Meet the free, proud, independent people of Ukraine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNxLzFfR5w Nothing but reviews. In excess.
From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
The three immaculate stars of Jorma Taccone's MacGruber in front of a gigantic explosion, slapped with an appropriately red-glowing title
MacGruber gets pulled out of retirement for a top secret mission: His arch enemy Cunth has stolen a nuclear warhead. - Stop Cunth!
Will Forte (Nebraska (2013)), Kristen Wiig (Ghostbusters (2016)), Ryan Phillippe (54 (1998)), Powers Boothe (24 (2008), TV movie) and Val Kilmer (Heat (1995)) as Cunth are all howlingly funny in this cheerful and crazy idiot-comedy about the violent adventures of the worthless, titular clown MacGruber who seems to be mentally trapped in the 1980s. (The character and concept is inspired by MacGyver (1985-92)).)
MacGruber is written by John Solomon (The Last Man on Earth (2015-16)), Forte and co-writer-director Jorma Taccone (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)), whose feature debut it is. It's a little short, - probably appropriately so for the ridiculous plot, - and funny as hell!
[MacGruber premiered March 15 (SXSW, Austin, Texas) and runs 99 minutes. Based on the 2007 SNL sketch character, which in turn was based on the 1980s action adventure TV-series MacGyver, and the 2009 MacGruber Pepsi commercials, a jumbled 177 page script was reportedly written in three weeks during normal SNL work as well and later edited down to the film we now have. Filming took place in New Mexico from August - September 2009. Forte praised the producers for allowing creative freedom. The film opened #6 to a 4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it played for just 3 weeks and grossed 8.5 mil. $ (91.4 % of the total gross). The film played in just 3 other countries, Russia, Portugal and Thailand, of which the 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 739k $ (7.9 %) and Portugal with 47k $ (0.5 %). The creator of MacGyver tried to bury the film before its release but eventually dropped litigation. Despite the terrible financial performance of the film, Forte and Taccone seem determined to make a sequel to MacGruber some day (hopefully soon.) MacGruber is rotten at 47 % with a 5.1 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
+ Best New TV-series of the Year + Best Western Title of the Year
Five characters from David Milch's Deadwood stare you down on this poster for the first season
Deadwood is an HBO TV-series in 3 seasons from creator David Milch (NYPD Blue (1993-05)), based on the real town of Deadwood, South Dakota. The season comprises 12 48-60 min. episodes. Season one takes place within approximately two weeks of 1876 in the raw gold-digger camp, which is more or less run by Al Swearengen (Ian McShane (Sexy Beast (2000))), owner of the brothel and saloon The Gem. Our other protagonist is the former sheriff Seth Bullock (Timothy OIyphant (The Grinder (2015-16))), who founds a lumber store in the town with his business partner Sol (John Hawkes (The Sessions (2012))) and rich New Yorker madam Alma Garret (Molly Parker (House of Cards (2014-15))), whose husband SPOILER gets pushed to his death on the land he bought cheap.Western legend Wild Bill Hickok arrives with his companions; the drunken, miserable Calamity Jane and Charlie Utter, who opens a post office, SPOILER after Hickok gets shot dead by an embittered poker enemy by the name Jack 'the Coward' McCall, who is freed after a mock trial in town.
The details:
Powers Boothe (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2015-16)) is spectacular as Cy Tolliver, the entrepreneur who opens Swearengen's competing brothel, The Bella Union, where he gets into trouble with a young conman couple, SPOILER who he later murders brutally in front of his closest employees, a soft, lesbian prostitute and a gay card shark, who consequently lose sympathy for their employer. Other festive elements of Deadwood include the priest, who has some kind of brain tumor, which gives him seizures and makes him increasingly pitiful, until Swearengen shows mercy SPOILER and strangles him to death. - And the doctor (splendidly portrayed by Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975))), a choleric but honest man, who helps and falls for an invalid who works in The Gem. The last of the town's residents I feel implored to mention is Mister Wu (Keone Young (Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos (1986), TV-series)), who runs the Chinese part of town similarly as Swearengen, whom he respectfully calls 'Swegen!', runs the town general. McShane is a force to be reckoned with and has one of his career's best parts in Swearengen. The show features raw aesthetics and innovative, refreshing (and very, sometimes even exaggeratedly expletive-laden) dialog. It is refined if psychologically somewhat flat, and not unlike a western soap opera, a good one though, mind you. Best episode: 12. Sold Under Sin - written by Milch and Ted Man (NYPD Blue (1994-99)), directed by Davis Guggenheim (He Named Me Malala (2015)) The season's last episode is a royal finisher, in which Bullock goes against Garret's vile father and accepts the sheriff's star of Deadwood, while Swearengen cements his power, despite the town getting itself a mayor.
Cost: Reportedly 4.5 mil. $ per episode, or 54 mil. $ Box office: None (TV-series) = Unknown [Deadwood was an expensive show to produce, and it was finally canceled because of this I suspect. I have not been able to find its viewer ratings, (shoot me a comment with a link, if you do.) The season received 80 % positive reviews, according to Metacritic, based on 26 of them, which is the lowest of the three seasons. It is #69 on IMDb's Top 250 TV-shows where 60k+ users have given it an 8.8 average rating.]
What do you think of Deadwood season 1? Other good western TV-series?
