It wasn’t so long ago that we lost a big name in comedy: Bernie Mac. And, just ahead of the premiere of I Ain’t Scared Of You: A Tribute To Bernie Mac on Comedy Central, the folks out at Image Entertainment sent out a copy of the DVD to review for you.

READ ON »

I am delighted to share with you the new trailer and final poster for the Will Ferrell comedy Casa De Mi Padre! The Spanish-language film pays homage to classic westerns and telenovelas.

Armando Alvarez (Ferrell) has lived and worked on his father’s ranch in Mexico his entire life. The ranch encounters financial difficulties when Armando’s younger brother Raul (Diego Luna) shows up with his new fiancée, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez).

It seems that Raul’s success as an international businessman means the ranch’s troubles are over as he pledges to settle all debts his father has incurred. But when Armando falls for Sonia, and Raul’s business dealings turn out to be less than legit, all hell breaks loose as they find themselves in a war with Mexico’s most feared drug lord, the mighty Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal).

The movie opens in theaters March 16, 2012.

Well folks, you knew this train had to stop eventually, being as the series concluded with the 20th century and the second millennium. But today we’re taking one last look at this great old relic from the nineties as the folks out at Lions Gate sent out a copy of Boy Meets World: The Complete Seventh Season for us to review, and this one is going to cap off the season in the tradition in which we have become accustomed over the last six box sets worth of DVDs.

It’s the last season, and there’s a whole lot going into that last season, with breakups, makeups, breakups again, and everything in between looking to land on the folks we know and love. Oh, and Eric’s still some kind of hybrid of dumb and crazy, though just which is in charge will change, wildly, from almost minute to minute. But despite the fact that life is rapidly in the process–well, has been in the process–of changing, it’s interesting how thoroughly same it will all end up.

And that may be the strangest part of the whole thing. Despite the fact that the first few episodes are going to be raging downers, by the time the whole thing ends, it’s going to wrap up in pretty much the most cheerful fashion possible. And how can you tell? Why, just look at the box art. Try the back of the box. They give that all away like lumber at Free Bat Night. Seriously, there’s not a lick of challenge in this one. The series is spoilered from the second you pick up the box.

Still though, it’s going to be an interesting ride to see just where it all finally ends up, and although we know where it will end up, there’s still some interesting twists left to take. And some admittedly funny moments.

But at the end of the day–indeed, at the end of the series–it’s a worthwhile capstone to the whole thing, which can really only be described as a step above mediocre, and two steps to the left of sheer lunacy. Funny, sometimes…weird, often…boring and awkward, more than once. But on the average, not too bad.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Boy Meets World: The Complete Seventh Season an utterly numerically appropriate seven out of ten. It’s a good way to end the series, though in all honesty, I’m glad to see the whole thing end.

The folks out at Anchor Bay have sent us a little something unusual for review today, a copy of Tanner Hall. And this one is so new it’s not going to hit stores until this Tuesday, but will you want to be ready? Or can you safely ignore this one?

Tanner Hall follows Fernanda, a young lady who attends school–and lives–at the New England boarding school known as Tanner Hall. And Fernanda’s stay at Tanner Hall is about to be marked by a whole lot of drama when a girl from Fernanda’s past arrives. But when Victoria arrives and starts winning over all Fernanda’s friends, it has a decidedly unpleasant effect on Fernanda’s life. And that’s going to kick off a whole lot of woefully unpleasant drama branching out into their lives. But the end results of all this drama may well make all of them better for the experience.

At least, I hope it does, because this thing does not have merely a drama llama running through it, but rather an entire llama school. Interestingly, I spent absolutely no time as a teenage girl. I also spent a lot of time around them. Thus I’m reasonably assured that this kind of thing actually does go on in the circles of teenage girls, and it’s actually pretty disturbing. See, drama is par for the course, at least in what I was exposed to, and so Tanner Hall has a note–at least a note–of realism going into it. Naturally, your mileage may vary, but I think this at least has some note of realism involved.

Oh, and on the off chance that extreme amounts of sexual tension among possibly underaged girls makes you uncomfortable, then you’re definitely going to want to stay away from this one. Tanner Hall is quite literally jammed full of the stuff. Drama, sexual tension like no tomorrow, and teenaged girls. For some this will be heaven, and for the rest this will be massively cringeworthy. Thankfully, the one thing it will not be is boring.

Still though, for the most part, this is a good one to stay away from unless you’re really into either drama or teenage girls. Those enjoying both, meanwhile, will be in hog heaven, nothing but, and those wanting perspective into the lives of same should find themselves very much illuminated by the proceedings here. And those without interest in the subject matter, meanwhile, will find themselves quite nonplussed.

A brief word, though, about the involvement of Chris Kattan in this one–wow. That’s really all the word I need on this one, but man, if you ever thought someone could play a schoolteacher with an unnatural fascination for his students, then you’ve got every bit of proof of that you ever needed right here. Nicely done.

The Screenhead Ten Scale, meanwhile, gives Tanner Hall a six out of ten. It’s a little too narrow to be much of appeal outside of those deliberately interested in the subject matter, but will still put up a reasonably entertaining viewing.

Okay, this had to be the one, didn’t it? I mean, come on–two consecutive good reviews in a row? For Tyler Perry titles? Surely this is the one! This is the one where, if it were a used car, the wheels fly off and the undercarriage starts throwing sparks and the radio starts screaming insults at me. It’s Meet The Browns Season Three, and the folks at Lions Gate sent out a copy for me to review. Time to see if the Broken Clock Principle swings both ways!

Once again, Meet The Browns takes us back out to Brown Meadows and the various Browns–and not so Browns–that have come to make up the highly unconventional Brown family. And there’s plenty of change going on at the Brown house, in pretty much every sense of the term. A lot of things are going on out there; people are leaving, some new ones are arriving, and the ones who stick around are somewhat different than they were.

And indeed, this is the series where things start going wrong. See, Tyler Perry makes the horrendous mistake of making Meet The Browns a bit more like House of Payne. In a surprisingly large number of instances, events that are clearly not at all funny are thrown in–someone gets assaulted, the Browns’ quasi-adopted daughter (who will later become adopted) is on birth control and likely sleeping around, and then there’s the worst of the lot where the younger Browns actually threaten their quasi-adopted daughter with a RETURN TO FOSTER CARE if she doesn’t improve her attitude.  They threaten to, essentially, THROW THEIR OWN KID AWAY if she doesn’t do as she’s told. That’s not funny. That’s disturbing.

But then, then Meet The Browns manages to recover by going back to its true strength, the thoroughly irrepressible antics of David Mann, surprisingly top-notch comic actor. Mann throws himself into his comedy, throwing up both the comedy of dialogue (the man commits more Spoonerisms than possibly even Spooner himself) and some great physical comedy on the side. The man is excellent, and he’s backed up by some surprisingly good writing.

And after a few false starts, you’ll find much of the rest of Meet The Browns surprisingly palatable. A little too much Tyler Perry drama gets into this for my tastes, but there’s still plenty of fine Meet The Browns comedy. I’m hopeful that future seasons of Meet The Browns will understand what works and what doesn’t, but this one is starting to show some cracks.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Meet The Browns Season Three a seven out of ten–a little too much Tyler Perry drama gets infused in this one, but a good chunk of the earlier-season laughs still manages to slip through and provide a good time.

Something big for you today, folks, as the crew out at Anchor Bay sent over a copy of Our Idiot Brother for us to review. And this one’s going to be a lot stranger–yet also a lot more engaging–than you might think.

Our Idiot Brother follows a family of four, three sisters whose lives may look pretty good but have some interesting issues scattered throughout and a brother who’s got possibly just a bit too much trust in humanity. While the sisters have industriously built their lives, their brother went into organic farming. And his organic farm covers a whole lot more than impressive strawberries and the best rhubarb in town, as he discovers when he gets locked up. His girlfriend–yes, he has a girlfriend–has thrown him off the farm, and with nowhere left to go, he turns to his sisters. But their brothers’ uncompromising honesty and faith in humanity–even in the strangest parts–will shake up their world beyond all their expectations.

It’s hard to call a movie heartwarming without it sounding like some giant sad cliche, but Our Idiot Brother does an excellent job of doing just that. See, this one focuses on what happens when a big part of your life is suddenly changed, and that changes the whole picture. And that’s how it works for the whole family: Ned loses the farm, his only real stability, and the family gains the biggest destabilizing influence of all, a man who has virtually no stability. This ends up changing everything, and the process of changing manages to make them all substantially better. You’d think that would be a big cliche, and I suppose it is on some level, but there are plenty of laughs thrown in for added variety and substance. Paul Rudd dancing to Willie Nelson’s Midnight Rider is inherently wild, and it gets better from there as their brother’s unusual philosophy interacts on all their lives.

Plain and simple, Our Idiot Brother is surprisingly fun to watch, especially for a movie that’s basically about people’s lives changing. This is going to be a shot of drama that will go down very smooth, thanks to the laughs mixed in.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Our Idiot Brother a very sharp eight out of ten. It’s hard to find drama that doesn’t choke you under the weight of its own self-importance, and Our Idiot Brother takes a path that you’re certainly going enjoy.

What a fun movie to watch with the whole family. A Christmas Wedding Tail is an adorable upcoming holiday film from Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Screenhead has the pleasure of giving away one copy of the Hallmark movie.

The heartwarming new DVD has a “top dog” cast, including the ever-popular Jennie Garth, Brad Rowe, Tom Arnold and Catherine Hicks – as well as real life husband and wife team Jay Mohr and Nikki Cox, playing the voices of two passionate pooches who fall head over tail in love. The DVD debuts nationwide on December 6, 2011.

A Christmas Wedding Tail is the story of a pair of passionate pooches, Labrador Rusty and Poodle Cheri. The two smitten pups conspire to get their respective owners, Susan and Jake to wed. Despite Susan’s and Jake’s compatibility, their new blended family turns out to be more than Rusty and Cheri had bargained for. Now, the calculating canines must channel their pooch powers to keep their family from ending up in the dog house.

To enter the giveaway post your name and Screenhead will pick the winner December 14, 2011.

U.S. Residents Only

Impressively prolific studio Lions Gate brings us another set of terrific titles to make up the multi-review this week, and the block this week is made up of three they’ve sent out for us: Mob Rules, From Prada To Nada, and KJB.

Mob Rules gives us a dose of dramatic action, as we go out to London. A pair of felons with a penchant for Shakespeare find themselves out for revenge in a bid to get back the money they should have received from a job gone wrong years prior. And said felons have a plan to get it all back that’s going to take them from London to America and points beyond.

While there is both plenty of action and drama in Mob Rules, there’s an interesting sense of humor running throughout that crops up at unexpected points and gives a distinct note of surprise that’s very welcome. Think of this like a slightly gritty, slightly urban, slightly downsized, and very, very English version of Ocean’s 11. The end result is still very watchable, and brings together a lot of interesting and largely dissimilar (but surprisingly interrelated) plot points that make this one unexpectedly deep.

From Prada To Nada, meanwhile, takes us out to California, where a couple of Beverly Hills princesses have been living it up on Daddy’s fortune. But when Daddy’s fortune goes the way of the dodo, the duo finds themselves staying with their aunt. And in the process, they get exposed to a whole new side of life. Will the experience make them better people? Or will it break them just as much as it broke Daddy?

If this one is giving off a Simple Life with Paris and Nicole kind of vibe to you, then rest assured, you’re not alone. However, considering that this is actually a strange kind of Latino version of Sense and Sensibility (complete with mariachi band at a man’s funeral), it’s going to be a little deeper than you might think. Okay, it’s going to be a lot deeper than you might think. It’s actually a reasonable facsimile, though it’s been a while since I last read Sense and Sensibility. Fair warning, though: it will spend a good chunk of time being a total downer, but then, so did pretty much everything Jane Austen ever wrote. Still though, it’s surprisingly engrossing stuff, and you’ll likely get a kick out of it, especially if you have a literary bent.

Lastly we’ve got KJB, which here is an acronym for the King James Bible. And this is the story of how it came to be. For those of you not familiar, the story of the King James Bible is actually a deep and complex tale that’s jammed to the gills with intrigue and just a little suspense to round out the whole package. See, a lot of people had a vested interest in keeping the King James Bible out of a lot of people’s hands, and this is going to give you at least some of the story behind that.

I say some, of course, because this is actually a Dove Family Film selection. That basically means that you’re not going to get the whole story out of this, but you’ll get quite a bit of it, anyway. And considering the kind of performances put up here, you should be reasonably happy with the final outcome. Want a shot of history that doesn’t come from the History Channel for a change? Like religious history? Then you’ll be in excellent company with this one.

So there you go, another three fine Lions Gate titles; each have their ups and downs, and each one will cater toward a specific interest, but each will be worthwhile in its own way. You’ve got plenty of great options out there, and keep it right here for plenty more to come!

It may surprise some of you to know that there’s another Tyler Perry show on the market called Meet The Browns. And the folks out at Lions Gate sent over a copy of Meet The Browns Season One for us to tackle for you. The question of course will be whether or not this particular batch of Tyler Perry will be any better than his previous incarnations, which have largely been disastrous.

Meet The Browns takes us out to Brown Meadows, a retirement home made from what used to be a private residence, but was converted into a retirement home on the strength of a promise a man named Leroy Brown made his deceased father. But what Mr. Brown is going to discover is that running a retirement home is going to be a whole lot more complex than he first imagined. But since his son is a doctor, and his son’s wife is a nurse, he’s got the beginnings of a big undertaking. But can he survive it all with his sanity–and his house–intact?

I don’t believe I’m about to type this, but seriously, folks…Meet The Browns is unquestionably the most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen from Tyler Perry. Ever. EV-ER. I laughed. This alone should tell you something, considering I’ve referred to Perry’s previous work as everything from “godawful” “piles of melodrama” to “(a) putrefacted carcass“. But clearly, this is where all the funny that Tyler Perry could muster has gone. This is his entire stock of funny, all thrown into one package. All the jokes that should have been in For Colored Girls or anything Madea-related or that spectacular exercise in masochism known as House of Payne have all migrated to Meet The Browns.

And while everyone in the story is doing a fine job of keeping up, the clear winner of Meet The Browns has to be Mr. Brown himself, David Mann. This guy is one of the best comic actors I’ve seen in the longest time. He does a terrific job intermingling physical humor with a kind of raw idiocy intermingled with a gentle, goodhearted nature that blends so beautifully that makes this a hilarious piece of work.

I can’t believe I’m saying half this stuff about anything that came out of Tyler Perry’s endless maw of horror and misery, but Meet The Browns Season One is an untrammeled delight that proves that even a broken clock is right twice a day.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives the endless laugh riot that is Meet The Browns Season One an eight out of ten. It’s packed to the gills with laughs, and I”m amazed to realize this is as good as it is. Bravo, Tyler Perry…you managed to get one right. For a change.

It wasn’t so long ago we tackled the first three Spy Kids titles in a big old multi-review over the weekend, and all that was building up for what we’re about to hit today. The folks out at Anchor Bay sent over a copy of Spy Kids 4: All The Time In The World for us to review

Spy Kids: All The Time In The World kicks things off by introducing us to Marissa Cortez Wilson, who’s gotten married to reality show host slash quasi-legendary spy hunter Wilbur Wilson, and now has two stepkids to her credit. Marissa happens to be a former spy herself, but finds herself called back into the fray by the appearance of the Timekeeper, a maniac with designs on world domination. But Marissa can’t tackle this alone–she’s going to need the whole family, husband, stepkids…and a couple other, more familiar Cortezes…to step in and help out to put the Timekeeper on a permanent pause.

And in the grandest Spy Kids tradition, it’s going to be full of thoroughly wild yet reasonably family friendly action in which no one gets shot or even seriously hurt but most everybody will be in mortal danger at some point. There will even be a few good shout outs here to earlier work like Shorts (there’s a great sequence you’ll miss if you’re not careful featuring the two stepkids engaging in a breath-holding contest), as well as a sequence that’s a lot like the first movie in which the kids have to hit a panic room at the last minute.

It’s also got that same immature humor vibe going on–wait until you see what the Wilson kids use to fend off three henchmen flying around on Green Goblin-style flying wings, not to mention the offensive weaponry (in every sense of the term) that the dog can bring to bear–that makes this clearly geared for the kids.

Still though, it’s an improvement over the third one, which is a distinct surprise, but at the same time, it’s quite a bit of a retread given the earlier versions we’ve seen so far. It’s great fun if you like the Spy Kids franchise, and though it likely won’t win very many new fans, it’s still reasonably fun and can be endured for the most part. It’s even got some rather nice twists, some of which you might see coming, and others you might not. But I definitely have to respect a movie that does this much twist in its script. It’s a bit heavy handed in its morals, but still, not half bad.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Spy Kids: All The Time In The World a seven out of ten, for succeeding in the design of its script but failing in the content, and making what is overall a worthwhile package.