TED Post-release - Page 2

 

Because the talent that actually performed the superb execution is completely ignored all the time.

Kunis doesn't necessarily give up her dream, it's that her dream is the low-hanging fruit of simply being with Mark Wahlberg.  And that entails accepting Ted.

 

Anyway, I don't think this film was trying to convey a real message of any kind.  Except that Superman Returns was awful.

 

Has there been a least sincere, cornier line reading this year than Kunis saying that she "got her life back" at the end though? That made me groan out loud. I didn't buy it for a second, and I think McFarlane actually does think he's "saying something," filtered through his sophomoric and stunted sense of humor, of course. 

 

I guess we're going off-topic, but misdirection is essential to illusion! Click to embiggen these hilarious falsehoods:

And that Apache Attack Heliocopters are the only thing more powerful than a child's wish.

I was also quite confused by the mo-cap video.  MacFarlane is in very basic gear, he doesn't appear to be interacting with any of the other actors, etc.  I guess they recorded some of his body movements for inspiration in the animation process, but fully mo-cap?  No way.  Definitely more traditional CGI effects work.

I'd love it if they went with full-on fantastical lying like they did for King Kong (that Hammerhead kindly pointed out). 

 

Sell me on the fact that MacFarlane had a mini-clone made of himself that wore the bear suit!

I thought Risibisi had some of the funniest gags in the film.  I loved him trying to give Ted railroad bonds for payment. The kind also cracked me up like when he yelled at Whalberg to stand up sright when he's talking or asking Ted if he needed to wash his hands before he played hide and seek. Really weird.

Dunno how it plays outside New England, but the Pepperidge Farm joke killed at my (southeastern Mass) theater.

So, what's the inside joke there?

New England women love Pepperidge Farm!

I didn't say it was an awesome joke, just that my theater went nuts over it.

 

Kind of like when I saw Ed Wood in Oklahoma and the line "Those repressed Okies, they go for that twisted, perverted stuff" got a huge laugh.

So, should I check this out? My feelings on MacFarlane are... mixed. His vocal range is a bit limited, but he's actually a pretty solid voice actor within those limits. He's a damn good singer; his "Music is Better Than Words" album is excellent. I enjoy American Dad for the most part, although visually the character designs are still bland as hell, and the actual direction/storyboarding of the show isn't nearly as strong as other animated comedies like Archer, Futurama or higher-end kids' shows like Adventure Time (action animation is in its own category).

 

But I haven't found Family Guy funny in years, so both that and The Cleveland Show makes me want to deeply hurt everyone on the respective writing staffs. I still don't know what it is about American Dad where the writing, while not always EXCELLENT, is a hell of a lot more consistent and funny.

 

The trailers I've seen for this have at least been amusing, so I ask again. Will I like it, or want to punt MacFarlane off a building after viewing?

You may not realize it, but you're a McFarlane fan. So go ahead, check it out.

Yeah, I guess, although again I hate what Family Guy has become.

The fact that Wahlberg's boss is holding Tom Skerritt's daughter hostage caused me to lose my shit in the theater
 

I actually enjoyed this film quite a bit, the flash Gordon cameo was definitely the highlight of the film. I think it works because Mark  Wahlberg feels right at home in this.  Oh an Mila Kunis is always nice to look. Hey it's Max Payne and Mona Sax . I agree with who said Patrick Warburton needed a bigger role each scene he is in he's great. The jokes are very hit and miss as you'd expect but the ones that do hit are funny. And I'm not really a Mcfarlane fan, occasionally catch a family guy, don't watch his other shows but I enjoyed ted.

Saw this today; mediocre at best, the cameo is the best part, and there's just a few good laughs in it; audience ate it up, though.

It does feature a grown man punching a fat kid out cold, and the closest we'll ever see to Walhberg rapping again.

I hate Family Guy with a passion but a couple of mean-spirited jokes, and McFarlane's fetish for all things 80's aside, I really dug this film. It's funny, cute, has some great cameos and actually gets a better comedic performance out of Wahlberg than The Other Guys did. Also found Ted and Wahlberg's central relationship to be quite touching.

 

My favorite running gag must the one involving Bill Smitrovich.

Just watched this. Was wondering if anyone knew if that part where Giovanni Ribisi's character is dancing in front of the tv to "I Think We're Alone Now" is a reference to the doc of the same name about the super creepy Tiffany stalkers, or is it just a coincidence. Saw the doc on Netflix last year. Seems like, they're celebrity obsessed stalkers, he's a celebrity obsessed stalker. Could be, but I don't know how well known that documentary is.

Watched this last night and laughed quite a bit, but I agree it has too manly lulls and jokes that are hit and miss.

 

I give the movie credit for never painting Kunis as a shrew, and for there being a real core to her relationship with Wahlberg.

 

The reason Family Guy has never connected with me is, unlike The Simpsons, there's no heart. Beneath all the mean spirit and irony the Griffin family aren't actually characters. I'll give Seth MacFarlane this, he's managed to make a movie with real heart. There are long stretches of real emotion and connections between characters that go unspoiled by cop-outs about how feelings are icky, especially toward the end.
 

As for the racism, MacFarlane has just tapped the vein of a strange cultural movement this last decade or so. From hipsters to college fratboys, ironic racism is a strange beast. Entitled white people saying "nigga" because "my best friend is a black guy!" or by quoting movies incessantly. The strange thing is that while Family Guy can kind of get away with this with the excuse that the characters are mostly ignorant or outright idiots, Ted doesn't have the same excuse. For the most part the character Ted seems reasonably intelligent and self-aware, if selfish...until it's time for a punchline.

 

The movie seems to think this is okay as long as there's someone (Wahlberg, Norah Jones) around to call Ted out. In Wahlberg's case his shrill whining firmly positions the movie in Ted's favor, and Norah Jones' brushing off the 9/11 crack is the equivalent of "my mom's Muslim so it's okay!"

 

Still, it had its moments, and there's real pathos during the stretch when Ted gets ripped in two and then dies.

I liked this movie very much. Ted as a teddy bear almost looks so convincingly original. Liked all the scenes, the witty dialogues and the story. There are times when everything is tested even friendship. I also found a collection of ted movie quotes.

Yeah so I finally saw this one blu-ray today. I loved it way more than I thought it would. All the little throw away stuff got me, also:"my daughter better be alive you sick bastard".

 

Also some weird heart here honestly. Like I thought they undercut it with a bad joke but in the end when it looks like TED may die, they played it completely straight. Her bringing TED back to life I thought was odd but I assume audiences would have hated it otherwise. Also I assume while TED is still alive he will scale back on all the "bro time". But it does kind of hurt the man child message or maybe it's that you can actually have part of that around as long as you understand whats important.

 

Oh and I totally bought the relationship with Kunis. Seriously there was chemistry there that many movies like this lack. She felt like a real person and they didn't try to make her the villain of the piece like School of Rock. I know that's a weird movie to compare it to but I always thought it was so odd that Sarah Silverman is the raging bitch of the movie when all she seemed to want was her boyfriend to stop enabling his brother's bullshit.