Review: ‘The Lego Movie’

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Boom. Insta-classic. Just like that. If only it was as easy as these guys make it seem, but here we are with “The Lego Movie,” a film that traffics in both hilarity and profundity and never at the expense of either one. How did this happen? This really does not make much sense. This should not be. No one has been able to take plot-less toys and games and turn them into truly great movies, let alone good ones (we’re looking at you “G.I. Joes” and “Transformers” and “Battleship“). Yet here we are.

“The Lego Movie” is about Emmet Brickowoski (Chris Pratt), who is a very bland and featureless construction worker Lego guy (in a sentient, active, awesome looking Lego world) and he goes about his day to day routine super happy to be bland and follow the instructions and fit in like he’s supposed to. And then he literally stumbles ass backwards into an ancient prophecy, in which he is told he is actually the most special and unique person in the universe, and as such he will save the Lego universe from Lord Business (Will Ferrell), who seeks to end the Lego world as they know it by using a secret weapon to make all the world’s pieces permanently stuck together, as per the instructions.Continue Reading …

The Crespodisco #5 – Cover Me (I’m Going In)

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In this Crespodisco BONUS episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn each talk about five of their favorite cover songs, whether they be a hardcore version of Sir Mix A Lot’s “Baby Got Back” or an old country crooner doing some 1990’s grunge rock, they are all interesting choices and just may introduce you to some new things. So have at it!Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Dallas Buyers Club’

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“Dallas Buyers Club” is a good movie, elevated by an incredible lead performance from one Mr. Matthew McConaughey. But if you’ve been paying any attention lately, you’ve noticed that ole McConaughey is no longer a joke, as he has abandoned the romantic comedies that squandered his talents and has turned in a long string of excellent performances in movie after movie after movie. As a matter of fact, his recent award nominations and wins for his role as homophobe turned entrepreneur turned AIDS activist Ron Woodroof feels like he’s getting the accolades not just for this one part but for all the movies he’s done in the last few years, because he could have easily gotten all this same attention for his amazing work in “Killer Joe,” “Magic Mike” and “Mud,” along with his lauded turned in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Bernie” and “The Lincoln Lawyer.” But hey, this role makes for a great cap to a great run of movies. And considering McConaughey has Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” next, the career resurgence of the Mac is complete. Welcome to the A-List, buddy.Continue Reading …

Top five Super Bowl movie commercials

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So there was this little football game on the television last night, you may have seen it. If you did see it, chances are you saw some of the commercials for some of 2014’s biggest movies. This is not a complete list of the trailers that played but instead the five movie trailers that stood out the most, for various reasons (and presented in really no particular order).Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 2/3/14 – ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ (1951)

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“The Day The Earth Stood Still” is a science fiction classic from 1951, and it is a classic film for a few reasons, and some of these reasons were actually good excuses for doing an updated remake of this film, but when that happened in 2008, it was a big ole failure because they seemingly ignored the things that make the ’51 original still surprisingly relevant today.

The movie was clearly intended to be a warning to all the emerging atomic power countries of the 1940s and 1950s, as the end of World War II was fresh in everyone’s minds and people had every reason to suspect that those kind of extremely dangerous weapons would continue to be used. Flash forward to 2014, and we got people fighting over nuclear power research and whether or not countries should be allowed to develop and possess nuclear weapons. Throw on top of that a bunch of crazy terrorist war bullshit and we have ourselves an incredibly violent, dangerous and destructive society of people on this planet, much worse than in 1951, which actually makes the final message of the movie much more compelling.Continue Reading …

#56 – R.I.P. Plutarch Heroinsbee

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In episode 56, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn mourn the untimely loss of the great Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died at the age of 46 due to an apparent drug overdose. Despite the heavy opening story, the show must go on, and on it went, with a new Netflix Instant Pick of the Week, reviews of Dallas Buyers Club and Inside Llewyn Davis and much more!

Discussed in this episode:

R.I.P. Philip Seymour HoffmanContinue Reading …

Dr. Drew’s Two Cents – 420 Edition

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In this bonus episode of Dr. Drew’s Two Cents, Drewster Cogburn decides to take a look at society’s evolving views on marijuana consumption, for both recreational and medicinal uses, and takes us from the early days of prohibition through today. Co-host Chris Crespo tries his best to throw shade all over Drew’s points. Does it go well? LISTEN TO FIND OUT!Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Nebraska’

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“Nebraska” is yet another funny yet sad entry in the filmography of Alexander Payne, one filled with lonely people struggling to find and hold on to the small things that make them happy in lives that are otherwise kind of miserable.

Take for instance Woody Grant (Bruce Dern). See, old Woody is just that…old. He’s a half-deaf Korean War veteran who likely saw something that changed him forever, and he seems to be going just a little senile as well, and he also seems to be a bit of an alcoholic on top of all that. He got a notice in the mail that he MIGHT have won a $1 million, but everyone knows that this notice is just a scam in order to get him to subscribe to some magazines. But Woody either doesn’t know this or just doesn’t want to know and has decided he is going to hand deliver the “winning” letter to the prize office in Nebraska, even if that means walking all the way from his home in Billings, Montana.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 1/27/14 – ‘The Hunt For Red October’

JackRyans From 1990, the Academy-Award winning* “The Hunt For Red October” was the cinematic introduction of one of the more unlikely movie franchises, that being movies (generally) centered on hero Jack Ryan. Played by Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine in subsequent films, the actor who got the chance to bring this weird hero to life was the one and only Alec Baldwin.

And yes, Jack Ryan is a weird protagonist to keep bringing back. He seems to be the Tom Clancy-penned American answer to James Bond, but it just isn’t the same. One of Jack Ryan’s defining characteristics is a bad back that doesn’t seem to bother him ever when you would think it would bother him the most, like in “The Hunt For Red October” when he transfers himself from helicopter to submarine by jumping into extremely cold, stormy waters. Hell, in three of the five Jack Ryan movies, including this one, a major defining characteristic of Jack Ryan is that he is an extremely bright CIA analyst who gets pulled into the field and turned into an operative by a superior, so essentially we have three separate Jack Ryan origin movies here (with the recent “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” taking this whole origin thing to the Nth degree).Continue Reading …

#55 – That’s Movie Magic!

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In episode 55, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn go it alone, recapping the weekend box office results, doing the Netflix Instant pick of the week, and more!

Discussed in this episode:

Chris wants to start a Youtube channel show about movie magic.

The Netflix Instant Pick of the Week is The Hunt for Red October.

Chris reviews Philomena.

Chris and Drew recap the box office weekend results.Continue Reading …