Penguins of Madagascar (2014) Film Review

Have you seen Madagascar? Were your favourite characters the penguins? Do you want more? Here y’are.

It’s fabulous. Essentially, you’ve got Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chirs Miller) Rico (Conrad Vernon) and Private (Christopher Knights). Private is valued for his cuteness but is not listened to for any practical skills. Then along comes the scary Dave (John Malcovich), an octopus with an axe to grind, and the penguins need to combine with the creatures of elite fighter group North Wind to save the day.

Great cast, fab scripting, lots of jokes for adults and even many of the jokes for the kids were good too. It’s rare at a film aimed at children to hear the adults laughing as much if not more than the children, but that’s what you get from this. (Side note… with my usual bug bear, there is very poor representation of females in this film. There is only one woman, and while she is capable, she is also the sexy love interest. Why oh why oh why could there not have been even a couple of female characters? Why couldn’t a couple of the penguins been girls? Or more of the North Wind crew? Or the baddie? Come on, people. Come on.)

Pain & Gain (2013) Film Review

Based on a true story, this follows bodybuilder Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) and his two sidekicks, Paul Doyle (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) and Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) as he attempts to become rich of the back of his extremely unpleasant personal training client Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub).

I wonder how much of the story has been changed to make this film. The violence is quite unpleasant, but as long as you can get through that, it’s extremely funny. The characters are insane, extremely unbelievable and over-the-top, but fabulous. And then Rebel Wilson turns up, and she’s just doing so darn well. And Ed Harris. And Ken Jeong. It’s a pretty darned funny film.

Community – TV Review

I didn’t get Community for a few episodes. It was sort of funny, but not hilarious. The characters were quirky, but didn’t grab me and I wondered what the hype was all about. After a few episodes, however, it started to get surreal and absurd, and I fell in love with it.

Set in Greendale Community College (kind of like TAFE, from what I can tell), the show follows a study group made up of seven students of a variety of ages and backgrounds. Each has a role within the group, however challenging these roles and expectations creates some interesting episodes. Plus, there is the post-modern twist from the character Abed who often refers to the scenario which is occurring as an episode.

Got a bit first year arts student there. Sorry. The show is ridiculous and funny, and totally beloved by many. And its got Chevvy Chase, who I cannot recall seeing in anything for about fifteen years, and he’s fantastic. Though unsubstantiated rumour has it that the fourth season will possibly not have Chevvy Chase, and that the show’s creator, Dan Harmon, is not on board. I hope neither of these are true, or the show may have jumped the shark. (Although, as Troy pointed out, in one episode of Happy Days a guy did actually jump a shark and it was awesome)