Give The Orville And Its Tedious & Confused Take On The Final Frontier Some Space

Even hearing for months on end that The Orville as a TV show had a more serious tone than its heavily comedic ads would suggest didn't prepare me for what a tonally odd creation it is. It's trying to actually be a new straight-up science-fiction program that heavily homages Star Trek to a fault but it's also one with recurring comedic elements that just don't work at all. If the attempt here was to make something either as comedically strong as Ted or as thoughtful & exciting as the best elements of Star Trek, then the folks behind The Orville have miscalculated greatly and wound up with a science-fiction equivalent to Seth MacFarlane's major movie misfire A Million Ways To Die In The West.

Sing Needs A Tune-Up

The highest piece of praise I can offer Sing is that it's the best motion picture created by Illumination Entertainment since the very first Despicable Me movie back in 2010. But considering that in the six year span since the first Despicable Me they've only made the likes of Hop, that forgettable Lorax movie, two middling Despicable Me follow-ups and this summer's blah The Secret Life Of Pets, that's not a high bar to clear. Even worse, taken on its own merits, Sing is just an average, inoffensive but extremely unmemorable kind of movie, one without much of anything in the way of a distinctive identity to lodge it into ones mind once the credits begin to roll.

Ted 2 Review

Not Better Off Ted

Seth MacFarlane has some recurring tropes in his work that, frankly, are more of a hindrance to his creations than anything else. He loves shock humor, he adores cutaway gags and any chance to pay homage to the classic big band music of yesteryear will be taken with aplomb. Maybe the most surprising element of the first Ted was how it mainly eschewed those traits in order to tell a (GASP!!!) cohesive story. To boot, Ted (Seth MacFarlane) and John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) had a relationship that felt quite sweet and real, which helped to ground all of the proceedings.

The Director of Kingsman: The Secret Service Is Rebooting Flash Gordon

20th Century Foxs recent attempt to reboot Flash Gordon as an action movie has been puzzling me, namely because Flash's large presence in the uber popular film Ted makes me wonder if audiences unaware of the original movie from the 80's will think it's some kind of Ted spin-off or not take the movie seriously due to Sam Gordons antics in that Seth Macfarlane movie.

Grab Your Thunder Buddy And Watch The Trailer For Ted 2!!!

Alright, I know I'm going to alienate tons of people here, but honestly, I'm a huge fan of the Ted. The film hit just the right note of over-the-top humor and surprisingly fleshed out characters (the friendship between Ted and John was nicely realized). Seth MacFarlane's last film, A Million Ways To Die In The West, underwhelmed me, since it played into many of the filmmakers worst tendencies that Ted somehow managed to avoid. Still, I have been looking forward to MacFarlane's next film, Ted 2, which just got a trailer that you can you watch below!

As You Might Expect, Morgan Freeman Will Be In Ted 2

The sequel to the delightful 2012 comedy Ted keeps moving forward to its June 26, 2015 release date. The cast already includes returning cast members Mark Wahlberg, Seth Macfarlane and Patrick Warburton (no word yet on if Mila Kunis will come back) and will bring Amanda Seyfriend onboard. Another new addition to the films cast has been added; the incomparable actor Morgan Freeman.

A Million Ways To Die In The West Review

Frontier Follies Find Fairly Average  Venture

Seth Macfarlane comedy adheres to two different principles; turning the mundane into its most exaggerated form, or taking something zany and bringing it down to Earth. The latter was brought to terrific life in Ted, while the former coheres the humor in A Million Ways To Die In The West. The film takes all the cliches of both western movies and actual frontier life and ratchets them up to their most violent and sexual extremes. For some comedians, this movie would be stepping out of their comfort zones in a big way, while for Macfarlane it feels disappointing he couldn't conjure up something more memorable right on the heels of Ted.

The List!!!: Seth Macfarlanes Top 5 Vocal Performances

Love him or hate him, Seth Macfarlanes had an undeniably huge impact on pop culture. With his new movie A Million Ways To Die In The West hitting theaters today, let's take a look at his Top 5 vocal performances and admire some of his best work.

In no particular order:

Stewie Griffin: Family Guy has pretty much become one of the worst shows on TV, but Stewie remains the one element that consistently delivers, with Seth able to deliver some truly outrageous lines through that unmistakable voice with just the right balance of arrogant detachment and unexplainable lovableness. To boot, Stewie seems to be the only character that's able to create believable emotional resonance that feels earned and not cheap. For any other show Stewie would be a feat, but in garbage like Family Guy, it's practically a revelation.

Stan Smith: He's a cold blooded killer, a man sexually aroused by horses and unnaturally close to his mother; he's Stan Smith and he's easily one of the most surprisingly successful elements of American Dad! Although at the start of the program he was nothing more than a cheap stereotype, Stan's now developed into a fleshed out character worthy of being put on this list, if only for terrific lines like "Looks like I just picked a bouquet of oopsie-daisies"

Roger The Alien: There's a lot of bizarre elements in programming Seth Macfarlane has a hand in (and admittedly, Seth had very little to do developmentally with the show Roger is in), but Roger tops them all. An alien obsessed with disguises, Roger brings out a new personality each episode that somehow always brings the laughs (I particularly like his female wedding planner persona that somehow has two adult kids) Even on his own, he always meshes well with the Smith clan, especially with Klaus the goldfish, with whom he generates many hearty laughs.

Ted: In the two years since it came out, Ted has remained surprisingly stupendous, it's laughs never wearing off and the dynamic between Mark Wahlberg and the titular raunchy teddy bear never getting old. That dynamic owes a lot to Seth's performance which makes the smart decision to make Ted actually lovable, thus making the twos friendship believable. And don't worry; Seth still makes Ted hilarious without making him too over the top disgusting, making Ted a nicely well made character in a similarly well made film.

Johann Krauss: Now here's one you might not actually know was Seth Macfarlane, but yes, in Guillermo Del Toro's best movie, the voice of Quagmire interacts with Ron Perlman's amazing red hero as they protect the Earth from fantastical forces. Macfarlane makes a nice addition to the cast, with a German accent we don't hear the voice actor pull out very often allowing the characters intellect to be stylized in amusing ways that clash with Hellboy's more brute tactics. But his best moment comes at the end, when he finally tells off Jeffrey Tambors character in an extremely hillarious manner.