00s Movie Review - Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Director: Adam McKay
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 90 minutes
Year: 2004
Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, Chris Parnell, Fred Willard, Kathryn Hahn, Fred Armisen, Seth Rogen, Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, Tim Robbins, Ben Stiller, Missi Pyle, Jack Black

Description: Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) is San Diego’s top-rated newsman in the male-dominated broadcasting of the 1970s, but that’s all about to change for Ron and his cronies when an ambitious woman (Christina Applegate) is hired as a new anchor.

Review: “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” could have easily been a juvenile, forgettable comedy. But director Adam McKay really created a hilarious film, that is a favorite for a lot of people.
We meet the arrogant and quirky Ron Burgundy, who is one of the most successful news anchors in 1970s San Diego. When Veronica Corningstone enters, he gets some rivalry, because she is a very ambitious women with only one big dream: becoming a lead anchor. At first Veronica gets simple stories to cover, like a fashion show for cats, but she doesn’t accept being just that kind of news woman.
When “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” was released in 2004, it wasn’t very well-received by critics. But through the years, the film has gained a cult-status and is a comedy classic. There was even a sequel in 2013.
The constant bickering between Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate’s characters is hilarious and we get fun supporting roles from Paul Rudd, Fred Willard and Vince Vaughn. But it’s Steve Carell that steals the show, as weatherman Brick Tamland. He is seriously the dumbest movie character and you question yourself how it’s possible Brick is still alive. Carell is hilarious in his role.
“Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” is definitely one of my favorite comedies off all-time.

Rating: 4/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 66: Bad Moms

Director: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 101 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Christina Applegate, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jay Hernandez, Wanda Sykes

Description: When three overworked and under-appreciated moms are pushed beyond their limits, they ditch their conventional responsibilities for a jolt of long overdue freedom, fun, and comedic self-indulgence.

Review: The life of a young mother isn’t perfect. Besides trying to make a career in a highly underpaid and time consuming job, the kids have to go to school every day, groceries have to be done, cooking, school meetings. And if there is a husband that doesn’t lift a finger, you can understand how a mom can feel under-appreciated. That’s the fact with Amy Mitchell. When she finds out her husband has been having an online affair with a woman, she decides to be a bad mom, because everyone already thinks she is one.
There are many films where we see grown up men behave like irresponsible teens. But lately we’ve been getting some fun films with women behaving badly. Just look at “Bridesmaids” and “Trainwreck”.
Mila Kunis plays Amy, a control freak who always wants to maky everyone around her happy. Kristen Bell is a somewhat submissive stay at home mom and Kathryn Hahn is a single mom, with a love for men and alcohol. Then there is Christina Applegate, head of the PTA, who claims to be the perfect example for all the moms out there. Some characters feel like just characters, because they come off a bit cartoonish. Especially Hahn’s character is too much. And the humor is sometimes really unoriginal and vulgar, jokes that are way too easy and done way too many times.
This is all forgivable, but towards the end the film is so cliché. “Bad Moms” is a fun film for one time, very forgettable.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 118: Vacation

Director: John Francis Daley
Genre: Adventure/ Comedy
Runtime: 99 minutes
Year: 2015
Starring: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Chris Hemsworth, Leslie mann, Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Charlie Day, Ron Livingston, Norman Reedus, Keegan-Michael Key, Regina Hall, Kaitlin Olson, Michael Peña

Description: Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) takes his own family on a road trip to "Walley World" in order to spice things up with his wife (Christina Applegate) and reconnect with his sons.

Review: We live in a time of reboots and remakes. Superhero franchises, foreign films get an American version and classics are remade. Within the comedy genre there are also some popular films that need a modern touch. “Vacation” is one of them. It’s technically not a remake, but “Vacation” is feeding of its original version from 1983.
Rusty sees that his wife is unhappy and he is worried about the continued bickering between his two sons. The solution: a family road trip to an amusement park.
In the original film the characters where family people, with whom you could identify and you would sympathize with. This doesn’t go for this film. The characters lack depth and it’s hard to feel for them. The humor is at times fun, but it’s mostly juvenile jokes. The movie does have humor, some situation are really funny. The Seal song “Kiss from a Rose” is a funny recurring joke for example. And the guide they meet on the way, that is played by Charlie Day was hilarious. And some thumbs up for the cameos, Chris Hemsworth and Chevy Chase. But they just take it too far sometimes, which makes it unbelievable.
Overall, this comedy does make you laugh but isn’t of a high level. The original 1983 film is far superior, but “Vacation” is fun for one night.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 75: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Director: Adam McKay

Genre: Komedie

Runtime: 113 minutes

Year: 2013

Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, James Marsden, Dylan Baker, Harrison Ford, Greg Kinnear, Kristen Wiig

Description: With the 70s behind him, San Diego's top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy, returns to take New York's first 24-hour news channel by storm.

Review: Ron Burgundy and his wife Veronica have left San Diego behing and live in New York with their son. They work as a team anchoring for a news show. When Veronica Is promoted and Ron is fired, his life falls apart. Ron and Veronica separate and he returns to San Diego. When he manages to get a job at a 24 hour news channel, he decides to assemble to old news team.

Ten years ago “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” was a small success, but Will Ferrell’s character Ron Burgundy grew to be a cult hero. The somewhat idiotic anchorman from the 70’s, with his fancy mustache and hilarious one-liners has always been popular among fans. And how happy those fans where when a long awaited sequel finally happened.

Like the first movie, the sequel is a chain of fun moments. Will Ferrell excels as Ron Burgundy and you sometimes feel ashamed for him. Paul Rudd and especially Steve Carell reprise their roles very well. How I love Brick, who is hopefully not based on a real person. Like many comedy sequels, “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” lacks pacing in the story. There are also varieties on scenes from part one and many cameos.

“Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” can’t live up to the first, but it was again highly enjoyable. Just because it’s so silly and you know the characters so well. Stay classy San Diego!

Rating: 3,5 / 5

Movie Moments: "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy"

I already spotlighted the characters once so now I'm sharing my favorite moments of "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" with you.

Moment # 1: Introduction
We meet Ron Burgendy and we see how he works. We come to the conclusion already that he’s not your typical anchorman. We also meet his newsteam, who tell us what they have to offer. The Channel 4 newsteam is a funky bunch.

Moments # 2: Ron meets Veronica
When Ron meets Veronica, he tells her she has an absolutely breath-taking heiney and that he wants to be friends with it. Ron starts bragging about how important he is and when he realizes he screwed up, he starts over. When he does, he tells her he wants to be on her. Smooth…

Moment # 3: Brick ate a candle
During their staff meeting, after the party, Brian and Champ tell the others what happened to them in the morning. Appearantly Brick ate a red candle.

Moment # 4: The toilet store
The Channel 4 newsteam meets up with the Evening news team and they starts insulting each others clothes. Brick asks them if they got their clothes at the toilet store.

Moment # 5: Party in my pants
Brick tries to invite Veronica to the pantsparty. He means the party in his pants, which Veronica doesn’t want to go to. Next he asks Ian the same question, which tells us Brick doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Moment # 6: Massive erection
Veronica and Ron are talking to each other when she tells Ron he has a massive erection. He says it’s an optical illusion, because of the pants.

Moment # 7: Ron plays jazzfluit
Ron’s friend Tino asks him to play the jazzfluit. Ron says he’s not prepared and than he pulls out the fluit from his jacket. The weirdest performance ever! But people actually give him a standing ovation.

Moment # 8: I love lamp
The newsteam is talking about love and what it means. Brick starts naming objects he loves, like “I love lamp”.

Moment # 9: Afternoon delight
In that same conversation, Ron tries to explain it and the newsteam starts singing “Afternoon Delight”.

Moment # 10: Glass cage of emotion
After an angry biker kicked his dog Baxter of a bridge, Ron calls Brian to tell him about it. He can’t really talk because he keeps crying. When Brian asks him where he is, Ron tells him he’s in a glass cage of emotions.

Moment # 11: The fight
The Channel 4 newsteam meets up with the Evening news team again. The Channel 2 news team, Public newsteam and Spanish language newsteam join them. They start a big fight with only one rule: No touching of the face and hair. They have all sorts of weapons. Brick even has a handgrenade. He’s just standing there with the grenade in his hand and all he does is scream. But Brick is eventually the only guy who actually kills someone.

Moment # 12: Ron vs. Veronica
Ron and Veronica start insulting each other. Ron calls her a silly pirate hooker and Veronica says he looks like a blueberry. When Veronica says he has stupid hair, he really gets angry. They start fighting each other.

Moment # 13: News team assemble
Ron gets a phonecall from his boss that they need him for the news again. He uses a seashell for a horn to call out for his newsteam and yells: “Newsteam assemble”! The team has been standing behind him all that time.

Favorite Moment: Moment # 11: The fight

Top 5 Thursday: Funny Ladies

Today in my Top 5, I will share with you who are in my opinion the funniest women in showbusiness.

5. Ellen Degeneres
Ellen did the voice of Dory, the forgetful blue fish in “Finding Nemo”. Although she was great in this animation, I prefer her as a host and stand-up comedian. She cracks me up everytime.

4. Julie Bowen
I didn’t know her before “Modern Family” but she won over my heart as the loveable Claire Dunphy. I later realized that Julie was also in “Lost”, but she couldn’t really be funny in that show.

3. Christina Applegate
She got famous because of her role in “Married… with Children” as the beautiful but not-so-bright Kelly Bundy. Later on she appeared in several films, like “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead”, “The Big Hit” and “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”. And she made the crappy movie “The Sweetest Thing” worth watching because she was the only funny aspect in that film. In “Samantha Who” she again proved us why she’s so funny.

2. Leslie Mann
She’s in so many movies and I always like her characters. She stole the show in “The 40 Year Old Virgin” where she appeared in one scene as a drunk woman Steve Carrel’s character picked up. And what about her performances in “Big Daddy”, “Knocked Up” and “Funny People”. This woman deserves more credit.

1. Kristen Wiig
Without a doubt the funniest woman I’ve ever seen on TV. She rocks in every “SNL” sketch she’s in. Especially as the woman of the two A-holes, Ginny, Penelope and one of the sisters from the Finger Lakes. I loved her in “Adventureland” and “Whip It”. I’m a bit ashamed that I haven’t seen “Bridesmaids”, but nobody wanted to go see it with me.

They almost made the top 5: Amy Poehler, Jenna Fisher, Queen Latifah and Jennifer Aniston

In the Picture: The Characters from "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy"

This movie has a lot of haters but also a lot of fans. I'm such a fan. I think this is one of the most hilarious movies ever, with some of the weirdest characters imaginable. Here are the characters from "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy".

Ron Burgundy
Played by: Will Ferrell
Ron is a five time Emmy-Award winning journalist and the anchorman for KVWN Channel 4 news. He is a very confident man, maybe a little bit to confident. That makes him very ignorant, egotistical and narcissistic. Ron isn’t actually very aware of the news, because he just reads what’s on the teleprompter. He likes scotch, his dog Baxter and he’s very good at playing the jazzfluit.

Veronica Corningstone
Played by: Christina Applegate
Veronica is the first female to the news. She’s very ambitious to become an anchor and wants to be taken seriously by the men she works with. Eventhough she doesn’t get that respect, Veronica fights back and proves them she belongs in this world dominated by men.

Brian Fantana
Played by: Paul Rudd
Brian is the very stylisch and over-sexed field reporter for Channel 4 news. He is arrogant, narcissistic and he overestimates his personal qualities. Brian is also the proud owner of a very big cologne collection, which includes the scent “Sex Panther” (illegal in nine countries).

Champ Kind
Played by: David Koechner
Champ is the sportscaster and seems to have hidden feelings for Ron. He’s the most chauvenistic man in the team and is known for sexualy harassing co-workers.

Brick Tamland
Played by: Steve Carell
Brick is the weatherman and has the habit of sharing irrelevant informant, like that he ate a candle and the he loves lamp. He is goodhearted and loyal, but not very bright (he has an I.Q. of 48). Brick does have a darker side though. While in battle with other newsteams he shows his fighting skills and actually kills a man.

Favorite Character: Brick Tamland