Maz
Jorbrani: I Come In Peace
(2013/Inception DVD)/Paradise
(2013/Image Blu-ray)/The
To-Do (2013/Sony Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/B-/B- Sound: C+/B-/B- Extras: C-/C/C Main Programs:
C+/C/C-
Here
are some new comedy releases to know about... or to avoid...
Maz
Jorbrani: I Come In Peace (2013) is the best of our choices here,
a stand up comedy show that runs 71 minutes, spoofs the Bond films on
the cover and (briefly) opening credits and has has all kinds of
amusing jokes about being from the Middle East, the conflict, racism,
age of terrorism and other topical humor that is consistently
interesting and amusing. I never laughed out loud or got bored, but
was impressed Jorbrani had a good sense of humor and some insight to
go with it. He is an original, a growing talent and I want to see
his next routines.
A
short with similar humor and two friends of his called My
Two Worlds
is the only extra.
Next
we have the story of a young gal who decides to do as many crazy,
dumb, gross and idiotic thing as she can think of and even has them
marked down. This time around, it is not just the pathetic premise
for one bad film, but two really bad films that happen to have been
made and released at the same time! Imagine that.
First
up is Diablo Cody's version, Paradise
(2013) with Julianne Hough (doing everything but wearing blackface
this time out) as a born again gal who was in a terrible airplane
accident that burned up much of her body, a traumatic experience she
barely survived. Sick of her oppressive Christian community, she
tells them off in church and runs to Las Vegas, only to learn the
newly built section is really in Paradise, Nevada right next to the
real thing. She is looking for something that is the real thing and
intends to commit just about every sin she can.
She
meets a bartender (Russell Brand playing yet another variant of
himself) and a would-be lounge singer (Octavia Spencer) who are
friends in the same bar and befriend her. Our protagonist
over-narrates this dud with beyond obvious jokes that go on and on
and on and on and on and on... Worst of all, this had the potential
to be more, but Cody has been coasting since the highly overrated
Juno,
forgettable Jennifer's
Body
and should-have-worked-much-better United
States Of Tara
TV series. Holly Hunter also shows up in the wasted supporting cast.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by Cody, Behind The
Scenes with Cody, Brand, Hough, Spencer & an Original Theatrical
Trailer.
Maggie
Carey manages to make the dame awful film with less money and a
lesser-known cast in the some slightly more unfunny The
To-Do
(2013) with Aubrey Plaza as a gal who graduated as the perfect
student and now wants to learn everything about sex
before moving on with her life, but the ideas are as gross and dumb
and idiotic as anything we have seen in these comedies of late.
Produced by the bottomlessly inept CBS Films (are they trying to have
a nonstop train of tax write-offs?), I don't know who this dud was
made for, but it is remarkably cynical, lame, pointless and does not
take any audience of any age seriously and has little to no respect
for them.
Christopher
Mintz-Plasse makes one of his unfunny turns playing himself, more
bored-looking than ever and Andy Samberg is again very unfunny.
Include this on to-avoid movie list.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track with Carey and
co-star Bill Hader (also unfunny), a Gag Reel, two boring featurettes
and Deleted and Extended Scenes.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Maz
has some good shots, but is soft more often throughout than I would
have liked, so the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image
transfer on Paradise
and 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on To
Do
tie as the better visual presentations, yet neither are great (though
Paradise
has some nice shots of Vegas) and they both tend towards visual
genericness.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Maz
is a good, consistent presentation where you can pretty much hear
everything he is saying, but the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1
lossless mixes on both Blu-ray features are better, even if they are
dialogue/joke based and tends towards the front channels more than
they should.
-
Nicholas Sheffo