August 2007

This Week in Film

Cuba Gooding Jr. steps into Eddie Murphy‘s shoes for this sequel to 2003’s forgettable comedy Daddy Day Care.  In this new film, directed by Winnie Cooper’s ex-squeeze, the Daddy Day Care crew decide to open a summer camp for kids.  Hinjinx, of course, ensue.  Tamala Jones, Paul Rae, Lochlyn Munro, Richard Gant, and Telise Galanis also star.  Check out the official site.  We’ve seen it and we’ll have the review when it kicks and screams itself into theaters on Wednesday.  Larger trailer available in the Full Diagnosis.

Daddy Day Camp
N/A

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This Week in Foreign Film

After the death of a friend two British Chinese gay men revaluate their lives.  Mel (Steven Lim) contemplates the future and rejects love offered from Todd (Gareth Rhys Davis), as Ash (Chowee Leow) decides to become a transexual.  Well, not exactly your everyday fare.  Neil Collie, Paul Cox, and Mark Hampton also star.  Check out the official site.  The film opens exclusively in Los Angeles on Friday before beginning a limited release next week.  Larger trailer available in the Full Diagnosis.  Caution – trailer contains some images and humor NSFW.

Cut Sleeve Boys
N/A

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Bourne Again

  • Title: The Bourne Ultimatum
  • IMDB: link

“I remember…I remember everything.”

bourne-ultimatum-posterWhen I heard the words above in the trailer chills went up my spine.  I enjoyed The Bourne Identity (read December’s review) but I was blown away by the second installment The Bourne Supremacy.  So here was the sequel I was waiting for all summer.  The result was a good, though slightly disappointing, film that is still better than most of the sequels this year.

We begin, seconds after Jason Bourne’s (Matt Damon) survival in the tunnel, with his escape from Russian police.  The final scene from The Bourne Supremacy, the phone conversation between Bourne and Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) is later expertly woven into the main plot of this film.  From there we move to the shadowy government forces still attempting to track Bourne down and hide the dirty secrets which are locked in his brain.  Both Allen and Julia Stiles return, and although Stiles is given a larger (and somewhat continuity-questionable) role, Allen is demoted into the lone good guy in a room full of snakes who will do whatever it takes to keep their dirty little secrets hidden.

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Hot for ‘Rod’

The fact that the movie is from the guys that gave you the SNL Digital Short Lazy Sunday.  Is more than enough reason to see the movie.  But if you need more, feel free to read this review.

Hot Rod
4 Stars

Do yourself a favor: go to the Lonely Island website.  The Lonely Island, the comedy trio who made on-line shorts for years before joining SNL and penning classics like ‘Lazy Sunday’ and ‘Dick in a Box,’ are the prime players behind Hot Rod, and have a fairly distinct brand of man-child humor that might not strike everyone as funny; but fans of the trio will find everything they could possibly hope for out of a Lonely Island film in Hot Rod, and I’m guessing it will carve out a fair few fans for the boys.

Rod is a twenty-something, stuntman-wannabe still living with his loving mother, and his ex-military step-father Frank, (played to perfection by the cock sucker himself, Ian McShane) who’s never quite taken to his step-son.  Rod tries to earn Frank’s respect by fighting him, but Frank always throws him down.  So when Rod, still winless, finds out that his step-father is on his death bed and needs $50,000 for a heart-transplant, Rod sets out on a mission to raise the cash so that Frank can get back in fighting shape and (hopefully) finally have his ass handed to him by Rod when.

What follows is a film that knows how to make you laugh with a style of humor that is unique and off-beat without ever being too off-putting.  It’s probably not ideal for anyone over the age of 40, but as a 19-year-old I can say that this is a fine comedy and one that justifies the price of admission to anyone who isn’t old enough to rent a car.

The writing and direction may at times seem outdated or just plain crappily done, thanks to this film’s cliché-a-minute pace; but these trite moments – like Rod’s calming by summoning the spirit of an eagle – quickly pass from tired and cheesy moments to self-mocking and 80s bashing humor that culture geeks will cherish.  The film is, clear and simple, a product of three dudes who grew up two decades ago, in a period when the only thing bigger than a man’s boldness was his ego.  Rod and his friends are clearly guys who wants to be the hardest bad-ass mamma jammas out there, but its this desire to be the alpha male that makes these losers lose as bad as they do.  It’s the reason that they’re still living at home and living through their imaginations influenced by one too many episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger.  One scene where Rod threatens his step-father, saying that “He won’t be smiling . . . WHEN I MURDER HIM!” might just have the funniest line of the whole film because of the balance of Rod’s macho spirit and his not so macho manner.

The performances are perfect across the board, with all of the players conveying a subtle exaggeration behind every over-delivered line, with the exception of Will Arnett.  I’m tired of seeing this guy play the same stupid asshole that once worked so well (like in Arrested Development,) but is starting to get tiresome (like in Blades of Glory.)

Like I’ve said, the humor isn’t a perfect fit for everyone, but in the end it’s a film that comes out as a complete winner.  Without ever ripping anyone off, it takes a page of inspiration as an off-beat comedy about losers from Napoleon Dynamite, throws in the ego-driven laughs of Will Ferrell & co., and even manages to fit in references to Voltron and Captain Planet.  Is there anything else you could ask for from a comedy?

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Bourne Strikes Back

  • Title: The Bourne Supremacy
  • IMDB: link

He warned them to stay away, now they will pay.

bourne-supremacy-dvdPart 2 of the “Bourne Trilogy”, Bourne Supremacy, brings us to Marie and Jason hiding out under new identities. Jason is having regular nightmares and keeps a journal under Marie’s tutorage to find out whom he is and what happened in his past that got him where he is at now. He is finished with being a CIA assassin and had warned the agency’s flunkies to not come after him or they would be sorry.

Guess who shows up at his front door, that’s right an assassin coming to frame him for a whole new conspiracy. In the mix of running and trying to elude the murderer, Marie is killed and Jason heads out on a vow of vengeance. Stopping every ruined and corrupt CIA operative and those who follow, Jason ducks in and out of the shadows and attacks like a stealthy predator. While on his revenge trip, he keeps up with the dreams and remembering his past, coming to realize some truth to what had happened, he confront his demons. Never finding out till the end what his true name is, Jason is still in disbelief if it’s the truth.

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