Movie Reviews

This Week

So what’s out there this week?  It’s an interesting week at the movie plex coming to a theater near you and in limited release: 3 Needles, The Architect, Christmas at Maxwell’s, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, The Nativity Story and Turistas.

C’mon in and let us get you ready for the week!

N/A

Here’s what’s scheduled to hit theaters this week.  Want to know more?  Just click on the title for film info including a full cast list.  Want a closer look?  Just click on the poster to watch the trailer.

Opening Friday:

National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj

Just in case the first bomb wasn’t enough for you, here is another. National Lampoon is back again and in it’s usual color. They should have stopped with National Lampoon’s Christmas and left it at that. Now we have to suffer through some film that should have went straight to DVD. How do they get such bad humor green lit?  Taj, Van Wilder’s geeky apprentice from the first film, goes international. He heads off to Camden University in England and adopts a group of misfit geeks and teaches them a little Wilder magic. Plenty of T & A and nerds being picked on, but they win in the end.

Rated R for pervasive crude sexual content (like the first), some nudity and language. Projected bomb.

The Nativity Story

Director Catherine Hardwicke and crew painstakingly produce this story down to the finest detail. A great deal of work and fine-tuning went into the set design, costuming and location. Well acted and written, The Nativity Story comes to the big screen in all its marvelous wonder glory. I don’t feel I need to summarize the film, it’s well known throughout. Just in time for the holidays and family gatherings.

Rated PG for some violent content. Projected 3.5 out of 5 razors.

Turistas

Just in case the first bomb wasn’t enough for you, here is another. National Lampoon is back again and in it’s usual color. They should have stopped with National Lampoon’s Christmas and left it at that. Now we have to suffer through some film that should have went straight to DVD. How do they get such bad humor green lit? As if Hostel wasn’t enough, now we have Turistas. A group of young and beautiful Americans go on vacation off the beaten path in beautiful exotic Brazil. After a bus crash and being a little shook up, the group runs into a couple of British travelers and some kind locals.

As the night draws on and the exotic drinks keep coming, the tourists wake up the next morning on the beach with no wallets, id’s or passports. Left in a country with no way out, they trust a local boy to take them to a safe house, or not. They find other passports and photo ids’s from past tourists and start to become unnerved. Sleeping in groups with one eye open, they are attacked in the middle of the night, but by whom? Horrible tortures and experiments locked in a cage and trying to escape the “Turistas” may not make it through their lavish vacation. After some of the films released this year and last, I may never want to travel out of the U.S., or my own hometown, for that matter, again.

Rated R for strong graphic violence and disturbing content, sexuality, nudity, drug use and language. On a fear factor and pure adrenaline projected 4 out 5 razors. You must remember I’m rating this based on the genre, not the Oscars.

Limited Release:

3 Needles

Beautiful visuals and touching stories, 3 Needles hits on 3 continents, South Africa, China and North America. In South Africa, Clara (Chloe Sevigny) tries to lead the dying to Jesus before it’s too late. She and her crew run across a group of orphans and she finds herself making a deal with a wealthy plantation owner to by the safety of the orphans. In China, Jin Ping (Lucy Liu) sets up a blood collection service. A local farmer, Tong Sam (Tanabadee Chokpikultong), has the flu and cannot sell his blood, so he lies about his daughter’s age and sells hers. He uses the money to make improvements on his farm, but when his farm finally prospers his daughter and wife mysteriously die.

Sam sets out on a journey to find out what caused their deaths and when he returns, he finds the whole town ill and the mobile blood collection out of business. In North America, Denny (Shawn Ashmore) is a porn star that passes his blood tests with his father’s blood. He is busted and the family falls on extremely hard times. His mother, Olive (Stockard Channing), takes out a large life insurance policy, purposely contracts a life threatening disease and sells her life insurance for a settlement worth millions. All stories have a strong tie to a particular disease and blood, each story is human and touching and spread through out the world. Projected 4 out of 5 razors.

Christmas at Maxwell’s

From the site:Christmas at Maxwell’s is an inspirational but light romantic Christmas drama, a story about the human struggle, the power of love, forgiveness, trust and uplifting the human spirit. It is the story of a fortysomething man confronting the overwhelming effect his past actions seem to be taking on his life and his family. Christmas at Maxwell’s was created to supplement the lack of family-friendly movies on the market today. It is inspired by a true story of faith, hope, love, and forgiveness, and is a movie based on traditional spiritual values.

This Week Read More »

Jack and Kyle Strike Back

Despite a terrific opening and some pretty darn good music there’s something desperately wrong with Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.  Parody, fart jokes, and a stoner two-some can only take you so far, ask Kevin Smith.  Actually the film feels quite like Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.  I’m all for copying Smith’s style, but couldn’t you have done one of his better films?

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
3 Stars

It’s not as bad as I feared it would be, but it’s nowhere near as good as it should be.  Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny tells the “true story” of how the band got together and discovered their talent.  The thing is, there just isn’t much talent in the film.  It steals most of its bits and moments by parodying other films, held together by dick and fart jokes, rather than craft a coherent and compelling story.  Well, at least it’s not Nacho Libre.

The first ten minutes of Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny rock.  In an ode to rock opera, the film opens in a flashback scene as the young JB (voiced by Jack Black) is chastised by his father (Meat Loaf) for his his love of Rock.  Having his posters taken and his hide tanned, the youngster heads out to find the land of Rock, Hollywood.  (It’s bad for a film when your best moments all come in the first ten minutes.)

Years later JB finally reaches his destination and meets up with a fellow musician, KG (Kyle Gass), who agrees to train him.  Insert many parodies from Star Wars to the Karate Kid here.  Finally the two become a band, naming themselves after the matching birthmarks on their asses.  Um, yeah…

The band struggles for an audience despite their “awesomeness.”  When a guitar shop owner (Ben Stiller) tells the legend of a magic guitar pick made from the tooth of Satan (David Grohl) the two set out to the Rock Museum (conveniently relocated to Sacramento for the movie) to steal the pick and earn fame and glory.

The film isn’t much of a story, there’s the intro to the characters, the long training scenes, and the trip to steal the pick, all of which contain countless parodies from other films, music, television, and more.  The list contains Entrapment, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and many others.

There’s just such little original content here it’s hard to view the film as anything more than a funnier than avearage 93 minute SNL sketch, with a couple of good hosts and musical guests.

Despite some funny bits and some pretty good animation sequence and title cards there’s little here that’s memorable.  You’ll laugh, you’ll groan, but leaving the theater you’ll promptly forget about the film, about the wasted potential, and the broken promise of “awesomeness” those first ten minutes.  Sure you’ll enjoy yourself, but in the end, there’s just not enough there worth remembering.

Jack and Kyle Strike Back Read More »

Haven’t I Seen This Before?

  • Title: Deja Vu
  • IMDB: link

deja-vu-posterA cop goes back in time to prevent the murder of a woman who will give birth to the future leader of the human race and lead them against the machines run by Skynet … um, I mean a woman who, well, isn’t really that important at all.  But she’s cute, so there’s that.  Yeah…

When a ferry explodes killing Naval officers and civilians, ATF agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is called in on the case.  The discovery of a woman (Paula Patton)  killed moments before the explosion leads Carlin on the path of a terrorist (James Caviezel), but even if he succeeds he can’t save the girl.  Or can he?

A new top secret military project (headed up by Val Kilmer and Adam Goldberg) allows a team to look back exactly 100 hours into the past to discover the events that led to Clarie’s death and the identity of the terrorist.  Doug joins the team to find the identity of the killer, but also begins to wonder if it might not be possible to journey through time and chance the past.

Haven’t I Seen This Before? Read More »

For Your Consideration

Christopher Guest has enjoyed poking fun at many different groups of people, from folk singers (A Mighty Wind), to dog lovers (Best in Show), to community theater (Waiting for Guffman), to a heavy metal band (This is Spinal Tap).  Here Guest takes on those ripe for parody – the entertainment industry, and the fickle and surprising effects the word Oscar can cause amongst them.

For Your Consideration
3 & 1/2 Stars

The latest from writer/director Christopher Guest is a scathing look at the entertainment industry.  Though it seems to lack the heart of some of Guest’s better work, the jokes are deliciously droll and derisive.

A new film titled “Home for Purim” gets some unexpected Oscar buzz on the Internet (“the one with e-mail”) for aging actress Marilyn Hack (Catherine O’Hara), commercial actor Victor Allen Miller (Harry Shearer), and comedian turned actress Callie Webb (Parker Posey) whose one woman show, “No Penis Intended,” was described distinctly as “a humorless romp.”

All of a sudden these struggling actors are the focus of interviews, speculation, and studio intervention to try and convince the writers (Bob Balaban, Michael McKean) to make the film “less Jewish” to appeal to a broader audience.  And Jennifer Coolidge provides an example of what Guest believes the role and importance of a producer to be.

The film sinks its teeth into Hollywood’s self-importance and just rips it to shreds.  Particularly vicious, and amusing, are Fred Willard and Jane Lynch as Entertainment Tonight/Access Hollywood “reporters,” and the writer’s public appearance on The Charlie Rose Show (which might be the best scene of the film).

The major problem with the film is every situation and every person is rife for satire and so become walking punchlines.  Unlike some of Guest’s previous films, we don’t get a sense that he cares for these characters, and so why should we?  Still, he manages to put them in humorous, and sometimes near perfect, moments to laugh disdainfully with glee at their misfortune.  Cruel?  Without a doubt, but damn funny too.

It’s not Guest’s best work, but the film contains many good jokes and gags and some bitterly funny parodies of what has been come to be known as “entertainment news.”  Fans of his other films will enjoy themselves while others might wonder if the writer/director hasn’t chosen a subject too easy for him to mock, and too hard for him to care about.

For Your Consideration Read More »

This Week

So what’s out there this week?  Well today we’ll take a look at the films scheduled to be released early for the Thanksgiving holiday rush. Following films will be opeing this week on the 22nd: Deck the Halls, Déjà Vu, The Fountain, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny and Valley of the Wolves: Iraq.

C’mon in and let us get you ready for the week!

N/A

Here’s what’s scheduled to hit theaters this week.  Want to know more?  Just click on the title for film info including a full cast list.  Want a closer look?  Just click on the poster to watch the trailer.

Opening Wednesday:

Deck the Halls

Contending neighbors, Steve (Matthew Broderick) and Danny (Danny DeVito), duke it out over the holidays. Steve and Danny are exact opposites, Steve runs a tight ship around the house and is very conservative and Danny is an all out wild guy who likes to enjoy a little holiday decorating competition. Danny is looking to light up his house so bright that he might knock out the power grid to cities surrounding miles away and this is interrupting Steve’s perfectly planned out holidays. The neighbors are duking it out and one is sure to conquer the other, but, I have know doubt, they’ll end up shaking hands in the end. Rated PG for some constructive crude and suggestive humor and language.

Here is a silly holiday film that falls very short of National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Projected .5 out of 5 razors.

Déjà Vu

Wonderful, how exciting another weird ass movie with mind jacking moments and the star being Denzel Washington. No, if you couldn’t tell, I’m not much of a fan of old Denzel, his acting abilities are identical in every role he is cast and Déjà Vu is, but another. Yes, it is directed by Tony Scott and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, but seriously, aren’t most of their films mediocre at best? Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) gets flashes of Déjà Vu, but these are not just mysterious visions in his memory, but warnings of bad things to come. Doug is an ATF agent who is sent in to investigate a bombing in New Orleans and ends up finding out he has powers that could save hundreds of people.

I don’t see this film being any more exciting than any of Denzel’s past films.  Projected 2 out of 5 razors.

The Fountain

A century long story about a man who tries to save his beloved from death. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz play the couple in love looking for the Tree of Life and her salvation. Starting out in the 16th century, conquistador Thomas Creo (Hugh Jackman) begins his search to save Isabel’s (Rachel Weisz) life. Moving forward he becomes a modern-day scientist and even a 26th century astronaut to cure his wife from the consuming cancer. The Fountain promises to be an interesting twist and should be an exciting film, but I fear that it might get a little too out of touch with reality to work.

Rated PG13 for violence and action, some sensuality and language. Projected 3.5 out of 5 razors.

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

Jack Black and Kyle Glass star in a film about their band (that’s a given by the name). There doesn’t seem to be much that can be said about Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. However, if you find Jack Black funny and if you enjoy is band duo Tenacious D, then you will enjoy this little escapade. Guaranteed to be full of dirty, raunchy and disgusting comedy and will fulfill your quota for off the wall humor for a year. You would never guess, it’s Rated R for language, sex and drugs. Projected 1 out of 5 razors.

Currently in Limited Release, Opening Wednesday, Novemeber 22:

For Your Consideration

Christopher Guest brings to the big screen another laugh out loud story about human’s infatuation about self-gratification. For Your Consideration has a few repeat players and a couple of new, a cast list that boasts Carrie Aizley, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley, Jr., Jennifer Coolidge, Paul Dooley, Ricky Gervais, Christopher Guest, Rachael Harris and on and on and on, how does Guest get so much talent in one film? The show is all about making an independent film and the award buzz that taunts the actors afterwards. Once again, Guest throws the obvious in our face and makes us look at the ugly beast in the eye.

Yes we are a greedy society that needs constant rewards and pats on the back for simply doing our job. Luckily he makes quite a farce of it and a completely enjoyable viewing experience. Read Alan’s review here.

Currently in Limited Release, Opening Thanksgiving Day:

Bobby

Wow, the films out this week have some serious talent. Bobby, written and directed by Emilio Estevez (yeah, I wondered where he went too) has quite the list with Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Lindsay Lohan, Elijah Wood, William H. Macy, Helen Hunt, Christian Slater (he disappeared too), Heather Graham, Laurence Fishburne, Freddy Rodriguez…I’ll stop now. I’ve got to give it to Emilio; he has created a culturally and politically powerful film set around the night Robert F. Kennedy was shot. It focuses on 22 people who are all waiting for the arrival of Kennedy’s primary election night and the events that were set in history.

Many issues are covered from racism to women’s rights and each actor plays their part to bring the characters to life, most doing a brilliant job and a few a little rusty. It’s a well-written story and, for the most part, a well acted and directed one at that. Read Alan’s review here.

Opening Friday, November 24, in Limited Release:

Valley of the Wolves: Iraq

Here is a very politically charged film with a mix of fact and fiction about the beliefs and thought amongst Turkish, Arabic and Muslim people. An extremist one-sided story depicting Americans in a very bloodthirsty and heartless way. Much controversy and conversation has stemmed from this film, especially from Germany. I’m having a hard time finding the rating on this film, but from the descriptions and content I would assume it’s a different R, if not worse.

The English title, Valley of the Wolves: Iraq is well shot and very poignant. Projected 5 out of 5 razors.

This Week Read More »