Greg Mottola comes back for his next movie since Superbad for a movie that could be called Superbad 2 since this feels just like the first. Our main character James Brennon, played Jesse Eisenberg, has just graduated from college and is planning on moving to New York City for Graduate school when his parents drop the news that they are not making as much money and needs to work at the local amusement park to save up money for school.
Adventureland, run by Bobby and his wife Paulette, played by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, hire Brennan after a long arduous look for a job. The characters that work in this park are the outsiders of your typical school group. Think Freaks and Geeks but a movie instead of your television series. This is where the movie really starts to roll and get the hook of this film.
The first we meet is Tommy Frigo, played by Matt Bush, who was Brennan’s friend from the fourth grade who constantly punches him in the balls. But Joel, played by Martin Star, becomes Brennan’s new best friend who went to college for Russian Literature and Slavic Languages, but is truly the nerd of all nerds but is also Brennan’s voice of reason. Ryan Reynolds plays the opposite of Joel as your typical cool mechanic that is a musician, Mike Connell. Connell is very much Brennan’s devil to Joel’s angel.
Kristen Stewart plays Em, Brennan’s love interest once she saves him from getting stabbed by a knife. While Joel thinks that Em is the best person Connell pushes Brennan more towards Lisa P, Margarita Levieva, the popular, hot dancer.
Brennan is very much like Michael Cera’s character but much later, pushing the thought that Mottola writes himself into these movies. Jesse Eisenberg really plays a great version of Cera’s character as a believe-able fish out of water virgin nerd. The romance between Stewart and Eisenberg is very well played and actually takes center stage to this movie.
Breaking your typical roles as the girl being timid, Stewart plays a very sexual being while Eisenberg is the virgin. This movie is very much a movie that wants to be an indie movie but only plays to the trend of making indie movies popular. The sound track to this movie is straight out of the 80’s, given it’s set in 1987, but this movie is riddled with some of the best, and worst music, of the time period. Amadeus is played the most throughout this movie and was joked about in the movie but also references Judas Priest and the crazy fads of the 1980’s.
If you’re not interested in watching the new Fast and Furious movie, and enjoyed Superbad, Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared this movie is definitely a movie you’d enjoy. Though, keep in mind, this movie’s comedy is much more subtle than that of Superbad, I would highly recommend this movie. Overall, this movie is brilliant and gets a 8.5 out of 10.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
The Haunting in Connecticut
Relatively new director, Peter Cornwell, bring us a based on a true story horror film cleverly named “The Haunting in Connecticut”. The Haunting in Connecticut follows the true story of the Campbell family when they first move up to a house in Connecticut so that Matt, the eldest son, can live closer to the hospital for his cancer treatment. The story takes place in 1987 when Sara and Matt are on their way home from a treatment center and run into a very old house for rent. The rent is so cheap that Sara begins to question.
The movie takes off from this point but isn’t so much of a new horror film but more of a “jump out of the closet” shocker film. Although, the director stops short in every scare, each scary moment could be seen from miles away. The graphics look beautiful but they end up short-lived because of the lacking in the actual terrifying way.
Strangely enough, you’ll get more fear from Virginia Madsen’s performance as the mother from her god-awful acting. Every scene she’s in, and she is in way to many, you wish that she would just stop acting. Though the true savior of the movie is, obviously, Kyle Gallner, who plays Matt Campbell.
Campbell’s performance as a teen with cancer is nothing short of enjoyable. You route for him to get rid of the sickness while battling his own demons living in this house. Although, when you move into a house, and you choose bedrooms are you really going to give the sick boy the basement to live in? Not to mention creepy factor with the strange doors and the brick walls. To me, that just doesn’t seem like a logical choice.
The movie can pretty much be split into three parts. First is the obvious introduction to the plot and the characters. Second comes all the horror and scare, but remember they stop short of actually terrifying. Then, thirdly, comes the rest of the plot. All of the horror comes about a half hour in to maybe an hour in. After we find out what’s truly going on with this house and it’s “occupants” all the horror is finally over.
With very few decent horror films coming out one would hope and assume that this based on a true story would be terrifying. A real jump out of your seats and keep the lights on movie. But with a PG-13 rating and a director who just didn’t really seem to want to show any real horror, it just drops off as an ordinary horror film. It’s an enjoyable movie to watch but is most definitely not a movie you want to hold your plans and run out to see this movie. I don't know what to say else about this movie, it was entertaining but didn't keep it's drive so it earned 5 out of 10.
The movie takes off from this point but isn’t so much of a new horror film but more of a “jump out of the closet” shocker film. Although, the director stops short in every scare, each scary moment could be seen from miles away. The graphics look beautiful but they end up short-lived because of the lacking in the actual terrifying way.
Strangely enough, you’ll get more fear from Virginia Madsen’s performance as the mother from her god-awful acting. Every scene she’s in, and she is in way to many, you wish that she would just stop acting. Though the true savior of the movie is, obviously, Kyle Gallner, who plays Matt Campbell.
Campbell’s performance as a teen with cancer is nothing short of enjoyable. You route for him to get rid of the sickness while battling his own demons living in this house. Although, when you move into a house, and you choose bedrooms are you really going to give the sick boy the basement to live in? Not to mention creepy factor with the strange doors and the brick walls. To me, that just doesn’t seem like a logical choice.
The movie can pretty much be split into three parts. First is the obvious introduction to the plot and the characters. Second comes all the horror and scare, but remember they stop short of actually terrifying. Then, thirdly, comes the rest of the plot. All of the horror comes about a half hour in to maybe an hour in. After we find out what’s truly going on with this house and it’s “occupants” all the horror is finally over.
With very few decent horror films coming out one would hope and assume that this based on a true story would be terrifying. A real jump out of your seats and keep the lights on movie. But with a PG-13 rating and a director who just didn’t really seem to want to show any real horror, it just drops off as an ordinary horror film. It’s an enjoyable movie to watch but is most definitely not a movie you want to hold your plans and run out to see this movie. I don't know what to say else about this movie, it was entertaining but didn't keep it's drive so it earned 5 out of 10.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Transformers 2 - Fallen Character Revealed
As you can see here, this is the new character to the Transformers universe, The Fallen. Micheal Bay has said multiple times about how the Fallen is not a reference to the ''dead" Megatron, but an actual character unto his own.One of my favorite movie sites, Firstshowing.net posted this tid bit of knowledge this morning and well... Here it is. Now, I don't like posting these kind of rumors up because they change your expectations of what is going on in the movie. Personally, I read all these kinds of articles and when I saw this I could not help but post this up.
This picture looks insane, and if you look closely as to what this toy is standing atop, and you keep in mind that Bay has been seen shooting at the pyramids. My best conclusion is that we will see this brilliant piece of death atop the pyramids.
My question here is what will he transform into (if he does at all)? The more and more I read about these updates on Transformers 2 the more excited I get about seeing this movie. Just a reminder for everyone out there, if you want to see the new trailer it will be debuting just before the remake of Friday the 13th.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Fanboys
The year is 1998, six months and counting till the premier of Star Wars Episode One comes out. Now lets forget for a moment about the travesty that was the second trilogy of Star Wars. We meet our main characters Eric (Sam Huntington), Linus (Chris Marquette), Hutch (Dan Fogler), Windows (Jay Baruchel), and Zoe (Kristen Bell) who are the cream of the crop of fanboydom. In true fanboy fashion, our group of misfits knows everything that is possible to know about the Star Wars Universe circa 1998. One night at a party they decide to storm Skywalker Ranch in attempts to see the infamous Episode One before anyone else does.
If you are a Star Wars fan of any dosage, ranging from true fanboy to just seeing and enjoying the movie, you will find this movie a great comedy. With celebrity guest stars such as Billy Dee Williams (who played Lando Calrissian in Episode five), William Shatner, Seth Rogan, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, and Carrie Fisher (who played Princess Leia) there is truly an endless amount of great acting in this movie.
If ever there was a movie that is able to encompass the nature and hilariousness that can ensue for true Star Wars geeks, this is the movie to do so. The dialogue just puts the humor right out in front of you. Many times throughout this movie one or more of our fanboys have to prove their true fandom and spew knowledge of their love for the original saga.
If I were to have to pick out one flaw in this movie it would have to be if you don’t know anything about the Star Wars universe, you’ll be lost from the get go. The director of this movie is very dependant upon the fact that you’ve probably seen Star Wars at some point in your life that it makes sense why this is only a limited release movie. Don’t get me wrong thought, even if you have seen the whole saga once you’ll go into this movie being able to catch some of the jokes.
Dan Fogler who plays Hutch has really come a long way since his last movie Balls of Fury. He almost seems to be able to accept the geek knowledge that was spat upon him and makes for a great leading role for the first time. While Sam Huntington, who plays Eric, the guy who moved on and started a real life takes a step back and where you feel like he should become a main role, just takes a step back and lets everyone else bring the movie to life.
When push comes to shove though, this was a brilliant movie and even though, it took an excess of five years. This movie was well worth the wait. If you have any reservations about seeing this movie, I would highly recommend it. This movie has laughs, celebrity guest stars that exceed any thought of what you might think will happen, and a great cast that has you routing for them every debacle step of the way. This movie really made me reminisce of my childhood watching these movies and ends up with a 8 out of 10
If you are a Star Wars fan of any dosage, ranging from true fanboy to just seeing and enjoying the movie, you will find this movie a great comedy. With celebrity guest stars such as Billy Dee Williams (who played Lando Calrissian in Episode five), William Shatner, Seth Rogan, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, and Carrie Fisher (who played Princess Leia) there is truly an endless amount of great acting in this movie.
If ever there was a movie that is able to encompass the nature and hilariousness that can ensue for true Star Wars geeks, this is the movie to do so. The dialogue just puts the humor right out in front of you. Many times throughout this movie one or more of our fanboys have to prove their true fandom and spew knowledge of their love for the original saga.
If I were to have to pick out one flaw in this movie it would have to be if you don’t know anything about the Star Wars universe, you’ll be lost from the get go. The director of this movie is very dependant upon the fact that you’ve probably seen Star Wars at some point in your life that it makes sense why this is only a limited release movie. Don’t get me wrong thought, even if you have seen the whole saga once you’ll go into this movie being able to catch some of the jokes.
Dan Fogler who plays Hutch has really come a long way since his last movie Balls of Fury. He almost seems to be able to accept the geek knowledge that was spat upon him and makes for a great leading role for the first time. While Sam Huntington, who plays Eric, the guy who moved on and started a real life takes a step back and where you feel like he should become a main role, just takes a step back and lets everyone else bring the movie to life.
When push comes to shove though, this was a brilliant movie and even though, it took an excess of five years. This movie was well worth the wait. If you have any reservations about seeing this movie, I would highly recommend it. This movie has laughs, celebrity guest stars that exceed any thought of what you might think will happen, and a great cast that has you routing for them every debacle step of the way. This movie really made me reminisce of my childhood watching these movies and ends up with a 8 out of 10
Monday, January 19, 2009
My Bloody Valentine in 3-D
First off, I would like to say that this movie should only be seen in 3-D. The whole advertising of this movie was to see the new technology of 3-D and if you don’t end up seeing this in the new format you will be greatly disappointed. The new technology is definitely an upgrade from the last time 3-D movies came out but as far as the plot for the movie, we get a decent, not great, throw back to the 1980’s hack and slash films.
The movie takes place in a mining community where there was a collapsed mine that trapped six miners. Eventually, one survivor was found, a guy by the name of Harry Warden. Although once the public finds the other bodies, Harry Warden falls into a coma because the other miners were killed with a pickaxe. All this back story was shown with the 3-D newspaper clips and radio clips flying by.
Cut to a few years we see Harry wake up and start his villainous rampage again, this time in a hospital before heading back to his beloved mines. Though, in true horror movie fashion what’s going on there today? Well a bunch of teenagers drinking and throwing a party.
Four of the kids at this party become our main characters. First we have Sarah and Tom, and for Sarah, Tom is the love of her young life. Then we have Sarah’s best friend Irene and her boyfriend Axel. Once these kids enter the mine they begin to get scared because no one else in the mine is left alive. Harry Warden jumps out and ends up mentally scaring each and every one of them because they actually have the smarts to run and drive away.
Then we jump ten years into the future where Axel and Sarah got married, Tom left the town because of the trauma that he ended up having to deal with but comes back only to sell his fathers mine. Irene, well, Irene no longer becomes important to the story line.
From this point on you go through the same motions of any typical 80’s horror flick. If you’ve watched the Scream movies where they lay out the horror guidelines, then clearly you know what I’m talking about. Apparently, the writers of this film decided to stick as close as they could to this time tested formula. The slut get killed really quick but not before falling down when trying to run away, etc.
Not to say that this is a terrible part of the movie, not at all. It’s just this movie was specifically designed to follow the guidelines to show off the 3-D, which it does great. This is really shown through the deaths of the various characters in the movie. At one point, a pickaxe goes through someone’s eye and the eye jumps right out at you making the whole theater jump. Another great piece of 3-D was Harry Warden throwing his pickaxe at the four kids as they begin to backup their truck.
Although, this movie is nothing special, it was very entertaining to watch and a fun ride to go through to see the new features of 3-D tech but the story was unfortunately lacking in some aspects. The twists of this movie were pretty well hidden, although they were hidden right where you can see them. The run time for this movie is roughly an hour and forty-five, which for any other movie these days would be a good length but with the glasses on, your eyes begin to hurt and makes it to long.
All in all though, if you’re a fan of horror, and interested in this new 3-D tech you might find this a fun ride. It’s definitely a new way to look at the horror genre. But on the flip side if you don’t like either of these, horror and 3-D, then the price of admission for this doesn’t warrant the time. I was rather interested in the 3-D tech and I love horror but this movie still just jumps in at a 5 out of 10 but if you don't see it in 3-D it's going to drop down to a 2-3.5 out of 10. So do yourself a favor and if you do see it, only see it in 3-D.
The movie takes place in a mining community where there was a collapsed mine that trapped six miners. Eventually, one survivor was found, a guy by the name of Harry Warden. Although once the public finds the other bodies, Harry Warden falls into a coma because the other miners were killed with a pickaxe. All this back story was shown with the 3-D newspaper clips and radio clips flying by.
Cut to a few years we see Harry wake up and start his villainous rampage again, this time in a hospital before heading back to his beloved mines. Though, in true horror movie fashion what’s going on there today? Well a bunch of teenagers drinking and throwing a party.
Four of the kids at this party become our main characters. First we have Sarah and Tom, and for Sarah, Tom is the love of her young life. Then we have Sarah’s best friend Irene and her boyfriend Axel. Once these kids enter the mine they begin to get scared because no one else in the mine is left alive. Harry Warden jumps out and ends up mentally scaring each and every one of them because they actually have the smarts to run and drive away.
Then we jump ten years into the future where Axel and Sarah got married, Tom left the town because of the trauma that he ended up having to deal with but comes back only to sell his fathers mine. Irene, well, Irene no longer becomes important to the story line.
From this point on you go through the same motions of any typical 80’s horror flick. If you’ve watched the Scream movies where they lay out the horror guidelines, then clearly you know what I’m talking about. Apparently, the writers of this film decided to stick as close as they could to this time tested formula. The slut get killed really quick but not before falling down when trying to run away, etc.
Not to say that this is a terrible part of the movie, not at all. It’s just this movie was specifically designed to follow the guidelines to show off the 3-D, which it does great. This is really shown through the deaths of the various characters in the movie. At one point, a pickaxe goes through someone’s eye and the eye jumps right out at you making the whole theater jump. Another great piece of 3-D was Harry Warden throwing his pickaxe at the four kids as they begin to backup their truck.
Although, this movie is nothing special, it was very entertaining to watch and a fun ride to go through to see the new features of 3-D tech but the story was unfortunately lacking in some aspects. The twists of this movie were pretty well hidden, although they were hidden right where you can see them. The run time for this movie is roughly an hour and forty-five, which for any other movie these days would be a good length but with the glasses on, your eyes begin to hurt and makes it to long.
All in all though, if you’re a fan of horror, and interested in this new 3-D tech you might find this a fun ride. It’s definitely a new way to look at the horror genre. But on the flip side if you don’t like either of these, horror and 3-D, then the price of admission for this doesn’t warrant the time. I was rather interested in the 3-D tech and I love horror but this movie still just jumps in at a 5 out of 10 but if you don't see it in 3-D it's going to drop down to a 2-3.5 out of 10. So do yourself a favor and if you do see it, only see it in 3-D.
Friday, January 9, 2009
The Spirit
With Frank Miller's solo directorial debut, he puts together a beautifully looking movie with the Spirit. Immediately, you can see the influence that was shone upon him when working on Sin City. This movie is shown in black and white but with very carefully placed colors which really bring out the emotions in this movie.
The Spirit is about a super hero who's only powers are that he cannot die. Spirit fights crime while speaking to himself in his monologues. Gabriel Macht plays the Spirit beautifully as he woos all the women that come to his city. Samuel L. Jackson, one of my personal favorites, plays the Octopus who is bent on none other than becoming immortal and a god.
The women in this movie, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, etc. are all placed in this movie for simply eye candy. While their characters are important in their own special ways, they are nothing more than gorgeous to look at in all their scenes.
Eva Mendes plays the stunning Sand Seref. Sand is the love interest of the Spirit who left when they were children to collect shiny things. Now when I say shiny things, I mean she calls them shiny things. The main treasure for her, which I shall not name, is mentioned as "the shiny thing to end all shiny things."
The dialogue and visual effects just put this movie to be nothing more than a moving graphic novel. Clearly this movie was designed to be this, but is just so beautifully done that you will sit on the edge of your seat laughing and fully enveloped in this movie. Sometimes the dialogue can be a little cheesey, but at the same time, its the kind of cheesey that one would expect from a comic book.
As an avid comic book fan, it was truly interesting to see someone finally make a movie that was designed to be a graphic novel movie and not just a movie about a super hero that has been done up to this date. There is very little blood since they cleverly disguised it with bright reds. You immediately recognize this as blood but it's such a bright red that it almost becomes comical.
Overall this movie had very few down points, unless you go into this movie thinking it is going to be anything other than a graphic novel movie, to it and clearly puts its best foot forward for this to get the rating 8 out of 10.
The Spirit is about a super hero who's only powers are that he cannot die. Spirit fights crime while speaking to himself in his monologues. Gabriel Macht plays the Spirit beautifully as he woos all the women that come to his city. Samuel L. Jackson, one of my personal favorites, plays the Octopus who is bent on none other than becoming immortal and a god.
The women in this movie, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, etc. are all placed in this movie for simply eye candy. While their characters are important in their own special ways, they are nothing more than gorgeous to look at in all their scenes.
Eva Mendes plays the stunning Sand Seref. Sand is the love interest of the Spirit who left when they were children to collect shiny things. Now when I say shiny things, I mean she calls them shiny things. The main treasure for her, which I shall not name, is mentioned as "the shiny thing to end all shiny things."
The dialogue and visual effects just put this movie to be nothing more than a moving graphic novel. Clearly this movie was designed to be this, but is just so beautifully done that you will sit on the edge of your seat laughing and fully enveloped in this movie. Sometimes the dialogue can be a little cheesey, but at the same time, its the kind of cheesey that one would expect from a comic book.
As an avid comic book fan, it was truly interesting to see someone finally make a movie that was designed to be a graphic novel movie and not just a movie about a super hero that has been done up to this date. There is very little blood since they cleverly disguised it with bright reds. You immediately recognize this as blood but it's such a bright red that it almost becomes comical.
Overall this movie had very few down points, unless you go into this movie thinking it is going to be anything other than a graphic novel movie, to it and clearly puts its best foot forward for this to get the rating 8 out of 10.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Marley and Me
Marley and Me is a wonderful tale of John Grogan (Owen Wilson) and his wife Jennifer Grogan (Jennifer Aniston) who move to Florida after they both receive jobs at their respective newspapers. They end up adopting a tiny lab since Wilson doesn't want to have children yet. On the ride home, Wilson turns on the radio and names his dog Marley after the Bob Marley song that plays in his car.
From here is where all the hijinks's ensue. Marley turns into this untrainable dog that does whatever he wants, which includes tearing up the garage, eating the wall plaster, and eating a whole answering machine. All this goes on while Wilson and Aniston try to retain a normal lifestyle while keeping this demon dog.
Wilson's relationship with this dog is really the true magic in this movie. While his relationship with Aniston is done well, Wilson just constantly seems like he's uncomfortable and a little goofy being with her. Though, with Marley, he hits right on key. These two are just amazing together because even as Marley is at his wildest, he seems to pull back while with Wilson which shows the true connection one can have with their pet.
The story is laid out beautifully and never gets dull. The movie runs about an hour and a half and not once did I feel anything slowed down or missed it's mark. If I were to pick something out that just doesn't seem to fit, it's Wilson's character doesn't ever seem happy with his current job. Though that could just be a normal issue in anyone's life, Wilson changes what he does at the newspaper at least three times, but this in no way detracts from the movie.
The creators of this movie really pulled some great emotions out of their cast and it shows through to the audience. Many times I felt the same feelings that Wilson was going through and this just puts the movie ahead of a ton of movies that might fall into this season. Though this movie does have a sad ending, you don't walk out of this movie feeling depressed, you come out feeling surprisingly pleasant. Hence why this movie warrants the 8.75 out of 10.
From here is where all the hijinks's ensue. Marley turns into this untrainable dog that does whatever he wants, which includes tearing up the garage, eating the wall plaster, and eating a whole answering machine. All this goes on while Wilson and Aniston try to retain a normal lifestyle while keeping this demon dog.
Wilson's relationship with this dog is really the true magic in this movie. While his relationship with Aniston is done well, Wilson just constantly seems like he's uncomfortable and a little goofy being with her. Though, with Marley, he hits right on key. These two are just amazing together because even as Marley is at his wildest, he seems to pull back while with Wilson which shows the true connection one can have with their pet.
The story is laid out beautifully and never gets dull. The movie runs about an hour and a half and not once did I feel anything slowed down or missed it's mark. If I were to pick something out that just doesn't seem to fit, it's Wilson's character doesn't ever seem happy with his current job. Though that could just be a normal issue in anyone's life, Wilson changes what he does at the newspaper at least three times, but this in no way detracts from the movie.
The creators of this movie really pulled some great emotions out of their cast and it shows through to the audience. Many times I felt the same feelings that Wilson was going through and this just puts the movie ahead of a ton of movies that might fall into this season. Though this movie does have a sad ending, you don't walk out of this movie feeling depressed, you come out feeling surprisingly pleasant. Hence why this movie warrants the 8.75 out of 10.
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