Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakuel 033010

The Chipmunks are on top of the world. Sell-out shows everywhere and they have a family as established in the first movie. Everything is great until Alvin’s antics cause an on stage accident that lands Dave in a Parisian hospital. He tells the chipmunks that he’s arranged for them to live with their aunt and he also wants them to go to school. They get to the airport and their aunt is promptly landed in the hospital (not Alvin’s fault this time) leaving them in the care of their loser cousin Toby. Once the chipmunks start school the football team declares war on them for stealing their limelight as the entire female student body is in love with them (yes, it is weird). They’re then asked to perform for a school to school music contest to win enough money to keep their school’s music program while Alvin’s popularity guzzling steadily makes him impossible to work with, all of this while their former manager is trying to destroy them with a rival singing group, the Chippettes.

This one was better than the first movie , that I will definitely concede. The story was better and most of the jokes were actually funny. The character of Toby (TV’s Chuck) was also more fun to watch than Dave because he was trying, he just didn’t know what he was doing. David Cross as the evil manager really shines, being both pitiably goofy but simultaneously a contemptuous jerk but his character was less vile than in the first movie. The addition of the Chippettes is the real highlight of the movie though, as evidenced by the ad campaign.

This is, obviously, a kid’s movie. As complicated as that plot summary was, it took a mere fifteen minutes of screen time. The entire thing is very fast paced and quick, leaving you feeling cheated likeI mentioned last week with Fantastic Mr Fox. Another thing is that while Toby is fun to watch, his character never really grows, he takes a step forward but at the end (spoiler alert) he’s still a loser. It was also a bit disappointing to not have anything new this time around. This is a fairly constant plot with the chipmunks. Brittany was also nicer than usual.

Typical chipmunk fair. Kids will love it and parents will be filled with nostalgia and like parts of it. Quality wise though, C-.

Sherlock Holmes 033010

Sherlock Holmes has had Lord Blackwood arrested following a cult ceremony and he is supplementally hung. A few days later, Blackwood rises from the grave starting a cat and mouse game between the two as Holmes tries to stop his plot to take over the British Empire. All this while dealing with the impending marriage of his good friend Watson and the arrival of the one who literally and figuratively got away.

When this movie was forthcoming, for those who regularly research movies, a big deal was made of this movie’s homoeroticism and how hints about the extremeness of Watson and Holmes relationship would be played out. The actors, Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr, even talked about these things quite frequently. This is mentioned in the positive paragraph because all of those claims are total bull. I was looking and couldn’t find anything. The only possible place where you could find this would be in Holmes attempts to talk Watson out of getting married but it’s really done out of fear of losing his only good friend. Now, onto other things. This is filmed like a detective show but with a Holmes twist. Like shows like Psych and Monk you are shown every clue and given every hint about every aspect of the mystery, but unlike those shows they aren’t pointed out to you. If you really pay attention, like Holmes, and if you know what everything is, like Holmes, you can in fact figure the whole thing out. I did not but it was still fun. Another thing that people were unsure about was the true notion that Holmes would be a more prolific fighter, and boy was he. However, this new touch to Holmes was done in a very Holmes way. I won’t spoil it but it’s awesome. The movie is superbly shot and actually feels like it could be in Victorian England. The dialogue is excellent, fast paced, and witty. I was looking forward to this movie from the time that it was announced because I love Guy Ritchie and this was old school Guy Ritchie. All the actors are excellent, I wasn’t sure how I felt about Jude Law but he won me over and who in this country doesn’t like Rachel McAdams?

I’m having to reach for the negatives. Some of the dialogue is too fast and you feel you missed something and parts are too quiet. I caught a lot because I was expecting as such but my parents and brother did have a little trouble. Beyond that I really can’t think of a negative.

Don’t rent, buy this movie. It’s one of the best popcorn movies of 09 and you’ll want to watch it several times so you save money in the long run. Solid A.

The Blind Side 032310

The movie starts when a black man arrives at a Christian prep school with his son and a boy, Mike, who “sleeps on his couch from time to time”. He approaches the school’s coach and asks if he could put in a word for the two boys because they’re gifted athletes and he wants them to get out of the slop of public schools. The coach is amazed at their natural talent and does so; even after Mike is found to be scholastically unable to be on a sports team, he still pushes for him to be admitted because it’s the right thing to do. Fast forward a few months, the son has dropped out but Mike, is still regularly attending though he keeps to himself and feels like an outcast because he’s homeless, black, and a good foot taller than everyone. The only person who makes an effort to befriend him is a young boy named S.J. One night, while driving home S.J.’s family sees Mike walking by the side of the road. The mother, Sandra Bullock, insists he come home with them since he has nowhere else to go. What follows is the story of Mike’s relationship with the family.

This appears to be a sports movie. It’s the true story of NFL left tackle Mike Oher’s life through college, and sports do play a part but it is not a sports movie. It’s a movie about how love can change someone’s life and how doing the right thing can be hard but is still worth doing. Sandra Bullock plays her character flipside from how we usually see her. She’s normally very sarcastic or a little on the silly side. This one jokes enough to make you like her but at the same time is essentially a dramatic role. If you’ve been a fan of her for a long time you almost think to yourself, aw... she’s grown up. She was the only one nominated for an award in this movie but that’s really just because her character stood out as the lead role. All the actors, even Tim McGraw, did an excellent job. Quinton Aaron in particular gave a very touching and mature performance as Mike. He looks ignorant but at the same time you can tell he’s not. Mom’s will cry at this movie.

This year, for the first time, there were ten best picture nominations and I think that’s the only reason this film got one. It’s a great movie but not that great. The pacing is very slow in the beginning and some of the jokes were a bit cheesy. But these are minor complaints about an otherwise really good movie.

B+. An excellent and touching family movie but nothing really new or groundbreaking.

Fantasitc Mr. Fox 032310

Mr. Fox is the area’s greatest farm thief. He and his wife can get anything from any farmer. Until, they both get caught in a trap, she tells him she’s pregnant, and he promises to get a safer job. Two years (twelve fox years) later, Mr. Fox is hitting a midlife crisis. The result? He buys a new, above-ground house and decides to relive his glory days by robbing three local farmers: Boggis, Buntz, and Bean three of the meanest, nastiest, ugliest farmers in the valley. At first, he’s happy, but then Bean finds out where Fox lives and the farmers declare war on him. Now, as they hunt for Fox, he has to try and stay alive but also keep his family safe as well as every other animal in the valley who have all been sucked into the fight.

I loved this movie. This movie is very strange and reminded me of Hoodwinked. It’s essentially an independent animated movie and it’s really funny. The jokes are all really random and the dialogue is really witty. It’s directed by indy legend Wes Anderson (and if you don’t like his movies, don’t worry it’s different), who has apparently been working on the stop motion film for five years and it was time well spent. Everything has a very unique look and the film feels longer than it is but in a good way. By that I mean it’s the same length as Hey Arnold! The Movie but that movie felt like it was only forty-five minutes or so which left you feeling cheated. Fantastic Mr Fox feels just right. The plot is great because for a kids movie, it gets really dark and, frankly, hopeless which always makes an ending more satisfying.

I’m really not sure what to tell you about the bad in this movie. There was one scene near the end that made no sense whatsoever and the ending itself felt overly long. Beyond that, this movie really isn’t for everyone. The humor is probably beneath some and not in others taste. I think they’re probably in a small minority but they are there.

An A. I enjoyed this movie the more than any I’ve seen since Sherlock Holmes in January. That’s going to be another glowing review next week.

Men Who Stare At Goats 032310

Ewan MacGregor is a really down on his luck reporter with an American accent. His wife has just left him for his editor and he’s determined to prove to her that he’s a real man by going to Iraq and reporting on the newly started war. The problem is: he doesn’t have the clearance to cross the border. But, he meets George Clooney, a previously retired psychic soldier who is on a secret mission. MacGregor had heard about this group of soldiers before and offers to tell the group’s story if George Clooney takes him with him. What follows is a strange story mixed with a history lesson.

This movie is quirky, it’s silly, and it’s really clever. The jokes are funny and the story is told very well. It intercuts between the history of the psychic soldiers (codenamed: Jedi) and the story Ewan MacGregor’s character is going through and you never lose interest and the problem that many stories working like that have, only really being interested in one of the stories, is kept at bay. The humor is kept at a constant because even when the dialogue isn’t being funny, the situation is so absurd that you keep laughing at it. It’s particularly funny to hear Ewan ask what a jedi is. If you don’t know why that’s funny, I have nothing more to say to you. There’s also an area of mystery surrounding George Clooney, where you’re consistently unsure if he’s insane, brainwashed, or really has the powers he’s claiming to have. Plus the politics you would expect surrounding the Iraq war aren’t really mentioned. There’s one scene that being anti-Iraq is the only explanation but it’s not annoying.

Really, my only complaint is the story, in the end, didn’t go anywhere. There wasn’t any dénouement, merely the ending of the story. There was no real villain. There was an antagonist but he really didn’t pose much of threat and he didn’t really meet much of an end.

The story is fun and really caters to those that enjoyed the nutty comedies of the 80’s. I give it a C+. Well worth watching but while people will still remember it, there will be no rebirth of watching it in about fifteen years.

Armored 031610

An armored truck company has just authorized its newest guard, and he’s having money issues. The other guards know this and use this as a selling point when they propose their scheme: steal their latest delivery and make it look like they were robbed. At first he refuses, but when he finds out he’s about to have his brother taken away by child services, he reconsiders on one condition: no one gets hurt. At first all looks good, until things start to go wrong, leading to violence. Now the new guy is locked in an armored car while the others try to get him out to kill him so he won’t rat on them.

This movie was a great idea for a thriller. It’s a very simple plot, money heist goes wrong, guy gets cold feet, others turn on him. You become invested in the lead to the point, that more than not dying, you don’t want him to abandon his principles.

This is the most annoying type of bad movie, the kind that could’ve been really good. It suffers from both a sub-par script and either bad directing or too much studio involvement. Not enough time is paid to the situation and the movie jumps to different plot points too swiftly for you to really grasp what’s going on and why. The conclusion felt forced, swift, and unsatisfying. While, yes, you are very attached to the lead role, he’s the only one remotely developed or consistent in his character. As for the poor script, most of the dialogue was completely unnatural. There was one conversation where one character says the other’s name in pretty much every sentence. No one talks like that. And something has to be said about the marketing team. Way too much was revealed in the trailers. One scene that probably would’ve been really tense was completely ruined by the fact that I knew how it ended already.

A great film that almost was. D+. Don’t bother watching it. Really not worth it.

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day 030910

Ten years after the original Boondock Saints, the MacManus brothers are living in self inflicted exile in their ancestral home of Ireland. Back in Boston a priest is murdered and the culprit makes it look like the Saints are behind it. This is something up with which they will not put. The brothers return to Boston to wreak their vigilante justice on the man who dared besmirch their name.

This movie was pretty awesome. It had a lot of new action and jokes, as well as revisiting the old jokes in a non annoying way. It was a lot of fun and didn’t destroy the original. It’s sad that that’s what you wish for in the world of sequels but I’ll take it when it happens. It was about the characters and was made not to make money but to make the fans of the original happy.

The jokes were occasionally hokie and the new side kick was a little annoying and I found myself wishing he’d die. Plus as creepy as he was in the original the absence of Willem Defoe was a detraction.

I didn’t have much to say because I saw this awhile ago. It gets a B-. Not as good as the original but worth seeing. You do have to see the original first though. And if you haven’t... why?

Planet 51 030910

A planet of aliens apparently going through the 50’s (when the world went kind of alien nuts) is turned upside down when an astronaut lands on the planet. The aliens become convinced that aliens are invading their planet which means the astronaut must be dissected. This complicates the life of the young teen alien who befriends him.

This movie had several really clever lines and did a great job of making spoofs of sci-fi cliches. Pretty much any big name alien movie you can think of is mocked and by someone who clearly loves them. One particularly funny thing is the occasionally brought up joke of who really is the alien, the human or the aliens who live there. Then you find out that pretty much the entire production crew was hispanic. I mean, everyone but the voices. It was racistly funny. Hilarious.

Now the bad. There was barely anything original other than a few jokes. There was the role flip of the human being the alien but beyond that, nothing happened that was new. It was the same alien movies with the one change. Dwayne Johnson is usually very funny but his job of voicing the astronaut should’ve been given to Patrick Warburton because he’s awesome. There was a hippie guy too, always protesting the military’s involvement, and the hippies seemed to be mocked because it was expected not because the director or writer actually find them funny or worthy of derision. They are and should be.

D+. Little kids will like it but you’ll want to rent something else. This was made by Warner Bros and Pixar’s title of the brilliant animators is safe.

Up In The Air 030910

George Clooney has an interesting job. He fires people for a living. Whenever someone doesn’t have the balls to fire someone themselves, they call his firm and he flies to do the dirty deed. The sad part is he enjoys it. He has no friends and no contact with his family. Not only that, he’s trying to break into the lecture circuit by telling people that the way to go is to have no connections in life. All he’s living for right now is becoming the seventh person to ever reach the 10,000,000 frequent flyer mile mark. But his life is turned upside down when a new girl, both at his firm and to Hollywood, suggests to the manager going completely digital and removing the need to fly anywhere. This is a problem because it destroys his chances of reaching his mark as well as keep him from running into his recent acquaintance Alex, a woman he’s drawn to because she’s just like him. George convinces his boss the new girl doesn’t know anything about the real world of firing people which lands him the responsibility of bringing her as a tag along.

I really liked this movie considering the slow pacing and the faux indy look it went for. I actually found the musical opening credits very entertaining as well. The director is Jason Reitman of Juno fame and it’s great to see that while the humor is similar, this is not a teen movie. This is more of an adult dramedy and it’s great that he’s not stuck in a mold. George Clooney does a great job of playing a character that you should despise but instead pity because he’s sad and doesn’t know it. The new girl, Anna Kendrick, I didn’t want to like her, because all she’s done other than this is the Twilight series and... blech (rifftrax.com. Go there if you share my opinion). But, she has now been added to my list of young actresses to keep an eye on. A: she’s adorable and B: she’s actually very good. She easily holds her own in scenes with veteran actors George Clooney and Jason Bateman, seeming very comfortable around them and in front of the camera.

The bad. The pacing was a little slow and as you know I’m not a fan of the whole indy movement. Somehow they all feel like the director is spitting on your music taste and saying you should like these bands instead. The movie also had a somewhat open ending, and you’re not entirely sure what happens. You know George has been pushed to change but you’re not sure if he will. The R rating was also unnecessary. It deserved it because of the language but had they toned down on that just a little, it could have easily received a PG-13 and been just as good. Not really a point against the movie, just the marketing team. These are minor critiques in an otherwise enjoyable movie.

B+. A great date night movie, that you’ll also want to buy at discount because the urge to see it again will probably hit you randomly.

2012 030210

India, 2009: a geologist visits his astrophysicist friend in India and is told something startling. The sun has started producing a normally harmless form of radiation in such a large quantity that the earth’s solid center core is now melting which will cause it to expand and swell against the crust. Government heads are informed and preparations are made. Fast forward three years. John Cusack is an out of work writer on a camping trip with his estranged children. He meets a strange hermit, Woody Harrelson, who starts rambling about his conspiracy theories involving the US government and the approaching apocalypse. Soon after, the world literally starts falling apart and John is fighting to keep his family alive through it all.

I went into this movie expecting to be positively biased. I love John Cusack. I love Roland Emmerich, the director. I’m also partial to disaster flicks and this was one heck of a disaster flick. It was easily twice as awesome a spectacle as Day After Tomorrow and had none of the politics. Beyond the spectacle, it once again exhibited Emmerich’s great gifting as a director. He’s very well aware that you can make an amazing visual spectacle but that’s not enough to keep people’s interest. What you need is the human dynamic and characters that you like and identify with. Emmerich is a master of the ensemble cast, and seems to effortlessly both keep up with and develop the incredibly large number of characters in all of his movies. This is no exception, with just about every death that you see affecting you emotionally without you feeling manipulated.

Now, some of the characters are a touch cliched. The good scientist, the bad selfish scientist, the humanitarian chick, the father, the kids who don’t like the father, the mother etc. We’ve seen all the characters before but I’m okay with that. Some of the dialogue was almost expectedly bad but I didn’t really care because I’m still recovering from GI Joe. Don’t watch that.

With spectacular special effects and engaging characters this movie is totally worth watching. A- because I gave Zombieland an A and it wasn’t quite that cool.

Gentlemen Broncos 030210

A young homeschooled boy(the kid from Sky High) goes to a writing conference where he attends workshops hosted by one of his favorite sci-fi writers (Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement). He submits one of his novels for a writing contest only to have it stolen by his hard-up-for-an-idea hero.

Jemaine stole the story idea and this movie. His portrayal of a primadonna sci-fi writer who feels everything he writes is great because he wrote it is fun, funny, and easily the best part of the movie. Bar none. I personally felt myself identifying with the lead role a lot because I’ve had a lot of the same thoughts about being a writer and not trusting people, etc and in that regard it was a pretty honest interpretation of the young writer. Christopher Paolini may disagree with me but no one cares what he thinks.

Okay, this movie was directed by the guy that made Napoleon Dynamite and it’s just like Napoleon Dynamite with different characters and more of a plot. It even had the same opening credits only with books instead of plates. ND was successful because it was totally unique at the time. It was a different type of quirky than we’d seen before. But now, after six years of copies, rip-offs, and homages it’s not unique anymore. And without that aspect, it’s kind of stupid. Some may enjoy this but I thought it was slow and fairly boring when Jemaine wasn’t on screen. This is kind of sad because the lead is on my list of young actors to keep an eye on. He deserves to do better movies than this and frankly I expect better of Jemaine.

D. It’s a big waste of time and even the energy used both by you to watch it and that you’ll have to pay for in your electric bill later.