Reilly stars as John, a lonely loser who can’t seem to move on after divorcing his wife seven years prior. After repeatedly striking out at a party, John meets Molly (Tomei), a free spirit who seems to really get him. As their romance continues to grow, John gets curious about Molly’s life when she keeps acting mysteriously. He decides to follow her home one day and discovers that she has a 21-year-old son named Cyrus (Hill) who lives at home with her. Cyrus welcomes him at first and even shares his passion for synth music, but as Molly and John get closer, Cyrus starts to get jealous that John is taking up all his mother’s time. Soon, Cyrus launches into a secret battle with John for Molly’s attention.
Reilly is a perfect everyman. He’s endearing and easy to identify with, which makes him a great lead in a film like this that seeks to show “real” people instead of glitzy Hollywood actors pretending to be real people.

Tomei is also impressive, playing Molly as quite an unconventional mother. Her closeness with her son is founded in love, but also weird given the fact that Cyrus is not a little kid anymore. One scene when John is waiting for Molly to get out of the shower and Cyrus walks into bathroom perfectly captures the oddness in their bond. John is weirded out by it, yet it’s not played as over-the-top uncomfortable.

Hill absolutely nails the creepiness of Cyrus. His deadpan delivery makes interactions especially awkward because you’re not quite sure if he’s serious or joking, which makes it easy to identify with John, who is trying to navigate the awkward situation well. A few scenes involve him staring at John with an expressionless face that leaves you wondering weather he’s adjusting to his mom’s new boyfriend, or plotting to murder him.

Those looking for an Apatow-style comedy that’s trademark for the two leading men might be disappointed, but anyone looking for an indie featuring talented comedic performers is in for a treat. Cyrus is in limited release, but if it’s playing in your city, definitely check it out.

In this rare occurrence, Trashwire readers now have the chance to view a triple review of Kick-Ass.

What Chris had to say…

So what if somebody tried to be a superhero in real life? You know like the ones you see in all the comics. What would happen? Well one way to find out is by watching Kick-Ass, the new film from director Matthew Vaughn.

Dave Lizewski, played by Aaron Johnson, is a high school comic book nerd who goes unnoticed by the girl of his dreams. One day, after being fed up with getting his money stolen from the same common street thugs, Dave decides he’s going to become a real-life superhero. Dave creates the alter ego of Kick-Ass and tries to start helping his fellow citizens out. Shortly thereafter, Dave runs into another pair of superheroes in Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and realizes he’s in way over his head.

If I had to choose one word to sum up how I felt about this movie, I’d go with awesome. Luckily for me I have more than one word.

First, I’ll start with the performances. I won’t spend much time here though because it won’t do them justice. Nicolas Cage. That’s all I need to say. His acting in Kick-Ass is brilliant. Simply hilarious. Go watch this movie and try and tell me differently.

Next was the pure entertainment value this film provided. Easily the most fun I’ve had at the movies this year. From start to finish I was glued to the screen, couldn’t take my eyes off. Kick-Ass has everything the typical movie-goer wants in a film: action, brutal violence, sex, drugs, and comedy. The difference between this and the normal comic book movie is that this movie is actually good.

Never once have I watched a comic book movie and thought that I’d like to be a crime fighter, that is until I saw Kick-Ass. After screening Kick-Ass my first thought was, “yes, let’s go get us some bad guys!”

Sure, there’s going to be some people out there that aren’t going to like seeing an 11-year-old participate in Tarantino-esque violence. There are some people will probably have an issue with the language as well. To those people I say, chill out. The movie is meant to be fun. Enjoy.

What Wil had to say…

The opening film at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival kicked a certain amount of ass at the Paramount Theater in Downtown Austin, Texas. Visually mirroring the successful eight-part comic book, Kick-Ass is an entertaining film that brings an exciting new talent that can hold her own under a five-foot stature. Chole Moretz (Hit-Girl) engages the entire film with her presence as a child assassin trained by her dad. Although the protagonist-titled film tells the story of Aaron Johnson (Dave Lizewski, Kick-Ass), Moretz is the breakout star that pulls off adult language and moves that make this action-comedy enjoyable.

Kick-Ass is about Dave Lizewski who’s only power is “being invisible to girls”. After a viral video of “Kick-Ass” saving someone’s life from muggers hits the internet, the entire city becomes taken with the idea of a human superhero. The other two stories in the film involve The Macreadys, a family of weapons experts, and gangster Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong).

Nicolas Cage (Big Daddy) brings a certain charm to his role while alluding to Adam West, as discussed in a panel with the cast at SXSW. The chemistry between “Big Daddy” and “Hit-Girl” as father and daughter is the most interesting storyline to watch. Along with McLovin, or Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Chris D’Amico/Red Mist), Kick-Ass lets you know that this is based on a comic – visually through shots, computer animation, and inter titles in comic-sans – where each hero is mortal.

Just like a comic book series, you have to wait around for the next issue’s cliffhanger and punchline. Those climaxes occurred every time Moretz took the screen and carried the spirit of a true comic hero in this film.

My final take…

I could not agree more with Chris and Wil! The film was both hilarious and action-packed and the performances from the cast were absolutely flawless. Moretz is undoubtedly the stand-out star with a performance that channels Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and a face that makes you want to read her a bedtime story. Cage is another major highlight with his Adam West/William Shatner delivery as Big Daddy. As if all that wasn’t enough for me, the movie also features Clark Duke in a small role as one of Dave’s friends.

Three Trashwire writers can’t be wrong. Kick-Ass is a hit.

Review by Alexis Gentry, Chris Coffel and Wil Chinchilla

Carell and Fey play Phil and Claire Foster, a boring married couple from New Jersey who lead monotonous lives. Each week, they try to revive the spark in their marriage by going on a date night at the same local restaurant, but even that has become a lackluster event. The breakup of two of their close friends triggers them to add some excitement to their lives and they decide to go for a night on the town at Manhattan’s newest trendy restaurant. When they realize they needed to book months in advance just to get a table, they hatch a plan to take another reservation and thus they become the Tripplehorns. Of course, they never expect that the real Tripplehorns are a couple of con artists who are mixed up with crooked cops and the mob. The little mistake leads them on a series of perilous and hilarious adventures as they realize that maybe their simple lives weren’t actually so bad.

The plot sounds like a rom-com twist on The Man Who Knew Too Little, but what separates it from falling into the category of mediocre comedy is the performances from the cast. Fey and Carell have absolutely fantastic chemistry and their comedic timing seems almost identical. In one scene, Claire tries to escape from two crooked cops by making an excuse about Phil desperately needing medication. As the villains look on, she screams that Phil’s life could be in danger unless he can get penis medication. Carell matches her joke by joke as he vehemently denies the claim. A blooper reel over the end credits also shows that Fey and Carell are quite evenly matched when it comes to improving lines.

It’s not just the two stars that make this film better than expected. Common and Jimmi Simpson (who fans of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will remember as Liam McPolye) expertly parody the traditional movie bad guy archetype and Ray Liotta rounds out the cast of seedy criminals trying to hunt down the couple. James Franco and Mila Kunis are just as fun, playing the real-life Tripplehorns who are blackmailing the District Attorney (William Fitchner) with information stored on a coveted flash drive. Mark Wahlberg is perfect as a buff, shirtless former client of Claire’s who helps the couple escape from danger and Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson is spot-on as an inquisitive cop who tries to get to the bottom of the situation. The cameo from Curb Your Enthusiasm’s J.B. Smoove as a cab driver who has a run in with the couple (literally) is the icing on the casting cake.

The only real flaw with Date Night is that it’s PG-13 rating holds it back from going for the serious jokes. As Carell and Fey endure numerous mishaps without uttering a so much as an f-bomb, you can’t help but wonder how much funnier the film would have been if they had the freedom to venture into R-rated territory. At times the movie can feel a bit like the NBC sitcoms that made Fey and Carell household names instead of something more edgy like the comedies on HBO.

Despite it’s lighter jokes, Date Night is definitely better than I hoped. With a stellar supporting cast and two fantastic comedians in the leading roles, it creates some genuine laughs. But, like I said, Tina Fey can do no wrong in my book.

In the kick off episode, Woods’ woes serve as the backdrop for a video game that finally makes golf exciting. In the game, players can utilize “Pre-nup Power-ups” and other hilarious game bonuses in a Mortal Kombat style fight between Woods and his wife Elin Nordegrin. The boys also endure a very scientific test to see if they’ve been afflicted with sex addiction, only to find that some of them are carrying the disease. While Kyle struggles to understand what causes sex addiction, Kenny quickly succumbs to his ailment and dies in one of the funniest ways yet.

At the same time, the Center for Disease Control is trying to get to the bottom of the sex addiction outbreak striking rich, successful men. Top researchers ponder why a man who’s famous and has lots of money would use that to try and have sex with lots of women. One scene involving lab test monkeys is particularly amusing and, when news of the outbreak makes its way to the White House, Obama and his staff think they might have finally discovered a cure.

While there’s been the occasional miss, South Park has shown that a show can be consistently hilarious into its teens. If the opening episode is any indication, we can expect a lot more delightfully outrageous pop culture satire this season.

View the full episode at southparkstudios.com

In typical buddy cop fashion, Willis plays Jimmy Monroe, the straight man to Morgan’s kooky Paul Hodges. The two veteran cops play by nobody’s rules but their own—much to the chagrin of the boss—but always manage to catch the bad guys. When Jimmy’s treasured baseball card is stolen, the two set out to find the card, stumbling into a kidnapping plot along the way.

I’ll admit, the fact that Smith directed the film made me instantly cautious. While Smith’s earlier work (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma) was sharp, clever and entertaining, his recent films would be better described as a self-indulgent trip back to the well of Dante and Randal or Jay and Silent Bob. He was living proof that one person taking on several responsibilities, like acting, directing, producing, and editing can lead to Tommy Wiseau-esque results. In addition to his films, his Evening With Kevin Smith DVDs only escalated his douchiness, with Smith babbling for hours about bowel movements as his devoted flock of followers listened. Smith just kept moving farther away from auteur and closer to being that annoying kid in college who thinks he’s so much smarter than everyone else in class.

Thankfully, Smith did not pen the script for Cop Out. Instead, brothers Mark and Robb Cullen, who come from the TV world, wrote it with Smith taking on the roles of editor and director. Smith even stated that it was not his movie, and let’s be thankful for that.

Instead of drawn-out, dialogue-heavy scenes where characters discuss Star Wars for ages, Cop Out tells its story with shoot-em-up action. Practically every scene involves some kind of shooting, which probably merited the R rating far more than any potentially offensive lines.

Essentially, the film boils down to gunfights combined with Morgan’s unique comedic flavor. The opening scene with Paul interrogating a suspect using only famous movie quotes gets laughs solely because of Morgan’s delivery, however the scene has little to do with the rest of the film. Most of the funny dialogue isn’t really related to the plot and, while very amusing, seems better suited for a gag reel as opposed to a cinematic story.

All the comedic work doesn’t fall solely on Morgan’s shoulders and Seann Willam Scott brings the humor with his eagerly optimistic burglar. A scene with Scott in the back of a police car talking to Morgan and Willis is one of the highlights of the film. His character stands out in much the same way as Neil Patrick Harris’s cameo in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.

Thankfully, Cop Out was much better than I expected—but in all fairness, I expected Clerks 2 with a badge. I was definitely relieved to see that Smith’s chubby little fingerprints weren’t all over this movie. Morgan and Scott brought the comedy, Willis brought his trademark action, and the Cullen brothers brought a script that didn’t feature Dante and Randal. In the end, Cop Out proves that less Kevin Smith is definitely more.

30 Rock Seasons 1-3 Collection
Re-experience all of your favorite moments in this 58-episode box set of the Primetime Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award-winning show 30 Rock. Hailed by Entertainment Weekly as ?Simply the Best TV? and by your grandparents as ?confusing? and ?too fast.? Executive producer and writer Tina Fey stars as TV writer Liz Lemon alongside brash network executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). Together they tackle the everyday chaos of a live variety TV show with unpredictable lead actors, Tracy Jordan and Jenna Maroney (Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski), and naïve NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer).

The film is set in a world where humans haven’t evolved the gene to lie, so everyone is brutally honest. Out of nowhere, middle-class loser Mark Bellison (Gervais) suddenly discovers that he has the ability to say things that aren’t true and comedy ensues as he uses his newfound power to get money and stick it to people who wronged him. Along the way, he inadvertently creates religion and becomes an icon before learning that the one thing he really wants (Jennifer Garner) can’t be attained through lying. The film is funny, though the unbelievably stellar cast (including Rob Lowe, Louis C.K., Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Jeffrey Tambour and even appearances by Jason Bateman and Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a bit underutilized. It could have been the funniest movie of the year, but instead it was just another good comedy.

Thankfully, the special features on the DVD and Blu-ray make up for any of the film’s shortcomings. Most entertaining is “Meet Karl Pilkington”, a featurette originally produced for BBC’s The Culture Show, which introduces film audiences to the man Gervais has labeled a “little bald-headed Manc twat.” The featurette also gives a making-of look at a big deleted scene featuring Pilkington as a caveman and explaining the evolution of lying. In addition to this gem, the disc also contains outtakes, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette and a series of video podcasts from Gervais and co-writer Matthew Robinson.

If you were waiting to check out the film, now is the time since you’ll get a slew of amazing features along with it. I’d recommend watching the film first, but feel free to dive right in to the even-funnier extras.

Advertisement: The XFM Vault: The Best of The Ricky Gervais Show with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, Volume 1 The Ricky Gervais Show on Xfm is where Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant first met Karl Pilkington. The trio have been talking drivel ever since….

For newbies to the series, Gervais and Merchant are the creators and writers of the original version of The Office and HBO’s brilliant showbiz comedy Extras. Before they were huge, award-winning stars, they had a radio show in the U.K. and Pilkington was assigned to them to be their producer. Soon they discovered the wealth of comedy that was Pilkington’s idiocy and some of the funniest radio in history was born. The trio continued their show into the realm of podcasting, where they had the most downloaded podcast of all time, as certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. Eventually, they realized how much money could be made from this enormous hit and began releasing audiobooks for sale in the iTunes store. Their “Guide To…” series has covered such topics as medicine, the arts, society and others areas that have allowed Pilkington to ramble on nonsense as Gervais and Merchant try not to die laughing.

In this episode, Pilkington shows his apprehension when it comes to technology with an undercurrent of fear at the new ideas Gervais and Merchant propose. Having a chip connected to Google in your head? Terrible idea because people won’t utilize their own knowledge anymore. Relying solely on a navigation system to give you directions to your destination? Takes away the fun of getting lost. He even muses on trousers becoming extinct as people wear lower rise pants. Pilkington sums it all up by saying, “The future: it’s a scary place.”

If you’re one of the few people who still haven’t listened to The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts or picked up one of Pilkington’s many books, you are missing out on some major comedy. I remember listening to the podcasts on the Metro on my way to class in D.C. and laughing out loud like a psychopath at some of the thoughts that pop out of the mind of Karl Pilkington. If you’ve never listened to the podcasts, you can start with the first series on audiobook or jump right into the “Guide To…” series as it’s not too hard to get into the vibe of the show. Definitely pick up the “The Ricky Gervais Guide to…THE FUTURE” out now on iTunes or Audible.com.

Advertisement: The Ricky Gervais Guide to…THE FUTURE The eighth episode in this new series ruminates on the shape of things to come….

The special gives us a glimpse into Christmas past for the Reynolds family as everyone’s favorite Grinch, Frank (Danny DeVito), gives fake-out gifts to Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and Dee (Kaitlin Olson) just to mess with them. They vow to teach him a lesson of their own by using his former business partner to pull a Christmas Carol inspired series of stunts to teach him what a jerk of a father he’s been to them. At the same time, Mac (Rob McElhenney) tries to repent for his family’s past gift-thieving ways and Charlie (Charlie Day) struggles to come to terms with his mom’s rather unique Christmas tradition. Of course, because it’s Sunny we also get a very nude DeVito exploding out of a couch, Charlie biting Santa in the throat and an animated sequence featuring an elf with no pants.

Sadly, some of show’s regulars, like The Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) Artemis (Artemis Pebdani) or Rickety Cricket (David Hornsby) are absent from the special and you can’t help but think how much funnier it would have been with a dose of those characters. Still, the animated sequence done in the classic tradition of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer is sure to please along with the sequences featuring a young Mac and Charlie.

For serious Sunny fans, the special is a must-have with making-of footage and a bizarre sing along that feels like a glimpse into the mind of a serial killer. Those new to the series would be better off picking up seasons 1 & 2 on DVD before diving into the Holidays with The Gang.

Sure, no one’s been holding their breath to see South Park’s construction paper animation in glorious high definition and it’s doubtful that anyone needs 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound to fully enjoy “Uncle Fucker”, but the disc contains one thing that’s sure to make fans of Trey Parker and Matt Stone rejoice: a brand new commentary track.

Anyone who’s familiar with Parker and Stone’s work knows that they’re not exactly fans of director’s commentary tracks. The South Park series DVDs contain what the duo has dubbed “commentary minis”, meaning only about four or five minutes of commentary per show. Usually, these tracks begin with Parker and Stone talking about how much they hate recording commentary.

Still, they are responsible for the single greatest track of all time, the inebriated commentary on the DVD for Parker’s first film, Cannibal: The Musical. Does the commentary track on the new Bigger, Longer and Uncut Blu-ray rival the drunken hilarity of the Cannibal commentary? No, but it features guest appearances from members of the crew that will surely keep hardcore fans interested.

Hearing Parker and Stone discuss their Oscar® nomination, and subsequent drag appearance at the ceremony, is definitely interesting and they provide funny stories about fighting with Paramount and trying to combat the stupidity of the MPAA. Soon their longtime friend and producer Eric Stough (AKA Butters) comes in to help the guys when they simply can’t think of anything else to say about a project they worked on ten years ago. In addition to Stough, Adrien Beard, a producer and storyboard artist who voices Token on the show, also talks about the evolution of South Park’s animation. Executive producer Anne Garefino provides funny stories and info, and later the voice of Towelie, Vernon Chatman, and SNL’s Bill Hader join Parker and Stone on the track.

Unfortunately, the commentary track is the only real special feature on the disc. The only other item of note is a music video for the song “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” which Parker talks about in the commentary track. While it may not live up to the Cannibal commentary—and let’s face it, what could live up to that?—the track alone will make the Blu-ray worth the price for hardcore fans of Parker and Stone, though South Park lightweights would probably do better to check it out on Netflix.

Let me start out by saying that yes, I am a South Park fan, so it’s obvious where my loyalties lie in this “Team Aniston” vs. “Team Jolie” scale battle. Characters like Stewie and Brian (both voiced by MacFarlane) make Family Guy tolerable, but there’s no denying the majority of Family Guy’s jokes come from cut-aways composed of gross-out gags or obscure pop culture references. As Trey Parker and Matt Stone so brilliantly noted, the show could be written by manatees.

Sadly, The Cleveland Show seems to lower the bar even further with corny jokes that feel like they were written by your grandpa.  Even worse, it seems to follow the same stale formula as MacFarlane’s other shows: there’s a sassy baby, a talking animal (this time it’s a bear), and the same lame cut-aways that seem to be the only way the writers know how to elicit a laugh.

This time they also throw in a healthy dollop of racism, which they try to justify by making jokes that attempt to poke fun at the same exact concepts that are constantly used in the show itself. They mock “shows made by white people that they think black people will watch” with a parody show called “Dat’s What I Was Tellin’ You Before!” instead of going for the real joke and acknowledging that The Cleveland Show itself is one such show. In the pilot episode, there are dozens of jokes about main character Cleveland Brown (voiced by writer Mike Henry) and his family being black, something that starts out boring and proceeds to borderline offensive as the show continues. Making jokes about black characters isn’t offensive in itself, but when they’re jokes that seem to be leftovers from the first season of MADtv, the lack of originality and poor execution becomes incredibly frustrating.

I wonder how much longer MacFarlane can ride Family Guy’s coattails and continue to convince FOX executives that he’s a genius of animated comedy. Sure, lots of people like Family Guy, less people like American Dad and surely even fewer people will enjoy The Cleveland Show. As one comment on Hulu put it, The Cleveland Show seems like a “poor revision of the same crap.”