Premise: Pint-sized aliens invade Earth and set their sights on a family's new vacation home. They didn't account for the kids.
Stars: A bunch of kids * Kevin Nealon * Andy Richter * Doris Roberts
Story: Four aliens invade the planet as a scout force while the Pearson family is arriving at the same location - their temporary vacation home. This sets up a conflict where the kids act to defeat the aliens while the adults are kept completely unaware of the situation. Hijinks and hilarity ensue as the battles occur throughout the film.
Review: Completely derivative of other films - from Small Soldiers to Critters to E.T.. The aliens are typical - an evil leader, a male and female warrior that bicker, and a cute & cowed engineer - as are the kids: the rebellious teen, the skater boy, a pair of tech-involved twins, and the cute daughter. Add in the typical teenage sister and her scuzzy boyfriend, and the setting is ripe for conflict and humour.
If you're ten years old perhaps.
I found the jokes flat, the performances so-so, the aliens unconvincing and sterotypical. Perhaps the only honestly funny moment is when Nana (Doris Roberts) is zombified and engages in wire-fu fighting with the scuzzy boyfriend. Even so, the film was mostly boring.
Overall: Bad.
Other Sites:
Wikipedia * IMDb * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Showing posts with label comedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comedy. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sex and the City 2 (2010)
Premise: Carrie Bradshaw & Co. return. Again.
Stars: Sarah Jessica-Parker * Kim Cattrall * Cynthia Nixon * Kristin Davis * Chris Noth
Story: Carrie Bradshaw (SJP) is having a crisis in adjusting to marriage. Charlotte (Davis) is having a crisis in dealing with an attractive nanny. Miranda (Nixon) is having a crisis in balancing family and work. Samantha (Cattrall) is having a crisis dealing with menopause. After witnessing the marriage of their two gay friends Stanford and Anthony, Samantha gets an offer from a sheikh to visit Abu Dhabi and set up a PR campaign for his new hotel. She accepts only on the condition that all four women can go.
Thus the scene is set for hijinks as cultures clash.
Review: Trash.
Okay, that's coming from a guy who never watched the series (maybe all of 10 minutes of a single episode) or the first movie. But seriously. We've got four fashion mavens who extol the "virtues" of Western society, which in this case means wearing fancy and expensive (and quite commonly ugly) clothes, paying lip service to equality and fraternity with benighted minorities (gay men in the West, women in the Middle East) and avoiding the larger issues at hand.
I can't quite tell if the film is supposed to be a satire of Western values or not. Suffice it to say that the film may have had the intent of offending as many people as possible. And it succeeds.
Carrie Bradshaw serves as "Best Man" to her gay BFF Stanford and argues the point with her newly minted husband "Mr. Big" (Noth) that it's a "marriage", not a "gay marriage", yet the film portrays the wedding with lavish style and pomp, including a chorus of gay men in white suits and Liza Minelli ("Okay", she concedes later, "it's a gay wedding.") Both grooms (called "brooms" in their description, to combine "bride" and "groom") are outlandish in the extreme, and confess that Stanford gets the wedding while Anthony gets to cheat on him in the 45 states where gay marriage isn't legal.
Due to an offhanded comment by Samantha, Charlotte spends most of the film worried that her husband (played by Evan Handler, otherwise known as the dead guy in the bathrobe that visits Hurley in Lost) may cheat on her simply due to the nanny's large breasts and habit of going braless. Miranda is a successful attorney that has little time for family life, owing to a new boss. Samantha spends the running time of the movie complaining about her lack of libido due to anti-drug laws in Abu Dhabi. All three are succinctly resolved by a few lines of narration by Carrie at the end of the film. (Charlotte's nanny is a lesbian, Miranda quit and found a better job, Samantha is overwhelmed by lust for a Danish architect they met in Abu Dhabi).
The film's main concern is not any development on the part of the characters - all four start with an issue, gloss over it until the end, and have a short reconciliation of the matter due to either alcohol or narration. Apparently, the main concern is "Women need a break every once in a while from being married."
And I left out the innumerable shots of erections, men in speedos, bare-chested beefcake, fashion and glitz. I discovered I'm really not the audience for this, but apparently teenage girls (Miley Cyrus appears), women with unsatisfied lives (I can't count the number of sighs, oohs, and ahs I heard from the group of women sitting near me), and gay men (likewise).
Is this film really the appropriate venue for a discussion of how Abu Dhabi wastes its income on glitz in an attempt to become the financial hub of the Middle East? Probably not - but one sees ample food laid out untouched by the four women when they dine. The audience is treated to the method of employment used by businesses in Abu Dhabi - hire out cheap labor from other poor countries in order to serve themselves and Western visitors. Yet, it's only superficially touched upon by the film in order to serve the interests of the question of taking a break from marriage; the response by the Indian butler is that every time he and his wife get together, it is like meeting again for the first time.
Miranda spends the time in Abu Dhabi attempting to learn Arabic and some of the customs. She even tries to convince Samantha to dress modestly. Yet, in most of the shots of Carrie and Charlotte, deep cleavage is revealed, their familiarity with the men around them is suspect (apparently being intelligent doesn't lead them to hear of stories of Westerners getting arrested and/or deported for activities offensive to the natives), etc. Eventually it redounds to Samantha "kissing" the Danish architect (named Rikard Spirit, but dubbed "Dick Spurt" by Samantha) on the beach and getting arrested, which leads the women to getting basically kicked out of the country.
This sets up a slightly comic scene as the four are rushing to leave the country and Carrie discovers that during a shopping trip, she left her passport at a vendor's stand. For the last twenty minutes of the film, the four are crying about being possibly forced to fly coach (oh, the humanity) back to the States while they are subject to a) trying to locate the passport b) getting derailed into a sleazy counterfeit shop c) confronted by angry men when Samantha's purse spills condoms onto the ground (while wearing a revealing top and shorts in a "conservative" area d) discover that women in Abu Dhabi society secretly wear the latest New York fashions under their burqas and e) have to deal with ancient cabs. Not to mention that they brought a trainload of luggage to the Middle East that somehow ends up on the airplane with them, even though no effort was made to ensure its arrival at the airport.
The only thing that actually made me chuckle was the cameo by Ron White as Miranda's new boss. But even this has made me think, is this an intended slight at blue-collar America? Take a very funny comedian that rustic America likes and label him as a misogynist asshole?
The film has its audience. Perhaps they liked it. I know that I didn't.
Overall: Bad
Other Sites: Wikipedia * IMDb * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Stars: Sarah Jessica-Parker * Kim Cattrall * Cynthia Nixon * Kristin Davis * Chris Noth
Story: Carrie Bradshaw (SJP) is having a crisis in adjusting to marriage. Charlotte (Davis) is having a crisis in dealing with an attractive nanny. Miranda (Nixon) is having a crisis in balancing family and work. Samantha (Cattrall) is having a crisis dealing with menopause. After witnessing the marriage of their two gay friends Stanford and Anthony, Samantha gets an offer from a sheikh to visit Abu Dhabi and set up a PR campaign for his new hotel. She accepts only on the condition that all four women can go.
Thus the scene is set for hijinks as cultures clash.
Review: Trash.
Okay, that's coming from a guy who never watched the series (maybe all of 10 minutes of a single episode) or the first movie. But seriously. We've got four fashion mavens who extol the "virtues" of Western society, which in this case means wearing fancy and expensive (and quite commonly ugly) clothes, paying lip service to equality and fraternity with benighted minorities (gay men in the West, women in the Middle East) and avoiding the larger issues at hand.
I can't quite tell if the film is supposed to be a satire of Western values or not. Suffice it to say that the film may have had the intent of offending as many people as possible. And it succeeds.
Carrie Bradshaw serves as "Best Man" to her gay BFF Stanford and argues the point with her newly minted husband "Mr. Big" (Noth) that it's a "marriage", not a "gay marriage", yet the film portrays the wedding with lavish style and pomp, including a chorus of gay men in white suits and Liza Minelli ("Okay", she concedes later, "it's a gay wedding.") Both grooms (called "brooms" in their description, to combine "bride" and "groom") are outlandish in the extreme, and confess that Stanford gets the wedding while Anthony gets to cheat on him in the 45 states where gay marriage isn't legal.
Due to an offhanded comment by Samantha, Charlotte spends most of the film worried that her husband (played by Evan Handler, otherwise known as the dead guy in the bathrobe that visits Hurley in Lost) may cheat on her simply due to the nanny's large breasts and habit of going braless. Miranda is a successful attorney that has little time for family life, owing to a new boss. Samantha spends the running time of the movie complaining about her lack of libido due to anti-drug laws in Abu Dhabi. All three are succinctly resolved by a few lines of narration by Carrie at the end of the film. (Charlotte's nanny is a lesbian, Miranda quit and found a better job, Samantha is overwhelmed by lust for a Danish architect they met in Abu Dhabi).
The film's main concern is not any development on the part of the characters - all four start with an issue, gloss over it until the end, and have a short reconciliation of the matter due to either alcohol or narration. Apparently, the main concern is "Women need a break every once in a while from being married."
And I left out the innumerable shots of erections, men in speedos, bare-chested beefcake, fashion and glitz. I discovered I'm really not the audience for this, but apparently teenage girls (Miley Cyrus appears), women with unsatisfied lives (I can't count the number of sighs, oohs, and ahs I heard from the group of women sitting near me), and gay men (likewise).
Is this film really the appropriate venue for a discussion of how Abu Dhabi wastes its income on glitz in an attempt to become the financial hub of the Middle East? Probably not - but one sees ample food laid out untouched by the four women when they dine. The audience is treated to the method of employment used by businesses in Abu Dhabi - hire out cheap labor from other poor countries in order to serve themselves and Western visitors. Yet, it's only superficially touched upon by the film in order to serve the interests of the question of taking a break from marriage; the response by the Indian butler is that every time he and his wife get together, it is like meeting again for the first time.
Miranda spends the time in Abu Dhabi attempting to learn Arabic and some of the customs. She even tries to convince Samantha to dress modestly. Yet, in most of the shots of Carrie and Charlotte, deep cleavage is revealed, their familiarity with the men around them is suspect (apparently being intelligent doesn't lead them to hear of stories of Westerners getting arrested and/or deported for activities offensive to the natives), etc. Eventually it redounds to Samantha "kissing" the Danish architect (named Rikard Spirit, but dubbed "Dick Spurt" by Samantha) on the beach and getting arrested, which leads the women to getting basically kicked out of the country.
This sets up a slightly comic scene as the four are rushing to leave the country and Carrie discovers that during a shopping trip, she left her passport at a vendor's stand. For the last twenty minutes of the film, the four are crying about being possibly forced to fly coach (oh, the humanity) back to the States while they are subject to a) trying to locate the passport b) getting derailed into a sleazy counterfeit shop c) confronted by angry men when Samantha's purse spills condoms onto the ground (while wearing a revealing top and shorts in a "conservative" area d) discover that women in Abu Dhabi society secretly wear the latest New York fashions under their burqas and e) have to deal with ancient cabs. Not to mention that they brought a trainload of luggage to the Middle East that somehow ends up on the airplane with them, even though no effort was made to ensure its arrival at the airport.
The only thing that actually made me chuckle was the cameo by Ron White as Miranda's new boss. But even this has made me think, is this an intended slight at blue-collar America? Take a very funny comedian that rustic America likes and label him as a misogynist asshole?
The film has its audience. Perhaps they liked it. I know that I didn't.
Overall: Bad
Other Sites: Wikipedia * IMDb * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Land of the Lost (2009)
Premise: A comedic sendup of the 1970s children's show.
Stars: Will Ferrell * Danny R McBride * Anna Friel
Story: Professor Rick Marshall (Ferrell) has become a laughingstock in the scientific community following his publication of a work where he puts forth the idea that artificially created wormholes will solve the world's energy crisis. Disgraced, he is visited by a graduate student, Holly (Friel) who believes in him and has become an outcast herself. She convinces him to test his idea at a local road sideshow, where Will (McBride) shows visitors his 'Devil's Cave' which is little more than runoff and waste.
Marshall's tachyon emitter (the device that is intended to create wormholes) actually triggers a wormhole, sending the three to the Land of the Lost, a kind of pocket alternate universe where the 'detritus of our universe' ends up - some aliens, a run-down motel, some primitive cave men, dinosaurs, and more.
The rest of the movie follows the trio's adventure as they attempt to recover the tachyon emitter, prevent the alien Sleestak from taking over Earth, and survive attacks by an intelligent tyrannosaur.
Review: The movie is a pastiche of typical Ferrell humour: stupid toilet humour, flabby belly jokes, getting stoned/drunk, whining loudly, and supposedly comical pratfalls. Ferrell follows his tried-and-true formula, of going for the easy laughs. His partners this time around, a smart-but-naive Friel and Danny R McBride (again playing his standard shtick) are respectively his foil/love interest and smartass sidekick.
Between boorish whiny Ferrell and boorish obnoxious McBride, it's clear where this movie was aiming. Unlike its brethren - the send-ups of The Brady Bunch and Starsky & Hutch - this movie doesn't aim for the brain, but for the belly. And for a while, it hits its mark.
Unfortunately, it just keeps going for the belly laugh over and over. Which gets old. Some jokes are simply unfunny. The plot with the Sleestak and the tachyon emitter is interesting, but is simply lifted from most films - bad guy wants the device, manipulates the protagonists to get it, protagonists save the day.
Friel is literally a waste in this movie, as the presence of an always-horny and perverted cave man - probably the funniest character in the movie - steals the show. Just not enough of it.
Overall: Bad
Other Sites: Wikipedia * IMDb * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Stars: Will Ferrell * Danny R McBride * Anna Friel
Story: Professor Rick Marshall (Ferrell) has become a laughingstock in the scientific community following his publication of a work where he puts forth the idea that artificially created wormholes will solve the world's energy crisis. Disgraced, he is visited by a graduate student, Holly (Friel) who believes in him and has become an outcast herself. She convinces him to test his idea at a local road sideshow, where Will (McBride) shows visitors his 'Devil's Cave' which is little more than runoff and waste.
Marshall's tachyon emitter (the device that is intended to create wormholes) actually triggers a wormhole, sending the three to the Land of the Lost, a kind of pocket alternate universe where the 'detritus of our universe' ends up - some aliens, a run-down motel, some primitive cave men, dinosaurs, and more.
The rest of the movie follows the trio's adventure as they attempt to recover the tachyon emitter, prevent the alien Sleestak from taking over Earth, and survive attacks by an intelligent tyrannosaur.
Review: The movie is a pastiche of typical Ferrell humour: stupid toilet humour, flabby belly jokes, getting stoned/drunk, whining loudly, and supposedly comical pratfalls. Ferrell follows his tried-and-true formula, of going for the easy laughs. His partners this time around, a smart-but-naive Friel and Danny R McBride (again playing his standard shtick) are respectively his foil/love interest and smartass sidekick.
Between boorish whiny Ferrell and boorish obnoxious McBride, it's clear where this movie was aiming. Unlike its brethren - the send-ups of The Brady Bunch and Starsky & Hutch - this movie doesn't aim for the brain, but for the belly. And for a while, it hits its mark.
Unfortunately, it just keeps going for the belly laugh over and over. Which gets old. Some jokes are simply unfunny. The plot with the Sleestak and the tachyon emitter is interesting, but is simply lifted from most films - bad guy wants the device, manipulates the protagonists to get it, protagonists save the day.
Friel is literally a waste in this movie, as the presence of an always-horny and perverted cave man - probably the funniest character in the movie - steals the show. Just not enough of it.
Overall: Bad
Other Sites: Wikipedia * IMDb * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Friday, May 29, 2009
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Premise: Young up-and-coming member of modern society pisses off a member of the old country. Demons, possessions, violence, and downright eerie things follow.
Stars: Alison Lohman (Matchstick Men) * Justin Long (the Mac guy) * Dileep Rao
Story: Banker Christine (Lohman) has a nice life with her milquetoast boyfriend (Long) and is working on a promotion. While doing so, she angers a local Gypsy woman (whether she's Gypsy, Hungarian, Roma, or just straight out of the Army of Darkness, you're not sure) who gets her revenge by placing a curse on the banker. Christine now has three days to get rid of the curse, or the demon summoned to avenge the wrong will take her physically to Hell.
Review: Pure Raimi. From the roving cameras to the eerie violins to the rushing winds to the madcap slapstick that occurs, this is vintage Evil Dead material. The film is a classic-style horror film - strange shit all of a sudden starts happening to an otherwise urbane twenty-something who has a limited time to save herself. Lohman does great work with the acting chops, going from sunshiney-goodness to wicked badass and proves that she can carry a genre film. Indeed, Christine could easily be seen as an inheritor of Ash, Bruce Campbell's character in Raimi's Evil Dead films, in her reactions to the weird happenings going on after her encounter with the Gypsy.
(Whether this odd timing pays off as DMtH plays against Terminator: Salvation, Up, and Night at the Museum 2 in terms of bank, I don't know, but hopefully better things are in store for Ms. Lohman. This is easily a film that would do well against the expected Saw-type tripe that will appear this Halloween season.)
Long, Rao and the rest of the cast are merely supporting characters with little to do except carry scenes and dialogue. The film is a basic character-study (what would any twentysomething do to avoid being sent to Hell?) and plot. It moves quickly, going from ominous to threatening, to grotesque to wicked funny to scary. It's driven by the music of genre regular Christopher Young and reminds one of Raimi's horror trilogy - sudden violins, troubling bass, all playing off sound effects designed for gotcha moments and suspense building.
The movie is literally a shock-and-go supernatural horror film designed to get the pulse pounding - even when you are expecting a shock and it comes straight as predicted, I could literally feel my pulse quicken after the moment. Raimi's body of work includes films designed around this - the aforementioned Evil Dead series - and other genre pictures - Darkman, moments in Spider-Man 2 - and allows the director to manipulate the audience in a manner unlike the more subdued A Simple Plan and Spider-Man 1 & 3.
One can easily see this film becoming a member of the Raimi ouvre that appears every Halloween.
Overall: Good
Other Sites: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Stars: Alison Lohman (Matchstick Men) * Justin Long (the Mac guy) * Dileep Rao
Story: Banker Christine (Lohman) has a nice life with her milquetoast boyfriend (Long) and is working on a promotion. While doing so, she angers a local Gypsy woman (whether she's Gypsy, Hungarian, Roma, or just straight out of the Army of Darkness, you're not sure) who gets her revenge by placing a curse on the banker. Christine now has three days to get rid of the curse, or the demon summoned to avenge the wrong will take her physically to Hell.
Review: Pure Raimi. From the roving cameras to the eerie violins to the rushing winds to the madcap slapstick that occurs, this is vintage Evil Dead material. The film is a classic-style horror film - strange shit all of a sudden starts happening to an otherwise urbane twenty-something who has a limited time to save herself. Lohman does great work with the acting chops, going from sunshiney-goodness to wicked badass and proves that she can carry a genre film. Indeed, Christine could easily be seen as an inheritor of Ash, Bruce Campbell's character in Raimi's Evil Dead films, in her reactions to the weird happenings going on after her encounter with the Gypsy.
(Whether this odd timing pays off as DMtH plays against Terminator: Salvation, Up, and Night at the Museum 2 in terms of bank, I don't know, but hopefully better things are in store for Ms. Lohman. This is easily a film that would do well against the expected Saw-type tripe that will appear this Halloween season.)
Long, Rao and the rest of the cast are merely supporting characters with little to do except carry scenes and dialogue. The film is a basic character-study (what would any twentysomething do to avoid being sent to Hell?) and plot. It moves quickly, going from ominous to threatening, to grotesque to wicked funny to scary. It's driven by the music of genre regular Christopher Young and reminds one of Raimi's horror trilogy - sudden violins, troubling bass, all playing off sound effects designed for gotcha moments and suspense building.
The movie is literally a shock-and-go supernatural horror film designed to get the pulse pounding - even when you are expecting a shock and it comes straight as predicted, I could literally feel my pulse quicken after the moment. Raimi's body of work includes films designed around this - the aforementioned Evil Dead series - and other genre pictures - Darkman, moments in Spider-Man 2 - and allows the director to manipulate the audience in a manner unlike the more subdued A Simple Plan and Spider-Man 1 & 3.
One can easily see this film becoming a member of the Raimi ouvre that appears every Halloween.
Overall: Good
Other Sites: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Mumford (1999)
Premise: A mysterious psychologist has an odd take on dealing with his patients' issues.
Stars: Pruitt Taylor Vince * Mary McDonnell * Jason Lee * Alfre Woodard * Zooey Deschanel * Ted Danson * Hope Davis * Loren Dean * Martin Short
Story: Mumford (Dean) is a psychologist who has recently moved to the town of Mumford. He sees various patients, including a man who lives through his fantasies (Vince), a rich young man who has no friends (Lee), a goth trying to figure out who she is (Deschanel), and a shopaholic mother (McDonnell).
He refuses to take on a lawyer (Short) as a patient, leading to the lawyer as well as the established local psychologist and psychiatrist taking an interest in Mumford's history. He also takes the case of a young woman (Davis) who is suffering from depression, only to fall in love with her.
However, he has a past he has been trying to escape. As his competition start digging, the town's fascination with the TV show Unsolved Mysteries ends up revealing to everyone his sordid history.
Review: I liked it. Aside from the main character's history prior to arriving in the eponymous town, the movie is positive and encouraging. Dean and Davis are a cute couple, Deschanel's debut performance is indicative of her future cute and quirky characters, and Vince and McDonnell are charming in their roles.
The two plotlines - Mumford and his effect on residents of the town and the investigation initiated by the lawyer - play off each other well by pacing the movie. Additionally, the conversations with the different patients and the development of their cases provide humour as well as a slight pathos that keeps the film interesting.
There is a nice payoff at the end of the two main plots as well as the subplots.
Overall: Good
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Stars: Pruitt Taylor Vince * Mary McDonnell * Jason Lee * Alfre Woodard * Zooey Deschanel * Ted Danson * Hope Davis * Loren Dean * Martin Short
Story: Mumford (Dean) is a psychologist who has recently moved to the town of Mumford. He sees various patients, including a man who lives through his fantasies (Vince), a rich young man who has no friends (Lee), a goth trying to figure out who she is (Deschanel), and a shopaholic mother (McDonnell).
He refuses to take on a lawyer (Short) as a patient, leading to the lawyer as well as the established local psychologist and psychiatrist taking an interest in Mumford's history. He also takes the case of a young woman (Davis) who is suffering from depression, only to fall in love with her.
However, he has a past he has been trying to escape. As his competition start digging, the town's fascination with the TV show Unsolved Mysteries ends up revealing to everyone his sordid history.
Review: I liked it. Aside from the main character's history prior to arriving in the eponymous town, the movie is positive and encouraging. Dean and Davis are a cute couple, Deschanel's debut performance is indicative of her future cute and quirky characters, and Vince and McDonnell are charming in their roles.
The two plotlines - Mumford and his effect on residents of the town and the investigation initiated by the lawyer - play off each other well by pacing the movie. Additionally, the conversations with the different patients and the development of their cases provide humour as well as a slight pathos that keeps the film interesting.
There is a nice payoff at the end of the two main plots as well as the subplots.
Overall: Good
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Be Kind, Rewind (2008)
Premise: Two young men try to save a video store from the wrecking ball.
Stars: Jack Black * Mos Def * Danny Glover * Mia Farrow * Sigourney Weaver * Melonie Diaz
Story: Mike (Def) and Jerry (Black) are two young men who love a video store, Be Kind Rewind, owned by Mr. Fletcher (Glover). While Mr. Fletcher travels to try and prevent a developer from buying out the building, Mike runs the store and tries to raise enough money to prevent the buyout. Jerry, in an effort to sabotage the power company, gets electrocuted and heavily magnetized. He accidentally wipes out all of the tapes (the video store is old and only has VHS copies), leaving the store in a jam.
The duo decide to remake all of the films in order to try and keep the store going. Unfortunately, the FBI discovers their copyright violations and shuts them down. With only a week before the closure, they try to raise the money with one original film.
Review: A nice effort by all. The film relies on its one gimmick - "sweding" films, or basically remaking all of the films with Black and Def (and eventually their friends and neighbours) in all of the roles - heavily. It's humourous and engaging in the beginning yet becomes the source of the issue in the third act. Black and Def play off each other really well, driving the film.
There are some issues with the film, however. It feels unfinished and leaves the audience (or at least me) feeling unsatisfied. There are subplots, and indeed even the main plot, left with no real conclusion. Do Mos Def and Melonie Diaz work on their relationship? Does the original film convince the developer to back off, or do they end up closing shop? The film appears to end on a positive note, but as Mr. Fletcher promised a quiet ending to the film and no riots, perhaps that's the route taken. Charming, but unfilling. Like a Twinkie or a light beer.
Overall: Mediocre
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Stars: Jack Black * Mos Def * Danny Glover * Mia Farrow * Sigourney Weaver * Melonie Diaz
Story: Mike (Def) and Jerry (Black) are two young men who love a video store, Be Kind Rewind, owned by Mr. Fletcher (Glover). While Mr. Fletcher travels to try and prevent a developer from buying out the building, Mike runs the store and tries to raise enough money to prevent the buyout. Jerry, in an effort to sabotage the power company, gets electrocuted and heavily magnetized. He accidentally wipes out all of the tapes (the video store is old and only has VHS copies), leaving the store in a jam.
The duo decide to remake all of the films in order to try and keep the store going. Unfortunately, the FBI discovers their copyright violations and shuts them down. With only a week before the closure, they try to raise the money with one original film.
Review: A nice effort by all. The film relies on its one gimmick - "sweding" films, or basically remaking all of the films with Black and Def (and eventually their friends and neighbours) in all of the roles - heavily. It's humourous and engaging in the beginning yet becomes the source of the issue in the third act. Black and Def play off each other really well, driving the film.
There are some issues with the film, however. It feels unfinished and leaves the audience (or at least me) feeling unsatisfied. There are subplots, and indeed even the main plot, left with no real conclusion. Do Mos Def and Melonie Diaz work on their relationship? Does the original film convince the developer to back off, or do they end up closing shop? The film appears to end on a positive note, but as Mr. Fletcher promised a quiet ending to the film and no riots, perhaps that's the route taken. Charming, but unfilling. Like a Twinkie or a light beer.
Overall: Mediocre
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Monday, July 21, 2008
In Bruges (2008)
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: Two hitmen retire to Bruges following an assignment that went wrong, leaving one suicidal. The other receives a call from their boss to take care of the errant hit man.
Stars: Brendan Gleeson * Colin Farrell * Ralph Fiennes
Story: Two hit men Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson) travel to Bruges, Belgium after Ray accidentally kills a kid during a hit on a priest. While there, the two have witty spirited conversations about sightseeing and other topics. Ray goes out one evening and comes across a film shoot, where he meets a local thief / drug peddler and a dwarf actor. He begins a romance with the thief only to be confronted by her ex-boyfriend and partner, whom he partially blinds. He then has an evening with the dwarf and a pair of local prostitutes, inviting Ken along for the party.
The next day, Ken receives a call from their boss and his next assignment is to kill Ray for shooting the kid. Ken prepares for the job, but has a change of heart wen he finds Ray is suicidal. He sends Ray off on a train, and tells Harry (Fiennes) that he will take the consequences. Harry travels to Bruges and confronts Ken. After a discussion, he decides only to wound Ken because of his betrayal. However, when the partially blinded thief tells Harry that Ray is in Bruges, Harry shoots Ken in the neck. Ken jumps from the tower and tries to warn Ray, but dies too soon. Ray runs from Harry, and gets shot multiple times. Howevever, when shooting Ray, Harry killed the dwarf. As the dwarf was dressed in a schoolboy outfit for the movie, Harry believes he killed a kid also, and takes his own life. The movie ends with Ray in a questionable state.
Review: The film is enjoyable and reminds one of the Guy Ritchie films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch due to its witty dialogue. A memorable scene involves the two hitmen and a family of American tourists. The two lead actors are very good - Farrell as the tormented Ray and Gleeson as the experienced and jaded Ken - and make the film worth watching. Fiennes' supporting role is strictly one-note, even with a couple of good scenes with Gleeson and Farrell.
The subplots involving a dwarf American actor who believes a race war is coming, as well as Chloe, Erik (her partner), and the woman running the hostel where the two hitmen are staying are also nicely done. Smart, tight, and witty, the film is nicely diverting entertainment.
Overall: Good
Premise: Two hitmen retire to Bruges following an assignment that went wrong, leaving one suicidal. The other receives a call from their boss to take care of the errant hit man.
Stars: Brendan Gleeson * Colin Farrell * Ralph Fiennes
Story: Two hit men Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson) travel to Bruges, Belgium after Ray accidentally kills a kid during a hit on a priest. While there, the two have witty spirited conversations about sightseeing and other topics. Ray goes out one evening and comes across a film shoot, where he meets a local thief / drug peddler and a dwarf actor. He begins a romance with the thief only to be confronted by her ex-boyfriend and partner, whom he partially blinds. He then has an evening with the dwarf and a pair of local prostitutes, inviting Ken along for the party.
The next day, Ken receives a call from their boss and his next assignment is to kill Ray for shooting the kid. Ken prepares for the job, but has a change of heart wen he finds Ray is suicidal. He sends Ray off on a train, and tells Harry (Fiennes) that he will take the consequences. Harry travels to Bruges and confronts Ken. After a discussion, he decides only to wound Ken because of his betrayal. However, when the partially blinded thief tells Harry that Ray is in Bruges, Harry shoots Ken in the neck. Ken jumps from the tower and tries to warn Ray, but dies too soon. Ray runs from Harry, and gets shot multiple times. Howevever, when shooting Ray, Harry killed the dwarf. As the dwarf was dressed in a schoolboy outfit for the movie, Harry believes he killed a kid also, and takes his own life. The movie ends with Ray in a questionable state.
Review: The film is enjoyable and reminds one of the Guy Ritchie films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch due to its witty dialogue. A memorable scene involves the two hitmen and a family of American tourists. The two lead actors are very good - Farrell as the tormented Ray and Gleeson as the experienced and jaded Ken - and make the film worth watching. Fiennes' supporting role is strictly one-note, even with a couple of good scenes with Gleeson and Farrell.
The subplots involving a dwarf American actor who believes a race war is coming, as well as Chloe, Erik (her partner), and the woman running the hostel where the two hitmen are staying are also nicely done. Smart, tight, and witty, the film is nicely diverting entertainment.
Overall: Good
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Drillbit Taylor (2008)
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: Three boys starting their freshman year in high school suffer abuse at the hands of a couple of bullies and hire a bodyguard to protect them.
Stars: Owen Wilson * Leslie Mann * Danny McBride
Story: Friends Wade and Ryan are freshmen who on their first day of school attract the attention of two bullies by standing up for a small boy getting stuffed in his locker. After all three receive repeated harassment, they decide to hire a bodyguard. A homeless US Army deserter named Drillbit Taylor (Wilson) answers the call, and since he's the cheapest, they hire him.
Taylor looks at the boys as an opportunity and begins stealing items from them in order to pawn them for money. He begins to bond with them, faking a substitute teacher position in the school while he flirts with a real teacher (Mann). Eventually, the truth about his thievery catches up to him, as well as his past as a deserter. He helps the boys stand up to the bullies and takes his punishment for his actions and history, becoming a better man.
Review: While it has its moments, it's not high on the roster of Apatow-produced films. The dialogue reminds one of Superbad and Freaks and Geeks, but the plot is pretty predictable and no performances really stand out. While the kids are enjoyable, it's a pretty mediocre film.
There is an enjoyable cameo by Adam Baldwin, one of the stars of the seminal My Bodyguard from the early 1980s.
Overall: Mediocre
Premise: Three boys starting their freshman year in high school suffer abuse at the hands of a couple of bullies and hire a bodyguard to protect them.
Stars: Owen Wilson * Leslie Mann * Danny McBride
Story: Friends Wade and Ryan are freshmen who on their first day of school attract the attention of two bullies by standing up for a small boy getting stuffed in his locker. After all three receive repeated harassment, they decide to hire a bodyguard. A homeless US Army deserter named Drillbit Taylor (Wilson) answers the call, and since he's the cheapest, they hire him.
Taylor looks at the boys as an opportunity and begins stealing items from them in order to pawn them for money. He begins to bond with them, faking a substitute teacher position in the school while he flirts with a real teacher (Mann). Eventually, the truth about his thievery catches up to him, as well as his past as a deserter. He helps the boys stand up to the bullies and takes his punishment for his actions and history, becoming a better man.
Review: While it has its moments, it's not high on the roster of Apatow-produced films. The dialogue reminds one of Superbad and Freaks and Geeks, but the plot is pretty predictable and no performances really stand out. While the kids are enjoyable, it's a pretty mediocre film.
There is an enjoyable cameo by Adam Baldwin, one of the stars of the seminal My Bodyguard from the early 1980s.
Overall: Mediocre
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008)
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: A son leaves home and becomes a success. Heading back for his parents' wedding anniversary, sibling rivalries as well as new and old skeletons lead to comedy and life lessons.
Stars: Cedric the Entertainer * Martin Lawrence * James Earl Jones * Michael Clarke Duncan * Michael Epps * Mo'Nique
Story: Roscoe Jenkins (Lawrence) has left home and become a successful talk show host and author of a self-help book. After seven years, he's heading back home for his parents' wedding anniversary with a new fiancee and a son from a previous marriage.
He harbors a competitive streak with his cousin Clyde (Cedric) and resents his family - his brothers (Duncan and Epps) and sister (Mo'Nique) - as he feels that Clyde replaced him in everyone's hearts, especially his father (Jones). His return home is to prove to everyone that he's become successful and didn't need any of them. He's even taken to calling himself RJ Stevens, changing his name. His fiancee Bianca (Joy Bryant) is also very competitive, pushing the two of them into conflicts with his siblings and Clyde, culminating in him losing face in front of everyone as even his own son becomes embarassed by him.
There's also a story of an unrequited love that haunts RJ - he wanted to date Lucinda, but Clyde reneged on a bet and stole that date and his love.
Eventually there is an epiphany and a resolution to all of the recriminations and struggles and the family comes together.
Review: A funny film, but one that doesn't really surprise. There's nothing here but a paint-by-the-numbers collection of performances by all involved. It will make you laugh occasionally, but it's easily predictable.
Overall: Mediocre
Premise: A son leaves home and becomes a success. Heading back for his parents' wedding anniversary, sibling rivalries as well as new and old skeletons lead to comedy and life lessons.
Stars: Cedric the Entertainer * Martin Lawrence * James Earl Jones * Michael Clarke Duncan * Michael Epps * Mo'Nique
Story: Roscoe Jenkins (Lawrence) has left home and become a successful talk show host and author of a self-help book. After seven years, he's heading back home for his parents' wedding anniversary with a new fiancee and a son from a previous marriage.
He harbors a competitive streak with his cousin Clyde (Cedric) and resents his family - his brothers (Duncan and Epps) and sister (Mo'Nique) - as he feels that Clyde replaced him in everyone's hearts, especially his father (Jones). His return home is to prove to everyone that he's become successful and didn't need any of them. He's even taken to calling himself RJ Stevens, changing his name. His fiancee Bianca (Joy Bryant) is also very competitive, pushing the two of them into conflicts with his siblings and Clyde, culminating in him losing face in front of everyone as even his own son becomes embarassed by him.
There's also a story of an unrequited love that haunts RJ - he wanted to date Lucinda, but Clyde reneged on a bet and stole that date and his love.
Eventually there is an epiphany and a resolution to all of the recriminations and struggles and the family comes together.
Review: A funny film, but one that doesn't really surprise. There's nothing here but a paint-by-the-numbers collection of performances by all involved. It will make you laugh occasionally, but it's easily predictable.
Overall: Mediocre
Monday, July 7, 2008
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: A dreamer obsessed with kung fu gets picked to be the mystical Dragon Warrior and save the village.
Stars: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Ian McShane, Angelina Jolie
Review: A pleasant little movie. Typical fare, with silly humour, kid-friendly jokes, good animation. It's a nice addition to the list of average animated fare. It's not breathtaking, although the scenes with Tai Lung escaping the rhino-guarded prison are pretty nice. Actually, all the fights are pretty good.
It's kinda like a Karate Kid meets Legend of Drunken Master, only with plushy-friendly animals and Jack Black. Add in a superhero kung fu group and there you have it.
Overall: Mediocre
Premise: A dreamer obsessed with kung fu gets picked to be the mystical Dragon Warrior and save the village.
Stars: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Ian McShane, Angelina Jolie
Review: A pleasant little movie. Typical fare, with silly humour, kid-friendly jokes, good animation. It's a nice addition to the list of average animated fare. It's not breathtaking, although the scenes with Tai Lung escaping the rhino-guarded prison are pretty nice. Actually, all the fights are pretty good.
It's kinda like a Karate Kid meets Legend of Drunken Master, only with plushy-friendly animals and Jack Black. Add in a superhero kung fu group and there you have it.
Overall: Mediocre
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Bandidas (2006)
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie
Premise: Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek as young women out to avenge their fathers' deaths.
Stars: Penelope Cruz, Salma Hayek, Steve Zahn, Dwight Yoakam
Review: Honestly I didn't expect much out of a film that disappeared from the theater faster than you can blink. But it surprised me. Cruz and Hayek are both delightful - and pleasant to the eyes - as Maria and Sara, respectively, who are out to prove that the bank which had their fathers killed is not to be respected. They begin robbing banks - not for the money but in order to demonstrate that the banks are not safe and that the people of Mexico should not put their money in them. This will - hopefully - drive the bank out of the country.
While they do this, they are pursued by Dwight Yoakam - in a send-up of almost every Western bad guy - who draws a number of laughs even when he's menacing. Steve Zahn plays an investigator from New York who is drawn to both women as they compete to prove who's the better woman - they keep kissing him in full view of the other in order to prove to themselves and to each other that they are better.
It's a cute Western comedy.
Overall: Mediocre
Premise: Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek as young women out to avenge their fathers' deaths.
Stars: Penelope Cruz, Salma Hayek, Steve Zahn, Dwight Yoakam
Review: Honestly I didn't expect much out of a film that disappeared from the theater faster than you can blink. But it surprised me. Cruz and Hayek are both delightful - and pleasant to the eyes - as Maria and Sara, respectively, who are out to prove that the bank which had their fathers killed is not to be respected. They begin robbing banks - not for the money but in order to demonstrate that the banks are not safe and that the people of Mexico should not put their money in them. This will - hopefully - drive the bank out of the country.
While they do this, they are pursued by Dwight Yoakam - in a send-up of almost every Western bad guy - who draws a number of laughs even when he's menacing. Steve Zahn plays an investigator from New York who is drawn to both women as they compete to prove who's the better woman - they keep kissing him in full view of the other in order to prove to themselves and to each other that they are better.
It's a cute Western comedy.
Overall: Mediocre
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Get Smart (2008)
Resources: IMDb * Wikipedia
Premise: A spy comedy where an analyst gets his dream of being a field agent.
Directed by: Peter Segal
Stars: Steve Carell, Anne Hathway, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Alan Arkin, Masi Oka, James Caan, Terence Stamp, Terry Crews
Review: In a theatrical conversion of the 1960s/70s camp series, Steve Carell plays Maxwell Smart, a brilliant CONTROL analyst (whose thoroughness is played to comedic effect) who aspires to be a field agent. Needless to say, he gets called up when it is discovered that the evil organization CHAOS has learned of the identities of all CONTROL agents. Paired up with Agent 99 (Hathaway) who has recently undergone plastic surgery, Smart must learn what CHAOS is up to when a weapons facility in Chechnya is attacked.
Carell again basically plays Carell, a 40-something basically playing just beyond his capability - forcing him to step up. He's done this in the 40-Year Old Virgin, The Office, Evan Almighty, Dan in Real Life and others. You never get the sense that Carell is trying to reach as an actor, but he's really enjoyable in this role. Hathaway and the others are great foils for his act, and often provide quite humourous moments themselves - Arkin throwing himself at the Vice-President, the interplay between the agents and the analysts among others.
It's not a straight spoof in the sense of Top Secret! or even the original series, but is more of an Our Man Flint-type movie, where actual spying and adventure take place with lots of humour. Some of the famous lines from the series are used, but appear often misplaced and do not elicit the intended laughs, whereas some low-brow moments and quips generate genuine guffaws.
Overall: Good
Premise: A spy comedy where an analyst gets his dream of being a field agent.
Directed by: Peter Segal
Stars: Steve Carell, Anne Hathway, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Alan Arkin, Masi Oka, James Caan, Terence Stamp, Terry Crews
Review: In a theatrical conversion of the 1960s/70s camp series, Steve Carell plays Maxwell Smart, a brilliant CONTROL analyst (whose thoroughness is played to comedic effect) who aspires to be a field agent. Needless to say, he gets called up when it is discovered that the evil organization CHAOS has learned of the identities of all CONTROL agents. Paired up with Agent 99 (Hathaway) who has recently undergone plastic surgery, Smart must learn what CHAOS is up to when a weapons facility in Chechnya is attacked.
Carell again basically plays Carell, a 40-something basically playing just beyond his capability - forcing him to step up. He's done this in the 40-Year Old Virgin, The Office, Evan Almighty, Dan in Real Life and others. You never get the sense that Carell is trying to reach as an actor, but he's really enjoyable in this role. Hathaway and the others are great foils for his act, and often provide quite humourous moments themselves - Arkin throwing himself at the Vice-President, the interplay between the agents and the analysts among others.
It's not a straight spoof in the sense of Top Secret! or even the original series, but is more of an Our Man Flint-type movie, where actual spying and adventure take place with lots of humour. Some of the famous lines from the series are used, but appear often misplaced and do not elicit the intended laughs, whereas some low-brow moments and quips generate genuine guffaws.
Overall: Good
Friday, June 27, 2008
Better Off Dead
Resources: IMDb * Wikipedia
Premise: High school skier loses girlfriend to jock, decides to do something drastic to get her back, and learns more about living and life along the way
Stars: John Cusack, Curtis Armstrong, Diane Franklin, David Ogden Stiers, Amanda Wyss
Review: One of Cusack's seminal teen heartthrob roles sees him as Lane Myer, local ski enthusiast. He's obsessively in love with his girlfriend, but loses the opportunistic wench to a local self-absorbed "King of the Mountain" type jock. He keeps thinking of ways to kill himself, always deciding to not follow through at the last minute. He has friends in Curtis "Booger" Armstrong, and meets the foreign exchange student next door.
It's a typical 80s teen movie (this and One Crazy Summer are nearly the same film, albeit with a different cast and plot), but Cusack makes you love the film regardless. It's filled with memorable vignettes, including an obsessive (see the familiar theme?) paperboy, a stop-motion sequence with a hamburger set to Van Halen's "Everybody Wants Some", a cameo from Porky himself (the bad guy from the Porky's film series, not Porky Pig), and downhill skiing.
Rating: Good
Premise: High school skier loses girlfriend to jock, decides to do something drastic to get her back, and learns more about living and life along the way
Stars: John Cusack, Curtis Armstrong, Diane Franklin, David Ogden Stiers, Amanda Wyss
Review: One of Cusack's seminal teen heartthrob roles sees him as Lane Myer, local ski enthusiast. He's obsessively in love with his girlfriend, but loses the opportunistic wench to a local self-absorbed "King of the Mountain" type jock. He keeps thinking of ways to kill himself, always deciding to not follow through at the last minute. He has friends in Curtis "Booger" Armstrong, and meets the foreign exchange student next door.
It's a typical 80s teen movie (this and One Crazy Summer are nearly the same film, albeit with a different cast and plot), but Cusack makes you love the film regardless. It's filled with memorable vignettes, including an obsessive (see the familiar theme?) paperboy, a stop-motion sequence with a hamburger set to Van Halen's "Everybody Wants Some", a cameo from Porky himself (the bad guy from the Porky's film series, not Porky Pig), and downhill skiing.
Rating: Good
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