Thanks for checking out our Hellboy 2 review. If you’d like to see the video version of the Hellboy 2 review, you can see it at the bottom of this post.

When Mike Mignola’s creation “Hellboy” was brought to the big screen by Guillermo del Toro I was blown away by the results. Having only read a couple of the comics, I wasn’t sure how on earth they could bring this type of a character… this type of a world to the big screen in a way that general audiences would “get it”. Somehow they found a way and made Hellboy probably the most underrated Comic Book movie ever… Hellboy himself is one of the most interesting characters certainly in the entire genre on screen and was perfectly embodied by Ron Perlman. Needless to say I was very excited about the prospects of another Hellboy movies, and last night I had that chance to see it. Was my anticipation rewarded? Yes it was.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Hellboy 2 looks something like this: “The Golden Army begins when an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken; Hell on earth is ready to erupt. Hellboy 2 tells the tale of a ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below, defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Its up to the planets toughest, roughest superhero to battle the merciless dictator and his marauders. He may be red, he may be horned, he may be misunderstood, but when you need the job done right, its time to call in Hellboy (Ron Perlman), and the B.P.R.D.

The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) will travel between the surface world and the unseen magical one, where creatures of fantasy become corporeal, along with his expanding team pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), aquatic empath Abe (Doug Jones), and protoplasmic mystic Johann Krauss (James Dodd), the newest member of the BPRD. Hellboy, a creature of two worlds who is accepted by neither, must choose between the life he knows and an unknown destiny that beckons him.

A slip-up results in the F.B.I. being forced to reveal the existence of BPRD to the general public. Brash old Hellboy doesn’t play well with the public, which only increases the instability of his already-turning-rough relationship with Liz. However, fellow paranormal Johann (who is a sort of ectoplasmic spirit held within a very special containment suit) is far better with the public — and with Liz, apparently. But in the end they’ve all got to come together to fight Prince Nuada (son of the Woodland King), who, with his army of ghouls, faerie, and the like, is attempting to resurrect a golden army once controlled by his father.”

THE GOOD

Del Toro does such a magnificent job creating this world in which the “normal” world and the world of the fantastic live together in close proximity. Other projects that have a fantastic world within the same realm of our own often come across as cheesy, but the way Del Toro weaves it all together is amazing.

The character design is just beautiful and very different from the run of the mill, cookie cutter creature design we see in a lot of other flicks. Del Toro designed a lot of the creatures himself and you can completely see the signature look that he also used for some of his creatures in “Pan’s Labyrinth”. All very original… all breathtakingly beautiful.

Good comic book movies need a solid antagonist. And Prince Nuara fits the need very nicely. The role is played by Luke Goss who also appeared in Del Toro’s “Blade 2″ as the main bad guy Nomak. He has a terrific intensity about him that make him something to dread. And this may sound odd… but I find the best “bad guys” are the ones who think they’re being “good”. They have a sense of honor about them. To me this is extra scary.

Perlman once again rules as Hellboy. It’s hard to imagine anyone else doing this role as well as he’s done it (although I’m sure I’d be saying the same thing if another guy had done it in the first place too).

The Mythology of the story is incredible. The movie starts with flashback of a young Hellboy going to bed and his father (who died in the first movie) telling him the bedtime story of the Golden Army. It’s a terrific tale with so many classic elements in it. It sets a wonderful framework for the movie as a whole.

I didn’t think I’d like the new character on the team, Johann Kraus, but as it turns out he was one of my favorite characters in the movie. I talked to some people after the screening that thought he sounded silly (strong German accent), but I thought he was hilarious and thought the accent really added to the character.

The visual effects were… WOW… just wow. Especially The Golden Army itself. Some amazing looking stuff.

THE BAD

I was actually pretty happy to hear that Doug Jones (The man who was in Abe’s suit for the first movie, but David Hyde Pierce did the voice) was going to get to do the voice of Abe as well this time around. Doug (for those of you who may not know) was also the body of the Silver Surfer in fantastic Four 2… but didn’t get to do the voice, and the voice of Pan the Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth… but didn’t get to do the voice I don’t think either. Unfortunately, i don’t think Doug’s voice worked for Abe. He did his very best to mimic David Hyde Pierce, but for me it fell short. I found myself constantly expecting to hear the first voice come out… but it never did. Too bad.

The movie isn’t a comedy per se, and I understand that… but the first one was a lot funnier. Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of priceless scenes that had me laughing out loud… but not nearly as many as the first Hellboy movie, and I was expecting a little more of that with the characters you had here.

I can’t really put my finger on it… but Selma Blair (who I really like normally) just didn’t work nearly as well for me as Liz this time around as she did in the last flick. And it wasn’t just the character… it felt to me like Blair was bored or something. In sports terms it felt like she just mailed in her performance and didn’t give much of an effort. She didn’t suck… but she didn’t bring it either… or even tried to… shame.

OVERALL

Hellboy 2 ends up being a fun, beautiful looking fantasy / adventure type movie that manages to be a tiny bit better than the first one. No, it’s not as funny and the lack of David Hyde Pierce was painfully obvious, but other than that it’s a truly fun time at the theaters. Del Toro does it again! Overall I give Hellboy 2 a 7.5 out of 10.

YOU CAN SEE THE VIDEO VERSION OF THE HELLBOY 2 REVIEW BELOW

Thanks for checking out our Hancock review. If you’d like to see a video version of the Hancock review you can see it at the bottom of this post.

Will Smith is one of those actors that has come to grow on me over the years, the main turning point being his amazing performance in Ali a few years back. Since then, I haven’t exactly loved all his movies, but if you’re going to try to be objective about it, Smith always brought exactly what his roles called for. The other factor is that all his movies seem to make crazy amounts of bank regardless of their quality, which makes him one of the last (if not THE last) truly bankable movie stars.

The film originally titled “Tonight He Comes” (for the record I much prefer the name “Hancock”) sounds like a straight comedy when you hear the premise… you’d even be forgiven for still thinking it’s a straight comedy when seeing the first wave of trailers and clips which pretty much painted Hancock as a laugher. Then came word that the film is actually a dark film. So which was true? Well… both actually.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Hancock looks something like this: “John Hancock (Will Smith) is an unhappy and reluctant superhero who is living in his own world. For some unknown reason, Hancock is depressed and has started drinking very heavily. He has saved many lives in Los Angles over the years, but in doing so, he has no regards for damaging buildings, trains, roads, cars, or anything that gets in his way to get the job done. The last time he captured several criminals, it cost the city $9 million to fix the damages. The public has had enough of Hancock, and they want him to stop or go to another city. Then one day, Hancock saves the life of Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman). Ray is a Public Relations executive who now can go home to his wife and child, because Hancock was there. Ray owes Hancock his life, and he makes it his mission to change his superhero’s image and have the public cheering him.”

THE GOOD

Hancock is not your stereotypical superhero film. As a matter of fact, you could make the argument that the movie is more of a character study surrounding Hancock and his predicament. A man without memory of who he actually is with serious issues he needs to deal with. Yeah it sounds a bit cheesy, but you know what… it works. I really enjoyed how they executed this whole premise.

Will Smith once again brings exactly the performance that his particular character needed… and believe me… getting told “you’re playing a man with superpowers who drinks too much, has major attitude and personal problems who is forced to confront them in a movie that isn’t a spoof but isn’t too serious either” would be a description that could cause a lot of actors to drink, but honestly… Smith found the zone where Hancock lives and portrayed it perfectly.

Although this is not a comedy movie… there are honestly good laughs sprinkled throughout the length of the movie… the best ones weren’t even given away in the trailers.

Has Jason Bateman ever done a bad job?

THE BAD

To me, the single biggest weakness in Hancock is the absolute lack of any adversary. Yes, I understand that Hancock is more of a character movie than a superhero one, and as such the antagonist is Hancock’s personal issues… but whether it likes it or not, Hancock IS still at least in part a superhero movie, and that being the case you need at least some semblance of an adversary. No, it doesn’t need to be a “super villain”… but all the movie gives is is random smatterings of various thugs and hoods. A couple of which get together later (after each getting their asses handed to them by the super powered Hancock) and decide to go after Hancock. This made ZERO sense to me since they already know Hancock is invulnerable and bulletproof… yet they decide to go after him with some guns… I’m sorry but even stupid criminals are smarter than that.

The second half of the film takes a downward turn in terms of momentum once a minor twist is revealed that (even after an explanation is offered) seemed a bit weak and coincidental which then dominates the remainder of the story. Now, unlike a lot of movie critics out there… the second half of the film didn’t bother too much, but it is clearly the weaker part of the movie no doubt.

Since Hancock doesn’t really have an adversary in the film that can fight him… the action is boring. I know what you’re thinking: “But John, you said this was a character study more than an action film” and that’s true… BUT… they have a lot of action scenes without any action. You can only get a kick out of seeing Smith beat up non-superpowered guys with one hand behind his back so many times. If you’re going to have action sequences… then put in some… you know… action.

OVERALL

Hancock is getting worked over pretty good by the critics right now (last time I checked it only had a 35% on Rotten Tomatoes) but I’ve got to tell ya… while I didn’t “love” Hancock, I’m really not sure what their beef with the flick is. For me, it delivers on what it suggests it will, the story was a good one, some decent laughs and a strong lead performance by Smith make this a watchable film despite the shortcomings I mentioned above. Overall I give Hancock a 6.5 out of 10

YOU CAN SEE THE VIDEO VERSION OF THE HANCOCK REVIEW BELOW

Thanks for checking out our Wall-E review. You can also check out a video version of our Wall-E review at the bottom of this post.

I’ve said it many times before… for my money, Pixar is not only the best animation film studio in the business… they are the best film studio period. This company simply doesn’t know how to make anything less than excellence. Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc, Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Cars… name another studio that is literally 8 for 8? So whenever a new Pixar film is in development, it instantly gets my attention, and Wall-E was no exception to that rule. 2008 has already been a great summer for movies with releases like Iron Man, Wanted, Dark Knight, Prince Caspian and a few others… would Wall-E live up to Pixar standards and keep the summer season moving forward? YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Wall-E looks something like this: “Disney and Pixar join forces for this computer-animated tale about a wide-eyed robot who travels to the deepest reaches of outer space in search of a newfound friend. The year is 2700, and planet Earth has long been uninhabitable. For hundreds of years, WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) has been taking out the trash, and collecting precious knick-knacks in order to stave off the boredom of his dreary routine. Little does WALL-E realize that he has recently stumbled onto a secret that could save planet Earth, and once again make the ravaged planet safe for all humankind. When highly advanced search robot EVE makes friends with WALL-E and realizes the value of his remarkable discovery, she excitedly races back to let the humans know that there’s hope for their home planet after all. But after centuries alone in the world, WALL-E can’t stand the thought of losing the only friend he’s ever known, and eagerly follows her into the deepest reaches of space on the adventure of a lifetime. Along the way, the friendly trash-collecting robot who has always known what he was made for gradually begins to understand what he was meant for. Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton returns to the helm for this family-friendly sci-fi adventure featuring the voices of Fred Willard, Jeff Garlin, and Ben Burtt.”

THE GOOD

The visual element of Wall-E is just breathtaking in some spots. The earth really does look like its been abandoned for hundreds of years. It is a vast, dreary landscape whose visual style communicates the nature and emotion of the predicament of the earth. It’s not often anymore that an animated film makes you look at some shots with a huge sense of awe… but Wall-E does that.

One of the big questions going into the movie that a lot of people has were “how interesting can this movie be when the main characters don’t actually talk?”. A fair question. When your two main characters (Wall-E and EVE) have about 90% of the screen time, and each basically only ever say “Wall-E” or “Eve”, the burden for storytelling falls onto the shoulders of the character performances (animation) and the art of visual storytelling, and my goodness did they ever hit it out of the park in this regard. Wall-E communicates worlds of information to the audience without ever saying a word just by how perfectly and beautifully he’s animated. His movements, his expression and his very nature are the tools by which this story is told without the use of words (there is dialog in the film from some other characters… but the majority of the movie is told by just watching and experiencing Wall-E himself).

This is not only a great animated movie… this is truly one of the greatest Science Fiction films I’ve seen since E.T. Great Sci-Fi doesn’t just give us giant robots and flashy space ships… but also observations about the human condition. Great science fiction acts as a looking glass on our reality from the perspective of the fantastic or the other worldly. Throughout the film, Wall-E makes serious observations about us as a society, and all done in such a way that none of it seems unrealistic. 700 years from now all humans are fat beyond reason, almost without the ability to walk at all. They are so connected into their technology that they become oblivious to simple observations about the world around them in which they live. They engorge themselves in their modern conveniences while destroying themselves at the same time. It’s difficult to go into too much without crossing into spoiler territory, but for now I’ll just leave it at that.

Ok… we all knew this movie was going to be “cute”, as in the “awwwww” factor of it. But wow, it really is cute and endearing. I just fell in love with Wall-E and EVE as they go along on their little adventure. And I’m man enough to admit that near the end of the film I even felt some tears welling up in my eyes that I had to wipe away. Just so beautiful. Lots of fantastic humor too (which we’ve come to expect from Pixar) that kept you grinning or laughing almost the entire time.

Not really “Wall-E” related… but the Pixar animated short film “Presto” that plays just before Wall-E is one of the best they’ve ever done too and added to my overall enjoyment of the evening.

THE BAD

I’ve got nothing to add here

OVERALL

This is the best film of 2008 so far, and if Wall-E doesn’t get nominated for Best Picture (not just the cheap cop-out Best Animated Picture) then I’m going to throw a total fit. This is a beautiful, smart, touching, hilarious and damn cute movie that I’m going to see at least 4 more times in the theater. It is the best film Pixar has ever made in my opinion… and the most complete one too. I loved this movie. Overall I give Wall-E a 9.5 out of 10.

YOU CAN SEE THE VIDEO VERSION OF THE WALL-E REVIEW BELOW

Thanks for checking out our “The Dark Knight” review. You can also check out our video version of The Dark Knight review at the bottom of this post.

Batman Begins was easily the very best DC comic based film ever made. Yes, better than the Keaton Batman, yes better than the Reeve Superman. It was gritty, intense and fun all at the same time. The success of the film made it a virtual no brainer that there would be a follow up movie at some point… and the fact that Gordon shows Batman the Joker card made it even more obvious. But could another Batman flick live up to the expectations generated by the first? Would the film actually end up being as good as the fans WANT it to be? Would Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker be as good as everyone is going to say it is regardless if he was great or horrible since there is an unwritten rule that everyone is SUPPOSED to say how great he is in it no matter what?

Well… off I went to see The Dark Knight this evening at the IMAX here in Los Angeles along with my buddy Robert from IESB, and I can tell you the film is not perfect… but it is one impressive movie nonetheless.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for The Dark Knight looks like this: “In The Dark Knight, Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.”

THE GOOD

One of the things I was preparing myself for was how over hyped the performance of Heath Ledger was going to be. Since he passed away, I knew he’d be getting rave reviews out the ying yang no matter what and I’d be frowned upon if I said any different. But holy mother suck puss face… HEATH LEDGER DESERVES AN OSCAR NOMINATION FOR HIS PERFORMANCE AS THE JOKER… no… I’m not even kidding in the least. I was totally, 100% blown away like nothing I’ve ever seen in a comic based movie before. He is at all times completely believable, at all time relentlessly disturbing, at all times nightmarishly frightening and at all times THE JOKER. This is a slightly different vision of The Joker than we’ve ever seen before… but it hits the mark so purely that even Batman himself is made to feel like a secondary character. It really was the performance of a lifetime for Ledger in all its poetic tragedy. I can not stress this enough… Ledger really was that good in this flick, and if he gets an Oscar nomination (which he really should), it won’t be out of sympathy or sentimentality… it will be because it was a performance worth of the honor. Absolute best performance in a comic book movie I’ve ever seen. Yes, he was THAT good.

The script was fantastic. The story moved forward at all times, the dialog was crisp, at times profound and always in character relative to the scenario. The way all the key characters are used in vital ways in the plot… all interconnecting in a very naturally feeling way… never forced… was something to see.

The action in The Dark Knight was vastly superior to Batman Begins in every way, shape and form. And we’re not just talking about fight scenes either. There are a couple of scenes that are more like heist movies than comic book ones and they totally work. The camera work is also much better for the fight and action in this movie than they were in the original which was quite a relief since that was one of my few complains about Begins.

Speaking of cinematography… it was INSANELY good. Visually speaking, the camera did as much work in The Dark Knight communicating elements to the audience as the dialog did. It was never over the top or gimmicky either. Each shot felt purposefully selected to aide in communication the underlaying emotion and experiences of the characters on screen… while at the same time giving us a sense of vastness to the scope of the shots. I could just sit and watch this movie on mute again and I’d probably still like it just as much.

Maggie Gyllenhaal (who took over for Katie Holmes) actually made Rachel Dawes a GOOD character instead of the eye gougingly annoying one that Holmes managed to make her out to be. The Dawes character is an important one… but the way Holmes portrayed her made us all wish she was never there in the first place… Gyllenhaal made her work, and work well.

What can I say? All the cast were solid. Christain Bale, Caine, Gary Oldman (who was especially good with a much bigger and more important role this time around), Eric Roberts… the list goes on and on. When an entire cast does such a good job, you have to look at the director. Christopher Nolan sir…. we salute you!

Holy crap did Two Face look WICKED!!!

THE BAD

My biggest complaint about The Dark Knight is one that no one will agree with at first… but if you think about it after a while I think you’ll change your mind… at over 2.5 hours the movie was too long. Sorry, it just was. At about the 2 hour mark I was ready to call The Dark Knight the best film of the year so far… and maybe one of the top 5 movies of the last 3 or 4 years. Yeah… THAT GOOD. Now, I have to be careful here to not give any spoilers away… so if some of this doesn’t make sense to you… it will after you see the flick. After about the 2 hour mark, a major component of the story gets finished… and it was the PERFECT time to stop the movie and be wide open to the next film. PERFECT. But instead Nolan felt the need to tell ANOTHER part to the story in this same movie… that was a big mistake in my opinion. All that energy, perfect pacing and focus that the movie had for the first 120 minutes got lost. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the last 30-40 minutes were bad… they just weren’t right for this movie. Something significant happens near the end (I can’t say what) that I believe was a total waste, and ultimately made the last 30 minutes a waste of time.

Scarecrow was WASTED… and I don’t mean he was on drugs. He’s on screen for about 30 seconds, then gone. Wheee… thanks for coming out. This may sound like a little bit of a spoiler, but it’s so irrelevant to the movie that it really doesn’t matter. Scarecrow isn’t even taken down like a true super villain. No no no… he gets taken down during a routine bust really. There was no need for Scarecrow to be used in that capacity… you could have had the same scene and had it be just another thug and it would have been exactly the same. Such a waste

OVERALL

This is a fantastic movie! Yes it’s too long, yes one or two of the characters are wasted… but aside from that it is a wonderfully told, MAGNIFICENTLY acted and beautifully shot comic book movie that ranks amongst one of the best films (not just comic book films) of the year so far. Not just a great comic movie… it is a great movie period. Overall, I give The Dark Knight an 8.5 out of 10.

CHECK OUT OUR VIDEO VERSION OF THE DARK KNIGHT REVIEW BELOW

Thanks for checking out our Wanted review. Unfortunately we don’t have a video version of the Wanted review, but we will discuss it in an upcoming podcast. For now, here’s our written review.

From the first moment that I heard about this flick I was interested… and then after I saw the first trailer a few months back I was completely stoked for it. Not many people have been giving Wanted much love, but I said that it, along with the Hulk (which most people were also saying was going to totally suck) would be the 2 surprise films of the summer (in the sense of quality, not box office… because let’s face it, no matter how good Wanted turns out, it’s going to get totally bitch slapped around at the box office by that little Pixar robot Wall-e). Well, the Hulk did indeed end up surprising a lot of people and turned out to be a pretty good flick. So did Wanted also live up to that? HELL YES!!!!!

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Wanted looks something like this: “Based upon Mark Millar’s explosive graphic novel series and helmed by stunning visualist director Timur Bekmambetov — creator of the most successful Russian film franchise in history, the ‘Night Watch’ series — ‘Wanted’ tells the tale of one apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice. In 2008, the world will be introduced to a hero for a new generation: Wesley Gibson.

25-year-old Wes (James McAvoy) was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut. Until he met a woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie). After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad’s death by unlocking his dormant powers. As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code”

THE GOOD

First and foremost is the performance of James McAvoy was just fantastic. His character, Wesley, goes through a major transformation… a cheesy one… and yet McAvoy pulls it off in such a way that it not only DOESN’T come off as cheesy, but hilarious and believable at the same time. Going into the movie I thought one of the elements I was going to have a hard time with was buying McAvoy as an action star… well screw that because he pulls it off with no problems whatsoever. Jolie may get all the sexy shots in the trailers, but make no mistake about it, James McAvoy carries this film.

The underlying mythology of the movie regarding the history of this secret society of assassins called “The Fraternity” and how they get their instructions for who to kill was awesome. **MINOR SPOILER** you learn in the film that the ancient order of assassins was first formed by a group of weavers 1000 years ago. These weavers actually learned how to interpret secret messages from “fate” in the threads of fabric. The threads spell out who the Fraternity must kill in order to make the world a safer place. It sounds silly on the surface… but trust me, it totally works **END OF MINOR SPOILER**

This movie promises action in the marketing… and it delivers! There’s not just a lot of action… the action in the film is all top notch. The set pieces are carried out on a grand scale (wait till you see the train scene), the gun fights are cheer worthy and throughout the movie there a little “moments” of action. You know what I mean… not full out action scenes, but regular scenes with an element of action thrown in. It was all great, I loved it.

The visual effects were surprisingly good and always seemed to fit right in with what was going on. There were one or two spots where I thought to myself “THAT was clearly fake”, but other than that, it seemed to work.

Oh, and as a side note, I also laughed a lot in the movie. There are at least 6 or 7 moments in the movie that I laughed out loud.

The story in the movie is a solid one too. With a summer brainless action flick I sort of expected it to be… well… brainless. However, the plot is great… a compelling antagonist… a good little twist or two… it all just comes together well.

THE BAD

Ok, I’ll say this much. Some of the action sequences are so over the top that once or twice in the movie it pulls you out of the film. That’s about all I can come up with.

OVERALL

I just frigging LOVED this movie… much more than I was expecting. The action is terrific, McAvoy carries the film, Angelina Jolie is hot, seductive and pure deadly, it’s funny, great mythology and a good solid plot to boot. Aside from Iron Man this may be my favorite film of the summer so far. Overall I give Wanted a 9 out of 10

Thanks for checking out our The Love Guru Review. We unfortunately don’t have a video version of The Love Guru review, but we will discuss it in an upcoming podcast.

For all intents and purposes, we haven’t seen Mike Myers in anything non-Shrek related in over 5 years which has always been confusing and frustrating to me. Right up front I’ll let you know that I simply LOVE Mike Myers. Most people associate him with his Austin Powers films (and why not? Combined the 3 Austin Powers movies have cost just under $110 million to produce and have made over $660 million world wide), but for me, his best film (and one that I think is one of the best comedies ever, and certainly one of the most under appreciated) will always be “So I married an Axe Murderer”. But really, his whole career for the past decade seems to be nothing more than Austin Powers and Shrek.

When I first heard about The Love Guru and Mike Myers returning to lead in a comedy, I thought it sounded just hilarious and I was excited. Then the trailers came out… and without a doubt the film looked like the worst film Myers has ever been involved in, and one of the worst films of the year. As the release date got closer and closer, the new trailers only made that sick feeling in my stomach even stronger. So off I went to see The Love Guru… was it as awful at is looked? Actually no… but still not good.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for The Love Guru looks something like this: “Austin Powers trilogy star Mike Myers collaborates with writer Graham Gordy for this comedy concerning a self-help guru named Pitka (Myers), who devotes his life to unknotting the romantic entanglements of troubled couples. As a young child, Pitka is abandoned at the gates of an ashram in India and taken in by kindly gurus. An American by birth, Pitka absorbs the lessons taught to him by his teachers and later returns to the United States to become a leading authority on spirituality and self-help. While Pitka’s methods are decidedly unorthodox, they may be the only means of ensuring that the Toronto Maple Leafs win the coveted Stanley Cup. The Maple Leaf’s star Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco) is in trouble. His estranged wife has recently begun dating L.A. Kings star Jacques Grande (Justin Timberlake) in a vengeful effort to send her husband’s career into a tailspin, and when Roanoke starts to falter on the ice, the whole team starts to suffer. As their visions of leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Stanley Cup are quickly going up in flames, team owner Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba) and Coach Cherkov (Verne Troyer) enlist the aid of the world’s best-known relationship expert in restoring the peace between Roanoke and his wife, and getting their team back on the track to the championships.”

THE GOOD

Ok, I admit that I’m biased because I’m a die hard Toronto Maple Leafs fan to the point that I bleed Blue and White… and Mike Myers is also a fanatic Leafs fan… so seeing a movie with the Toronto Maple Leafs making a run for the Stanley Cup (something that I’ll probably never see actually happen in real life in my lifetime) was a real kick for me. Yay! Go Leafs Go!

Stephen Colbert’s small role as a Hockey Night In Canada commentator was quite good. Sure, it’s the type of role we see in tons of sports movies (best of all of them was probably Bob Uecker in the Major League movies… damn he was hilarious in those), and even Mike Myers himself did the same sort of thing in Mystery Alaska). Colbert is just a funny funny man.

I gotta give this up to The Love Guru… it was funnier than I thought it would be. Now keep in mind, that’s not hard considering I didn’t suspect that I’d laugh at all. The movie isn’t hilarious… but there were a few decent laugh moments that hit the mark and had me giggling. Having said that….

THE BAD

Not enough laughs. Yes it was funnier than I thought it would be, but even that wasn’t nearly enough. So many of the jokes were just old recycled Austin Powers gags that much of the film just felt sad and desperate instead of fresh and funny (almost none of this movie felt fresh). They even brought mini-me back (played by Verne Troyer, who was actually funnier than Myers in this movie) to re-do a lot of the Austin Powers jokes. Like I said, more sad than anything else.

Dear sweet heavens Justin Timberlake was AWFUL. How hard is it just to play a simple little silly farce character? Well… I guess the answer is harder than Timberlake can handle, because he SUCKED in this flick. I thought he’d actually be “ok” in this movie because his role required absolutely no talent, and when we’ve seen him doing just brainless sketch comedy on Saturday Night Live, he’s been not bad… but wow he totally crapped the bed. Just dreadful. He made the movie look and feel like a second rate high school drama class comedy skit.

Really… what can I say about Jessica Alba and her ineptness that I haven’t said before. She was awful. Having said that, I will admit she looked really good when they did some musical numbers and she was dressed up in traditional India female garb and was dancing around. Very cute actually. Still, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… the only movies Jessica Alba should be headlining are ones that end in the words “… Does Dallas”.

This kills me to say… it hurts me deep… but Myers just didn’t bring it, plain and simple. As I mentioned earlier, the humor didn’t feel new or original or fresh at all. He felt… well… old. it was all just recycled, it was all done before by him. The Guru Pitka is really just Austin Powers in a beard. We all knew it was going to be ridiculous, we all knew there was going to be silliness… but to wait so many years to get Myers on screen again leading a comedy only to have him deliver nothing but Austin Powers 2.0 was a seriously let down. Yes, Myers had his moments in the movie, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

OVERALL

Not the total pile of trash that I was expecting it to be, The Love Guru did deliver a few laughs scattered throughout the film, but ultimately it wasn’t nearly enough… and where “Get Smart” had lots of solid supporting elements, The Love Guru had nothing but garbage around the comedy. Horrible supporting cast, terrible execution, old tired and “done before” feeling humor. It was NOT the Myers return we had been hoping for. Not a total train wreck of a movie, but a wreck nonetheless. Overall I give The Love Guru a 3 out of 10.

Thanks for checking out our Get Smart Review. There is no video version of the Get Smart review, but we will discuss it in an upcoming podcast.
Right from the beginning I was excited about the news that there would be a Get Smart movie. Get Smart was one of those old TV shows that was in heavy re-runs when I was a kids, so I used to watch it all the time right after The Flinstons on my lunch break from school (I lived really close to the school). When the word came down that Steve Carell had been given the responsibility of filling the mighty shoes of Don Adams, I was ecstatic! The phrase “perfect casting” is thrown around way too often, but this is a situation where it applied pretty well. Hearing Anne Hathaway is in something is never bad news… add recent Oscar winner Alan Arkin, Dwaye “no longer The Rock” Johnson, Terence Stamp and Ken Davitian… you’ve got a very nice little line up.

Sadly, the trailers and various promotions for Get Smart didn’t inspire a lot of hope… so how did it turn out? Meh, not as bad as I thought, but certainly no where near as good as I had hoped.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Get Smart looks something like this: “Bungling secret agent Maxwell Smart, also known as Agent 86 for CONTROL, is on a mission to battle the forces of their evil crime nemesis known as KAOS with his more-competent partner Agent 99, (whose real name is never revealed) at his side. When the headquarters of U.S. spy agency Control is attacked and the identities of its agents compromised, the Chief has no choice but to promote his ever-eager analyst Maxwell Smart, who has always dreams of working in the field alongside stalwart superstar Agent 23. Smart will do whatever it takes to thwart the latest plot for world domination by KAOS.”

THE GOOD

Damn. Yay I say again unto thee… DDDAAMMMNNN Anne Hathaway is HOT! No, strike that… she’s beyond that level of hotness for which we haven’t yet come up with a word for. Playing agent 99, Hathaway needed to play a stunningly, and disarmingly beautiful woman… and wow, yeah… just yeah. I’ve never seen her look better, or come across and more flat out shockingly beautiful and sexy than she does in Get Smart. Surprisingly enough she also seemed to play light spoof comedy quite well. I’m sorry, but I’m still distracted by how good she looked in this film.

The movie did a solid job of paying homage to much of the things and spirt of the original show. The use of a shoe phone was especially good. It’s a special challenge to take a show from the 60’s and turn it into a modern film while still maintaning the essence and feel of the original. Get Smart accomplishes this and that fact alone almost made the film worth the time and effort to see.

Steve Carell was born to play this role. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he completely knocked it out of the park or anything, but he IS Maxwell Smart almost every bit as Don Adams was. He played smart perfectly, without ever making it seem like he was trying to be Don Adams at the same time. I don’t know how he did that… but he did. His timing and character carry much of the movie for most of the run time.

The film was “cute”. That’s not a bad thing. When you do a movie like Get Smart, it’s actually got to be “cute” in places if it’s going to be loyal to the original material, and it did. Sadly it wasn’t nearly as hilarious (I’ll get to that in just a minute) but it was indeed certainly cute in places and put a grin on your face.

All the cast did a fine job… not spectacular, but solid. Stamp, Arkin, Davitian, The Great Khalli (monster WWE wrestler who was also in Adam Sandler’s The Longest Yard”) all get a passing grade… but I gotta say Dwayne Johnson was the strongest of them. I honestly don’t know how good of an actor he’ll eventually be, but the man has so much frigging damn charm and charisma that it almost doesn’t matter. He could play these kind of roles for the rest of his career and he’d do just fine.

There’s a really great sky diving action scene in the film that I just loved. I won’t give anything away, but watch for it if you see the movie.

THE BAD

I’ve said this many many many times but it needs to be repeated here. One of the things you totally MUST have to make a comedy work is laughs. While Get Smart has a few here and there scattered throughout the film, sadly it doesn’t have nearly enough to honor its namesake or to make it a worthwhile time at the movies. Yes, the film is cute. Yes the movie pays proper tribute to the original…. but as a motion picture at some point it has to stand on its own two proverbial feet and make us LAUGH. Get Smart failed to do that enough and sadly that ends up being the biggest impression that stuck in my mind as I walked out of the theater. Despite all the good things I can say about Get Smart, this is the most important part it needed to nail. And it didn’t.

OVERALL

A great idea for a film with a very solid cast, a wonderful sense of tribute paid to the original, cute and simple… yet sadly Get Smart ultimately fails because despite succeeding on so many levels, as a comedy it stumbled on the most important one… COMEDY. Just simply not enough of it, and the stuff that was there just wasn’t quality enough. And as a comedy, at that end of the day nothing else matters if that’s not there first. Certainly not a “bad” movie, but it should have been much much better, especially when you consider how many other quality elements (that a lot of other comedies miss) were in place. Overall, I give Get Smart a 5 out of 10.

Thanks for checking out our review of The Incredible Hulk! ***SPOILER CITY AHEAD!!!! DON’ T READ IF YOU WANT TO BE SURPRISED!***

The General Idea

Plot outline from IMDB: Depicting the events after the Gamma Bomb. ‘The Incredible Hulk’ tells the story of Dr Bruce Banner, who seeks a cure to his unique condition, which causes him to turn into a giant green monster under emotional stress. Whilst on the run from military which seeks his capture, Banner comes close to a cure. But all is lost when a new creature emerges; The Abomination.

The Good

Ed Norton was great as Bruce Banner. He was always muted, calm and in control. He was Vulcan in his discipline and really sold the idea of how much work it would take to be in control of your emotions 24/7. His portrayal of Banner wrestling with himself added struggle and depth to the character and a surprising amount of tension to the film.

This film has 3 main battle sequences and I liked them all for different reasons. My favorite was probably the courtyard battle, because we can clearly se what is going on and the use of sonic cannons was outstanding. The first battle in a bottling plant had the best “throwing shit” segment of the film and the third act allowed us to see the Hulk duke it out against a worthy adversary. The Hulk pounded the ground, threw tons of stuff and often used massive foreign objects as makeshift blunt weapons. I was pleased with the choreography of the violence and the myriad of ways in which they delivered it.

For much of the story we are following Banner as he runs from authorities. For much of the show the film had the feel of a chase movie, and that suited me just fine. It was cool to see Banner in different situations using ingenuity to not only outsmart those chasing him, but the beast within.

The Bad

I really didn’ t care for much of the camera work in this film. I will be honest, some scenes it just down right bothered me. Breakneck editing and shaky cam made for some very indiscernible moments. I like to see the environment and soak in the images, that is the point with cinema after all isn’t it? I understand that quick editing will give a sense of action and mayhem, but I think a long shot where you see a car fly across the screen into someone’s face speaks for itself.

There was a sub plot in the film where Bruce solicits help for a cure, and I found it to be incredibly lame. I can understand that he may be looking for a cure himself, but I never bought that he would get assistance from anyone else (let alone send blood in the mail). When Bruce meets with the scientist that has been helping him over the internet (Mr. Blue), they try to administer a cure which may or may not work….. and 5 minutes later in the film - they hope it doesn’t work. I was left wondering - what’s the point? If this entire sub plot had been stricken from the story, it would have been much better for it.

This film would have gotten at least a 7 from me if it didn’t let me down so much at the films climax. Although it wasn’t my favorite fight scene of the film - the last battle with Abomination was building to an amazing crescendo and had everyone in the theatre abuzz with excitement. At the moment where Hulk is about to unleash true justice upon Abomination - Betty says “don’t” and he doesn’t. The whole fucking scene went down like the Hindenburg and was totally spoiled. For the last action scene in The Incredible Hulk - that is flat out unacceptable. Hulk is violence, and you need to give us the best.

Overall

Criticisms aside, I enjoyed the Hulk and recommend that you see it. The pieces were there to make this film great, but a more liberal use of the editing knife and a superior climax would have made this a much better film. I thought the film was good, not great, and out of 10 give it a 6.5 (but I want to give it a 6.8).

Hey there folks! Welcome to this special installment of the Movie Blog Uncut - Incredible Hulk Review Podcast. Doug, Evelina and I spend the first half of this show talking the movie in general terms with minimal to no spoilers… then in the second half of the show (don’t worry, we give lots of warning) we fully talk about the movie… LOADS of spoilers, but much fun. So take some time to download and listen:

 

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Thanks for checking out our Kung Fu Panda review. I still remember way back in 2005 when I first heard about Kung Fu Panda I thought it was a pathetic idea. My thoughts had to do with 2 things… the concept and using Jack Black. Both I thought were terrible ideas that seemed to me to lend themselves to yet another cookie cutter, annoying, cheap and witless animated film (non-pixar) that would just rely on fart jokes, burp jokes, fart jokes and basically any simple little thing it takes to amuse 10 year old kids (which is just about anything) without bother to put any quality story telling or themes or idea into it. Just have Jack Black talk in outrageous tones, flash some pretty colors and have Po (that’s the name of the Panda) fart.

Yes, I thought I could already see the entire movie playing itself out in my head just from hearing the concept alone. So off I went to see Kung Fu Panda the other day. Was I correct in my first impressions? Actually… no I wasn’t. It’s actually not a bad film at all.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Kung Fu Panda looks something like this: “A clumsy panda bear becomes an unlikely kung fu hero when a treacherous enemy spreads chaos throughout the countryside in this animated martial arts adventure featuring the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, and Jackie Chan. On the surface, Po (voice of Black) may look like just another portly panda bear, but beneath his fur he bears the mark of the chosen one. By day, Po works faithfully in his family’s noodle shop, but by night he dreams of becoming a true master of the martial arts. Now an ancient prophecy has come to pass, and Po realizes that he is the only one who can save his people from certain destruction. With time running short and malevolent snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane ) closing in, Furious Five legends Tigress (Jolie), Crane (David Cross ), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), Monkey (Chan), and their wise sensei, Master Shifu (Hoffman), all draw on their vast knowledge of fighting skills in order to transform a lumbering panda bear into a lethal fighting machine. Now, if the noble Po can master the martial arts and somehow transform his greatest weaknesses into his greatest strengths, he will fulfill his destiny as the hero who saved his people during their darkest hour.”

THE GOOD

“The most important element” in any film will vary according to its genre. For a film like Kung Fu Panda clearly the most important element it needed to pull off was comedy. If a film like this one doesn’t make you laugh… then there isn’t much left to fall back on. Thankfully the movie succeeds quite well on this level. I can’t recall any more than 1 hard belly laugh (usually a decent comedy needs much more than that), but it felt like it at least always had me smiling or giggling through the run time. Almost none of the joke were home runs… but then did all work. The end result was I found myself entertained almost all the way through.

Coming up with a good villain in a kids film is no easy task. The character has to be menacing, but at the same time you can’t give kids nightmarish visions and make them crap themselves. I mean come on… it’s Kung Fu Panda… you can’t exactly have Violator (from the Spawn comics) showing up can causing kids across the nation to spontaneously crap themselves in their theater seats… then requiring therapy for the next 3 years to make the nightmares go away! It is a fine and delicate balance… and the villain in Kung Fu Panda, Tai Lung, was PERFECT. He was certainly menacing… but at the same time easy enough for the kids to handle without needing pampers. I think the presence of such a villain really helped the film work.

Doing good action in an animated film is also no easy task. I mean, it’s easy enough to DO… just not so easy to do WELL. However, Kung Fu Panda and the folks at Dreamworks really did pull of some BEAUTIFUL animation with complex yet extremely smooth kung fu fighting that was a treat to watch. It was also a lot of fun seeing how each character had a totally different fighting style in keeping with which animal they were. I mean come on… how on earth do you animate a snake doing Kung Fu and have it look cool? Well… they found a way!

THE BAD

There isn’t a lot to complain about in this movie, but I will raise a couple of issues. First of all, some of the voice casting felt completely wrong. I worship the ground Dustin Hoffman walks on… but him as the voice of the sage Chinese Kung Fu master that trains the furious 5 and Po??? It just didn’t fit. Seth Rogen as one of the furious 5? I hope I’m not just being picky… but whenever these guys spoke (especially Rogen) it just kinda pulled me out of the movie. It was just really conspicuous.

I would have liked to have seen more about the furious 5 characters (the tiger, crane, monkey, viper and the mantis. I think Jackie Chan had like 2 lines… but I mean more in the sense of seeing even just a 2 minute segment of where they each came from and how they ended up at the temple in the first place. Not a major complaint… but it did keep popping into my head as I was watching it.

OVERALL

Contrary to my initial impressions, Kung Fu Panda ends up being a funny (not outright hilarious), exciting, well animated and beautiful to look at movie that both kids and yes, even adults will enjoy. Some poor voice casting and a few character left without being fleshed out much didn’t become major distractions to enjoying the movie. Could have taken or left Jack Black as the lead voice… but he didn’t detract from the film in anyway. It’s no Pixar film… but very good nonetheless. Overall I give Kung Fu Panda a 7.5 out of 10.

Thanks for checking out our Sex and the City review. There hasn’t been a more female gender pop cultural phenomena in my lifetime than the hit TV show “Sex and the City“. Just about every woman I’ve known the last few years own at least one season on DVD, and many of them own them all. Even women I’ve dated would talk to me at times in allegories from the show… which would always go totally over my head since I’ve never seen a single episode (then again, it’s not like I ever understood women anyway… no man has).

So off I tromp to see Sex and the City. I went with two women I know and the theater was pretty full. One of the girls turned to me about 5 minutes before the movies was supposed to start and said “I don’t see any men in here”. I looked around, and sure enough all I saw were a lot of ladies. So I yelled out “Are there any other men here!?!?!” Two men raised their hands… and yes… they were each with their wives.

A few minutes later to much fanfare and much anticipation, the movie began. Was Sex and the City any good? Would I, a MAN who has never seen a single episode be able to enjoy it? Surprisingly yes!

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Sex and the City looks something like this: “Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), successful author and everyone’s favorite fashion icon-next-door, is back, her famously sardonic wit intact and sharper than ever, as she continues to narrate her own story about sex, love and the fashion-obsessed single woman in New York City.
Sex and the City finds Carrie, Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) four years after the hit HBO series ended, as our favorite femmes fashionables continue to juggle jobs, friendships and relationships while they start to navigate motherhood, marriage and Manhattan real estate… some of them may even — brace yourself — brave other boroughs outside Manhattan.”

Essentially, Carrie and Mr. Big (her long time love interest on the show) decide to get married. The film then races through various themes of love, commitment, individuality, forgiveness, friendship, loss, loneliness… and just about every other human condition you can think of.

THE GOOD

The film was funny. Pure and simple it did the one thing I didn’t really expect it to be able to do: It made me laugh. A lot. I know this will sound odd, but there were a number of times I caught myself picturing Judd Apatow writing the film. No seriously… I think if Apaow had written a Sex and the City the movie… this is the movie he probably would have come up with. The humor was more “male” than I expected it to be… and a little more crude at times… I loved it. 4-5 solid laugh out loud moments… with many many more giggles. On that level, quite entertaining.

In most movies, you have characters that make their way through the story. But Sex and the City didn’t really have a story. The characters WERE the story, and in this context it really worked because of the diversity in the 4 main characters and their legitimate charm and likeability (aside from the Miranda character)… but most importantly because of the long tested chemistry between them all. The chemistry of that on screen friendship was palpable and carried the movie.

Although sometimes a bit forced, I found the emotional and touching scenes worked. Each of the main characters go through significant challenges emotionally in the movie (which is a weakness… but I’ll get to that in a bit) and at times it is communicated quite well.

THE BAD

At just a hair under 2 hours and 20 minutes, Sex and the City is TOO LONG. The movie had a wonderful pace to it right up to about the 90 minute mark, and it felt like the movie was totally ready at that point to head into a 10-15 minute wrap up. It would have been perfect. But instead, the movie dragged on for over another half hour before heading into that wrap up. It was at that point that the movie felt stretched out and unnecessary. A part of the reason the film was too long was….

There was simply too much going on. For some reason the producers felt the need to give each and every one of the 4 main characters a significant story line sub-plot instead of one central story or without tying them together. 4 full stories takes screen time, each one interrupting the other and causing far to many themes to be brought into it. It’s not that any of the stories weren’t good, nor that any of the themes introduced weren’t worthy ones to be explored… but in food terms, if you’re making a soup, it doesn’t matter if you use 100 good ingredients, if you use all 100 the soup becomes a bit of a mess. You’re unable to appreciate the flavors of each one because it all becomes lost in the jumble of competing flavors. Sex and the City had too many ingredients going at the same time, and as such it hindered our ability to savor or appreciate any single one of them.

Some of the “life lessons” in the movie I found to be total nonsense. But really that isn’t important. The movie is about the characters and what they think… not about what I agree with. If their life lessons were consistent with the characters from the show, that’s what’s important I guess.

OVERALL

Surprisingly… nay… SHOCKINGLY I, a male who had never seen an episode of the show before, ended up enjoying the Sex and the City movie and found myself having been entertained by the end. Very funny, some great crude yet smart humor and charming characters with a great chemistry are all strong enough to overcome an unnecessarily over stuffed script with too many sub plots and themes and an extra 30-40 minutes of unneeded run time. Not a “great” movie when all is said and done, but certainly a movie worth watching. Overall I give Sex and the City a 6.5 out of 10

Thanks for checking out our Indiana Jones 4 review. If you’d like, you can watch the video version of our Indiana Jones 4 review at the bottom of the post.

For years… nay… decades, film fans have been patiently awaiting another Indiana Jones film. Everything was quite until about 7 years ago when it came out that Lucas, Spielberg and Ford were indeed interested in brining the all time greatest action hero back to the silver screen… there was even talk once of Kevin Costner joining the series as Indy’s younger brother (don’t laugh… it’s actually something that I thought had some merit, but probably better that it never came to pass). As the years past, the feasibility of an aging Harrison Ford wearing the great hat again seemed to get less and less likely… to the point that some people (like myself) gave up all hope of it ever coming to pass.

Then word came out that an Indiana Jones 4 film was indeed in the works. Hope ran high. Joy once again returned to the nation and even the 65 year old Harrison Ford looked great. So does Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull live up to the great “Indiana Jones” name? Unfortunately… no.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The year is now 1957 and our intrepid hero, Indiana Jones has been kidnapped by Russian agents who need his help to find an important artifact hidden at the infamous Area 51. When the Russians get away with their prize, circumstances draw Indy and a young man (Shia LaBeouf) whose mother is being held by the same Russians into a race to uncover the mystery the Russians are trying to unravel that revolves around a strange crystal skull that legend says leads to a great city of gold. And so the adventure begins.

THE GOOD

With Harrison Ford being 65 years old, one of my biggest fears was that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would just ignore the age issue and go on its merry way pretending like it just the same old Indy and asking us to suspend our belief about his age. Thankfully, the movie doesn’t do this. It not only acknowledges the age issue, there are a number of points throughout the film where they actually poke a lot of fun at it as well. I know it sounds strange, but just the fact that the movie often highlights the age issue sort of makes the action sequences seem more believable.

Let me talk about the action sequences here just a little bit. There are a couple of set pieces in this movie… including a car chase through the jungle and a motor cycle / car chase around the university campus, that really are spectacular. As a matter of fact, I’d go so far as to say that I think the jungle car chase scene actually surpasses that classic scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy gets dragged behind the truck. They were exciting, thrilling and had me on the edge of my seat. Some really good stuff.

The movie does a nice job of subtly referring to a number of things from the previous movies. George Lucas, when left on his own, went way over board with this in the Star Wars prequels, so there was a little fear that they would do that, or go to the opposite extreme and not allude to the previous movies at all. I’m glad to say they found some very nice middle ground

THE BAD

Although I’m a fan of Shia LaBeouf, and despite the fact that there are a couple of pretty solid scenes with him in the movie… I’m sorry, but no matter how much I tried I just couldn’t get into his character in the movie at all. For the first 10 minutes we see him he annoys the hell out of me… and after that he’s a lot less annoying, but still kind of felt “in the way” more than anything else for the movie. In heidsight I think the film would have been much stronger had he not been in it (the character I mean)

Despite the references to the older films, and despite the fact that Harrison Ford was as charming as ever as Indiana Jones… the movie never really felt like an Indiana Jones movie to me. I watched all three of the originals again this weekend, and Crystal Skull just doesn’t fit in well with the other 3 at all in my opinion. The movie failed to capture that essence that the other films had… so although the characters were there, the lines were there and even some of the memories… the “flavor” just wasn’t there.

**POSSIBLE SPOILER** As many of you have guessed from the trailers and some of the early rumors, there is an Alien plot in the movie that never worked for me at all. As a matter of fact it made the whole movie feel like it belonged to another franchise all together. It was a bad idea in my opinion. **END OF SPOILERS**

OVERALL

I liked this movie. As a matter of fact, if this film had been called by another name, and the lead character was named “Edward Cummings” or something like that instead of Indiana Jones, I probably would have walked out of the theaters saying “You know what, that was a pretty damn good (not GREAT) movie”. But as an Indiana Jones film… one we’ve been waiting 20 years for, I can’t help but feel a little let down by it. Don’t get me wrong, I still think it was a pretty entertaining movie and well worth going to see… but it never felt like an Indy film to me, and it certainly wasn’t great enough to be worthy of the “Indiana Jones” name. So a good movie, that should have been better. Overall I give Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull a 7 out of 10.

You can view our Indiana Jones 4 review video version here:

There is a heavy responsibility you accept when trying to adapt a beloved series of novels to the big screen. You bring along a heavy set of expectations from pre-existing fans to not only produce an excellent movie, but also one that remains true (at least in spirit) to the original novel. This is insanely difficult considering the average novel can be anywhere from 300-700 pages… and the average screenplay is anywhere from 90-120 pages. Adapting novels is no small feat.

Some, like Lord of the Rings, go far beyond what anyone could have hoped for. Some disapoint, like The Da Vinci Code. Then you have some that just truly do a good solid job like the Harry Potter films…. and The Chronicles of Narnia.

The first Chronicles of Narnia film was a very pleasant surprise to me. I could never fathom how they were going to capture that book on the screen in a practical and entertaining way. Yet they did it beautifully. No, it wasn’t on Lord of the Rings scale, but it was excellent nonetheless. Could that same feat be accomplished with Prince Caspian? Yes, I believe they did.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The basic synopsis of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian looks something like this: “One year after the incredible events of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the Kings and Queens of Narnia find themselves back in that faraway wondrous realm, only to discover that more than 1300 years have passed in Narnian time. During their absence, the Golden Age of Narnia has become extinct, Narnia has been conquered by the Telmarines and is now under the control of the evil King Miraz, who rules the land without mercy.
The four children will soon meet an intriguing new character: Narnia’s rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding as his uncle Miraz plots to kill him in order to place his own newborn son on the throne. With the help of the kindly dwarf, a courageous talking mouse named Reepicheep, a badger named Trufflehunter and a Black Dwarf, Nikabrik, the Narnians, led by the mighty knights Peter and Caspian, embark on a remarkable journey to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz’s tyrannical hold, and restore magic and glory to the land.”

THE GOOD

The action / adventure quota went WAY up for Prince Caspian. One of the criticisms the first Chronicles of Narnia film had against it was that it felt a little lacking in the action / adventure department (the ending battle not withstanding). Seems that the producers of the film were paying close attention. In Prince Caspian, the battles are more numerous, much grander in scale, the effects much better employed. The was also an increased sense of maturity to the action. The four main character from the first film aren’t just cute kids caught up in a battle… they are indeed warrior. The action was so much better and more mature this time around that I have to really question the rating the film received. If anything this should have been a PG-13 instead of a PG. I lost count of how many people were killed and cut down y swords and arrows… it’s pretty violent.

One of the mistakes some franchises make is that they continue on with their characters as if they didn’t learn anything or haven’t grown at all from their experiences in the previous installment. Not so with Prince Caspian. The four brothers and sisters are no longer just the wide eyed children from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe…. they are true kings and queens. Peter is the greatest warrior in Narnia as High King. Edmond isn’t the annoying little snot he was in the first film. They have grown, matured… after all they are technically in their 30’s (they spent half a lifetime in Narnia before returning to the real world and their former ages.

The supporting cast of characters this time around are a little more engaging than the last. The dwarves (two in particular) had some very nice character development and personalities. The mice where hilarious and quite fun to watch. Seeing all the creatures we saw in the first film again was also quite a nice touch.

Prince Caspian does an excellent job of alluding to the first film… showing the lessons learned, the events that occurred without going overboard with silly flashback sequences, repeating verbatim lines or stories from the original. There is an excellent scene (not really a spoiler since this is in one of the trailers) with the White Queen back again which was one of my favorite of the entire movie.

THE BAD

In as much as there was more action and adventure in this film than the last… the price of that was a loss of some of the sense of awe and wonder… the sense of magic. With the first Narnia film, I found myself spellbound by the world they were in, feeling like a little kid sitting around a campfire as a skilled storyteller told the tale. There was still some sense of that in Prince Caspian for certain, but not nearly as much as in the first film.

The beginning of the film is a bit slow and took a little while for it to find its pace. Once it did it was wonderful… but it did take a good 20 minutes to do so.

There is a terrible lack of Aslan (The Lion) in the film. Yes I understand the need to maintain the basic arch of the books… but I (and I think most people) was really looking forward to seeing Aslan, the great cat do battle. Seeing him ferociously kicking ass and taking names. Hell, even just seeing him roar sends chills up my spine. Sadly however, Aslan doesn’t appear until well into the third act of the film, and even once he’s there, he doesn’t actually do much at all. There are other things that make up for this… but it was still a disappointment for me.

The White Queen in the first film was a fantastic villain. How fricking cool was it seeing her ride into combat on that chariot pulled by two polar bears and then wielding the two swords like a freaking hot ass ninja?!?! Unfortunately, the villain in Prince Caspian isn’t nearly as interesting or fun antagonist as the White Queen

OVERALL

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ends up being a very fun and often exciting follow up to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The characters have a wonderful sense of continuation to them, the battles are bigger, the effects better which all ends up being quite a fun ride. The film could have had “classic” status if it weren’t for the lack of a compelling villain, a woeful lack of Aslan and a substantial loss of that sense of awe and wonder delivered by the first film. Still a very enjoyable movie and one I’m happy to recommend. Overall I give The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian a solid 7.5 out of 10

Thanks for checking out our Speed Racer review. I must admit that I never understood some people’s fascination with Speed Racer when it was first announced that they were going to be making a film version. Quite frankly I was confused how anyone thought that there would be enough interest in the franchise to justify the type of massive budget they were talking about giving it. Even after they announced that Matrix helmers the Wachowski brothers were going to be at the wheel (pardon the pun), i still didn’t see how even making a Speed Racer movie was a good idea.
Off I went the other day to check it out. Was it worth the hype and massive investment? In a word, NO.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis (if you can call it that) of Speed Racer looks like this: “Hurtling down the track, careening around, over and through the competition, Speed Racer is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized-the legendary Rex Racer - whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer, the designer of Speed’s thundering Mach 5. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company’s maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret-some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls who manipulate the top drivers to boost profits. If Speed won’t drive for Royalton, Royalton will see to it that the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line. The only way for Speed to save his family’s business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie, Speed teams with his one-time rival-the mysterious Racer X - to win the race that had taken his brother’s life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible.”

THE GOOD

The visual style of the film is a two edged sword (I’ll get to the second side of that sword in the “The Bad” section of the review). As visual art, the film is breath taking to look at. The artists behind this film did nothing short of a fantastic job. The look was consistent and near perfect throughout the entire film. The amount of VFX magic it took to pull this film off is staggering.

The final race of the movie was absolutely thrilling to watch. I found myself on the edge of my seat as Speed Racer blasted around the track in the climax of the movie. For a film that advertised itself as an action / exciting type of film, it was a great way to end it.

Sadly, the good stuff ends there.

THE BAD

Dear sweet heavens the acting in this film was horrible. Yes yes yes, I understand that the film wasn’t supposed to be Shakespearian in nature and was supposed to be acted in a certain, lighthearted, half tongue in cheek way… but even on that level it failed. It’s not an easy job to act without an environment, to be in front of nothing but some set pieces and a green screen (even the decent actors in the Star Wars sequels ended up struggling with that), but that doesn’t change the fact that it came off terrible.

I mentioned above that the visual style of the film was a two edged sword. On the one hand it was done perfectly, HOWEVER… the choice of style they chose to use was the wrong choice in my opinion. The entire time I felt like I was watching a video game cut scene instead of a movie. And please don’t say “but that’s what they were TRYING to do”. Yes, I understand that’s what they were trying to do… my point is that they were trying the wrong thing because it didn’t work. At least not for me.

The story of the film was so wafer thin that wasn’t any refuge to be found in it. **SPOILER** If you didn’t know that Racer X was actually Speed Racer’s supposedly dead brother almost immediately, then you’ve never watch a movie before **END OF SPOILER** The characters are all completely 1 dimensional (either totally 100% pure as snow or 100% pure evil) with nothing driving the story at any point.

The humor in the film was terrible. Not once did it ever make me even momentarily grin in amusement. It all fell flat. And dear heavens don’t get me started on the monkey.

OVERALL

Speed Racer is a film that got a lot of people very hopeful, but ultimately ends up running on completely flat tires. Wrong choice for visual style, poor acting from an otherwise impressive cast, weak story, poor humor and a lack of thrills up until the final race of the movie all leaves you wishing you went to see Iron Man again instead of wasting your money on this one. Overall I give Speed Racer a 3.5 out of 10

Thanks for checking out our Iron Man Review. If you’d like, you can watch the video version of our Iron Man review at the bottom of this post:

Well, it’s finally here, and now I get to do (a little late) my Iron Man review. It’s been well documented around there that when they first announced that they were doing an Iron Man movie, I thought it was a terrible idea. To be frank, I don’t even think Iron Man is much of a comic book character… really nothing much more than a poor man’s version of Batman (Oh gee whiz… a superhero with no actual powers who is a rich multi-billionare who uses his money to buy gadgets that he uses to fight crime. Why does that sound so familiar?)

But then news started coming out about the decisions they were making. Jon Favreau coming on to direct, ILM doing the visual efects, Jeff Bridges cast as the “bad guy”, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark…. it looks like they were doing everything right. Then the first trailer came out and it won me over…. I’ve been looking forward to Iron Man ever since and so have a lot of other people. So did it live up to the hype? HELL YES!

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis of Iron Man looks something like this: “Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the CEO of Stark Industries which produces advance weapon systems for the U.S. military. Tony’s father started the company after WWII, and after his death Tony inherited the company, worth billions. Tony lives the life as a hard drinking, rich playboy ladies man, but he is also a genius who has invented many high-tech items for the company. Tony flies to Afghanistan to demonstrate a new weapons test to the army. On his way back to his plane, his convoy is attacked by terrorists, and Tony is wounded by a Stark Industries missile. Tony is captured and held hostage in a cave with Raza (Faran Tahir), a doctor who saves his life. The terrorists force Tony and Raza to reproduce the new destructive Jericho missile Tony was demonstrating from parts of other weapons. Instead, Tony decides to build a suit of armor with Razas help. The suit gives Tony the strength and protection to be able to escape the terrorists. Back in America, Tony builds a better suit of armor which gives him superhuman strength with the ability to fly. With the help of his personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard), Tony vows to protect the world as Iron Man.”

THE GOOD

Let’s start with Robert Downey Jr. It’s amazing that his name was never even mentioned in most online discussion about “who should play Iron Man”? And yet when he was announced, everybody agreed that it was perfect casting. After seeing the movie, I have to concur. Robert Downey Jr. was beyond the perfect Tony Stark/Iron Man. He brought so much of that playboy crossed with undying genius to the role that you instantly bought him as Tony Stark if you’re familiar with the comic, and he brought so much raw boyish charm and charisma to the role that you bought into him as a character even if you knew nothing about the comic book or what Tony Stark is supposed to be like. If this wasn’t a comic book movie, I’d dare say some people would be talking Oscar nomination for him… no, I’m not kidding and I’d happily debate anyone about that point.

The visual effects were masterful! Everything looked so convincing and so real. We shouldn’t be surprised by that… after all it’s the same visual effects company who did the stuff on Transformers last summer and is going The Incredible Hulk in a few weeks as well. The wizards at ILM did such a good job you can never quite tell when you’re looking at a costume and when you’re looking at CGI. Never once in the movie did a poor effects shot pull me out of the movie (that’s the ultimate compliment you can give a VFX supervisor).

Go figure… it was a good STORY! Some people are going to hate that I say this… but it’s the truth. There is less “action” in Iron man than there was in the first Hulk film. No really… it’s true. But here’s the thing… because the story had such a good pace to it and was characters and backstory so well set up… and it was just a good story, the lack of action never becomes an issue. Don’t get me wrong… there is some great action in this flick… just not as much as you might expect… but the quality of the story and the pace at which it’s told more than compensate for that to the point that it never really becomes an issue.

The film does a wonderful job at never alienating audience members who many not know ANYTHING about the Iron Man comic book, and yet at the same time throw in lots of little nods to those who do know it. That’s a fine line to walk, but they did it well which really added to the charm of the movie and allowed comic fans to feel more engaged with it.

This is not The Dark Knight. There has been a (good) trend in some comic book movies like Batman Begins to make things “DARKER”. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, and depending on the characters, that is often a very good thing. But Iron Man chooses not to go down that path and that was a very wise decision. It’s a light, fun and exciting film which is exactly how it should have been (Then again, I’d still be interested in a darker Iron Man film where Tony Stark’s alcoholism is explored)

THE BAD

As was mentioned before, the film could have stood to have a couple of more set pieces with more action. Yes the story made up for that, and it’s not like the movie was suffering for a SERIOUS lack of action… but I still feel like one or two more sequences could have made it even better without making it feel over stuffed.

There is about a 15 minute segment of the film about a half hour before the end of the movie that did start to feel like it was dragging a little bit. It wasn’t serious and never felt boring… but for that brief time it did feel like the film had lost its sense of pace… thankfully it found it again and ended with a BANG!

The only other bad thing I can say about Iron Man is that it may have set the bar so high for comic book movies this summer that it may ruin the rest of them.

OVERALL

Iron man is a fun, exciting, interesting, entertaining comic book movie that even non-comic book movie fans will enjoy. It’s funny, looks great and has some great performances. Yes it could have stood a couple of more action sequences and yes it seemed to lose its sense of pace for a little while, but these are minor complaints that didn’t effect the overall enjoyment of the film for me. While I certainly don’t think this is the best comic book movie ever made (I still say X-Men 2 has that title) the bar for all the comic book movies this summer has now been set VERY high. Frankly, I have my doubts even The Dark Knight can match it. If it does, then we are a lucky audience indeed! Overall I give Iron Man an 8.5 out of 10.

You can watch the video version of our Iron Man review below.

Thanks for checking out our Redbelt review. If you’d like, you can watch the video version of our Redbelt review at the bottom of this post.

I’ve been a huge fan of Mixed Martial Arts ever since I saw UFC #2 many many years ago. I still remember very vividly watching Royce Graice, a skinny little guy absolutely mow through men 2 and 3 times his size and weight. All these flashy fighters with their punches, flying kicks and spinning back fists were all made totally useless as Gracie always got them on the ground (where their flying kicks were meaningless), tied them up like a cobra, and then would either choke them out or make them tap (give up). Suddenly the world knew about Jiu-Jitsu and the real world of MMA was born.

So when you bring along a movie that appears to focus on the art, and it stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (who I’ve been a huge fan of ever since seeing him in Serenity a couple of years back) it instantly gets my attention. And so here comes “Redbelt”.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Redbelt looks like this: “Tim Allen and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in writer/director David Mamet’s martial arts drama concerning a jujitsu master who becomes corrupted by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. When a respected jujitsu master (Ejiofor) eschews a lucrative prizefighting career in favor of opening a self-defense dojo, it appears that he has chosen a peaceful path in life. The dedicated martial artist’s fate takes an unanticipated turn, however, when he is manipulated into participating in ultimate fighting championships by a group of unscrupulous actors and fight promoters. Later, as the master is being relentlessly beaten in a dirty street fight, he connects with a high-profile action star (Allen) with serious marital problems. Realizing that the only way to regain his honor is to step into the ring, the jujitsu master reluctantly prepares for the fight of his life.”

THE GOOD

Surprise surprise, Chiwetel Ejiofor is fantastic in it. Not only did he look convincing performing the martial arts (which is often a big flaw in many of these types of movies) he also just gives a great performance. A troubled warrior who is trying to lead a peaceful existence suddenly confronted with doubt, adversity, betrayal and the weaknesses in his own character as well. Very well played.

One of the worst things about any sort of “fight” movie (karate, boxing, street fighting, whatever) is that they often look good, but have zero levels of believability because every single punch or kick that gets thrown would knock out a normal human being… and these fights inevitably end up having massive haymakers landing with every shot. Redbelt avoids that trapping and just has the fights look like real fights without the flashy glamour of knock out power shots with every punch. It’s not as flashy to look at on screen, but it adds to the authentic feel.

Surprisingly enough Tim Allen wasn’t that bad in the film. I rolled my eyes the moment I heard he was in this, but I’ve got to admit he was pretty good. It was a different sort of character for him and he did it pretty well.

THE BAD

If the combat looked believable in the movie… then that was the only believable part of the whole damn thing. The plot was so full of imagination defying nonsense and unrealistic scenarios that I spent a good part of the movie with my face buried in my hands. It’s hard to go into it too much without crossing into spoiler territory… but it just seemed like EVERYTHING that happened in the movie was not the way it would have happened in real life. It was so bad… gaahhhhh!!! I can’t say way it was bad because it would be a train of spoilers. Let me put it like this: The concept and general idea of the film were quite good… but the actual fleshing out and execution of the story was pathetic.

Aside from Chiwetel, all the characters were paper thin as far as depth goes.

OVERALL

Redbelt is a terrible movie that is ALMOST saved by authentic looking martial arts with a great character and a wonderful performance given to that character. Everything else surrounding that character was an unbelievable insult to human intelligence. So while there are some redeeming qualities to the film, I ended up just hating the flick. Overall I’m giving Redbelt a 3.5 out of 10.

You can watch the video version of our Redbelt review here:

Thanks for checking out our Son of Rambow review. If you’d like, you can watch the video version of our Son of Rambow review at the bottom of this post.

When I first heard about Son of Rambow it seemed like a cute idea, but probably one of those “throw away” festival films. I was also quite confused by the spelling of “Rambow” at first (The proper spelling is RAMBO), so I just assumed it was meant as a simple child’s typo in the film. So was this a simple throw away festival movie? NO! Son of Rambo is my new favorite film of 2008. Yes, it’s really that good.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The film’s synopsis looks something like this: “SON OF RAMBOW is the name of the home movie made by two little boys with a big video camera and even bigger ambitions. Set on a long English summer in the early 80’s, SON OF RAMBOW is a comedy about friendship, faith and the tough business of growing up. We see the story through the eyes of Will, the eldest son of a fatherless Plymouth Brethren family. The Brethren regard themselves as God’s ‘chosen ones’ and their strict moral code means that Will has never been allowed to mix with the other ‘worldlies,’ listen to music or watch TV, until he finds himself caught up in the extraordinary world of Lee Carter, the school terror and maker of bizarre home movies. Carter exposes Will to a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood and from that moment Will’s mind is blown wide open and he’s easily convinced to be the stuntman in Lee Carters’ diabolical home movie. Will’s imaginative little brain is not only given chance to flourish in the world of film making, but is also very handy when it comes to dreaming up elaborate schemes to keep his partnership with Lee Carter a secret from the Brethren community. Will and Carter’s complete disregard for consequences and innocent ambition means that the process of making their film is a glorious rollercoaster that eventually leads to true friendship. They start to make a name for themselves at school as movie makers but when popularity descends on them in the form of the Pied Piper-esque French exchange student, Didier Revol, their unique friendship and their precious film are pushed, quite literally, to breaking point.”

THE GOOD

This film is such a stew of goodness it’s difficult to pick out the individual parts that make it so wonderful. The first thing I’ll mention is the amazing job done by the film’s child actor lead Bill Milner. As the young child brought up in the hyper religious family with a colorful and vivid imagination, Bill’s pure charm and wonder leaves you totally drawn into his story. You love this kid from the moment he comes onto the screen. There is something so special about a character who approaches the world with such a sense of innocence that the beauty of everything, even 80’s action films, ignites their imaginations and sense of wonder. It reminds us of how we once saw the world, how we wish we could see it again and how despite our years of being embittered and jaded parts of the world still actually is if we allow ourselves to see it.

Director Garth Jennings (who also directed the massively disappointing film “Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy” a few years ago, does a MASTERFUL job at brining the story to us. It’s hard enough to tell a compelling story and bring out good performances with adult professional actors… it’s got to be next to impossible to make a film that is meant to be meaningful, touching, funny and beautiful with almost an exclusively child cast. But somehow, some way, Jennings does it.

The film is funny. From the opening credits I had an idiot grin on my face. 4 or 5 big laugh out loud moments, with plenty of giggles throughout. Not bad for a film that wasn’t primarily a comedy.

THE BAD

An inherent drawback of working with child actors is that sometimes emotionally charged scenes can come off a little cheesy or forced. For the most part Son of Rambow manages for avoid this, but there were 2 or 3 occasions that it does pop its head up. Aside from that, I have no complaints.

OVERALL

Son of Rambow is a witty, charming and beautiful little movie. It’s so rare that child actors can actually fully carry a movie, and yet the ones who populate the world of Rambow do a fantastic job. You cheer for them, cry a little for them, laugh with them and just love them. I LOVED this film. Treat yourself and go see it this weekend. Overall I give Son of Rambow a 9 out of 10

You can view the video version of our Son of Rambow review here:

Thanks for checking out the Baby Mama Review. If you’d like, you can check out the video version of the Baby Mama review at the bottom of this post.

This movie was written and directed by veteran Saturday Night Live writer Michael McCullers . It stars Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and also has Greg Kinnear, Sigourney Weaver and last but certainly not least Steve Martin.

The General Idea

Basically a successful vice president (Fey) of an organic supermarket chain wants to have a baby but has a million to one chance of ever getting pregnant. So she goes to a surrogacy center (run by Weaver ) and hires a less than responsible girl named Angie (Poehler) to carry her fertilized egg in her white trash womb. Add a little romance in the way of good old Greg Kinnear and a touch of Martin as Fey’s hippy corporate boss and you’ve got yourself Baby Mama.

The Good

Going in to see this movie I was expecting a few laughs, some yawns and a lot of placenta jokes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, while there was one placenta joke Baby Mama is a very entertaining movie. In fact it’s REALLY FUNNY (and I was sitting near men who were also dying with laughter so it’s not just for us folks with fallopian tubes).

This flick had a fantastic and properly directed cast. Goddamn is Steven Martin hilarious, I haven’t enjoyed him in a movie to this degree in a long time. He was well used in this movie, him and Fey worked great off each other and it is obvious in all of their scenes together that they are having a ball. Poehler’s physical comedy totally killed me in this, it’s not just the way she pisses in a sink, it’s everything. Dax Shepard who plays Poehler’s common law husband fully embodies the essence of idiocy for his role. Weaver and Kinnear also performed well but they had less to work with.

The dialog was great and it is shared with all of the characters (although I think Shepard wins with the highest ratio of laughs per line) . By far the best thing about Baby Mama is how perfectly the cast worked together, it really looked like the kind of movie that people couldn’t wait to go to set for.

There was so much great stuff going on, tons of strong improvisation, diggs taken at the organic food trade, there’s even a shower scene with Fey and Poehler in which McCuller pay homage to the 80’s Meryl Streep film Silkwood (I don’t think many caught the reference but regardless it was a very funny scene). It looked like everyone is having a lot of fun acting and directing and I certainly enjoyed watching.

The Bad

As much as I liked Baby Mama it was pretty predictable, especially in the 3rd act. This movie wasn’t about the story, it was about the characters and that’s fine but I knew exactly what was going to happen at the end of the movie as soon as the last act arrived which disappointed me. Also although the characters were very funny they felt a little shallow (especially Kinnear’s character). At times the movie did feel like just one hilarious sketch after another. Super funny, but a little surfacey.

Overall

I was entertained by Baby Mama, it’s humorous and it have a great cast, and it’s the kind of movie that I could bring my mom and my brother to and know that both of them would leave smiling.

More than that though for me what I really liked was this was a movie about women making choices that were right for them. One woman chose to wait to have a child, to work hard at her career and then decided to have a baby when it was right for her, through the only way that was possible; surrogacy. The other woman made the tough choice of providing someone else with the gift of new life in order to provide herself with the means to have a chance at a better life.

It’s a topical movie, it’s a funny movie and it also has a really great placenta joke, what more can one ask for out of a comedy? Overall I give this movie a 7 out of 10.

BABY MAMA REVIEW VIDEO VERSION

Thanks for checking out our The Forbidden Kingdom review. If you’d like, you can also watch the video version of our Forbidden Kingdom review at the bottom of this post.

I’m not going to hide from it… I thought this movie was going to SUCK! To say that people have been waiting for a Jackie Chan, Jet Li movie for years is a bit of an understatement. The undisputed kings of the martial arts genre of our generation should have done a film together 10 years ago. Yes, The Forbidden Kingdom was a long time coming, but the question is, “IS IT TOO LATE FOR A JACKIE CHAN/JET LI MOVIE?” Are the two too far past their primes to actually make an entertaining kung-fu film together. I’m quite happy to say that the answer to that question is HELL BLOODY NO!!!! These two guys still rule, and watching them on screen together for me was well worth the wait!

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for The Forbidden Kingdom looks something like this: “An American teenager who is obsessed with Hong Kong cinema and kung-fu classics makes an extraordinary discovery in a Chinatown pawnshop: the legendary stick weapon of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King. With the lost relic in hand, the teenager unexpectedly finds himself traveling back to ancient China to join a crew of warriors from martial arts lore on a dangerous quest to free the imprisoned Monkey King.” Easy enough?

THE GOOD

I find quite often one of the weaknesses of films like this are weak mythologies. The mythology sets the background in these films… they set the stage for our story to play out in. When the mythology is weak, the film has a hard time playing out well. The my