Megamind: A funny movie that is ultimately unsatisfying

To say that there has been a lot of superhero movies lately are an understatement. It seems as though 50% of everything released by Hollywood has in some way to do with comic books, superheroes or repurposed TV shows that centered on heroes fighting crime. Luckily there have been a few films that have successfully lampooned this trend in Hollywood cinema, or at least repurposed it to create telling takes on our social conscious. Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, the Watchmen, The Incredibles are a few that take the Superhero formula and show us its all a bunch of show, or that it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. Megamind attempts to continue this trend in superhero subversion to somewhat likable results but it too heavy laden with cliché’s and honestly, some really unlikable characters to be put in any pantheon alongside some of its more successful predecessors. This is a shame considering that since it did come after, there was some sort of expectation that it might have a little more insight or at least a better way of making the whole superhero overdone theme a little more relevant.

Megamind is about, well, Megamind (Will Ferrell). As a small baby, he is sent to earth before his planet is destroyed (ala Superman). Unfortunately for him, another being was also jettisoned to our planet at the same time who becomes a superhero named Metro Man (Brad Pitt) creating and epic battle of who is really the best. Because of their upbringings and differing powers, there was really no way for Megamind to compete in the ‘superhero’ category, so instead he opted to become the evil nemesis. The movie then moves into a love triangle by introducing a reporter (Tina Fey), and also presents a problem when Metro Man is killed off (oh, sorry….spoiler alert). This is where the film gets a little interesting. What does a super villain do when his enemy is defeated? How does he react to his newfound power and influence and above all, does any of it really mean anything without someone to share it with.

Unfortunately, the script is not able to make good on any of the questions it proposes. It seems like a juicy premise to see what happens when there is nobody to stand up to the world’s greatest super villain, but when we actually see it, my reaction was…”huh, that’s it”? There is a lot of fun and funny banter between the characters, it just seems like the premise had a lot of potential but didn’t flesh out the plot. Characters also have a hard time winning our trust. Megamind is too much of a dufus to be really dangerous, and too good-natured to even feel that there is an existential crisis brewing in his huge blue skull about who he really is. Metro man is distinctly unlikable, so we’re not too bummed when he’s out of the picture, and the news reporter is a bit of a sarcastic downer, killing a lot of the joy and sight gags the movie throws in.

On the plus side, this movie is gorgeous. The visuals are top notch and the score isn’t too distracting. Textures and colors give the sense of a candy coated worlds of wonder, and that cartoony feel does a lot to tone down the expectations as far as characterization is concerned. However, story always trumps visuals so in this case it can’t keep up. The directing and comedic timing of the film lend for more than a few laughs and help refresh an otherwise mundane script. Voice talent does a great job, but the characters seem so irksome, its hard not to look past their written flaws.

Now I’m not saying this is a bad movie by any means. As a matter of fact I explained to my wife that it was merely, ‘meh’. The most telling aspect of the film was the reaction of my 7-year-old son. A lover of movies himself, some seem to get engrained in his head and he can’t stop talking about them or something cool or funny he saw while watching them. With Megamind, he said he enjoyed it but after the movie, I never once heard him mention it again. Maybe the filmmakers need to realize that in order for something to appeal to children as well as adults, character is still your most important creation. Until then, re-watch the Incredibles for your animated superhero flicks.

Final Consensus:

See it now!!!!

See it in theaters!!!

Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!

Wait for it on TV!

Don’t Bother

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Killers: Movie Review

I should never write a movie review on an empty stomach, which is exactly what I’m doing now. Too bad because Killers didn’t have enough filler for me to even remotely feel satisfied. I should have taken it as a bad omen that the studio refused to screen it for critics before its release but they cleverly stated that they wanted word of mouth and online buzz to push the ticket sales rather than reviews or standard advertising. Man, that advertising machine duped me. Killers is a completely forgettable experience that made me long for the smart snappy dialogue and chemistry of Carey Grant and Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief. Instead we are left with tepid performances by Ashton “I look so good I don’t have to act” Kutcher and Katherine “How did I get famous again” Heigl in a film that couldn’t decide if it was a slapstick, dark comedy or drama.

Katherine plays a stunning and smart woman Jen who has recently been dumped by her ugly looking nerd boyfriend and goes on vacation to France for the heck of it with her parents (sounds believable). Ashton plays a covert assassin Spencer on a mission in the same hotel. For some reason they find time to talk and get acquainted for what seems like months (I want that vacation) before getting married. Jen’s dad played by Tom Selek is skeptical of the union while her mom Catherine O’Hara just lets life go by with a scotch in both hands. Thank goodness for O’Hara who seems like the only one having fun in a comedy. Obviously this is her turf and Ashton, Katherine and Tom are all trying to fit in. Unfortunately they don’t.

There is no chemistry in Killers, and did I mention that for a comedy…there’s really none of that. I only laughed out loud at some parts with the mom; otherwise I sat visually perplexed. I even left the theater to go to the bathroom, get a drink and talk to some of the theater staff in the middle of the movie, and when I returned…I don’t think I missed anything. OK, so I may be a little hard on the movie. There are some pretty cool fight scenes, and some of the married couple banter between Heigl and Ashton seems funnier when killing is involved (is that possible?) The scenes in France are gorgeous and everything technically is very professionally done.

Which leads me to my biggest question. How can a film that looks great with great actors in a pretty funny set-up in a gorgeous location end up being so mundane and, well…bad? I have to blame the director on this one. The editing, script, lighting, acting in general was all very sustainable but nothing gelled. None of the parts or characters in Killers seemed cohesive, believable, developed or for that matter relatable and that job falls distinctly on the director. I won’t name him here, but if you do want an undercover crime romance set in France to watch…see To Catch a Thief with a director who knew how to get things right named Hitchcock!

Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother

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Prince of Persia: Movie Review

SPOILER ALERT!!

There are stories here and there that use what we could call the ‘cop-out’. You know the ones. The protagonist suddenly wakes up in his bed to realize the whole thing is a dream. The kids finally get rid of the killer but he’s really not dead. You know. These are the films and stories I honestly believe one of two things happened. The original writer was fired and the finished the movie without a script, or the original writer died and a studio executive finished it for them. In either case, no self-respecting writer would ever do that to his or her own book, script, and screenplay what-have-you…until recently. I have seen way too many movies this year that ruin a perfectly enjoyable experience at the theater by killing the ending. They set it up for another sequel, they wrap it up to quickly or, as in the case of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time…they just pretend it never happened.

OK, sorry, now that I’ve ruined the movie for you…feel free to sit back and enjoy a movie that is actually a lot of fun and really light popcorn fare. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the title character that was plucked as a homeless beggar from the streets to become an adopted son of the king. All grown up, he and his brothers are on conquest and make a fateful decision to attack a holy city who’s princess is charged with protecting a certain dagger. Of course by now you know the price falls for the princess and there is some backstabbing along the way. Believe you me; it is definitely not the plot that makes this movie enjoyable. Rather, it is the cast that seems to have a blast and we just go right along with it.

Jake Gyllenhaal has always been a conundrum to me playing in quirky 'indies' as well as spectacle pictures. But rarely has he seemed so alive and confident in this picture. And Gemma Arterton can actually act if she is given something other to do than be eye candy like in Clash of the Titans or Quantum of Solace. The real scene-stealer in the movie is Alfred Molina as the thief Nizam who throws himself with reckless abandon into the con artist ostrich-loving quasi bad-guy. Everyone else in the film is serviceable being led by Ben Kingsley doing his best Ben Kingsly impersonation and a slew of other characters that takes their roles a little to seriously for a movie based on an old Nintendo game.

The special effects could be amped up a bit, but it didn’t bother me too much since the best parts of the film had little or no effects in them. It’s a good thing the film is called Sands of Time because there is a lot of sand…I mean a LOT. So much so I started getting itchy thinking about how much sand poor Jake had to roll around in. Of course this movie is in no way a great film. I bet there are a few of you who would argue that this is an adequate film at best, but compared to some of the really agonizing stupidity that has come out this past year, Prince of Persia dares to be all out and does so with a healthy dose of tongue in cheek. Now if only we could get Hollywood to stop firing or killing of any descent writer, we might have a winning combination sooner or later.

Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t BotherShare

Robin Hood: Movie Review

Word of mouth (or of finger) has the ability to make or break a movie after its released. Take for instance How to Train Your Dragon (still my #1 of 2010), which kept doing well in the theaters week after week because people told other people how good it was. On the other hand you have Clash of the Titans, which did menial box office despite it being one of the studios larger releases of the summer. Another caveat to the word of mouth phenomenon is the critics’ score. As regular people we like to think we don’t care about what all those hoity-toity critics write, but believe me, we are all eventually influence by them. And that was the very reason I was apprehensive about seeing Robin Hood. The critics trashed it so much, I didn’t even go see it opening weekend.

But there is a silver lining to such advice. Every now and then you are pleasantly surprised because your expectations are so low. I was really expecting this movie to suck…and here’s the kicker, it doesn’t. Could it be the critics are wrong? Heaven forbid! But in this case, I can honestly say they were. Robin Hood is an adventure movie pure and simple. It has your requisite corny lines, bad guy, good guy, love interest, totally unbelievable plot points and I though it was great. What dooms the movie however is that its lead actor/director tandem don’t live up to anywhere close to their previous Gladiator. Russell Crowe as Robin Hood is just as gloomy in this film as in Gladiator, but he really doesn’t have a reason to be. And poor Ridley Scott can’t seem to decide if he wants to be the man who directed Matchstick Men or the one directing Alien.

That aside, the movie is an escapist period piece that serves for very passable entertainment. We follow Robin Longstride as he assumes another’s identity to make it in a post-war England where he has no family. His antics win him the admiration of The Loxley patriarch played by a superb Max von Sydow and the ire of the widowed wife Maid Marion (Cate Blanchet). Of course throw in the merry men and Friar Tuck and we have a good time. This plot only brings us up to the moment where Robin becomes the outlaw…and doesn’t really delve into the legend. This irked me, as it seemed the ending of the movie was quickly wrapped up, re-edited and closed down for the sole purpose of making a sequel. It was done in such a rushed way that the pace totally threw me off.

Scott is at his best filming the fight scenes here. Reminiscent of Gladiator, they none-the less pull a few punches to keep the PG-13 rating. There are great action scenes but none that rival the wow factor of the adrenaline pumping 300 or Gladiator. What Robin Hood does try to do is present the story of the man with all the requisite entertainment required. In one aspect I do agree with the critics, it does take itself too seriously at times, but it’s nowhere near as brow-furrowed as Clash of the Titans. This is by no means a great movie, but I am very glad the critics were so off on this to lead me into enjoying it so much; and after Blade Runner..I have to forgive Scott of everything.

Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t BotherShare

Shrek Forever After: Movie Review

My wife is constantly amazed that I seem to know plot points or at least memorable sequences to almost every movie I have ever seen. This has served me well, especially when categorizing my favorite films or deciding if I want to watch one film over another. Sometimes a movie comes along that I don’t really remember. Such is the case with the Shrek films. Whenever I remember anything about the Shrek movies, for some reason it always comes from the first one. Other than that, the rest all kind of run together and there is nothing really special or memorable about any of them. Unfortunately such is the case with Shrek Forever After. After a whole week has gone by, there is very little I remember about the film at all.

According to my notes, this Shrek finds our title hero giving up a day in his life so he can be an Ogre again. I know that this is a made up animated movie, but I can’t for the life of me remember or figure out how this worked or what the reason was behind it. Shrek supposedly wanted to be mean again, but I never remember him being all that scary to begin with. Anyway, Rumplestilskin is the guy who performs this deed and gives him a day, but something-something happens and Shrek has to do something before the day is through or he’ll never go back to the way it was. Now its never hard to suspend disbelief in a Shek movie, but even my fantastical suspension couldn’t get over this horrid plot which is basically It’s a Wonderful Life, with ogres.

There were some great parts for the kids. I went with my son who laughed out loud at some parts and even repeated some lines. Unfortunately, I don’t even remember chuckling that much. That was kind of a let down considering Shrek has always been good at eliciting laughs. I really wanted to see a comedy. What did happen though was totally unexpected. The movie was actually fairly moving. I wasn’t expecting to feel so proud of being a dad or so lucky to have the family I do. Granted, It’s a Wonderful Life does a much better job of this, but when it sneaks out of know where, it kind of gets you.

As far as the animation goes…. it’s adequate. It looks exactly the same as the first Shrek, which came out almost 10 years ago. I’m glad they kept the look consistent but c’mon guys; there is a decades worth of technological advances you could have used here. We did see this version in 3-D and other than a few gimmicks, I’m not sure it actually added anything to the visual experience for me. The Voices were adequate as well and the directing…well, adequate. I guess that is the best way to describe Shrek Forever After, adequate. Unfortunately, adequate won’t pull you out of the forgetful hole that Shrek 2 and 3 sunk into. Luckily, there is a little bit of emotion to go with this one.

Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother

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Alice in Wonderland: Movie Review

I have never read the original Lewis Carroll Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking-Glass and all of my knowledge regarding the tale of Alice as she goes down the rabbit hole comes from the Disney animated movie and the caterpillar ride at Disneyland. I thought this would suffice for a midnight screening of the new Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, but alas…I felt a little left in the dark. Too many references to names an places I never really new distracted me from a better experience. Everyone will have a good time, don’t get me wrong. Tim Burton has always been a master at macabre wit and fantastic set design, but here, you’ll just have to settle for the set design.

Of course this movie will be wildly popular and everyone will go see it. My midnight screening was packed. Mainly by high schoolers whom use the excuse of a midnight screening in Utah to show their rebellious side. It was weird sitting in that meat-market setting with everyone talking to everyone else, yelling at the previews, making jokes etc. But when the movie got into full swing, a hush fell over the audience as they allowed themselves to be sucked into the fantastically twisted world that Alice believes she had dreamed up for herself.

Alice, played by Mia Wasikowska holds her own as the title character but suffers the same fate as poor Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. The really have not much to do. Alice does scowl a lot and focus really intently on getting her accent right and the Queen seems to have had her arms frozen up in the air and always talks to nobody in particular like a bad version of Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter films. Its easy to see who are Tim Burtons favorite characters in this tale and that would be the Mad Hatter played by Johnny Depp and the Red Queen played by Helena Bonham Carter. Both relish their parts and give all out nutty performances. You really could have a lot of fun with the two except the film never allows them to grow as characters. There is so much going on with this film; you never really feel the camaraderie of any of the characters.

That hardly matters though when you’ve got a world like Wonderland. Keep in mind this is not Pandora (nerdy Avatar reference), but it is indeed a dark and dreary place that is fits the story, but not the fun that should be Alice. It’s a lot of fun to watch things emerge in 3D and the depth and color off all the weirdness going on up on the screen. However, it’s as if little 3D gimmicks were thrown in just for the kids. Kids? I know this has a PG rating but ripping out eyeballs and moats filled with floating severed heads hardly qualify as children’s entertainment (unless you have an equally morbid son like mine). And herein lies the main problem with the film. It can’t decide if it’s a kid’s film or an adult. There is no middle ground here. The over explanation, awkward dancing, silly music score and funny characters all point to a film geared towards kids 8 and under. But the dark story, visceral visuals, twisted humor and star power all seem to model and Adult film. In general, this is a very beautiful, awkward, disjointed movie.

So, I’m really torn with this movie. The Visuals alone are worth the price of admission to the theater (especially in 3D), but the content makes me want to recommend renting it. I’ll let you decide, but if patched up endings, horrible editing and befuddled story lines bother you, I would stay away. If you love incredible imaginations, gruesome creatures and weird not-really-makes-sense randomness, then you’ll like the film. Your call.


Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother

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'Shutter Island' - Movie Review

I have this problem when I go see movies that have really great plots and leave you guessing the whole time. My problem is actually a bad habit where I predict the end of the movie to myself. Usually I watch thankfully as the movie plays out differently than I expected, but then at the last minute finishes with my predicted ending…hence killing any suspense or payoff for me since I already imagined it in my head. This happened to me with movies like Fight Club and The Sixth Sense, and unfortunately came back and did the same thing to me while watching Shutter Island.

I wasn’t planning on seeing this movie anyway, but thought it couldn’t be too bad if Martin Scorsese is directing it and Leo DiCaprio’s in it. Unfortunately, this is no Goodfellas or Raging Bull, and it doesn’t even match Aviator’s entertainment, so what I was hoping for was that somehow the story would take me for a ride that would make up for all its shortcomings and I ruin the ending for myself. Shutter Island is about Federal Marshall Teddy (Leo) and his partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo…who knew) investigating a disappearance at a hospital for the criminally insane. A hurricane forces the Marshals to stay on the island where they end up trying to figure out if the whole thing was an elaborate setup by the Islands head doctor (Ben Kingsley)

Scorsese knows how to do psychological. He is a master when it comes to brutality and the human condition so I can see why this story attracted him. It explores the cause of human violence and the minds ability to succumb/overcome that instinct. What bothered me about the story is that it used the Holocaust and murdered children to elicit the dread we are supposed to be sickened by. I think its personally tasteless and a cop-out. They were giving out free books to the people in my screening if we could name the author of the book, which I couldn’t. The girl next to me not only knew the author was Dennis Lehane, but told me it was the same guy that wrote Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone. Dude has serious issues murdering children. Just sayin’

I thought the film was OK. Weather this was because expectations are so high or I wasn’t planning on seeing the movie I’m not sure. What I do know is that it is not very scary, more creepy than anything. Lots of weird characters make their appearance in the insane asylum and a lot of it comes off as window dressing or merely props to throw back in your face later on in the film. When I try to dissect what really bothered me about the film I really couldn’t place it. The acting is top notch, the script is great, the cinematography is gorgeous and the directing is flawless. Unfortunately, this movie is not the sum of its parts.

I may be so bold to even preclude this film is a little boring. There is lots of talking and exposition and not enough frightening scenes. That’s not to say this movie doesn’t have mood, it’s dripping off the dirty rocks and rusted bars from the drenched hurricane. It won’t scare you as much as it will creep you out and leave you thinking Scorsese is really weird. If you want a thinking movie, this is a good stop, just don’t over think the ending and ruin it for yourself.

See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother

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Percy Jackson and the blah, blah, blah: Movie Review

Percy Jackson has a really long movie title that I just don’t feel like typing out. Needless to say, the title of the film matches the books title and neatly explains the plot of the movie. It is about Percy Jackson…there are some Olympians and someone has stolen lightning. For a little more clarification on the plot, the Olympians are not track stars or bobsledders, but the Greek Gods on Mount Olympus. Luckily they do not appear in this movie very often because the adults who portray them seem to think they are in some Greek tragedy and not in a PG rated kids flick. Luckily Percy (Logan Lerman), his very funny and cowardly sidekick Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) and warrior girl Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) have enough charm and sass to lighten up the tone a bit and save the film from the scowling Gods.

The movie is very much in the vein of Harry Potter without all the lovable character development. Percy just so happens to be related to one of the Greek Gods and therefore comes with some inherent baggage and daddy abandonment issues. Things get thrown into a tizzy when Zeus’s lightning bolt is stolen and Percy is pegged with the crime. If you can suspend your belief that “all knowing” Gods somehow don’t know that Percy has no clue who he is, then the movie is a fun romp through worlds, villains, monsters and mythology as Percy tries to clear his name. If plot holes and bad dialog bother you, then stay away from this film.

I happened to have a great time with this movie. I have not been able to decide if it is because it is the first non-chick-flick I have been able to watch in over a month, or that the filmmakers didn’t take themselves to seriously and honestly had a good time with it. Christopher Columbus has never been a great director but he has been lucky with franchises like Home Alone and Harry Potter. Percy Jackson follows a similar formula of rushing us from one adventure to the next, hopping from one plot contrivance to another with all the subtleness of a slap across the face.

The film also draws strength from its supporting cast. Valentines Day opened the same weekend (Thank heavens I didn’t have to sit through another chick flick) and had everybody in Hollywood as a part of that film. It seemed that whoever didn’t make it into Valentines Day (were they vacationing on Mars during the shoot or something) got cast in Percy Jackson. Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Catherine Keener, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, and Uma Thurman all make appearances with the last three having delicious fun with the parts they’ve been given and going over the top to make the film entertaining.

The special effects are on par with the first Harry Potter film but its endearment is not. It’s the most fun that I have had this year at the movies so far, and is a much needed brainless breath of fresh air from all the contrived romances and tear jerker’s that have burned into the retinas of my eyes. It may not have the star power of Valentines Day or the magic of Harry Potter, but the sassy fun it does have…is done very well.

Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother

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'Dear John' - Movie Review

I have a sneaking suspicion that Dear John will finally topple Avatars reign as the number one movie of the weekend. I went and saw Dear John on an early Friday afternoon and the theater was ¾ filled. Of course, teenage girls skipping school or groups of mothers who no longer have a Twilight film to swoon over filled the majority of those seats. I guess in the absence of the Twilight hunks, Channing Tatum is the next best thing to look at, and unfortunately, that’s his only job the entire movie.

The group of girls sitting behind me filled my ears with tales of who was kissing who, who was backstabbing who and a humorous number about some people they knew who went swimming in a local pond drunk. I was so engrossed eavesdropping in on their conversation while the previews were rolling, I almost didn’t realize the movie had begun. This is in fact a very low-key romance (no comedy whatsoever) that pales in comparison to the likes of the Notebook, which was also by the same author. In this version of his same story told over and over, we have John played by Channing Tatum who looks great and has all the personality of a pillar of granite, falling in love with Savannah played by Amanda Seyfried who has a goldfish face but can actually act enough to make their relationship seem important (if a relationship between a rock and a goldfish could be important).

What threw me for a loop was the turn of Richard Jenkins as Channing’s father. He may not have any lines and the acting may be subversive, but it was their relationship I ended up caring for more than anything else in the movie. Now, I haven’t paid much attention to Richard Jenkins much in the past, but after his turn here and also in The Visitor (you have to see that) I can honestly say he is a great actor. I also enjoyed the pacing, slow and deliberate, nothing too experimental or boring, but carefully shot and timed conversations that are backed by the right popular music doesn’t present anything new, but makes falling in love seem, well… romantic.

Of course, there has to be a major flaw with the movie that takes it down a few notches and almost destroys the warm fuzzy feelings I was beginning to have for the movie. The ending. Oh how I loathe a predictable and saccharine ending, but at the same time, I feel that if an audience has sat through the pains and heartaches of a relationship throughout the duration of the film, they should be awarded with some sort of payoff. Not so in this film. I guess they were trying to throw us off or something, but talk about a head-scratcher. Granted, the relationship between father and son is way better than the one between granite and goldfish, but as the annoying TMI girls behind me put it… “That was the worst ending ever!” All I could do was chuckle out loud.

Final Consensus:
See it now!!!!
See it in theaters!!!
Rent it on DVD/BluRay!!
Wait for it on TV!
Don’t Bother

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I Am Legend

One of the perks of my new job is being able to read scripts of upcoming films. I was able to read the script for ‘I Am Legend’ and was actually very impressed. It made for some quick good reading and I was thoroughly engrossed. Keep in mind this movie is skewered towards my demographic, but who doesn’t like a good action/apocalypse film every now and then. It takes place in the future 3 years after the worlds population has supposedly been wiped out by an unknown virus. The last survivor holes up in NYC, looking for some hope in his bleak situation. It is ingenious what the main character does to survive in a world bent on annihilating him. Needless to say, a plot is drummed up and I was pleasantly surprised by the end…even though a little Hollywood happy, it actually brings in a message of universal love. Who’d of thought?