Mini Reviews

I have been slacking lately, and I promise to pick up the pace for all my loyal readers (haha). Anyway, I've seen a few movies this year that I haven't had time to write about so I figured I would write a little something about them before moving on to the SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS (read: Godzilla, which is literally the only thing I care about right now).

Endless Love
Stars: Alex Pettyfer, Gabriella Wilde
Plot: A sheltered rich girl falls for a charismatic bad boy and they fall crazy in love with each other. Dance parties, breaking and entering, and burning down houses ensues.
Thoughts: I mean, the movie was decent. There is nothing special about it, but I also seriously didn't mind starring at Alex Pettyfer (he so pretty) for an hour and a half. Plus, he and Wilde had a really sweet chemistry. And she is just about the prettiest girl I've ever seen. And it just occurred to me that the only redeeming qualities this movie had are its pretty stars.
Grade: C-

Bad Words
Stars: Jason Bateman
Plot: A grown man finds a loophole and decides to enter a child's spelling bee. Bateman's character is pretty much the most terrible person that ever walked the face of the Earth as he bad mouths and tortures kids, knocking them out of the tournament one by one.
Thoughts: Hilarious is a good word for it. Bateman, who also directed, knocks it out of the park with this very funny, very dirty, very raw movie. My only concern with it was that it felt really, really long and it was only 90 minutes. FYI: That's a sign of a bad editor. If a movie is short and feels long, you've got a bad editor on your hands. Inversely, if a movie is long and feels short, give that editor an Oscar!
Grade: B

Draft Day
Stars: Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Chadwick Boseman
Plot: A day in the life of the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns as he struggles to make big decision regarding the NFL draft. Unfortunately, no cameos from Johnny Manziel.
Thoughts: I liked this movie, especially the last third of it which is unrealistic but still hugely exciting (and, just so you know, the real draft is not even close to being that exciting). The movie is mostly held together by the endless charms of Kevin Costner. But the strange editing (split scenes, characters walking through said split screens and crossing into a different space) is really off-putting and distracting. Chadwick Boseman absolutely kills it as a hopeful Brown.
Grade: C

Neighbors
Stars: Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Seth Rogen, Dave Franco
Plot: A Frat moves next door to a pair of new parents who are struggling to grow up and still be cool.
Thoughts: This movie is super funny, if not a little heavy handed. Neighbors sort of assumes that the audience is really stupid, spelling things out for you, like we can't just pick up on the hints that Byrne and Rogen are struggling with not being young or hip anymore, or that Efron is the golden boy who is terrified of the future. They have to hit you over the head with these things, saying them out loud. Still, Neighbors is definitely a good time. Byrne steals the show, and it's really nice to see a comedy that lets the woman actually be funny and not uptight or something. Also, Zac Efron's abs are a thing of beauty and perfection and I almost never want to see another man besides him shirtless ever again. See it for his abs alone!
Grade: B

Fading Gigolo
Stars: John Turturro, Woody Allen
Plot: An aging florist decides to become a gigolo and is pimped out by his neighbor.
Thoughts: Ugh. This movie is dreadful. First of all, if you are blessed enough to have Woody Allen appear in your movie (he hasn't appeared in a movie that he hasn't written/directed in decades), then you should probably give him the script and let him do a once over on the whole thing. The script is absolutely terrible, with characters acting certain ways with no purpose whatsoever. Nothing anyone does in this movie makes any sense whatsoever. It's terrible. Stay away.
Grade: D

This is the End

I'm sort of torn with how I feel about This is the End. When I left the theater, all I could think about was how damn stupid and pointless it all was. But as days pass and I think about it more and more, I'm left remembering the parts that were really funny. Plus, another movie starring most of these guys - Knocked Up - took quite a while to really grow on me. Now I love it, but that wasn't the case when I first saw it.

This is the End stars real life friends Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson as themselves. They find themselves at a house party at Franco's new super mansion. Other guests at the party include Mindy Kaling, Michael Cera, Jason Segal, Paul Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Aziz Ansari, Kevin Hart, Emma Watson, and, even Rihanna. Soon, the apocalypse happens. Jay and Seth only realize this because they take a party break to walk to a convenience store to get some cigarettes. Everyone at the party think it's an earthquake (or, in one instance, that the Lakers won). Soon, just about every one at the party is sucked into hell except our stars who are left to tough out the end of the world at Franco's house with very few supplies and very weird art.

The best parts of This is the End are damn funny. The two moments that stick out in my mind are their homemade sequel to Pineapple Express starring Jonah Hill as Woody Harrelson, and Franco riffing on art (did you know Subway sandwiches are art??). Pretty much every (limited) line that comes out of Michael Cera's mouth is gold, but they make a huge mistake by killing him off in the first ten minutes. I sincerely love every person in this movie and I have since watching Rogen and Franco on Freaks and Geeks, Baruchel on Undeclared and Jonah (my favorite Jonah!) in everything. That's why I wanted to love this movie so badly. This cast is fantastic and you could tell they are friends in real life. They have a chemistry that is so natural and they make fun of each other the way only friends can. Franco and McBride steal the show by a mile. They are both hilarious and over the top, playing wild versions of themselves. McBride is the loud mouth, trouble starter turned cannibal (!!) and Franco is the pretentious art lover with a sort of obsession with Rogen.

But there are problems here. Rogen also co-wrote and co-directed the film with Evan Goldberg (who he also co-wrote Superbad, probably the best comedy of the last decade, with). I'm not entirely sure they know how to direct a movie, but at the very least they know how to string a bunch of you tube worthy clips together into some sort of cohesive entitity that has a very loose sort of plot and a very general good-natured quality. This isn't entirely a compliment. If these guys want to take the step into directing, they are going to need to learn some sort of craft. They could just always count on calling their funny friends to help them out (although, that seems to work for Judd Apatow). The biggest problem with This is the End is that the basic plot is pretty dumb. And it just keeps getting more outlandish (an exorcism scene) and more outlandish (cannibals) and more outlandish (multi-headed dragons!) and more outlandish (the final scene, which I won't spoil, but which is, possibly, the most ridiculous thing you will see on the screen this year, if not this decade).

So, it's sort of shame that they decided to go in such a far out direction with this film. They could have done an end of the world theme where they didn't really show anything happened but kept it all at a house while a bunch of spoiled celebrities tried to survive while talking about masterbation and while Jonah Hill keeps referring to himself as "America's Sweetheart." It would have been a much better movie, in my opinion. And who knows? Maybe I'll watch This is the End again some time and it will grow on me a bit more. But, for now, the ridiculous aspects ruined what was a perfectly funny movie for me.

Grade: C

DVD Mini Reviews

Time again to get caught up on some of the 2012 movies I've missed in theaters.

Girl in Progress
Starring: Eva Mendes, Matthew Modine, Cierra Ramirez, Patricia Arquette
Plot: A young girl with a flighty mom decides to become a woman and experience certain cliched coming of age actions in order to grow up.
Thoughts: I guess this was the movie that was supposed to make me a believer in Mendes and her acting talents but it didn't quite work that way. The only parts of the movie that are at all interesting, are the ones featuring Ramirez, who is sort of a find and needs a better movie than this.
Grade: C-

Lola Versus
Starring: Greta Gerwig, Joel Kinnaman, Bill Pullman
Plot: Lola has a pretty great life, engaged to a hottie and just about to finish graduate school, but then her life is turned upside down when her fiancee unceremoniously dumps her and she has to try to figure out things while her life becomes more and more of a mess.
Thoughts: I sort of loved this movie. I know that it wasn't necessarily a good movie but it was quirky and cute and Gerwig is totally loveable, even as Lola is making all kinds of bad decisions. Maybe it was just a good movie for me at a certain time in my life, but I liked it.
Grade: B

Take This Waltz
Starring: Michelle Williams, Luke Kirby, Seth Rogen
Plot: A seemingly happily married woman meets a stranger on a business trip and falls hard for him. This is further complicates her life when she realizes that he is her neighbor.
Thoughts: I mean, if you can get over Michelle Williams talking like a baby and being a generally bad person, then the movie isn't so bad. Luke Kirby, who I've never seen before, is sort of the saving grace of the film. He is so fun to watch and Kirby and Williams have great chemistry. Still, this movie is more annoying than good.
Grade: C-

The Raven
Starring: John Cusack, Alice Eve
Plot: In the last days of Edgar Allan Poe, he becomes involved in solving a series of murders that are based upon his stories.
Thoughts: Why, John Cusack, why??? This movie is a huge, terrible mess. I kept telling myself, "It can't be that bad, right?" Well, yes, yes, it can. Also, the acting M.O. of just about everyone in the movie seems to be: Let's all yell as loud as we can and assume that this shows emotion.
Grade: D

Ruby Sparks
Starring: Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Chris Messina
Plot: A young man struggling with writing and relationships finds a way out of it by writing the perfect woman... who comes to life and starts living with him.
Thoughts: I loved this movie so much. It was super cute although it did have its flaws. Kazan, who also wrote the film, is beyond adorable and she and Dano have a great, natural chemistry.
Grade: B (B+ if I'm feeling nice on any given day)

Horror Movie Month: Frozen / 30 Days of Night + 50/50

FROZEN
The stars: Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers, Emma Bell
The gist: Two longtime friends and one of their girlfriends go away for a weekend ski trip. After bribing the lift operator to let them take one more trip up the mountain, they get stuck on the lift after it gets closed down for the night. Since this ski resort is only open on weekends and it happens to be Sunday night, the threesome are stuck dealing with freezing temperatures, frost bite and wolves!
The scares: It's not scary, per se, just very intense and kind of thrilling. But just because it's not scary doesn't mean it isn't good, because it is. In fact, it's a whole lot better than it needs to be.
The body count: Since there are only three characters, telling you that would be a huge spoiler. Plus, the end is sort of ambiguous.
The grade: B+

30 DAYS OF NIGHT
The stars: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Ben Foster, Danny Huston, Mark Boone Jr.
The gist: Every year Barrow, Alaska is plunged into darkness for 30 consequetive days. Many of the townspeople can't deal and flee but some stick it out. So, in the greatest vampire set up ever, a group of blood suckers show up to wreak havoc on the ones who stay.
The scares: These vampires don't glitter. These vamps are scary as hell. They are fast and their teeth look more like shark teeth than flimsy little vampire teeth. I've seen this movie before but forgot how good and scary it truly is. Definitely one of the best vampire films of the 2000s.
The body count: Somewhere over 100!
The grade: B

50/50
This one has nothing to do with Halloween or horror movies but I saw it recently and must say I was very pleased with it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a super heathly twenty something who suddenly discovers he has a rare form of spinal cancer and only a 50% chance of surviving. So, he tries to deal with the fact that he may die. Along for the ride in this charming, heartwarming, funny, semi-raunchy film are Seth Rogen as his loveable best friend, Anjelica Huston as his over bearing mom, Bryce Dallas Howard (who between this and The Help, may be the most hateable woman in Hollywood this year) as his cheating girlfriend and scene stealer Anna Kendrick as his therapist struggling to get things right with her third patient ever. Those who thought Kendrick's performance in Up in the Air was a fluke (I admit, I was one of them) will be delighted to see just how damn good she is in this movie. While everyone else is damn good in this charmer, she steals the show and just might find herself nominated for another Oscar!
Grade: B+

The Green Hornet (DVD)

Well, the good news is that The Green Hornet is not the worst movie of the year. That's not to say it's good, or even average, but it is not terrible. The thing about it is there is a lot of talent involved and it's almost sort of a shame that it is as bad, or really, as grating as it is. Director Michel Gondry is responsible for directing one of the best movies of the 2000s (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and his direction here is fine. It's just a shame he couldn't craft a better film.

The Green Hornet stars Seth Rogen (who also co-wrote with his Superbad/Pineapple Express writing partner Evan Goldberg) as spoiled, cocky rich brat Britt Reid. And there's your first problem. Or actually, first two problems. First of all, I'm sorry but Seth Rogen will never be a charismatic leading man action hero. He's lost a lot of weight and he looks great, but he will always be the slightly chubby, adorable teddy bear of a dude that you meet at a bar and want to get a drink with and maybe eat some burgers and get high and talk about comic books. Second of all, his character is so highly unlikeable that it is nearly impossible to cheer for him in any way. He's a jerk. A rich, spoiled dick who treats his bestie Kato (Jay Chou) like shit and nearly sexually harasses his brand new secretary, Lenore (Cameron Diaz). Anyway, after the sudden death of his billionaire publishing mogul dad (Tom Wilkinson), he takes over the responsibilities of running a newspaper and decides to become a superhero with the help of Kato, who is kind of bad ass and a martial arts expert. Needless to say, Kato does all the work but Reid takes all the credit. They beat up a lot of gang members and drug dealers but the ultimate showdown comes when they get mixed up with the man who practically runs the L.A. crime scene, Chudnofksy (Christoph Waltz).

And there's where it gets mildly interesting. Not the story line. No, that is watered down and so boggled down with mythology and back story and silliness that it doesn't even really matter. I mean, really, the entire third act is a fucking joke, so ridiculous and over the top, that it's not even entertaining. No, the interesting part is Christoph Waltz, who is magnetic on screen. He is evil incarnate, if he wants to be, but also funny as hell. This is why he won an Oscar for his brilliant portrayal in Inglourious Basterds. It's a shame there isn't really much for him to work with here. The terrible script (and Seth and Evan wrote a BRILLIANT script for Superbad!) almost turns him into a caricature, but Waltz manages to craft a bit of a believable comic book villain out of the crap he has to work with. He's simply fascinating to watch. The only other mildly enjoyable parts of the movie were the cameos by James Franco (!!) and Edward Furlong (!!!). Other than that, and I'm sorry to say it, this movie is a mess.

Grade: D+

Porn, Angelina and a wedding...

Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Well, if you expect Zack and Miri to make a porno that's what you are going to get. Here's the thing: if you like Kevin Smith and his 'humor' then you will probably like this movie. If you don't, then you won't. Kevin Smith is very, very hit or miss for me. I liked Dogma and Chasing Amy and that's about it. Call me pretentious, but I like my comedy without dick and fart jokes (and that's just the tip of the iceberg in this movie). Still, it's not all bad. Smith manages to mix the sweetness in with the naughtiness and that actually works for the most part. It doesn't hurt that Seth Rogen (Zack) and Elizabeth Banks (Miri - trying not to look like the goddess bombshell that she is) have great comedic chemistry together. Their love story is actually borderline believable. Everyone knows the plot by now - Zack and Miri can't pay their bills so they decide to make a quick buck the old fashion way - making porn. They enlist help from Craig Robinson (the scenestealer best known as Daryl on The Office), Jason Mewes (Kevin Smith's muse who does full frontal) and a couple of actual porn stars. Then there's Justin Long who all but steals the show in his brief ten minute or so part. For me, Zack and Miri was hit and miss. At times it was very, very funny. At times it was very, very touching. At times it was just silly. And at times it went just a little too far.
Grade: C+

Changeling - About five years ago, Clint Eastwood directed the shit out of a movie called Mystic River. For my money, there were few films better directed than that film. After making something so near perfect (not to mention other great turns with Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters to Iwo Jima), how could Eastwood possibly make a film so... sloppy. Maybe sloppy isn't necessarily the word. The movie starts out like a Lifetime film (not necessarily a bad thing since I've been known to watch a Lifetime movie or two in my day) and eventually turns into a crime procedural. The beginning half works very well. Eastwood makes old school Los Angeles look and feel just right. It doesn't hurt that he's got a top notch performance from Angelina Jolie to work with. As a young mother searching for her son who has gone missing, she's phenominal. There is one particular scene - you've seen it in the trailer when she's yelling "I want MY son back" - that is particularly emotional once you see it in context (SPOILER ALERT - she's actually yelling this at the ten year old boy pretending to be her son). As no real fan of Angelina (I can't think of one thing I actually liked her in...), I'm a big enough person to admit she's stellar and worthy of that Oscar nomination. Still, the second half of the movie falls apart and it's mostly due to some poor editing. Make that very poor editing. There's a particular sequence that jumps between two courtroom scenes that is just jarringly bad. It's almost unthinkable that someone who is as much of a pro as Eastwood would let a sequence in his film. All in all, Changeling isn't necessarily bad... it's just mediocre.
Grade: C

Rachel Getting Married - First off, I love hand held camera work probably more than anything when it's done well. And in Rachel Getting Married, it's done very, very, very well. Jonathan Demme goes for a raw, emotional, intimate feel with his direction and it was a great decision. There's a lot to praise about Rachel Getting Married, starting with the great camera work, continuing on to the smart, clever and emotionally powerful script and finishing with a quartet of stellar performances (from best to even better - Bill Irwin as an overprotective father, Anne Hathaway as an emotionally stunted, volatile young woman recently released from rehab, Debra Winger as a passive/aggressive mother and RoseMarie DeWitt as the titular Rachel, struggling with a sister who constantly steals the spotlight, even on her big wedding day). Still, there's a little bit to dislike as well, starting with a rehearsal dinner that seems like it takes five days (do we really need to see EVERYONE'S toast? we can't just see one or two?), continuing on to a completely waste of space with a dishwasher scene that lasts way too long and finishing with a final act that does little to advance the plot. Nothing really happens in the last ten minutes or so. We spend too much time dancing at a wedding and not enough time dealing with this emotionally stunted dysfuntional family. Still, in the end, Rachel Getting Married is this powerful, viscious, cruel, dangerous film that is also pretty damn good.
Grade: B

Tomorrow - The hidden gem of 2008 and Bill Murray in a tree. Also, I may or may not confess my love for Emily Mortimer.

Superbad, Becoming Jane

Superbad - Superbad is pretty much one of the funniest movies I have ever seen in my entire life. It is definitely the funniest movie of the year. I can't remember when I laughed harder. The plot is quite simple: Three high school friends (the brilliant Michael Cera plays Evan, Jonah Hill plays Seth and Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays McLovin) are on a quest, during one of the last weekends before graduation, to get alcohol and sex. In that order. While the plot is quite simple, naturaly, nothing really works out as planned. I don't want to divulge too much and take away from the wonderfully concocted craziness of the script but let's just say that two slacker cops (SNL's Bill Hader and co-screenwriter and Knocked Up star Seth Rogen) show up to portray the best/worst cops in the history of film. Apparently Rogen and his pal Evan Goldberg wrote the script together when they were actually in high school. You can tell. These kids talk like they are in high school. These kids act like they are in high school. Nothing is watered down at all. And it's wonderful. This movie takes the raunchiness of Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin and wears the vulgarity proudly. This is bound to become a cult classic. It's the Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Dazed and Confused of the myspace generation. This movie captures the sometimes hellish existence of adolescence perfectly. Hill and Cera have amazing chemistry together. Hill is manic and crazy, rocking a Richard Pryor t-shirt and a Jew fro. He finally gets to showcase just how funny he truly is. His overexuberance plays perfectly off of Cera's pitch perfect awkward, dead pan. He's the well-meaning, respectful nerd. He is the king of the awkward pause and uncomfortable silence. They play best friends the way only two people who have actually hung out together can play best friends. Their chemistry is wonderful. Hader and Rogen are a joy to watch as two outlandish cops. They try to steal the show but the script and performances are just so tight that no one really steals anything. The entire cast works together beautifully. But, it is probably new actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse that you'll remember in twenty years. This is his first acting role EVER! He is the coolest geek since "Terry the Toad" in American Graffiti. Mintz-Plasse plays Fogell - or McLovin which is the name he choses for his fake ID. He's more than memorable as he gets into one crazy situation after another with the crazy cops. If you want to laugh from beginning to end, then you absolutely have to see Superbad. In fact, see it twice since you'll probably be laughing so hard you'll miss some of the funny parts. This movie is definitely bonafide badass.

Grade: A-

Becoming Jane - So, I've tried to write this review three times now and it won't let me so here is the shortened version: Becoming Jane is more or less Pride and Prejudice: Redux. James McAvoy is brilliant, sexy, charming, vibrant, sexy, electrifying, sexy. Maggie Smith and James Cromwell are underused. Anne Hathaway just can't carry a movie by herself. Sorry. Someone explain to me why people keep refering to her as 'pretty'? The script is mediocre. The ending is great. James McAvoy skinny dips which is worth the price of admission alone. The cinematography is solid. The editing could have been better. There is some humor, some good points but the movie is mostly boring. Oh, and if James McAvoy ever says the words "Run away with me" to me. I'm going. Don't expect a note or a letter or a goodbye. I'm going. I don't care if he's poor. Those blue eyes alone are enough to keep me satisfied. This has been your shortened review.
Grade: C-

Waitress and Knocked Up

Waitress - Waitress is the kind of movie that I can't imagine anyone NOT liking. It's a thouroughly likeable and refreshing story. It's cute and sweet and funny, really just a wonderful gem of a movie. Written, directed and co-starring the late Adrienne Shelly (who was murdered earlier this year), the film follows Jenna (Keri Russell), a waitress at a pie diner in a small Southern town who is in a very unhappy marriage to Earl (Jeremy Sisto). She's secretly saving money in hopes to leave him but then she learns she's pregnant (after one lone drunken night). Jenna is not exactly happy about having a baby but she forms a bond with her sexy yet dorky doctor (Nathan Fillion). Soon, they are having an all out affair despite the fact that both are married and she's with child. Meanwhile, back at the pie diner, her waitress friends Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Shelly) are having romantic highs and lows as well. Becky starts an affair of her own with the cranky manager of the place and the unlucky in love Dawn meets a weird suitor who just may be her Mr. Right. Throw in the ever fiesty and adorable Andy Griffith and you've got a wonderful little movie. I'll admit it does drag a little in the middle and seems a bit contrived now and then but mostly it's a movie with a huge heart. It's as sweet as all those pies that Jenna makes during the movies (and if you like pie, this movie will probably make you hungry... lucky for me, i prefer cake). Russell is finally becoming the movie star I always knew she could be. I have loved her since her Felicity days when she was the poster girl for shy, dorky girls in love with boys who don't even know they are alive and Waitress is the perfect vehicle for her. The entire cast is wonderful and they take the already solid script to a really great place. Cheers to Griffith for being the perfect scene stealer. It's more like, scene blessing, if you think about it. All in all, Waitress is the kind of movie that you really can't help but fall in love with a little bit.

Grade: A-

Knocked Up - First of all, comedies should not be close to two and a half hours long. And the worst part? It felt like it was even longer at times. Sure, it was funny. Sometimes it was very, very funny. But for every laugh out loud funny moment, there were about five long, drawn out, overly cliched boring parts. Let me start this over... Knocked Up is a romantic comedy that is more comedy than romance about a hot journalist (Katherine Heigl) who has a drunken, unprotected one night stand with a dorky slacker (Seth Rogen). Eight weeks later, she finds out she's knocked up and contacts dorky slacker Ben in order to tell him the news and maybe get to know the father of her baby. In the course of the movie they fall in and out of love and have many a sometime funny adventure. Here's the thing about the romance angle though: I didn't buy it for a second. It's not that I don't think a hot girl like Alison could fall in love with a dorky guy like Ben because I totally, one hundred percent do. And Ben was actually adorable and funny and charming. It's just that, the script kept telling me they were really learning to like each other and falling in love but it never really showed me that. Maybe it's because I just don't like Katherine Heigl but I couldn't really connect with her character. The best part of the movie for me was Alison's sister Debbie (Leslie Mann) and her husband Pete (Paul Rudd). They are married with two kids and always fight, never want to sleep together, and just don't really get along all that well. Mann is hilarious as she accepts the fact that she's getting older (eventhough she doesn't want to) and Rudd all but steals the show when he goes to Vegas and takes mushrooms. All in all, the movie was good but by no means great. Perhaps it's just a matter of taste, though. I tend to prefer my comedy with a little more darkness instead of slacker/stoner/gross boy humor. Still, I felt the movie was very uneven and the big laughs really couldn't save it from the parts when it just seemed to drag on and on forever. As far as unexpected pregnancy romantic comedies go, Waitress is a million times funnier, more romantic and just plain better.
Grade: C+