3 Razors

Greenberg isn’t As Good as It Gets

  • Title: Greenberg
  • IMDB: link

Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is a prick. Everything central to the character, and to the movie, is contained in that sentence. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach (Margot at the Wedding, The Squid and the Whale), based on a story by Jennifer Jason Leigh (who has a small, and completely forgettable, role in the film), Greenberg is yet another attempt to center a movie around an unlikeable character. Joy.

After being recently released from a mental institution (for an undisclosed mental breakdown which involved the loss of his ability to walk) New Yorker Roger Greengberg travels to Los Angeles to house sit for his brother Phillip (Chris Messina), who has taken his family on six-week vacation to Vietnam.

The fragile Roger is immediately, and awkwardly, attracted to his brother’s assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig) who, in some ways, seems even more fragile and damaged than Greenberg himself. You may be able to guess where this is headed.

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She’s Out of My League, or is she?

  • Title: She’s Out of My League
  • IMDB: link

Take your average Ben Stiller vehicle (such as Meet the Parents or Along Came Polly), sift it through a Judd Apatow filter, and what you get is something like She’s Out of My League. Original? Not really, but that doesn’t mean there’s not some fun to be had.

Jay Baruchel is your typical slacker loser you’ll not doubt recognize from similar movies. He’s got a dead-end job, absolutely no confidence or self-respect, a crappy car, and appropriately riotous friends (T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence). Kirk’s life is even more pathetic thanks to a family who cares more about his ex-girlfriend (Lindsay Sloane) and her new boyfriend than our star.

In his job as an airport security officer Kirk meets the lovely Molly (Alice Eve). Without really realizing it Kirk does a couple of favors for the beautiful damsel in distress. Molly, who’s just getting out of relationship with a real jerk (who wants to bet he’s the opposite of Kirk in every possible way?), decides to give this unsuspecting loser a try.

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The Lovely Bones

  • Title: The Lovely Bones
  • IMDB: link

Peter Jackson might have been the luckiest director of the 00s. A virtual unknown, the Kiwi hit the jackpot when New Line gave him hundreds of millions of dollars for those Lord of the Rings that came out a few years back (you may have heard of them). He only got luckier when the films turned out to not just be successful, but hugely loved and adored by both the novels’ fans and regular Joes alike. His reward was a $200 million budget for his vanity project, a remake of King Kong that received a less ecstatic response than his previous work.

Jackson closed out his decade with The Lovely Bones, which began playing in limited release last month, about the aftermath of a teenage girl being raped and murdered. Unfortunately, it again fails to live up to Jackson’s work on the Tolkien trilogy; but it’s also a film with moments that should not be dismissed.

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The Young Victoria

  • Title: The Young Victoria
  • IMDB: link

The Young Victoria is a solid effort from screenwriter Julian Fellows (Gosford Park, Vanity Fair).

Emily Blunt proves capable of capturing a young woman on the verge of controlling an empire and struggling with advisers, her mother’s power-hungry lover (Mark Stong), and her own ideas for her country’s future.

And yet, something is missing.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed The Young Victoria. The sets, cinematography, acting, costumes, all demonstrate talent and a keen eye for the period.

Maybe I’ve just seen too many of these paint-by-number historical dramas, or perhaps this film does too little to distinguish itself from all the others.

The film is an attempt to show Victoria (Blunt) blossoming into womanhood, her rise to power, her early years as Queen, and her romance with Prince Albert (Rupert Friend). And it does exactly that, and nothing more.

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Planet 51

  • Title: Planet 51
  • IMDB: link

Planet 51 isn’t going to wow you, but as a first animated feature from Ilion Animated Studios it’s better than I expected.

The story is pretty simple: a peaceful world is invaded by an alien explorer, and with the help of a goodhearted youngster and his friends he eludes the government and attempts to get back home.

Okay, not that original I grant you. Even though the story does a nice job of tilting the perspective by having a Earthman be the invader on an alien world, the weakest piece of Planet 51 is its plot.

By allowing the film to take place on an alien world, however, the film also is finds its strength in designing a world, though goofy, is certainly interesting to explore. This world seems to be centered around a circular design you see in everything from windows to the design of automobiles. Merged with this aesthetic is a 1950’s Americana style in terms of look, film, and sound.

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