DVDs

I’m honestly not sure how that joke ends.  Or where it originally started.  I know that when you go to Ireland, the Bank of Scotland signs actually read “Bank of Scotland (Ireland)” and I recall a theory that there are certain beers that can result in a lot of confusion if imbibed even in small amounts, hence the need for clarification of your current location, but really, who cares?

More important than Irish jokes, its time for another comedian to be showcased in our Year of the Comedian, and since March is a time of celebrating Irishness (March 17) or celebrating being a chick (March 8 ) or celebrating your ability to do math (March 14), any comedians relating to these abilities or minority groups were chucked in favor of a Welsh fellow I think everyone needs to hear a bit more about.  Now, I know you’re astute enough to already want to point out that the patron saint of Wales (Saint David) has his day in the sun on March 1, but it’s not March 1 anymore, so Rob Brydon can still complain in a proper fashion.

Yes, this month, in our year of the Comedian focus, we’re going to look at Rob Brydon, master of the “Small Man Trapped in a Box”, voice of a million commercials, frequent failure on QI: Quite Interesting, wonderfully funny stand up comedian, and proud father of four.  Very proud father of four.  In fact, in his performance at the Apollo theatre in 2009 resulted in much bragging about his natural inability to actually father children and a brief musical interlude when describing his wife’s giving birth to their fourth child while he did what Rod Stewart would do (he went golfing).

Rob Brydon is a really strangely entertaining man, and like all proper comedians, he doesn’t really view any topic as sacred.  He frequently jokes about his wife, his world and his Welsh heritage, laughing about his love of golf, or harassing audience members with proper Welsh names and asking questions about why we obsess over preserving languages that really have no business being used anymore.  Despite occasionally complaining about institutionalized racism against the Welsh, he is quick to have a go at his nation, pointing out the odd spelling of pretty much everything, the proper Welsh names, the fact that Welsh children learn the language in schools because it’s incredibly useful across Europe and the tendency of the Welsh to complain.  Don’t laugh at those jokes though, that’s racism.

A frequent guest on QI: Quite Interesting and host of Would I Lie to You?, and well known as Uncle Bryn on popular comedy-drama Gavin and Stacey, Brydon does not just limit himself to stand up comedy or television or stage.  He’s also provided his voice for numerous Discworld stories, is the author of Making Divorce Work and is a skilled impressionist and singer.  No, he does not have any albums out, but some of his stand up does result in singing (most entertainingly, he sang “When a Child is Born” whilst describing his youngest son’s birth in a rather Chucky horror film style) and he has sung in a number of television performances.

North Americans may not understand all of his humor, however the vast majority of it is easy to grasp and does not require any understanding of Welsh or British culture.  Certainly, it can help in some cases, but you and I both know you’re smart, so I’m sure you’ll not need to study before seeing any of his shows.  After all, we’ve all heard the joke about the sheep tied to a lamp post in the centre of Cardiff.  I love that one.

Rob Brydon can be found on Annually Retentive, Gavin and Stacey, The Keith Barrett Show, hosts Would I Lie to You? and has a DVD featuring his live stand up show.  He is currently working on an autobiography to be released this fall.

Released on DVD a few weeks ago is Red, the action-comedy flick starring Bruce Willis as Frank Moses, a retired CIA field operative who has an assassination team show up at his home one day to ‘retire’ him even further. Forced to act quick and fend for survival, Frank goes and reassembles his old team from the days in the agency — Joe (Morgan Freeman,) Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) — along with his long distance love interest, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker from WEEDS and The West Wing.) Opening with Frank wooing his pension services representative Sarah by repeatedly telephoning her with ‘issues’ regarding his pension checks, the retired agent quickly shows his seemingly flawless skills as he escapes the gunfire of a few dozen assassins and makes his way to Sarah’s hometown to begin their rather adventurous first date.

Red (an acronym for ‘Retired and Extremely Dangerous’) is rather impressive in that while it’s also showing that Frank, Joe, Marvin and Victoria still have all the skills — if not more — of their younger counterparts whilst in retirement, but it also shows that Willis, Freeman, Malkovich and Mirren still have it in them to take on heavy, stunt-filled action movies. It’s quite a contrast having seen Helen Mirren gracefully execute her role in The Queen to now seeing her wielding a machine gun in an elegant white dress. While he does play one of the younger retirees of the film, Willis still performs the action-packed part with the same oozing testosterone as one would have found in the Die Hard movies (although, there are a few more age jokes in this one.)

Deeper than the rather unbelievable — but exciting plotline — there is a subtle (and sometimes not to subtle) element of CIA/government conspiracies that some may enjoy throughout the film. This is further established in the DVD’s special features; one of the more interesting ones was a section called “CIA Exposed,” which featured six short narrated clips describing CIA screw-ups (some pretty funny ones too,) as well as some darker moments from the past of the agency that you might not have been familiar with.

In addition to the standard cocktail of special features — deleted scenes, interviews and a behind-the-scenes video — Red also features a rather interesting audio commentary not from the director or one of the actors, but from retired CIA field agent Robert Baer. If you’re going to invest in a DVD, you need to make sure you’re getting one packed with features as, let’s face it, you can only watch a movie so many times without wanting a little more out of it.

The only shortcoming on the Red DVD lies in the fact that when four elderly thespians are forced into high-speed action roles, a blooper reel is a necessity.

While this is a bit of a delayed review, I finally had the opportunity to see the Ariel Schulman documentary, Catfish, starring Yaniv “Nev” Schulman (Ariel’s brother,) Ariel himself, and their colleague, Henry Joost now that it’s been released on DVD. The movie centers around Nev as he begins an online romance with a certain Megan Faccio on Facebook and a virtual friendship with Megan’s child prodigy sister Abby the artist, and their parents, cousins and even family friends.

The 8-month relationship shows Nev and Megan drawing closer and closer until they trio of boys finally decides to trek from New York City to Ishpeming, Michigan to visit the so-called “Facebook family.” Unfortunately, various clues along the way indicate that things might not be as they seem with the family, and that the relationship might not be as real as it seems.

When I was unable to see Catfish in theaters (the title of the movie is explained in the final few minutes of the film,) I did a bit of research on the movie to understand beyond what the cryptic trailer shared (posted at the bottom of this review.) After seeing the movie, I realize that it’s best to go in knowing as little as possible, and letting the story unfold.

The movie can be easily divided into three parts: The first third was about the growing romance between Nev and Megan, the second third was about discovery, and the final third was about revelation. The standard climax to be expected in Hollywood thrillers won’t be found in this movie, but the look into human interaction is one worth watching.

On the DVD, don’t expect a blooper reel or oodles of deleted scenes. In fact, the only special feature was a question-and-answer segment with the film’s directors — believed to be in front of an audience (never seen) — as they delivered a bit more insight into the process behind the film. There was nothing ground-breaking revealed, so diehard Catfish fans aren’t going to find anything new on the DVD.

Even if you know what happens, or have heard bits and pieces of the film, it’s still worth buying (or, at least, renting.) The ongoing question that has yet to be answered is whether the filmmakers claims to authenticity are exaggerated or not. Real or not, Catfish presents what appears to be an honest and open look at the problems with internet identity.

You can purchase ‘Catfish’ on Amazon or via iTunes.