Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Anchorman: The Legend Continues (2013) - Ferrell and Co. return for mostly hilarious sequel

2/06/2014

Anchorman: The Legend Continues (2013) - Ferrell and Co. return for mostly hilarious sequel

♥♥♥♥

Recognize this mustache? It belongs to Will Ferrell's title character in Adam McKay's Anchorman: The Legend Continues

As a big fan of the original Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), I had been excited about the sequel for a long, long time, and, luckily, Anchorman 2 or Anchorman: The Legend Continues over-all is a lot of fun, if not as ingenious or wildly hysterical as its predecessor.
Will Ferrell (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)) is back as the news anchor with salon quality hair and classiness all over, and he and everyone else do their utmost in the highly anticipated comedy. Steve Carell's (The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)) character Brick has gotten much more space in The Legend Continues, where he falls for a similarly mentally backwards office mouse in the shape of Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids (2011)), and their scenes together are weird and often hilarious. Paul Rudd and David Koechner are back as the last two of the news team, - still characters with lines, but they pretty much do nothing story-wise.
The plot of Anchorman 2 is nothing spectacular: 10 years hence, Burgundy has married Veronica Corningstone and they have a kid, SPOILER when Burgundy gets fired and then hired by the first 24 hour news channel, seated in New York. (GNN, a satirical spin on CNN, naturally.)
James Marsden (X-Men 2 (2003)) is surprisingly funny, besides being terrific eye-candy, as Burgundy's younger competition at the new station.
Here also Dylan Baker (Happiness (1998)) and Meagan Good (Think Like a Man (2012)), - who is an especially good sport here, play new, big roles.
The plot is like the deranged story cooked up by a weird child, while it still fundamentally follows traditional narrative conventions. The film is very, very funny for a long while, but it strands very abruptly in the third act, SPOILER as Burgundy and his team end up in a grotesque news team battle in a New York park. We are supposed to be dazzled by the huge stars that cameo here, but the laughs dry up, and the long scene doesn't work at all.

Anchorman became a cult favorite, almost a legend movie, since its premiere in 2004, and the hyped, much marketed sequel is good, albeit without the genius of the original

Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate in the beginning of Anchorman 2. Unfortunately, the terrific Applegate's character mostly dangles around on the side-line in the plot of Anchorman: The Legend Continues

Budget: 50 mil. $
Box office: 172.9 mil. $
= Box office success

What do you think of the Anchorman sequel?
If you disagree with my review, let me know why

No comments:

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

2/06/2014

Anchorman: The Legend Continues (2013) - Ferrell and Co. return for mostly hilarious sequel

No comments:

Post a Comment

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (4-24)

My Blog List