Quickie Reviews

Public Enemies
So Rox and I had to pick a movie last Saturday and we chose the Johnny Depp as John Dillinger biopic, Public Enemies. Johnny was great, Christian Bale was great and Marion Cotillard was great. The picture as a whole is an interesting story, although I am not raving about it. It was entertaining enough and painted a bit of a picture of John Dillinger's life, but some of the criticism I have read is that it's not historically accurate and I cannot be specific without giving away some spoilers. I'd wait until it came out on DVD.


Year One
My boy and I went to check this out yesterday afternoon. We were the only ones in the theater. The trailers for this comedy written and directed by Harold Ramis made it look hilarious, however I would call it adequately funny. The film as a whole didn't quite flow the same way the trailer did and seemed a little choppy. I love Michael Cera and the rest of the cast was great featuring Jack Black, David Cross, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, the gorgeous Olivia Wilde, Vinnie Jones and many more. There were some laughs, but generally nothing to write home about.


I Love You, Man
Written and directed by John Hamburg, this "bro-mance" is hilarious. Starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel in a film about a man named Peter (Rudd) getting married and realizing that he has no close male friends. He sets out on a mission to find a friend to add to his wedding party and meets Sydney (Segel). Platonic sparks fly and hilarity ensues. I really liked this film a lot. Rudd is adorably awkward as Peter and I've loved Segel since Freaks and Geeks. It was also nice to see Rashida Jones in a more major role than usual since I've always liked her. I recommend this one as I liked it a lot.


Up
I LOVED this movie. The kids and I saw it in 3D a few weeks ago and these new 3D movies are really cool. I loved the opening sequence that told a very beautiful story with little dialogue. Starring Edward Asner as Carl, this Disney Pixar flick was sweet, cute and touching. I highly recommend it. I really don't want to say too much more about the film so I don't give anything away.

More ramblings to come........

Quickie Reviews

I've seen some movies in the last few months but just never got around to posting about them. Here's a brief recap....

Yes Man
I caught this shortly after it came out and I enjoyed it. Starring Jim Carrey as Carl, a divorced man stuck in a boring bank job and is known to his friends as a hermit who avoids their calls. Carl gets dragged to a seminar by an ex co-worker which features a self help guru who encourages people to say YES to everything. Carl skeptically tries it out and gets some surprising results. I really liked the premise of someone challenged to break out of their shell and found it adequately funny. Also starring Zooey Deschanel and Bradley Cooper.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop
My boy really wanted to see this and the trailers looked funny, so we checked it out. I have talked to people who really liked it. I liked it okay, but found it quite formulaic and one of those movies where the funny parts were all included in the trailer. Although, I do have to admit that Kevin James is quite likable and did a good job. It probably didn't help that I couldn't get into the movie because my girl was bored and needed to leave the theater a few times. On the other hand, if you're an eleven year old boy, you'll love it.

Role Models
After I took a look at the full cast and crew credit list for this film on the IMDB page, I was shocked to see that Judd Apatow was not one of the producers. I say that because it appears that they have recycled the cast from all of the previous Apatow produced films such as The 40 Year Old Virgin (Paul Rudd, who stars and co-wrote the film, Jane Lynch, who plays a similar, tough, sarcastic character, and Elizabeth Banks), Superbad and Pineapple Express. I have to say that they are all great talents and it was a funny story and premise, but I just could not get lost in it because I kept wondering, "Aren't there any other actors in Hollywood?". It's not that they aren't good, it's that they all keep appearing together in all these movies. Find some new talent and shake things up a bit. Just a suggestion.

Twilight
I had not read the book, but went to see this flick with a friend who was a HUGE fan of the series by novelist Stephanie Meyer. I really enjoyed the film a lot. Starring Kristen Stewart as Bella and Robert Pattison as Edward. An unconventional love story between Bella, a newly transplanted high school student, and Edward, a vampire from a family of "socially conscious" vampires (they only eat animals, not humans). Obstacles appear in the form of a small, wandering group of vampires who get thrills from hunting down their human prey and from a mysterious family of local Native Americans who appear to know more about the vampire situation than they let on. I really liked the story and the stylish way it looked. I recommend seeing this one and look forward to checking out the sequel.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
I thought that the first one was pretty cute with the kind of humour that hits adults as well, so I was happy to take the kids to see this when it first came out. It was just as enjoyable, if not more than the first one. The original cast of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith returns. The film begins where the last one ended with the crew flying back to New York in an old plane being piloted by those shady, hilarious penguins. They crash land in Africa and get to know their roots and hang with their own kind with hilarious results while the penguins work on fixing the plane. Very funny and fun for the whole family.

More ramblings to come.....

Quickie Reviews

Holy freakin' crap, it's been almost a month. Sorry I haven't posted in a dog's age, but I've been stupid busy this summer. I have three videos to finish still, a website to get up, and for FUN (in my spare time), I'm making a short film. Therefore, I have not made it to the theater as much as I wanted to and not only that, there wasn't very much that I actually wanted to see. Some in theater, some on DVD, others on TV, here they are.....


Pineapple Express
I was soooo looking forward to this one because I almost always enjoy Apatow's films, not to mention love Seth Rogen and James Franco together (Freaks and Geeks rocked!). There were a lot of funny parts, but it was a weird mix of stoner buddy comedy and violent crime thriller, with each part taking away from the other, not to mention the implausibility of the ending. Overall, fairly enjoyable, but it's no 40 Year Old Virgin.


Journey to the Center of the Earth
My boy had been wanting to see this and we got a chance to catch it at a matinee earlier this month. He really liked it a lot, and it's sort of fantastical. It's the adventure of a geology professor, Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) and his nephew, Sean (Josh Hutcherson) and their guide, Hannah (Anita Briem), while they research the writings of Hannah's late father and Trevor's late brother. They were both Vernions, a group of people who believe that Jules Verne's fictional books were true. It wasn't bad, but it seemed like there was a short set up and boom, the action raced to the finish. Not bad, though, but not great, either.


No Country for Old Men
I went over to hang out with my friend, Rox, and we ended up catching this on television. I had been wanting to see it, because of the whole Oscar sweep thing (winning Best Picture of the Year, Best Director, Best Writer awards and a Best Supporting Actor award for Javier Bardem). I found it incredibly suspenseful and engaging, even though pretty violent. Technically well done and super great acting by the whole cast, particularly Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Woody Harrelson. I enjoyed it and recommend it. I just want someone to explain to me what the hell the ending means.


Waitress
Written and directed by the late, kick ass Adrienne Shelly (RIP), the film is about Jenna (Keri Russell), a waitress at a pie shop who happens to be married to a very jealous and controlling husband. Jenna makes the best pies ever and wishes she could run away from her husband and open her own pie shop. The only kink in her plan is that she gets pregnant. A cute story about love, happiness and infidelity, it's not a typical chick flick rom com, but also not like a heavy handed Lifetime movie of the week (which it very well could have been given Jenna's abusive marriage). A beautiful swan song from Adrienne Shelly, who was incredibly talented and could have given us so many more great stories if not for her tragic murder shortly before the release of this film. You can find recipes for Jenna's pies here.

I am shooting my film this coming week along with finishing up my contracts for the summer, so I will more than likely not be posting much this week, but hope to get back to doing it regularly very soon.

More ramblings to come.....

Quickie Reviews

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

I'm probably one of twelve people who didn't see this in its original theatrical release. I assumed it was juvenile bathroom type humour, so wasn't much interested in seeing it. However, it was nominated for a Best Comedy or Musical Golden Globe and is nominated for a Best Writing-Adapted Screenplay Academy Award, so I thought there must be more to it. It is hilarious and embarrassing to watch at the same time. Sascha Baron Cohen writes and stars as Borat, a character he created for his Da Ali G Show.

The premise is Borat is Kazakhstan's representative to discover and document America's culture to bring back to Kazakhstan to civilize their culture. While Borat is in America, meeting with various cultural experts (humour coaches, etiquette experts), he discovers Baywatch and falls in love with Pamela Anderson. He decides to travel across the country from New York City to California to marry Pamela. Along the way Borat meets many people like angry New Yorkers, southern sophisticates, drunken frat boys, rodeo cowboys, and many more. It is embarrassing to watch because Borat is able to draw out the ignorance in people and make it funny. There are some lawsuits because of it, because apparently, those people don't like their ignorance shown to the rest of the world. The trivia section of this movie on IMDB says that the police were called 91 times on Sascha Baron Cohen during the filming of this movie. Funny stuff.

Stranger than Fiction

I got a chance to see this at a matinee last week. I usually love Will Ferrell's work. He was good and so was Emma Thompson, as well as Dustin Hoffman. However, I just couldn't get lost in it, which should have been easy considering there was only one other person in the theater. Ferrell stars as Harold Crick who begins to hear a woman's voice (Thompson) in his head narrating his life. He panics after he hears her say he would die and tries to find the author to convince her not to kill him. Harold is an IRS auditor who meets and falls for one of his auditees, Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal). It's a cute story with some funny moments, but it was just okay. Ever see a movie where it was alright, but it just didn't quite click for you, but you can't put your finger on what didn't work? This is one of those.

More ramblings to come.....