Grade: B-
For someone who has all the old
Universal horror movies – Frankenstein,
The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, The Wolf Man,
and all the sequels – plus such later incarnations as Kenneth Branagh’s version
of Frankenstein, the Francis Ford
Coppola Dracula, the Brendan Frasier Mummy movies, and even Kevin Bacon as The Hollow Man and Benicio Del Toro’s
version of The Wolfman, along with
such monster mashes and comedies like Abbott
and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein, Love at First Bite, Van
Helsing, The Monster Squad, and a smattering of other products mixing all
these elements, from the Underworld
franchise to both the English and American versions of Being Human, something like this computer animated romp through
that world would be nearly irresistible.
I
actually found it to be similar to a lot of other computer animated films these
days – very well animated, and cute at times, and at other times quite chaotic
– the only difference being that it’s characters just happen to be comedic
takes on old horror movie figures I’ve liked since childhood. It had an interesting story and enough comedy
bits and plot to hold my interest for an hour and a half. They even managed to throw in a human message
or two amid all the monsters. I may even
have to buy it as a Halloween treat, all the while wondering if it couldn’t
have been maybe just a bit better if it weren’t quite so little kid wild and
frenetic. Not the best, but I’ll still
have to give it a thumbs up.
Grade: D
Critically acclaimed, nominated for Best
Picture at the Oscars, this is one of those Oscar films I was anxious to
watch. After having done so, all I can
say is, “Ick!” The little girl, Quvenzhané
Wallis as six year old Hushpuppy, gives an amazing performance for such a young
child, and I suspect it is really her that people are rallying around as they
throw their support and accolades upon this movie. And I’m sure there are people who actually
live like this. Yet it’s not a way of
life much worth preserving if you ask me, and all the adults surrounding young
Hushpuppy, particularly her father, are people of low moral character and
little common sense. They’re people
stuck in squalor, and liking it that way, and little Hushpuppy will be just
like them someday. I will admit there is
a bit of poetry to the writing, and some of the visuals, as some fans and
critics have said, but it’s not enough to excuse a film with such horrible
characters. The previews made it seem as
if Hushpuppy’s father might have a few redeeming qualities, but he
doesn’t. He’s just a jerk from beginning
to end, and Hushpuppy doesn’t have much of a chance. Neither do any of the children in this
community. This film was a great
disappointment.
Grade: B+
The biggest problem I had with this
movie was not the movie itself. It was
the critics and the fan base. Why are
they so jaded against a perfectly fine sci fi action film? Perhaps it’s a little on the long side, with
maybe too much action, as some critics have suggested. However, whereas the first film was a sci fi
classic despite its cheesier elements, this one is a toned down, lean machine
in the same vein as other less grandiose, yet still highly entertaining, sci fi
films such as Minority Report, I, Robot, and The Island. They’re not the
kind of films to compete with the big science fiction epics like some of the
modern day Superhero films, the Star Wars
franchise, and The Matrix. I often like my sci fi films to be a bit on
the smaller side. But it’s still the
kind of movie the SyFy channel would love to make. And as such, there is nothing wrong with it. This film has striking visuals, some great
action scenes, a sturdy plot, and Colin Farrell as the hero, Jessica Biel as
the heroine, and Kate Beckinsale as the main villain, in a heavily expanded
role from that of Sharon Stone in the original.
Plus, Colin Farrell is a better actor than Arnold, and they even managed
to keep in a few memorable parts from the original, such as the girl with three
boobs and the airport scene where the main character is using modern technology
to disguise himself.
Grade: B+
I’m sorry. I realize I'm no spring chicken, but Tommy Lee Jones is starting to look old. But he still has it, and Will Smith does too. And this was a return to what made the first
movie so great, and is a vast improvement over the last installment. I loved the time travel angle that allowed
Josh Brolin to do a killer impression of Tommy Lee Jones as the young Agent
K. Jemaine Clement as the alien bad guy
Boris the Animal was sufficiently menacing and creepy, yet I still preferred
Vincent D’Onofrio’s Edgar in the original.
The time travel angle has already been done many times before (the last
two Austin Powers movies used it), but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have some
fun with it, and here, actor Michael Stuhlbarg almost steals every scene he’s
in as the charming, coat clad alien Griffin, who has the ability to see all
possible futures and is fascinated by baseball.
Even with some impressive effects, the time travel angle, Will Smith,
and Josh Brolin as the young K, the movie wouldn’t have been half as clever or
watchable without Stuhlbarg and his delightfully cerebral yet charming alien character!
Grade: C-
Okay, so now I’ve seen it.
Actually,
this Ben Stiller directed film, also starring Ben Stiller, started out
quite funny and original before devolving into the usual sort of Stiller
shtick. The first three movie previews,
which are supposed to advertise the films of the three main characters, are a
laugh riot: Scorcher VI for Stiller’s action movie character Tug Speedman, The Fatties, Fart 2 for Jack Black’s
comedy movie character Jeff Portnoy (an obvious riff on Eddie Murphy’s “The
Klumps”), and Satan’s Alley for Robert
Downey Jr.’s drama movie character Kirk Lazarus, where he plays a monk in
forbidden love with another monk played by Tobey Maguire ("Winner of the Bejing Film Festival's Crying Monkey Award"!). From there, it focuses on a Vietnam war film
being made, with a heavy emphasis on comic gore, and with some snarky Hollywood
parodies by the likes of Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, Danny McBride, and
particularly Tom Cruise, whose foul-mouthed, over-weight, balding character I
didn’t find funny at all. The film is
actually quite similar to the old Steve Martin/Chevy Chase/Martin Short movie The Three Amigos since both films are
comedies about actors who think the life and death situation they are in is all
part of a movie they are supposed to be making.
If truth be told, The Three Amigos
is funnier, not quite as inspired, but definitely less filthy!
Before
the end of the movie, Portnoy reveals a vicious drug addiction; meanwhile,
Lazarus, an Australian who has dyed his skin black to play a black sergeant,
and Speedman, whose attempt at drama by playing a severely mentally challenged
man in Simple Jack was critically
panned, begin to lose their identities, and it is up to Jay Baruchel, the film
geek, to save them all! There are still
a few inspired bits throughout. I
particularly like how the drug dealers notice Speedman is an actor when he stutters,
and realizing he is “Simple Jack”, they force him to redo the whole stupid
movie for them. Yet wrapped up in all of
it is a high silliness factor that Stiller just has a hard time shaking. As real as they tried to make it seem, both
for the fictional film they were making and the “real” events that find these
clueless actors stranded in the middle of a drug war, I’m afraid it’s
ultimately not believable for a second.
And though the beginning bits were pretty darned hilarious, the rest of
it, I’m afraid, was only mildly fun, and occasionally repulsive, particularly Jack Black's character as he goes through some nasty withdrawals!
Gary. How did you, of all people, notice shades of Three Amigos instead of Galaxy Quest?
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