Movie Reviews

Meet Charlie Bartlett

  • Title: Charlie Bartlett
  • IMDB: link

“My family has a psychiatrist on call, how normal can I be?”
 

charlie-bartlett-poster

Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) has gotten kicked out of his last private school for making fake drivers licenses for the entire student population.  Now it’s off to public school and an attempt to fit in.

The problem is the uptight Charlie, complete with tie and blazer, doesn’t exactly fit in.  He’s largely ignored and picked on by the resident bully (Tyler Hilton), before finding his niche as the school’s unofficial conselor and drug dealer.  Charlie’s motives are pure, most of the time, and he tries his best to help the student body by using the army of psychiatrists his family has on call to get the medication for them.  Charlie also raises the ire of the principal (Robert Downey Jr.) by dating his daughter (Kat Dennings), and is forced to face the music when some of his schemes are discovered.

There’s something hopefull about this film.  It doesn’t paint a single character as black and white, each has the capacity for change and the yearning for something more.  In a teenage comedy that’s quite rare.

Meet Charlie Bartlett Read More »

Diary of the Dead

  • Title: Diary of the Dead
  • IMDB: link

“Jason always wanted to be a documentary filmmaker.  That’s what he was shooting on that first night.  The night when everything changed.”
 

diary-of-the-dead-poster

George A. Romero returns to the beginning of his Dead Series with this tale of young filmmakers making a horror movie in the woods as the outbreak occurs and the world finds itself infested with zombies.  Much like his early works the film is equal parts horror flick and social commentary.  Here the roles and actions of news channels, broadcasting, reality television, the government, and other institutions and individuals all become fuel to the filmmaker to set ablaze in satire.

Although the film doesn’t really add much to the series it does, in the tone of the previous films, present a decidedly somber and fatalistic view of the world absent in most Hollywood films.  Much like The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield the film uses the handheld shaky cam for most of the action; although unlike these other films it doesn’t rely on the shaky cam solely and spends time on both character and plot as well.

Diary of the Dead Read More »

War/Dance

  • Title: War/Dance
  • IMDB: link

“In my heart I am more than a child of war.”
 

war-dance-poster

The film tells the tales of three children – Nancy, Dominic, and Rose – from the Acholi tribe in the Pantongo region of northern Uganda.  These children live in a refugee camp among 60,000 other members of their tribe, displaced by a violent terrorist group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army.  Each has harrowing tales of tragedy to tell.

As the film opens these children, along with many others from the camp, are training and working towards winning the national dance competition in the town of Kampala.  This is the first time a primary school from a camp such as this has earned a spot in the final competition and the children hope to do honor to their tribe and bring a trophy home.

The documentary from Sean Fine and Andrea Nix does many things well including capturing the look and feel of the various settings in the film from the camp, to the open bush, to Kampala.  Facts and statistics are also inserted throughout the film in way that doesn’t make them seem forced or distracting.

War/Dance Read More »

The Spiderwick Chronicles

  • Title: The Spiderwick Chronicles
  • IMDb: link

The Spiderwick Chronicles

The story begins when a mother (Mary-Louise Parker), now separted from her husband (Andrew McCarthy), takes her children Jared (Freddie Highmore), Not-Jared (also Freddie Highmore) and Mallory (Sarah Bolger) to live in the abandoned house of their great-uncle Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn).

The house comes complete with cobwebs, hidden rooms, a brownie named Thimbletack (Martin Short), and a book of mystical secrets made by Arthur Spiderwick before his disappearance decades ago.

After Jared discovers the book, and learns the secrets within, his family comes under attack from goblins led by a shape-shifting ogre named Mulgarath (Nick Nolte) who wants to use the knowledge in the book to take over the world.

The Spiderwick Chronicles Read More »

30 Shows in 30 Days

Vince Vaughn takes off on a tour of 30 cities and 6,000 miles in 30 days with a foursome of comedians from the Comedy Store and a few guest spots from some old friends.  This film documents their journey, performances, and behind the scenes moments on the road.  Is it worth you time?  Read the full review inside the Full Diagnosis to find out!

Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show
3 Stars

Vince Vaughn piles four comedians (Ahmed Ahmed, John Caparulo, Bret Ernst, and Sebastian Maniscalco) into a bus and travels across the country for thirty days for a comedy tour.

Starting out in California the troupe hits thirty cities in thirty days and this new film gives us a glimpse of their journey and performances.  Like all live comedy there are good moments, and well, you know.  It takes a while for the film to really get going (and to get out of California), but once the tour starts to make their way east things begin to pick up.

Along the way friends of Vaughn’s show up for specific performances including Justin Long, Keir O’Donnell, and Jon Favreau.  These scattered moments help to add a little more spice to the film, but the comedians themselves provide most of the tour’s memorable moments.

An odd note – although the tour hits many towns it purposely stays out of the Midwest, preferring to travel south through Texas and Oklahoma and only coming northward to make stops in St. Louis and Chicago to end the tour.

So, is it worth your time?  Well, maybe.  With this much time and material, and variety of comedy, you certainly get quantity, even if not all of it is of a high quality.  For me some of the best parts of the film were the behind the scenes moments of the comedians discussing their performances and the audiences at various venues.  There are also some touching moments as the tour is forced to make changes do to Hurricane Katrina, and even give a free matinee for many refugees of the storm.

There are some laughs and some groans, and many moments in between.  The best moments for me were John Caparulo’s reaction to being informed about the “clean” show, and the personal moments both before and after performances between the comedians.  It’s not a must-see and will no doubt find a larger audience on DVD than its initial theatrical run, but there is enough here to make the experience worthwhile and enjoyable.

30 Shows in 30 Days Read More »