Hamlet 2 is a comedy starring Steve Coogan as Dana Marschz, a failed actor who moves to Tuscon, Arizona to become a high school drama teacher. When his class that only consisted of two students becomes filled with thugs and gang-bangers and the school informs him that the drama class will be shut down at the end of the semester due to budget cuts, he decides to write a play in hopes of saving his class. But the play he writes, starring a "Sexy Jesus" traveling through time with Hamlet, only causes more problems with the community and school board.

This movie is basically a parody of all those movies where a teacher tries to inspire his underprivileged students to do something greater with their lives and (to an extent) it works pretty well. Dana Marschz's awkwardness and self doubts offer up quite a few laughs, but the same can't be said for the rest of the cast. Coogan really pulls this movie along, even if at some points it seems like he's dragging it along.

Throughout the film there's a constant build-up towards the actual play of Hamlet 2 but when we actually get to it, it's pretty short and not as funny as you'd hope it would be. This is pretty disappointing but it's not so bad that it makes you regret watching the movie, even if there were a few lame jokes that consisted of people getting hit or falling down. I can't recommend seeing this in theaters, but I'd say go ahead and rent it when it comes out on DVD. I give Hamlet 2 a 6.8 out of 10.

P.S.

As you can see, I'm going to start rating movies from a scale of 1 to 10 now. I'm also starting college on Wednesday so I'm not sure how often I'll be on anymore. The next movie I'm planning to see is Burn After Reading. Hopefully I'll be able to post a review after seeing it.

Over the past year, I've started to become a bit of a DVD collector. I currently have over 150 movies and I'm constantly increasing the number. While looking up DVD release dates last night for some movies I'm anticipating, I found a bunch of other cool stuff and decided to make a list of DVDs coming out in the next few months that I'm looking forward to. Hopefully you'll see some stuff you want, too.

The Big Lebowski 10th Anniversary Limited Edition

10 years ago, the Coen brothers came out with this cult-c l a s s i c (Sorry. For some reason, Gamespot seems to censor the correct spelling of that word) comedy about bowling, a stolen rug, and a guy named The Dude. And on September 9, they release this 2-disc special edition, loaded with features and encased in this very cool bowling ball packaging.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 3

For those who haven't seen this show, it's kind of like Seinfeld meets South Park. It's easily one of my favorite TV comedies, and I can't wait to pick this up on September 9, one week before season 4 airs.

Iron Man Special Edition

Ok, hopefully I won't get crucified for this but...I didn't think Iron Man was as good as everyone said it was. So, why would I want to buy it on DVD? Well, while I didn't think it was anything amazing, I still got some entertainment out of it. Plus, the special features on a movie like this could be really cool. Release date is September 30.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall Unrated Collector's Edition

This was actually the first good movie I saw this year and I still regard it as one of the funniest movies to come out in 2008. These Apatow comedies are also great to buy on DVD because they always come with tons of hilarious deleted scenes, gag reels, and featurettes. Release date is September 30.

Halloween: 30th Anniversary Box Set

This beloved horror c l a s s i c is having it's 30th year in existence celebrated with this awesome box set. Coming with 6 discs, which include the original 1978 film, the extended edition, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, the 25 Years of Terror documentary, and a replica of Michael Myers' mask, this collector's set will have the horror fan in you screaming with joy. Though, the $90 price tag may cause a few shrieks of terror. Release date is October 14.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition

If you were around in the 90s, you might remember this show about a guy and 2 robots in space who are forced to watch terrible horror/sci-fi movies and provide hilarious commentary for them. For me, this one's gonna be worth picking up just for the nostalgia. Release date is October 28.

Coming from writer/director/star Ben Stiller and featuring performances from Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, Tropic Thunder is a comedy about a film crew trying to make "the greatest war movie ever". However, when the high-profile, egocentric actors can't stop bickering with each other, the incompetent special effects crew sets off one of the movies biggest explosions without the cameras rolling, and the film is 1 month behind schedule 5 days into shooting, the director decides to make things a little more real by dropping off the actors into a jungle filled with hidden cameras, hoping to get more realistic emotions from them. Soon after being dropped off though, their presence attracts the attention of a Vietnamese drug cartel, who think the actors are real soldiers.

Still believeing that the very real danger they're in is all part of the script, the "squad" continues through the jungle, acting out their scenes. But when Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) seperates himself from the group and gets captured by the drug lords, the other members of the cast realize what's going on and try to save him.

To some, the premise of this movie probably sounds a little silly, but take my word, this is easily the best comedy to come out this year (so far). From the opening scene to the end credits, this movie had me laughing non-stop. While each actor delivers the comedic gold, Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise are practically guaranteed to have you bust your gut whenever they show up on screen.

I understand that this movie has had the word "controversial" slapped on it by more than a few people, but I didn't find any of the jokes to be terribly offensive or mean. Downey Jr's performance as the squad's African-American sargeant doesn't resort to using stereotypes and is likely to be the favorite character of most audience members. The scenes that seem to be catching the most heat are the ones that show Tugg Speedman's overly-exaggerated performance as the mentally-challenged Simple Jack. But these scenes are used to poke fun at the actor, not the handicapped community.

Bottom-line: I haven't laughed this much during a movie all year. While it's definitely not the greatest comedy ever made, it's highly entertaining and full of fun. I give Tropic Thunder a 4 out of 5.