Review: Iron Man

I’m not going to rehash the plot or give out spoilers.

Kicked butt for the following reasons:

–Great casting for most of the major roles, especially Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man (although pretty much any actress could have done what Gwyneth Paltrow did with the role of Pepper Potts, Tony Stark’s assistant-and-kind-of-love interest)

–Crisp direction by Jon Favreau

–Pretty good, snappy dialogue with plenty of foreshadowing for future storylines/sequels

–Cool effects and action/battle scenes

–And a scene after the credits promising more cool stuff in other movies and sequels

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Harleys

Review: Rock The Cradle

MTV’s “Rock the Cradle” is now on our schedule.

Nutshell: The sons and daughters of rock and pop stars compete by performing covers in front of judges.

It’s basically American Idol but with celebrities’ kids. The judges are Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go’s (tarnishing her legend), some guy named Jamie King who is allegedly a choreographer or something, a wardrobe/style woman named June Ambrose, and Larry Rudolph, who is best known as Britney Spears’ former and recently rehired manager.

The host is some insanely perky dude named Ryan Devlin, who is basically a younger, peppier, more casually dressed Seacrest.

A’Keiba Burrell-Hammer = daughter of MC Hammer, she’s actually a pretty good singer who covered Jennifer Holliday and Lauryn Hill decently.

Landon Brown = son of Bobby Brown, he’s not bad but not incredibly special. Although he did survive being Bobby Brown’s kid, so give him props for that.

Lara Johnston = daughter of Tom Johnston, lead singer of The Doobie Brothers. She’s 17 and reminds some of Britney Spears at that age, although this girl actually has a very good singing voice.

Chloe Lattanzi = daughter of Olivia Newton-John, she’s the worst of the group by far. I have a hard time putting into words how awful she is. Her recent cover of “I Hate Everything About You” by Three Days Grace was worse than laughable.

Crosby Loggins = son of Kenny Loggins. He seems like an earnest, nice guy–but he belongs in a coffeehouse or as the only male act at the Lilith Fair.

Jesse Money = daughter of Eddie Money. She was the first one to get tossed (unjustly), but her performance was pretty forgettable.

Jesse Blaze Snider = son of Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider. He’s a really good rock singer and showman–Daddy taught him well. He’s the arrogant (but funny) guy every reality show needs.

Lil B. Sure! = son of Al B. Sure. This kid comes off like he deserves to win, even though he stinks. His second performance was some ridiculous Maxwell song that he sang entirely in falsetto. A BAD falsetto. I dislike this kid so much, I’m angry I gave him the honor of including the dumb punctuation marks in his “name.”

Lucy Walsh = daughter of Joe Walsh. She’s cute, she can sing, and she’ll probably go pretty far in this competition.

Prediction: If this was really about “Rock,” Jesse Blaze Snider would win. But since it’s really about pop, it might be Lucy.

Review: Reno 911!

An incredibly underrated, very very funny Comedy Central show.

For the uninitiated, it’s basically a fictional “Cops,” but with character actors/comedians playing both cops and criminals.

Most of the cast members of “The State”–MTV’s greatest sketch comedy show ever–are involved as actors, writers or producers.

Ridiculously absurd (or absurdly ridiculous) crimes are committed, the cops show up and usually make things worse, etc.

There are plenty of running gags, like Deputy Junior (that’s his last name) constantly getting rendered unconscious by car doors opening into his head.

A sample plotline from the most recent season’s first episode: Crazy Deputy Weigel, who had impregnated herself with a sample “donated” by one of the other deputies, was trying to sell her baby.

This is good stuff.  Catch it on Comedy Central or in syndication.

Re-View: The inspiring “Newsradio”

Not the AM format where you get your news, sports, traffic and weather.

The awesome, underrated mid-to-late 1990s sitcom with the incredible ensemble cast and great writing.  That happened to be about an AM radio station from which New Yorkers got their news, sports, traffic and weather.

Why review a show that hasn’t run a new episode in about a decade?  Because I recently got reacquainted with the show, being re-run at like 1:00 a.m.  (When you don’t have to be in work early, late-night TV is a rare treat.)  Anyway, I now DVR it.

As I re-viewed the first few episodes, I was reminded of the show’s greatness.  Dave Foley’s exasperation.  Maura Tierney’s overachieving.  Andy Dick’s, well, Dick-ness.  Beth, the redheaded spitfire whose real name always escapes me.  And of course, the late great Phil Hartman, as the pompous Bill McNeal.

Watching the show made me long for the days when quality sitcoms roamed the Earth like packs of wild velociraptors, clawing their way through our funny bones.

Maybe I’ll use some of this free time to try my hand at a sitcom script again.  I do have a pretty interesting idea, one that I’m kind of excited to explore.

Stay tuned for updates.

Review: Kenny vs. Spenny

This is a Comedy Central show where two friends challenge each other in ridiculous or humiliating or painful competitions.  Kenny always cheats, and he’s deliciously evil.  Spenny is innocent and trusting, and therefore a perfect mark.

I laughed out loud (or would have, if Shannon wasn’t sleeping next to me).  You just might too.

Sundays at 11:30, probable reruns at other times.