Tag Archives: Nick Offerman

The Muppets S01E03 – “Bear Left Then Bear Writer”

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Bear Left Than Bear Writer Muppets
The Muppets – “Bear Left Then Bear Writer”
Story by Dave Caplan & Gregg Mettler
Teleplay by Nell Scovell & Steve Rudnick
Directed by Randall Einhorn

Bear Left Then Bear Writer is a mixed bag episode, the storyline exploring the Kermit/Fozzie friendship is supported by two very weak B-plots, producing a show that has what may be the best long joke in the series so far, but makes us wander in the wilderness too long to get to it.
Bear Left Than Bear Writer Muppets
Kermit and Fozzie’s friendship isn’t really harped on that much in Muppets fiction, even though the two are always depicted as best friends. They just are friends, so an episode that gives some depth to the friendship is a welcome thing. We see Kermit’s reluctance to tell Fozzie the truth about his awful skit, first trying to hide from Fozzie, then lying so much Fozzie thinks he should quit his job and become a movie screenwriter, running off to the woods to work. Of course Kermit has to go bail him out of the latest jam, but not before we see via slideshow Kermit explaining how Fozzie helped him get out of a funk when he was striking out in getting Hollywood work.

The b plots are: Gonzo doing online dating, only he used a photo of the lesser Hemsworth brother on his profile and is meeting the lady, Debbie, later that afternoon. They use the Muppet influence to get Liam Hemsworth into their plot to do a switcheroo, except Liam decides he wants Debbie all for himself. They try to lead you away from the obvious conclusion by making Debbie a Muppet as well, but that wasn’t enough, and we get sadsack Gonzo as our payoff. =(
Bear Left Than Bear Writer Muppets
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The Lego Movie (Review)

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The Lego Movie

Lego Movie
2014
Story by Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman and Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Screenplay by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Lego Movie
The Lego Movie constantly refrains the song “Everything is Awesome!” throughout the film, and though the song is presented as a joke because things aren’t awesome, it best describes The Lego Movie. Because everything is awesome. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller took a toy commercial and traditional hero’s journey narrative and turned it into a celebration of tossing out instructions and a collectivist uniting against conformity and conservatism. Also it’s fun and hilarious.

The unlikely group of heroes unite against President Business, who controls the entire world and wants things to stay just the way they are. He gets incensed when things are built that don’t follow the rules or are weird. His reign has seen the Lego city become a virtual police state where everyone follows a huge list of rules and destroys anything out of the ordinary to be replaced with construction that follows the rules. The people are lulled into accepting their reality with glee, thanks to control of television and music, where every show is Where’s My Pants? and every song is the aforementioned “Everything is Awesome!”
Lego Movie
The resistance becomes a celebration of individuality vs marching to the same drum beat. The Lego Movie encourages you to build what you want, and not worry about if your projects conflict with what someone expects you to do. While President Business seeks his stagnant perfection, the real progress and fun comes from the chaos of creation.
Lego Movie

Emmet Brickowoski (Chris Pratt) – Emmet is the most average man who ever averaged, and even when he follows all the rules (and there are a lot of rules), no one seems to remember him much at all. But things change when suddenly the Piece of Resistance is stuck to his back, and it looks like he has a prophesy to fulfill. If he can just be interesting!
Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) – A Master Builder who searches for the Piece of Resistance and finds it on Emmet. She mistakenly thinks he’s much more powerful than he actually is. But despite her disappointment, she becomes part of the inspiration for Emmet to rise up beyond his lot in life. Is dating Batman.
Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) – Wise sage who prophesies the downfall of Lord Business and the Piece of Resistance. He’s blinded, and later begins training Emmet, though there is little time for actual training. Has trouble telling Gandalf and Dumbledore apart.
Batman (Will Arnett) – The best movie Batman since Adam West. The caped crusader joins the mission to save the universe because he’s Batman and that’s what Batman does. He’s dark. Also he’s dating Wyldstyle, in between making his music. FYI, people in the audience cheered when Batman showed up.
Lord/President Business (Will Ferrell) – Lord Business is President of the Lego city and controls all aspects of it, in a creepy Big Brother way. He’s also a super villain, who has stolen an artifact that he plans to use to end the world (which involves freezing it in place.) That is, unless he’s stopped by The Piece of Resistance!

Lego Movie
Minor spoilers below the fold!
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The Lego films are going to be damn awesome!!

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Lego Batman
[adrotate banner=”1″]The Lego film seems like it will be amaza-tastic! Also damn awesome, since that’s what I wrote in the headline. Co-directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (21 Jump Street and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) and featuring voices of many a talented actor: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Arnett, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman, and Alison Brie.

There will be largely animated with a few live-action components. Lego: The Piece of Resistance will also feature Superman and Batman in the same film, showing that a cartoon can do in theaters what Warner Brothers is too stupid to pull off themselves for decades! Other rumored licensed Lego properties for cameos include Yoda and Indiana Jones. The film is tracking so well they’ve bumped up the release date, from February 28, 2014, to February 7, 2014. That’s still way too long for impatient me.

Regular Lego figure Emmet (Chris Pratt) is mistakenly identified as the key to saving the Lego world and he’s forced to go on a quest to stop an evil tyrant. President Business (Will Ferrell) is the evil CEO who is too evil to manage his personal life correctly, and Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) is his henchman.

If you can’t get enough of Lego Superman and Lego Batman, then you are in luck, as there is also going to be a Lego Batman DTV flick with Superman guest starring! The trailer released is pretty much just cut scenes from the video game, but the story so far is there will be new animation in addition to these cut scenes to make a full film. So we will see. Even the cast list for LEGO Batman: The Movie is the same for the rumored voices in the Lego: The Piece of Resistance – Will Arnett as Batman and Channing Tatum as Superman. This is like synergy or something. I hope they make Lego films for those awesome monster hunters sets I see at the stores.

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