Title: Mardi Gras: Spring Break Director: Phil Dornfeld Starring: Nicholas D’Agosto, Josh Gad, Bret Harrison, Arielle Kebbel, Danneel Harris, Carmen Electra, Regina Hall, Becky O’Donohue, Jessie O’Donohue, Charles Shaughnessy A surprisingly well known cast headlines “Mardi Gras: Spring Break,” a dispiriting slice of purported comedy that provides little more than a thinly stitched together parade of nudity, and denigrates the current trend of Hollywood infusion into the city of New Orleans. Nothing about this loud, unsubtle and roundly unfunny stinker merits much attention or discussion. It’s the sort of film that no cast member would bring up freely of their own volition in any interview. Heck, I believe even Carmen Electra…

If anyone was concerned about Jada Pinkett Smith being out of work after the cancellation of “HawthoRNe,” then you shouldn’t have worried. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pinkett Smith, her husband Will Smith and their business partner James Lassiter, have sold a multicamera comedy to ABC. The show, currently called “Untitled Romeo Project” and comes from ABC Studios and Overbrook Entertainment, will star singer Anthony “Romeo” Santos and the show’s story will center around a Dominican-American who is attempting to appease his traditional father while trying to live the American dream to the fullest. According to the article, the dynamic between the father and son is suppose to mirror that…

Some more shocking television news today: Snoop Dogg has gotten his comedy sold to NBC ShockYa reported on this a few weeks ago when the comedy was still in talks, but now it is official, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Snoop Dogg, along with sitcom producer Don Reo, have sold a comedy pitch to the network. The comedy, which comes from Warner Bros. TV, will have Reo as a writer and executive producer. Snoop Dogg will produce and star as a father who has a family of unique, misfit kids. Ted Chung will also produce. You can read more about the show here at The Hollywood Reporter, but as a…

Title: A Bird of the Air Director: Margaret Whitton Starring: Jackson Hurst, Rachel Nichols, Linda Emond, Buck Henry, Judith Ivey, Erik Jensen, Matte Osian “A Bird of the Air,” based on the novel “The Loop” by Joe Coomer, represents an unexpected boon to the judgment of Matthew McConaughey. After all, the naked drumming aficionado was attached to star in the movie adaptation for some time, back when he and “Sahara” costar Penelope Cruz were keeping each other warm. The financing never came together, however, and he backed out. Other possible filmmaking combinations came and went before a decidedly more indie route was eventually settled upon, years later, in the form…

Title: Dead Alive (aka Braindead) Directed by: Peter Jackson Starring: Timothy Bale, Diana Penalver, Elizabeth Moody, Ian Watkin Running time: 97 minutes, Unrated, Available on standard DVD Peter Jackson’s 1992 cult horror masterpiece has finally been released on Blu-ray. The story of Lionel and his overbearing mother Vera, who gets bitten by a Sumatran rat monkey at the zoo. Vera becomes extremely ill from the bite and quickly decomposes, and has a new-found appetite for live flesh. She eats Lionel’s girlfriend’s dog and several members of the community…however the people who meet their demise at the hands of Vera don’t stay dead for long. Yes kiddies, Peter Jackson made movies…

Title: The Big Lebowski – Blu-ray Limited Edition Directed by: Joel & Ethan Cohen Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore and John Turturro Running time: 117 min, Rated R Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski is just a laid back guy who takes pleasure in the simple things, like White Russians and bowling. He gets mistaken for a millionaire with the same name by a pornographer’s thugs who want money he loaned to the Big Lebowski’s trophy wife, so they take it out on The Dude’s rug; the one that really tied the room together. So Dude goes to The Big Lebowski and manages to get a new-used rug,…

“Thor,” an almost $450 million worldwide box office hit earlier this year, introduced audiences to one of the players in Marvel Studios’ grand, forthcoming ”Avengers” saga. And that’s part of the problem, honestly. However admirably ambitious the creation of a unified superhero universe spanning multiple movies, certain entries, like this one, play like little more than origin story pattycake – wan set-up for something of later, actual consequence. On the verge of ascending to the throne of Asgard, headstrong Norse God Thor (Chris Hemsworth) flips out over some nasty ice giant interlopers who are vanquished in fairly short order, and decides to seek revenge, against the counsel of his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins),…

Title: Basket Case Directed by: Frank Henenlotter Starring: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith & Beverly Bonner Running time: 91 minutes, Unrated Frank Henenlotter’s 1982 cult classic has been released on Blu-ray, presented in the original 16mm camera ratio. The story of conjoined twins that travel to New York City seeking revenge on the doctors who surgically separated them years ago against their consent. I was about 5 years old when this movie came out, and I remember the posters looking somewhat ominous, but was never allowed to see or rent this film. I forgot completely about this movie until ShockYa gave me a copy. After watching it, I am…

Too many romantic comedies witlessly hone in on the differences between men and women to create a heightened-stakes backdrop in which every interaction with the opposite sex is imbued with some sort of grand, gender-statement significance, which is of course then supposed to be neatly resolved and tidily put away by the time a paired-off happy ending rolls around. Co-written by Annie Mumolo and “Saturday Night Live”‘s Kristen Wiig, “Bridesmaids” instead focuses a considerable amount of its energy on female friendships, yes, but also the things women want in relationships — love, security, availability — that are the same as men. The result is the best female-fronted Hollywood comedy in years, and a…

Of all the major cast members for the new ensemble comedy “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy,” about a mixed-gender group of longtime friends who settle upon going out with a bang (literally) when the beach home that’s served as the setting for their legendary summer parties for more than a decade is forcibly put up for sale, Michelle Borth might have been the most comfortable with the subject matter. Or at least the filming of the movie’s titular third act, which spanned at least a week and required all sorts of pasties. After all, Borth is probably best known for the short-lived HBO series “Tell Me You Love Me,” which revolved around three…