Adam McKay | 103 mins | TV | 2.35:1 | USA / English | 12 / PG-13
The Other Guys sounded like a great concept; so great I overlooked the fact it’s from the director of the massively over-rated Anchorman (as well as Talladega Nights and Step Brothers, which I’ve avoided because they look at least as bad) and stars the similarly over-rated Will Ferrell and variable-but-often-bad Mark Wahlberg. Turns out I should’ve paid attention to form: The Other Guys is pretty rubbish.
I don’t really know that there’s much point criticising it, because if you like this kind of film I have no idea if this one is good or not (as noted, Anchorman is apparently the pinnacle of modern US film comedy and I didn’t enjoy it), and if you don’t then — as I said — this one doesn’t transcend that.
The only point I have to make is what a shame that is, because the concept’s a fun one. The Rock and Samuel L. Jackson play a pair of cops who are, essentially, action heroes: they have dramatic explosive car chases along the streets of NYC, catch all the bad guys, and so on and so forth. But this is about The Other Guys — the regular cops who have to go about their regular business around them. And when the action heroes are killed, a pair of those Other Guys have to step up to solve their last case.
Except that’s not quite how the film pans out. It doesn’t trade on the idea of the Amazing Cops vs the Regular Guys enough, and that’s where the humour lies for me. 
Everyone loves The Rock and Jackson; no one likes Ferrell and Wahlberg; and they’re not assigned the case, they stumble upon it. Wouldn’t it have been more fun if everyone actually hated The Big Damn Heroes who make it hard for the regular guys to do their job? If a pair of normal detectives were assigned The Big Case and had to prove themselves worthy? Maybe even put the Super Pair in the shade, rather than killing them off in the first act?
What we actually get is not entirely without merit. There are funny moments and occasions when it plays decently with the premise. It’s quite a chore to get through though, so it almost amazes me that there’s also a longer unrated version. More? Oh dear. It’s overlong as it is. One reason to stick with it is that the best bit is the end credits, which are loaded with fun-ly-presented facts about the financial crisis. On the one hand it’s all depressing and/or angering, on the other it’s good to inform people, and one suspects the regular audience for this kind of comedy are not the kind of people who stay abreast of financial news.
A disappointing waste of a concept, then, but I’m sure some people loved it.
I first encountered Outland in a similar context to a lot of people, I think, based on reviews and whatnot I’ve read; that is, as “
It works as well in space as it does anywhere else.
A venture into the increasingly-popular CG family film market from Universal, Despicable Me is about a supervillain who comes to question his evil ways. It was released the same year as the similarly-themed 
The film’s country is officially listed as USA because it’s made with American money, but it feels more like a French production (albeit dubbed with US voices). Look at those directors’ names (though only Coffin is French — Renaud is actually American); it was made entirely in a French studio (Mac Guff in Paris); and it has a kind of feel that doesn’t seem like it came from a US studio. So while technically, yes, it’s American, I don’t think the French side should be wholly ignored. I’m not saying it makes it bad, but perhaps it lessens the apparent superhero feel — that’s a very American genre, after all.
From the co-director of 
There’s a starry voice cast behind the characters, and fortunately they never overwhelm their roles. Which is good, because I’m not really a fan of Will Ferrell and he’s the lead. There’s also the likes of Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and Ben Stiller rounding out proceedings — not that it matters because, as I say, the voices fit their roles seamlessly.
Despite that aim, these aren’t glaring holes that desperately need a fix. Rather they’re join-the-dots enterprises; the thing most people won’t have noticed at all, that fans may have wondered about, that it’s more fun to connect up than strictly necessary. It makes this piece resolutely fan-only — while it’s quite good, it’s more admin than a story in its own right, showing how various films connect together in the lead-up to 
It’s a standalone piece, and though it’s brief (under three minutes before the credits role), it still manages to add quite a lot to the character of Agent Coulson, who in the main films to this point has been a minor (albeit increasingly major) supporting role. I suppose it’s fitting that Clark Gregg has been the star of these connecting shorts, as he’s one of the main links across the films (he appears in 
They renamed Gay Falcon’s hero, Gay Falcon, to Gay Lawrence (well, Gay Laurence at first, but I don’t think that really matters), moved his previous surname to be a reasonless Saint-like nickname, and in the lead role cast “Russian-born English film and television actor, singer-songwriter, music composer, and author” (and, later, voice of Shere Khan in 
Quite outside of the Falcon film series, this third entry is notable for being the first screen adaptation of a Raymond Chandler novel. Ditching Chandler’s then-unknown Philip Marlowe in favour of the Falcon in the lead role, this is a version of the character’s second mystery, Farewell, My Lovely — which would be 
As usual, it doesn’t have the same je ne sais quoi that makes the Saint films particularly entertaining (yeah, you know I mean wit); and I can well believe it has “
The second Falcon film sees George Sanders’ gentlemen detective investigate the disappearance of a scientist.
Anyway, aside from him there’s a ‘suicide’ bid and the crowd below’s reaction to it. Again it’s mostly comedy, but unlike some of the series’ DOA running gags it’s actually funny.
