Archive for the ‘Comedy’ Category
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
“My City Screams. She is My Lover… And I am Her Spirit.”
I was excited to see The Spirit because I’m a big Frank Miller fan. I love his visual and story-telling style. It’s not for everyone, as was evidenced by the fact that a few people left the theater halfway through watching it the day we went to see it. The movie didn’t give away all it’s cards right away, so if you have the attention span of a gnat, you won’t understand it and it can get understandably frustrating. I didn’t have any problem going with the flow and enjoying it as it unfolded. It was definitely more ‘campy’ than serious, which made it that much more fun. Based on the graphic novel series by Will Eisner, the little quirks of each character in The Spirit were so fun and charming to me, but I’m sure could be lost on others, which is why it’s not surprising that it didn’t do well at the box office. From what I’ve read, people either love it or hate it. Fans of the graphic novels seem to think it was a very close representation of the original [which I haven't read].
The Spirit is about rookie cop Denny Colt [Gabriel Macht], who comes back from the dead as the protector of ‘Central City.’ As the tagline states, ’she’ is everything to him, as is every lady he comes in contact with… the list is long and includes such beauties as the money-loving thief ‘Sand Serif’ [Eva Mendes], the spirit of Death, ‘Lorelei Rox’ [Jaime King], The Spirit’s former wife Dr. Ellen Dolan [Sarah Paulson], the evil scientist and sidekick to Sam Jackson’s ‘The Octopus’… ‘Silken Floss’ [Scarlett Johansson] and the deadly belly dancing beauty, ‘Plaster of Paris’ [Paz Vega], among others.
The Spirit has a bargain with the local police – he helps them keep the crime under control while keeping a low profile, and they let him continue to do the job he lives for… keeping his city safe. Along the way he crosses paths with his nemesis ‘The Octopus’, his old flame Sand, and a mystery that needs solving… oh, and also gets the answer to the biggest question of all: how is he still alive… again?
Being a designer, I LOVE the idea of having a color palette for a movie. For this one it was simple: Black & White & Red… it doesn’t get any more classic than that. The Spirit really felt like we were watching a graphic novel. To that end it was perfectly executed. Great period and theme costumes, clean, graphic effects and a long list of great actors and performances. Pure, fantastic fun, and as usual… visually stunning.
4 out of 5
Add’l Info: Released: Dec 25, 2008 • Runtime: 108 minutes • Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of stylized violence and action, some sexual content and brief nudity • Photo Credit: Copyright © Lionsgate via allmoviephoto.com
Posted in Action, Comedy, Crime, Fantasy, Thriller | Tagged Dan Lauria, Eva Mendes, Gabriel Macht, Jaime King, Louis Lombardi, Paz Vega, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson, Scarlett Johansson | Leave a Comment »
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
“A Hero Is Unleased.”
Due to a massive cold, the holidays and vacation I’ve fallen behind with reviews. Luckily today is a slow work day so I can finally catch up!
We went to see Bolt when we got to the theater too late to see The Spirit originally… but I’m happy. Bolt in 3D was a lot of fun! It had been in the theaters for a while at that point and there were other kiddie movies out so it was relatively quiet, which was nice.
Bolt [voiced by John Travolta] is the story of a pooch that thinks he’s a super hero because he has no idea that all his “powers” are carefully orchestrated special effects for a hit TV show, of which he is the star. Ratings start to slide because the audience knows the Bolt formula of him always saving his ‘person,’ Penny [voiced by Miley Cyrus] at the end of every episode, so the studio demands they change things up. The Director doesn’t like it ubt complies [voiced by James Lipton] and give the audience a cliffhanger ending for the season finale by having Penny be captured by the ‘evil Dr. Calico’… [voiced in classic villain style by Malcolm McDowell].
Being that Bolt lives in a Truman Show type world, he has no idea that Penny is safe and sound at home with her Mom, and escapes from his trailer to save her in what ends up being a crazy, cross-country adventure full of danger and furry sidekicks… including an ‘evil’ cat named ‘Mittens’ [voiced by Susie Essman] and a fiesty little hamster/superfan named ‘Rhino.’
The best part of this movie for me was Rhino the hamster [voiced by Mark Walton]. He was hilarious! Some of the lines had me in stitches. In classic Disney style, there were the sad moments and the lessons to be learned, but they weren’t dragged out too long…
As for the animation and the 3D effects, they were top-notch. I actually didn’t know it was 3D until the ticket girl handed us the glasses. Then I got annoyed because the thought of wearing those heavy, cheap glasses for 103 minutes wasn’t appealing, but they were surprisingly comfortable [not like the old IMAX 3d glasses] and once I got used to the whole 3D thing, I LOVED it. I’m actually looking forward to seeing live-action movies in 3D to see how they do with that.
For the fun, humor, effects and overall experience, Bolt is a solid…
3 1/2 out of 5
[as an adult... I'm sure it's even higher for kids!]
Add’l Info: Released: Nov 21, 2008 • Runtime: 103 minutes • Rated PG for some mild action and peril • Photo credit: Copyright © Walt Disney Pictures via allmoviephoto.com
Posted in Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy | Tagged James Lipton, John Travolta, Malcolm McDowell, Mark Walton, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman | Leave a Comment »
Friday, November 28, 2008
We loved 300 and we also loved South Park’s spoof on 300, so we figured we’d like Meet The Spartans. Boy, were we wrong. We rented it on netflix and attempted to watch it yesterday. I’m only writing a review to SAVE YOU from ever considering watching it – it’s that bad. We ended up fast forwarding after the first half hour to see if it gets any better and it doesn’t. The jokes were stupid and the whole thing felt stale. I should mention that I usually like spoof movies – I liked all the ‘Scary Movie‘’s, etc. Even though they’re pretty silly, they’re well done and FUNNY. Even having somewhat known actors like Carmen Electra, Diedrich Bader and Kevin Sorbo didn’t help this flick. The writing was so bad that no decent actor could have saved this movie. Don’t waste your time. I may have laughed once and it was more out of pity [probably seeing Kevin Davitian as the Persian God/King]… and anyone who knows me knows I laugh at almost EVERYTHING, so that’s saying a lot! Don’t waste your time on this one. You’ve been warned!
1 out of 5.
Add’l Info: Released: Jan 25, 2008 • Runtime: 84 minutes • Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language and some comic violence • Photo credit: Copyright © Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation via allmoviephoto.net
Posted in Comedy | Tagged Carmen Electra, Diedrich Bader, Kevin Davitian, Kevin Sorbo, Method Man, Nicole Parker, Sean Maguire | Leave a Comment »
Saturday, September 6, 2008
“This time they’re running from the joint.”
In this next installment of the adventures of Harold & Kumar, the boys are on their way to Amsterdam so Harold [Jon Cho] can find the love of his life [and neighbor], Maria. But on the plane, Kumar [Kal Penn] can’t wait until they land in the ‘weed capital of the world’ to smoke, so he brings his invention, the ’smokeless bong’ into the lav, and is spotted by a very suspicious old lady who’s had her eye on him the whole ride. When she sees him through the half open door, she screams “TERRORIST!!!!!” and within seconds, 3 US Marshals have Kumar and Harold on the floor at gunpoint, and they turn the plane around.
As the title suggests, they end up locked up at Guantanamo Bay, thanks to the idiot Deputy in charge while his boss is on vacation [played by Rob Corddry, from The Daily Show] but manage to escape and end up on the run, with one crazy adventure after another across the country as they try to get to Harold’s friend, Colton [the jerk who just happens to be marrying Kumar's ex-girlfriend], whom they think can help clear their names using his connections. ‘NPH’ is back, playing himself and getting the guys into a lot more trouble than they could have possibly gotten into on their own, this time with the help of some ‘magic mushrooms.’
My husband saw this one in the theater with a friend, so I only just saw it this week, ala netflix. Now, I really enjoyed the first one, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle. I enjoy toilet humor now and then and the first one had me in stitches. I have to say, the second one was fun, but not as funny as the first. We watched the unrated version and aside from some ‘bottomless’ ladies, I’m not really sure why it was unrated. I didn’t find it any more filthy than the first one. If you loved the original, this is definitely worth checking out. There’s a lot of the same stuff, but they mix it up enough that it doesn’t feel overtly formulaic.
3 1/2 out of 5.
Add’l Info: Release Date: Apr 25, 2008 • Runtime: 100 minutes [theatrical release]/107 minutes [unrated DVD version] • Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, pervasive language and drug use • Photo Credit: Jaimie Trueblood © New Line Cinema
Posted in Adventure, Comedy | Tagged Bevery D'Angelo, Danneel Harris, Echo Valley, Eric Winter, Jack Conley, James Adomian, John cho, Jon Hurwitz, Jon Reep, Kal Penn, Mark Munoz, Missy Pyle, Neil Patrick Harris, Paula Garcés, Rob Dorddry, Roger Bart | Leave a Comment »
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Brothers Bloom are two con men [played by Adrian Brody and Mark Ruffalo], and they’re after one last, BIG mark – an eccentric heiress [Rachel Weisz] and her millions – by showing her the time of her life, taking them all over the world on romantic adventures.
Rachel Weisz’ character looks pretty funny, and I’m a big fan of hers. She does a great job of choosing roles, so I trust her judgement. We first see her crashing a Lamborghini into the huge fountain in her driveway [which is AWESOME only because my husband always jokes that if he ever won the lottery, his only goal would be to crash a different Lamborghini every day of the week!... kidding, of course...], and then cut to one of the Bloom brothers asking her what she does for a living. Her response is “I collect hobbies.”
This one looks worth seeing. Written and directed by relative newcomer, Rian Johnson, who won many awards for writing and directing the movie Brick in 2005 [I'll have to check it out...]. If The Brothers Bloom is as good as the trailer makes it out to be, this flick could launch his career to the next level.
Check out the trailer HERE
Add’l Info: Release Date: Dec 19, 2008 • Runtime: TBD • Rated PG-13 for violence, some sensuality and brief strong language • Photo Credit: © Summit Entertaiment via movieweb.com
Posted in Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Preview Only, Romance | Tagged Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Nora Zehetner, Rachael Weisz, Rian Johnson, Rinko Kikuchi, Robbie Coltrane | Leave a Comment »
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
This latest offering from the Coen brothers [No Country For Old Men, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou...] looks like a riot. I can’t wait to see it. The tag says it all: “Intelligence Is Relative.” Burn After Reading is a dark spy-comedy about a couple of gym workers who come across a disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent, and their attempts to sell it. With a great cast featuring George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton & more, this movie should be a pretty quirky-fun time. Brad Pitt plays a great idiot, that’s for sure. lol
Check out the trailer HERE
Add’l Info: Release Date: Sep 12, 2008 • Runtime: TBD • Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence • Photo Credit: © Focus Features via allmoviephoto.com
Update: 9.26.08:
My husband saw this one when it opened and actually hated it… which shocked me. I haven’t seen it yet, and from his description of how frustrating the story was and how annoying all the characters were, I’ll probably just wait until it’s on DVD to catch it. It sounds like a lot of dumbasses trying to take advantage of good people, which can be funny or frustrating, depending on delivery. Russ said that there were many funny individual scenes, but overall he walked out annoyed, and his mother, whom he saw it with said it was the worst movie she’d seen in a while. Take it for what it’s worth – 3rd hand opinion. If you’ve seen it, let me know what YOU thought – should I go see it??? =)
Posted in Comedy, Crime, Preview Only | Tagged Brad Pitt, Coen Brothers, Ethan Coen, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Joel Coen, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton | Leave a Comment »
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Hamlet 2 looks like my kind of humor. The tagline when you go to their official site is, “One High School Drama Teacher Is About To Make A Huge Number 2.” According to IMDb.com, Steve Coogan plays “failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher” who “rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet”.. Supporting cast includes Amy Poehler, Catherine Keener, Elizabeth Shue and David Arquette. I can’t wait to see it! Check out the trailer here: Focus Films Hamlet 2 Rated R Trailer.
Add’l Info: Release date: Aug 27, 2008 • Runtime: 92 minutes • Rated R for language including sexual references, brief nudity and some drug content • Photo Credit: Copyright © Focus Features via allmoviephoto.com
Posted in Comedy | Tagged Amy Poehler, Andrew Fleming, Catherine Keener, David Arquette, Elizabeth Shue, Steve Coogan | Leave a Comment »
Sunday, August 17, 2008
“The movie they think they’re making… isn’t a movie anymore.”
We just got back from seeing this one and it was way better than we expected. When it was over and the house lights came on, the couple behind us blurted out, “That was SOOO funny!” and “That was really, really, good!” lol… and it was. The audience as a whole [us included] laughed out loud so many times – it was a truly fun experience. My husband and I were blurting out some of the ridiculous lines as we were walking out, laughing all over again. I’d see this one again in the theater on a slow week, it was that good.
Starring Ben Stiller as the typical action-hero, typecast actor, ‘Tugg Speedman,’ who’s career is tanking [not unlike a certain Mission Impossible actor we all know and used to love], Robert Downey Jr. as the extreme Aussie method actor and winner of 6 Oscars, ‘Kirk Lazarus’, who goes into character for his role in ‘Tropic Thunder’ as a Black man, and doesn’t want to come out… Jack Black as the one-trick pony comedian ‘Jeff Portnoy,’ known for his white version of Big Mama’s House style movies where he plays every rude, gas-passing obese character himself – who longs to be taken seriously… Jay Baruchel as the young, skinny newbie actor ‘Kevin Sardusky’ who just wants to get laid… and Brandon T. Jackson as ‘Alpa Chino’, the rapper-turned-actor with a huge reputation for being a man-ho who pimps his energy drink ‘Booty-Juice’ on the side.
The movie’s spoof direct ‘Damien Cockburn’ [Steve Coogan] can’t get his primadonna actors to work together without trying to hog the scenes, so the movie ‘Tropic Thunder’ is way behind schedule and of course, over budget. To shake things up, Cockburn takes the advice of the story’s author, ‘Four Leaf Tayback’ [Nick Nolte], and decides to throw the actors into the Vietnam jungle with hidden cameras and plenty of rigged explosions to scare the crap out of them and capture more realistic, from-the-gut performances. And of course it all goes to hell … and it’s awesome.
There’s over-the-top gore, horrible action one-liners and plenty of toilet humor. There’s also some great guest star/cameo roles by Matthew McConaughy [watch his hair in his first scene], Nick Nolte, looking like his real-life mugshot the whole time and in being much like his tabloid-style self, he manages to be over-the-top dramatic and hilarious. And Tom Cruise in my favorite role of his EVER. He pokes fun at himself and does a cameo that is so out of character for him, but I won’t say any more than that. If you like slap-stick comedy or movie spoofs, this one is clever with plenty of stupid and lots of laughs. We loved it.
4 out of 5.
Add’l Info: Release Date: Aug 13, 2008 • Runtime: 107 minutes • Rated R for pervasive language including sexual references, violent content and drug material • Photo credit: Merie Weismiller Wallace. © 2008 DreamWorks LLC. All Rights Reserved via allmoviephoto.com
Tropic Thunder is basically a really funny and clever war movie spoof. You’ll see tidbits from many of the big ones like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Black Hawk Down, Tears of the Sun and more.
Posted in Action, Comedy | Tagged Ben Stiller, Bill Hader, Brandon T. Jackson, Danny McBride, Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Matthew McConaughey, nick nolte, Robert Downey Jr, Steve Coogan, Tom Cruise | Leave a Comment »
Monday, August 11, 2008
“One Taste Is All It Takes.”
Ain’t that the truth. This movie is satisfying on many levels. I love Juliette Binoche… I love Johnny Depp… Alfred Molina, Judi Dench, Lena Olin, Carrie-Anne Moss, Peter Stormare…I love Europe… and I love… CHOCOLATE. lol… This movie has it all.
Chocolat is a fairy tale-like story of Vianne Rocher [Binoche] and her daughter, Anouk [Victoire Thivisol] – drifters who follow the winds – how they move to a small French village and open up a chocolate shop during Lent, across the street from the church, much to the chagrin of the town’s overly-pious Mayor [Molina]. The Mayor believes that indulging in such pleasure is a sin, and tries to steer his townsfolk clear [as he denies himself] so the shop will fold and the outsiders will be on their way. But Vianne works her magic, offering samples of her divine product she lovingly makes herself by hand from fresh cocoa beans, with an uncanny knack for guessing peoples’ favorites. That is, until a band of gypsies come through on the river, including the mysterious Roux [Johnny Depp], whom she can’t peg no matter how hard she tries. Can Vianne win the hearts of the townspeople and change the Mayor’s mind before the winds carry her and her daughter away?
Directed by Lasse Hallström, the man that brought us The Cider House Rules, and The Shipping News, you can expect the same calibre with Chocolat. This is such a great story, with an amazing cast. All the characters are so rich. When we saw it in the theater I was completely immersed in that village with them. I bought it as soon as it came on DVD and when I watch it, I always have a couple of chocolate truffles on hand. It’s tough to see all that delicous looking chocolate without partaking. By the way guys, this movie isn’t just for the ladies, you’ll enjoy it too. ;)
4 1/2 out of 5.
Add’l Info: Released: Jan 5, 2001 • Runtime: 121 minutes • Rated PG-13 for a scene of sensuality and some violence • Photo credit: ©Miramax Films, via allmoviephoto.com
Posted in Comedy, Drama, Romance | Tagged Alfred Molina, Carrie-Anne Moss, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Juliette Binoche, Lasse Hallström, Lena Olin, Peter Stormare, Victoire Thivisol | Leave a Comment »
