This movie had a lot of potential. It started out really funny, and for a while they are just throwing out jokes left and right. Not every one works, but enough work that I was laughing constantly.
Then the movie gets weird, and then the movie gets serious. And it doesn't work anymore. Too much sentimentality just doesn't make this kind of movie better. It kills the momentum.
Jonah Hill and Russell Brand are both best as supporting characters, but Jonah Hill is the lead in the movie. He actually does a decent job of playing the straight man, but I think the movie would have worked better with a better actor that we can relate to. He plays Aaron, a guy working at a record company run by P. Diddy. Diddy is really enjoying playing the asshole, and he gets some laughs, but his scenes should have been trimmed just a bit.
Aaron's job is to pick up rock star Aldous Snow (Brand) and take him from London to the Greek Theater in LA in time to play a big concert. Snow is a typical rock star - all he wants to do is drink, do drugs, and get laid, and he doesn't really care if they make it to LA in time. Meanwhile Aaron's live-in girlfriend Daphne (Elisabeth Moss) works round the clock shifts at the hospital. She is offered a good job at a hospital in Seattle, and when she suggests they movie there, she and Aaron fight and split up.
There are some great cameos in the movie, including Rick Schroder, Lars Ulrich, and Tom Felton. Colm Meaney plays Aldous's dad, and he is always good. Aziz Ansari is very funny, but he is only in the first 10 minutes of the movie. I think the movie should have been about 15 minutes shorter, and they should have lost the stuff regarding Aldous's emotional issues (he is lonely and depressed, and that's why he acts the way he acts). If the movie had stuck with the funny, it would have been worth recommending.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
RUSH: Beyond the Lighted Stage - 4 stars
Full disclosure: Rush is one of my favorite bands of all time, and I play in a Rush tribute band. That being said, this is a great movie. This documentary has everything one would want to know about Rush. Even if you don't like Rush, you will find something to like in this story about three guys who wrote and recorded the music they wanted to record, and stayed true to their own musical vision (despite the interference of too many keyboards in the '80s).
The A-Team - 3 1/2 stars
I never watched the show, so I don't know how faithful the movie is to the show. But the movie was a lot of fun. The action was great and there was a lot of humor.
The Karate Kid - 2 1/2 stars
Not bad, but it should be called The Kung-Fu Kid. It also doesn't need to be 2 1/2 hours long. It is not quite as good as the original, but there is some good kung-fu fighting in it.
Full disclosure: Rush is one of my favorite bands of all time, and I play in a Rush tribute band. That being said, this is a great movie. This documentary has everything one would want to know about Rush. Even if you don't like Rush, you will find something to like in this story about three guys who wrote and recorded the music they wanted to record, and stayed true to their own musical vision (despite the interference of too many keyboards in the '80s).
The A-Team - 3 1/2 stars
I never watched the show, so I don't know how faithful the movie is to the show. But the movie was a lot of fun. The action was great and there was a lot of humor.
The Karate Kid - 2 1/2 stars
Not bad, but it should be called The Kung-Fu Kid. It also doesn't need to be 2 1/2 hours long. It is not quite as good as the original, but there is some good kung-fu fighting in it.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Splice - 3 stars
Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are research scientists. They are splicing DNA together to try and come up with new species. They're doing this to try and find new hormones to fight diseases.
One day, they create something really strange. I'm not going to tell you if it is part human. I'm not going to say whether it gets smart, and starts killing people. I'm also not going to tell you if it gets horny ...
If you like creepy horror movies, you may like this. It's more unnerving than it is scary. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I would watch it again.
One day, they create something really strange. I'm not going to tell you if it is part human. I'm not going to say whether it gets smart, and starts killing people. I'm also not going to tell you if it gets horny ...
If you like creepy horror movies, you may like this. It's more unnerving than it is scary. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I would watch it again.
Killers - 1 star
No wonder Lionsgate didn't want any critics to see this before it came out. It is so bad that I can't believe anyone wrote the dialogue and expected an audience to take it seriously.
Ashton Kutcher is a CIA assassin. He meets Katherine Heigl in Nice. He is on a job, she is on vacation with her parents, played by Tom Selleck and the great Catherine O'Hara. They meet, go out on a date, then the movie cuts to three years later. They are married, and he has quit being an assassin. He never did tell her he was an assassin, probably because he read the script and there wouldn't be a movie if he had.
The plot kicks into action when people show up trying to kill Kutcher. Of course his wife it there, and yes there is a scene where has asks her to go get his gun, and she carries it like it's a dead animal and she is afraid to touch it. Even though her dad shoots skeet in his backyard, she apparently has never handled a gun before.
I actually laughed at the movie, but that was because I saw it with friends, and we talked over it the whole time, MST3K style. There is no way to take it seriously. Kutcher and Heigl are horrible in it. The only one who actually gives a good performance is Catherine O'Hara, and it's because she knows how bad the movie is, and she is having fun with it. Tom Selleck gets some laughs too.
When the end comes and we find out who was trying to kill him and why, it is about the dumbest reveal I have ever seen. It's at this moment that I realized the filmmakers were trying to make their own version of a crappy Roger Corman b-movie.
It really sucks.
Ashton Kutcher is a CIA assassin. He meets Katherine Heigl in Nice. He is on a job, she is on vacation with her parents, played by Tom Selleck and the great Catherine O'Hara. They meet, go out on a date, then the movie cuts to three years later. They are married, and he has quit being an assassin. He never did tell her he was an assassin, probably because he read the script and there wouldn't be a movie if he had.
The plot kicks into action when people show up trying to kill Kutcher. Of course his wife it there, and yes there is a scene where has asks her to go get his gun, and she carries it like it's a dead animal and she is afraid to touch it. Even though her dad shoots skeet in his backyard, she apparently has never handled a gun before.
I actually laughed at the movie, but that was because I saw it with friends, and we talked over it the whole time, MST3K style. There is no way to take it seriously. Kutcher and Heigl are horrible in it. The only one who actually gives a good performance is Catherine O'Hara, and it's because she knows how bad the movie is, and she is having fun with it. Tom Selleck gets some laughs too.
When the end comes and we find out who was trying to kill him and why, it is about the dumbest reveal I have ever seen. It's at this moment that I realized the filmmakers were trying to make their own version of a crappy Roger Corman b-movie.
It really sucks.
Harry Brown - 2 1/2 stars
Michael Caine plays Harry Brown. His daughter died long ago, and his wife dies early in the movie. So he is all alone. His only friend is Leonard, played by David Bradley, Filch from the Harry Potter movies. Leonard and Harry meet at the local pub and play chess regularly.
The apartment complex where they live is run by a violent gang. When the gang kills Leonard, Harry goes all Charles Bronson and starts killing them off.
Michael Caine is always good. I don't think he has ever given a bad performance. Unfortunately the movie lets him down. One thing I didn't like was the look of it. It was kind of dark. Even when scenes take place in broad daylight, it had a dark look to it. The movie also didn't have any humor. I always say that it doesn't matter what kind of a movie it is, it needs to have a little humor.
I also didn't like the end. This isn't the kind of movie that needs a surprise reveal at the end. I'm OK with a character turning out to be a relative of one of the gang members. I can buy that that character doesn't want his relative to be killed, even though he knows the kid deserves it. But I don't buy it when that character is suddenly a ruthless killer himself.
Overall, the movie is dark and depressing. I can't really recommend it.
The apartment complex where they live is run by a violent gang. When the gang kills Leonard, Harry goes all Charles Bronson and starts killing them off.
Michael Caine is always good. I don't think he has ever given a bad performance. Unfortunately the movie lets him down. One thing I didn't like was the look of it. It was kind of dark. Even when scenes take place in broad daylight, it had a dark look to it. The movie also didn't have any humor. I always say that it doesn't matter what kind of a movie it is, it needs to have a little humor.
I also didn't like the end. This isn't the kind of movie that needs a surprise reveal at the end. I'm OK with a character turning out to be a relative of one of the gang members. I can buy that that character doesn't want his relative to be killed, even though he knows the kid deserves it. But I don't buy it when that character is suddenly a ruthless killer himself.
Overall, the movie is dark and depressing. I can't really recommend it.
Monday, May 31, 2010
The Square - 3 1/2 stars
Raymond and Carla are having an affair. They are both married, but neither one is really happy in their marriage. One day, Carla comes home to find her husband with a bag full of money. He doesn't notice her come in, and she secretly watches him hide it.
The next time she is with Ray, she tells him about the money. She wants him to go to her house and steal it. He says no, we would never get away with it. Her husband would figure it out. The only way to get away with it, he says, is to burn the house down so her husband thinks the money burned up.
There is the perfect plan. They hire a guy to burn the house after Carla grabs the money, and from there, everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Ray is the worst guy to commit a crime. The first time he meets the arsonist, the guy tells Ray to "wipe that guilty look off your face." Complicating the matters is the fact that Ray is also taking kickbacks at his construction job. It's hard to keep the lies straight when you are trying to get away with several things at once.
There isn't a lot of humor in this movie, but one thing I thought was funny was the way their dogs became so close. Ray and Carla each bring their dogs with them sometimes, so the dogs become friends. So when Carla's dog gets out of their yard, he runs to the river, swims across the river, and ends up at Ray's door.
The movie reminds me of Blood Simple or A Simple Plan. A very good directorial debut from Nash Edgerton, who before this was one of the top stuntmen in Australia.
The next time she is with Ray, she tells him about the money. She wants him to go to her house and steal it. He says no, we would never get away with it. Her husband would figure it out. The only way to get away with it, he says, is to burn the house down so her husband thinks the money burned up.
There is the perfect plan. They hire a guy to burn the house after Carla grabs the money, and from there, everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Ray is the worst guy to commit a crime. The first time he meets the arsonist, the guy tells Ray to "wipe that guilty look off your face." Complicating the matters is the fact that Ray is also taking kickbacks at his construction job. It's hard to keep the lies straight when you are trying to get away with several things at once.
There isn't a lot of humor in this movie, but one thing I thought was funny was the way their dogs became so close. Ray and Carla each bring their dogs with them sometimes, so the dogs become friends. So when Carla's dog gets out of their yard, he runs to the river, swims across the river, and ends up at Ray's door.
The movie reminds me of Blood Simple or A Simple Plan. A very good directorial debut from Nash Edgerton, who before this was one of the top stuntmen in Australia.
Friday, May 28, 2010
The Secret in their Eyes - 4 stars
Probably my favorite movie of the year so far. This movie won the Oscar for best foreign language movie this year. The movie is from Argentina and it is subtitled.
The movie is about a retired criminal court worker named Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) who is writing a novel about a 25 year old rape and murder case that still haunts him. The movie flashes back and forth between present day and when he first started investigating the case. His assistant Pablo Sandoval (Guillermo Francella) spends most of his time in his favorite bar, getting drunk, getting into fights, and getting kicked out by his wife. He is really good in this movie.
Benjamin is in love with his supervisor, but she is engaged to someone else. Their relationship is the heart of this movie.
If this were a typical movie, we would learn who killed the girl at the end, or we would learn who was behind it all or something like that. In this movie, we learn who did it before the halfway point. There is a surprise at the end, but it is no twist ending. It makes sense considering what we know about the characters.
This is the movie I recommend you see over the Memorial Day weekend.
The movie is about a retired criminal court worker named Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) who is writing a novel about a 25 year old rape and murder case that still haunts him. The movie flashes back and forth between present day and when he first started investigating the case. His assistant Pablo Sandoval (Guillermo Francella) spends most of his time in his favorite bar, getting drunk, getting into fights, and getting kicked out by his wife. He is really good in this movie.
Benjamin is in love with his supervisor, but she is engaged to someone else. Their relationship is the heart of this movie.
If this were a typical movie, we would learn who killed the girl at the end, or we would learn who was behind it all or something like that. In this movie, we learn who did it before the halfway point. There is a surprise at the end, but it is no twist ending. It makes sense considering what we know about the characters.
This is the movie I recommend you see over the Memorial Day weekend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
