I had a busy weekend writing seven new movie reviews, and several more coming soon (The Last Mimzy and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer). Some were good and some were downright bad...Movie review #1: Superbad
Superbad is here, and it's every bit as good as I was expecting. While it has a few slow parts midway through, the movie certainly does not live up to its title and easily ranks right along with Knocked Up for funniest movie of the year.
To think that just a few months ago no one knew who Judd Apatow or Seth Rogen were is pretty amazing. Sure, they'd done The 40-Year Old Virgin, but Steve Carell got all the credit for that one. Then came Knocked Up, an inexpensive, critically reviewed box office smash that remained in the top ten for ten consecutive weeks. Two months later, here comes Superbad, and it's more of the same: raunchy but "sophisticated" humor, a sharp screenplay and a great, little-known cast. Apatow, Rogen and others have, in one summer, cemented themselves as the guys to go to when it comes to comedy. Read the rest of the review...
There's stupid, and then there's The Darwin Awards. A stupid movie about stupid people, the film is poorly executed and looks like it was built on a budget of $10 - $10 Canadian, that is - yet oddly features a cast that includes Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder and other recognizable and talented actors.
The Darwin Awards is, of course, based on the unofficial awards that highlight the dumbest deaths ever reported. These are deaths that could have been so easily avoidable that the only logical explanation is the people who "killed themselves" were so stupid that their deaths actually helped improve the gene pool - hence the Darwin Awards. The movie, however, pieces together some of the most well known deaths ever reporting (an idiot, played by David Arquette, straps a jet engine to his car and ends up crashing into the side of the cliff) by following a shy, awkward but intelligent ex-cop who starts working for an insurance company to investigate a bunch of weird deaths. Read the rest of the review...
I went to China in October 2006 and purchased Woody Allen's Scoop off the street for $2. It was a pretty crappy copy, but the movie had never intrigued me enough to actually go out and legitimately rent it, so I figured this was the way to go. Still, it took me ten months to actually watch the movie, and now, as the summer of 2007 rolls to an end (already!), I am writing this review. Read the rest of the review...
Wow. You'd think Zach Braff, Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman could make a funnier movie than this. It's not that I consider any of the three to be comedic geniuses, but even Terry Schiavo could have done better. The Ex will want you to file for divorce from your TV. Read the rest of the review...
Redline is about as clear of a rip-off of The Fast and the Furious as you're ever going to get, but considering that I hated Fast and the Furious and expected Redline to be even worse, I have to admit I found this one a bit more entertaining and fun to watch. Call it the law of gutter expectations, because that doesn't mean Redline is a very good movie at all. Read the rest of the review...
TMNT marks the return of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, only this time, instead of comic book, cartoon or live-action format, they are in CGI. Without the limitations of live action or the childish appearance of a standard cartoon, TMNT had the ability to be a kick-ass homage to the comic books I never read. It doesn't quite live up to the hype, but is still a refreshing change of pace. Read the rest of the review...
Movie review #7: I Think I Love My Wife
Give Chris Rock props for trying something new. Sort of new. Almost. I Think I Love My Wife is a comedy and almost-drama about a man who meets a crossroads in his marriage when he suddenly finds himself so unsatisfied with his sex-depriving wife that he starts to consider an affair with an attractive friend. And by attractive friend, I mean the scorching hot Kerry Washington. Read the rest of the review...
