Watching the Star Wars Series for the First Time

I’ve always wondered how long I could put off watching the Star Wars movies before either society shunned me, or I got too curious for my own good. The upcoming release of Episode VII: The Force Awakens is what did it in the end. It’s my family’s movie of choice for our Christmas IMAX outing, and well, I don’t want to be sat watching a movie not knowing what on earth is going on! So, I’ve been compiling this post over the course of 5 weeks, whilst I catch up.

Slight white lie I should fess up to first, I’ve already seen Episode I, but general consensus seems to be that the world would be a much better place without it, so I’m hoping to be forgiven for that.

I will get to see Episode VII on Sunday 20th December, so starting on 15th November, and on every Sunday afterwards, my fiance and I have got together to watch the next installment. We’re watching this in episode order rather than release date, for my own benefit. I get confused easily.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

It would be wrong to miss this one out really, wouldn’t it? For some reason I got my friends together to watch Episode I at the cinema for my 12th Birthday. I don’t remember much other than the pod racers, and I was a big fan of Jar Jar Binks at that age, too. In fact, I did a fairly good impression of him too, in my own opinion, but it probably sounded exactly like my Yoshi impression…

Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

Impression #1: 2 hours and 22 minutes long?! Sigh...get the kettle on. No, I jest. I quite enjoyed watching Attack of the Clones actually. Anakin is an extremely whiny Padawan though, I much preferred him as a cute little kid. The crazy action scenes were fun to watch too, and the CGI wasn’t bad at all. I also had no idea Samuel L Jackson was in this series either, so that was good. Without a doubt Jango Fett was my favourite character, which obviously sealed his fate (curse my luck) but I’m looking forward to seeing Bobba again!

I’m just not sure I understood the whole clone situation though. With a title of ‘Attack of the Clones’ I was expecting Jedi HQ (or whatever it’s called) to be attacked by clones...but no. Who ordered those clones, anyway? My fiance explained it to me but I forgot already. There’s a reason I haven’t watched Star Wars before now. Wait, do they mean the droid army? They attacked? No, I’m not going to try and work it out...

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Okay, I think I’m really getting into this now. Episode III was much better than the other two, although some of the dialogue just made me cringe. It was a sad ending indeed, but at least I don’t have to suffer Anakin and Padme’s relationship any longer. I have to say though, I feel really conflicted about Anakin turning over to the dark side. On one hand, it’s awful and slaying the younglings is absolutely unforgivable. On the other though, he was pretty much forced into it by both sides. The Jedi Council treated him awfully!


I have just 2 things to whinge about with this one. Firstly, why on earth does no-one wear any proper kind of protection on their wrists? I lost count of how many hands were lost due to lightsabers this time round. Secondly, surely this movie should have been called Attack of the Clones?! This time they did actually attack!

Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Oh lordy, why did I save these ones till last? Okay, I understand why I was told to watch in release order now. It is so hard going from modern day special effects to this. Although, and I know this sounds weird, I’m really surprised at how modern the Stormtroopers look. I mean, they look exactly the same from 1977 - 2005 without looking odd over time. It’s a terrible way of wording it I know, but that’s what I’m thinking right now.


Anyway, loved the story in this one! There were also so many quotes I’ve always known but without context, and so being able to visualise the ‘these aren’t the droids you’re looking for’ moment gives me great joy. Watching Luke pander after Leia was a little cringey, and I’m hoping they found out that they’re siblings before that gets too weird. I never thought I’d say it, but I am really enjoying Star Wars right now.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Okay, Star Wars fever has hit me full blast. I have stormtrooper pajamas with matching fluffy socks, I'm playing a Star Wars game on my tablet religiously every day, and I've even nabbed joint custody of my fiance's Star Wars Lego advent calendar. Oops.

The Empire Strikes Back was probably the movie I was looking forward to the most, everyone I spoke to said it's their favourite. Maybe I was expecting too much, and I really did enjoy it, but I preferred A New Hope! Han Solo was hands down amazing in this though. He just oozes charm! I've never been a big Harrison Ford fan, but he converted me. That moment when Leia tells him she loves him, and he just responds with 'I know' was brilliant. The battle on Hoth was a highlight for sure too, but that was ruined a little from watching the new Battlefront game too much. Dem graphics, man!

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
So...unfortunately life got in the way. My viewing schedule got mixed up, and although I'll be watching Return of the Jedi on Friday night, I wanted to get this posted before the internet breaks with The Force Awakens reviews.

I'll add to this as soon as I have seen it but for now...this has been one of the most exciting blogging features I've done. I've gone from reluctantly booking my family's IMAX tickets to being more excited than a child at Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by...but for now I'm logging off the blog, Facebook, Twitter, the Internet, Radio and TV until Sunday night, when I finally get to witness the Awakening.

May the force be with us all...

Christmas Cast-a-Thon - Allie's Post

You know, whilst I was dreaming up the post for our Christmas Cast-a-Thon, I actually had no idea what kind of cast I was going to create, or what kind of movie it would end up being. I was more excited to see everyone else’s posts! But it would certainly be rude to not take part in your own blogathon! So here’s what I’ve come up with.

If you'd like to take part, check out the announcement post here.

Christmas is the perfect time to watch cheesy movies without feeling guilty, so that’s exactly what I’m making here. I’m going for typical rom com with a Christmas flavour!

Santa - Benji, Mission Impossible Series (Simon Pegg)

Let’s say the IMF were shut down. When your entire career is a secret, your CV isn’t going to look that great, and so poor Benji is forced to work at a toy megastore as Santa over the Christmas holidays just to pay the rent.

Santa’s Helpers - Olive, Easy A (Emma Stone) & Winston, New Girl (Lamorne Morris)

Just because their job title is ‘Helper’ doesn’t mean they’re actually helpful! Olive is providing all the laughs here with her dry, sarcastic. humour, at the expense of everyone around her. Winston is looking for some extra cash on the side of his cop job, but he’s also Santa’s perfect wingman in his search for true love. Speaking of which…

Parents - Sabrina, The Change-Up (Olivia Wilde) & Owen, Jurassic World (Chris Pratt)

Married life as a legal secretary and a velociraptor handler is busy, and stressful, and that’s what ultimately led to the divorce of Sabrina and Owen. Sob. Luckily, Sabrina’s best friend Olive just so happens to work very closely with an eligible bachelor. See where this is going?

Child - Alexander, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Ed Oxenbould)

Alexander is having another terrible day it seems. Not only have his parents just finalised their divorce, but he’s being dragged Christmas shopping with his Mum to meet up with his rude Aunt Olive who isn’t even his Aunt, and he’s reached that age where he’s 99.9% certain Santa isn’t real.

Scrooge/Grinch - Dwight, The Office (Rainn Wilson)

Let’s say Dunder Mifflin really did shut down in the end. Things were looking pretty bad, but now Dwight has secured a role as Assistant Store Manager (or should that be Assistant to the Store Manager?) at the city’s biggest toy store. Only thing is, he hates Christmas. The only thing he hates more than Christmas are the company’s new hires, Santa and his Helpers. They spend far too much work time chatting, and Dwight is going to make darn sure all three of them get fired.

Extra Roles:

Grandad - Bryan, The Taken Trilogy (Liam Neeson)

Let’s face it, if you’re going to end up dating the daughter of any Liam Neeson character, especially Bryan Mills, you best make sure you don’t hurt her feelings. Or he’ll find you. And kill you. Wait, no. This is a lighthearted movie! Cool it, Bryan!

Family Pet - Grumpy Cat, Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever (Aubrey Plaza)

I’m cheating a little here. Last week I discovered that this movie existed. I scoffed that Grumpy Cat has his (her??) own Christmas movie. Then I noticed Grumpy Cat is voiced by Aubrey Plaza. Never before have I bought a DVD so quickly! I haven’t watched this yet, but come on, what Christmas Movie is complete without a (dis)loyal family pet?

That’s it! Would you ever consider watching my stereotypical, predictable Christmas Movie? I would, and then I’d add it to my list of guilty pleasures. Can’t wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Mini Reviews: Brothers (2009), Taken 3 (2014) & Delivery Man (2013)

I watched Brothers as part of my crusade to watch every Jake Gyllenhaal film out there. Brothers is actually a remake of a Danish film of almost the same name, back in 2004. It’s a powerful drama that begins with Capt. Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) being presumed dead in Afghanistan. The main focus of the story is how his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) cope with his disappearance. 

Although slow paced at times, I was glued to the screen the whole time and was fascinated by the events on screen. It’s some of the best acting I’ve ever seen from Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire. The ending in particular stuck with me all night, and as much as I could praise this film, it’s not one you would happily re-watch on a Saturday afternoon. One thing I’ll say is that if you fancy watching this, don’t watch a trailer! It gives away the whole film.

This is what I dream of every time I hear the doorbell ring...

My ultimate guilty pleasure, Liam Neeson. To be honest, even I can say now that the guy really needs to play a different character soon. Although admittedly, I’ll still go and watch whatever film he’s in! Taken 3 is...exactly what you expect. Although, no ones been taken this time. Unless you want to be poetic and say Bryan’s ex-wife’s life was taken away. Boo. Now Bryan is on the run trying to find her killers.

Taken 3 wasn’t as bad as I was gearing myself up for, but it certainly wasn’t a masterpiece either. Still, it was miles better than Taken 2. There was a twist I guessed a mere milisecond before it happened, but most people probably would have guessed it ages before. This really needs to be the end of it though now, I won’t support any more Taken films. I just get too much stick. Oh, who am I kidding…

I can’t believe Delivery Man was out two years ago. Wow! I was a huge Vince Vaughn fan a few years ago and I try to make an effort to watch his comedies when they come out. Delivery Man tells the story of David (Vince Vaughn), who discovers that after his many fertility clinic donations he is the father of over 500 children, and now a large quantity of them are trying to oppose the anonymity rules.

Although this isn’t my favourite of his films, I did enjoy Delivery Man. It’s a silly premise, but fairly unique (to me at least!) but I can’t help but think it would have worked better as a drama?! One with dark humour of course. It just felt like the jokes weren’t funny enough, but there were some touching moments and I had a little cry at the end. Worth a watch for sure, but don’t rush!

Blind Spot: Schindler's List (1993)

Just in the nick of time, again, is our Blind Spot post for February. I really need to not make a habit out of this, but Oscars season has just messed up my entire blogging schedule as well as film-viewing schedule! This month I watched Schindler’s List, over two viewings thanks to it’s eye watering 195 min runtime.

Schindler’s List is the kind of film I shy away from instantly, which is the main reason I made sure it was on the Blind Spot list. The second reason is that people keep telling me Liam Neeson never used to just play Liam Neeson! So anyway, the film itself largely focuses on Oskar Schindler (Neeson), who sets up a factory in Poland during World War II, creating hundreds of jobs and hope for the Jews that are seeking refuge there.

This is only the second black and white film I’ve ever seen, and just like before, it seemed odd at first but once the story kicked in I completely forgot about the lack of colour. Until a scene involving a huge table full of food - I couldn’t work out what was there and that felt a little weird*. Oh, and the little girl in the red coat of course, how can I forget her? Okay, so maybe this is my first black, white and red film.

Schindler's List was a real rollercoaster of emotions for me. I won't try and pretend that I understood everything that was going on, because similar to my last Blind Spot, there was just so much going on. I also know very little about World War II thanks to my absolute ignorance to History class back in school. Thankfully though I watched this with my fiance who let me pause every now and again so I could double check what was happening/

The ending was ruined a little for me by everyone telling me to be ready with a box of tissues. My mind had already geared myself up for the worst and as heartbreaking as the end was, I think it would have affected me more if I was clueless.

It was also really interesting to see a very young Ralph Fiennes, having recently seen him in the Oscar-winning Grand Budapest Hotel. He was chilling, and I look forward to seeing more of him.

All in all, despite it's length, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Several scenes were extremely uncomfortable to watch, but they added to the story perfectly. It's one of those films I will never forget, but will probably never watch again either, if that makes any sense.

* I’m writing this whole post after two and a half hours sleep thanks to the Oscars, so you’ll have to forgive me for going completely off track.

Mini Reviews: Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Unknown (2011) & Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)

I've been putting off Edge of Tomorrow for ages now, but I did finally relent and watched it just before Christmas. Jenna's already written a full review which you can read here. I really enjoyed the film actually, and I can see why friends of mine really pushed me to watch it! I'm just not a huge Tom Cruise fan; he's the main reason I waited so long. Emily Blunt was brilliant though I thought, I'm liking her more each time I see her. I also wasn't expecting there to be so much humour in what I thought would be a dead pan serious film! Worth a watch for sure.

I was talking about films with my Grandparents the other week and Liam Neeson cropped up. They mentioned seeing him in something good where he was a complete badass (probably not their exact words) and so I said 'Oh, you mean Taken!' No, not that. 'On a plane? Non-Stop?' Nope. 'Did he punch a wolf in the face? Was it The Grey?' Definitely not. It was Unknown! A film which, until then, was unknown to me. (Plenty more where that came from) 

Feeling the need to watch more Liam Neeson we watched it the very next day. Neeson plays a man who, after an accident, suffers memory loss, but it's a little more than that as his memories come back to him, but his wife doesn't know who he is. There's a twist I didn't see until the very last second, and I really enjoyed it, but it just didn't have the wow factor for me.

Sometimes, I just need to watch a fun, animated kids film. Do you ever get those days? I haven't seen Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs all in one go yet, I somehow watched the last half and then the first half about 2 months later. I got the gist though! I know the sequel wasn't for everyone, but it's filled with bad puns and tasty food and that was all I really wanted and needed! It was enough to make me want to watch the first one properly. 

Review: The Grey (2011)

I’ve been meaning to watch The Grey for far too long. So long in fact, that when I finally got round to sitting down to see it, I completely forgot what it was even about. Liam Neeson and some wolves. That was about all I could recall. At least I could convince my other half to watch this with me!

Here's the thing, I loved Liam Neeson. However, the Taken phenomenon and everything in between has pushed me into being extremely bored of him (and his one character) so although I probably should watch this and give it a chance, for now I'm not going to. So there...

Bare with me now as I don’t fully understand the underlying plot here. That’s my bad though, not the film’s. Ottway (Liam Neeson) is an oil worker in Alaska who is desperately unhappy. I can’t work out if his wife is ill or dead, or whether they are actually still together. Regardless, Ottway and his colleagues take a flight (I’m not sure where or why) and the worst case scenario happens, the plane crashes in the middle of nowhere, leaving the few survivors to fend for themselves.

The film introduces Ottway quite nicely I thought. We certainly get an insight into what’s going on in his head. We also get introduced to his colleagues on the plane, and get a feeling of their characteristics. The plane crash scene itself was incredibly dramatic, and I think I was holding my breath throughout part of it!

I wasn’t expecting the film to be quite as jumpy as it was; I’m certainly glad I didn’t see it at the cinema or I would have embarrassed myself! You know those moment where you’re saying to yourself ‘that person is going to get jumped on, I just know it, you’ll see’ and then it happens and you still jump? I was doing that throughout! It added a big element of suspense that I wasn’t anticipating.

I really did enjoy The Grey, but I thought it was a little too long and the pacing wasn’t very consistent at times. Some of the gruesome moments didn’t look very real in terms of visual effects, and the wolves themselves looked a little off when they were close-up on the screen. That said though, I didn’t know how the film could or even would end, and I have to say that I really enjoyed the ending, as unsettling as it was.

It may be a while before I watch The Grey again, but if you’ve heard of it before and you’re sat on the fence as to whether to watch it or not, give it a go, I’d definitely recommend it.

10 Actors I Would Watch in Almost Anything (Allie)

Forgive me if I get this wrong, but I think this theme started with Abbi at Where the Wild Things Are. I love the idea, list 10 actors that you would watch in almost anything, and then another list of 10 actresses. These are 10 guys who could sell a film to me just by being in it.

Why: When I was younger, every Saturday meant another Jim Carrey film. I was so excited the night before Bruce Almighty came out that I could barely sleep, and my brother and I still quote his character from Liar Liar on a regular basis.

Best Role: Bruce Almighty

The one even he couldn’t convince me to see: I Love You Phillip Morris This is a great film, you must see it!

Why: This is probably the most simplest of all the actors in my list. I simply have never seen a bad Tom Hanks movie, and so I'm not sure I could ever refuse to see something that he’s in.

Best Role: Forrest Gump

The one even he couldn’t convince me to see: Larry Crowne

Why: I’m sorry, I was about to type and then I got lost in those eyes. Can that count as my reason? No? Ok. I just think he’s incredibly charming, and just the right kind of cocky. Oh, and those eyes...

Best Role: Star Trek

The one even he couldn’t convince me to see: Blind Dating

Why: He’s the most bad-ass guy I know. Not personally of course, but he’s bad-ass nonetheless. I actually really need to see some of his older work to see another side of him, but I would be first in line for Taken 9.

Best Role: Taken

The one even he couldn’t convince me to see: Battleship

Why: I haven’t seen a comedy of Steve Carell’s that I haven’t found hilarious. I first saw him in The 40 Year Old Virgin and he’s just the master of awkward comedy. That’s not all though because I love his serious roles too.

Best Role: Crazy Stupid Love

The one even he couldn’t convince me to see: Bewitched

Why: This man is an absolute legend. I love his acting work of course, but I just love how he has so much fun in anything he does. Not that I’ve met him, but he seems so great with his fans and he just oozes charm.

Best Role: The Avengers

The one even he couldn’t convince me to see: The Deep Blue Sea

Why: He’s the first actor I ever became fascinated with; I have fond memories of tracking down some VHS tapes on Amazon when I was still in High School. I used to quote Bubble Boy on a regular basis.

Best Role: Donnie Darko

The one even he couldn’t convince me to see: Rendition

Why: I don’t think I’ve ever loved an actor as much as Ryan Reynolds. His dry, witty humour is my absolute favourite, and I could watch any of his movies time and time again!

Best Role: The Proposal

The one even he couldn’t convince me to see: None, I have actually seen everything he’s been in! So far at least.

Why: This guy makes me smile without even doing or saying anything. He’s just an incredibly likeable actor, and he deserved to be in any of my top 10 lists for the three flavours cornetto trilogy alone.

Best Role: Shaun of the Dead

The one even he couldn’t convince me to see: A Fantastic Fear of Everything

Why: Benedict is my current obsession, thanks to Sherlock. I had to forcibly made to watch it in the first place, but I fell in love with his acting skills (and then just him!) soon after. He’s just incredible, and perfects whatever role he plays.

Best Role: Star Trek Into Darkness

The one even he couldn’t convince me to see: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (I really did try)

Looking Forward to Seeing at the Cinema this Month...September 2014

September seemed to be a difficult month for both of us to come up with a film we were REALLY looking forward to seeing.  So as a last ditch effort, at our most recent Flick Chicks movie night we flicked through Total Film in the hopes of spotting something.  And there is was, my September Film:

It surrounds the story of Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren) the owner of very popular French restaurant who clashes with Hassan (Manish Dayal) and his family who open up their own restaurant nearby.

This reminds me of a combination between The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Chef.  I loved both of these movies so I'm hoping this will be as good as I can imagine.  I generally love Helen Mirren (particularly in RED) and I'm really glad to see Manish Dayal on the big screen (I have previously seen him in 90210, he was brilliant but wasted on such a show!).

 

The Hundred-Foot Journey is out on 5th September 2014.

Tell me about it! There have been so many great films coming out over the last 2 months that I haven't been able to see all the ones I wanted to see, and now there doesn't seem to be a lot coming out at all this month!

However, a while ago I did a little post with a few trailers I'd seen that looked interesting. Included in that post was A Walk Among the Tombstones. Admittedly, it looks like Liam Neeson playing Liam Neeson, but that's what Non-Stop was too and I enjoyed that, so this will be my pick this month!

I think a newer trailer has been released since my original post, because I'm pretty sure I remember seeing the teaser and actually thinking it was for Taken 3! So here's the new one if you haven't seen it already:

A Walk Among the Tombstones is released in UK cinemas on 18th September, 2014.

Trailers That Caught My Eye

I've written a fair few film reviews lately, and as much as I enjoy it, I like to mix things up every now and again, and I can't decide on a new list yet, so I thought I might share some of the trailers I've seen over the last couple of weeks with you.

A Walk Among the Tombstones

Okay, so at first glance, you would be forgiven for thinking that this is the trailer for Taken 3. It's definitely Liam Neeson being Liam Neeson, but honestly, what's wrong with that? There's also a hint of a bit of a twist in there too, and it's based on a book. Perhaps I'll try and read it before it comes out in September! I'm not going to lie, this doesn't really grip me, I do love a good Liam Neeson movie but this looks a bit slow if the trailer is anything to go by!

What If

Aw, this film is so cute. Jenna actually put this one on the radar for me. Admittedly, I was sold by the first line! I haven't been able to shake the Harry Potter image away from Daniel Radcliffe and I don't think What If will either, but it's still something I'd love to watch. This would be great for a Flick Chicks night out I think.  Agreed!

Cinderella

Wow, I don't think I've seen a trailer to reveal less than this one! There's almost a year to go before this is released though so I'm sure we'll be seeing more in time. Also, Richard Madden as Prince Charming? Let me try and locate my ovaries, I think they exploded somewhere...!  Possibly the most irritating teaser trailer in history, it gives absolutely nothing away and we have to wait until March next year, but all can be forgiven if Richard Madden is in it - I'm in!

That's it for now. Are there any trailers you've seen recently which have caught your eye? Share them with me, because I'd love to see them!

Review: A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)

Thursday night was our first Flick Chicks night out, and what an awesome one at that! After wolfing down a Nandos in record time, we went to see A Million Ways to Die in the West at Jenna's local Cineworld. I practically skipped into the screen; I was really looking forward to it! I've watched Ted too many times to count so I had high hopes for this.  I have realised that I need to watch Ted again after Allie mentioned someone who was in it and I don't remember seeing them AT ALL!! Think that might be a SkyGo job for my next flight!

Albert (Seth McFarlane) is a cowardly sheep farmer who gets dumped by his girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried). She hooks up with the local douchebag Foy (Neil Patrick Harris), and Albert is determined to win her back. He meets Anna (Charlize Theron), who just so happens to be the wife of the toughest guy around, Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson), although he doesn't realise that. That's really all you need to know, I'm sure you can guess the rest!

Me and Jenna were in a bit of a giggly mood when we saw this, I guess it must be a side effect of scoffing a huge plate of Nandos! I laughed plenty throughout this film, even laughed quite loud at some parts. Admittedly, some jokes were a bit drawn out and started off as funny, but should have ended sooner. I'm thinking of the hat scene in particular which will make sense if you've seen this.  I had, what can only be described as, a fit of hysteria at the 'drunk and horse' scene where I couldn't catch my breath for a good five minutes and my glasses steamed up from the tears!!  Fully agree, the hat scene pushed into 'spoof movie' instead of comedy which wasn't great but didn't ruin the film for me at all.

I was mostly looking forward to the cameos. I'd heard that there were some great names and I've been making the biggest effort to steer clear from IMDB before I saw this so I wouldn't ruin it for myself. They were awesome! Some quite hard to spot because of everyone's moustaches, and one in particular literally made me do this:



This was her face exactly, I wish I could explain why but if you know Allie at all and you have seen this movie, you can probably guess which cameo did this to her!!

This was nearly everything I expected it to be. The humour wasn't as good as Ted, but some of the cameos were better, Neil Patrick Harris showing his 'inner Barney' was a massive highlight for me, and the moustache song in particular needs to get onto my iTunes fast. Sadly I can't find a YouTube clip of it anywhere, but I'll keep searching! LOVED the Moustache song, as I type I am singing it in my head!!

This film had one of my favourite cameos EVER (although not beating the Zombieland one which I just did not see coming) I won't say who it was but if you know me and you see this film, you'll know!!  I couldn't help but love this film at many points throughout, I kept thinking 'I shouldn't love this, this will end up on my guilty pleasures list with the likes of Pearl Harbour and Armageddon.'  The funny bits had me in hysterics meaning I wasn't even paying attention to the rest as I was still laughing from the last thing that happened!!  I have to agree with some of the critics, Seth MacFarlane did let this down, he seemed very stiff and awkward when delivering the lines that were obviously scripted and too casual and 'stand up comedian waiting for applause' in the parts where he was clearly adlibbing.  The contrast between the two was so obvious, I noticed every time it changed.

If you liked Ted, there's no reason why you wouldn't like this, but if Ted wasn't really your thing, then steer clear!

Still found this hilarious and as Allie said will recommend to anyone who laughed at Ted.  Definite 'buy full price DVD' contender.