The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)

***

An excerpt of a review recently posted on Schaeffer's Ghost:

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone wants to be a movie about friendship, but it isn’t. Yes, Burt and Anton part ways, and yes, their reunion is touching, but during their separation, Burt doesn’t seem to miss Anton in the slightest. Rather, Burt’s journey, such as it is, is one of rediscovery. He has lost his first love—magic, and the sense of awe and wonder and delight that it brings. What was once a thing of joy and excitement has become rote. In his quest to enjoy all the things that magic brought him—money, fame, sex—he has forgotten the magic itself. 

As I watched the film, I was reminded of Christ’s admonition of the church at Ephesus. After all, anyone who’s been a Christian for more than a few years knows that, as with most life experience, the buzz tends to fade. We start off so full of wonder and delight—the God of the universe loves me and sent His Son to die in my place for my sins! Hallelujah! What a Savior! 

But as the years pass, so too does our irrepressible joy in the Gospel. We become so focused on the blessings we have received that we forget the One from whose hand we have received them. Our faith can seem, well, ‘old hat.’ Gradually, the wondrous things God in Christ has done—and continues to do—in us and for us begin to seem slightly less wondrous. Like Burt, we forget why we do what we do.

Full review available here.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

****

Arthur Dent is having a very bad day.  City employees want to raze his house, and now his friend Ford Prefect is telling him the world's about to end.  Before he knows it, Arthur is off on a wild adventure through the galaxy, where he encounters a two-headed egomaniac, a pathologically depressed robot, an old man with an unusual (and unimportant) name, a terrible poet, a cheerful computer, and a couple of very irritable white mice.  Fortunately, he also has The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

This book is genius.  Clever, hilarious genius.  Adams' style can be overwhelming for some, but I find this particular book utterly enchanting.  There are tangents galore, but there's also, you know, a plot (sort of).  Still, it can be an acquired taste.  The whole thing reads like a dialogue between Eric Idle and John Cleese.  So if you like Monty Python, or if the news that the audiobook is narrated by Stephen Fry excites you, then there's a good chance you'll enjoy this delightful little book.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2011)

****

Hillbillies Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) are the proud owners of a dilapidated mountain cabin in the middle of the West Virginia woods.  It's a bit of a fixer-upper, but Tucker and Dale are excited nonetheless, and head out to their new 'vacation home' to make some much needed repairs.  Unfortunately, a group of obnoxious, preppy college kids decide to camp in the woods nearby, where they of course regale themselves with the tale of the Memorial Day massacre twenty years prior, when killer hillbillies brutally murdered a bunch of college kids in these very woods.  Through a series of misunderstandings that makes Three's Company look like a masterpiece of effective communication, the college kids mistake the harmless and bumbling Tucker and Dale for the murderous backwoods hillbillies, and they are determined to fight (perceived) fire with fire.  Humorous and deadly shenanigans ensue.

Allow me to say, right off the bat, that this movie is not for the faint of heart.  In the spirit of Shaun of the Dead blends traditional horror cliches with broad (and gory) comedy.  And much like Shaun of the Dead, there is more than enough blood and guts and violence to go around.  Granted, the violence is predictable (it is a well known corollary to 'Chekhov's gun' that you cannot include a wood chipper in a horror film without sending someone to meet his or her untimely end therein) and comedic--sort of an extreme and bloody slapstick--but it is violence nonetheless.  You have been warned.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)

***

Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn), owner of a small gym aptly titled 'Average Joe's', is in financial trouble.  He has defaulted on his mortgage, and will lose his gym to evil competitor Globo-Gym, run by the unbelievably slimy White Goodman (Ben Stiller), unless he and his gang of misfit gym members can come up with $50,000 in the next thirty days.  Fortunately, the national dodgeball championships are coming up, and you'll never guess what the grand prize is . . .

I like Vince Vaughn.  While he can sometimes be the wild-and-crazy character (as in the surprisingly good Mr. and Mrs. Smith), here he takes on a more straightforward leading man role.  Not only is he genuinely likable as a protagonist, but he is an excellent foil for Stiller's own turn as the over-the-top, maniacal, and disgusting villain of the piece.  The supporting cast is also excellent--I always enjoy seeing Stephen Root, Joel Moore was his dorkily charming self, and Alan Tudyk seems to positively relish his role as a man who genuinely believes he's a pirate.  Even Justin Long, who I sometimes find annoying, seemed sypathetic after he'd been bombarded with dodgeballs a few dozen times.  Plus, it's hard to be annoyed with anyone who brings back memories of Bring It On. 

As always, Stiller parades a host of delightful cameos across the screen (Shatner! Gary Cole! Lance Armstrong! Chuck Norris!).  Equally always, his real-life wife Christine Taylor holds her own as the only real flesh-and-blood woman in a world of caricatures.  I am always surprised that she has such good chemistry with Stiller; couples who sizzle in real life often fizzle on screen, but Taylor's been consistently good when starring alongside her husband. 

There were a few times when the jokes went a bit past my own personal funny/gross threshhold, but that's par for the course where Stiller is concerned.  Fortunately, this movie falls squarely in PG-13 territory, so it wasn't too offensive. 

Bottom line:  An occasionally crass, mostly funny movie.  I liked it.

Waiting for Guffman (1997)

****

From the makers of This Is Spinal Tap and Best in Show comes this classic and hilarious homage to community theatre.  Which means that viewers have a pretty good idea going in whether they'll like it or not. Christopher Guest films have a definite flavor.  You know what you're going to get.

Guest, as usual, relies heavily on improvisation.  Fortunately, he also relies on an impressive lineup of usual suspects--Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Parker Posy, Bob Balaban, Michael Hitchcock, and Larry Miller.  They are more than equal to the task, and the results are nothing short of hilarious.

Then, too, much credit must be given to the behind the scenes labors of Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, who co-wrote the music for the show-within-a-show "Red, White & Blaine."  While the level of acting in this community theatre troupe is abysmal, the music (and instrumentation) is fantastic--thus allowing the awkward 'actors' to take center stage.  

Having grown up in an around the Midwest (and attended college in small town Missouri) and participated in a number of extremely amateur theatre productions, I have a definite soft spot for this film.  In fact, some of my college friends memorized and performed "Red, White & Blaine" (complete with music and choreography) for a coffeehouse. With memories like that, I can't help but love this movie.

Still, Guest's style of humor is such that I think it translates to those from a more urban, less dramatic background. If you liked any of Guest's other mockumentaries, you might want to give this a shot.

NOTE:  Contains some profanity and adult content, but no sex or violence.  So probably not a family film, but still loads of fun.

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

****

I grew up watching this movie, and have loved it for as long as I can remember.  And not just because I have a serious soft spot for Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart (the latter of whom was awarded an Oscar for his performance in this film).  Rather, I suspect my affection for this film is rooted in its crisp dialogue and zippy one liners.  While Hepburn, Grant, and Stewart are the obvious heavy-hitters, the supporting cast turned in solid performances and earned a lot of laughs in their own right--most notably Ruth Hussey (who garnered an Oscar nomination), Roland Young, and Virginia Weidler.

Flight of the Conchords (Season 1)

****

Definitely an acquired taste.  Some viewers will find this gut-bustingly hilarious; to others it will seem merely stupid and pointless. I tend to fall into the first category, though I'll be the first to admit that I find some episodes and songs much more entertaining than others (the trippier sequences--"Prince of Parties" and "Boom", for example--were not as appealing to me, though I think Albi the Racist Dragon is pure genius).

In the vein of Arrested Development, Seinfeld, and The Office (UK version), the show follows our two intrepid (and possibly challenged) heroes, Bret and Jemaine, through their lives as novelty singers from New Zealand trying to make it in New York.  They are assisted (or more often hindered) by their ineffectual and oblivious manager-cum-consulate employee Murray Hewitt, and are perpetually stalked by die-hard fan Mel, while worldy wise (sort of) pawn shop owner Dave explains to them the vagaries of American culture and relationships. 

Many episodes feature, well, not much in the way of plot development and actual events (hence the Seinfeld comparison), and the audience is forced to endure a good deal of awkwardness along the way (as in the British Office).  The zany, ridiculous, off-the-wall nature of the humor is reminiscent of Arrested Development--so quirky, in fact, that a significant portion of the audience may not find it funny at all. 

For me, though, the true genius of the series is in the music.  I listened to the album long before I actually watched the show, and I knew right away I would be a fan--with such lyrical masterpieces as "Robots", "Business Time", "Not Crying", and "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)", how could I not?

The Tick (Season 1)

****

What a fun show!  Such a pity it's only nine episodes long.  I can see why it didn't quite catch with audiences though.  One critic noted that "It was too smart. Too funny. Too weird. So of course it failed."  I can't say that he's wrong.  In that sense, it's sort of like Arrested Development.  You either get it or you don't; it's either hilarious or just sort of dumb--and it won't take long to discover into which camp you fall.  Just take a gander at these quotes:

"But someone's gotta stand the heat and stay in the kitchen. Someone's gotta don the oven mitts of all that's right and strangle the red-hot throat of all that's wrong. This is that someone's story." (Pilot)

"Armless bandit! Empty your bladder of that bitter black urine men call coffee! It has its price and that price has been paid!" (Pilot)

"Gravity... is a harsh mistress." (Pilot)

"Don't be an Adolf Quitler!" (The Terror)

"I'll fold you into my wallet and spend you on a whore!" (The Terror)

"When you get in bed with evil incarnate, it always steals the covers." (The Terror)

"We have a fiendishly clever commode. It's already taken the bathtub as an ally in its porcelain war against us." (Arthur, Interrupted)

"You're on a first-name basis with lucidity, little friend. I have to call it Mister Lucidity... and that's no good in a pinch." (Couples)

"This is nothing more than a salty slab of justice jerky — cut and dried!" (The Tick vs. Justice)

That's all I've got.  If you think these quotes are or could be funny (especially when delivered by a delicious earnest Partick Warburton in a big blue suit), if you appreciate puns, literalized idioms, and tortured, overextended metaphors (and don't mind a bit of innuendo), then this may be the show for you.  I certainly enjoyed it.

Nightlight: A Parody, by The Harvard Lampoon

*

What a disappointment! The Twilight Saga offers so much potential for mockery and hilarity, and this book . . . is almost completely unfunny. The authors are too busy trying to be clever that they never actually get around to being funny. I enjoyed their portrayal of Belle's clumsiness and the assumption that every male in her immediate vicinity was attracted to her, but the story itself went off the rails early on and never made it back. Good satire/spoofery needs just a hint of seriousness and quality. If you mock everything, you mock nothing. Incidentally, the book is full of editing errors which, given the writers' Harvard credentials, is, I hope, a nod to the crappy editing in the actual Twilight books. If the real culprit is just lazy editing, then that's yet another demerit against this book. Still, considering the material they had to work with--the ridiculous books and ensuing nationwide obsession--I have to say the Harvard Lampoon really biffed it here. What a waste.

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, by William Goldman

****

Delightful.  The story is, of course, excellent, but the writing itself makes this classic tale even more enjoyable.

(Eminently re-readable, by the way.)

Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States, by Dave Barry

*****

Man, I love this book. Dave Barry is consistently hilarious, but this book is especially brilliant. I don't know that much about history, but the more I learn, the funnier this book becomes. I've always appreciated Barry's even-handed political satire--no one is safe. If you behave ridiculously, you will be made to look ridiculous. And when it comes to this particular book, not even the reader is safe from Barry's insightful criticism.

It's an easy read, and a fun one, but there's probably wisdom in pacing yourself. Barry's writing can seem a little manic if read in longer sessions, and you may miss some of the more subtle jokes.

Diets and deities

Now clearly, 10 extra pounds is not a massive crisis, but let’s do the math. I gained 10lbs in four months. Over a year, that’s a potential 30 extra pounds. That is a big deal. So I did what I did in college to get in shape, I ran three times and thought about being healthy. But apparently, your metabolism goes on sabbatical when you turn 35 because that did nothing. [...]

Frustrated, and now wearing pants from the “husky” side of my closet, I decided something needed to change. I started eating a slow carb diet. I read that people who keep food photo diaries made better eating decisions so I started to take a photo of all my meals. I stopped eating snacks after dinner and quit drinking soda. I started going to a trainer three days a week with some buddies from work.

And in the middle of this new found discipline, I realized something disappointing:

I apply more focus and purpose to my diet than I do my deity.

[...] I made a commitment to being healthy and was executing that commitment with ferocity.

All the while ignoring my faith.

I’d read the Bible, if I thought of it.

I’d grab a quiet time, if nothing else came up.

I’d pray in between things, if I could fit God into the margins of my day. [...]

I probably wouldn’t have been so bothered by my realization about my diet if the Bible was fuzzy on this issue, but it is unfortunately not. Here is what Proverbs 3:9 says:

“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.” [...]

Can you imagine what church would be like if members gave the firstfruits of their creativity to the Lord? We complain that the church is cheesy sometimes. Of course it is, we’ve been feeding it rotten fruit.

Can you imagine what it would be like for your life if you gave God the firstfruits of your time? I can’t because all too often I’ve given him rotten fruit. [...] I’m not perfect at the firstfruits concept. At heart, this is an “I’m failing, but don’t want to” post. But with grace and hope, I’m working on being more deliberate with my firstfruits.

Let’s stop giving God our last fruits.

 ~"The trouble with fruit," by Jon Acuff (Stuff Christians Like)

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams

***

Not quite as enjoyable as the first book. Adams' style is enjoyable, but here he elevates style so far above substance as to make the story rather lackluster. Still a fun read, though, and I still plan to finish the series.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Seth Grahame-Smith

**

Entertaining, but the insertion of zombies into this beloved story was not as seamless as I had hoped. The author would have done better to model Elizabeth's zombie-fighting after Buffy Summers, instead of trying to switch back and forth between Elizabeth Bennett, playful/clever/humorous young woman and Elizabeth Bennett, non-nonsense zombie-slaying automaton.

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead, by Max Brooks

***

Not as good as World War Z, sadly. Creative and comprehensive, but the pages and pages of lists get a little monotonous after a while. Unlike, say, the humorous How to Survive a Horror Movie, Brooks maintains a completely deadpan tone throughout. This seriousness serves him very well in World War Z, where it helps make the story more authentic. However, in this book, there is no story. As a result, the dry tone makes for rather dull reading. Still decent, but not really compelling.

Best quote: "Americans are notorious for their bad diet, lack of exercise, and relentless fetish for labor-saving technology.  As recognizable as the term 'couch potato' is, a more accurate term would be 'cattle': fat, lazy, listless, and ready to be eaten."