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drt0519
Reviews
The Good News (1997)
A Great Example of 90's Mediocrity
This show took an unoriginal idea and managed to squeeze a 22 episode single season out of it. That's the only redeeming quality I can speak of. The story lines, scripts, directing and acting were third rate at best. David Ramsey looked like a fish out of water as a Reverend and lead actor. If my wife was as late as his line deliveries she'd be pregnant. In other words, he was a comedic actor in a leading role but had no comedic timing. But the casting director knew that so they called in reinforcements in the form of Guy Torry and "Amen" retread, Roz Ryan. Ryan plays a similar role on this show as the role she played on this series' predecessor "Amen", but she lost the equally irritating sister, and stuck to delivering semi-humorous one-liners alone. Guy Torry displayed his PhD in stereotypes by boring viewers with his wide-eyed, slang-slinging, hood smarts. All-in-all this show was safe enough to let your kids watch without much thought, but also forced adult viewers to watch without much thought. I rarely laughed unless you count the times I chuckled that anyone thought this was entertaining. One season and 22 episodes was way too long for this elementary level production.
Edison (2005)
People Expect Too Much From This Movie
This is a decent movie. The cast does get your hopes up but this is a clear tweener film for many of these guys. In the grand pantheon of tweener films this one holds up. Justin gets his feet wet as a lead and does an OK job. Sure his tenor voice was a bit annoying but with the gratuitous testosterone unleashed on this disc there was room for a softy or two. You have to relax and just enjoy a simple production like this. If you can't pull some enjoyment out of a film featuring two Grammy winners, two Oscar winners, two Emmy winners and one smoking hot Latina then you just shouldn't rent movies with big stars and titles you've never heard of.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Ferrell finally finishes strong
My wife is a huge Will Ferrell fan. She loves anything he does. I have been a lot more critical of his work. His past movies have felt like he started with some good plot lines and some awesomely memorable scenes but the films all get to points where the jokes and gags get weird and the script dries up in long stretches. The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is the one film in which Ferrell finally gets to string along some consistently funny scenes and keep you involved until the end of the movie. The casting was great! He risked getting upstaged by several characters (a role he's played in a couple other movies) but Ferrell maintains on-screen supremacy. John C. Reilly has good chemistry with Ferrell and I would not be surprised to see them pair up in future projects. The story is far fetched and unbelievable but it is massively entertaining whether you're a NASCAR fan or not. I've seen it twice and would not rule out another spin or two before it leaves the theaters.
Madea's Family Reunion (2006)
Tyler Perry is highly overrated
This is one of the most unoriginal hack jobs I've ever tried to watch. It was less a feel-good family comedy and more an over-hyped minstrel show. The humor was painfully predictable and devoid of wit. Tyler gave three uninspiring performances that were only outdone by a plot and script that were deep as dinner plates. I empathized immensely with Blair Underwood for not having enough Hollywood juice to pass up this project. There are way too many poorly developed characters to comment on them all but I will say that type casting must save Perry a lot of time and money most writers waste producing memorable characters. I don't generally waste time with this type of movie but my family insisted that I give it a shot. All of my preconceived notion were validated. A bad script, poor plot line, horrible acting, and a mediocre writer/director/actor will always yield a film that should be buried under a pile of other bad treatments in a studio executives trash can. Save yourself!