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Sunday, August 31, 2008

Tropic Thunder (Theatre) - Ashleigh

Ben Stiller doesn’t need to continue making films. His lack of acting ability is quite evident in that he plays the same exact character in every movie he has ever been in. If his character had been in Tropic Thunder another five minutes it may have tanked this movie. This, thankfully, isn’t the case and we are left with a pretty descent comedy spoofing the acting community in general and their immature desire for acclaim in their jobs.

The movie opens with a bevy of metamedia including several fake movie trailers and an ad. I doubt if anyone was fooled by these add-ons but I don’t think that was the point. They did add several laughs and introduced you relatively quickly to the main characters. After this metamedia the movie depicts a scene of a war movie that is being made staring the actors from the fake previews. The scene is confusing and drawn out to the point that it annoyed me. Stiller’s character, Tugg Speedman and Robert Downey Jr.’s character, Kirk Lazarus, battle with each other as actors about how the scene should be played out and end up missing an effects cue that wastes a lot of money. This initiates an intervention by the studio head, Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise in a fat suit, who busts the director’s balls for wasting so much money.

The director, forced to do something drastic, then turns to the “war hero” screen writer who offers the crazy idea of taking the five actors out of their comfortable hotels and beds and dropping them into an effects laden forest to “get the real experience” of being a soldier in Vietnam. The director informs his actors that he is doing this to get gorilla style footage and promptly gets blown up accidently when he steps on an old land mine. Most of the actors believe this is part of the immersion and start their scenes. It is quickly discovered that this is not the case and all but Stiller’s character stop acting and attempt to get back to civilization. A delusional Stiller treks on through the jungle and the movie script till he is captured by drug lords, realizes it is no longer a script, and needs to be rescued by the crew of actors that knew something had gone wrong initially.

The meat of the film, and some of the funniest moments are created with the gang of actors as they make their way to save Stiller. Robert Downey Jr. takes on an unimaginable role as a white actor who plays a black man for the film. I can’t imagine a single actor who could actually pull this off without offending everyone, but Downey seems to walk the line splendidly. Downey has truly come into his own this summer with his role in Iron Man (2008) and this. Here’s to hoping this is the permanent return to greatness that he deserves. Jack Black is almost a none-issue here as he is neither a distraction nor a service to the movie as a whole. Brandon T. Jackson plays a black rapper who is attempting to spread his revenue stream to films, but, in a twist everyone in the theatre saw coming, reveals his homosexual leanings that juxtapose his “pimp” persona he displays as a rapper.

While this crew attempts to rescue Stiller, Matthew McConaughey, Stiller’s agent, attempts to get him a Tivo on set. McConaughey brings his trademark drawl and good looks to a relatively small part, boosting the role from a nonentity to a rather humorous addition. As Stiller is rescued and the crew takes off McConaughey inexplicably shows up to save the day with a Tivo box set, a great scene for McConaughey.

Overall I quite enjoyed this comedy. I wouldn’t really want to see it again, but I think one viewing would be warranted for most comedy fans. The addition of my new favorite bit part player, Danny R. McBride, made me quite happy. And it’s always nice to see an actor rise from self-imposed ashes as Tom Cruise does here and restore a tiny bit of faith that one day I could enjoy a movie with him as a lead. But Tom, don’t test this newly minted trust – it is tenuous at best.

6 out of 10 – Stiller has helped his directorial resume with this quality outing, but stay behind the camera, friend. No one wants to see you in front of it.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (Dvd) - Ashleigh

Who knows why the first Harold and Kumar movie was decent? Was the concept of a movie about two guys going to White Castle just that great? Was Neil Patrick Harris’ cameo/comeback that unexpected? Was it the cheetah ride? I don’t know. But I do know Harold and Kumar’s second adventure fails in just as many ways as their first escapade succeeds.

The film begins just as the first film ends. Harold is about to follow his crush to Amsterdam so that he can profess his love for her, and score some legal weed while there. The pair pack and get to the airport. While on the plane Kumar lights up a unique bong, which is confused for a bomb and they turn the plane around. Robert Corddry plays a hot headed idiot who works for the government in some capacity and thinks Harold and Kumar are out to get the U. S. of A. Corddry then sends them to Gitmo as terror suspects. In an entirely idiotic and repugnant scene the two see a pair of detainees eat a “cockmeat sandwich” (b.j.) while doing so the detainees bite the guards penis off and run for the exit. Harold and Kumar see their escape and make for the United States. There story then zigzags in and out of ridiculous situation after ridiculous situation. In this montage they run into NPH again, an incestuous couple, and Christopher Meloni. Nothing new, really. They get out of the trouble they are in when they smoke a marijuana cigarette with George Bush and he decides they are “cool”. And they all live happily ever after.

I think one of the reasons the first film worked was its scope was unusually small. The saga took place in one night that just had a lot of crazy things going on while in route to a local White Castle. The sequel, on the other hand, was a cross country affair ending in Texas that took the better part of a week. The scale just seemed idiotically big. Also, some of the racial humor was sophomoric to the point that it lost any laughs. This was the case in a scene where Ed Helms interpreted for Robert Corddry between Harold’s parents, who spoke perfectly good English, and Corddy. As they shouted at the idiot in English Helms’ character claimed they were speaking gibberish. My last complaint was just the sheer volume of previously used material. There was even a sex scene with a giant bag of mary jane! Are their no new ideas?

3 out 10 – So reminiscent of the first film that it begs the question – “Why make a sequel?”



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Monday, August 11, 2008

Drillbit Taylor (Dvd) - Ashleigh

After seeing the trailer for this movie I had no desire to partake in Owen Wilson playing Owen Wilson with a bunch of kids. However, after a conversation with bosom chum and fellow blogger, Travis, I decided to take a chance. During said conversation Travis informed me that this movie was actually quite good, and that I should give it a try. I now curse his name for wasting precious hours of my life that I could have spent finding album artwork online for my Ipod!

First of all, I hate Owen Wilson. I’m not sure I have ever found the butterscotch stallion appealing in anything, with his “chill” vibe and broken nose looks he is the poor man’s Matthew McConaughey. I’ve never thought he could carry a film, and Drillbit is certainly not new territory for the golden haired jester.

The film’s story centers around three kids who are starting high school and are ruthlessly picked on by a bully who randomly chooses them as his punching bag. This bully is ridiculously brutal and Jennie and I found ourselves constantly guffawing at his unlikely antics. He made the boys pee on themselves, shoves them in lockers (does this actually happen to anyone?), and in one insane scene of gratuitous shenanigans he attempts to murder them by running them down in his car. They decide to hire a bodyguard and after some interviews they choose Drillbit. He follows the well trod road of the Hans Solo storyline as he uses the boys for cash at first, they find out – get pissed off, then Drillbit decides he should help them after all, and saves the day when the boys had given up hope.

There is very little to laugh at in this movie. It was difficult even getting through it. I feel a little bit betrayed by Seth Rogan, who helped write this, and Judd Apatow, who produced this. Couldn’t they tell this was a stinker? I ask this, but then notice that Apatow’s name appears in the credits of Will Ferrell’s bomb Kicking & Screaming (1995) which has a similar amount of stink in it. Apatow and crew really need to stay away from children. They seem to fail miserably when they try to make a non R rated film.

2 out of 10 – Owen Wilson fails… again.



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Thursday, August 7, 2008

Pineapple Express (Theatre) - Both

Pineapple Express has had large quantities of press and almost every word of it has to do with pot. What kind of research did they do (the reporters ask this with a giggle usually associated with tweens and the latest Disney pop group), did they actually use the product in the movie (more giggles). These reports and interviewers then usually discuss this film with comparisons to stoner movies like Cheech and Chong or Harold and Kumar. I don’t see the reference at all. This film certainly has pot being smoked and drugs being referenced, but little to know drug influenced scenes. Harold and Kumar rode a cheetah. Ultimately, Pineapple Express was an action buddy flick more in the vein of Nothing to Lose (1997) but funnier.

Seth Rogan, again, plays himself. I’m fine with that. I’m not looking for Rogan to win any awards. He is a process server whose only distinction is his love of pot and his high school girlfriend. His dealer, affably played by James Franco, seems to like Rogan more than their current dealer/customer relationship allows. Franco gives Rogan his top stash while dealing the twigs and roots to his other customers; however Rogan simply views the two as business relations. When Rogan witnesses a murder while smoking Franco’s top stuff called Pineapple Express he throws the spliff out the window and drives off. The murderers know that someone was watching them and find the spliff with the rare weed. They then track the weed down to get rid of the witness. Illogically Rogan runs to Franco’s apartment informing him about what he witnessed and the two then run. I couldn’t find any motivation for Franco’s character to run with Rogan. He wasn’t really in any sort of trouble, but I guess that was Franco’s character’s personality. Just a friendly guy.

The film garners the most laughs in the beginning with subtle off camera adlibs, but as Saul, Fraco’s character, and Dale, Rogan’s character, reach Saul’s hook-up, Red, to find out if the murderers know who witnessed the killing the laughs come from well written dialog and physical comedy as well. Red, who is played by the fantastic new comer, Danny R. McBride, steals the show. His dialogue and delivery lend the movie its top laughs and his invincibility, which brings to mind Monty Pythonesc humor, keeps his character thankfully on screen.

Saul eventually gets caught after Dale informs them they are not friends and they part ways. Dale then figures out Saul was truly his best friend, and enlists Red to come and help him save Saul. They fail, yet succeed in a mundane action scene that ends with Red crawling out of the rubble of demolished building and the three go to a diner to cheer their friendship and react to each others wounds. This last scene goes on for a minute longer than it needs to, but has some fantastic dialogue from Red.

This movie certainly wasn’t a stoner movie. If anything I believe it would be worse when stoned, but being as I’m a square and have never hit the ganja, I’m not sure. I also believe that the scenes with his girlfriend were rather unnecessary. She was a cut out character. There were a few lines of dialogue that sprung from these scenes that were funny, but ultimately she didn’t need to be in the film. I also think the Asian gang was a little to stereotypical for my tastes. I got no humor from them.

7 out of 10: Not the best form the Apatow gang, but certainly better than the worst. I actually think this one is worth multiple viewings.



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