watching movies one cup at a time

Welcome to Ice Cubes In My Coffee :: The Caffeinated Movie Guide. I love movies and I have strong opinions about all of them. When they are great, they can change your life. And when they suck, you can at least have fun ripping them to shreds. I have seen a million movies and I have a bunch of movie facts and trivia stored up in my head - it's time to share. I'm going to be filling this movie guide with reviews on an ongoing basis, building up a large library of reviews so YOU, the movie-watching public, will know what movies are essential viewing and what movies you must avoid at all costs (hint: anything with the words "Starring Dane Cook"). I will also be posting some interesting articles and lists along the way as well. So grab a cup of joe and settle in for some movie talk!
      -- Mr. Coffee

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Starring: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson
Director: Kevin Smith
Year of Release: 2008
 Rated 4 cups

In general I am a fan of Kevin Smith movies. He’s usually good for a few good laughs and I appreciate his unique style and talent. He makes good movies that are true to his vision and they always have a lot of heart in them. Now, having said that, I do usually find his films lacking in several areas. Most often in the character development and in the very lengthy stretches of dialogue some of his characters spew out that can sound forced and unnatural. But that may just be a fault of the actors too. He’s cast a lot of so-so actors in the past that couldn’t really deliver the words effectively. The scenes that work best are always the ones with the best actors in them because you need someone with some skill to make the speeches flow naturally.

Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks do a great job as Zack and Miri in this movie. All their scenes feel natural and I believe these characters. Kevin Smith has said that he really wanted Rosario Dawson in the role of Miri but I think that would have been a mistake. Elizabeth Banks is perfect as the flawed Miri. She’s very pretty but she’s not perfect and has kind of a downtrodden edge to her that is a perfect match to Seth Rogen. Rosario Dawson is too much “the hot chick” and would not have been anywhere near as believable. I don’t see her and Seth Rogen together. I very much see Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen together, but not in a very overt way, which is perfect for the movie.

The reason why I didn’t give this film a higher coffee cup count is because I didn’t buy the story. The whole porno idea seemed rather half-baked and it just never connected for me. Plus it did not pay off at all by the end of the movie. It basically got dumped and forgotten about so the love story could take center stage. That just didn’t work for me.

One highlight though was the one scene with Justin Long. His scene at the high school reunion with Brandon Routh was the funniest thing in the whole movie and I would have much rather kept them around the whole time.

See the movie, support Kevin Smith, but it’s not perfect.

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Filed Under (3 cups, Movie Reviews, Z) by admin on 08-04-2009 | Read More

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