Jonathan Kimmel Movies
A handful of zoo animals leave behind their well-protected environment for the streets of the big city in this computer-animated comedy. Sampson (voice of Kiefer Sutherland) is the king of a make-believe jungle far from the African plains -- he's a lion on display at a zoo in New York City's Central Park, and he lords it over the other animals, including Nigel (voice of Eddie Izzard), a testy koala bear; Larry, a dumb but well-meaning snake; ; Bridget (voice of Janeane Garofalo), a bright but cynical giraffe; and Benny (voice of Jim Belushi), a very New York-ish squirrel who is good friends with Sampson and is trying to romance Bridget without much success. The pride and joy of Sampson's life is his son, Ryan (voice of Greg Cipes), and he's devastated when one day Ryan is crated up and shipped back to Africa. Sampson is desperate to find his boy, and with the help of his pals he escapes the zoo and sets out on a daring mission to rescue Ryan, battling the unfamiliar terrain and Kazar, a wildebeest with a will to power and a passion for choreography (voice of William Shatner) along the way. The Wild was the first directorial credit for animator and special-effects artist Steve "Spaz" Williams. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kiefer Sutherland, Jim Belushi, (more)
- 2005
- Add Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic to QueueAdd Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic to top of Queue
Comedian Sarah Silverman cheerfully ignores any and all taboos in this performance film based on her hit off-Broadway show. Combining stand-up material with comedy sketches and musical numbers, Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic is dominated by Silverman's typically edgy monologues, including bits on racism, September 11, family dysfunction, drug abuse, rape, the Holocaust and plenty of other unlikely sources of comedy guaranteed to make viewers squirm while they laugh. Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic had its American premier at the 2005 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Silverman
- 2005
- Add The Andy Milonakis Show: Season 01 to QueueAdd The Andy Milonakis Show: Season 01 to top of Queue
Thanks to a rare growth disorder, Andy Milonakis is a 29-year-old man trapped in the body of a fat 12-year-old boy, a condition that he uses for savagely comic purposes throughout Season One of the grossly irreverent The Andy Milonakis Show. Accompanied by his homely dog Wubbie (aka "Cutesy Wootsy Wubby"), Andy roams all over the place and back again in search of material for his sketches, presented in the form of Internet "home movies" (Wacktards of the World, unite!) This season, Andy takes a shower in mustard, ties himself up and takes himself hostage, invites octogenarian bystanders to dance with him, "adopts" a pizza which he names Larry, attempts to draw an aspirin with an Etch-a-Sketch, follows a rainbow to its bitter end, and invents a new drink called Dirt Lamb. Oh, and did we mention he acts as a body double for Snoop Dog and gives John Stamos a case of rabies? And please don't ask about Andy's "thing" with spoons... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andy Milonakis, Wubbie, (more)
- 2002
"Warning: The phone calls you are about to hear are REAL. The names have NOT been changed. SCREW THE INNOCENT." With such an opening disclaimer as this, is it any surprise that the Comedy Central sitcom Crank Yankers was created by Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla, the same two naughty boys whose puerility had previously been given a workout on The Man Show? Here's how it worked: Kimmel, Carolla, and several other talented improv comedians -- among them Jim Florentine, Tracy Morgan and Sarah Silverman -- would place crank calls to unsuspecting civilians, who worked at businesses ranging from a pet store to a private detective agency. The regulars were careful to phone only those states where they could not be prosecuted for harassment (namely New York and Nevada, though other states may have been sneaked in from time to time). Once these calls were preserved on tape, they were then reenacted by a cast of motley-looking foam puppets, purportedly the residents of a backwater community called Yankerville. Lip-synching to the prerecorded prankishness were such recurring characters as grumpy 62-year-old war veteran Dirk Birchum, shock-rock deejay The Nudge, deaf-as-a-post nonagenarian Elmer Higgins, burp-a-dacious Bobby Fletcher, dimwitted teenaged janitor Special Ed, Jewish-American "princess" Hadassah Guberman, obnoxious politician Tony DeLoge, and laid-back African American guy Spoonie Luv. Some of the character voices were new to the series, while others were old standards, notably Jimmy Kimmel's Man Show alter ego Karl Malone and Bob Einstein's "Super Dave" persona. In each episode, a number of guest stars joined in on the fun, managing to make fools of the poor souls at the other end of the line -- and even bigger fools of themselves, which in a way made the show more endearing than annoying. The weekly, half-hour Crank Yankers was first telecast by Comedy Central on June 2, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
