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Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
Ron Burgundy is the man.
I'm leaving some things out of this review, because I don't want to spoil the movie for you... There have been some good comedies this decade ranging from American Wedding, Old School, Undercover Brother, Austin Powers 3, Barbershop, School of Rock, Zoolander, Starchy and Hutch, Dodgeball, both Sherk movies and Bruce Almighty. However, none of these comedies have been as funny and as original as "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". Simply put "Anchorman" is the funniest movie of this decade so far.
"Anchorman" is a 90-minute running joke, you could probably laugh throughout the entire movie. Anchorman is about a '70s news anchor named Ron Burgundy (played by Will Ferrell, who also co-wrote the movie) and his news team must adapt to new times as the station they work for bring on a new FEMALE co-anchor named Veronica Cornningstone (played by Christina Applegate, she was Kelly in Married with Children). Back in 1970's, only men where allowed to read the news. "It's anchorman, not anchor-lady" was the motto that Burgardy and his news team followed by. Well, the plot kind of stinks, but who cares it's a dumb comedy, nobody cares about the plot when it's entertaining (sort of like porn).
Onto the Channel 4 news team, who is the #1 news station in San Diego (and hated by every other news station, most of all by Channel 9 led by Wes Mantooth (played by Vince Vaughn)). The Ch. 4 news team is made up of 5-time Emmy winner anchor Burgundy, Champ Kind and his famous catch-phrase "WHAMMY!!!" on sports, Brick Tamland, who is so dumb that he loves lamp, covers weather and Brian "Da Bri" Fantana, who owns every type of cologne possible (even ones that are banned in other countries), as lead field reporter. All four of these guys are stupid, horny, argonaut, drunk and sharply dress. Champ (played by Dave Koechner) is a bit over-the-top, however though that's probably because his blood-alcohol level becomes illegal ten minutes right after he wakes up. "Da Bri" (played by Paul Rudd) thinks he's a cross between John Homles and Ron Jeremy when it comes to sex. He is so cocky he has a name for his penis and both of his nuts. Brick (played by Steve Carell, Bruce's enemy in Bruce Almighty and he was also on the Daily Show) has an IQ of 48 and likes to eat toasted mayo. Out of these three characters, Brick is by-far the funniest because he is just so dumb.
Now, some of you might be wondering "I hope Applegate doesn't ruin this movie!" and "does she get naked?". No and no. Applegate does come up with some good one-liners to insult Ron and the gang and this is a PG-13 movie, so there isn't any nudity.
Also in "Anchorman" there were a lot of cameos as well. And if there are a lot of cameos that must mean it's a good movie. I already said that Vince Vaughn was in there and he had a funny part, in fact all cameos were funny, which included Tim Robbins, Luke Wilson and Ben Stiller. However, the best cameo was by Jack Black. I won't give away too much, however the scene that he is in, shows him p*ssed off and Ron scared with his dog.
Ron Burgundy is by-far Will Ferrell's best role and right now he is probably the #1 comedy actor in Hollywood (even though Ben Stiller put up a good fight in Dodgeball). You can put Ron Burgundy on the list "comedy characters that put an actor to the top" along with Rodney Dangerfield's and Bill Murray's characters in Caddyshack, Eddie Murphy's role in 48 hours and Jim Carrey in "the Mask".
I bet some of you have seen the trailer, well about 90% of the trailer is not in the movie (and there were some funny parts in the trailer as well). This was very unusual, especially for a comedy, because usually, all the funniest parts are in the trailer. However, there is a rumor going around that there will be an UN-CUT edition of this movie, which has a chance to beat out "Caddyshack" for funniest movie of all-time.
Grade: 9.5 out of 10 (the only reason there it doesn't get the 10 was because they did make fun of Pres. Bush in the movie, liberal bastards).
GO SEE ANCHORMAN!!!
Friday Night Lights (2004)
A review by a football player
"Gentlemen. The hopes and dreams of an entire town are riding on your shoulders. You may never matter more than you do right now. It's time."Coach Gary Carter addressing his team.
For years, the Buzz Bissinger's book "Friday Nights Lights" has been proclaimed as the greatest football book ever written. The story is about the 1988 Permian Panthers from Odessa, Texas. In the book, Bissinger illustrates how much high school football effects a town in West Texas that has basically nothing to live for. Almost everyone in Odessa is poor, train tracks divide the town the white and black communities and the school system is below average, yet on Friday Nights (as the tag-line of the movie says) "Hope comes alive".
The thing that I like most about the movie was the it didn't go away from the book too much and the movie tried to imply the same themes as the book did. Anyway, let's get to the actual movie now.
Unlike most sports movies where the viewer is spending about two-thirds of the movie trying to figure out who all the characters are, "Lights" actually does a good job in identifying all the characters. For example, you will know who "Boobie" Miles is (the Panthers' star running back) right when the movie starts. Another unique thing about "Lights" is that when watching, it feels like the viewer is watching a documentary, because movie does a great job on including detail on the attitude the town and players carry throughout the story and highlights from EVERY game are shown (something that never happens in sports movies).
The characters in "Lights" make the movie great, especially "Boobie" Miles (played by Derek Luke). Boobie is not only the best runner on the team, he is probably the best running back in the state. On one play, he broke three tackles and burned two other defenders. The only thing that faster than his legs is...his mouth. He makes Terrell Owens and Freddie Mitchell look modest. Whenever a member of the media talks to him, he proclaims that he is God gift to football and how God made Boobie beautiful and all that junk. When asked about his grades he replies "I'm an athlete, I make straight A's". Boobie is obviously not smart, when he was reading one of his recruitment letters from the University of Southern California, he sounded like a five-year old. Football and his uncle L.V. are the only two things that Boobie has going for him.
The main character of the movie is Coach Gary Carter (played by Billie Bob Thornton). Coach Carter's job is not an easy one. Throughout the movie, he is constantly bugged by boosters and supports telling him that he should imply this scheme or this player should play this position, Coach Carter just ignores them, but he knows that expectations are very high in Odessa (especially if they are the favorites to go the Texas Bowl).
Another character(s) that make the movie great is Don Billingsley (played by Garrett Hedlund) and his father Charles (played by country superstar Tim McGraw). Don probably feels the pressure of playing for the Panthers more than anyone because his dad as on a state championship team for the Panthers and his dad is also an alcoholic. During the first practice of the season when Don fumbled the ball, Charles came running out of the stands and when yelling at his son about "some little fumble". Don is ashamed by his father which is why he probably the biggest playboy on the team as well. However, Don is one tough kid (as evident in the final game).
Football is the only thing that Odessa cares about, after a loss a person calls-in a local radio station to say "there's too much learning going on at that school!" On Friday Nights, all the businesses are closed, the Ratliff Stadium (where the Panthers play) is packed an hour before kickoff and everyone is wearing black and white.
The game scenes are the best part of the movie. Some of the hits are so hard, it would put Terry Tate to shame, especially in the final game of the story. That game scene was the best I have ever saw because it captured everything that goes on during a football game (trash talk, adjustments, dirty play, emotion, etc.) Where does Friday Night Lights among football movies? Personally, I think it's the best football movie of all time. I have played football for nine years and I have seen about every single football movie ever made and I will have to say that this film truly captures what football REALLY is. If you are a sports fan, you will love this movie.
GRADE: 9.5 out of 10.
FOOTBALL GRADE: TOUCHDOWN with the 2-point conversion