Andy Labis, Author at Entertainment Ave!

2 Fast 2 Furious

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:54 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

2 Fast 2 Furious Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Cole Hauser, Eva Mendes, Ludacris
MPAA Rated:	PG-13
Released By:	Universal Pictures
Distributed By:	thefastandthefurious.com
Kiddie Movie:	Keep it to the teenagers.
Date Movie:	Only if she likes fast cars and fast women.
Gratuitous Sex:	Women in sexy clothes.
Gratuitous Violence:	A scary scene with a rat, and a dude gets run over by a truck.
Action:	Lots of car chases.
Laughs:	Quite a few, especially the “give me a break” type.
Memorable Scene:	The “Dukes of Hazard” jump.
Memorable Quote:	Too many one-liners to list.
Directed By:	John Singleton
Produced By:	Neal H. Moritz

I didn’t want to like the movie because my hero, Vin, wasn’t a part of it. I wondered how you can make a sequel to “The Fast and The Furious” without the star of the original, but I guess the franchise isn’t about the actors, it’s about having a pretty mindless story and fast cars. Dammit, I liked “2 Fast 2 Furious.”

This time we’re in Miami and our cop-buddy Brian (Paul Walker) is off of the police force because he let Dominick get away in the first movie. Go figure, he’s trying to make money street racing around Miami. And go figure, the feds need Brian’s help to take out the drug kingpin. So what do they do? Well, they arrest Brian, give him a deal that they’ll clear his record if he helps them, and offer to pair him up with a nerd cop. Brian knows he needs somebody who can really help so it’s off to Barstow to recruit his old “friend who hates him now because he blames Brian for his getting busted by the cops and getting sent to jail” Roman (Tyrese). Yea, they beat each other up, but then they’re best friends again. And, oh yea, Roman’s in because if he helps he’ll get his record cleared.

So, with the help of Monica (Eva Mendes), the federal agent who’s infiltrated the kingpin’s trust (looking hot didn’t hurt), Brian and Roman get involved in a try-out to be the ones who get to carry the kingpin’s cash to the drop-off point. Guess what? They win. Alright, so our new hero, Brian, is falling for Monica, Roman figures this might get in the way, but they’ve all got a job to do, except that Monica overhears the henchman saying how instead of $100,000 when they deliver the cash, it’s a couple of bullets to the head instead. But you can’t stop the gig now, not when the bad guys would get away, so our boys make a plan to get the bad guys caught and keep the money. Well, their plans don’t go as smoothly as the figured so we get some “Dukes of Hazard” action. Ah, who cares about the story, is the car racing cool? It’s alright, pretty much the same as the original, although this time a lot more cop cars are involved and most of them get destroyed.

Every now and then I like to catch a movie that doesn’t make you think, all you need to do is sit back and let the one-liners and chase scenes fly amidst a pretty mindless story. And the hot bodies don’t hurt either. “2 Fast 2 Furious” gives you just that. No one’s winning any acting awards for this one, although Tyrese probably stole the show in terms of comedic element, and Eva Mendes looks fabulous in a bikini, but you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into when you buy you’re ticket for this movie, and you will get pretty much all of it. With that it’s 3 1/2 stars out of 5 for “2 Fast 2 Furious.” Take it for what it’s worth.

That’s all for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Camping Tales, Doggie Tails, Movie Talk, and a Governor Balks “So F*&# All of You!”

By: The Dude on the Right

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My wedding is getting closer, and Stu Gotz says he was wrong – Holy crap it’s another “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast!

Yup, my BFF and I actually registered at a store for our wedding, and I let Stu know that he won’t be able to buy us the cooler that looks like a fishing bobber, but he can buy us some dinnerware should he desire! Yup, it’s business marketing at it’s finest, this wedding stuff, and I’m immersed in it headstrong. Stu Gotz, meanwhile, wanted to stay headstrong on his growing distrust of 3-D movies, but having seen “Descpicable Me” in 2-D and liking it, he was actually bummed he didn’t spring for the 3-D version because he could actually envision how it might have been even better.

And in terms of movies, Stu also had no desire to see “Fantastic Mr. Fox” but saw it anyway on DVD, and he liked it, in fact the entire Gotz clan liked it, meanwhile, on my homestead, I enjoyed “Crazy Heart” but the BFF wanted to leave it in the Netlix mailbox.

And what would a podcast from Chicago be without some talk about Ex-Governor Rod Blagojovich? Well, we’ve got that, too, and he’s uncensored so cover your ears should you need to!

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

2 Days in the Valley

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 1:44 Long
A Review by:
–Stu Gotz

2 Days in the Valley Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Jeff Daniels, Eric Stoltz, Danny Aiello, Teri Hatcher, James Spader
MPAA Rated:	R
Kiddie Movie:	Not if you want your kids to turn out like me.
Date Movie:	I’d bring a chick to see this movie, but then again I thought it was OK to bring my mom to see Sirens.
Gratuitous Sex:	A little. Spader does a nice job with an ice cube on Charlize Theron.
Gratuitous Violence:	It’s no Scarface, but then again it ain’t Mary Poppins.
Action:	The movie flows well but it’s no Die Hard.
Laughs:	A little dry humor.
Memorable Scene:	The cat fight between Hatcher and Theron.
Memorable Quote:	The banter between characters wasn’t sharp like that in Clerks or Caddie Shack so memorizing lines from this movie would just mean your a loser without a life.
Directed By:	John Herzfeld

When I saw the previews for “2 Days In The Valley” I said to myself “Self, you gotta see this movie!” But, much to my dismay, the Friday it opened I had no one to go with. I almost considered going alone but decided to wait instead. It wasn’t until a week later that I got my chance to see the movie. I’m glad I waited and didn’t go alone (thereby taking the chance of being labeled a loser) because the movie wasn’t all that great.

“2 Days In The Valley” is a murder movie that tries to have a Tarantino edge. Hard as it tries it fails at that. There are a lot of great characters, portrayed by great actors, in this movie, but none of them are really fully developed. For example… Jeff Daniels plays a vice cop that hates hookers and is on the edge of a nervous breakdown. He lives across from a golf course and in one good scene he pulls his gun on some golfers that just broke his window. The good Lord knows I’ve broken my share of windows on a golf course and I’m thankful the home owners have never pulled a gun on me! Anyway, Daniels holds the golfers at bay for a few and just walks away calling them “hacks.” His role is so small in this movie that I’m not sure why the writer even shows us that he’s burdened by depression.

Eric Stoltz plays Daniels partner. Eric is a vice cop trying to make detective. Although he’s been on the force for 10 years he’s still a little fresh and is falling for an Asian hooker. But that’s all the movie gives you. Again… Why bother giving us so much personal detail if it doesn’t pay off in the end? Paul Mazursky plays a washed up and suicidal movie writer/director that quite frankly I could care less about. His character adds nothing to the story line except that he shoots Spader and later, the movie hints that the whole situation he finds himself in inspires him to write a movie that will save his career (the movie Get Shorty kind of does the same thing). Then there’s Superman’s babe Teri Hatcher. She plays an Olympic skier who hires James Spader to kill her cheating husband. Aside from a nice ass shot and a good cat fight we get very little of Hatcher in this movie.

So who does this movie focus on. Danny Aiello’s “washed-out hit man” character. Danny is a great actor that does a great job of being pretty smart hit man with a dislike for dogs (or is it they dislike him?). Danny gets hired by James Spader to assist him in his murder for hire job. Spader does a great job of being a “jealous, psycho, murder for hire creep.”

The movie breaks down like this: It’s early in the AM and Terry Hatcher is in bed with her ex-husband. Spader and Aiello break in, juice Hatcher, and kill her ex. Then Spader kills Aiello, or so he thinks (Aiello was wearing a bullet proof vest). It turns out later that Hatcher hired Spader to kill her ex for the insurance money – that and he was a cheating bastard whom she hated. Having done the job, Spader wants to get paid but the money is in a safe at the murder scene. No problem. Spader goes there and offs the detectives to get the money. This whole time Aiello is trying to avoid the cops and get out of Dodge alive. In doing so he stumbles across a group of innocent by-standards and involves them in his mess. He also falls for a girl during this time (can Hollywood make a movie without a love interest?). This whole scenario flows like a British farce.

As fate would have it, his and Spader’s paths cross again. This time Spader gets it. Well it’s night now and in the morning we see Aiello riding off into the sunset and Hatcher hits bricks too. So really it was only 1 and 1/2 days in the valley. Whew…

Like I said before, this movie has a lot of great characters portrayed by some great actors. But, the movie as a whole just doesn’t come together. I get the feeling that “2 Days In The Valley” was a screen play that had too much good material, a lot got cut before shooting, and a lot more wound up on the editing room floor. Despite all that, it was still an OK movie and I don’t regret having to pay $7.50 to see it.

I give “2 Days In The Valley” 3 1/2 out of 5 stars and I’m Stu Gotz. ’nuff said.

Ribfest, Cub’s Game, Friends, Movies, Lebron, and TV – It Must be The 4th of July!

By: The Dude on the Right

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It was the 4th of July weekend, and Stu Gotz and I are on Lebron Watch! Okay, we really aren’t, but during this podcast episode of our “Weekend Wrap-Up!” we do talk about Lebron James and his signing with the Chicago Bulls, or Cleveland Caveliers, or maybe he’ll just retire – wouldn’t that be a hoot!

We both did, however, have a nice 4th of July weekend (and hope yours was nice as well), with Stu catching a Chicago Cubs game, me attending Ribfest in Naperville, IL, and while I watched a George Clooney movie about goats via my Netflix, Stu caught some old episodes of the TV show “Dead Like Me.” He also caught “Grown Ups,” which from his description, thankfully I napped instead of heading to the theater.

I did find out I could have watched “Hot Tub Time Machine” on the cheap via my Comcast On-Demand, I realized I screwed up because “Descipable Me” comes out this weekend, and neither of us really cared about the “Twilight” vampire movie that made tons of money at the box office.

A long weekend, but sadly not long enough I say!

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Get a Gun, A Death, No More 3D, DisneyQuest Blahs, and Please Keep Your Fingers.

By: The Dude on the Right

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I cleaned my balls over the weekend and during this episode of our “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast Stu Gotz makes fun of me for it. I, though, don’t make fun of Stu for going to DisneyQuest over the weekend with the family, especially since it seems DisneyQuest is mostly resting on its laurels and might need an upgrade. Stu was bummed he didn’t go to the new Harry Potter thingy down there in Florida, but after some comments from some other travelers he thinks DisneyQuest might have actually been the better choice.

Me, I’m also in mourning with the passing of one of my TiVo’s, especially with its dying thanks to Paul Conrad of WGN and Eric Ferguson or WTMX here in Chicago. Guess it’s another thing to add to the wedding registry, especially if someone will also pick up the lifetime subscription, but I love my TiVo. I hope I get into afternoon soon.

The both of us saw “Toy Story 3” and breakdown the movie as well as if you should ever see a movie in 3D anymore, Stu and I talk about the plethora of movie choices this 4th of July weekend, (The Last Airbender, Twilight Eclipse, Despicable Me, and Predators), and here’s wishing all of you a safe and fun 4th of July weekend!

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

The Cubs – They Blow, Father’s Day Musings, Handiness, Storms, Crabs, and Donkey Chips.

By: The Dude on the Right

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Stu Gotz celebrated Father’s Day because, well, he’s a dad, and during this episode of our “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast, we find out how Stu celebrated. Let’s just say it had more to do about Mama Gotz and his kids than it was about him, but isn’t that the way a lot of Father’s Days go? Me, sure, Milo, our dog, licked me on the face, so I guess that was my Dad’s day gift!

Celebrating, though, wasn’t all the two of did over the weekend. Nope, Stu got to catch a Chicago Cubs game, I got to rake a lot of mulch thanks to some summer storms (were they really summer storms, though, if summer officially started today?), Stu saw “Killers” with Astton Kutcher, and I saw “It’s Complicated,” so, of course, we give our riveting movie reviews and commentary. Stu was handy, I drove all night for Donkey Chips, Stu likes a YouTube video making fun of the BP oil spill, and I’m watching Bethany getting married.

We do a lot over the weekend, and we do our best to tell you about it!

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

When in Rome

I can usually like a romantic comedy, heck, I can even usually like a movie with "magic forces at work", but during my review of the Blu-ray release of "When in Rome," you’ll find out that event he cuteness of Kristen Bell, nor the acting ability of Danny De Vito, couldn’t help. There are a lot better romantic comedies out there, heck, even some you’ve probably already seen before, and maybe a tween might like this, but neither my BFF, nor myself, could find much to like about this one.

Secure Your Domain, Movies All Over the Place, 3-D Sucks Except for Maybe Toy Story,Frontierville, and Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon!

By: The Dude on the Right

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Was “Prince of Persia” any good? Should you rent “When in Rome?” Why am I sort of watching “Burn Notice?” Well, you will find out the answers to all of these questions, and more, during this episode of the “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast!

As the podcast starts, though, my weekend was lazing, at least Sunday, and I reminisce with Stu Gotz about the first album I ever bought, Queen’s “Night at the Opera,” while he actually reels me in to a bad joke about Oprah that he heard while officiating the nuptuals of a couple in love. We do discuss TV, because it’s what we do, and Stu finally caught up on the MTV Movie Awards and realizes he’s old, while I was half-interested in “Burn Notice,” although sadly Zynga’s latest game for Facebook, Frontierville, has caught my attention. There is an abundance of movie-talk, also, with my early Blu-ray review of “When In Rome,” Stu went into a theater for “Prince of Persia,” he watched a Netflix movie I had but never watched called “500 Days of Summer,” and Stu is not excited about 3-D movies, anymore, except maybe the upcoming “Toy Story 3.”

Stu wonders when I’m getting a new iPhone, I’m wondering why weddings cost so much, Stu recommends a tuxedo place, and there’s a good lesson as to why you should secure your domain name for as long as possible, especially when the police are involved.

How do we fit so much into 20 minutes of podcasting? No commercials! Actually, I don’t know how, but we do, so sit back, have a listen, and feel free to weigh in with what you think!

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

“Get Him to the Greek” is Good, The BP Oil Spill is Bad; Howie Mandel is Funny, Jimmy Buffett seems Sad.

By: The Dude on the Right

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Our “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast is a day late because Stu Gotz was on a fact-finding mission to Key Largo, but I think he just wanted some time away from kids so he could spend quality time with Mama Gotz, or maybe just go diving. As Stu tells it, he was on a mission to check out the reefs in the area prior to them being contaminated by the BP oil spill, but he really seemed to talk more about the local spots he and Mama Gotz visited where the only fish they saw were the ones that ended up in their belly and they serve a lot of Bud Light.

SCUBA diving aside, I tell Stu if “Get Him to the Greek” is any good (It is!), and we both discuss the failings and not-so-failings going on at the launch of the new iPhone at the Apple WWDC. I find out that Stu isn’t a fan of Andy Ihnatko, a tech writer for the Chicago Sun Times, whereas I enjoy his articles, Stu is excited that “Burn Notice” is coming back, and I don’t care, I think Howie Mandel is a great judge on “America’s Got Talent,” Stu likes “Supernatural,” Jimmy Buffett seems sad, and it looks like graduation parties will be a part of my life for many years to come!

And to wrap up the podcast summary, during this podcast you can find out which one of us is excited about the new “The A-Team” movie, if either of us want to see the new “Karate Kid,” and how I’m hoping for the Chicago Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup this year because I need to shave.

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Get Him to the Greek

May was a long month and I needed to laugh. Thankfully Judd Apatow produced another funny movie, this time “Get Him to the Greek,” and yup, oh my God, it’s actually a movie review a new movie! In any case, it’s an adult film, in much the same way “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” are adult films, and this one takes the rock star life to just a slightly higher level than actual reality, and hilarity ensues. Yup, I’m giving it 4 1/2 stars, and if you like any of the Judd Apatow touched stuff, this one ranks up there with the best of them.