watching movies one cup at a time

Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman are a couple staying in a remote house one night after a disappointing evening at a wedding. Three strangers show up and start to terrorize the couple while wearing some goofy masks. Terror ensues. This movie is pretty much a one-note suspense flick where every 5 minutes someone jumps out or creeps up and goes “boo!”  Overall it was rather predictable and boring.

This movie is supposed to be a live action/fantasy film version of the classic ’60s cartoon show Speed Racer. Through endless reruns and cult following, an interest in Speed Racer has lasted over several generations of kids. This film however little to nothing to do with the original cartoon. Sure, there is a character named Speed Racer who drives the Mach 5, but the similarities end there.

The film has a very whacked-out, over saturated vibe to everything. The colors are beyond bright and also clearly fake. The whole movie feels like one big fake plastic fruit tree. It relies so heavily on CGI one wonders why they didn’t just make it 100% CGI instead of sticking out-of-place real people into  very unreal environments.

The story was mediocre but felt a bit dark for being based on a kids show. Kids should probably stay away from this one as it will most likely give them technicolor nightmares. The acting was decent but wasted on a plastic movie. Overall I found it lacking but it’s not horrible. Could be fun to pass the time with, nothing more.

This movie is based on a video game and oh boy is that obvious. There really isn’t much of a plot. Just a series of “spooky” images tied together with some vague story about a burnt down town and missing kids. Radha Mitchell just kind of sleep walks through this. She never, ever seems phased at all by whatever demons are headed her way. Sure, she screams and all the things you’re supposed to do. But it doesn’t feel genuine. It feels bored and rote. It really does feel like watching someone play a video game. Boring when it should be scary, silly when it’s supposed to be deep. Paper thin and ultimately pointless. You’ll have a better time probably just playing the dumb video game.

This movie is a time-travel sci-fi flick based on a short story by Ray Bradbury. I’m a sucker for time-travel sci-fi. I can’t get enough of it. But there have been so many time travel stories it has gotten very cliche. And often the logic and science loosely involved in these stories barely holds together. Well, A Sound of Thunder pretty much tosses out all attempts at applying logic to time travel. Almost immediately you can start picking apart the plot holes and watch the film go veering off into the ridiculous. It’s a true exercise in “suspension of disbelief.” Read the rest of this entry »

I give a lot of points for originality. By 2008, most everything has been done and done to death. I get really bored by a lot of movies, especially just recycled mediocrity that we get pummelled with all the time (Ben Stiller, no more romantic comedies, I beg you). So I was happy to see that Sin City had a truckload of originality to it. I saw a film style I’d never seen before and I liked it. It wouldn’t work for everything, but it worked here. Read the rest of this entry »

Dude… WTF? Seriously… WTF? This is the long-awaited follow-up to the cult hit Donnie Darko from writer and director Richard Kelly. And I get the impression he is going for the “David Lynch of the 21st Century” title for crazy-ass movies. In fact I think Mullholland Drive might have made MORE sense than this film if you can believe that. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not a big fan of stoner humor. But this movie was actually pretty good. It never got too gross or over-the-top. And some of the jokes were definitely pretty clever. It’s from the Broken Lizard group and is about a bunch of state troopers who mess around more than actually work. Eventually that leads to them getting shut down, also due to budget cuts, but it all works out in the end. I especially liked Jay Chandrasekhar’s character and his very deadpan joke delivery. He is also the director and one of the writers. Overall it’s not brilliant, but I would say it’s definitely worth watching.

Seriously one of the worst movies ever. It was astounding how bad it was. I’m mad I got suckered into seeing it. Where do we start? Cameron Diaz is in this movie blatantly trying to cash in on her There’s Something About Mary fame from a few years earlier. But this is like a really bad copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of what that movie was. The plot makes no sense, the characters are put in basically random situations just to fuel some lame and usually gross jokes, and there is pretty much nothing likeable about any of these people. And what little laughs they could squeeze out of this were ALL in the trailer! So if you saw the trailer, you already saw anything that was remotely funny in this thing. I hate when movie studios do that. It’s total bait-and-switch to steal my $10. I want that 2 hours of my life back.

BTW, the writer of this flick was a staff writer for South Park and this was her first movie. And guess what? That was also her last movie. Somehow the director keeps working, which is a shame because the directing was a mess. Avoid this movie by any means necessary.

Family movie. Plain and simple. No great aspirations here, just some harmless fun. People often talk about Cuba Gooding Jr.’s descent into movie mush after his Oscar win (Daddy Day Camp, Boat Trip, etc.) but he does manage a good role in a good movie. And even tho this isn’t American Gangster or As Good As It Gets (yes, he’s in both), he’s playing the lead, his character is a successful, decent guy, and the movie is light-hearted fun. I see no harm done. He never slips into any stereotypes or gets put in any overly-humiliating situations. It’s mostly just the usual “fish-out-of-water” jokes. Read the rest of this entry »

I have to admit, I have been going back and forth with this one. When I first saw it in the theater, I was not thrilled. It’s grim and very bloody. Just heavy dark, nonstop. But I found myself going back to the music again and again. I wound up downloading the soundtrack and I can’t stop listening to it. That is mostly to the credit of Stephen Sondheim for writing the songs. But I do like the versions from the film a lot better than the original Broadway recordings. Tim Burton gives it a lush feel to match the depths of the city around the characters. And Johnny and Helena do a great job with the music. Read the rest of this entry »