Our Idiot Brother - Ned (Paul Rudd) is a stoner idealist. Due to a predictable albeit funny mistake on his part, Ned goes to jail. When he gets out, his girlfriend kicks him out of their house. Ned then relies on the charity of his mother and three sisters (Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, and Emily Mortimer) and Ned accidentally exposes hidden truths about their lives.
This movie was a hidden gem! Didn't think much of the trailer for it, didn't intend to see it, but this movie is delightful. Ned is easily the best role Paul Rudd has played since his Anchorman role Brian Fantana, and Our Idiot Brother is his best film since Role Models. Too often Paul Rudd is cast as the snide straight man, while others like Steve Carrell play the goofball, but it's not my favorite role Paul gets to play. His handsomeness is what I think is to blame concerning Hollywood's typically unimaginative casting. Here, as Ned, Paul gets to (literally) let his hair down and approaches his role without cliche or self-awareness. It's genuine and sweet without being cloying. He's the perfect idealist, aware of himself and steadfast in his views regardless of the trouble they might lead to. What could be more annoying to a family of harpies and people caught in self denial?
Elizabeth Banks gets to play a bitch, and Zooey Deschanel plays someone who isn't ridiculously kooky. Steve Coogan, alas, still plays a snide bastard, but he does so with restraint.
I'm not crazy about the title as Ned isn't an idiot, and I feel it was a bad choice and may end up attracting the wrong people to the film and disappointing them. It's not a goofy slapstick film or a stoner comedy (though there are moments) and there aren't any lowest common denominator jokes. The title is the main misstep the movie makes. The laughs come often and the hippies "fighting" is hysterical. There is not a situation that feels cartoonish or unrealistic. Ned is someone I'd genuinely like to know. The world would probably be better off if more people followed in his....crocks. Okay, he's not perfect, and neither is the film. But the cracks are so small I would need a microscope to find them. I would gladly see this film again (probably on DVD) and it was a nice way to end the summer.
Our Idiot Brother gets a A-
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Fright Night 3D
Fright Night 3D - All Charley (Anton Yelchin) every wanted was a normal life with his single mom (Toni Collette) and girlfriend (Imogen Poots) he suspects is too good for him. But Jerry (Colin Farrell), the next door neighbor has some strange mannerisms and habits. Kids are disappearing from class at school and Charley's former best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) suspects that Jerry is a vampire.
Okay, this movie is a lot of fun. It has some tightly coiled suspense, well crafted characters, and a good mix of horror and comedy. There's rather more of the former than the latter. What's more, the film isn't so meta (aside from a few jokes about vampire lore and Twilight) that you would get taken out of the story. The screenplay was done by Marti Noxon of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel writing staffs, and it's a well crafted piece of work. Although the film never gets much better tension-wise than the first scene with Jerry and Charley, it's still has plenty of thrills along the way. And it makes vampires into a dangerous difficult to kill menace again! A small but note-worthy achievement in a day where True Blood asks us to get along with them and Twilight desires for us to snuggle in a meadow with them.
Colin Farrell is excellent as Jerry the vampire. It's kind of a shame that as his box office returns get lower, Farrell delivers better and better. I also love David Tennant (of Doctor Who fame) in general, but he's great as vampire hunter/stage magician/drunk foul-mouthed hasbeen Peter Vincent.
Bottom line, Fright Night is a very fun, occasionally scary, well scripted movie. It's not amazing, and doesn't say anything new about the subject of vampires, but if you're going to do a re-make, it might as well be fun enough to make me forget that fact. In a month typically bereft of good movies, Fright Night is the best you're going to do for entertainment this August. Fright Night gets a B+
Okay, this movie is a lot of fun. It has some tightly coiled suspense, well crafted characters, and a good mix of horror and comedy. There's rather more of the former than the latter. What's more, the film isn't so meta (aside from a few jokes about vampire lore and Twilight) that you would get taken out of the story. The screenplay was done by Marti Noxon of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel writing staffs, and it's a well crafted piece of work. Although the film never gets much better tension-wise than the first scene with Jerry and Charley, it's still has plenty of thrills along the way. And it makes vampires into a dangerous difficult to kill menace again! A small but note-worthy achievement in a day where True Blood asks us to get along with them and Twilight desires for us to snuggle in a meadow with them.
Colin Farrell is excellent as Jerry the vampire. It's kind of a shame that as his box office returns get lower, Farrell delivers better and better. I also love David Tennant (of Doctor Who fame) in general, but he's great as vampire hunter/stage magician/drunk foul-mouthed hasbeen Peter Vincent.
Bottom line, Fright Night is a very fun, occasionally scary, well scripted movie. It's not amazing, and doesn't say anything new about the subject of vampires, but if you're going to do a re-make, it might as well be fun enough to make me forget that fact. In a month typically bereft of good movies, Fright Night is the best you're going to do for entertainment this August. Fright Night gets a B+
Friday, August 12, 2011
Glee: The 3D Concert Movie
Glee The 3D Concert Movie: This concert edition of the worldwide hit TV show, Glee, features performances from the concert by the cast and interviews with the cast and the fans.
Songs performed from the show include standard fare like "Somebody to Love" "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "Don't Stop Believing", but it also has more recent Season 2 material. I was pleased to see "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Ain't No Way". Gwenyth Paltrow also shows up to sing "Forget You". Really, none of the numbers hit a bum note. "Valerie" and "Slave 4 U" have some kickass dance numbers, and Finn, Puck and Artie all bring it with "Jessie's Girl" "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "P.Y.T". My favorites though have to be the Warblers. Darren Criss and his group of blazer boys are the perfect combo of charm, dance and harmony. Really, you either love Glee or you don't, and this is not likely to convert the non-fans.
However, despite my praise and love of the show, musical numbers and cast, I have some major criticisms. The movie is about an hour and a half long, with an extra half hour of ads (Thanks Fox!) on top of that. But once the concert gets going, there's always a break for an interview with a fan with a story. There's a girl with red hair and Aspergers who loves the show. There's a gay kid who looks up to Kurt. And there's a dwarf cheerleader who goes to prom. None of them are interesting, and they actively detract from the experience. I'm sorry guys, but I JUST DON'T CARE. The show has touched you. You see yourself as one of the cast. So does everyone else.
It's a concert movie, guys. It shouldn't be possible to screw this up, but they did. The sole exception in the distractions was this 4 year old Asian child in a Warbler blazer who has memorized the song and dance routines and performs them in his living room. He actually made the show for me by being freaking adorable and hilarious. But the rest of the non-concert activity was the equivalent of an exciting action movie interrupted every 5 minutes with a screen-filling ad for life insurance. It's irritating filler, and fans deserve better.
The filler feels like a concealed middle finger to fans who didn't pay to see the concert live. The extra cash required to see the film in 3D (we saw the early bird special, so money saved there) adds insult to injury. 3D adds nothing except cash to studio pockets.
Bottom line, the musical numbers were great (refreshing to not hear as much audio enhancement), but they're nothing you could not see by re-watching the show, and there weren't enough of them. The non-concert related material sinks the show. And where is Matthew Morrison? Oh yeah, doing his solo concert. Disappointment. I can't really recommend forking out the extra cash for this one. For hardcore Gleeks only. Love Glee but I hate you Ryan Murphy.
C-
Songs performed from the show include standard fare like "Somebody to Love" "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "Don't Stop Believing", but it also has more recent Season 2 material. I was pleased to see "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Ain't No Way". Gwenyth Paltrow also shows up to sing "Forget You". Really, none of the numbers hit a bum note. "Valerie" and "Slave 4 U" have some kickass dance numbers, and Finn, Puck and Artie all bring it with "Jessie's Girl" "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "P.Y.T". My favorites though have to be the Warblers. Darren Criss and his group of blazer boys are the perfect combo of charm, dance and harmony. Really, you either love Glee or you don't, and this is not likely to convert the non-fans.
However, despite my praise and love of the show, musical numbers and cast, I have some major criticisms. The movie is about an hour and a half long, with an extra half hour of ads (Thanks Fox!) on top of that. But once the concert gets going, there's always a break for an interview with a fan with a story. There's a girl with red hair and Aspergers who loves the show. There's a gay kid who looks up to Kurt. And there's a dwarf cheerleader who goes to prom. None of them are interesting, and they actively detract from the experience. I'm sorry guys, but I JUST DON'T CARE. The show has touched you. You see yourself as one of the cast. So does everyone else.
It's a concert movie, guys. It shouldn't be possible to screw this up, but they did. The sole exception in the distractions was this 4 year old Asian child in a Warbler blazer who has memorized the song and dance routines and performs them in his living room. He actually made the show for me by being freaking adorable and hilarious. But the rest of the non-concert activity was the equivalent of an exciting action movie interrupted every 5 minutes with a screen-filling ad for life insurance. It's irritating filler, and fans deserve better.
The filler feels like a concealed middle finger to fans who didn't pay to see the concert live. The extra cash required to see the film in 3D (we saw the early bird special, so money saved there) adds insult to injury. 3D adds nothing except cash to studio pockets.
Bottom line, the musical numbers were great (refreshing to not hear as much audio enhancement), but they're nothing you could not see by re-watching the show, and there weren't enough of them. The non-concert related material sinks the show. And where is Matthew Morrison? Oh yeah, doing his solo concert. Disappointment. I can't really recommend forking out the extra cash for this one. For hardcore Gleeks only. Love Glee but I hate you Ryan Murphy.
C-
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