Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Jon's take on Easy A
Easy A is supposed to be a throw back to the great John Hughes movies of the 80s. It stars Emma Stone, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Amanda Bynes (in her "supposedly last" film), Thomas Haden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Penn Badgley, Alyson Michalka (no, I've never heard of her either) and Dan Bird.The film had a lot of problems for me. First off, I was told this was supposed to be a film that was in the style of a John Hughes movie, but instead, it reference John Hughes directly once, mimics him and then POINTS out that it mimiced him. There is a nice montage of his films in the movie, though that felt a little out of place.
As the story begins, we meet Olive (Stone) who lies to her friend Rhiannon (Michalka) and tells her she lost her v-card to a college student. Their conversation is overheard and quickly spreads through the school. Well, she tells a friend of hers, Brandon (Bird), that it wasn't true. He asks her if she will pretend that she slept with him to prevent the guys at school from picking on him. He figures if he says he had sex with her, the guys will take him in and respect him, since currently he is their punching bag. This will get worse as word spreads about what she supposedly did for him and lots of guys start to pay her if she will lie to them. Meanwhile, in class, Church plays her favorite teacher, Mr. Griffith, who is having the class read the Scarlet Letter, so Olive sews an A to her clothes and plays up the part of a tramp, not really funny to me.
Olive's parents, Tucci and Clarkson, are brilliant as her parents, and her support system. She has a little brother who is adopted and together, the four of them have some very funny conversations. "You are only related to me through marriage!" Olive says to her father. I wish the film had been about their home life, then I would have really liked it.
As Olive's life starts to unravel, she has runins with various people, Kudrow as the wife of Mr. Griffith and an advice councellor is a complete waste. She has to contend with Marianne (Bynes) as the leader of a crazed Christian group who are angry at her for her blatant display of immorality. Marianne is shown as completely nuts and so are all her little minions. Malcolm McDowells shows up for all of about 5 mins as the school principal. And then there is the requisite hero, Woodchuck Todd (Badgley) who is spoken of at the beginning of the movie, then swoops in conveniently in the last 10 minutes to help our heroine fix her problem just in time for the credits to roll.
I did like how the end of the movie worked, that was actually pretty clever, however, it did feel a little forced as the first hour and 20 is showing how the lie is destroying her life, the last 10 implies that all that damage can be fixed that easily. What? You've gotta be kidding me, even Full House took longer to resolve issues!
So, I did like some of the humor of the film, but most of it fell flat for me and I only occasionally smiled and twice laughed out loud. Her first scene with Brandon is classic and anytime Tucci and Clarkson were on screen, I perked up. However, the blatant immorality that ran through this and the mockery of Christians without at least one sane one to show up was annoying. That aside, this was no John Hughes movie, more like a "let's pay tribute to him by making random references to him" type of movie.
Does this film deserve a PG-13 rating? Absolutely not. This should have been R. It contains a lot of language. Lisa Kudrow is jaw droppingly vulgar in one scene and anytime Alyson pops up, the filmmakers seemed to think it was funny for her to call everyone, "B*tch". Not funny. Also, there is quite a heavy amount of sex-related dialogue as that is what this movie is all about.
As to whether this film is any good? If you are a fan of Emma Stone (I am), rent it. Or if you want to watch Tucci and Clarkson work their magic. Just don't get your hopes up cause this isn't that great. 1 1/2 out of 4 gold bricks for the "eh" Easy A.
Suzy's take on Easy A
This is gonna be quick folks as I am in the process of moving house. But, my take is Easy A is one of my favorites of the year, with only a few missteps, it gets 3 1/2 out of 4 gold bricks. I'll put more up later.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
LIfe is crazy
Hey all, we are going to be posting more reviews soon. Easy A will be on here hopefully within the next 2 days. And, of course, Wall Street: Money Never Dies will be reviewed soon. Our lives are a little hectic right now, what with Suzy getting a new job and moving and myself having a lot on my plate as well. Stay tuned!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Dinner For Schmucks: Jon's View
Alright, so many of you know that I believe Steve Carell walks on cinematic water. I love everything he does. But, I have to step away from that belief when writing reviews to be fair to you all. :)
Dinner For Schmucks stars of course Carell as Barry, Paul Rudd as Tim, Bruce Greenwood as Tim's boss Lance, Zack Galifianakis is Therman, Jemain Clement as Kieran, Lucy Punch is Darla, and Stephanie Szostak is Julie, David Walliems is Mueller. Tim is getting a promotion at his marketing job after he comes up with a brilliant idea to win the business of this wealthy Swiss investor, Mueller. His boss tells him that there is this business dinner held once a month where they find weirdos and make fun of them. Tim tells his girlfriend, Julie, who is appalled by this. He tells her he won't do it, and wasn't going to, until he accidentally hits Barry with his car. Barry was picking up a dead mouse to use in one of his mousterpieces (hilarious). We will get to see many of his creations and they are very funny, some are even touching and sweet. Anyway, Barry decides he will be friends with Tim, whether Tim wants him to be or not. Unfortunately, disaster follows Barry. So, Barry accidentally sends Julie away whilest bringing in Darla who is someone from Tim's past that stalks him. Julie is working at an art gallery and Keiran is the man whose art is on display. He is the only thing I didn't like in this movie. He is creepy and off putting, but he works as a sort of villain. Barry wants to help Tim get Julie back and stop Keiran from getting her while Tim is trying to get this promotion and stop Barry from ruining his life. Therman is Barry's rival and well, you have to watch it to see why.
The movie is very funny. It's a mix of slapstick and innuendo. It is dry humor which really works well for this, but there is enough physical humor to keep you smiling if you aren't into the double entendres. The dinner won't come till the last 20 mins of the movie, but there are plenty of fun gags along the way. It is a sweet movie about friendship, and doing the right thing even when it costs you. That being said, there is one scene that really turned my stomach and did derail the film a little bit, but other than that it flows well and does what it set out to do. It's smartly acted and well written. Zack G cracked me up with his "mind tricks", he has some of the funniest scenes. If you are a fan of Steve Carell, you will love this, if not, you will probably still enjoy it, maybe just not love it.
For those concerned about content, there is some language at the very beginning and one rough one right at the end. There is also some sexual humor, but you will probably laugh in spite of that.
We don't give out our 5 brick rating till the end of the year, but I will tell you, this is going in my top 5. I loved it (I'm trying not to be biased here!), a solid 4 gold bricks out of 4 for Dinner For Schmucks.
Dinner For Schmucks stars of course Carell as Barry, Paul Rudd as Tim, Bruce Greenwood as Tim's boss Lance, Zack Galifianakis is Therman, Jemain Clement as Kieran, Lucy Punch is Darla, and Stephanie Szostak is Julie, David Walliems is Mueller. Tim is getting a promotion at his marketing job after he comes up with a brilliant idea to win the business of this wealthy Swiss investor, Mueller. His boss tells him that there is this business dinner held once a month where they find weirdos and make fun of them. Tim tells his girlfriend, Julie, who is appalled by this. He tells her he won't do it, and wasn't going to, until he accidentally hits Barry with his car. Barry was picking up a dead mouse to use in one of his mousterpieces (hilarious). We will get to see many of his creations and they are very funny, some are even touching and sweet. Anyway, Barry decides he will be friends with Tim, whether Tim wants him to be or not. Unfortunately, disaster follows Barry. So, Barry accidentally sends Julie away whilest bringing in Darla who is someone from Tim's past that stalks him. Julie is working at an art gallery and Keiran is the man whose art is on display. He is the only thing I didn't like in this movie. He is creepy and off putting, but he works as a sort of villain. Barry wants to help Tim get Julie back and stop Keiran from getting her while Tim is trying to get this promotion and stop Barry from ruining his life. Therman is Barry's rival and well, you have to watch it to see why.
The movie is very funny. It's a mix of slapstick and innuendo. It is dry humor which really works well for this, but there is enough physical humor to keep you smiling if you aren't into the double entendres. The dinner won't come till the last 20 mins of the movie, but there are plenty of fun gags along the way. It is a sweet movie about friendship, and doing the right thing even when it costs you. That being said, there is one scene that really turned my stomach and did derail the film a little bit, but other than that it flows well and does what it set out to do. It's smartly acted and well written. Zack G cracked me up with his "mind tricks", he has some of the funniest scenes. If you are a fan of Steve Carell, you will love this, if not, you will probably still enjoy it, maybe just not love it.
For those concerned about content, there is some language at the very beginning and one rough one right at the end. There is also some sexual humor, but you will probably laugh in spite of that.
We don't give out our 5 brick rating till the end of the year, but I will tell you, this is going in my top 5. I loved it (I'm trying not to be biased here!), a solid 4 gold bricks out of 4 for Dinner For Schmucks.
Wall Street: Jon's view
We saw Wall Street since the sequel is coming out soon. We wanted to be able to compare the sequel to the original film. That being said, we also realize that this film is 23 years old and we wanted to judge it from the eyes of a viewer in that time period.
Wall Street was directed by Oliver Stone and stars Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, John C McGinley, Terrence Stamp,. Hal Holbrook, and James Spader. The story focuses on a young stocktrader, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) whose got ambition and wants to meet the great Gordan Gekko (not Geico!) and share his ideas. His friend and coworker played by John C McGinley, doesn't think he stands a chance of ever getting in. He finally just goes to Gekko's office and gets 5 minutes to meet Gekko. Gekko is impressed with this young man and decides to mentor him in his ways. Fox's dad (Martin Sheen), doesn't like Gekko at all and warns Bud to avoid him. Fox Senior owns a plane company and is leary of Gekko and his ways. Bud Fox goes to Gekko's house one night and meets the love interest Daryl Hannah. Why on earth they cast her as the love interest is beyond me. She's not a great actress, she's not attractive, her face is very manly. Suzy even cracked that she looked like a drag queen! We also meet Gekko's wife, Sean Young here. The only reason she is in this movie is because she was considered "eye candy". The women literally have nothing to do here. The other actors are in smaller roles, Spader is Gekko's lawyer, Hal Holbrook is Fox Jr's boss.
The film takes us down this road about greed and what it will do to you. Bud Fox is shown as a shallow, ambitious man who will do what it takes to get ahead, which is just what Gekko is looking for. Unfortunately, we don't really like any of the characters except for maybe Fox Senior, he's the only one with any integrity. The film does move at a quick pace, sweeping you up in the crazy world of the NYSE, but that's all it does. The remorse Sheen shows once he finally wakes up, is stupid and fake. His crying was funny in what is supposed to be a big scene. Michael Douglas and Martin Sheen were great, but Douglas' lines were annoying. He spoke in cliches all the way through the movie! Enough already, noone speaks that way! That was beyond ridiculous. All of his lines were oneliners, and of course, there is his famous "Greed is good!" speech, which was the best part of this whole mess.
Don't get me wrong, I've seen films from Oliver Stone that I like, but this was not good. The story spends a whole lot of time building up, then wraps everything up in about 10 minutes, with no real satisfying conclusion. It's just kind of there. A lot of things happen that are completely pointless, there is a conversation between Douglas and Hannah that makes no sense, they must have left that storyline on the cutting room floor, because what she says comes out of nowhere and is out of sync with the rest of the movie. The remorse of Bud Fox is utterly implausible, and outlandish, it doesn't really make a lot of sense in keeping with the flow of the film. Along with that, the story just isn't that compelling.
For those who want to see this, be warned, the language is rough. There are quite a few f bombs in it, along with other harsh swearing. There is also some nudity that comes outta nowhere and a sex scene (in shadows, so nothing too graphic). I really didn't like this movie (can you tell?). 1 1/2 gold bricks for the blah Wall Street. Hope the sequel is worth my time.
Wall Street was directed by Oliver Stone and stars Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, John C McGinley, Terrence Stamp,. Hal Holbrook, and James Spader. The story focuses on a young stocktrader, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) whose got ambition and wants to meet the great Gordan Gekko (not Geico!) and share his ideas. His friend and coworker played by John C McGinley, doesn't think he stands a chance of ever getting in. He finally just goes to Gekko's office and gets 5 minutes to meet Gekko. Gekko is impressed with this young man and decides to mentor him in his ways. Fox's dad (Martin Sheen), doesn't like Gekko at all and warns Bud to avoid him. Fox Senior owns a plane company and is leary of Gekko and his ways. Bud Fox goes to Gekko's house one night and meets the love interest Daryl Hannah. Why on earth they cast her as the love interest is beyond me. She's not a great actress, she's not attractive, her face is very manly. Suzy even cracked that she looked like a drag queen! We also meet Gekko's wife, Sean Young here. The only reason she is in this movie is because she was considered "eye candy". The women literally have nothing to do here. The other actors are in smaller roles, Spader is Gekko's lawyer, Hal Holbrook is Fox Jr's boss.
The film takes us down this road about greed and what it will do to you. Bud Fox is shown as a shallow, ambitious man who will do what it takes to get ahead, which is just what Gekko is looking for. Unfortunately, we don't really like any of the characters except for maybe Fox Senior, he's the only one with any integrity. The film does move at a quick pace, sweeping you up in the crazy world of the NYSE, but that's all it does. The remorse Sheen shows once he finally wakes up, is stupid and fake. His crying was funny in what is supposed to be a big scene. Michael Douglas and Martin Sheen were great, but Douglas' lines were annoying. He spoke in cliches all the way through the movie! Enough already, noone speaks that way! That was beyond ridiculous. All of his lines were oneliners, and of course, there is his famous "Greed is good!" speech, which was the best part of this whole mess.
Don't get me wrong, I've seen films from Oliver Stone that I like, but this was not good. The story spends a whole lot of time building up, then wraps everything up in about 10 minutes, with no real satisfying conclusion. It's just kind of there. A lot of things happen that are completely pointless, there is a conversation between Douglas and Hannah that makes no sense, they must have left that storyline on the cutting room floor, because what she says comes out of nowhere and is out of sync with the rest of the movie. The remorse of Bud Fox is utterly implausible, and outlandish, it doesn't really make a lot of sense in keeping with the flow of the film. Along with that, the story just isn't that compelling.
For those who want to see this, be warned, the language is rough. There are quite a few f bombs in it, along with other harsh swearing. There is also some nudity that comes outta nowhere and a sex scene (in shadows, so nothing too graphic). I really didn't like this movie (can you tell?). 1 1/2 gold bricks for the blah Wall Street. Hope the sequel is worth my time.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Dollar Show Date Night Review 9-10-2010
Tonight's Dollar Show Date Night Review is The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Valley Fair Mall still runs a bargain theater just off the food court on the east side of the mall. Weekend nights are just $2 per person and they run 8 screens to chose from. Tonight, my family went to see the Sorcerer's Apprentice starring Nicholas Cage and Alfred Molina.
This movie is your basic "hero's journey" format, where despite the script, you can be pretty sure that by the time the credits roll, the girl will be won, the day will be saved, the student will surpass the skill of the master, and the bad guys will be defeated, probably with one escaping to fight another day in the sequel. It didn't disappoint. We saw it all coming, but had a fun time as it did. My 7-year-old Sean loved it and described it as "awesome" and "impressive" with an ear-to-ear grin, before running repeatedly up and down the aisle while Steve and I sat through the credits. Heads up: stay for the end of the credits.
Steve said it was "really bad, but he had a good time." I just love almost anything with Nick Cage it and opted not to think too hard and just be entertained after a very long week of mundane now what's.
Overall, I'd say it's probably a 2.5 gold bricks, but I will probably buy it when it comes out on dvd. Enjoy your own Dollar Show Date Night with the people you love and if you have review request, please comment and let us know.
This movie is your basic "hero's journey" format, where despite the script, you can be pretty sure that by the time the credits roll, the girl will be won, the day will be saved, the student will surpass the skill of the master, and the bad guys will be defeated, probably with one escaping to fight another day in the sequel. It didn't disappoint. We saw it all coming, but had a fun time as it did. My 7-year-old Sean loved it and described it as "awesome" and "impressive" with an ear-to-ear grin, before running repeatedly up and down the aisle while Steve and I sat through the credits. Heads up: stay for the end of the credits.
Steve said it was "really bad, but he had a good time." I just love almost anything with Nick Cage it and opted not to think too hard and just be entertained after a very long week of mundane now what's.
Overall, I'd say it's probably a 2.5 gold bricks, but I will probably buy it when it comes out on dvd. Enjoy your own Dollar Show Date Night with the people you love and if you have review request, please comment and let us know.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: Jon's take
Ok, so I am not a big fan of Michael Cera films, but every once in a while, a role of his grabs me just by the trailer. I saw the trailer for this and thought, "This looks like a shoutout to 80s video games, I should see this". So, I grabbed my partner in crime and drug her to it. :)
The film stars Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim, a young aspiring rock musician with a vivid imagination who is dating a high school student Knives Chou (Ellen Wong in her first major role). He gets a lot of grief for this from his friends who include his band mates, his sister (Anna Kendrick), and his gay roommate (Kieran Culkin, who has some of the funniest lines in the movie). LIfe is normal for Scott, till he sees a girl in his dreams and then meets this mysterious beauty in real life at a party. Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is this charming pink haired girl who captivates Scott and thus the trouble begins. Turns out she has seven exes who want to kill Scott Pilgrim. Why is not important, we just know that they want him to die. So, throughout the movie he will have to face them, each showdown more outrageous and intense than the next (look for a Donkey Kong reference).
The movie is very unique in it's approach to the story. Right off the bat, reality goes out the window, and we are treated to the band, "Sex Bomomb" playing their instruments, complete with animation on the screen to look kind of like a comic book come to life, which this is. It's based on a graphic novel and is filmed in such a way to reflect that. However, here we encouter one of my problems with the film. I was confused throughout the movie as we are subjected to multiple filming styles. Anime, comic animation, split screen shots, video games shots, and animation drawn into live action shots. It's all very bright and colorful, and gave me a splitting headache. Hmmm... maybe that's why I've been sick the last 3 days? Is that what it feels like to be high? But I digress... the constant changeup of filming styles got very tiresome. Filmmakers need to pick a style or two and go with it, don't throw so much on screen that my senses experience overload and crash on me. Something I did love about the filming however, was how they were able to capture the fight scenes and make them work like watching someone play a video game. It was fun to see the crazy stunts and insane violence characters committed against one another.
The rest of the story is actually very good, as we care about Scott and whether he will end up with Ramona or Knives (resulting in some very funny moments) as well as what will happen to his band and whether he will survive the seven deadly exes! He and his gay roommate throw barbs back and forth and I found myself laughing out loud at the insults hurled back and forth. Noone was safe in this. I do think the movie dragged just a bit in the middle, there was a couple of moments in a club that were completely unnecessary and didn't really move the story along. It was filler just so they could say they'd "gone there".
As for the content, there are some offensive things in this. Yes, one of the characters is gay, but that isn't rammed down our throats, he's more there to lighten the mood, and he is very funny. There is a very little language, nothing strong. There is a brief makeout scene that we could have done without, and there is a lot of violence, although it is mostly played for laughs- till the end, where the mood suddenly shifts very darkly for some odd reason, completely out of sync with the rest of the movie. Overall, though, nothing in here that should bother to many, but like Suzy said, don't take the kids to this one.
I liked Scott Pilgrim and would recommend any Michael Cera fans should go see this, plus with all the 80s references, if you were around to remember the 80s like Suzy and I, you will love, love, love the constant jokes! So many younger folk in the theater were confused by the things we kept pointing out, that was pretty fun. However, due to sensory overload, it's overly long running time, and the uneven moments, this is not a great film. Still, worthy of seeing, 2 1/2 gold bricks for Scott Pilgrim.
The film stars Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim, a young aspiring rock musician with a vivid imagination who is dating a high school student Knives Chou (Ellen Wong in her first major role). He gets a lot of grief for this from his friends who include his band mates, his sister (Anna Kendrick), and his gay roommate (Kieran Culkin, who has some of the funniest lines in the movie). LIfe is normal for Scott, till he sees a girl in his dreams and then meets this mysterious beauty in real life at a party. Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is this charming pink haired girl who captivates Scott and thus the trouble begins. Turns out she has seven exes who want to kill Scott Pilgrim. Why is not important, we just know that they want him to die. So, throughout the movie he will have to face them, each showdown more outrageous and intense than the next (look for a Donkey Kong reference).
The movie is very unique in it's approach to the story. Right off the bat, reality goes out the window, and we are treated to the band, "Sex Bomomb" playing their instruments, complete with animation on the screen to look kind of like a comic book come to life, which this is. It's based on a graphic novel and is filmed in such a way to reflect that. However, here we encouter one of my problems with the film. I was confused throughout the movie as we are subjected to multiple filming styles. Anime, comic animation, split screen shots, video games shots, and animation drawn into live action shots. It's all very bright and colorful, and gave me a splitting headache. Hmmm... maybe that's why I've been sick the last 3 days? Is that what it feels like to be high? But I digress... the constant changeup of filming styles got very tiresome. Filmmakers need to pick a style or two and go with it, don't throw so much on screen that my senses experience overload and crash on me. Something I did love about the filming however, was how they were able to capture the fight scenes and make them work like watching someone play a video game. It was fun to see the crazy stunts and insane violence characters committed against one another.
The rest of the story is actually very good, as we care about Scott and whether he will end up with Ramona or Knives (resulting in some very funny moments) as well as what will happen to his band and whether he will survive the seven deadly exes! He and his gay roommate throw barbs back and forth and I found myself laughing out loud at the insults hurled back and forth. Noone was safe in this. I do think the movie dragged just a bit in the middle, there was a couple of moments in a club that were completely unnecessary and didn't really move the story along. It was filler just so they could say they'd "gone there".
As for the content, there are some offensive things in this. Yes, one of the characters is gay, but that isn't rammed down our throats, he's more there to lighten the mood, and he is very funny. There is a very little language, nothing strong. There is a brief makeout scene that we could have done without, and there is a lot of violence, although it is mostly played for laughs- till the end, where the mood suddenly shifts very darkly for some odd reason, completely out of sync with the rest of the movie. Overall, though, nothing in here that should bother to many, but like Suzy said, don't take the kids to this one.
I liked Scott Pilgrim and would recommend any Michael Cera fans should go see this, plus with all the 80s references, if you were around to remember the 80s like Suzy and I, you will love, love, love the constant jokes! So many younger folk in the theater were confused by the things we kept pointing out, that was pretty fun. However, due to sensory overload, it's overly long running time, and the uneven moments, this is not a great film. Still, worthy of seeing, 2 1/2 gold bricks for Scott Pilgrim.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Suzy's take on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Well. How to describe Scott Pilgrim? At its core, it's your basic boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-fights-obstacle-for-girl kind of story. First, though, you have to get past some wicked cool, uber geek chic stylizing so lollypop bright and wait-what-just-happened quick and trippy, that if you can follow it at all, you leave the theater feeling just a little dazed, confused and stoned.
Now, I originally wasn't sure I wanted to see Scott P vs anybody, but circumstances led me there. (Note to self, gps the Gateway before getting lost downtown.) So it was I found myself enjoying this picture as a belated birthday gift from my partner in crime, Jon. I figured, at least I was out of the house, sans 7 year old for an evening. Let's just make the best of it. Settling down into plush reclining seats, vat of soda in one hand, I had nothing to lose but a couple of hours.
Scott Pilgrim starts with a very cool old school knock at 80's video games before the credits even roll and is nonstop, whip fast to the closing credits 1 hour and 53 minutes later. I was pleasantly surprised to find I had a great time at this pic. The music had me banging my head and remembering mosh pits of days past. The video game/graphic novel/japanime chibi cartoon stylizing might be off-putting or hard to follow for some, but I felt it was done in a smart and funny way that I enjoyed. It could easily have gone down hill to a low common denominator, or taken itself too seriously. This felt more like the filmmakers and the audience were all in on the joke, with a wink and a nudge. My favorite thing was that there were a good mix of pop references both to current media and 80's kitch that kept all ages in the audience involved.
So, overall what's my bottom line? Well, I have to split myself into for a moment. As a mom of the aforementioned 7 year old boy, there was a little too much liquor, sex, gay humor, and violence for me to allow him to see it for several years. No to this one for the kiddies.
However, as a person who grew up in the 80's, there was liquor, sex, smart gay humor(which I just know Jon will pan, but whatever), and violence! I had a good time and left laughing and rocking out. Go see or add to your netflix que now.
3 out of 4 Yellow Gold Bricks, since a movie should march you down the yellow brick road to somewhere over the rainbow.
Now, I originally wasn't sure I wanted to see Scott P vs anybody, but circumstances led me there. (Note to self, gps the Gateway before getting lost downtown.) So it was I found myself enjoying this picture as a belated birthday gift from my partner in crime, Jon. I figured, at least I was out of the house, sans 7 year old for an evening. Let's just make the best of it. Settling down into plush reclining seats, vat of soda in one hand, I had nothing to lose but a couple of hours.
Scott Pilgrim starts with a very cool old school knock at 80's video games before the credits even roll and is nonstop, whip fast to the closing credits 1 hour and 53 minutes later. I was pleasantly surprised to find I had a great time at this pic. The music had me banging my head and remembering mosh pits of days past. The video game/graphic novel/japanime chibi cartoon stylizing might be off-putting or hard to follow for some, but I felt it was done in a smart and funny way that I enjoyed. It could easily have gone down hill to a low common denominator, or taken itself too seriously. This felt more like the filmmakers and the audience were all in on the joke, with a wink and a nudge. My favorite thing was that there were a good mix of pop references both to current media and 80's kitch that kept all ages in the audience involved.
So, overall what's my bottom line? Well, I have to split myself into for a moment. As a mom of the aforementioned 7 year old boy, there was a little too much liquor, sex, gay humor, and violence for me to allow him to see it for several years. No to this one for the kiddies.
However, as a person who grew up in the 80's, there was liquor, sex, smart gay humor(which I just know Jon will pan, but whatever), and violence! I had a good time and left laughing and rocking out. Go see or add to your netflix que now.
3 out of 4 Yellow Gold Bricks, since a movie should march you down the yellow brick road to somewhere over the rainbow.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Zombieland from Jonathan Our first review
The film Zombieland which came to DVD a few months ago, stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin. The movie is basically about a boy (Columbus) who has been living alone while trying to avoid getting killed by zombies. He has created a set of rules to survive by. Seeing as most of the people have been turned into zombies, he believes he may be the only human left. He meets up with Woody Harrelson's character, Tallahassee and they soon meet up with Abigail Breslin (Little Rock) and Emma Stone (Wichita). The four of them band together and are trying to get Little Rock to an amusement park whilest trying to avoid getting killed by the zombies. This is a horror/comedy and is rated R for horror, violence/gore and language. There is also some brief drug use.
First, let me say that for a horror/comedy to work is very tricky. Either the jokes are great, but there is nothing scary about it, or the horror is there and there is very little funny about it. The last time I saw one I liked was the first Final Destination. This one has the same demented sense of humor, some of the funniest scenes are the ways zombies are killed. The chemistry between the characters is believable and you really feel for them as they run for their lives. Jesse and Woody have a great love/hate relationship and the girls hate both of them. At one point, they come across a certain celebrity's house and the encounter is laugh out loud funny. All of the movie is leading up to the showdown at an amusement park. Throughout the movie, various survival rules will appear on screen showing how a character should respond to survive. The movie is unrelentlessly violent and also consistently funny. Yet, somehow, there are some very frightening scenes.
As for the content, it is very gory, the bloodshed is graphic. There is some language in it, but it is not constant. Again, there is some brief drug use, but it fits the scene it's in. I would say, if you have an aversion to some course language or violence, steer clear of this. If you like your zombies with a dash of humor, rent it. My only complaint was that the very beginning of the film wasn't quite as strong as the rest of the movie, otherwise, it was a lot of fun.
Zombieland rates as a 3 1/2 out of 4.
First, let me say that for a horror/comedy to work is very tricky. Either the jokes are great, but there is nothing scary about it, or the horror is there and there is very little funny about it. The last time I saw one I liked was the first Final Destination. This one has the same demented sense of humor, some of the funniest scenes are the ways zombies are killed. The chemistry between the characters is believable and you really feel for them as they run for their lives. Jesse and Woody have a great love/hate relationship and the girls hate both of them. At one point, they come across a certain celebrity's house and the encounter is laugh out loud funny. All of the movie is leading up to the showdown at an amusement park. Throughout the movie, various survival rules will appear on screen showing how a character should respond to survive. The movie is unrelentlessly violent and also consistently funny. Yet, somehow, there are some very frightening scenes.
As for the content, it is very gory, the bloodshed is graphic. There is some language in it, but it is not constant. Again, there is some brief drug use, but it fits the scene it's in. I would say, if you have an aversion to some course language or violence, steer clear of this. If you like your zombies with a dash of humor, rent it. My only complaint was that the very beginning of the film wasn't quite as strong as the rest of the movie, otherwise, it was a lot of fun.
Zombieland rates as a 3 1/2 out of 4.
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