Comedy

Knight and Day

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Knight and Day
  • IMDb: link

Tom Cruise is crazy. Crazy I tell you! And he’s soooo dangerous! Or is he? That’s the basic theme of Knight and Day which enlists Cruise to play the burned-out spy gone mad who happens upon the unsuspecting June (Cameron Diaz) on her way to her sister’s (Maggie Grace) wedding. One thing leads to another (don’t you hate it when a plane full of trained killers tries to take you out in mid-air?) and suddenly June is seeing much more of Roy (Cruise) than she bargained for.

In film, as in life, charm can both overcome and hide a number of flaws. And Cruise and Diaz make for a charming on-screen couple. Just not quite charming enough to hide a level of ridiculousness that even The A-Team dared not go. At no time should you attempt to think through the chain of events you are presented with which rely on the kind of dumb luck, chance, opportunity and fate you only find in movies of this genre.

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When in Rome New York

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: When in Rome
  • IMDB: link

The first thing you need to know about When in Rome is it doesn’t take place in Rome (give or take ten minutes).

I wanted to like this film. But nothing, not even the talents of Veronica Mars and Tad Hamilton, could save the film from a flurry of romantic comedy cliches and contrivance we are forced to witness.

Kristen Bell stars as Beth, a workaholic museum curator. Although Beth is the youngest curator of the Guggenheim, her job which pays her enough for the following: a spacious Manhattan apartment, a last-minute flight to Rome, and a closet of designer fashion. Who knew curators got paid so well?

Anywho, Beth travels to Rome to attend the wedding of her more impulsive younger sister and fall for her new brother-in-law’s best man, Nick (Josh Duhamel). They meet cute, have a few misadventures over the course of the evening, and then part due to a misunderstanding (didn’t see that coming!) that only ever occurs in movies like this.

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Psych – Private Eyes

/ / TV News 
  • Title: Psych
  • tv.com: link

Even if NBC seems to be doing its damndest to make sure no one ever watches their network again (‘cept for the inherent awesomeness of Chuck, of course) the USA Network (which is owned by NBC Universal) seems to be going strong.

Psych returns tonight to round out a schedule which already includes new episodes of White Collar and Burn Notice. To help you get Psych-ed (sorry, couldn’t resist) here’s the “Private Eyes” commercial featuring the cast of the show.

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Up, WAY UP, In the Air

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Up in the Air
  • IMDB: link

Every couple of years it seems director Jason Reitman is putting out a movie that ends up on my best of the year list. Oh wait, that’s exactly what he’s been doing.

Starting in 2005 with Thank You for Smoking followed by 2007’s Juno, Reitman has quickly made a name for himself creating smart, funny, off-beat, award-winning films with heart, wit, and a little bit of sass.

Another two years have gone by, and Reitman returns once again with tale of a salesman. In Thank You for Smoking Aaron Eckhart made smoking not only palatable, but patriotic.

Here Reitman casts George Clooney as a termination specialist, a man who is selling unemployment – with a smile. And as he did with Eckhart, Reitman allows the man’s natural charm and the wit of the script to soften the hard edges of what it is he’s selling. If you’ve never believed a movie about firing people could be this entertaining, you’re about to be proven very wrong.

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Fantastic Mr. Fox, Simply Fantastic

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Fantastic Mr. Fox
  • IMDB: link

I’m far from director Wes Anderson’s biggest fan. Although I enjoyed The Royal Tenenbaums (and to a lesser extent The Darjeeling Limited), in my opinion, most of his work seems to value style over, and sometimes at the cost of, substance.

Anderson’s latest Fantastic Mr. Fox is a stop-motion animated adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book about a fox fighting his own nature to steal from the wealthy farmers Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), Bunce (Hugo Guinness) and Bean (Michael Gambon), and provide his family with what he feels they deserve.

And, I must admit, it’s really, really good. In many ways the film is a perfect fit for Anderson and merge of its offbeat humor with his own. The stop-animation allows the director to play to his strenghts and design a a complete world. And as a book the story is naturally divided into the kinds of chapters Anderson enjoys breaking his film into (here he even provides titles for each).

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