Claire's blog

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Knights Of Badassdom (2013)

Claire: 5/5 stars, 9/10.
Carolyn: 5/5 stars, 9.4/10.
Native ratings: 3.2/5 stars Netflix, 6.0/10 IMDB.

So I love GWAR, and Oderus Urungus (RIP) is a star in this show Holliston, which was enough for me to watch it. Holliston is a sitcom aimed at horror fans, and the 2 main characters are themselves writer-directors. We’ve now seen 2 movies from each director. Both directors each released a 5-star movie (this movie, and Adam Green’s Frozen) and a 3-star movie (Wrong Turn 2, also by Lynch, and Hatchet 1, by Green). So that’s the convoluted story of how I decided to watch this movie

And damn. I didn’t expect it to be comedy-horror; I was just thinking it was comedy. This is basically Unicorn City meets Todd And The Book Of Pure Evil.  This is way better than Unicorn City. It takes the same concept, but adds an *actual* supernatural angle… Which is really hilarious, because what the fuck do LARPers know about battling a real demon?  (Ahem…What do any of us know?)

Anyway – Nerds, gamers, D&D-players, fanboys, metalheads, potheads — This movie’s for you. Hilarious and epic. A much-needed pure comedy, existing in a world full of romantic comedies. If you like this, you REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY need to go and watch the horror-comedy-stoner-metal series Todd And The Book Of Pure Evil.
Directed by Joe Lynch (Holliston, Wrong Turn 2).

Written by Matt Wall & Kevin Dreyfuss.

Starring:
Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, 181 eps of Home And Away) as Joe, the main guy.
Steve Zahn (Diary Of A Wimpy Kid movies, Reality Bites, The Object Of My Affection, Chicken Little, You’ve Got Mail) as Eric, the cleric friend.
Peter Dinklage (Nip/Tuck, both Death At A Funeral movies, Elf, A Case Of You, Game Of Thrones, will be in X-Men: Days Of Future Past) as Hung, the warrior friend.
Brian Posehn as Gilberto.
Summer Glau (River from Firefly, Supergirl in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV::) as Gwen, the hot chick.
Brett Gipson (uncredited in Transylmania, 1 ep of The Office) as Gunther.
W. Earl Brown (Being John Malkovich, There’s Something About Mary, Scream, Vanilla Sky, Deep Impact, New Nightmare, 1 ep of Six Feet Under, 1 ep of Caroline In The City, 1 ep of Seinfeld) as Randy, the paintball redneck who got the book on his face.
Michael Gladis (Eagleheart, 1 ep of Xavier: Renegade Angel, 40 eps of Mad Men) as King Diamond.
Margarita Levieva (Adventureland, 23 eps of Revenge) as Beth, the ex-girlfriend.
Jimmi Simpson (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Invention of Lying, Date Night, 15 eps of Late Show With David Letterman, 3 eps of 24, 2 eps of Carnivale) as Ronnie Kwok, the gamemaster.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1545660/combined

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Afternoon Delight (2013)

Claire: 3/5 stars, 7/10.
Carolyn: 3/5 stars, 7/10.
Native ratings: 2.8/5 stars Netflix, 5.9/10 IMDB.

This was an interesting movie about a couple with a bad sex life + overall boring life. They go to a strip club to liven things up, and the mother (Kathryn Hahn, apparently a better actor than I’d thought) ends up having the stripper (Juno Temple, a personal favorite) live in their house. The stripper is a sex positive individual (duh), getting them into uncomfortable situations that are only uncomfortable because most people ear prudes.

Ultimately, because the stripper fucks people, and because people react so negatively to sex that isn’t in their defined societal parameters — Her character gets fucked over, and blamed for everything she caused. But it was in fact everyone’s attitudes that created these problems in the first place.

And that’s my summary of the whole movie: “So she fucked some people. So what?!”

To quote the IMDB thread at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2312890/board/nest/226117425:

“What started off as a film saying something interesting about people from different walks of life and demographics forming true friendships… turned into, ‘Don’t let slutty girls in your house’. Blech.”

And that’s the flaw. Juno Temple got the shit end of the stick, and it was not good. But the movie was interesting, regardless.

Minor complaint: The writer of this movie was a writer for HBO’s Six Feet Under, and directly plagarized his OWN plot device from (attending a session as a “watcher”) from Six Feet Under for use as a plot device in this movie. To be self-derivative makes it look like straws were being grasped for.

Medium complaint: Was hoping for more of a comedy.

Major complaint: Kathryn Hahn was CLEARLY attracted to Juno Temple. That they did not have sex in this movie is a grave disservice to cinema.

Carolyn’s thoughts: This was an interesting movie, and the dynamics were strange. The unhappy depressed wife who can barely care about her son or her friends or even her husband gets her mind opened by an outing to a strip club. She kept saying she wanted to help the stripper, but there were undertones that she just wanted to help herself. Then she fucked over the stripper because she didn’t want her friend to steal her nanny (I’m a nanny-stealer) and she got weirded out by how sex-positive the stripper was.

Written & directed by Jill Soloway (writer of 7 eps of Six Feet Under, 3 eps of Baby Blues, 2 eps of The Oblongs).

Kathryn Hahn (Wanderlust, The Dictator, Step Brothers, Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, Wake Up Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, Ab Fab, How to Lose A Guy In 10 Days, The Hungover Games, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, 1 ep of Bob’s Burgers, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV::, 1 ep of Robot Chicken, 1 ep of Childrens Hospital, 1 ep of American Dad) as Rachel.
Juno Temple (The Dark Knight Rises, Kaboom, Small Apartments, Mr. Nobody, St. Trinian’s, The Three Musketeers, Year One) as McKenna.
Josh Radnor (200 Cigarettes, Not Another Teen Movie, How I Met Your Mother, 2 eps of Family Guy, 1 ep of Six Feet Under) as Jeff.
Jane Lynch (A.C.O.D., Wreck-It Ralph, The Three Stooges, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Glee, Shrek Forever After, 15 eps of The L Word, 3 eps of Neighbors From Hell, 2 eps of Arrested Development, 2 eps of Father Of The Pride, 2 eps of The Cleveland Show, 1 ep of The Spectacular Spider-Man, 1 ep of The Simpsons, 1 ep of News Radio) as Lenore.
Jessica St. Clair (Wanderlust, The Dictator, It’s Complicated, She’s Out Of My League, 3 eps of Weeds, 2 eps of The Life And Times Of Tim, 1 ep of The Office, 1 ep of Curb Your Enthusiasm) as Stephanie.
Michaela Watkins (In A World, Wanderlust, 15 eps of Saturday Night Live, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV::, 1 ep of Robot Chicken, 1 ep of Childrens Hospital, 1 ep of Curb Your Enthusiasm, 1 ep of Mad, 1 ep of Malcolm In The Middle) as Jennie.
Josh Stamberg (Kate & Leopold, The Time Machine (2002), 2 eps of Six Feet Under, 1 ep of Arrested Development) as Matt.
John Kapelos (The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, uncredited in Legally Blonde, 1 ep of Frasier, 1 ep of Seinfeld, 1 ep of Quantum Leap, 1 ep of Lois & Clark, 1 ep of The X-Files) as Jack.
Keegan-Michael Key (Hell Baby, Wanderlust, Just Go With It, Due Date, MADtv, 2 eps of Childrens Hospital, 1 ep of Bob’s Burgers) as Bo.
Annie Mumolo (This Is 40, 1 ep of American Dad, 1 ep of Father Of The Pride) as Amanda.
Suzy Nakamura (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Deep Impact, Evan Almighty, uncredited in The 40-Year Old Virgin, uncredited in This Is 40, 5 eps of Curb Your Enthusiasm) as Meredith.
Noah Harpster (Disaster Movie) as Craig.
Eugene Cordero (2 eps of The Life And Times Of Tim, 1 ep of Curb Your Enthusiasm, 1 ep of The Office, 1 ep of Human Giant, 1 ep of Arrested Development, 1 ep of Newsreaders) as Bobby.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2312890/combined

VIDEO: MOVIE: REVIEW;Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

Claire: 5/5 stars, 9/10.
Carolyn: 5/5 stars, 9/10.
Native ratings: 3.3/5 stars Netflix, 6.7/10 IMDB.

Carolyn’s thoughts:  The franchise is still hilarious.  This was funny all the way through.  It had some commentary on the state of the media also.

Claire: Yes, it’s quite strange that such an absurd franchise can have such poignant commentary on the state of mainstream media. Seriously: There is no fucking point to watching news on the TV nowadays. You may as well be watching Will Ferrell, for all the relevancy of what they talk about. They find a story to distract people, then replay it over and over and over. Watching TV news now actually makes you less informed. And it’s sad that a ridiculous franchise like this actually has a point to make.

Anyway… This was hilarious, as expected.

Directed by Adam McKay (Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Anchorman 1 and Wake Up Ron Burgundy).
Written by Will Ferrell (Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Anchorman 1 and Wake Up Ron Burgundy) & Adam McKay (Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Saturday Night Live, Anchorman 1 and Wake Up Ron Burgundy).

Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy.
Steve Carell as Brick Tamland.
Paul Rudd as Brian Fantana.
David Koechner (The Office, 4 episodes of the 2011 Beavis & Butt-head, 12 episodes of American Dad, Final Destination 5, Sex Drive, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Thank You For Smoking, The 40 Year Old Virgin, The Dukes Of Hazzard, Small Apartments) as Champ Kind.
Christina Applegate as Veronica Corningstone.
Dylan Baker (Fido, Dr. Curt Connors in the recent Spider-Man movies, Solondz’s Happiness, The Cell, Kinsey, Requiem For A Dream, Planes,Trains & Automobiles) as Freddie Shapp.
Meagan Good (Don Jon, Saw 5) as Linda Jackson.
James Marsden (Anchorman: The Legend Continues, Small Apartments, the son in Robot & Frank, Sex Drive, Cyclops in the X-Men movies, Death At A Funeral (2010), Sex Drive) as Jack Lime.
Greg Kinnear as Gary.
Kristen Wiig (Young Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development, Date Night, Adventureland, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, The Brothers Solomon, How To Train Your Dragon, Saturday Night Live, Despicable Me, Girl Most Likely, 2 eps of The Simpsons, 1 ep of Drunk History) as Chani Lastname.
Fred Willard as Ed Harken.
Chris Parnell (Cyril in Archer, Rick & Morty, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, The Dictator, Turbo, Saturday Night Live, 3 eps of Gravity Falls, 2 eps of The Problem Solverz, 2 eps of Drunk History) as Garth.
Harrison Ford as Mack Tannen, Veronica’s boss.
June Diane Raphael as (NTSF:SD:SUV::, Anchorman 2, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Year One, Girl Most Likely, Ass Backwards, 3 eps of American Dad, 1 ep of Drunk History) Chani’s Boss
Kirsten Dunst as El Trousias Maiden of the Clouds.
Jim Carrey as CBC News Anchor (uncredited).
Tina Fey as Entertainment Tonight Reporter (uncredited).
Amy Poehler as Entertainment Tonight Reporter (uncredited).
John C. Reilly as The Ghost of Stonewall Jackson (uncredited).
Lori Beth Sikes as Tina (uncredited).
Matthew Stanton as Skinny Guy (uncredited).
Vince Vaughn as Wes Mantooth (uncredited).
Kanye West as MTV Host (uncredited).

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229340/combined