Big Brother 15, Ep. 2 Recap: "Can I Blow Your Nose For You?"

With these houseguests, it's safe to say this won't be 'Virgin Airlines'
Image via BuddyTV

Welcome to my recap of the second episode of Big Brother 15! When we left off, hormones were flaring, some guy looked like Taylor Lautner, and Weird Al Yankovic's long lost son was the Head of Household!

The second episode of the 15th season started up with all the houseguests sitting around the living room, still in shock about Julie revealing this season's big twist. That twist of course being that 'Murica will get to vote for an MVP who could anonymously put a third person up for eviction. The players were scandalized, debating how it affects the game and who it screws and who it benefits the most. Jeremy and Judd had the best theory that it benefits the ladies because... America loves women? Except for women of course. They don't like women. Jessie and Kaitlin made that very clear in the season premiere. And if there's one voting base that loves Big Brother and will go online and out of their way to vote for something trivial on a reality show, it's straight men. As a straight man, I could totally vouch for this. But alas, I'm Canadian and they won't let me vote.

Speaking of the ladies, we cut to the bathroom where Alyssa, Kaitlin and Jessie were talking about the eligible gentlemen in the house. Because women be gossipin. As 'three single ladies' they debated who each one of them was into and developed code names for all these prospective gentlemen. Aaryn, the cute blonde Texas girl (which is what the BB narrator called her off the top of the show. Yikes), well she likes David who they gave the codename, 'Ken'. As a person actually named Ken, I'm not thrilled to be associated with the surfer/lifeguard who likes to feel himself up and should maybe cut it out with the old school Justin Bieber hair. Instead of a Ken, he seems like more of a Trey or how about 'Puka Shell'? Because you know he totally has several puka shell necklaces. Jessie likes Nick, who they're refering to as Manhattan. No wait, they changed it to 'Big' because he's from The Big Apple. Or maybe it's a Sex & The City reference that I clearly don't, nor want to understand. Kaitlin likes Jeremy, who they're refering to as 'The Sailor.' He works on a boat so that's something. They clearly missed a CBS tie-in opportunity to call him The Barnacle and then have him appear on 'How I Met Your Mother' alongside Barney 'Barnacle' Stinson. The one thing Kaitlin can't stand about Jeremy however is that it always sounds like he's stuffed up when he talks. And according to her, sometimes she just wants to grab a tissue and say 'Can I blow your nose for you?' Which is what every guy longs to hear from a beautiful woman.

It was then time for McCrae to show off his HoH room, which was odd because we didn't get to see any personal photos or hear him read a letter. I was really hoping for photos to see a family shot featuring BB14 winner Ian and Weird Al Yankovic. At the very least, a receipt from a cloning facility with Weird Al and Ian's signatures on it? McCrae told all his fellow houseguests that he wouldn't get HoH-itis and a big head, which elicited a response from Kaitlin about being like Rachel and saying 'Floaters grab a life vest.' With Elissa sitting a couple seats next to her no less. She even made McCrae say it! Seriously, how does she or nobody else in the house not realize that's her sister? They look and sound alike. Oh hey, a few segments later Aaryn and Judd alerted the house to Elissa '100%' being Rachel's sister. Kaitlin calls herself a 'wench' for dissing Rachel right next to Elissa. I would probably go with the word 'hero'.

With an overwhelming 16 people in the house, I'm still trying to put names to faces and figure out who these aspiring famewhores are. But inside the house, more alliances are being formed. And Jeremy aka The Sailor aka Jacob the Werewolf aka Taylor Lautner aka Stuffy is at the forefront of this, forming his third alliance, as he joins forces with Nick aka Big, McCrae, Howard and Spencer. This bro-lliance is named "The Moving Company", because they're going to move people out of the house you see. Or maybe because Howard and Spencer are two really big dudes who could probably move heavy furniture with ease. Also joining forces were Puka Shell and the Texas Girl. While laying on the hammock, which I hope they replaced after Ian wore out the hinges on it last year with his OCD swinging, the two blondes revealed they were crushing on each other. Puka told Texas, 'I'm totally felling you." That guy has a real way with words. Also, Puka told the Diary room that he was in the house to form a showmance and not even to really play the game. And on top of that, when Aaryn told Puka about Elissa being Rachel's sister, he didn't know who that was! He does realize he's on Big Brother and not The Bachelor: Puka Shell Edition, right?

In addition to those alliances/love connections, Jessie revealed to Amanda that she feels like Bella Swan because she's a 12-year old girl. She is in love with Nick who is like Edward except not dark and brooding and totally into Hardcore Parkour, as well as Jeremy who is of course Taylor Lautner. For as boy crazy as Jessie seems, she at least gets points for not wanting to blow Jeremy's nose for him.

What would a Sunday night episode of Big Brother be without a Have Not Competition? This one was titled 'Cooler & The Gang'... what a timely musical act pun! What about something more modern like, 'Cooler Moe Dee' or 'Coolerio's Fantastic Voyage'? The goal of this one was to float down a lazy river in an inner-tube, grab a can of pop -- oh sorry, Soda for all you Americans -- then bring it back to your teammates and stack it on a board that was being held up by said teammates. The red team, consisting of Howard, Andy, Helen, Judd and Elissa, basically lost this one right off the bat when Howard started floating in the wrong direction. Then as he jumped in the water to grab some soda from the underwater cooler, he forgot to hold his breath. This should tell you something about the intelligence of these houseguests, when their main challenge in a competition is forgetting when to breathe. Howard's dismal performance was followed up by Judd falling out of his inner-tube and basically looking like a fish flopping around after it's pulled out of the water and dropped into a canoe. The red team then went on to drop their cans off their platform, having to restart and no doubt about it, they lost. Even the yellow team dropped their cans, but there was no out-sucking the red team on this one. Speaking of big cans, Aaryn used this competition to check out a shirtless Puka and all his rippling muscles, which he had no doubt admired himself multiple times earlier that hour alone.

The 'worst have-not room' in BB history was revealed to the have-nots and I rolled my eyes because I feel like they say that every year. Like how every rose ceremony on The Bachelor is the biggest one yet. But this one was pretty bad, admittedly. I don't even know if you could call it a room. It's the inside of an airplane cabin, with no beds... just chairs. And they don't even recline! And of course because hormones are flaring in that house like it's a high school dance, Amanda had to make a crack about joining the mile high club in there. There's no doubt in my mind that this is happening at some point.

It came time to debate which houseguests McCrae should nominate for eviction. Kaitlin and Amanda wanted Candice to leave because she was the one to blame for the yellow team dropping their cans of soda. Amanda then made her way up to the HoH room to try and convince McCrae that Jessie should go because she, 'has a way better ass than her." And because she's "annoying" and "prissy." If those aren't good reasons to end somebody's dream of being on Big Brother, then I don't know what is. Later on with McCrae in his HoH room, Elissa came up and finally revealed the world's worst kept secret to him. Elissa didn't receive a negative reaction to this as maybe she was expecting, because McCrae is a 'Big Brother superfan' and thinks it's awesome. I mean, I like Big Brother as much as the next guy, but you need to reevaluate your life decisions when you become sort of starstruck by a reality show competitor's lesser known sister. Aaryn visited McCrae and told him that she wanted Elissa out because how dare she has the "audacity" to be related to somebody and have the houseguests be too dense to figure it out? I don't know, it didn't seem like a very well thought out plan. But then again, this is from the girl who likes Puka Shell and who the producers called 'The Texas Girl' at the beginning of the episode, so what should we expect?

Before making his nominations, McCrae and Manhattan/Big discussed who should go up. Big wanted to put up two girls because it's what worked best for 'The Moving Company.' And when you have a great alliance name like that, you don't screw with that magic. In the end, McCrae put up Jessie and Candice for eviction. He told Jessie it was because she's socially savvy and has a good chance to win the game. Not because he really hates Twilight or anything. His reasoning for putting up Candice was because she's strong and he expects her to kick ass in veto. Though if she can't hold a board with pop/soda cans level, then I'm not so sure about that.

What say you, readers? What do you think of McCrae's nominations? Who do you think will win the MVP and who should they put up? Leave your comments below and follow me on Twitter (@KenBeckett) to have some fun discussing this game!

Big Brother 15, Ep. 1 Recap: "Pizza Boy's Delivering, Baby"

Season 15, sponsored by The Rolling Stones?
Image via CBS

Hello first time readers of this little corner of the interweb of mine! To pull a Troy McClure, some of you may recognize me from such blogs that cover hockey and the Toronto Maple Leafs. But I'm also a big television and movies fan, so I thought it would be fun to track my thoughts about it all on this blog. For those of you who follow me on Twitter (@KenBeckett) just for hockey news, I may still be tweeting about toothless people, but now it could also include those on reality shows and not just hockey players.

Chief amongst my pop culture obsessions is a summertime favourite of mine, Big Brother! And it's back! A full month early! As a Canadian Big Brother fan (hello 'Muricans), it's been like a second Christmas what with the first season of BB Canada earlier this year and now an earlier premiere date for the US version of our favourite, totally not rigged reality show. Some say it's a guilty pleasure of theirs, but for me, I don't even feel guilty about it. I just outright, thoroughly enjoy this sometimes pretty cheesy show. I even auditioned for the first season of BB Canada! (Producers, call me for season 2!) I'll try and recap every episode and as quickly as I can, but it airs three nights a week in the summer. So we'll if that promise holds up as well as Julie Chen has over these last 14 years. Has she discovered the fountain of youth? Or is she actually a robot who undergoes regular cosmetic maintenance like so many of us have assumed?

Speaking of the Chenbot, she opened up the show lurking inside the empty BB house and telling us that everything would be super sized this season. It would last for three months, there would be more houseguests than ever before, there would be twists inside AND outside the house! There was a fancy new outdoor design, which looked like the outside of the BB Canada house. Even Julie's hair looked big tonight! Perhaps the biggest news of all however was that this season would be the first since BB12 in 2010 to feature an all original cast. Even the first season of BB Canada rehashed old players like Dan Gheesling and had cameos from Rachel, Janelle and Ian.

Before the new houseguests got to enter the house, we were treated to a video package of all 16 players finding their key totally by surprise and not pre-scripted at all. During this package, there was some hardcore parkour from Nick, a lifeguard who likes to feel himself up at the beach (David), a public speaking teacher (Andy) who teaches people how to lie (you're doing it wrong?), and Rachel Reilly's sister (Elissa) who has a dream board. Because you know, it worked out so well for BB14's Ashley. There was a player who I thought CBS forgot to put a space in between her names (GinaMarie), and a former political adviser (Helen) who has run campaigns. Hopefully it wasn't Mitt Romney's. Amongst some pretty generic others of course.

This was followed up by all the houseguests entering the house for the first time and claiming their beds. And in a poor bit of planning, there were only 12 beds for 16 contestants. What a crazy mistake! There was some getting to know each other and players revealing who they have crushes on. Judd likes GinaMarie. GinaMarie likes Howard. Jessie likes Jeremy because she thinks he looks like the wolf from Twilight. Amanda likes Nick. Kaitlin likes Andy because he has a sweet kitty t-shirt and she wanted to get into a 'Gaymance" this season. Jeremy (The Twilight wolf/Taylor Lautner look-alike) likes Kaitlin because he 'felt little rainbows and doves' flying out from his heart when she looks at him. McCrae the Pizza Delivery Guy who is a cross between BB14 winner Ian and Weird Al Yankovic likes Howard. McCrae isn't gay, but if he was, he 'would tear him (Howard) apart.' David likes Aryssa. And of course, Joanie loves Chachi. Never forget.

Right away there were two, three-person alliances formed in the moustache room which featured a cameo from BB Canada's Marcia the Moose! She's clearly forgotten to wax since even she had grown a moustache. The first three-person secret alliance consists of Jeremy, Spencer and Howard. Then in a playing the game way too hard too fast possibility, Jeremy (the Taylor Lautner look-alike) also joined forces with David & Jessie, the good-looking person's alliance and with two guys because Jessie wants to fulfill every stereotype of women not being able to get along with each other. Elissa had tried to form an all-girl's alliance earlier but Jessie and Kaitlin put the kibosh on that because... I don't know... women be crazy?

With all the houseguests gathered around the TV, Julie continued the mantra that everything is bigger this season, revealing that there would not be two nominees each week for eviction this season, but three! Then with Elissa looking on, the Chenbot said there would be another twist that she couldn't reveal, but to quote Rachel, 'Floaters grab your life vests!' Awkwaaaaaard...

The first Head of Household competition was an endurance competition in which the players had to hold on to a popsicle while a giant tongue pounded them. I have a feeling this was not the first time that's happened to a few of them. This competition looked a lot like the first endurance comp in the BB Canada house when the players wore all plaid and had to hang on to trees.

Get it? Because all Canadians wear plaid and are grunge rockers! Or lumberjacks.
Image via RealityNation

Judd, Howard and Candice were the first three to drop, doing so intentionally because they didn't want to win this early in the game. Because you know, it worked against BB12's Hayden and BB Canada winner Jillian so much. While the first to be eliminated trio were sitting around, Candice noticed that Elissa looked an awful lot like Rachel. Earlier in the episode, Judd the good old boy from Tennessee had thought she looked familiar too and this solved it. So much for wanting to keep being related to Rachel a secret. Something I'd try and keep a secret my entire life if I were related to her as well. Aaryn, the psych major from Texas, was the last girl remaining, dropping at the 3 hour and 2 minute mark. This left four guys on the popsicles (David the Surfer Guy, Taylor Lautner, Nick aka Spiderman aka Mr. Hardcore Parkour, and McCrae, the Pizza Delivery Boy). Julie tried to lure two of them down, showing two lunchboxes. One of which featured a never-not pass which meant you couldn't be a have not all season. That would be enough to get me down. David the Surfer/Lifeguard was the first to jump off, but *sad trombone*, his lunchbox only contained a sandwich on white bread. And he totally needs whole wheat so he can maintain that buff body that he likes to feel up! Taylor Lautner was the next to jump off, thus claiming the never not pass so he could continue to eat good food and maintain his resemblance to a teen heartthrob/werewolf.

In the end, it was McCrae who beat out Nick to become the first Head of Household of Big Brother 15, only after assuring the Spiderman wannabe that he would be safe. Following the competition, Julie revealed to all the houseguests that the HoH would decide the first two nominees, but that America would vote for an MVP and that person would decide who would be the third person to go up on the block... and would get to do so anonymously!

And that's where we left off, with McCrae the pizza delivery boy at the top of the food chain but with no nominations made until Sunday's episode. My first impressions are that I'm very happy we get a longer season and that there are all original houseguests. I don't love that the viewers will in a roundabout way have a say in who gets put on the block and goes home. It didn't work so well for the first season of Big Brother when viewers decided who went home. And in a surprising twist, Rachel's sister Elissa didn't annoy me all that much!

What say you, readers? What did you think of the first episode? Who was your favourite houseguest? And who do you think McCrae will put on the block. I think there will be a lot of pressure to put GinaMarie up because she's loud and abrasive and a lot of the houseguests don't like her that much.

Thanks for reading and be sure to follow me on Twitter (@KenBeckett) for all my thoughts and blogs on Big Brother 15 this summer!

Big Brother 15 Recap Coming Soon!

Is that Mitchell from Modern Family in the argyle tank top?
Image via CBS

Welcome fellow Big Brother fans/people who are secretly ashamed to love this show as much as they do! We're just over an hour away from the season premiere of the 15th season of Big Brother! I'll be your guide on this crazy 100-day journey this summer, posting my thoughts on Twitter and of course here on this blog on this new, mega-sized season!

I hope to have a recap posted pretty quickly after the season premiere, so be sure to check in sometime between 9-10pm EDT when it should be up. Or you can follow me on Twitter (@KenBeckett) and I'll certainly tweet out the link on there! Find out what I thought of the show, who were my favourite houseguests and just how much Rachel Reilly's sister annoys me!

Enjoy the show folks, and hopefully you'll enjoy my recaps at least 68% as much you did the season premiere.

Louie Recap - Ep. 307: IKEA/Piano Lesson

There will always be moments in life that let you down. That's been one of the key messages in Louis C.K.'s award-winning show Louie. And while I've enjoyed it's run over the last three years and have enjoyed sharing in the misery of my favourite red-haired comedian (sorry Carrot Top), I couldn't help but feel let down by the latest instalment, 'Ikea/Piano Lesson', the seventh episode of season number three.

Louie has hit a lot of home runs deep out of the park over the last couple of episodes. The two-part 'Daddy's Girlfriend' series about him trying to date the cute bookstore clerk Liz aka Tape Recorder played by Parker Posey was fantastic and some of the best television you'll see. Even last week's episode 'Barney/Never' when he had to take care of Doug, the kid who liked to eat bowls of raw meat was a downgrade from the previous two-parter but still had some really funny moments.

While 'IKEA/Piano Lesson' too had some funny moments in it's first act, it just felt like the show was trying to fit way too much into one 22-minute episode. While a lot of comedies will try and stretch one joke out for way too long, perhaps Louie went too far the other way.

The episode started off with Louie dropping his kids off at school and being confronted by Delores (Maria Dizzia), with whom he had an interesting moment in the season two episode 'Bummer/Blueberries'. Well, Delores has been talking about the events that transpired that night with her therapist and wants Louie to come to her therapist's office so she can say some things to him. He rightfully declines. After that, Delores requests another favour. Louie is slow to accept her offer of driving to her IKEA in exchange for a blow job, but eventually he accepts despite the awkward sexual encounter they had. A favour he will rightfully defer to another time later in the episode. When he did this, all I could think of was how funny it will be if they wait until season five when everybody's forgotten about their deal and Louie gets desperate years later, calling up Delores for his favour which she's long forgotten about.

Things go predictably horrible at IKEA with the emotionally unstable Delores and it's all triggered by a rug. This was the best moment of the night as Dolores wanted Louie's input on a rug and wanted him to be more involved in the process despite the fact it's not going anywhere he lives and he's really just along to be helpful and to likely get fellated at some point. At the request of Delores to give his feedback beyond 'its fine', Louie tells her he thinks the rug is okay based on a few ridiculous statements such as that it's 'blue', 'doesn't smell', it's not a portal to another place' and the best of all, because 'it's not coated with AIDS'. While Louie and Deloroes argue about this rug that doesn't transmit AIDS, there's a funny cutaway to a young couple who see the two fighting and promise to never become Louie and Delores. After Louie's outburst, Delores goes into full-on breakdown mode, sobbing loudly and forcing Louie to lay her down in a bed in the middle of the store and tuck her in as he tries to sort of half-assed console her. This is why he defers the oral favour in the van on the way home.

From here the episode slowly goes downhill. Act two features Louie taking his first piano lesson at age 44 because he bought a piano for his kids, but after they didn't want to play it, he thought 'well screw them, I'll learn piano then'. As his piano lesson with Doris the instructor is set to begin, Louie gets a phone call from previous sexual encounter Maria Bamford telling him either she gave him crabs or he gave her crabs, so 'F*ck you, or sorry.' Louie thought he was itchy because of laundry detergent. After learning he likely has crabs, Louie rushes Doris out the door and we cut to him in the bathroom taking a photo of his nether regions with his phone to examine his crab-infested parts, much to his horror as he lets out a loud scream. As if learning you have crabs in front of your new piano instructor isn't bad enough, Louie heads to the pharmacy to get shampoo but can't find it on the shelf so he's forced to tell the clerk that he indeed does have crabs and needs the product, knowing it works because he's had to use it once before. While Louie awaits his shampoo kit, an old lady comes to the counter and is forced to answer awkward questions in front of the comedian about her urination habits and her bowl movements. It's an okay bit but you expect more from Louis C.K. and this show than to resort to old ladies suffering through uncomfortable poop jokes.

The third act starts out on a nice bounce back note as Louie gets out of the shower and sits down to watch TV, seeing the finale of 'Money House' where the winner gets a $1740 prize and there appears to be someone dead/passed out on the floor in the background. He changes the channel to an 80's stand-up comedy channel featuring a younger, thinner version of himself with hair telling jokes about having red-hair and getting burnt at the beach. Wallowing in his own sadness is something Louie has excelled at over the three-year course of the show, and it continues here as he turns on his webcam so he can watch his younger self on the TV, and the fatter, balder present day version on his computer screen below (banner image). More cameos come our way as Louie calls up Sarah Silverman when he sees her on the 80's special, later prompting him to remember a confrontation he had with Marc Maron years ago when they see him perform. Realizing it's actually all his fault and that he's been mad at Marc for 10 years over something he did, he sets up a meeting. Only at this meeting, Marc reminds Louie that they had this exact same talk five years ago, except Louie cried that time. For the uninitiated, we weren't told what the conflict was and this just felt like another attempt to jam way too much into the episode and get as many characters and cameos in as possible.

During the end credits we see Silverman and Louie on the phone again. Silverman feels bad because she thought a comic was dead, prompting Louie to remind her he's not dead at all and is actually a writer on Family Guy. Silverman is disappointed because as she says 'it feels good to be sad for somebody.' When she asks who else is dead, Louie tells her Richard Nixon which elicits a sad 'awww' from the comedienne. Unfortunately for us, this episode has mostly been dead and lifeless for 20 minutes as it just felt like a shambled, hodge podge of ideas that were jammed into way too tight of a time constraint. Where this show really shines is when it gets into the gritty, depressing areas of Louie's life and we're able to see every incredibly sad, soul killing moment in all it's glory, not bouncing from one crazy occurrence to the other.

Critic Ken's Grade: C+

Review: The Campaign

'War has rules, mud wrestling has rules -- politics has no rules.' That's a quote by former American presidential candidate Ross Perot that opens up Will Ferrell's newest comedic offering The Campaign, while also serving as a guideline for some of the outlandishness witnessed over the course of the film.

Ferrell plays Democratic congressman Cam Brady from North Carolina who has run unopposed for two election cycles and is the type of politician who is successful because he can dance around the issues with the best of them and gets people riled up with his catchphrase 'America, Jesus, Freedom', even if he himself doesn't exactly know what that means. He has a strong haircut, a large American flag pin on his jacket and has enjoyed overwhelming support in his district with an approval rating in the mid-60 percentile and has the support of his lovely wife Rose (Katherine LaNansa) and children Jessica and Cam Jr.

All that is thrown for a loop when Brady channels real-life North Carolina congressman John Edwards and gets himself into a sex scandal thanks to an obscene message left on a religious family's answering machine. Even though it's the year 2012 and nobody has answering machines anymore. A point that Brady uses to try and justify his actions to Mitch (Jason Sudeikis), his campaign manager who has worked with him for several years as well as a scrum of reporters and his voting constituents.

Enter local tour guide Marty Huggins, in all his moustachioed and cardigan vest wearing glory played by Zach Galifianakis. Sensing weakness in Brady's district, Huggins is financially backed by two powerful men and thrown into the political arena to run on the Republican ticket and oppose Cam the congressman. Those supporters are The Motch Brothers, Glenn (John Lithgow) and Wade Motch (Dan Aykroyd). Two 'job creators' who have shady plans for the district to increase their profits on their already existing high profits. This is a spin on the real-life Koch brothers (David and Charles Koch) who run Koch Industries and pump hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican political candidates thanks in part to the Citizen's United ruling which lets corporations and billionaires finance politicians through super political action committees, also known as Super PACs.

Watching Ferrell and Galifianakis battle it out on the campaign trail is a hilarious site. For all of Brady's troubles, Galifianakis' Huggins has plenty of his own, having his Americanism thrown into question because he owns two communist Chinese pugs named Muffins and Poundcake. As election day draws closer, Huggins undergoes a patriotic makeover and each candidate goes through a roller coaster ride that involves lots of blown out of proportion scandals, name calling, punching babies and award-winning dogs. Nothing is off-limits for either man, whether that's physical violence, declaring their opponent to be an extremist terrorist or making a sex tape with the other's wife.

When you enter a Will Ferrell comedy, you expect the type of deep, belly laughs that have people doubled over in their seats, and The Campaign certainly delivers on that on a few separate occasions. The best of which involves a scene where Galifianakis tells his family that there will be extra attention on them so they should confess all of their secrets. By the end of this scene, my cheeks hurt from laughing so much and I had tears running down my face. It reminded me of the dinner scene in Ferrell's 2006 comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, but with the sheer ridiculousness of it all multiplied by a few hundred.

For as funny and enjoyable as The Campaign is just purely as a film, it also serves as an amusing reflection on today's political landscape. Questions are rarely answered honestly, and what matters most is the latest scandal and who is the most patriotic with the biggest American flag pin on the lapel of their suit jacket. Billionaires and their money, as well as conniving campaign managers are what really pull the strings, looking to trap the other candidate into a non-controvery to draw the public's attention away from the real issues. Those sorts of real life scenarios are accurately portrayed in this film by The Motch Brothers and their hired gun slash campaign manager Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott), as well as Brady's campaign manager Mitch. While you sit in your seat laughing at the stunts pulled by both Ferrell and Galifianakis' characters, you also marvel at the way their constituents fall for every minute of it and realize that it's not unlike how today's political audience is, when everyday people are fooled and distracted by talking points and who has the slickest ads or election slogans.

As this year's American presidential campaign draws closer, The Campaign is a winner in the polls and it's got my vote. Even if you don't know anything about politics or dislike them altogether, you will get a solid dose of laughter and another fantastic effort from Will Ferrell, who continues his string of stellar comedies. Ferrell and his co-star Galifianakis are a very funny duo and take a film about an election cycle and turn it into a roaring laughfest as each man tries to outdo the other to win that seat in congress. The audience is the real winner however, as we are treated to one of the funniest movies of the year.

Critic Ken's Grade: A-

Review: The Dark Knight Rises

Paper beats rock

Have you ever had a friend who wanted to set you up with a person? They tell you that he/she is so great and amazing and you'll really like them. Then when you meet them, they're an otherwise nice person, but because of all that hype, you're just not as crazy about them as you should be... That's how I felt about 'The Dark Knight Rises'.

Don't get me wrong, TDKR is a good film, full of intense action and a great story channeling Bruce Wayne's struggles and Batman's difficult task of facing the monster known as Bane, played by Tom Hardy. But since director Christopher Nolan released 'The Dark Knight'in 2008, a film which earned Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for his iconic portrayal of The Joker, it seems like the entire world has been anticipating it's follow up, the third and final installment in this interpretation of the Caped Crusader. Frankly it would be tough for any film to follow up on all that hype and the high expectations of the movie going public.

It's just that the second chapter of Nolan's trilogy was such a masterpiece and had so much going for it thanks in large part to Ledger's charismatic Joker and the chaos he created that maybe the bar was set too high. If you're like me and you believe that 'The Empire Strikes Back' was the best of the original 'Star Wars' films, then you'll know what I mean when I say that TDKR suffers from 'Return of the Jedi' syndrome. George Lucas' Episode 5 in the Star Wars franchise was an amazing film with great action, a good story, Boba Fett and spoiler alert: Darth Vader telling Luke Skywalker that he was his father, something which always shocks people the first time they ever watch it. Then Episode 6 came along, and it was a good movie. It had Ewoks, Jabba the Hutt and closed out the then trilogy in a nice, effective way, but it lacked the punching power which The Empire Strikes Back had in spades.

Which brings me back to the final installment in Nolan's Batman trilogy which is a good mix of the more low-key 2005's Batman Begins and it's frenetic follow-up. There are some heart pounding moments in TDKR, several gritty action sequences and soaring visuals that will look amazing on IMAX-sized screens. The film picks up eight years after The Dark Knight and focuses on Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne/Batman who has been out of the public eye during that span. Bale's character is tired and damaged physically and emotionally and must come out of retirement to take on the brutal Bane. It is a formidable task for the hero of the film as he has gotten older and goes up against a hulking maniac which proves to be a true test for him. A lot of superhero films have villains that you know will put up a good fight, but you can't see the hero losing to them. That is not the case here in The Dark Knight Rises. Tom Hardy did a great job bulking up for the role of Bane and is such an imposing and terrifying figure who excels at hand-to-hand combat that you really do wonder if Batman is up to the task.

For as dangerous and menacing as Hardy makes Bane come across, the villain is not without his weaknesses. He wears what could be described as a truly sick orthodontist's idea of head gear around his face that distorts his voice and at times you can't understand what he says. All I kept thinking was, 'Hey Bane, would you please try and enunciate a little better?' Of course I would only think that around Bane, and not say it for fear of being beaten to a pulp. And for as brutal as Bane is, he is nowhere near as charistmatic as Heath Ledger was as The Joker or even as intriguing Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the second chapter. And perhaps that's one of the reasons why this film doesn't live up to it's predecessor. With The Joker and then Iron Man and The Avengers, plus the new Spider-Man, maybe we're just so used to having charismatic figures in our superhero movies. And when you combine Bale's muted, gritty portrayal of Batman, mixed with the darker tones of Bane, this film is lacking that.

There is an impressive cast of supporting characters, most notably Anne Hathaway as cat burglar Selina Kyle who moonlights as Catwoman. I liked all of the different tones of Hathaway's turn in the Catwoman role.  For a lot of the film you don't know who's side she's on and there's more to her than being a beautiful girl in spandex. It's nice to see such a complex female figure in a superhero action film.

In addition to Tom Hardy, director Christopher Nolan also added fellow Inception stars Marion Cotillard who plays Wayne Enterprises investor Miranda Tate, as well Joseph Gordon-Levitt who takes a turn as Gotham City police office John Blake. Cotillard proves to be a love interest for Bale's Bruce Wayne but again proves to be a layered female character instead of just the eye candy. But perhaps the best supporting character in the film is Gordon-Levitt's officer Blake. In our society today, we praise most the heroes such as athletes, celebrities and those who wear capes. But sometimes we overlook the everyday heroes who are out there day after day making a difference. Nolan does a nice job highlighting that in this film, showing what an impact Gordon-Levitt's young police officer makes in Gotham City.

While TDKR is not the best film in Nolan's Batman trilogy, it is an excellent way to cap things off. The director has given us a satisfying conclusion to an epic trilogy, which will go down as one of the best in the history of film. All three films have been excellent installments in the journey of the caped crusader, and it's has been a fantastic reboot of the Batman franchise. The Dark Knight Rises continues that trend and is a steady, gritty film with layered characters that you should enjoy if you lower your expectations from the four-year wait after the masterful second chapter.

Critic Ken's Grade: B+

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Hello there people of the interweb!

Welcome to Critic Ken! I'll be your guide on this crazy journey called a blog.

I'll be bringing you reviews on movies, TV shows, anything I seem to have an opinion on in pop culture when I can. I can't promise you'll agree with me, but if you enjoy jokes about Nicolas Cage and 3D movies (and who doesn't?) then you and I just might get along.

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-Ken