Movie Reviews & More
The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
Steve Carell in his first starring role, and he knocks it out of the park. Don’t know if he can pull it off again, but I suspect he can. I will say, for the raunchy, stupid, guy humor in this movie, he made me believe that he was a 40 year old virgin. His antics, his personality, which was different from him and what he did on the Daily Show, it was a very funny movie.
We were so pumped to have seen two very funny movies so close together. This is very close to the same line as Wedding Crashers, but I do think a little less raunchy. The supporting cast of guys is really great, especially the guy with the beard, as well as all of the other little neurotic people he encounters, from the horny Borders girl (Elizabeth Banks) to the strange female floor manager that wants to become his “friends with benefits”. The pakistani co-workers were highly cliche however, and even though this was really funny, they did take advantage of some of the cliche’s to help make this successful. But hopefully, he will continue to try to do off the wall stuff and stray more from that.
If you see Wedding Crashers, see this. Very funny, somewhat touching and real, and an interesting commentary on women’s complexities and how a man believes he can exploit them.
Wedding Crashers (2005)
Most of the time, I can take or leave Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. More so Owen Wilson, and that is true with this movie about Wilson at least, without Vaughn, you couldn’t have this movie. Wilson will never be able to carry something. But, my review is not bad, but good. Great as a matter of a fact.
I was nervous about this movie because of my feelings on those two. But what a hilarious movie. This movie did not depend on whether you found the two of them funny, but was a lot about situations. For whatever reason, I keep thinking about Meet the Parents. There are hardly any similarities, maybe a little bit in how you just feel for the guys and the terrible situations they get into, into some girl’s parents house.
But from the buckshot in the butt, the gay artistic brother, and the super cliche but somehow different jock boyfriend that sleeps around, this was a good love story, and a little bit of a coming of age story for these two guys. They get to see themselves for what they are, and there is even a guest spot by Wil Ferrell, which always makes for some awkwardly crazy moment. In this case, Ferrell is a guy who picks up grieving women at funerals.
Funny, not as raunchy as I would have pictured, but take that with a grain of salt as I am numb to most of that. Not something my parents or sister would ever find funny, but if you like this cast in these type of situations, it is just a little bit funnier because it is about weddings and that is a little more of a grown up concept. Vince Vaughn’s girl, very believable as the perfect freaky match for him.
Crash (2004)
Starring a whole slew of people, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Jennifer Esposito, and Brendan Fraiser, this movie is slightly deceptive from its advertising, if you even saw that. A Lion Gates Film with thin exposure, this movie is all about racial situations, events happening to many different individuals over the span of a couple of days.
This movie made me think. I tired to figure out if this movie was really any deeper than just a film to give perspective on bigotry. The main reason I gave this movie over a three star, was that I didn’t know how many of the situations would end. They were very intense, guns, fires and explosions in natural settings with the law and car accidents. But you get to truly see how someone could be angry, you have empathy for just about every situation, and it shows the good in all cultures, that all cultures basically want the same thing, family, love, and happiness.
Not many people, however, would like this. It is hardly a movie you would watch many times, or is entertaining. I would recommend it to those who want to think, see something different. But don’t expect something usual in any of the roles of these actors, it will throw you for a loop.
War of the Worlds (2005)
This was the last huge summer movie that I was waiting to see. I will say that I was greatly disappointed. Starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, and Tim Robbins, this movie started out really strong, just like most recent Tom Cruise movies. Tom Cruise is a jerk dad, with no direction, highly cliche. His son has some interesting characteristics, Dakota plays his daughter and is the cliche know it all little girl.
Soon enough, all of the money shots you saw in the previews take place. The weird storms, the ground breaking apart, it is cool, but as soon as the tripod aliens come out of the ground, it has this “World of Tomorrow” gritty feel, almost like it is set on old film, but in modern day.
The aliens immediately start zapping people, turning them into dust. Running like he always does, Tom Cruise barely escapes and we are yanked into intense scenes of destruction. That is where the movie sort of tails off.
Just because this movie was about Aliens, doesn’t mean I will just throw out comparisons to the lighter mood Independence Day of the mid 90’s, but unlike that movie, the direction gets kind of lost. Tom Cruise just kind of treads water, trying to get away, but they just keep running in circles without escaping. We have seen the tripods, and all of sudden they become less organic and really mechanized, which doesn’t seem to fit.
Then the movie falls apart. Tom Cruise destroys one tripod after being sucked up into it with some grenades. Then, all of a sudden in the final sequences we see the tripods falling over and dying, for no apparent reason. They de-steam, and out fall these aliens that look just like the ones from Independence, and this orange liquid that we assume is supposed to be people’s blood gooshes out. In the end, Morgan Freeman gives away that the aliens died because they had no immune system.
What the Hell! Major plot twists should be shown, not told by a narrator you know is Morgan Freeman in the end of the movie. I was pissed.
Rent this one for free. It has cool effects, but all the other stuff I mentioned, and Dakota Fanning over acting and screaming constantly will drive you nuts. If you like Tom Cruise, this is typical for him, but a little more degrading, he’s a real moron here. My parents wouldn’t like it, so wait till it gets to the library or rent it for half price or something.
The Island (2005)
Starring Scarlett Johansson and Ewan MacGregor, directed by Michael Bay who brought us The Rock and other action packed movies, this one has a little bit more under the advertised surface.
In a Utopian society that is protected under the veil of a larger plague, a population of firmly controlled people believe themselves to be the last surviving members of the human race after a huge plague has swept the earth. Only the Island is the last remaining place that is not infected. Ewan MacGregor is the one person to question this, and many other things, and soon enough learns that The Island is a lie, and witnesses another survivor being dissected on an operating table.
Knowing he must escape, he takes Scarlett with him and on a breathtaking enthralling never ending chase scene, they brake out of the complex into the real world. As the movie progresses, we learn that the people at this facility are clones, paid for by wealthy individuals to prolong their own lives in case something goes wrong. Grown at the same age of life as the wealthy individuals, the clones serve as spare parts if needed.
The action in this movie is awesome, especially the scenes on the highway with the Train wheels. But the movie is kind of a commentary on life, cloning, and the human race and how it would evolve beyond anything science could ever anticipate in a
Because of some of the scenes that make you go, “Ouch! Damn”, I don’t think this is a movie I would watch over and over. But if you have a touch of an open mind, you may check this out. Action packed, different, and a bit philosophical, I think my dad might like it, but my mom would not. Strict conservatives stay away, but generation-x needs to see this one.
Batman (1989)
The original, and what would be natural to say next, “the best”. But after Batman Begins this summer, this one is a classic, but isn’t necessarily a better story, if you minus any special effects evaluations.
I love this movie. A lot of my childhood and teenage years are tied to it. Superhero movies were not as easy to pull off at this time, and it really needed to be a cool story for it to work. Tim Burton directed the first two, and he did an excellent job. But, one thing that I did notice that he didn’t pull off quite as well as Chris Nolan tonight, a small detail, a large city feel to Gotham. Nolan gave it a modern feel, that isn’t what I am talking about, I am talking about the sheer mass of people in a city that is supposed to be as big as New York. Burton’s Gotham is more like a small city with huge buildings.
I will love Burton’s movie more for the quirkiness and gritty feel it had. From the crazy surgeon who worked on Jack Nicolson’s face, to Michael Keaton’s performance as the true eccentric that is Bruce Wayne. Keaton did place this aspect a little better than Bale, or maybe differently. Thinking that Keaton up to this point had been known as an oft kilter slap stick actor, who then channeled that into Wayne’s personality as well as being convincingly driven and focused, is pretty amazing in itself.
I liked the translation of Jack Napier as figure who killed Bruce’s parents. But looking back, I think maybe it was a touch too easy to kill as many people as Batman did in the first movie, and how much he used guns. That was a huge thing in the comics, and Nolan’s explanation of how Wayne comes into all of his toys is perfect.
I think though, the best part of this movie is, going back to the beginning, is Burton’s twist. Only his direction in color and camera angles made it a perfect fit with the entrance of the Joker. Especially in the utter calm scene where Wayne is shot by Napier in Vicki’s Vale apartment, to the weird painting of the paintings in the museum scene, to the Joker and his men parading with balloons through Gotham.
This seems a little dated to me. But looking through un-biased eyes, this is a great movie, and only falls a half star short of Batman Begins because the newer movie is that much more true to the original story in every detail and a great story at the same time. But this is what kicked it all of, thanks to Burton to a classic that everyone should see.
Stealth (2005)
Starring Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx and Sam Shepherd, I was expecting this one to be a “Bruckheimer-esqu” summer blockbuster, and it started off that with the intention to please.
As the movie progressed to the point where the AI flying fighter jet went wacko, things got really interesting. The whole movie kicked it up a notch, from average acting and buddy buddy scenes. Quick enough there is suspense, then Foxx dies, and the perfect pilots are in harm’s way and you are on the edge of your seat not knowing how they could possible win.
Jessica Biel is just soft enough to be female, without be stereotypically overboard as the fighting female pilot. Ripped and believable, she has a number of scenes where you forget she used to be on the WB and hot beautiful she is, and that she could actually be intelligent enough to be one of these elite fighters. Sam Shepard is the perfectly power war-hungry army stooge and bad guy, and Josh Lucas plays the main good guy with a great amount of zeal as well. Usually he is a baddie, so I was suprised, pleasantly, to see him in the lead role and not Foxx.
With bits of Behind Enemy Lines, and maybe even Saving Private Ryan, this has dazzling effects that fit the movie, but don’t go over the top. You feel the speed and taste the sky in some of the scenes, and the amazing camera work really give you a sense of what it is like up there and just adds to the danger and tension in most of the airborne scenes.
The “My Parents” rating – My Dad would like this, my Mom I think wouldn’t be able to believe that this fighter jet could think on it’s own. So, if you can believe that, and can sit through the first 30 minutes of the movie with a positive attitude, I think that most anyone would enjoy this movie. Not too violent, it was a summer movie with content and intelligence.
