Our Idiot Brother Review

Our Idiot Brother Review

There are two ways to look at the world around you. You can accept the notion that people are inherently evil and as a result untrustworthy. If you believe in this notion then you likely distrust people, and when they are evil you are prepared for it, unsurprised, and not disappointed. This may sound like a jaded, and skeptical philosophy, but it is a safe philosophy that will likely leave you undamaged. Then there is the opposite notion, the concept that people are inherently good inside. Those who subscribe to this philosophy believe that if you give people the benefit of the doubt, and trust that they will live up to it and try to be the best that they can be. Ned, played by Paul Rudd, believes in the latter.

His belief in the goodness in people is labeled as idiocy by those around him, and while I do believe that Ned lacking in common sense (his actions throughout the movie show this), his good nature and innocence are hardly idiotic. Ned simply believes the best in people, even when they are not. Ned is perceived by those around him as a slacker. Recently been paroled from prison for selling marajuana to a uniformed officer, Ned is struggling to get back on his feet. His girlfriend has replaced him, forced him off her farm, and even taken sole custody of his dog, Willie Nelson. Despite all these set backs Ned is upbeat and positive. He relies on the kindness of his three sisters (Emily Mortimer, Elizabeth Banks, and Zooey Deschanel) to help him with a place to live and the occasional odd job.

In his various encounters living with his sisters he begins to foul up their lives. He doesn't intentionally interfere, nor does he want to cause them harm, he is simply just honest. Whether is is to his benefit or not his one moral code is to be pure and honest with everyone. His belief may cause problematic relationships with those around him who do not also believe this, but to be nothing but open and honest with people is noble, and Ned is certainly a character of great moral nobility.

The movie is charming and witty and may be so because it was blessed with acting far superior than it's writing deserved. All of the supporting players do an excellent job and play their characters wonderfully. The real stand out actor of the film however is Paul Rudd. He treads a fine line between innocent and idiot constantly. He must be naive enough to believe that naked interviews in documentaries about ballerinas is commonplace, but astute enough to know when he is being manipulated. In several instances he has to play the part as childlike and mature simultaneously.

Christ figures are common if not over used in film. Ned, while not a Christ figure could easily be described as a Buddha figure. Buddha saw that each human being had the capacity to purify the mind, develop infinite love and compassion and perfect understanding. He shifted attention from the heavens to the heart and encouraged us to find solutions to our problems through self-understanding. The truth is Ned is far from an idiot, he is not a buffoon, or a dummy; he is in fact wise beyond his knowledge.

Priest Review

Priest Review

Here is an interesting factoid about vampires you may not have known:  vampire stories have been made into movies more times than any other fictional character. Vampires may be so widely used because they transcend the horror genre and can be made to fit into any type of movie. Science fiction, romance, even the superhero genres have all used vampires at one time or another in one shape or another. Because they are so widely used, and so versatile it is no surprise that they appear in great movies (Dracula), not so great movies (John Carpenter's Vampires) and of course bad movies (Queen of the Damned).

Priest is a complete failure as a movie.  It was prepared and designed as a post apocalyptic vampire story, something akin to Mad Max meets Dracula or some such thing. The idea of a wasteland vampire story is something that to my knowledge hasn't been done before. Sure there have been similar ideas that involve the supernatural or alien creatures, but not specifically vampires. The design, the stunts, and most of the acting are all good enough to make a decent movie, but the reason this movie fails, the reason it falls flat on its face is it's horrendous script.  Please pardon the pun but the dialog and even its plot is bloody awful.

The movie begins with a dream sequence.  Our hero Priest (played by Paul Bettany) is haunted by nightmares of a mission in which he lost another priest to a hoard of vampires. This nightmare haunted me as a rehash of the opening scene from the Sylvester Stallone gem, Cliffhanger, but I digress. Priest (yes that is his name) lives in a society ruled by an oppressive church (think Big Brother meets Our Father). Within the confines of the city humanity is safe from the non-existant vampire threat. I say non-existant because apparently the order of the priests have eradicated all of the vampires and now lead mundane lives as shunned citizens of an ungrateful population. When his Brother's family is attacked by vampires and his niece kidnapped, Priest leaves the city, against the will of the church, and goes on a rescue/revenge mission to get her back. Aided by a local Sheriff, and a priestess played by Maggie Q. Priestess (yes again that is the character's name) and Priest have a convoluted romantic history that is supposed to make her sacrifice at the end of the film mean something, it doesnt. Priest hunts the vampire attackers to a runaway train on a mission to infiltrate the walls of the protected city, and feast upon its inhabitants. Of course this leads to an epic yawn inspiring battle upon a moving train.

There are very few bright spots in this mediocre movie, one of them is Karl Urban's villainous Black Hat (I'm not making this up people that is his name).  Black Hat is a "Daywalker." Those unfamiliar with vampire lore, a "Daywalker" is a vampire who is unaffected by light, has all the powers of a vampire and none of the weaknesses.  While not well written is well acted, partially because of Urban, a great character actor who in my opinion is overlooked. Black Hat is also interesting because they make his character, his poses, the way he is lit, and the way he is filmed so cinematically beautiful that it is hard not to be interested in him.  I would go so far as to say that the villain in the film is far more interesting than the film itself.

I saw the movie in 3D, but the 3D was an unnecessary addition to an unnecessary movie.

Let me know if you see the movie, and I am sorry if you already did.

Bridesmaids Review

Bridesmaids Review

There is a profound and significant difference between men and women, so it is no surprise that a movie which claims to be the female version of “The Hangover” is profoundly and significantly different. Bridesmaids is a smart, sweet, clever, and extremely funny movie. It is not nearly as raunchy, or as debaucherous as it’s trailers, and ads suggest. I am not saying that is a bad thing, but don’t go into this movie expecting naked asian men jumping from the trunk of a car.

As I said above the movie is very funny, but sometimes there are moments of real awkwardness, which while funny are so painful to watch you just want them to end.  I found that most of the movie could fall into three categories: The awkward, too painful to watch, so it is funny comedy; the over the top crazy behavior, so it is funny comedy; and the gross out defecating in the street, so it’s funny comedy. Of course the reality is that all of the things that happen in the movie could easily happen to anyone and that is what makes the movie so honest, and funny.

Kristin Wiig plays Annie, a thirty something woman who’s failure in love is only matched by her failure in business, and well to be honest, life in general.  Annie has been having a very rough few months. First, her bakery business failed. Second her boyfriend dumped her, and her current “man friend,” played pitch perfectly by Jon Hamm is a stereotypical male douche bag ("I really just want you to leave, but I don't want to sound like a dick.") And lastly her roommates are a couple of English twits who are equal parts creepy, mildly incestuous and generally nauseating. All of this is where Annie starts out, and we spend most of the movie watching in horror as she collapses further and further until she eventually hits rock bottom.  When she does hit bottom she proceeds to have a final cataclysmic tantrum that can only be analogous to a three year old's tantrum. Despite being difficult to watch, it is hilarious, and one of the most memorable moments in the movie.  The entire cast is very well put together, adding the perfect amount of spice to this cupcake of a movie.  My only worry is that the cast is so large that some characters (two in particular) are given too little to do, and in my opinion may have a boatload of unused jokes on the cutting room floor.

There is a line when a comedy goes too far, when a movie takes that joke too far, and it becomes unfunny, or in poor taste.  This line serves as a point in which a joke should be taken to, but not past. It is a delicate and fine line to be sure, and because of that comedy is the most difficult thing to to well. My only complaint about Bridesmaids is that it is too afraid to pass that line. In fact more often than not it prevents itself from even getting close to it.  I started my review talking about the profound and significant differences between men and women.  Bridesmaids is going to serve as a perfect example of this statement.  The movie will more than likely be perceived, especially by women, as an instant classic. I don’t think that many men will agree.  I, as a man, agree that it is a good movie, but I cannot agree with anyone who claims that Bridesmaids is an instant classic.  The movie is successful at being funny, and at least two moments in the movie left me bent over, and in tears; however, it is hard to respect a movie when it forcibly pulls it’s own punches.  The fact that the movie refuses to take risks is why I cannot call it an instant classic.

Let me know what you think when you see the movie.

Something Borrowed Review

Something Borrowed Review

Something Borrowed is one frustrating movie.  I am going to preface this review with the disclaimer that I have not read the book, or any of the books in this series.  They are popular literature, and I am sure they have an avid following, but this review only concerns the movie, and from an outsider's point of view. From the sounds of that first line you would probably think that I hated this movie.  The key word is FRUSTRATED. There were parts of the movie that I just hated and then there were moments that I really liked, but more on that later. First let me just say that the movie is so full of unintentionally despicable characters that it is hard to care about them, and it's really hard to be happy for anyone in the end.  I suppose that is my fault, Once again I allowed myself to be misled by a trailer. I went into the movie believing it to be a light hearted romantic comedy.  Instead you get what is more of a Dramedy, something attempting to be Four Weddings & A Funeral, and less How to Lose a Guy in 10 days.

The movie is essentially about getting a second chance at the one who got away.  Our main character Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) lets the man of her dreams Dex (Colin Egglesfield) fall in love with her pushy ego centric best friend Darcy (Kate Hudson.) When Rachel and Dex share a cab ride home, the secret crush is revealed, which leads to smooching, which leads to waking up naked together.  I love Four Weddings, I think it is a brilliant film, but part of the reason it is brilliant is because you like the characters, and you want good things to happen to them. In this movie, I couldn't help but be distracted by the fact that no matter how you slice it, the main character and her dreamy guy were lying and cheating, and cowardly.  Bad things happening to bad people at the hands of "good" people just didn't sit right with me.  Maybe if they had made Kate Hudson more unlikeable, and less annoying, it might have worked. They keep Kate Hudson's character sympathetic, and by keeping her from being easily hated it made the actions of the other two less acceptable. I almost got up and walked out of the theater at one point when I thought they were going to let the two off scott free, the fact that it didn't made me stay, feel a bit better inside, and respect the movie a bit more.

Now you are probably wondering if I was ready to walk out on the movie, then what could you possibly have liked.  There are actually two things that I enjoyed greatly in the movie. First Ethan played by Jon Krasinski. Ethan is a sidekick character (if you have ever seen pretty in pink think Duckie) and he was brilliant in every moment he had on screen.  He took a good solid supporting role and turned it into something great.  He is the one character in the movie I cared about, even when he was doing unlikeable things.  The second saving grace in the movie is Marcus played by Steve Howey.  Marcus is an immature slacker who moves from female to female as if he were a shark that would die if he stopped swimming. 

I am sure that I will be in the minority when it comes to this movie.  It is a very funny comedy at times, and the funny parts are what make the movie enjoyable. I am sure that most people will be throughly entertained by the movie, and won't give a lick about the fact that the main characters are horrible people. I just couldn't get past it, and that was frustrating to me.

Let me know what you think when Something Borrowed arrives in theaters Friday May 6th, 2011

Thor Review

Thor Review

Comic book superheroes typically fall into one of 3 categories.  Armed vigilante (think Batman,  or Iron Man,), Alien sent from a distant planet to save us (think Superman, Green Lantern), or Mutant Humanoid (X-men, or Spiderman.) If I had to pick one of these categories to lump Thor into he would most definitely fall into the Alien Hero category.

The film starts out with the question "Where did he come from?" We are then immediately given an entire mythology lesson in less than five minutes similar to the way Peter Jackson described the Hobbit in the Lord of the Rings.  It's short, it's sweet, its very well done, and my only complaint is that it is too brief to give us any real sense of the size or scope of the outer realms.  We discover that the mythology lesson was in fact just that, King Odin telling the tales of his triumph over the Frost Giants to his two sons Thor & Loki.  Jump ahead a few years and we are at the coronation of his eldest son Thor.  Thor is to replace his father on the throne, and Loki of course is jealous.  It is here that we get our first sense of who Thor is.  Honestly I didn't like him. He is more than unlikeable he's an arrogant prick, he's the star quarterback who thinks he is better than everyone else, and he is beyond selfish.  His arrogance leads him to be easily manipulated by Loki, a smart and devious younger brother who craves the power his brother is too easily given.  When Thor disobey's his father and in the process destroys a centuries old truce, he is banished to earth. Unlike in the comics he is banished not to a wheelchair but in his standard body.  I would have liked to have seen this film take on the challenge of the wheelchair, but I understand why they chose not to.  When he arrives on earth he is the same jerk he was on the other planet, but now his oafishness, is punctuated by its lack of context.  Thor is sent to earth by his father in order to learn humility, grace and above all wisdom.  I know I said I didn't like him, but we as an audience are meant not to.  He has to be unlikable in order for us to appreciate his change and cheer his achievements later in the film. When he is banished the movie turns for a bit into a fish out of water story as Thor begins to accept and adapt to his modern surroundings. We soon discover that just like King Arthur and the sword in the stone, Thor's hammer has landed and is currently being studied by S.H.I.E.L.D, the militant homeland security team that eventually gives birth to the Avengers. For Thor getting his hammer back means he can once again return to Asgard.

At it's core this movie is a Shakespearian narrative, one of betrayal, redemption and heroism.  Initially the film was going to be directed by Matthew Vaughn.  When Vaughn stepped out the studio wisely replaced him with Kenneth Branagh I say wisely because nobody directs Shakespeare better than Kenneth Branagh.  The movie isn't about a hero, it's not about stopping a villain, or saving the girl. Unlike Superman, or Batman Thor is just trying to get home, he has no love for earth, no desire to stay.  Surprisingly the movie is not at all as earthbound as the trailers would have you believe. It intentionally strives to become the Lord of the Rings of comic book movies. The best parts of the movie take place away f on Asgard and the other realms that are not Earth. These scenes are truly amazing, full of beauty, and story, and because there is such a strong base here it made me wish that entire movie had taken place there. I really am hoping to see a sequel that explores the Asgard and outer worldly realms.  The strength of the film lies in the portions of the movie set away from earth, and I would like to see more of that world.What the movie really struggles with plot and character development.  There are so many subplots vying for attention that none of them are really served, nor do they really serve the main plot which is Thor's banishment and his subsequent return. The characters, with rare exception, are one dimensional and superfluous, I know they all have a greater purpose in the mythology, but did we really didn't need half of them. The motives of the villain Loki are also a bit bewildering, aside from the fact that he is jealous and he wants to take over Asgard, you never get a real sense of what his plan is. Having said that, The entire movie is enjoyable, action packed, and surprisingly funny.  Don't expect a huge uptick in Thor costumes, or merchandise though.  Unlike most comic book movies I think that this will be the least marketable to children because most of the film will be over their heads, but that again is not a bad thing.

Be sure to stay and watch all of the credits.  I promise you will be rewarded with a spectacular nugget of Avengers goodness.

Let me know what you think when Thor comes out Friday May 6th, 2011