Claire's blog

[IMDB link]

RATINGS:
Clio: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 7.7/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 7.6/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: Netflix: 2.7/5 stars, IMDB: 5.1/10.

CLIO’S THOUGHTS:

It got really really serious, but it was indeed funny and adventurous. But things got really serious. I mean SO VERY serious. Like, some of the most serious Robin Williams I’ve ever seen. Robin Williams was really good, and was unlike how I’ve seen him before. He was a total fucking asshole, and a real prick to be around during Christmas.

But this movie also has a lot of comedy, and some very very dark comedy at points. I mean… Wow. I did not expect things to go off the rails as much as they did. I did not expect things to get soooo damn dark prior to breaking through to the climax of the movie. Jesus Christ. And yet… Simultaneously funny.

This movie left me confused as to what I feel about this movie. Definitely worth watching for the Williams, and even for the movie itself.

CAROLYN’S THOUGHTS:

Robin Williams was good. There was some comedy sprinkled throughout, but this was mostly a serious movie about families and forgiving your parents for making your childhood suck. Tim Heidecker‘s character was fun. Fun appearance by Badger from Breaking Bad along with someone who I could have sworn was Eric Wareheim, but it turns out it’s some other guy. Weird.

Directed by Tristram Shapeero (5 eps of Childrens Hospital).
Written by Michael Brown (this is the only thing he has done).

Starring:
Robin Williams as Virgil Mitchler, the father. His 3rd to last role.
Joel McHale (What’s Your Number?, Blended, Ted, Spider-Man 2 (2004), uncredited in The Onion Movie, 2 eps of Robot Chicken, 1 ep of Video Game High School) as Boyd Mitchler.
Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story, Evan Almighty, Bad Santa, 4 eps of News Radio, 1 ep of Seinfeld, 5 eps of Caroline In The City, 1 ep of 3rd Rock From The Sun) as Luann Mitchler, the wife.
Clark Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine movies, Kick-Ass movies, A.C.O.D., The Croods, Superbad, Sex Drive, 19 eps of The Office, 5 eps of Robot Chicken, 1 ep of Childrens Hospital) as Nelson Mitchler, the brother.
Oliver Platt (X-Men: First Class, The Ten, 2012, 4 eps of Nip/Tuck) as Hobo Santa.
Wendi McLendon-Covey (Blended, Date And Switch, TripTank, 10 Rules For Sleeping Around, 1 ep of Bob’s Burgers) as Shauna Welnke, the sister.
Tim Heidecker (Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Tom Goes To The Mayor, Tim And Eric‘s Bedtime Stories, Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule, The Five-Year Engagement, 3 eps of Bob’s Burgers, 2 eps of The Sarah Silverman Program) as Dave Welnke, the sister’s husband.
Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown in Murphy Brown, 3 eps + movie, of Sex & The City, 2 eps of Family Guy) as Donna Mitchler, the mother.
Ryan Lee (This Is 40, Super 8, 1 ep of Breaking Bad) as Rance Welnke, the eating-contestant kid.
Mark Proksch (Nate in The Office, 1 ep of Eagleheart, 1 ep of Bob’s Burgers, 1 ep of TripTank) as Trooper Zblocki.
Jeffrey Tambor (George Bluth Sr. in Arrested Development, Hank Kingsley in The Larry Sanders Show, Hangover movies, Hellboy, Superhero Movie, EuroTrip, Professor Cakes in China IL, 4 eps of Archer, 2 eps of 3-South) as Snow Globe Snowman.
Matt Jones (Badger in Breaking Bad, 3 eps of The Office, 3 eps of TRON: Uprising, 2 eps of Beware The Batman, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV) as Cowboy Dick
Barak Hardley (1 ep of The Office) as Cowboy Bob. We totally were convinced he was Eric Wareheim. WHY DOES HE LOOK SO MUCH LIKE ERIC WAREHEIM? Even though, side-by-side pic-compare, they obviously are NOT the same. WTF. (more…)

[IMDB link]

RATINGS:
Clio: Netflix: 3.6/5 stars. IMDB: 8/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 3.6/5 stars. IMDB: 7.4/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: Netflix: 3.0/5 stars, IMDB: 5.2/10.

CAROLYN’S THOUGHTS: This was a fun movie to watch on Christmas. It was a little light-hearted and had a bit of sappy romance-movie heart, but the comedy didn’t stop.

CLIO’S THOUGHTS: The cast. The cast! Tony Soprano as Kelly Bundy’s dad? That alone makes this required viewing. But the whole gimmick behind the movie really worked for me, and was hilarious. It was only once things got romantic that the comedy slowed down, but it didn’t stop. But the relationship shit totally got in the way of what would have been even more funny jokes. This could have been better, but it was still better than most comedies. Certainly most comedies full of families on Christmas.

PEOPLE:

Directed by Mike Mitchell (Shrek 4, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, 3 eps of Greg The Bunny, 1 ep of Cartoon Sushi).
Written by Deborah Kaplan (Can’t Hardly Wait, The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas), Harry Elfont (Can’t Hardly Wait, The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas), J.R. Ventimilia (9 eps of That 70’s Show, 7 eps of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-TAS (2010s), 2 eps of The Simpsons, 2 eps of The Critic, 1 ep of 3rd Rock From The Sun) & Joshua Sternin (9 eps of That 70’s Show, 8 eps of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-TAS (2010s), 2 eps of The Simpsons, 2 eps of The Critic, 1 ep of Duckman, 1 ep of 3rd Rock From The Sun).

Starring:
Ben Affleck as Drew Latham.
James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, Where The Wild Things Are, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Get Shorty, Violet & Daisy) as Tom Valco, the fake dad.
Christina Applegate as Alicia Valco, the fake sister.
Catherine O’Hara (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone movies, Frankenweenie, Where The Wild Things Are, Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events, A.C.O.D., Dick Tracy, SCTV, 4 eps of Six Feet Under, 1 ep of Curb Your Enthusiasm) as Christine Valco, the fake mom.
Josh Zuckerman (Sex Drive, Austin Powers In Goldmember) as Brian Valco, the fake brother.
Bill Macy (Analyze This, 2 eps of The Love Boat, 1 ep of Seinfeld) as Doo-Dah, the fake grandpa.
Jennifer Morrison (Star Trek reboot movies, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) as Missy Vanglider, the ex-girlfriend.
David Selby (Commissioner Gordon in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns parts 1 & 2, The Social Network, Are You Here) as Horace Vanglider, the ex-girlfriend’s father.
Stephanie Faracy (Get Him To The Greek, Bad Teacher, The Five-Year Engagement, Sideways, The Great Outdoors, 1 ep of Extreme Ghostbusters, 1 ep of Wings) as Letitia Vangliderthe ex-girlfriend’s mother.
Stephen Root (Bill Dauterive in King Of The Hill, Office Space, NewsRadio, Chode in Tripping The Rift, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Bad Milo, The Men Who Stare At Goats, Penguin in Batman: The Brave And The Bold, Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, 5 eps of Gravity Falls, 3 eps of Adventure Time, 3 eps of 24, 2 eps of The Legend Of Korra, 1 ep of the new Thundercats) as Dr. Freeman, the shrink.
Sy Richardson (Men At Work, Sid And Nancy, Repo Man) as Doo-Dah Understudy. (more…)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Superbad (2007)

Clio: 4.6/5 stars, 8.6/10.
Carolyn: 4.6/5 stars, 8.6/10.
Native ratings: 3.9/5 stars Netflix, 7.6/10 IMDB.

This didn’t hold up as well to a second viewing.  It was still pretty funny, but it didn’t have the same excitement the second time around.  We also had just rewatched Trojan War recently, which is what we compared this movie to, except replace condoms with alcohol.

It’s a super fun movie. Everyone already saw this and generally knows this. Teen sex comedies are one of our mainstays, and movies that have parties in them are another [this movie has multiple parties in it]. Bromances are funny, and movies with geeky guys trying to get girls are funny. The nostalgia of watching highschoolers on the hunt harkens back to a younger age and reminds us what it’s like to be young. The movie is a conflation of many good things and many ridiculous things. Total win.

Directed by: Greg Mottola (Adventureland, 3 eps of Arrested Development, 6 eps of Undeclared)
Written by: Seth Rogen (writer of The Green Hornet, Pineapple Express, 5 eps of Undeclared) & Evan Goldberg (writer of Goon, The Green Hornet, Pineapple Express, 6 eps of Da Ali G Show)
Producer: Judd Apatow (who seemingly makes every comedy movie that exists nowadays)

Starring Jonah Hill (Allen in Allen Gregory, Get Him To The Greek, How To Train Your Dragon, The Invention Of Lying, Funny People, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, Grandma’s Boy, The 40 Year Old Virgin) as Seth.
Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Childrens Hospital, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Juno) as Evan.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse (this was his first movie, prior to Kick-Ass, Year One, How To Train Your Dragon) as Fogell/McLovin’.
Bill Hader (Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Brothers Solomon, Knocked Up, The Voice in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Year One, Saturday Night Live, Men In Black 3) as Officer Slater.
Seth Rogen (Kung Fu Panda, The Green Hornet, Funny People, Observe And Report, Fanboys, Zack And Miri Make A Porno, Pineapple Express, Step Brothers, Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Anchorman, 17 eps of Undeclared) as Officer Michaels.
Emma Stone (who Clio says is a perfect 10) as Jules (Zombieland, Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man, Crazy Stupid Love, The House Bunny).
Joe Lo Truglio (The State, Stella, Wanderlust, Wreck-It Ralph, 2 eps of Childrens Hospital, I Love You Man, Fanboys, Pineapple Express, Wet Hot American Summer) as Francis the Driver.
Kevin Corrigan (The Dictator, Pineapple Express) as Mark.
Erica Vittina Phillips (The 40 Year Old Virgin, gyno nurse in This Is 40, Darryl’s ex-wife in 2 eps of The Office, Step Brothers) as the Liquor Store Cashier.
Mark Rogen (Seth Rogen’s father) as “Father With Bat”.
Charlie Hartsock (Crazy Stupid Love, 7 eps of Arrested Developement, The 40 Year Old Virgin) as Good Shopper Cashier.
Carla Gallo (Lizzie from Undeclared, Libby from Carnivale, Get Him To The Greek, Funny People, I Love You Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The 40 Year Old Virgin) as Period Blood Girl. It’s sad that after her excellent work in Undeclared, she mostly plays kinky-girl bit-parts in party/roadtrip/caper movies, and never gets to be a leading lady again.
Martin Starr (Sam [the human, not the robot S.A.M.] in NTSF:SD:SUV, Adventureland, Walk Hard, Knocked Up) as James Masselin.
Clark Duke (he ended up playing Clark on the last season of The Office, 5 eps of Robot Chicken, Hot Tub Time Machine, Kick-Ass, Sex Drive) as Random Party Teenager.

I didn’t even notice Danny McBride (Observe And Report, Fanboys, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, The Foot Fist Way, Eastbound & Down, Good Vibes, Despicable Me) as a buddy at the party (uncredited).

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829482/combined

[IMDB link]

RATINGS:
Clio: Netflix: 2/5 stars. IMDB: 4.2/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 2/5 stars. IMDB: 4.4/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: IMDB: 4.9/10. Netflix doesn’t bother with this shit. They are doing you a solid (for once).

CLIO’S THOUGHTS: Yeah, that was just *dumb*. Bad acting, bad dialog, bad writing, bad effects, bad sets, bad editing, bad pace changes, bad cameras with dead pixels.

Yet it still had some basic appeal. Killing zombies. Arguing about whether they are zombies or cadavers. Laughing at the randomness of the movie. The drunk guy being SO. FUCKING. USELESS. The “badass” janitor’s stilted, 1950’s-style acting cadence.

The closing credits helped redeem the movie a bit. Slightly. And it’s based on 48 Hour Movie Project short film, which itself sounds like what they did in the movie Be Kind Rewind … but in real life. So that might explain how bad this was. I wonder how horrible the original was?

For the most part, though… DON’T WATCH THIS. Unless it’s Christmas, and you specifically need *Christmas* zombies. That’s really the only reason I can think of.

CAROLYN’S THOUGHTS: There were some slight laughs, but overall, this was a very stupid movie. The postings on the message board and most of the reviews on IMDB really seemed to indicate people liked this movie, but it’s better to go by the rating for this instance. Stay away.

PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES:

Directed by Joe Zerull.
Written by Daniel Rairdin-Hale, Hanlon Smith-Dorsey and Joe Zerull.

Daniel Rairdin-Hale as The Janitor.
Hanlon Smith-Dorsey as Tom Tunninbum.
Yosh Hayashi as Sam Sheriff.
Ben Hopkins as Eddie.
Jessica Denney as Kristen Stable.
Andrew Ryan Harvey as The Perp.
Michael Kennedy as Professor Hildencress.

Mood: eh
Music: Ministry – Fairly Unbalanced

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIOEW: The Trouble With Bliss (2011) [Michael C. Hall]

Clio: 3/5 stars, 6.4/10.
Carolyn: 3.6/5 stars, 7/10.
Native ratings: 2.4/5 stars Netflix, 5.3/10 IMDB.

“A guy in his mid-thirties watches as his life comically unravels after he enters into a relationship with the daughter of a former high school classmate.”

I got tricked into thinking this is a comedy, because it’s billed “Comedy, Drama”. But nooooo. This is more like a dramedy. Which is really just a drama where some funny stuff happens. Funny stuff happens in normal, dramatic life. Having a dramatic story where some funny things happen doesn’t really make it a comedy. If anything this should be billed “Drama, Comedy” at a minimum. Because I would then know to stay way from it.

Still, this wasn’t bad. It’s hard to hate a movie. Things were interesting. Interesting sexual situations. Interesting dude-won’t-move-out-of-his-dad’s-place situation. Lucy Liu was amazingly hot as usual. I don’t regret watching this, I just regret choosing this. I was looking for a straight comedy the night I watched this, so the movie didn’t match my mood. But I shouldn’t fault it too much.

It’s definitely a “journey, not destination” movie. It’s a coming-of-age story for a 35-year-old who hasn’t come of age.  And of course, the main reason most people will watch it is because of Dexter…

Starring Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Six Feet Under) as Morris Bliss, the mid-30’s guy who doesn’t have any ambition in life other than to travel and see the world. But he’s never moved out of his dad’s place.
Chris Messina (The Giant Mechanical Man, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, 6 eps of Six Feet Under) as his bestfriend.
Peter Fonda (Ghost Rider, Escape From L.A.) as his father.
Brie Larson (Envy Adams from Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV) as his girlfriend Stephanie, the crazy teenage high-schooler chick who complicates Morris’s life.
Brad William Henke (4 eps of Dexter) as Steven ‘Jetski’ Jouseski, the high-schooler’s dad.
Lucy Liu as the hotwife Andrea. Droooooool.
Glenn Kubota (1 ep of Curb Your Enthusiasm, 1 ep of The Onion News Network, Korean Guy in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) as the convenient store owner, Mr. Charlies. Funny that we’ve seen him before!
Kate Simses (What’s Your Number?) as Nancy. Random.

I did not notice Rhea Perlman as Maria! WTF.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1483756/combined

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: EuroTrip (2004) [Road Trip 2]

Clio: 3.6/5 stars, 7/10.
Carolyn: 3.4/5 stars, 7/10.
Native ratings: 3.6/5 stars Netflix (compared to 3.5/5 for Road Trip), 6.5/10 IMDB (compared to 6.4/10 for Road Trip).

Isn’t that odd? A sequel that actually received a [as slightly as possibly] higher rating than the original, where I disagree that it should be rated higher. Usually I complain that sequels are always downvoted. Here is one where they finally didn’t do that, and I still have a problem with it: They’re wrong. The original Road Trip  (2000) is definitely better than this!

This movie was good, but not great.  I really liked it, but more of a barely-really-liked-it, thus my 3.6/5 star rating. The sex gags involved dudes a lot more than the previous one, so while they were equally funny, they weren’t as titillating.  It was just a little too convenient.  The things that happened should have had worse consequences.  Instead, things happened, and it just didn’t seem to have that much of an impact.  Maybe there wasn’t enough conflict or something.  It was just like [highlight for spoilers]→ , “Yeah, they ended up in London, but hey, now they’re in Paris, no problem.”  Things like that happened the entire movie.  “Oh we have no money, and hitchhiked to a place that doesn’t even have a train station built, no problem.”

High-school graduate decides to take an impromptu trip to Europe with some friends in order to track down a penpal/possible love interest.

If it was going to have a requirement of that much suspension of belief, then they should have made it funnier… It seemed to lack a little bit to me. But I still enjoyed it enough. I didn’t dislike it. I almost really liked it.

At least see it for seeing Xena in a latex dominatrix outfit. We need that closure after Xena ended and she DIDN’T fuck Gabrielle.

Directed and co-written by: Jeff Schaffer (writer for Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Dictator, Bruno).
Co-writer & uncredited co-director: Alec Berg (writer for Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Dictator, Late Night W/Conan O’Brien).
Co-writer & uncredited co-director: David Mandel (writer Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Dictator, all 6 eps of Clerks:TAS, Saturday Night Live).

So we have some talented people making this movie, and some talented people in this movie:

Michelle Trachtenberg as the twin girl Jenny (we JUST saw her as the goth girl in Take Me Home Tonight, plus Weeds, 5 eps of Robot Chicken, 4 eps of Six Feet Under, 17 Again, Mysterious Skin).
Travis Wester as twin guy Jamie (1 ep of Six Feet Under, 3 eps of Undressed [wow!], 6 eps of the original Beverly Hills 90210).
Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) as cheating now-ex girlfriend, Fiona.
Matt Damon as a punk band singer.
Fred Armisen (Portlandia, Saturday Night Live, Terry in Out There) as Creepy Italian Guy .
Lucy Lawless (Xena) as sexy dominatrix Madame Vandersexxx.
Joanna Lumley (Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous) as the Hostel Clerk we only see in the closing credits.
Pat Kilbane (Pucked, Monkeybone, MADtv) as American Robot Guy.
Nick Jameson as a Reporter. Quite the fall from playing President Yuri Suvarov in 15 eps of 24…
Jeffrey Tambor (George Bluth Sr. in Arrested Development, Hank Kingsley in The Larry Sanders Show, Professor Cakes in 6 eps of China, IL) as Scott’s Dad.

• J. Walter Swartz They aren’t really sequels they’re just two teen romp movies licensed through the same distributor with Trip names. Like when National Lampoon sells their license to a production. It was likely written with no intention of being tied to the previous movie but was given the name as a marketing tool by the studio that picked it up. They don’t share a creative team at all.

  Tuesday, April 16 at 9:42pm (21 hours ago) · LikeReply
• 

  Clio Jaysiyel I get your point, but I’d say the association is closer than two random National Lampoon movies. They specifically replicate several plot points in a sequel-esque way. Another place to split hairs: American Reunion: American Pie 4, or American Pie 8?

  Tuesday, April 16 at 9:51pm (21 hours ago) · LikeReply
• 

  J. Walter Swartz But Road Trip actually has a sequel http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1319733/

  

  Road Trip: Beer Pong (Video 2009)

  www.imdb.com

  Directed by Steve Rash. With DJ Qualls, Mary Cobb, Rhoda Griffis, Preston Jones. Three college roommates join a bus full of gorgeous models and travel the country to compete in a National Beer Pong Championship. With an bus load full of attractive lady who knows how much fun they could have.

  Tuesday, April 16 at 10:05pm (21 hours ago) · Like · Remove PreviewReply
• 

  J. Walter Swartz At least in the American Pie way.

  Tuesday, April 16 at 10:06pm (21 hours ago) · Unlike · 1Reply
• 

  Clio Jaysiyel J. Walter Swartz: That is a VERY good point about the Beer Pong movie – that there is an actual sequel. But that one doesn’t have a “2” in their title, as if they are admitting that one might consider it #3…

   

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356150/combined