Month: September 2011

How To Train Your Dragon? Dumb title. Just saying. Let’s have some creativity dreamworks. Good luck making an evil baby dragon look cute also.

Oh shit.

Awww, look at that cute evil glare.

In this story we have Viking like people! Hooray! They are at war with the dragons because…uhh they are dragons and dragons are evil. Our main character (Jay Baruchel) sucks at fighting, and would rather just learn. He ends up hitting the dangerous Nightwing dragon DOWN FROM THE SKY! But no one sees him do it, and it is at night, and for whatever reason no one will go into the woods with him to get it later. Their loss. Cute dragon he finds, and he can’t kill him. But aww, its wing is broken.

Eventually he gains the dragon trust, all in secret of course. Adults don’t believe kids. While he is training with his dragon, he is also getting trained how to fight and kill dragons with the other kids. Through his dragon, he learns little secrets to subdue them without weapons, that no one else knew about. Shit, dude is a genius! He thinks that there is nothing evil about the dragons, and maybe something else is evil forcing the dragons to be “bad”. Just saying, of course. He even makes a book eventually. About how to train a dragon. Oh okay. got it now.

Lot of voice actors in this one, including Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, America Ferrera, and T.J. Miller.

Your heroes, ladies and gentlemen.

And here is what pissed me off. Family movies (or movies for kids) love to do this shit. Make adults unable to change and accept the word of a child. All the time, and use it as a main plot point. It is stupid, and bullshit, and makes me so mad.

Once they find out about his trained dragon, guess what? Everyone flips their shit. They stop from killing him because, well, if they let him go, he can lead them to the lair and kill them all. Obviously that is the best advice! Because this kid, who has surprised everyone for months over his tactics that he learned from a dragon, on how to subdue them, on how they are not bad, and on the fact that a dragon listens to him? That is all hogwash. The fact that any of them would constantly interrupt him and ignore him is the bullshittiest bullshit at that point.

Even if they were at war their whole life, their first reaction would be more confusion and panic and a willingness to listen. That on it owned ruined this from a great film to an okay one for me..

Of course everything changes by the end and people accept the dragons. Thanks to the kid character, they can all now learn how to train a dragon. The sequel being called HTTYD2 doesn’t make sense though. Oh well. I liked this more than Toy Story 3 (the movie it lost to for awards) though overall, is because unlike TS3, it shows that people can change, even if it takes some unreasonable amount of time. Guess what my biggest complaint of TS3 is? Hah.

This review may be controversial. Which I can ignore of course, since these are just all my opinions anyways. Who can tell me I am wrong!

No one!

I was originally interested in Knight and Day because the previews made it look like it was Tom Cruise acting very ridiculous with some Diaz. Because I am tired of Tom Cruise acting all serious and action star like. He needs to make fun of himself more (Like his dancing in Tropic Thunder). No one really wants to see Mission Impossible 4, as far as I can tell.

No one!

Thankfully, this movie was pretty weird (Of course! Action Rom Com? What?) and I got exactly what I wanted. A weird kind of spy movie.
Cameron Diaz was fine as girl who is in a situation way over her head. They didn’t make the story completely linear too. I loved the large gaps in storyline, and jumping ahead, and they had such an interesting way of explaining it all.

I kind of hated the last scene. They made obvious jokes about the rest of the film, but the jokes were too long and obvious. I could have dealt without the ending. But this was pretty great, cant wait to buy it.

Well, I should have seen that coming. Afterall, thinking of video game movies that aren’t lame is hard to do. The plot of Tekken is kind of like the game, Tekken. Kind of.

Some character lines (Heihachi, Kazuya, Jin) make sense, while others with characters from the game’s stories are completely ignored. One woman fighter is supposed to be the mom of another fighter, but they don’t interact at all with each other, and her son is older than her. Whoops?

Although it had the brazillian Eddie and Yoshitmitsu, I was sad to not see Jack, Paul, King, etc. Probably because I haven’t played since Tekken 3.

Or the best Tekken character ever, PANDA!

Finally, even if it wasn’t based closely on the game, the movie was a mess. The whole tournament arbitrarily kept changing, never knowing actually how the rounds ended up working. Oh suddenly we are at the finals? Okay. Why is this person in the movie and never shown to fight? Whatever. Tournaments should be simple to follow. Not random. Easiest part in the movie to make simple.

Did I mention the plot was stupid too? The game has so much plot in it, everyones storyline, but it kept changing things. Fighting games that work on a story line are some of the easiest to convert and explain. All fights have a reason and what not. Oh well, where is my Soul Calibur movie? Complete with more Yoshimitsu of course.

1 out of 4.

The premise of the movie is that someone becomes a much better human thanks to experimental drugs? That just sounds like Senseless. Afterall, both end in less, and have 5 letter words. But in senseless just his senses were enhanced and it was a comedy. In Limitless, his mind is enhance. And its action/drama. Oh well.

The story starts out as expected, Bradley Cooper is a loser. Probably a hipster. A writer who doesn’t write. Just living in the NYC.

Above: Hipster Loser, Bradley Cooper.

Thanks to certain events, he gets these pills temporarily. And he becomes…productive! He cleans his apartment! He writes his book. Aww, finally growing up Bradley Cooper. A drug to make someone be less of a loser! What I really like about this movie is it is weird. The beginning, loser hipster days is kind of boring. But that is on purpose. The drug focuses not on being enhanced strength wise, but mentally. BC gets smarter and smarter, unlocking more and more human potential. Soon he is wracking in the dough. But it doesn’t stop there. His body just gets better and better. The film speed and style almost seem to keep speeding up, and the viewer has to step up his game to keep up.

Reminds me of Flowers For Algernon, without the sadder end. It is cool watching the evolution, and it is awesome focusing on a smarter person. It also teaches us that drugs are not always bad, mmkay.

Maybe I missed it, but I don’t think I heard the title song at all in the movie, except for the menu screen. Most of the times they make the title screen after the movie though. This could be one time where they said fuck it, who will notice not having Take Me Home Tonight in the movie Take Me Home Tonight?

So we all agree, no more Eddie Money References?”

The movie becomes entirely way too predictable, so it is pretty easy to guess everything that will happen. Doesn’t mean a bad thing, as it allows you to focus on the moment and laugh, not worrying about the future. Right?

It is interesting seeing Topher Grace being in an 80s based movie. Maybe the dude is actually a time traveling actor, and hates the present. He probably is just mad he missed out in all the fun the previous decades had to give, so he wants to relive them anyway possible. Maybe soon he will be able to graduate into the 90s, and soon catch up with present day. I am intentionally ignoring In Good Company, because I don’t like that present. That is a sad present.

I also enjoyed seeing Chris Pratt in here, from Parks and Rec. Dude is a funny guy, and he should be given a bigger role in one of these comedies. Oh well, one day maybe? Oh, and of course Anna Faris, rocking out her new fake boobs.

Oh come on. I couldn’t mention a ScaJo movie (In Good Company) and the word boobs in the same review, and not show a picture.

2 out of 4.

Not even an army of Cody Hugheseses could have made a movie with as awkward a first half as this one. Okay, so most of you don’t know him. I went to high school with him, and obviousy he was awkward. He became a pseudo-succesful stand up Comic in Chapel Hill, with humor based on, you guessed it, being awkward.

Like 90% of all stand up comics.

Seriously though. The first half. It relied a lot on just a nerd in love with a hottie trying to change himself after graduation and spend one last moment with Beth Cooper. Hayden Panettiere from Heroes is the only actual star in this movie, most of the other roles played by no names or young who cares actors. (“That’s the same thing!” Shut up, voices.)

In this movie I really didn’t like her, but enjoyed the main two nerd characters. Seriously. So fucking awkward. This movie also had a lot of pretty quotable scenes. I’d give an example, but I actually forgot them. Shut up (again).

Much better than I thought it would be. I also saw She’s The Man today. Both movies had a scene involving a dude using a tampon up their nose.

“Am I everything you’ve ever masturbated to?” Okay, maybe I remember one quote.

2 out of 4.

Was I entertained? Only kinda. Most of the songs in the movie end up being bad, except of course the small parts where Anne Hathaway gets to go LaadaadaaAaahAhhh. That’s a rough estimate of how her lines go. In fact, the best songs are during the closing credits. Whats up with that? Make some of them part of the movie. Most of the birds ended up being rappers too. Will i Am didn’t need to be in this. Was interesting hearing Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords though. Didn’t realize it was him until the rap part in his song. Too bad his bird character was annoying.

“Clearly you just haven’t seen my real life bird impression.”

The plot was silly. The character, Blu (how original0, voiced by Mr. Social Network himself was a nerdy out of place bird who couldn’t Jive with the happening lifestyle of Rio. He couldn’t even fly! He didn’t like the music, and he liked having an owner. What a freak. Not even Anne Hathaway in bird form could make him change his mind. It took a wacky adventure of hijinks and looking for his owner to gain his own independence. But you could have guessed that. I don’t like the tie in with Angry Birds.

I also don’t think they accurately portrayed Carinval. They make it seem like one big parade at night and that is it. Not the multi-day all day every day affair that it is. Also costumes weren’t skimpy enough. But seeing the owner in her bird outfit for Carnival was CGI-Hawt.

SHAKE those tail feathers!

2 out of 4.

Jesus. I mean really, Jesus. This film is super Christian based, and I had no idea. Putting the Soul in Soul Surfer.I was just hoping for cool surfing, shark attacks, and creepy one armed women. Sounds like a horror right? Thankfully this movie has Kevin Sorbo in it. Who doesn’t love Hercules? Even if he is going Hawaiian Shirt on you.

No one doesn’t love Hercules

Unfortunately this movie also has Carrie Underwood in it, as her first real role in anything. She plays a Christian pastor thing, and it is pretty obvious she isn’t a real actress. All she seems to do is guilt trip miss surfer. Who played the Violet Beauregarde character in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Now that’s creepy.

Maybe AnnaSophia Robb just plays winners.

This movie definitely focused a lot less on sharks and more on Christianity. Like, the scene with the shark is super quick. He bites and leaves. Rude. Doesn’t even want to snuggle. It also took forever. It kept teasing you knowing that you knew it was coming. But it kept not happening. Seriously, not only was this movie just secretly a pro Jesus movie, it is also kind of boring.

Sure this is a true story. But there is no way the rival surfer girl is as bitchy as the one in this movie. There is also no way her parents are as cool as Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid.

Wait a minute. Jesus? Sharks? Violet Beauregarde? Kevin Sorbo in a Hawaiian T-Shirt? Carrie Underwood trying to act? Maybe this was a horror. That would explain it. I don’t like horrors.

I think everyone knows who Matthew McConaughey is. I also think most people know about his “Face”. He has a weird intense face. I think this intense face ends up getting at least one close up in every movie he is in too. For a way too long example of this face, check out Tropic Thunder. In the scene with him and Lex Grossman (Tom Cruise (I think that’s the character name?)) talking about the Jet. He definitely has that moment in this move too.

This is not at all the image I wanted here.

But instead of being an agent he is a lawyer! Lincoln Lawyer meaning his car and his profession. MAN that took forever to figure out. Nothing about slavery.

He also is known for getting criminals out of their crime. But he is haunted by the fact that he might ever let an innocent person go to jail (not the other way around). This becomes an interesting crime thriller. Halfway through it you know who the killer is. But there are many complications with the law and its hard to describe without giving away. The whole ending is tense and you wonder how will Matthew McConaughey get out of this mess!
Also, this has William H Macy in it, which makes every movie better.

Even this one.

3 out of 4.

Good job Flynn, showing up right when Rapunzel turns 18 and when she is DTF. Wait what?

He learned all his moves from that Chameleon, if ya know what I’m sayin’.

“Tangled” says this chick was stolen from her kingdom after being born by an evil witch. Her hair is magical, so she is using her hair to stay young. Vain witches are vain. The sheltered bitch doesn’t understand why on her birthday all these lanterns light up the sky, but she really wants to see it. Of course vain witch says no. Thankfully, there is Flynn, the rapist! I mean thief.
What?

I mean, it doesn’t say WHY he is wanted. You know, if you ignore the word Thief at the bottom.

So she finds a way out and goes on a wacky adventure, being chased by smart horses, other thieves, guards, and witches. I hope no one ever has any reason to use her. That would be rude.

Chuck from Chuck does the voice of Flynn, making the movie instantly better. I cant even remember the songs in it, but I know there is at least one. The academy awards taught me this. Mandy Moore is in here, and like every other movie I see her in, I have no real clue who she is. Was she a singer? Always an actress? What? Despite not a big role, we also get Hellboy as a voice actor. I feel like he never gets big roles anymore. This is a sham.

This is also very gorgeous movie, you should watch it on Blu-Ray.