I wish I could say that this one was better than Borat. I was a fan of Borat, and was hoping for a good "second Borat". I did get the latter.
On the way out of the theater, the general comments I heard was that it was pretty funny but not quite as funny as Borat, and I'd have to agree. Bruno was pretty identical to Borat in the format of the movie. Although it definitely had parts that were friggin hilarious, it just couldn't match up against Borat. I think they could've added a lot more to the movie to at least have a chance of the likings that Borat had. Unfortunately, this is a movie where you've already seen all of the hilarious parts..... in the previews.
The most astonishing part of the movie was how they managed to get so many stars in the movie for the closing scene into the credits; stars that include Bono, Sting, Snoop Dogg, Elton John, Slash, and Chris Martin from Coldplay.
Pretty much a super homosexual version of Borat.... I mean SUPER homosexual too (a lot of it was still funny but a lot of gay!), you might as well wait for a DVD release to catch this one.
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Sunday, July 12, 2009
Write-Up: Public Enemies
A 1930's-based master bank robbery movie with all the tommy-guns you can handle and Johnny Depp as a bad-ass gangster... I'm gonna go against apparently about half of the reviews out there and say that this one was exciting and worth the $8 I paid to see it.
It seems like about half of the reviews say that Depp was not a good fit for the lead role of John Dillinger. I disagree. I will admit it isodd seeing him in an actually normal role with a slight southern accent, as opposed to the eye-liner wearing, fruity roles of his past including Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, and upcoming The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, but I don't see how someone could say that he doesn't match a role of a bad-ass bank robber. He's definitely fit for the part.
The movie is mixed with high crime gangsters, a crime-fighting cop (Christian Bale), and an oddly initialized love story with Dillinger's girlfriend. It's not much of a history lesson except for the fact that there was in fact a man named John Dillinger who robbed banks, got thrown in jail, and always seemed to escape.
If you're into the 1920's, 1930's gangster era (as I am), and the more Thompson submachine guns the better (as I think), then this one is certainly worth experiencing whether in a theater or your living room.
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It seems like about half of the reviews say that Depp was not a good fit for the lead role of John Dillinger. I disagree. I will admit it isodd seeing him in an actually normal role with a slight southern accent, as opposed to the eye-liner wearing, fruity roles of his past including Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, and upcoming The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, but I don't see how someone could say that he doesn't match a role of a bad-ass bank robber. He's definitely fit for the part.
The movie is mixed with high crime gangsters, a crime-fighting cop (Christian Bale), and an oddly initialized love story with Dillinger's girlfriend. It's not much of a history lesson except for the fact that there was in fact a man named John Dillinger who robbed banks, got thrown in jail, and always seemed to escape.
If you're into the 1920's, 1930's gangster era (as I am), and the more Thompson submachine guns the better (as I think), then this one is certainly worth experiencing whether in a theater or your living room.
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Write-Up: The Haunting in Connecticut
Considering just how far a movie has to go to produce something that is horrifying yet inventive at the same time, this one was surprisingly good.
The Haunting in Connecticut is a movie that has a flare of an exorcism-based movie with the jumpy and startling scenes of a decent horror film. Horror movies that definitely catch my attention are those with scenes that are just so weird or different than anything else you've seen that they leave you with a squinting face of minor disgust. This movie had several of these moments, especially an odd climactic scene with a child medium in a circular seance experiencing an emission of ectoplasm from his mouth (the DVD cover picture for the film). Things like this, that are mixed with the perfect high-pitched screeching soundtrack, are the creepy scenes that just shock people.
I wouldn't rush out to see it, but it's definitely worth a watching now that it has been released on DVD. Just don't expect a fantastic movie. It has it's parts though.
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The Haunting in Connecticut is a movie that has a flare of an exorcism-based movie with the jumpy and startling scenes of a decent horror film. Horror movies that definitely catch my attention are those with scenes that are just so weird or different than anything else you've seen that they leave you with a squinting face of minor disgust. This movie had several of these moments, especially an odd climactic scene with a child medium in a circular seance experiencing an emission of ectoplasm from his mouth (the DVD cover picture for the film). Things like this, that are mixed with the perfect high-pitched screeching soundtrack, are the creepy scenes that just shock people.
I wouldn't rush out to see it, but it's definitely worth a watching now that it has been released on DVD. Just don't expect a fantastic movie. It has it's parts though.
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Write-Up: The Uninvited and One Missed Call
I decided to combine these two reviews because there honestly isn't too much to say about either of them, which is pretty disappointing.
When I had the chance to watch these movies, I was excited, being the horror movie fanatic that I am. I understand that, as this genre of movie goes, some plots and scare tactics are pretty cliche. It seems that everything that can be innovative in a horror movie has already been done, BUT there are still movies I see and think, "Wow! That's weird." or "Hmmm. I've never really seen that before.". These are the movies that get good reviews in my book.
These two movies were just sub-par at best. I really expected great things from them, and maybe that's where I went wrong. I don't know.
As far as final thoughts are concerned, One Missed Call was a bit better than The Uninvited. By far, the best things about The Uninvited are cast members Emily Browning and
Elizabeth Banks, although Elizabeth Banks' performance is nothing at all like that of Zack and Miri Make a Porno. If any thoughts of seeing these are building up inside your head, I would go ahead and check out One Missed Call, but just don't expect the next horror classic.... or even a 'I Know What You Did Last Summer', new-age horror film.
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When I had the chance to watch these movies, I was excited, being the horror movie fanatic that I am. I understand that, as this genre of movie goes, some plots and scare tactics are pretty cliche. It seems that everything that can be innovative in a horror movie has already been done, BUT there are still movies I see and think, "Wow! That's weird." or "Hmmm. I've never really seen that before.". These are the movies that get good reviews in my book.
These two movies were just sub-par at best. I really expected great things from them, and maybe that's where I went wrong. I don't know.
As far as final thoughts are concerned, One Missed Call was a bit better than The Uninvited. By far, the best things about The Uninvited are cast members Emily Browning and
Elizabeth Banks, although Elizabeth Banks' performance is nothing at all like that of Zack and Miri Make a Porno. If any thoughts of seeing these are building up inside your head, I would go ahead and check out One Missed Call, but just don't expect the next horror classic.... or even a 'I Know What You Did Last Summer', new-age horror film.
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Sunday, June 21, 2009
Write-Up: Year One
Although I would have liked to see more completely hilarious moments, this one wasn't entirely awful. Considering the array of casting, it should have had more.
Jack Black and Michael Cera (from Superbad and Juno) were an odd but awesome duo to set as the main characters. Both of their humors went well together and were typical to past roles. These two are originally from a distant tribe who know nothing about the outside world until a situation forces them to venture out.
Because it's supposedly placed in the year 1 A.D., you may be expecting a slight biblical lesson or two....... or several. The movie contains a few key characters of early Bible days including Abraham (Hank Azaria), Abraham's son Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Fogell from Superbad), Cain and Abel (David Cross and Paul Rudd), and Adam and Eve (Harold Ramis and Rhoda Griffis).
I thought that the biblical references were completely necessary for a movie based in this time, and I think it was handled extremely well. It was just the right touch of humor to the biblical storyline without getting too excessive or offensive to the more religious crowd. Abraham's sacrifice of his son, circumcision, the forbidden fruit, and Sodom and Gamorrah were among a few of the included.
By far, the most unexpected, strange, and BEST cameo was Bill Hader as a character named Shaman from the local tribe. If it wasn't for his natural speaking voice, it would've been nearly impossible to identify him.
Overall, it wasn't a horrible film, but just considering the cast, their could've been bigger laughs. It was kinda cool to see how they incorporated humor in with the biblical characters, let alone who played the parts. Worth spending $$ for a theater seat??? I'm on the edge with this one.
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Jack Black and Michael Cera (from Superbad and Juno) were an odd but awesome duo to set as the main characters. Both of their humors went well together and were typical to past roles. These two are originally from a distant tribe who know nothing about the outside world until a situation forces them to venture out.
Because it's supposedly placed in the year 1 A.D., you may be expecting a slight biblical lesson or two....... or several. The movie contains a few key characters of early Bible days including Abraham (Hank Azaria), Abraham's son Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Fogell from Superbad), Cain and Abel (David Cross and Paul Rudd), and Adam and Eve (Harold Ramis and Rhoda Griffis).
I thought that the biblical references were completely necessary for a movie based in this time, and I think it was handled extremely well. It was just the right touch of humor to the biblical storyline without getting too excessive or offensive to the more religious crowd. Abraham's sacrifice of his son, circumcision, the forbidden fruit, and Sodom and Gamorrah were among a few of the included.
By far, the most unexpected, strange, and BEST cameo was Bill Hader as a character named Shaman from the local tribe. If it wasn't for his natural speaking voice, it would've been nearly impossible to identify him.
Overall, it wasn't a horrible film, but just considering the cast, their could've been bigger laughs. It was kinda cool to see how they incorporated humor in with the biblical characters, let alone who played the parts. Worth spending $$ for a theater seat??? I'm on the edge with this one.
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Write-Up: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
This one was pretty much an exact re-enactment of the first movie, but with a slightly different plot and Smithsonian-based characters. Well, hey, isn't that what we were expecting anyway?
I may be a little biased, considering the movies I like the most, but the characters that stood out to make this a laughable movie were Brandon, another night guard (Jonah Hill) and General Custer (Bill Hader). Just the combination of their senses of comedy just really stood out as the "funny" parts of the film.
Other characters that you may recognize are a Tuskegee Airman (Craig Robinson), also from Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, and a few other more recent flicks; Orville and Wilbur Wright (Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon), the hilarious Deputies Junior and Dangle from Reno911!; and special appearances by Jay Baruchel from Knocked Up (Jay), Ed Helms (most recently The Hangover and The Daily Show), Oscar the Grouch, and Darth Vader. Also, featured are none other than the Jonas brothers as a statue, cupid-like trio that sound like....... (wait for it....) a boy band.
Having lived in Washington, D.C., and been to a few of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, this movie was pretty cool to notice all of the accurate sites and landmarks of the city. The whole movie isn't taken place inside a museum. They do get out to a few appearances on the National Mall, which was pretty neat to see. The movie also hits the Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian Castle for a few different settings.
To sum up, this one was a pretty close comparison to the first. If anything made it better, it was the setting and the new, always-hysterical characters mentioned above. For a PG film, it definitely had its laughs, but was restrained because of the rating...... a funny, good-spirited, happy-ending movie (pretty much a PG-rated must-have). I wouldn't rush to the theater and pay $10, maybe even $15 after popcorn or a soda, but I would definitely catch it on DVD or rental.
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I may be a little biased, considering the movies I like the most, but the characters that stood out to make this a laughable movie were Brandon, another night guard (Jonah Hill) and General Custer (Bill Hader). Just the combination of their senses of comedy just really stood out as the "funny" parts of the film.
Other characters that you may recognize are a Tuskegee Airman (Craig Robinson), also from Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, and a few other more recent flicks; Orville and Wilbur Wright (Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon), the hilarious Deputies Junior and Dangle from Reno911!; and special appearances by Jay Baruchel from Knocked Up (Jay), Ed Helms (most recently The Hangover and The Daily Show), Oscar the Grouch, and Darth Vader. Also, featured are none other than the Jonas brothers as a statue, cupid-like trio that sound like....... (wait for it....) a boy band.
Having lived in Washington, D.C., and been to a few of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, this movie was pretty cool to notice all of the accurate sites and landmarks of the city. The whole movie isn't taken place inside a museum. They do get out to a few appearances on the National Mall, which was pretty neat to see. The movie also hits the Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian Castle for a few different settings.
To sum up, this one was a pretty close comparison to the first. If anything made it better, it was the setting and the new, always-hysterical characters mentioned above. For a PG film, it definitely had its laughs, but was restrained because of the rating...... a funny, good-spirited, happy-ending movie (pretty much a PG-rated must-have). I wouldn't rush to the theater and pay $10, maybe even $15 after popcorn or a soda, but I would definitely catch it on DVD or rental.
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Write-Up: The Hangover
I thought The Hangover was PRETTY FANTASTIC. Now, I know you've probably only heard the most awesome things about this one, but don't dismiss all of the over-exaggerated reviews from your peers so quickly (I suppose I don't trust the general public when coming to movies).
Being one who looks at each movie as a production of a director's idea and not simply a real-life situation that actually happened, I really appreciated the strange humor that was found in this movie. The movie starts out a little slow with the over-anticipated Bachelor party travel to Las Vegas. But as soon as Alan (Zach Galifianakis), a crazy, somewhat psychotic, loner/soft-souled alleged child molester, soon-to-be brother-in-law, makes his toast to the other party-mates on the roof of the hotel before they go out for the night in Sin City, the movie pretty much takes off. They wake up the next morning to sooooo many ridiculously obsurd articles in the hotel suite that make you wonder how the director thought to place some of them in the movie.
From that moment until the end of the film, you keep discovering new bits of the night before that will absolutely blow your mind. Some of the things that happen in the day of discovery are just too crazy to even imagine how they got themselves into the situations.
I never realized what a difference to the overall experience of a movie the theater audience makes, but it was eye-opening to me in this movie! I saw it twice, and the first time with a packed theater opening weekend at a Sunday matinee showing was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in a theater. Everybody was hysterical during the movie, and that just fueled my laugh-out-loud reactions. Reminded me of a similar experience when seeing Knocked Up in theaters!
Phil (Bradley Cooper) is the ring leader for most of the time; trying to strengthen and lift everyone's hope and expectations to find their lost friend. Other characters worth seeing in this one are Stu (Ed Helms) and Jade (Heather Graham). You may remember Ed Helms from doing Correspondent bits on The Daily Show as well as The Office. Those of you who have seen Wedding Crashers
Being one who looks at each movie as a production of a director's idea and not simply a real-life situation that actually happened, I really appreciated the strange humor that was found in this movie. The movie starts out a little slow with the over-anticipated Bachelor party travel to Las Vegas. But as soon as Alan (Zach Galifianakis), a crazy, somewhat psychotic, loner/soft-souled alleged child molester, soon-to-be brother-in-law, makes his toast to the other party-mates on the roof of the hotel before they go out for the night in Sin City, the movie pretty much takes off. They wake up the next morning to sooooo many ridiculously obsurd articles in the hotel suite that make you wonder how the director thought to place some of them in the movie.
From that moment until the end of the film, you keep discovering new bits of the night before that will absolutely blow your mind. Some of the things that happen in the day of discovery are just too crazy to even imagine how they got themselves into the situations.
I never realized what a difference to the overall experience of a movie the theater audience makes, but it was eye-opening to me in this movie! I saw it twice, and the first time with a packed theater opening weekend at a Sunday matinee showing was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in a theater. Everybody was hysterical during the movie, and that just fueled my laugh-out-loud reactions. Reminded me of a similar experience when seeing Knocked Up in theaters!
Phil (Bradley Cooper) is the ring leader for most of the time; trying to strengthen and lift everyone's hope and expectations to find their lost friend. Other characters worth seeing in this one are Stu (Ed Helms) and Jade (Heather Graham). You may remember Ed Helms from doing Correspondent bits on The Daily Show as well as The Office. Those of you who have seen Wedding Crashers
**********(the world)************
will recognize Bradley Cooper as the asshole boyfriend of Claire, played by Rachel McAdams. This role is much more audience-pleasing, especially to the crowd who knows exactly what kind of oblivious results a crazy night can produce to deal with in the morning.
....and Heather Graham plays a trashy, Vegas, single-mother stripper. I MISS THE SWINGERS DAYS!!!!
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will recognize Bradley Cooper as the asshole boyfriend of Claire, played by Rachel McAdams. This role is much more audience-pleasing, especially to the crowd who knows exactly what kind of oblivious results a crazy night can produce to deal with in the morning.
....and Heather Graham plays a trashy, Vegas, single-mother stripper. I MISS THE SWINGERS DAYS!!!!
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-----------------------Agree or Disagree? Comment!-------------------------
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