Andy Labis, Author at Entertainment Ave!

A Boatload of Meat, Hawaii Five-0 No Go, Chicago Bear Talk, and A New Facebook, sort of.

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A nice weekend at a restaraurant called Texas de Brazil brought Stu Gotz and I together over the weekend, so for this “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast there is talk about a lot of meat, a good meal, and a nice time with old friends! Eating, however, wasn’t all we did over the weekend, as both of us got to experience Santa Claus and his magical ability to be in many places at nearly the same time!

And as weekends go, neither of us did much movie watching, and aren’t really sure if we will catch “The Tourist” this weekend, but we both agree that it might be time to put a fork in “The Chronicles of Narnia” series as neither of us have any desire to see the new version coming out and feel it is done. As TV goes, I’m still a fan of this year’s “The Apprentice” and look forward to it’s finale, I can’t believe people quit on “Survivor,” and Stu says that Mama Gotz is pretty much done with the re-make of “Hawaii Five-0.”

We disect another Chicago Bears’ win, although it might take a win over the New England Patriots next weekend for Stu to finally jump on the bandwagon; Stu doesn’t want to call the old Marshall Field’s store, Macy’s; and I’m not a fan of the new Facebook design because it impeeds my trolling for cool stuff as I play Cityville while Stu did change his profile picture to a cartoon character from his youth because, well, Facebook, or rather some meaningless person on Facebook, told him to.

As always, thanks for listening! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

An excerpt from The Dude on the Right’s review of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice on Blu-ray…

In terms of movies, I thought “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was a good movie, especially for the getting-a-little-older kid crowd. It had excitement, it had a little bit of love, it had great effects, and I love Nicolas Cage in that kind of role. The only problem I did have, and sorry Jay, but Jay Baruchel as Dave didn’t seem like a good fit for the role. I wish I great reason why, but unfortunately the only thing I have to go with was in talking with my BFF while we were watching the movie and saying I didn’t like the kid playing Dave, to which she agreed and said he seemed like a young Garry Shandling.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

MPAA Rated – PG
It’s 1:49 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina
MPAA Rated:	PG
Released By:	Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Kiddie Movie:	Not too young, and probably better for the closer-to-teen-group.
Date Movie:	My BFF liked it, so go ahead and snuggle.
Gratuitous Sex:	Nah.
Gratuitous Violence:	Lots of flying lightning bolts.
Action:	There is some chasing.
Laughs:	Quite a few chuckles.
Memorable Scene:	I like anything with Tesla coils.
Memorable Quote:	Nothing really.
Directed By:	Jon Turteltaub

The good that I liked about “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice:” I like Nicolas Cage in that kind of role, and the effects were great.

The not-so-great-but-not-really-bad about “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice:” I didn’t think Jay Baruchel was a good fit for the role of Dave, a.k.a. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and neither did my buddy Stu Gotz who saw the movie in the theater, and neither did my BFF, who thought that he seemed like a young Garry Shandling, which normally isn’t a bad thing, just not for this role.

So let’s get to the movie first…

In “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” we get Nicolas Cage as Balthazar. In the old days, namely back in the 700’s, he’s an apprentice of the great wizard, Merlin, along with a few others. He’s also in love with Veronica (Monica Bellucci). But there is badness in wizard world, and Morgana (Alice Krige) goes after Merlin and wants to take over the world, but Balthazar and Veronica won’t have any of it, and in order to save humanity Veronica sacrifices herself and ends up in a jar, trapped for eternity with the soul of Morgana, or something like that. In any case, on his deathbed, or deathfloor I guess it really was, Merlin gives Balthazar a little dragon and tells Balth that the dragon will tell Balth who will be the next wizard person who can finally defeat Morgana, at which time it will be safe to let Morgana out because the chosen one has been found.

Enter almost present day… and here’s Dave as a young boy, having the little boy hots for a young girl, Becky, and a note back from Becky leads Dave on a wild good chase to Balthazar’s shop, and his destiny, only an accident gives him the reputation as a boy who pees his pants.

Enter present day… Dave’s back! Balthazar and some other magician/wizard type dude, Maxim (Alfred Molina), are let out of the vase they stuck themselves in (it makes sense in the context of the movie), Balthazar convinces Dave that Dave is the apprentice and they must find the jar his love is trapped in, in order to save the world, and Maxim also wants the jar so that he can let out Morgana and us mere mortals of human-kind can suffer at the will of Morgana. Whew.

And so, along the way, there is much peril as Maxim tries to get the jar, beat up Balthazar, and kill Dave, there is also some love as Dave still has the hots for Becky and Balthazar has the hots for his love stuck in the jar, and there is a lot of cool training and effects as, well, this is a movie about a Sorcerer’s apprentice which lends itself to things flying and lightning bolts sparking.

As far as the Blu-ray special stuff goes, there is a ton of “making of” bonus features, from the clothing to the car, as well as trying to link he science involved with some of the movie. As usual the deleted scenes were fine being deleted, and I’ve got to think there were better bloopers, but the montage feature was pretty lame. But the Blu-ray more for the fact that the movie looks great in Blu-ray, unless you are really a geeky fan, in which case some of the “making of” stuff will cause you to go back and re-watch for true geekiness!

3 ½ stars out of 5 for “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” it look great on Blu-ray, and for the fan there are enough “making of” stuff to make them happy as well.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Turkey Day is Over, Good and Bad Movies, RIP Leslie Nielsen, and Decorating for Christmas

By: The Dude on the Right

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We survived! Yup, Stu Gotz and I survived our repsective Thanksgivings and during this episode of our “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast we tell you how. Part of my surviving was just rolling with the weekend and relaxing, and for me relaxing meant watching some movies, or at least a movie, and the Chicago Bears. Yup, I got to see “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with My BFF, and while we both liked the movie, we didn’t like the apprentice actor. I also got to watch the Bears beat the Philadelphia Eagles – Super Bowl here we come! Stu, meanwhile, still can’t figure out who thought “The Last Airbender” would be a good movie, let alone sell Airbender stuff, but there Stu was, not liking “The Last Airbender,” and not liking “Eat. Pray. Love.” that much, either.

And with Thanksgiving also comes Christmas decorating, and Stu and I give our advice on how to survive that escapade as well. Leslie Nielsen died and both of us are sad, both of us highly recommend using the internet for your Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or all-in-all not getting in a fight at the big box store line shopping, and Stu thinks I should watch Bridalplasty.

And lastly, we both got to meet our biggest fan recently, so here we are! Lord knows what I’m looking at, but at least Stu knew which way the camera was and wasn’t trying to look down her shirt.

And finally, as always, thanks for listening! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

The Sound of Music – 45th Anniversary Edition

MPAA Rated – G
It’s 2:55 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

The Sound of Music Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer
MPAA Rated:	G
Released By:	20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Kiddie Movie:	Good for the whole family!
Date Movie:	Unless she likes lots of violence and nudity.
Gratuitous Sex:	Nope.
Gratuitous Violence:	Hinted.
Action:	Nah.
Laughs:	Some chuckles.
Memorable Scene:	Yes, you can sing-a-long to everything.
Memorable Quote:	Nothing stands out.
Directed By:	Roger Wise

Generally I’m not a fan of Blu-ray extras. Why? Because many a time they are useless add-ons, too complicated to play, or just seem like they are put there to make you feel better for spending extra bucks. This is definitely not the case with the 45th Anniversary Edition of “The Sound of Music” because, for a change, I thought they were a great addition, a real reason to upgrade to the Blu-ray generation if you’ve been waiting to do so, and the movie looks great, too.

I don’t know if I really have to explain the story of “The Sound of Music,” but the basic of this classic is simply that it tells the adapted for stage and screen story of the Von Trapp family, living their lives in Austria at the time Hitler is starting his rise. Maria (Julie Andres) ends up out of the convent and at the household to take care of the Von Trapp children while Dad Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) attends to his Captain duties. Meanwhile, the good Captain is sweet on The Baroness (Eleanor Parker). While Maria works on taming the children and helping them learn to sing, she falls for the Captain, the Captain falls for her, the children love Maria, they become a family, and Hitler becomes a monster (though we don’t really see this part).

Torn between his duty and his family, we know how the good Captain wants to live his life, the Von Trapp singers woo a crowd, and freedom is right across the mountains.

Look, everyone knows this classic, even me, now, as for years I had never seen the movie in its entirety until I met my BFF (She loves the movie – and rightly so), and yes, even I think it’s a classic. Any other release of this movie would just lend itself to a “Yup, it’s a classic, go ahead and get the disc so you can watch it whenever the feeling strikes you,” but this Blu-ray release lends itself to, if you are any kind of fan of “The Sound of Music,” to full-blown Blu-rayness. For one, combine the Blu-ray player with your way-cool big screen that you are getting this Christmas, and this movie just looks great. It’s a scenic masterpiece to begin with, so put those aspects together and you’ll love the movie even more.

Along with its looking good-ness, the Blu-ray extras don’t stop there. Nope, you also get a sing-a-long track – adding the lyrics to all of the songs as the movie plays (Sure, you may think you know all of the words, but give it a shot!), a trivia track that gives you lots of little tidbits about the movie and the people involved, and some fun photos from while the movie was being made. Then, if that isn’t enough, there is a second Blu-ray disc with even more, like a very detailed “Making of” which also talks about the stage version, and also a nice feature on the Von Trapp family. Here is also where you will find more stuff about Rodgers and Hammerstein, screen tests, and more.

And yes, I know there is a basic DVD for those of you who still have one of those, so that’s nice, and it does give you some sing-a-long goodness along with some more, but for full 5 star out of 5-ness, the Blu-ray with your widescreen TV is really the way to go for this bundle.

And finally, for the uber-fan, the Collector’s Set gives you all of the DVD’s, but also the soundtrack, a 100 page scrapbook, a reproduction of the 1965 Souvenir program, and a letter of authenticity so you can bag to your “The Sound of Music” friends.

Look, in any case, if you have ever found yourself singing “The hills are alive, with the sound of music,” even in jest, this 45th Anniversary edition finally does a special release right by giving you tons of extras that you might actually watch, but most importantly, giving you a great looking version of the movie that yes, instead of renting, if you are a fan, you should really buy it.

I know I sound like a commercial, but for a change I really like a Blu-ray set, liked all of the extras even if I’m not an uber-fan of the movie, and think this release is really worth it for movie history.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Living The Hangover, Harry Potter, Oprah Gives Away Stuff, Getting Felt Up, and Who’s The Dancing Star?

By: The Dude on the Right

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Neither Stu Gotz nor I were in the audience for Oprah’s favorite things, but during this episode of our “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast, we both agree that we wish were in the second group because really, if the choice is between a cruise and a car, we’re taking the car. But Oprah leaving us soon aside, Stu survived his weekend in Las Vegas, and a hangover, and I’m just worried about a lot of TV.

Yup, I’m wondering if “American Idol” can survive if it moves from Tuesday and Wednesday to Wednesday and Thursday, and I’m also wondering if Bristol Palin has the voting public to ruin Jennifer Gray’s night. Stu, meanwhile, remembered he didn’t like “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” that much, or at least the apprentice dude, and isn’t a fan of “Ramona and Beezus.” I laughed when I saw the WGN morning news folks miss seeing the bridge blow up, Stu is sort of indifferent about “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows,” and wouldn’t you know it, Saturday Night Live was funny, or at least a couple of skits.

Turkey day is coming, so we’re also wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to you, yours, and others!

And as always, thanks for listening! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

The Accidental Husband

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s?:?? Long
A Preview by:
– The Dude on the Right

The Accidental Husband Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Uma Thurman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Colin Firth, Sam Shepard, Isabella Rossellini, Lindsay Sloane, Justina Machado
MPAA Rated:	PG-13
Released By:	Yari Film Group
Directed By:	Griffin Dunne
Produced By:	Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd, Jason Blum, Uma Thurman, Bob Yari, Anthony Katagas

I guess this might be a slightly more original take on the marriage movie genre, but in the end I’ll guess will have to wait and see. Anyway, the basic premise of “The Accidental Husband” has Emma (Uma Thurman) as a radio host who gives relationship advice. Patrick (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is ready to marry, only his fiancé breaks it off after listening to Emma’s advice. Pissed at Emma, and wanting to get some payback, and with Emma about to marry her Mr. Perfect, Richard (Coling Firth), Patrick concocts already being married to Emma to mess with her life. Yup, you can guess it, and the trailer shows it, that what starts as simple payback turns into Patrick falling for Emma and Emma falling for Patrick. We know that eventually the truth has to come out, Emma will probably be furious with Patrick, and the only thing to find out is if the movie ends in romantic comedy fashion with Patrick being able to win Emma back.

I’m an Uma Thurman fan, I like a decent romantic comedy, and this one does look to have at least a slightly different twist, so I’ll probably do my best to catch it.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Accepted

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s1:30 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Accepted Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Justin Long, Lewis Black, Johah Hill, Blake Lively, Maria Thayer, Columbus Short
MPAA Rated:	PG-13
Released By:	Universal Pictures
Kiddie Movie:	Lots of use of the SHIT moniker.
Date Movie:	Only if she enjoys childish humor.
Gratuitous Sex:	Lots of skimpy outfits.
Gratuitous Violence:	Nah.
Action:	Nah.
Laughs:	A few.
Memorable Scene:	Uncle Ben as the college Dean in front of Bartleby’s parents.
Memorable Quote:	Uncle Ben: “What’s wrong with saying ‘Nice tits.’?”
Directed By:	Steve Pink
Produced By:	Michael Bostick, Tom Shadyac

I suppose I’ll just hit you with the story for “Accepted” and then give more a commentary rather than if the movie is any good. Here’s the story…

Justin Long is Bartleby, or as his friends call him, “B.” He’s graduating high school, where he comes across as one of those “too smart for their own good but doesn’t pay enough attention in class to get the grades” students. Sadly for Bartleby, he applies for eight colleges and gets rejected by all of them. His parents now feel he is a loser, some of his friends are in the same predicament, and to appease his folks for a spell he creates the fictional “South Harmon Institute of Technology.” Yup, SHIT. He gets his buddy Sherman (Johah Hill) to build a fake website so his dad will actually think he got into college, dad buys it, even giving him the $10,000 tuition. Bartleby thinks he has duped his dad, but now mom and dad want to drop him off at school and meet the Dean. What to do? Well Bartleby, with the help of his friends who have also found themselves accepted to SHIT, lease an old psychiatric hospital, clean it up a little bit, and even convince Sherman’s wacky Uncle Ben (Lewis Black), to pretend he is the Dean. With his parent’s fully duped, Bartleby and his friends think they have the next few months to figure out what to do next, that is until it turns out Sherman made the website a little too functional, and a slew of loser-type folks show up at the doors of SHIT, with checks for tuition in hand. Not wanting to turn them away, Bartleby, after do some investigating at the real Harmon College, decides that if you are going to SHIT, you will decide what you want to learn, and how you want to learn it.

And college life is going well for our loser-types, especially at this school, but things can never be that easy as the bullies at Harmon College want to close down SHIT, and they figure out a way. But the SHITheads band together, and all live happily ever after.

Pretty much the movie tries to pit the loser-type folks against the hoity-toity folks at Harmon (which wants really to be Harvard), and tests the long-term friendships developed since who knows when.

“Accepted” had a great premise, creating a college where you can major in anything you want, even if that is a class that might be about how to be a good kisser, or another titled “Wingman-ing 101.” So pretty much you are spending tuition dollars to find yourself rather than have someone else tell you what you should be. And you have a killer time. The problem with the movie, and maybe there will be the unrated version when it hits the DVD market, but here is a movie about maybe the greatest college ever, but it’s a PG-13 college. Your target market is pretty much the 17 to 22 year old crowd, and yet no one gets naked. And you are stuck with the PG-13 rule of only dropping the f-bomb once, complete with the second occurrence by Uncle Ben being bleeped out. Sure, by keeping it PG-13, now the younger ones can see the film, but I’m guessing most high-school freshmen and sophomores can’t relate yet where there are going to spend their post high-school time partying. The movie just couldn’t push the envelope of being a college movie near-classic, on par with a “Revenge of the Nerds,” “Road Trip,” or even “EuroTrip,” first off simply because it got lost in PG-13 muck, and I would have actually preferred they show what some of the more creative classes like “Wingman-ing 101” were actually like. That would have had more potential than the typical “us versus the frat boys” story.

I did laugh a few times during “Accepted,” especially during a lot of Uncle Ben’s rants, but man, I think the movie folks really dropped the ball on this one by leaving it for the younger teen crowd. Personally I think they should have “R”’d it up, opened it in September when the college kids are back, and publicize the hell out of it to them.

Oh well, I’ll just wrap it up by saying “Accepted” as a PG-13 movie gets 2 stars out of 5. If they had ramped it up to the R side, it could have easily gotten 3 ½ or more.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Across the Universe

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s ?;?? Long
A Preview by:
– The Dude on the Right

Across the Universe Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs
MPAA Rated:	PG-13
Released By:	Revolution Studios
Directed By:	Julie Taymor
Produced By:	Matthew Gross, Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd

When The Dude on the Left and I were at a movie one of the trailers for “Across the Universe” came on, pretty much the artsy and dancing one that didn’t tell a damn thing about the story. He leaned over and pretty much said “There is no way in hell I’m seeing that movie.” Sure, even if he had seen the trailer that sort of tells the story, he still wouldn’t have any interest, but I might catch it depending what else opens.

From the better trailer we see “Across the Universe” is a musical, psychedelic kind of film set in the 1960’s. Jude (Jim Sturgess) comes to the good old United States and what else will make a dude crazy? Well, love of course. He falls for Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), but it’s the time of Vietnam so what better way to introduce a musical than by being peace activists.

The movie does look interesting, I suppose, but not really my (and definitely not The Dude on the Left’s) cup of tea. Watch the trailer and you will probably know if it might be your cup of tea.

That’s it for this preview! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

About a Boy

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:42 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

About a Boy Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, Victoria Smurfit
MPAA Rated:	PG-13
Released By:	Universal Pictures
Kiddie Movie:	It’s really an adult story although rated PG-13. There’s some swearing too.
Date Movie:	She’ll make you come along, but you might actually like it.
Gratuitous Sex:	Nah.
Gratuitous Violence:	Some adult themes, but only the kid gets picked on.
Action:	Nah.
Laughs:	Funny pokes at the life of a bachelor-man.
Memorable Scene:	None totally stand out.
Memorable Quote:	Too many to list.
Directed By:	Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz
Produced By:	Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro, Brad Epstein, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner

Sometimes a movie that is, well, just enjoyable comes along. For me that movie is “About a Boy.”

In this one you get Hugh Grant playing Will, the consummate bachelor. He stays away from any long-term relationship but is always up for the short-term, sex but no commitment type of pairing. He doesn’t have to work because of royalties from his father’s goofy Christmas song, although he isn’t particularly fond of this fact, but his friends think it is time for Will to commit to someone.

Oddly enough, Will hooks up with a divorced woman, with child, and by pretending to actually like the kid, and the mom, she falls hook, line, and sinker. Then she realizes Will isn’t her marrying material and breaks up with Will. For Will this is heaven – he has now found a way to hook up with women, pretend to like their kids, sleep with mom, and mom will break up with him instead of the awkward Will having to break up with the woman. Thinking this is an easy thing, he goes to a support group of divorced moms with kids, pretending to be a divorced dad who can’t see his kid, and hooks up with Suzie (Victoria Smurfit), who brings along Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), the son of Fiona (Toni Collette), who has some depression problems.

But Marcus is looking for a father-figure, and with Will pretending to be one, Marcus hooks on to him, thinking that if he can get Will together with his mom, well, mom won’t cry anymore.

Alright, this is starting to get a little to complicated, and I don’t want to give anymore of the story away, so let’s just say Will opens himself up to actually having feelings for a woman, enough so that he wants to be with her and not just for sex.

What’s great about this movie is the transformation of Will, from the “using” women kind of bachelor to a dude who has the potential to be a good dad and actually be a husband – and Hugh Grant does a great job at showing this transformation. Also great in this movie is Nicholas Hoult as Marcus. He is the kid at school who gets picked on, mostly because he just loves his mom, and is looking for a role-model to teach him how to be accepted by the rest of his schoolmates. Mom doesn’t have a clue, Will does, and Will realizes he is the last hope for Marcus to be accepted in an environment filled with putting people down – high school.

“About a Boy” was advertised as almost a romantic comedy, but that doesn’t do this movie justice because it isn’t one. Sure, Will wants to hook up with Rachel (Rachel Weisz), and who wouldn’t? Marcus teaches Will as much as Will teaches Marcus, and it’s just a fun movie of a bachelor man infused into a relationship with a boy looking for something of a dad. I laughed, I didn’t really cry, but I left enjoying this movie as much more than a romantic comedy. It’s 4 stars out of 5 for “About a Boy.”

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!