Tag: 3 out of 4

I saw the preview of Get Him To The Greek and was like, what? That looks dumb. What is Jonah Hill doing? Russel Brand? He is just acting like he did on Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Can he only do one thing?

Katy Perry?

Fortunately for my past hating self, this movie turned out to be funnier than that. Sure, a lot of jokes occur just because of drugs and alcohol, making it pretty much a stoner flick. But the “Jeffrey” scene was just way too good. In this movie Brand is still a rocker, and Jonah wants him to replay a concert he did 10 years later (big deal concert) to revitalize his career. Unfortunately with drugs and alcohol, he is really unstable. So getting him back to the greek, is filled with shenanigans.

Puff Daddy in one of his few roles ever, was terrific throughout the movie. Seriously, he was way too fucking funny. His humor could be based entirely on the fact that he is P Diddy, doing humor, and that makes it awesome, and him not actually being funny. Celebrity factor. But ehh, I will put on those shades every time to get those laughs. He played the over the top record executive, and damn it, did it go really well.

This is his “Imma fuck you up” face.

I obviously see now that he is playing the same dude from Forgetting SM, and that makes it kind of like canon. The music that is sang also is pretty decent. Not necessarily completely comedic, but actually going for some sort of listenable sound as well, helps make it believable. No way Elizabeth Moss would actually be with the Jonah Hill in this movie, but I guess we have to believe she has gone insane from long doctor hours. Speaking of insane, the scene with her, Jonah, and P Diddy? What?

Also known by its original name, “Trainwreck: My Life as an Idoit“. Not spelled wrong. This cover had Seann William Scott on the cover, and has this synopsis:

“A dramatic comedy about a self-induced attention-deficit disordered, learning disabled, Tourette’s syndrome suffering, balance impaired, ex-alcoholic young man from the Upper East Side of Manhattan and the gold-digging girl who inspires him to try to get it together.”

WHAT? Did they just want to create a goofy movie where SWS has all these things and the zany things that happen to him?

I guess there are easier ways to hit rock bottom.

THIS IS NOT WHAT THE MOVIE IS ABOUT THOUGH. This is a weird movie, I will give you that. A lot of the story is told through SWS narration as he does his sharing at different 12 step meetings. Talks about his life, being sober for 10 years, and all of his problems. Of which he has quite a few. But the story is told through flashback, current events, and how things appear to him. Jeff Nichols, the character in the story, just wants to find something he is good at, maybe writing and being a stand up comic.

Now, maybe I am wrong and SWS is just the loony kind of actor who would be able to pull off the way he does these actions with ease. I will admit while watching it I just assumed it was SWS the whole time. But to get all these antics, to talk the way he does, to make it believable and have him on your side. It just goes very very well. AND HOLY SHIT IT IS A TRUE STORY.

Jeff Nichols is real, has written a self help / autobiography book, and is a stand up comic. The things that happened in this movie are real. And the dude said yes, SWS, that guy has it all right. Holy shit. No I’m not giving the rating of this based off the fact that its real, its that I think it actually took SWS legitimate acting chops to pull it all off.

“I only do serious films, after all.”

3 out of 4.

Hey hey hey. This movie I have always wondered just what it is about, seeing it at blockbuster for a long time. The cover just seems unappealing, showing some fast action blurry street or something, and a barely distinguishable (in my eyes) view of Russel Crowe‘s face. But after reading the back finally, I was like, whoa, sounds kinda nifty!

My description kind of works.

Crowe wants to break his wife, Elizabeth Banks out of prison, because he has gave up on the Justice System. Due to a series of crazy mishaps, she is being blamed for a murder and for fleeing a crime scene. But Crowe lost. He could not save her. Raising their young son on his own, she has been in jail long enough to have several lesbian loves.

I can’t believe I found a lesbian Elizabeth Banks picture. Hooray for internet.

No more appeals left, she is going to get transferred in three days so Crowe has to hurry up and panic.

Crowe giving up on the Justice System? I couldnt help but compare this with Law Abiding Citizen, in which it was Butler who gave up on it. These movies are quite different though. LAC was good in its own right, but so was this film. It clocked in over 2 hours, allowing at least an hour for the break out plan. It played on moral dilemmas, with an obvious small discussion about Don Quixote earlier in the film. I was unsure of how it would end, and was kind of scared. After all, it was a “suspense” “thriller” thing. But I was definitely interested in the whole film. Allow me to suspend believe that a community college teacher can be smarter than a whole police department. Olivia Wilde also had a small role as a teacher. You know, if you like her.

Why hello there, highly anticipated movie that over the summer all of my friends hyped up as heeeelarious? Well overall I did enjoy it. Not as much of a laugh riot I had hoped or came to expect. But that is what hype does to you.

It was longer than I figured, both just in terms of length of film, and length of story. I figured it would involve just the pre-planning for the wedding, then the wedding, then the after wedding party where everyone gets crunk.

Not to be confused with getting Chunk from The Goonies.

BUT IT IS MORE THAN THAT. This is prengagement to wedding story. This is the whole package from just friends to having Kristen Wiig be your maid of honor. This of course leads to bridesmaids jealousy, where Kristen has to compete with hotty ms. perfect over her the brides affections, played by the weird Maya Rudolph. Through shenanigans and not being perfect, conflict arises between them. Not cat fights, just more like hissy fights. AND CONFLICT. I already said that.

The other Bridesmaids are the shy girl (Ellie Kemper), the MILF (Wendi McLendon-Covey), the rich new best friend who is trying to take over maid of honor duties (Rose Byrne) and the bigger soon to be relative friend who lacks social graces and yet is funny (Melissa McCarthy).

I like that Jon Hamm had a role in this movie, but wasn’t even in the credits. I call sexism on that. How dare they find the bootycall role unimportant. (Cough). Speaking of Booty Call, the other love interest role is played by Chris O’Dowd, who I did find heeeeelarious.

He plays awkward police cop from Cananananada.

My favorite scenes were probably the scenes in which it seemed it went on way too long. Such as engagement party speeches, plane shenanigans, and what not. you know, awkward hilarity.

You all already know this movie. Johnny Depp! Lizard named Rango! Nickelodeon movie!

After viewing it, I think this could be Nickelodeon’s third best movie. I haven’t seen Spiderwick Chronicles yet, so maybe it’s 4th. Number 2 is Harriet the Spy, and number 1 of course is Good Burger.

Some friendships transcends the film they are displayed in.

While not the funniest movie, it was definitely interesting. It had quite a few references to other movies, which was nice. Obviously it would have a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas reference, and it came sooner than I thought. I am surprised that it was a kids movie at all, as a lot of jokes and references would throw over a child’s head (of course making it better for parents / adults who watch kid movies. What?)

I was afraid somehow it would be an ending like Happy Feet. “Fuck! Its all the humans fault!” but it didn’t go down the bullshit environmental route, which is great. I don’t think that is a spoiler. (I feel like that in movies with animals talking and in their own worlds, having humans be the cure or cause at the end is kind of like saying “oh, aliens!”). Also, watching this movie on blu-ray was fantastic. Very visually stunning, and blu-ray made it all pop.

Weee, another RomCom. This one is pretty similar to No Strings Attached, except the two main costars are not as big as the two in NSA right now. That being an acronym for the other movie, not the government organization.

But wouldn’t all movies be better with John Casey?

Both of these R rated RomComs have a lot of raunchy sex humor, but GTD came first. I actually liked GTD more than NSA. I laughed a lot more, and found it a lot more believable.

In Going the Distance, Justin Long is tired of serious stuff. It keeps blowing up in his face. But as a rebound he falls for Drew Barrymore, who is leaving NYC in a month or so. So she says nothing serious. Just some sexytime. Once she goes back to California they decided to try the long distance thing and hey, maybe one of them would move eventually and change jobs. I guess?

So some awkward visits back and forth, arguing about jawbs, an what not. Also more and more sexytime.

Going The Distance of course meant both in terms of a long distance relationship, and having a relationship that can go to that next level. As usual, the supporting actors/actresses really make the movie. They are there for comedy and that is it so they should get some of the better scenes. Charlie from It’s Always Sunny, Jason Sudeikis was pretty strong as “friend with intense mustache.” Also Drew Barrymore gets a friend, Christina Applegate. Pretty much the whole mustache storyline is worth admission alone. The only real bad thing in it is Drew Barrymore’s weird face. You know, when she like does the disgusted/panic look. I don’t like that face.

I am apparently not the only one to notice her mouth. ALSO. I just noticed her name. DREW? What the fuck?

I first heard of this movie from Joseph Gordon-Levitt himself. He came to UNC on some weird tour called HitRecord, and showed the preview for Hesher for fun. When I saw it, I thought “Well, that is shit.”

Thankfully enough, I was wrong! This movie was a lot better than I thought, if not weird. It also definitely earned its R rating, so maybe my review should fucking too? I think I only need to say fuck twice to earn an official R. Well done, self!

Hesher is a loud mouth metal psychopath like person, who also is a homeless drifter. He of course befriends a kid and lives his family (dad / Rainn Wilson) who have recently lost the mom, and teaches them how to live life again through unconventional means. Sounds like a bad sitcom? Yes.

But this was pretty fantastic. Lot of violence, some OH WHAT scenes, and language and sex. Also Natalie Portman plays a nerd girl.

I prefer my Natalie to be Nerd Natalie. So does Thor.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt pulls off this role, and I don’t think anyone could have expected that. I mean, this is the wing flapping, invading earth, cobra commanding JGL here. How dare he gain the ability to grow long hair and listen to metal. But it was very captivating, and off beat.

Thanks to the Video On Demand stuff, I was able to see Red State movie much earlier than I thought I would. This is the long awaited and controversial Kevin Smith Horror movie, another of his outside of Jay and Silent Bob realm films.

If you didn’t already know about Jay and Silent Bob, here is a picture to go with the link. Also, please get off my site and watch a Kevin Smith movie.

Loosely based off of the Westboro Baptist Church people (whom the film even identifies as a similar group to this fictional one. I guess just in case of suing?), it tells the story of a group of boys who get captured by the group. The group, lead by Michael Parks who does outstanding, claim the boys are homosexuals and they plan on killing them (As they have others) in the name of the Lord.

Obviously there is a lot of death in this film, but some of the scenes are pretty long. The first time you hear the old pastor give a sermon, that sermon must go on for at least 10 minutes, and it is very intense. It gives a pseudo explanation for why these people may act this way, and what they also would do with that same logic. Who ends up dying and not dying does end up a bit of a surprise.

A little halfway through it it kind of lulled a bit. Way too much just shooting and running around compared to the quiet calmness for the start. Kevin Smith still likes to write scenes where lots of action is happening, and having the camera mostly on John Goodman, hiding behind a car on the phone. I think that is how he wrote his original script for the Green Hornet, more or less. I figured John Goodman would have been a natural for cult priest leader, but he actually plays a member of the ATF.

He’s a smooth talker, that there Cyclops.

Also, more Breaking Bad sightings. The mom is played by Anna Gunn, Skyler, and one of the pot friends plays the deputy. Also Sky High characters make their return, as the main character and the glowing character are both in this movie as well.

Ohhh. The girl’s name is Summer. I see what you did there, movie. That makes more sense. I mean, Summer is generally only 3 months, and Summer break is much shorter. I tried to watch this movie last fall, but people kept interrupting me at the start, making me confused, and then I was all, rawrrr! But now a year later, through the other normally timed seasons, I finally get to see what it is all about.

Hopefully just this woman.

This stars a dude played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is really obsessed by Zooey Deschanel. So really it could be about anyone. Said dude finds himself not worthy for said girl, but his whole relationship with her, from beginning to end, takes about 500 days. The movie was not shown in order though, which gave it more pizazz. Before any new scene, a number appeared, so you would know when in the relationship the events were unfolding, and even had a nifty narrator to help you piece things together.

However, if someone told me there was a big dance number because JGL finally banged Zooey D, I would have definitely seen it sooner. Zooey D herself seems like the type of person who would do that. I blame the New Girl. Seriously, how great is this scene (obviously don’t watch if you don’t want to see it until you see the movie).

Unfortunately because it was told through JGL’s eyes, I definitely ended up hating the character. We don’t get to see her reasoning or her side of the story. I actually liked the overall ending too. Didn’t see it coming. Also, it ended it on a pun kind of. Which is great.

The only reason this movie caught my eye is thanks to accidentally seeing its trailer in another movie. Oh great, another sitcom star trying to do a big indie movie that is kind of comedic that he wrote and directed, with some low name actress who has been in fantasy related movie who will probably become big later on.

Not going to lie. That comparison was way too easy to make. This time the sitcom star who wrote/directed the movie is Josh Radnor of How I Met Your Mother, the woman is Malin Akerman who was previously in Watchmen. Saying she is going to be a big star later on though I can’t prove yet.

“I wear my sunglasses inside, so I can, so I can…

As of course this being an indie comedy, I was expecting to enjoy most of it and have a bad ending. By bad I mean one that just stopped. Indie movies love not having that “Hollywood everything wrap up” ending, when they don’t realize that having no ending at all makes the last minutes spent watching it just feel kind of pointless. I kind of lied up there too, Akerman is actually not the love interest, but the bald best friend (gross). Kate Mara, my new favorite ginger crush is though.

Thankfully this movie actually did end, because Josh Radnor said I deserve it!

The story is a bunch of 20somethings in NYC and their love lives, more or less. All of the storylines complete themselves by the end (but one. That is kind of up in the air), so that is good. People can be happy it turns out! The storyline involving subway kid was all unexpected and sufficiently awkward for me to watch. So yeah, this movie was better than I thought it would be, and I laughed out loud some times. Which is a weird thing to do alone!