a summer beach house to get laid. Scotty's best friend is a horny monster face of a kid named Rags who has beef on the beach with a roaming gang of sexual predators (see man in the “Boogie Til You Puke” tee).

Watching said men get mesmerized by boobs and suffer from nauseating blue balls (see after the jump) is perhaps less exciting than it sounds. But on the other hand, there is an all girl band called Vixen who rocks my world in leg warmers with a song called “Computer Madness”, there are performing bodybuilders, there is a car water bed sex palace, and there are numerous fake breast antics that you just can't find in comedies anymore.

Oh, and some photos after the jump are not safe for work – and one in particular (which includes a feather boa) is likely to give you nightmares. I apologize.

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Posted on September 21, 2009

Amazingly crafted insults and innovative swearing may not be exactly what you seek out in a film, but the hilarious In the Loop might change that. Based on the superb series that I've raved about here, The Thick of It, this British comedy takes the faux cinema verite style and pokes it's cameras into the workings of the corrupt and idiotic governments that rule us.

If you've seen the series and are a fan, you'll be happy to hear that Malcolm is back and as vitriolic as ever. But really, the entire cast is golden, including Steve Coogan whose all too brief appearance as an irate constituent made me forget all his missteps (see Hamlet 2 and having gross sex with Courtney Love).

It will be difficult to find a comedy as intelligent and thought provoking as this one this year. And the best part is that you can watch it at home on IFC on demand while it's playing in theaters.

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Posted on August 31, 2009

Truth be told, it's been quite awhile since I've been smitten with Mr. Tarantino. I know people love his recent films, but Jackie Brown was the last one to hit home with me. So, I really had no expectations going into Inglourious Basterds and, to my shock, I absolutely loved it.

It's a ballsy, insane movie with pops of extreme violence, unexpected laughs, and cinematic beauty. Not to mention a cast of extremely handsome, strapping young Jews and allies. There were so many armed and bloody men to swoon over, that it will take some time to include them all in my hunks list.

Clearly taking cues from suicide mission military films like The Dirty Dozen and the original Inglorious Bastards, which shares very little with this film except the title and Nazi bad guys, he is equally inspired and paying homage to classic spaghetti westerns – punctuated with the clever use of music by our favorite Ennio Morricone.

It's an odd bag of tricks and the result is all just a little bit off: Mike Myers is strangely cast in a Peter Sellers role (but is his usual old bullshit self) within a fairly straightforward scene, a tense confrontation between old enemies over dessert is interrupted by extreme close ups of fresh whipped cream, and David Bowie's song from Cat People plays over a putting-make-up-on-to-kill-Nazis montage.

Like his revolutionary hit, Pulp Fiction, the movie has a way of knocking you back after you've seen it. In part because of the graphic gore, but moreover – it's a talky, unique and shocking remixing of popular movie genres turned completely inside out. Unlike the typically somber tone of films like Defiance, Tarantino actually rewrites history so that we all get the bloody revenge we always wanted in an extremely satisfying, cinematic way.

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Posted on August 24, 2009