| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Proposal - PG-13 |
Very vanilla and even knowing where, how and with whom it would end I still found myself enjoying this just enough to hold my interest.
It could have been the fact that I love Sandra Bullock as well as Ryan Reynolds (his timing is just impeccable and I really wish I had his abs!). It could have been the beautiful vistas. It might have been the tight editing and occasional snappy dialogue, good chemistry between Bullock and Reynolds, but whatever it was...it held up just enough. This is an old story, you have seen it a million times before. There is really nothing overly special about it, but the execution gave me just enough gas to get through it. I keep reading how this movie was simply "by the numbers" and I cannot disagree, but I just couldn't hate it (and please bring me more of Ms. Bullock in recently showered splendor to the screen). A solid three stars and just fine for an evening fluff affair. |
November 30, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Funny People - R |
Very impressive foray into more serious material Judd Apatow hits home with this tale of a man besieged by his own choices in life. Having forgotten where he came from reknowned comedian George Simmons (Sandler) begins to allow his darker self (exacerbated by terminal illness) to seep into his comedy. He finds himself completely out of touch with "the common man." He takes on Ira (Rogen) as his assistant to help him write jokes, but the true nature of the relationship is far deeper.
This is the story of a man who is desperately trying to connect with himself and in doing so connect with humanity...if he can find his own. This is a "Dramedy." There are some very funny moments, good jokes, and a lot of the racy stuff we expect from Apatow, but once again he infuses it with that wonderful sense of being in touch with people and who they really are and how they really speak. We aren't just bombarded with jokes we are asked to look at selfish and selflessness and what it takes to find the self once it has been lost. Very well done and forgiven for some of its foibles in loose plotlines this movie brings it home and feels just right in delivering exactly what it sets out to deliver. |
November 30, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Spring Breakdown - R |
Oh, come on! When I see names like Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, and Will Arnett paired with SNL staples like Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, and Seth Meyers I am thinking that there might be something funny going to happen even if just borne of improvisation.
I was really wrong. This was horrible. This is a Rachel Dratch creation and was stillborn. This is a very talented group who need to fire their agents for having them put into this long SNL skit cr@pfest. There were a couple of decent set ups and some funny performances and for that it gets 1.5 stars. The premise was old, the jokes were mostly stale, it basically flatlined out of the gate. I am very upset with myself for watching this through until the end and I hope that this great group will come together again in some form or another and redeem themselves having taken a few showers to get the stench off first. Miss this. |
November 30, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Star Trek - PG-13 |
Reboot and set phasers to stunning...no seriously...how is my hair? Shut up Jim, I'm a Doctor not a hairstylist!
OK, I love what Abrams has done here-A reboot, prequel, new kids on the block meet old without making any excuses kind of film and it just looks so pretty. He is not trying to recreate an old experience here, but build a new one out of the old. Our characters are delivered newly developed and while maintaining much of their original flavor (even the way Pine sits in the Captain's chair had me laughing) they are also very new. Quinto shined. Pegg was awesome. Some of the performances were 'interesting,' but I wonder if they were not meant to come off exactly as they did. The effects were really well done and even though they went for a bit more realism I could still feel a bit of the old creaky set and "don't bother asking me to explain that" retort in many scenes (please see "How I escaped from the proximity of a black hole 101" for starters). This movie will thrill old school trekkies and burgeoning new trekkies alike. We are not asked to forgive the foibles nor are we asked to forget what has come before we are simply asked to accept what is now before us in this marvelous, never-ending saga and those are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. I'm in! Come on...join me! |
November 25, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Year One - PG-13 |
I gave this 2.5 stars for being more amusing than I thought it was going to be.
While not a total bomb it fell pretty flat with obvious jokes and some really lackluster performances. It seemed as if even the cast was pretty bored with the material they were being asked to deliver. That being said, there were some "laugh out loud" moments. Enough of them that I actually wanted to see if they would push it just that much further given that I was watching the unrated version. They didn't. It wasn't completely awful, but it just was not good. We could have had some burning chili going with the concept and the actors, but cold chicken broth was what got served. See it if you are bored...or sleepy. |
November 10, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Outsourced - PG-13 |
When I began watching this film initially I was put off. It looked like a hackneyed attempt to inject comedy into a situation that has touched many Americans; Outsourcing.
What I found instead was a very insightful look into the other side of the equation-that which has touched the people who have taken these jobs. The movie goes even further to speak to the culture in India (both the beauty and the difficult) as well as the work ethic. Pair this with a lovely romance, a very touching romance at that. This sleeper gem had real heart and made me care about the characters as well as the subject matter. It also asks the viewer to look at what defines you...what really matters in life. It is most definitely a comedy and has some great laughs, but it is so much more. Excellent script, wonderful sites, perfect, fresh new faces to play the parts. See it as soon as you can. |
November 2, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Push - PG-13 |
Take an episode of "Heroes" that you didn't think too much of smush it together with the safe and boring movie "Jumper" add in some plot lines that make no sense and mix that with a way of getting to the end that is impossible to follow as there is nothing to tie it together and you have..."Push."
Much like "Jumper" I had really high hopes for this movie. Great concept (though this one we have seen), decent effects (in this case just barely decent), and a really poor execution. We have telekinetics playing with guns that so obviously look like they are on strings (I kid you not). I thought I was watching marionette mutant mafia in one scene...you'll know which one if you watch this. "Watchers" whose powers are barely defined. "Sniffers" who-well they were kind of cool. They had so many chances to take this movie so much farther and just didn't! This is a bunch of good ideas thrown together and only a few stick. The plot twists were contrived and dumfounding and not in a good way, but the entertainment factor was high when I was not getting too frustrated with the inconsistencies. Check it out if you like, but let;s hope the sequel is better as they seem to be gearing up for one. Almost 3 stars for entertainment factor only. |
October 26, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant - PG-13 | October 22, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Astro Boy (AstroBoy) - PG | October 22, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Saw VI - R | October 22, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Duplicity - PG-13 |
It has been a while since I have seen a movie that attempts to pull off something as complicated as "Duplicity." While the performances were excellent and the story very intriguing the complexities make the movie difficult to stay involved with the characters at times and it ends up stumbling over itself now and again.
Two persons brilliant in the ways of espionage seek to find the perfect game to bring the money home while they also play games with one another and search for a heart in the midst of the chaos brought about by corporate 'spy vs. spy' and subterfuge.. The banter between Owens and Roberts is fantastic and Giamatti's performance was off the charts brilliant. You could see this movie for these reasons alone. The concept is a great one and again I must stress that it has been some time since I have seen a movie try to deliver a tale that weaves in this fashion. It can come off as convoluted, but I would ask the viewer to stick with it. All in all, this movie delivers the goods in a package that can sometimes be difficult to translate. If you can follow it the payout is actually quite good. See it when you can. |
October 12, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Surrogates - PG-13 | The premise, while not wholly original, was quite sound. The acting was pretty good. Where this movie fails is in execution, predictability, PG-13, lack of depth and pretty much just plain playing it too safe to care. They could have gone so much further with this and I have read that they did, but it never made it to the screen. The movie runs under 90 minutes. It could have gone on for well over two hours had they taken the time to bring flesh to life (no pun intended). The story behind the rebellion, the conspiracies...they never ran with it. In addition, all plot turns are so transparent that the movie becomes flat out pedestrian playing to the lowest common denominator. The back-story is so cobbled together that it feels choppy and unsatisfying. NOTE: At the same time...I was pretty entertained. I love Bruce Willis in anything and he does not disappoint here save for the fact that...we don't really get to know his character as well as I would have liked. No development. The message is there, but we only geta glimpse. The premise gets a 4 reminiscent of a Phillip K. Dick sentience. The execution gets around a 2.5. A solid 3.25 to end the summer movie fare with a whisper that could have been a bang. You can wait for the DVD to see this one and hope that they bring us the "Director's Cut" with more meat. | October 8, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The X-Files - Fight the Future - PG-13 | September 28, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The X-Files: I Want to Believe (The X Files 2) - PG-13 |
I'm not sure where the complaints lie.
This movie was a better than average thriller that stood on its own apart from any knowledge of the characters going in. I think this is what made diehard fans upset...we didn't need to be privy to much beforehand to make this movie work. It is a hardcore thriller that speaks to the true evil in men's hearts as well as a bit of the supernatural. The performances were solid as was the storyline. The movie does not rely on gimmicks or special effects. There aren't big explosions or frenetic gunplay. There is just a story and a lot of tension. I think it played quite well. Were some of the ways they resolved certain issues unbelievable? Yeah, but...I want to believe (had to do it...sorry for that). The movie was taut, dark and sometimes difficult to watch and I challenge the fanboys (which I am one of) to give me a reason that this did not work for you outside you expecting your old pals Mulder and Scully to play to you. They don't. This brings me back to the early days when Carter really put his heart and soul into the writing of X-Files and Millennium. Far superior to the first X-files movie which only sought to tie up loose ends. This film is a 3.75 solid moving on 4 stars. |
September 28, 2009 | N/A | |||
| X-Men Origins - Wolverine - PG-13 |
Ok, Marvel fans forget most of what you know about the origins of Wolverine and check out this new take. Note that I did not say "new and improved," but it really isn't all that bad as long as you are looking for action over accuracy.
After reading all of the negative press I expected a real bomb, but there was none. This movie delivered its bill. Action packed, great special effects, and it was interesting to watch. The introduction of Victor gave us some pulp to chew on and the story was old, but salvageable. At the same time, we really had to suspend our disbelief over and over again. Wolvie has a big time healing factor, but he is not invulnerable as this movie would lead us to believe. There are some cheap explanations to some important questions and very little to hold on to in terms of character development and plot. We forgo the story to see the sights. Perhaps it was the fact that I was expecting so very little and got much more than I had anticipated, but a solid 3.5 stars for hardcore action and some fantastic effects which bring this eye candy to life. |
September 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Easy Virtue - PG-13 | September 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Grace - R | September 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Still Green - Unrated | September 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Gamer - R | September 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| District 9 - R | September 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Inglourious Basterds - R | September 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| 9 - PG-13 | September 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - PG | September 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Jennifer's Body - R | September 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Sunshine Cleaning - R | This is a good film, but falls short of being great in too many important areas. The story of a single Mother who has come to a crossroads and finds her passion cleaning up bloody crime scenes. As usual I do not delve too deeply into the plot so as not to spoil and there are some side stories that help with development, but we never really reach that point of completing those characters. While Adams, Blunt, Arkin, Zahn, and Collins Jr. all gave superb performances it just felt empty on so many fronts. The impetus was hinted at, but never truly fleshed out. The passion was intimated, but blunted. They miss the boat on taking this movie to a much higher ground and I was truly disappointed by that. There was a mini-documentary included that actually hinted towards a place where the movie might have gone to find more substance in detail, but those details were lost to a story that never really gets told. They could have gone darker or deeper or more humorous or more realistic, but they stayed in the middle and there they lost me. A lot of sadness and trauma. A lot of good acting. A lot of promise, but as much as I liked this movie I only liked it that much. 3.5 stars | September 15, 2009 | N/A |
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