Summer Movies

(Movie Tuesdayers, let me know if I forgot any...)

*Get Him to the Greek Not bad.  Parts were really funny, others fell sort of flat.  I wish that the story was more congruent with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which is where Aldous was introduced.

*The A-Team Actually, pretty darn good. Great action, just campy enough, good story, and by gosh they flew a tank!

*Toy Story 3 The third in the series of my favorite movie franchise.  Better than Toy Story 2.  The 3D wasn't all that necessary (other than for the superawesomecrazycreative short in the beginning).  Terribly creepy doll character who would have definitely given me nightmares if overtly and continually compared to the scary movie that it evoked.  Great story and the cast of toys were spot on.  I'll totally buy it.

*Killers Typical rom-com.  Katherine Heigl is always endearing and actually Ashton Kutcher wasn't stupid, which was a pleasant surprise.  And a good twist (one at least that wasn't in the previews).

*Knight and Day Pleasantly surprisingly entertaining.  I don't particularly like Tom Cruise, but he plays crazy so darn well.

*Cyrus  Painfully awkward.  John C. Reilly was very good.

The Last Airbender I wasn't able to make it to this movie, but the other Move Tuesdayers did and didn't stay long at all.  It was THAT BAD.  M. Night Shyamalan does not make good movies.  Let's all just stop leading him on.

*Inception Undoubtedly one of the best movies of the summer.  I don't have anything new or insightful to say about this movie, so just read one of the zillion of reviews that's already out there.

*Despicable Me We saw this directly following Inception, on a double feature catching up with movies night.  It was ok.  I was lead to believe it was about something more interesting.

*Salt Dear Angelina Jolie, you have cornered the market on female action stars.  I adore you when you kick ass.  Good action, entertaining, nice twists.  That's right, I said twists plural. 

*Dinner for Schmucks Very funny.  Awkward.  Funny. 

*Scott Pilgrim vs The World Another cute, clever Michael Cera movie.  He nearly broke his every-movie character, nearly.  That's basically all you need to know.  Also!  Kieran Culkin was pretty awesome.

*The Switch Dare I say one of Jason Bateman's best roles.  One of the better rom-coms.  Jennifer Aniston was age appropriate, which was refreshing.  The kid was the perfect mix of endearing and odd.

*Worth the watch OR just don't waste your time on The Last Airbender.

Movie Updates, April & May

I'm going to take the very easy way out and just half-ass these reviews*: 

Date Night Tina Fey and Steve Carell are a match I've just been waiting for; however, TOTALLY implausible premise and just like most romantic comedies -- fun and silly and not all that great, unfortunately.

How to Train Your Dragon 3D 
Superduperawesomefantasticexcellent!  This was the 3D movie I was waiting for.  Love love loved it.  

Sex and the City 2 Shmeh.  As noted above, like all romantic comedies, silly and sorta fun.  The girls let me down, especially since I Sex and the City marathoned before, in anticipation that the movie would be on the same level as the show.  Too much materialism, too much old people trying to reclaim something that has passed them by (gracefully, in terms of the show), too much and yet not enough of the right stuff.  But, honestly, I can't remember a movie based on a show that I enjoyed as much as I liked the show (Simpsons movie wasn't all that great, either).

  

Prince of Persia I like action movies, I like fighting, I like comedy.  I liked Aladdin, which was the cartoon version of this movie released several years before and loved by all.  I got bored toward the whole middle.

 

Shrek Forever After Shmeh, again.  Shrek 2 is the only one we need.  This was just making a movie to just make a movie.  The 3D was good and the animation was great, but the story was seriously stupid.

Robin Hood I don't get why a new Robin Hood had to be made, but it was not bad.  I liked the new twist on the story; although history was rewritten to accommodate divorce prior to Henry VIII and ya know the Magna Carta.  And everyone was older.  Maid Marion was Lady Marion -- married!  I don't think a sequel would make sense, since if this was the olden days, the characters would die of old age.

The Losers Not good.  The action wasn't actiony enough and the story wasn't, it just wasn't.

Kick Ass Super excellent.  Action, social message, parody, comedy, drama, crazy ass characters.  I don't even want to say more, just SEE IT!

Iron Man 2 Good sequel, and they're always the hardest (ahem, Sex and the City 2).  I was distracted by the actor switch, but otherwise, it was highly enjoyable.  Don't bother to stick around for the extra 15 seconds at the end -- it's Thor.  Spoiler, but whatever.

*not even in order, hopefully I didn't leave any out

The Big Empty

I didn't get it.  The Big Empty was David Lynch-ish, I guess, but forgettable.  Which is a shame, because John Favreau is usually awesome.  Has he ever been in another movie that was released straight to DVD?   

The Proposal

This movie was not bad.  It was most certainly not very good, but on the scale of horrible Failure to Launch to not-so-terrible-every-other-romantic-comedy -- not the worst.  Why is it that in romantic comedies 3 day "weekends" end up being longer than 2 weeks?  So many things happen.  An eagle tries to take a puppy, rap songs around the bonfire, naked mishaps, immigration dodging marriage plans, trip to Alaska, Betty White has a heart attack and tailors a wedding dress, Oscar from The Office does a strip tease and officiates a marriage service, AND it all wraps up by Monday morning.  Watch it instantly on Netflix.  Otherwise, save it for a girl's night. 

Gentlemen Broncos

I nearly forgot to include Gentlemen Broncos, which we watched last weekend.  

Napoleon Dynamite move on over, make way for Gentlemen Broncos.  Totally irreverent.  So ridiculous.  Super funny.  Wacky story about sci-fi writers, kids, stolen material, misguided fashion, and everyone that is currently fantastic in movies/on TV now.*     

*exaggeration, but still.  

Finding Nemo, The Big Empty, Get Smart, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Because I Said So

I had my wisdom tooth out the other day.  I spent all weekend snuggled on the couch with my boyfriend, napping, and in bed with the kitties watching movies. 

Finding Nemo: Love it.  Fell asleep for most of it because I was doped from the mouth surgery and on Vicodin.  Dory's my favorite.

The Big Empty: Fell asleep again.  Dan thought it was really good but didn't want to rewatch it when I woke up.  I'll have to watch it some time soon. 

Get Smart: I like Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway.  Steve Carell is choice when it comes to bumbling comedic genius.  I got sort of bored during the end fight scene, but otherwise worth the rent.   

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Super awesome amazing splendid cussin' fantastic!  I wanted to watch it again right after it ended.  

Because I Said So: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, and Lorelai from Gilmore Girls. Cute girly movie, although I wonder if any daughters really talk that much about sex with their mothers.   

La Vie En Rose

I hesitated to write this review for the past few weeks.  I didn't know -- don't know -- if I could really describe how transformative Marion Cotillard's performance was.  She truly became Edith Piaf.  While I watched the film, I had no point of reference to compare the two, but I just knew that Marion metamorphosized into Edith: so broken, abused, neglected, mentally and physically ill.  

I don't think that the point of the film was to make Edith a likable person -- she was someone who intrigued me, not someone that I necessarily routed for because I liked her.  From the very beginning, the little girl who was raised in horrible conditions, became the product of her surroundings.  It was like a first run conception of Behind the Music.  In a really weird way this movie drew out my social worker skills (which are always at the ready) -- I honed in on the neglect, deviant upbringing, lack of medical care, lack of emotional support, physical and emotional abuse, and rampant substance abuse that produced this wonderfully talented, broken woman.  Edith was a real life china doll; delicate, timeless, stylized, and so frail.  I don't really know what to write, just simply Marion Cotillard's performance was mind blowing and I became totally enraptured.  A must see.