

2009-09-17
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6.9No-nonsense comic Bill Burr takes the stage in Nashville and riffs on fast food, overpopulation, dictators and gorilla sign language.
5.8What should have been a romantic getaway turns into one hilarious debacle after another when Michael's woman dumps him in the desert where he gets carjacked by a teenager and he is taken hostage in a stickup at the local Sip and Zip.
7.7Armed with boyish charm and a sharp wit, the former "SNL" writer offers sly takes on marriage, his beef with babies and the time he met Bill Clinton.
6.4Sarah Silverman appears before an audience in Los Angeles with several sketches, taped outside the theater, intercut into the stand-up performance. Themes include race, sex, and religion. Her comic persona is a self-centered hipster, brash and clueless about her political incorrectness. A handful of musical numbers punctuate the performance.
6.6An up-and-coming stand-up comic moves to L.A. to pursue a film career after video clips of his act make him an online sensation.
6.4Chris Rock takes the stage for his first comedy special in 10 years, filled with searing observations on fatherhood, infidelity and American politics.
5.8Danny Masterson (TV's 'That '70s Show') leads a hilarious ensemble cast in a tale about two hapless stoners who get involved in a scheme to rip off a shady character named Mr. Big after the duo sours on rehab.
7.6An HBO special edited from three performances from Chris Rock's 2008 comedy tour: London (dark suit, dark shirt), Johannesburg (black suit, white shirt) and New York (shiny jacket). Topics include the ongoing presidential campaign, the possibility of a black president, George W. Bush, gas prices, low-paid jobs, ringtones and bottled water, sex, relationships and the correct use of the n-word
6.9Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in a brutally honest special that spares no topic, even his own mortality.
7.3Eddie Murphy delights, shocks and entertains with dead-on celebrity impersonations, observations on '80s love, sex and marriage, a remembrance of Mom's hamburgers and much more.
6.1Chris Rock delivers an electric stand-up set on non-racist yoga pants, spoiling his kids, the Kardashians and his thoughts on the Will Smith fiasco.
6.6Facing a world gone sideways, comedy icon Dave Chappelle delivers bold truths and potent punchlines in this no-holds-barred special.
7.1In a rowdy stand-up set, Shane Gillis riffs on his girlfriend's Navy SEAL ex, touring George Washington's house and being bullied by an Australian Goth.
8.1Dave Chappelle returns for a stand-up to D.C. and riffs on politics, police, race relations, drugs, Sesame Street and more.
5.8In this winsome comedy, an entitled Economics professor pursues a tactic to buy an ailing widow’s mansion for nothing, but he quickly realizes that his seemingly foolproof strategy won’t be as easy as he thought.
7.2Comedian Taylor Tomlinson is halfway through her 20s — and she's over it. From dating losers to a failed engagement, she takes aim at her life choices.
6.3When the Little Rascals are unable to raise enough money to save their grandma's bakery from shutting down, their only hope is to win a local talent show and use the prize money to save the shop.
6.6When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.
7.5Chris Rock, the three-time Emmy Award-winner, comedian, actor, and host of HBO's acclaimed The Chris Show, stars in his fourth solo stand-up special for HBO, Chris Rock: Never Scared. Featuring his unique, insightful, and hilarious views on a host of social, political and, celebrity issues, Rock confirms his stature as the leading comic of our time.
6.5At Thanksgiving, a tramp arrives in a homeless-hostile town.
6.8After literally swimming across the Atlantic Ocean, an Englishman takes a country trip across Canada on a railcar.
6.1In this clever satire of toxic men, a cartoon pickup artist is violently torn apart by the women he targets, seen only through his own one-sided, ridiculously misogynistic point of view. Don Hertzfeldt's first student film, he plays the part of a mentally unwell animator who's losing his grip within his own movie; an idea he'd later revisit in other early "meta" shorts "Genre" and "Rejected". Despite being produced at the age of 18 and not intended for exhibition, HBO named it "The World's Funniest Cartoon" in 1998.
6.5Lily and Jim are interviewed about their disastrous blind date.
6.9On a dark and stormy night, four bored ghosts decide to have some fun by calling the Ajax Ghost Exterminators.
5.7Educational short about the status of battle tanks and tank training in the U.S. Army in pre-War 1941, featuring a comical Army trainee from the Bronx.
7.6Jerry runs into a dog pound (and right on top of a napping Spike) to escape a rather mangy-looking Tom. To avoid being ripped to shreds, Tom borrows the head of a nearby dog statue. This easily fools the dogs, but not Jerry, and Tom keeps losing his newfound head...
6.5Walking along with his bulldog, Charlie finds a "good luck" horseshoe just as he passes a training camp advertising for a boxing partner "who can take a beating." After watching others lose, Charlie puts the horseshoe in his glove and wins. The trainer prepares Charlie to fight the world champion. A gambler wants Charlie to throw the fight. He and the trainer's daughter fall in love.
6.9In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the director on a celebration day.
7.0Stan and Ollie check into a seedy hotel and help a young girl escape the clutches of the landlord. They are forced to flee the hotel with no money and Ollie arranges for Stan to fight at a local boxing hall for $50. Stan's opponent turns out to be Musgy who uses a loaded glove. During the fight the glove is swapped and Stan triumphs only to find that Ollie has bet their fee that he would lose.
5.5Fatty plays a village blacksmith in “Jazzville,” an imaginary rural village. There is a rivalry between Fatty and Cy Klone, the garage owner, over the affections of a pretty schoolteacher. A city chap unites the two rivals when he tries to steal the girl. An annual village ball features amateur talent in vaudeville stunts with Keaton as a wriggling Fatima who charms a long black stocking from a cigar box like a snake. The film is presumed lost.
5.6Famous actress Norma Shearer's jewels are stolen… (Star-packed promotional short film intended to raise funds for the National Variety Artists Tuberculosis Sanatorium.)
0.0Out west, Luke changes clothes with an outlaw and proceeds into town. Of course, he is mistaken for the wanted man and a chase ensues.
5.8Stage hand Harold falls in love with the leading lady of a visiting theatrical troupe.
5.0Hijinx at a classical dance academy when two tramps take a stab at ballet.
0.0Roomers in a boarding house break the rules and are caught cooking if their room. A frantic run-in with the landlady ensues.
5.0Our newlywed hero is about to embark on a journey when he realizes that he has lost the train tickets. A crook knocks him down and switches clothes with him. The assailant's victims pursue our man while his bride is led to believe that she has been deserted.
0.0Our hero has a dream, while in the trenches at the front, that he is in Berlin rescuing a Red Cross nurse from the hands of the Kaiser and his henchmen.
5.6Con artists Harold and Snub attempt to outwit phony psychic Miss Goulash and her "professor" father.