TheRetroCritic

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The SNL spin-off movies are a patchy affair, to say the least. For every Blues Brothers , there's a Blues Brothers 2000 , for every Wayne's World , there's an It's Pat: The Movie . Superstar sees Molly Shannon reprise her Mary Katherine Gallagher role from the show. Molly Shannon's creation is awkward and odd yet egomaniacal and driven: she's deeply unpopular at the Catholic school she attends but remains convinced that she is a "superstar" and that her big break is coming. Cue lots of jokes about how desperate she is and some loud slapstick where she crashes into things. There's also a romantic subplot as she soon becomes interested in the school's most popular hunk Sky Corrigan, played by a reliably entertaining Will Ferrell. Story-wise, it's all rather predictable, mostly because it parodies teen movies centred around a school competition and the clichés of the genre are so familiar they leave little in the way of surprises. There&

Will Ferrell stars in this Mexico-set Western comedy about a family of ranchers going head-to-head with a powerful drug lord. The film is spoken entirely in Spanish, boasts a stylish James Bond-style opening title sequence with a catchy theme sung by Christina Aguilera and the cast includes Gael Garcia Bernal, Genesis Rodriguez and Nick Offerman. The film pokes fun at the tackiness of those overdramatic telenovelas and the result is kind of a tamer, not quite as humorous, if still effective Three Amigos . The film approaches its theme with gusto from the start and Will Ferrell doesn't short-change the filmmakers or the audience, giving a devoted performance (again, speaking Spanish the entire time) throughout. Ferrell plays Armando, the brother of drug dealing Raul (Diego Luna) who finds himself getting in the way of drug lord Onza's (Garcia Bernal) business, which results in a mini-war between Onza and the Alvarez family. Genesis Rodriguez is Sonia, Raul's fiancée,

When the sequel to Ben Stiller's 2001 comedy Zoolander was announced, everyone was pretty much unanimously game: not too much time has gone by so the original cast looks basically the same and there is plenty about current day pop culture to send up. Speaking of which, Zoolander No. 2 opens with a chase through the streets of Rome straight out of a spy movie as some bikers hunt down and kill Justin Bieber who sends out his last Instagram selfie as he dies. This scene sets the tone for the rest of the film which is not only more action oriented but also packed to the brim with cameo appearances. Penelope Cruz is a new addition to the cast, she plays a member the Fashion Police who is investigating the recent run of celebrity assassinations. Zoolander's (Ben Stiller) "Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Who Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too", it turns out, barely made it a day before crumbling to the ground, killing his wife and disfiguring (that'

Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart team up in Get Hard , a movie which sounds silly and is, indeed, just as silly as it sounds. The film sees Ferrell play a clueless rich dude who is one day accused of financial foul play and is promptly sentenced to 10 years in prison. In the days leading up to him being sent there, he hires the help of a car wash owner (Hart), under the incorrect assumption that he once went to prison, to help him "get hard" (as in get tough) so he can somehow survive his time behind bars. One long training montage later, the film rushes to a predictable third act and the title's double-entendre is hammered into our heads one last time just in case you forget Get Hard as soon as you leave the cinema. Which is not impossible, by the way. That's pretty much it, really, but luckily both Ferrell and Hart are charismatic and funny enough to keep you entertained throughout. The film does have some really good ideas and, at its best, it's like watching

Well, it's looking like The Lego Movie is proving to be a big hit in the U.S. and elsewhere and it's no secret why: we all had Lego growing up and whether you like the idea of a movie based on the toy or not, chances are you'll go see it anyway. If I went to see it, you either probably will or you've been already. I mean, I was proven wrong long ago about how a Lego video game wouldn't be a good idea so there's no reason why those colourful blocks and little plastic dudes wouldn't work on the big screen. The good news is that, indeed, The Lego Movie works, mostly. Voiced by an all-star cast, the film sets out to make the ultimate Lego movie and it does just that. From the get-go, it's Lego agogo. We're suddenly introduced to this Lego-centric world where everyone lives as per the Lego "instructions" and, as that annoying little song proclaims, "everything is awesome". Except it's not, there's the small busi

And so the legend of Ron Burgundy continues... This time, Will Ferrell's dim-witted anchorman and his beloved crew take on 24 hour news after our favourite news man is fired by Harrison Ford's moody boss, thereby leaving his station, his wife and his son before, once again, hitting rock bottom. Luckily, he is found by a dude interested in hiring him for a new concept TV channel, GNN, which would offer the news 24/7. He accepts and sets out to put his news crew back together starting with Champ (David Koechner), who is running a fast food place where he passes off bat meat as chicken, then moving on to Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), who takes pictures of cats for a living, and finally Brick (Steve Carell), who is believed to be dead by many including himself. As soon as the team is back together, the film finally gets genuinely fun. A lot of the jokes play out much like you thought they would in the trailer but that's ok since this sequel has a LOT of jokes. It's a long

Now the film's sequel is finally out, I thought it would be a good time to check out Anchorman: The Legend Of Roy Burgundy again and see whether the hit comedy about a moronic San Diego anchorman and his crew still holds up. This first movie took 70's news anchor Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell's genius creation, and tried to extend his one joke nature into a multi-joked storyline with loads of other characters. The result was very light plot-wise but big on goofy shenanigans and full of silly and memorable moments. We follow Burgundy at the peak of his popularity, reading mostly animal-themed news and partying with his pals, played by Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner, when a driven new female colleague (Christina Applegate) shows up and turns it all upside down. We occasionally switch to Veronica Corningstone's point of view as she comments on this man-led industry. Burgundy and Corningstone soon become involved, thanks to a solid burst of jazz flute and tal