John Hawkes

DVD Review: HBO’s Hilarious ‘Eastbound and Down’ Gets Great Release

BrianTT — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:00:00 -0600

CHICAGO – Danny McBride (“Pineapple Express,” “Land of the Lost”) gave one of the best TV performances of the last several years as the over-the-top anti-hero of HBO’s hysterical “Eastbound & Down,” a sitcom about a raging a-hole sports star brought back to Earth and forced to work as a gym teacher in the small town he grew up in, now available on DVD.

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

Kenny Powers is a giant, raging, alcoholic catfish in a small pond. He used to have it all - endorsements, trophies, a million-dollar contract. As his steroid-enhanced skills declined, the fact that Kenny Powers was also a total a-hole came to the surface and he was run out of professional sports (MLB fans familiar with the true story of John Rocker will see some of that in this fictional take).

Eastbound and Down: The Complete First Season was released on DVD on June 30th, 2009.
Photo credit: HBO Home Video

After leaving baseball, Kenny returns home to live with his brother (John Hawkes) and sister-in-law (Jennifer Irwin) and teach at the North Carolina middle school that he once attended. He tries to work his way back into the life of his teen-years girlfriend (the underrated Katy Mixon), who also teaches at the school and happens to be engaged to the dorky principal (Andrew Daly).

Eastbound and Down: The Complete First Season was released on DVD on June 30th, 2009.
Photo credit: HBO Home Video

Powers also operates under the delusion that not only is he still famous but that he will one day pitch in the majors again. So, he tries to use his fame at events like one at a local car dealer (a fantastic Will Ferrell, appearing in two episodes) and takes steroids again in his pursuit to re-find his fastball. Drugs, cheap sex, unbelievable profanity, and general obnoxiousness are a way of life for a man who listens to his own audio book (“You’re F**kin’ Out, I’m F**kin’ In”) for inspiration.

Over six hysterical episodes, “Eastbound & Down” feels like nothing else on television. It’s more like a six-part, three-hour comedy feature film, a feeling enhanced by the superstar cast and great team behind the camera, including producers Ferrell and Adam McKay and directors Jody Hill (“Observe and Report”) and the great David Gordon Green (“Pineapple Express,” “Snow Angels”). One of the best American filmmakers of his generation directed a half-hour comedy earlier this year. Even if you’re not a TV fan, you should see it.

The DVD from HBO treats Kenny Powers like the star he is in his own mind. The episodes look better-than-average for standard DVD in 16x9 widescreen and the sound is more than adequate in English 5.1 Dolby Surround. HBO has long led the way in TV and produced some amazing DVD season sets, but they really should be offering every show, especially one as acclaimed as “Eastbound & Down,” on Blu-Ray. It’s disappointing that this is only available on standard, even if it’s a great standard release.

The special features are extensive and interesting, including several audio commentaries, some very funny outtakes and deleted scenes, “Making Eastbound & Down,” “Kenny Powers: Greatest Hits,” “Schaeffer Motors Commercials,” and “Steve’s Dark Secret”.

It’s unlikely, but if there’s any Emmy justice, “Eastbound & Down” will get a couple of nominations later this month (check out our feature about that) and season two has already been announced. Check out the great first season DVD and jump on the bandwagon before Kenny Powers really becomes a household name again.

‘Eastbound & Down: The Complete First Season’ was released by HBO Home Video and stars Danny McBride, Katy Mixon, John Hawkes, Andrew Daly, Ben Best, Jennifer Irwin, and Steve Little. It was created by Ben T. Best & Jody L. Hill & Danny R. McBride. The show was released on June 30th, 2009. It is rated TV-MA.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Donnie Darko’ Sequel ‘S. Darko’ a Total Disaster

BrianTT — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:01:37 -0600

CHICAGO – How bluntly can I put this? “S. Darko” is one of the worst movies ever made. It is an absolute head-scratching experience that leaves you not pondering the secrets of the universe but how this cinematic nightmare got made in the first place. Donnie saved the world for this? I’d rather get hit by a plane engine than sit through it again.

Blu-Ray Rating: 0.0/5.0

I can usually find something to like about a movie. The worst films are usually so-bad-they’re-fun. I have rarely been as aggravated by a film as “S. Darko”. I know what the “S” stands for and it’s a word I can’t use here without asterisks.

S. Darko was released on Blu-Ray on May 12th, 2009.
Photo credit: Paramount/Showtime

Why so upset? Because “S. Darko” will now always spring to mind when I think of or re-watch Richard Kelly’s excellent “Donnie Darko” and that’s just not right. Director Craig Fisher has not just made an awful movie. He’s done so in a way that impacts the legacy of a good one.

You know that drunk guy who corners you at a party and tries to explain the ins and outs of a complex, multi-layered movie but he really has only scratched the surface? That’s “S. Darko”. It’s a film that takes the basics of the first movie and manipulates them into a nonsensical story. It’s like bad fan fiction with a budget.

The title of “S. Darko” refers to Donnie’s younger sister Samantha (Daveigh Chase, the same young lady who played the character in the original and the only carry-over). Her commitment to Sparkle Motion is seriously over as the young lady tries to head to California with her friend Corey (Briana Evigan).

The two women break down in the middle of nowhere and find themselves stranded in a small town. Cue the creepy visions, predictions of the end of the world, alternative music soundtrack, and stupid dialogue.

“S. Darko” looks okay on Blu-Ray although the camera and visual choices are so misguided that I can’t give the HD transfer too many points. Same goes for the audio in Dolby 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Sure, it’s good, but you have to keep in mind what you’re listening to.

Special features include a commentary with the filmmakers, deleted scenes, “The Making of S. Darko,” and “Utah Too Much”. I found it incredibly ironic that most of the first part of the “Making of” doc detailed the cast and crew’s hesitant response to making a sequel to a movie that clearly didn’t need one. They say you can learn as much from a bad movie as a good one. The lesson here is clearly to trust your instincts.

‘S. Darko’ is released by Fox Home Video and stars Daveigh Chase, Briana Evigan, Jackson Rathbone, James Lafferty, Zulay Henao, Elizabeth Berkley, John Hawkes, and Ed Westwick. It was written by Nathan Atkins and directed by Chris Fisher. The Blu-Ray was released on May 12th, 2009. It is not rated.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

TV Review: Danny McBride Delivers Comedy Heat With HBO’s ‘Eastbound & Down’

BrianTT — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:40:29 -0700

Television Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Danny McBride had an amazing 2008, stealing scenes in “Tropic Thunder” and finding comic gold with director David Gordon Green in the great “Pineapple Express”. McBride, Green, director Jody Hill, and producer Will Ferrell have teamed up for the six-episode HBO comedy series “Eastbound & Down,” one of the most laugh-out-loud, promising comedy premieres in a long time.

It’s impossible to judge an entire show based on a first episode and it helps to have directors like Jody Hill and David Gordon Green (who also directed the excellent “Snow Angels” last year) behind the camera to start, but I thoroughly enjoyed “Chapter 1” of “Eastbound & Down” from first scene to last. It’s easily the best thing that McBride has done in a lead role (he and Hill also worked together on “The Foot Fist Way”) and a show that would make people who may have canceled HBO to save some cash think twice about it.

Danny McBride and John Hawkes in HBO’s “Eastbound & Down”.
Photo credit: Fred Norris/HBO

Danny McBride plays Kenny Powers, a character who feels loosely based on Atlanta’s John Rocker. Once a superstar relief pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, Powers let his mouth and his bad behavior destroy his career. With no filter on his rampant racism, sexism, or homophobia, Powers was a black eye on baseball who fell deep into drug use and steroids before his career ended with a whimper.

Danny McBride in HBO’s “Eastbound & Down”
Photo credit: Fred Norris/HBO

“Several sh*tty years later,” Powers is back home in North Carolina, teaching physical education at the middle school he once attended, living with his brother Wayne’s (John Hawkes) family, pining after his old girlfriend (Katy Mixon) and continuing his unbelievably obnoxious ways. He does cocaine in the back room of the local watering hole, haggles with hookers in his sister-in-law’s living room, and swears like Tony Montana.

With a raging mullet and ridiculous facial hair, McBride gives a performance in “Eastbound & Down” that is likely to be massively underrated. He’s both a caricature of an obnoxious redneck and someone who feels completely believable at the same time. Kenny is an overgrown child who was given the ability to have all of his dreams come true because of the excess of sports. Now, he’s just a big, stupid fish in a little pond, constantly running into the shore.

The great Hawkes (“Deadwood”) anchors the lead character’s more over-the-top behavior in realism, and there’s an honest sadness in Powers fall from grace that adds depth to the barrage of f-bombs that I hope is developed in future episodes.

Ben Best and Danny McBride in HBO’s “Eastbound & Down”.
Photo credit: Fred Norris/HBO

My biggest concern about “Eastbound & Down” is that it will be ALL childish behavior and vulgarity for all six episodes. There’s room to go either way with “Eastbound” after the premiere and maintain the show’s strong start or descend into repetition. Can they keep this up for six episodes without getting boring? Will we really care about Kenny when the joke grows old? It certainly doesn’t in just 30 minutes, but I’m worried about the ability to keep the show fresh in the later innings. The short order - only six episodes - definitely gives me pause.

“Eastbound” is not for the easily offended. Powers is a raging jerk who swears more than a drunk truck driver and cracks jokes that would make a lot of people turn away in disgust. Personally, I think Green and McBride have found something sublimely brilliant by dropping an ego-centric, crazy SOB back into the bible belt that created him. When someone like Kenny Powers becomes a household name, can he possibly be turned back into an average gym teacher?

Wherever it goes from here, the premiere of “Eastbound & Down” is just damn funny. Kenny’s response to the kid in gym class who says “My dad said you ruined baseball” is worth tuning in for by itself. “Eastbound” had me laughing from the very beginning and more consistently through its first thirty minutes than anything in a long time.

A lot of the humor may be juvenile, but “Eastbound & Down” hit my funny bone like a fastball, which simply cannot be said about a lot of TV’s recent scripted comedy. I’m still not sure he’ll make it a full nine innings, but I can’t wait to see Kenny Powers take the mound again.

‘Eastbound & Down,’ which airs on HBO, stars Danny McBride, John Hawkes, Katy Mixon, Ben Best, Andrew Daly, and Jennifer Irwin. The series premiere, directed by Jody Hill, airs on Sunday, February 15th, 2009 at 9:30PM CST.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com