VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Pitch Perfect 1 (2012)

RATINGS:

Claire: Netflix: 2.4/5 stars. IMDB: 5.4/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 5.6/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: IMDB: 7.3/10, Netflix: 3.9/5 stars. How the fuck is this rated 7.3?

I was ultimately disappointed. I was waiting for the story to happen, then I realized, this IS the story. Watching them have a fake competition. THAT’S the story. It’s like a sports comedy without the sports, and with music. That combination tricks me!

If you want a performance-competition movie, just go fucking watch Bring It On instead.

NOT this.

NOT Rock Of Ages. (Though, Carolyn disagrees.)

Just stop.

Make it stop.

And don’t take movie recommendations from cow-orkers.

Carolyn’s thoughts: If you want to see a musical movie, Rock Of Ages is way better than this. This is barely worth watching. There’s just not much to it.

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: In Your Eyes (2014)

Claire: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Carolyn: 4.6/5 stars, 8.6/10.
Native ratings: 3.7/5 stars Netflix, 7.2/10 IMDB.

Claire’s thoughts: There were some unique moments in the movie. (Or were there? I’m suspicious of my own reactions.)
I was reminded a lot of The Host, actually.
Maybe this movie is the current-day The Host, and The Host is the dystopian-future In Your Eyes.

I really don’t like that they didn’t conclude the ending as much as I would have liked. Joss Whedon builds up this great story, and then the movie stops right at the very point that I want it to continue the most. If this is operating on the “leave them wanting more” principal, then fuck you for being a cocktease, Whedon.

I hate movies where you enjoy watching it, but when it’s over, you’re fucking annoyed that it doesn’t continue. This easily had potential to be 5/5 stars, 9/10. I gotta drop it 1 on both scales for pulling that shit on me. I actually liked this. It was interesting. But I don’t think I’d watch it again. I’d much rather see a sequel.

You know.. I’m just gonna say it. Joss Whedon isn’t all that. He’s totally overrated. He makes things that are more unique than they are good. I have no interest in ever watching Buffy or Angel or Dollhouse. Give me Firefly or give me death. That’s all he’s really been good for. And no, The Cabin In The Woods was NOT brilliant. It was gimmicky in a pretentious way where more could have been offered but wasn’t — much like this movie. I’m starting to get sick of Whedon’s shit. Give me Firefly or give me death.

By the way, there is a Circle Jerks song called “In Your Eyes”. And a song by The Church called “To Be In Your Eyes”. And of course Debbie Gibson’s “Lost In Your Eyes”. Or even Minor Threat‘s “In My Eyes”, except those eyes are my eyes and not your eyes.

Carolyn’s thoughts: This had an interesting premise that was pretty cool at first, but then it montaged its way through to become just another sappy romance [SPOILERS AHEAD] where girl emotionally cheats on her husband and then leaves her husband for the friend she was relying on. Though the husband was kind of a douche and it was good for her to grow out of that relationship.

Directed by Brin Hill.
Written by Joss Whedon (Firefly, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Avengers, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Alien 4, The Cabin In The Woods, Toy Story, 4 eps of Roseanne).

Starring:
Zoe Kazan as Rebecca Porter. She REALLY looks like someone you’ve seen before, but she isn’t. What the fuck?
Michael Stahl-David (Love & Air Sex, Cloverfield) as Dylan Kershaw.
Jennifer Grey (Jeanie Bueller in Ferris Bueller‘s Day Off, Dirty Dancing) as Diane (maybe the backstabbing rich “friend”?).
Nikki Reed (The Twilight movies) as Donna.
Steve Howey (Stan Helsing) as Bo Soames.
Mark Feuerstein (What Women Want, 8 eps of Caroline In The City) as Phillip Porter, the doctor husband.
Steve Harris (Quarantine, 11 eps of The Batman) as Giddons, the parole officer.
Richard Riehle (Santa Claus in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, Smiley Face, Extracted, The Beach Party At The Threshold Of Hell, Office Space, Hatchet, Mysterious Skin, Palindromes, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Friended To Death, Dorm Daze 2, The Man From Earth, Bumi in The Legend Of Korra, 1 ep of Drunk History) as Mr. Padgham, fundraiser flirter.

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Adult World (2013)

[IMDB link]

RATINGS:
Claire: 2/5 stars, 5/10.
Carolyn: 3/5 stars, 7/10.
Native ratings: 3.0/5 stars Netflix, 6.1/10 IMDB.

PLOT SUMMARY: Aspiring poet tries to get noticed.

BAD STUFF:

I feel like this movie was just an attempt to be Indie by throwing together a bunch of quirky characters and plot points, and that it never really fulfilled any real purpose.

The story is *thin*. *Light*. TOO light. Not enough stuff happened. Not enough of a story happened. Not enough of a conclusion happened. I was along for the ride, and when I got to the destination, I was like, “This is it? What was that?”

I had to look in the IMDB forums to find people who could state it better than me. Some quotes: “the film seems [to] attack her for not having anything real, but the movie itself doesn’t have anything real.” “I’m in it, and I found it boring.” “Characters are all slightly interesting but completely safe in a benign way.” “She never really learns any life lesson and in fact is still a fake.”

In the end, it’s just a movie about failing as an artist, growing up, and a bunch of other bullshit that just doesn’t resonate well when tossed in a pot with a bunch of other bullshit and slow-cooked at an Indie-movie pace.

CAROLYN’S THOUGHTS: “I feel like that’s very little personal growth for how long of a movie we had to watch.”

CONCLUSION: Skip it, unless you really need to see John Cusack.

Directed by Scott Coffey.
Written by Andy Cochran.

Starring
John Cusack as Rat Billings.
Emma Roberts (Scream 4, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story, 1 ep of Family Guy) as Amy.
Armando Riesco (National Treasure movies) as Rubia.
Evan Peters (Quiksilver in X-Men: Days Of Future Past, Kick-Ass, 1 ep of The Office) as Alex, the sex store coworker.
Shannon Woodward (3 eps of Clarissa Explains It All, 1 ep of Malcolm In The Middle) as Candace, Amy’s friend.
Chris Riggi (Vampires Suck, 1 ep of Human Giant) as Josh.
Scott Coffey (Inland Empire, Mulholland Dr., Wayne’s World 2, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) as Bookstore Owner.

PEOPLE:

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Love & Air Sex (2013)

RATINGS:

Claire: Netflix: 3.6/5 stars. IMDB: 7.6/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 3.6/5 stars. IMDB: 7.6/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: IMDB: 5.3/10, Netflix: 3.0/5 stars.

Carolyn’s thoughts: It was pretty good. I thought I liked it better than Date And Switch, but now that I slept on it, I don’t know which one I liked better. Maybe this one, ever so slightly. And yeah, the montage had a lot going on with the masturbating and the pictures and the flashbacks and everything. Beginning montages sometimes aren’t a good tactic when the movie jumps right in and doesn’t bother explaining stuff that went on in the montage at the beginning… Overall, I think it held up, and I was entertained.

Claire’s thoughts: I really wish I’d paid attention to the opening montage more, hehe. It was not the best way to set up things. Starting a movie with a scene that requires deeper focus and concentration than the movie itself is maybe not the best way to do things. So I had to ask Carolyn some dumb questions during the beginning of the movie.

I also totally copied Carolyn’s rating. I really couldn’t decide for myself what I thought of this one.

Just another “bunch of couples; watch what happens” type movie, but it did have some unique situations and good laughs. My enjoyment level for this movie is higher than my “remembering what the fuck happened” level for this movie. And I’m fine with that. It was good times even if it wasn’t that memorable.

Directed by Bryan Poyser.
Written by Bryan Poyser, David DeGrow Shotwell, Steven Walters.

Michael Stahl-David (Cloverfield, In Your Eyes) as Stan.
Ashley Bell (3 eps of The Walking Dead webisodes/side-mini-series) as Cathy.
Zach Cregger (Date And Switch, Miss March) as Jeff. We saw him twice in 1 night.
Sara Paxton (Superhero Movie, 1 ep of Malcolm In The Middle) as Kara.
Addison Timlin (Stormy in Odd Thomas, That Awkward Moment) as Haley.

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Date And Switch (2014)

Claire: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Carolyn: 3.6/5 stars, 7.6/10.
Native ratings: 2.9/5 stars Netflix, 5.7/10 IMDB.

Claire’s thoughts: Just another high school comedy bromance where one of the bros comes out as being a gay. This one happened to be pretty funny and awkward. There was amusing forms of awkwardness, like how the straight guy was far more comfortable at the gay club than the gay guy was. It had aspects of American Pie and G.B.F.

I feel like I should have more to say about it, but I don’t. The movie’s not super unique, but it is pretty funny.

Carolyn’s thoughts: Highschooler gets uptight and pushes his best friend away because he starts freaking out about not being able to get laid by prom. Meanwhile, the best friend is coming to terms with being gay and exploring his sexuality, but matters become messy when his friend starts freaking out. The movie was alright, but there wasn’t that much that was special about it.

Directed by Chris Nelson (Ass Backwards).
Written by Alan Yang.

Nick Offerman (Axe Cop in Axe Cop, Briggs from Children’s Hospital, In A World…, The Lego Movie, RSO:Registered Sex Offender, The Men Who Stare At Goats, Wristcutters:A Love Story, Sin City, Smashed) as Terry, Michael’s dad.
Gary Cole (Harvey Birdman in Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law, Pineapple Express, Dodgeball, Office Space, The Ring 2, Batman: Under The Hood, Principal Shepherd in Family Guy, 4 eps of Archer, 4 eps of Bob’s Burgers, 2 eps of Legend Of Korra) as Dwayne.
Megan Mullally (Childrens Hospital, Axe Cop, Out There, Will & Grace, Monkeybone, Date & Switch, G.B.F., Monkeybone Smashed, Once Bitten, 9 eps of Bob’s Burgers) as Patricia.
Nicholas Braun (The Perks Of Being A Wallflower) as Michael.
Hunter Cope as Matty.
Sarah Hyland (Robot Chicken DC Comics Special 2, Vampire Academy, Scary Movie 5, Modern Family, The Object Of My Affection, 1 ep of Childrens Hospital) as Ava, Michael’s ex-girlfriend.
Dakota Johnson (The Five-Year Engagement, The Social Network, 1 ep of The Office) as Em, Matty’s ex-girlfriend.
Larry Wilmore (Dinner For Schmucks, I Love You Man, 3 eps of The Office, 2 eps of The PJs, 2 eps of In Living Color) as Mr. Vernon.
Zach Cregger (Love & Air Sex, Miss March) as Greg. We saw him twice in one night.
Brian Geraghty (Ass Backwards, The Hurt Locker, 1 ep of The Sopranos) as Lars, Matty’s brother.
Aziz Ansari as Marcus.
Wendi McLendon-Covey (Blended, TripTank, 1 ep of Bob’s Burgers) as Linda.

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

RATINGS:
Claire: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: IMDB: 3.2/10, Netflix: 6.2/5 stars.

[IMDB link]

UNCOMFORTABLE PLOT SUMMARY (inspired by this): Wedding repeatedly ruined by life’s bullshit.

THOUGHTS:

Carolyn’s thoughts: I was hoping it would be funnier, but it was more on the romance side than the comedy side. It wasn’t a bad movie, though, but it was more a generic rom-com than a funny and unique rom-com.

Claire’s thoughts: It’s a romantic comedy, but the emphasis is really more on the romance than the comedy with this one. Comedy-wise, you really have to be a fan of schadenfreude to be able to enjoy this. So yes, I still found it funny. I just wish it’d been a bit *funnier*, with less suffering. Poor Jason Segel.

PEOPLE:

Directed by Nicholas Stoller (Get Him To The Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Neighbors aka Bad Neighbors).
Written by: Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) & Nicholas Stoller (Get Him To The Greek, Fun With Dick And Jane, 3 eps of Undeclared).

Starring Jason Segel (I Love You Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, Undeclared, This Is The End, This Is 40, Can’t Hardly Wait, SLC Punk, Bad Teacher, Despicable Me, Freaks And Geeks, How I Met Your Mother) as Tom Solomon.
Emily Blunt (Looper, Dan In Real Life, The Wolfman) as Violet Barnes.
Chris Pratt (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Her, Take Me Home Tonight, Movie 43, What’s Your Number?, The Lego Movie, Jennifer’s Body) as Alex Eilhauer, Tom’s friend.
Alison Brie (Scream 4, The Lego Movie, Diane from BoJack Horseman, 1 ep of Axe Cop, 1 ep of High School USA, 1 ep of Robot Chicken, 1 ep of American Dad, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV::) as Suzie Barnes-Eilhauer, Violet’s hotter-but-less-pretty sister.
Lauren Weedman (Date Night, 1 ep of Arrested Development, 1 ep of Childrens Hospital, 1 ep of Curb Your Enthusiasm) as Chef Sally.
Mimi Kennedy (Due Date, Death Becomes Her, Erin Brockovich) as Carol Solomon, Tom’s mom.
David Paymer (Bad Teacher, Fanboy, Howard The Duck, Drag Me To Hell, Ocean’s 13, City Slickers, Irreconcilable Differences, 6 eps of The Larry Sanders Show, 1 ep of Duckman) as Pete Solomon, Tom’s dad.
Jacki Weaver as Sylvia Dickerson-Barnes, Violet’s mom.
Jim Piddock (Get Him To The Greek, Epic Movie, Independence Day, Multiplicity, 7 eps of Mad About You, 4 eps of Batman: The Brave And The Bold, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV::, 1 ep of Childrens Hospital) as George Barnes, Violet’s dad.
Dakota Johnson (The Social Network, Date And Switch, 1 ep of The Office) as Audrey, Tom’s young girlfriend.
Rhys Ifans (Curt Connors in The Amazing Spider-Man, Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter 7, Mr. Nobody) as Winton Childs.
Mindy Kaling (Kelly in The Office, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Wreck-It Ralph, This Is The End, Despicable Me) as Vaneetha.
Randall Park (Neighbors aka Bad Neighbors, Dinner For Schmucks, 3 eps of MADtv, 1 ep of Robot Chicken, 1 ep of The Office, 1 ep of Curb Your Enthusiasm) as Ming.
Kevin Hart (Scary Movie 3-4, The 40-Year Old Virgin, Epic Movie, Superhero Movie, Death At A Funeral, Little Fockers, Along Came Polly) as Doug.
Brian Posehn as Tarquin.
Chris Parnell (Cyril in Archer, Anchorman 2, 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 Bill.
and Tim Heidecker as Negotiating Chef. Didn’t even notice him!

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Blended (2014)

[IMDB link] [Netflix link]

PLOT SUMMARY: Sandler hooks up with Barrymore once again.

BACKWARD PLOT SUMMARY: Barrymore dumps Sandler once again.

UNCOMFORTABLE PLOT SUMMARY (inspired by this): [highlight for spoilers]→ Cancer creations relationships.

QUIRKS: It tries to be quirky, and it feels forced.

GOOD STUFF: Still a decent amount of laughs. I’m not going to say Sandler can do no wrong, but he’s a funny guy, despite what the haters think.

BAD STUFF: Okay that movie was about as generic as a romantic comedy could get.

I don’t even remember how they finally got together.

Too much pointless stuff like Terry Crews bursting into song at weird intervals.

Too much family stuff, though that’s to be expected.

This movie was no Fifty First Dates, and it wasn’t as good as the other Adam Sandler movies we have watched recently. Maybe it was too much about the kids. The comedy seemed forced. The first half was better, but then it just didn’t seem to hold up.

CONCLUSION: A passable comedy. Too much family stuff.

RATINGS:
Claire: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 6/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: IMDB: 6.5/10, Netflix: 3.7/5 stars.

RECOMMENDATION: For staunch comedy / Sandler / Barrymore / children enthusiasts only.

PEOPLE:

Directed by Frank Coraci (Click, The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer).

Written by Ivan Menchell (8 eps of The Nanny) and Clare Sera.

Starring Adam Sandler as Jim.

Drew Barrymore as Lauren.

Kevin Nealon as Eddy.

Terry Crews (Scary Movie 5, The Expendables movies, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Terminator 4, Idiocracy, Click, Puff Puff Pass, 5 eps of Arrested Development, 2 eps of Ultimate Spider-Man, 2 eps of Drunk History, 2 eps of American Dad) as Nickens.

Wendi McLendon-Covey (Date And Switch, TripTank, 1 ep of Bob’s Burgers) as Jen, the bitch partner.

Bella Thorne as Hilary.

Emma Fuhrmann as Espn.

Joel McHale (What’s Your Number?, Spider-Man 2 (2004), 2 eps of Robot Chicken) as Mark.

Jessica Lowe (1 ep of CollegeHumor Originals) as Ginger.

Shaquille O’Neal as Doug.

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: The Starving Games (2013) [Hunger Games parody]

Claire: 2.6/5 stars, 5.4/10.
Carolyn: 2.6/5 stars, 4.6/10.
Native ratings: 2.9/5 stars Netflix, 3.3/10 IMDB (ouch!!).

From the makers of Movie Movie, comes Not Another Movie Movie.

Just kidding.

This was an utterly generic Friedberg-Seltzer spoof movie. They have done many before this, and they are universally reviled as some of the worst comedic movies — oftne in the IMDB lowest 100 movies ever — Yet they KEEP GETTING MADE OVER AND OVER AND OVER. And we keep watching them. Somehow they keep getting money and keep making movies that usually get IMDB-rated in the 1-4 out of 10 range. How? I don’t know. Maybe people like me. I legitimately enjoyed the movie, even if a lot of the jokes were groan-inducingly bad. It was still a comedy in a sea of boring dramas, celebrity bullshit, and lame-ass infotainment.

Anyway, think of the difference between the best Robot Chicken episode, and the worst episode of Mad:TAS (the animated Mad Magazine cartoon; a “poor man’s Robot Chicken“). That is how big the difference between a GOOD spoof movie (Airplane, Scary Movie) and a BAD spoof movie (this, Epic Movie, Date Movie, etc) is.

This falls in the bad category.

It’s still a pill that can be swallowed if you just want some *STUPID* mindless entertainment. And if you’re a big Hunger Games fan (we are), it probably helps get this pill down. And also the alcohol we had.

But man, there were some painful moments, for sure. GROAN-inducingly bad jokes. Jokes that just aren’t funny. You sit through them in order to get to the ones that are funny. I don’t mind too much because I still laughed a lot.

The sad truth is I will probably keep watching any movies these guys make. But I’ll reserve them for a weeknight that I feel like drinking a beer during….

Carolyn’s thoughts: This was pretty bad. The jokes were forced, and it just seemed like they were trying way too hard. There were some slight laughs, but that couldn’t save it overall. The outtakes at the end were good, though. [She rated it almost the same as me.]

Written and directed by Jason Friedberg (Scary Movie 1-4, Disaster Movie, Epic Movie, Meet The Spartans, Vampires Suck) and Aaron Seltzer (Scary Movie 1-4, Disaster Movie, Epic Movie, Meet The Spartans, Vampires Suck).

Maiara Walsh (Zombieland, Mean Girls 2) as Kantmiss Evershot.
Lauren Bowles (True Blood, 9 eps of Seinfeld ,1 ep of Curb Your Enthusiasm) as Effoff.
Brant Daugherty as Dale, Kantmiss’s boyfriend.
Diedrich Bader (Batman in Batman: The Brave And The Bold, Zeta in The Zeta Project (and that 1 ep of Batman Beyond), Vampires Suck, Meet The Spartans, EuroTrip, Napoleon Dynamite, Office Space, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Batman in Mad, 11 eps of The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy, 6 eps of Napoleon Dynamite, 4 eps of Ultimate Spider-Man, 3 eps of Gargoyles, 3 eps of The Green Lantern-TAS, 3 eps of King Of The Hill, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV::, 1 ep of Gravity Falls, 1 ep of Arrested Development, 1 ep of TripTank) as President Snowballs.
Cody Christian as Peter Malarkey.
Theodus Crane (Big Tiny in 3 eps of The Walking Dead) as Cleaver Williams, the former survivor turned anchor.

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: The Young And Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013)

Claire: 3/5 stars, 7/10.
Carolyn: 3/5 stars, 7/10.
Native ratings: 7.1/10 IMDB. Not available on Netflix at the time of this review-writing.

Claire’s thoughts: This is like the worst movie Jean-Pierre Jeunet has done (that we’ve watched; I’m uninterested in some). It’s a family adventure drama. I mostly watched this for hopes of awesome visuals — we watched it in 3-D, to make use of our too-expensive 3DHDTV. It was kind of a let-down because the subject matter itself wasn’t that exciting. Sad kid story. Kid is smart. Story is still sad. Interesting, but not our cup of tea.

Carolyn’s thoughts: It was very colorful, and the 3-D was pretty neat. But then it had a boring stretch in the middle.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (The City of Lost Children, Delicatessen, Amelie, Micmacs)
Written by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant (The City Of Lost Children, Amelie, Micmacs)

Based on a book by Reif Larsen (who strangely played “famous author” in That Awkward Moment, which we just saw).

Kyle Catlett as T.S. Spivet.
Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Clair.
Judy Davis (Joan in The Naked Lunch, Barton Fink) as G.H. Jibsen.
Callum Keith Rennie (Memento, eXistenZ, Time Cop, 3 eps of 24, 1 ep of Smallville) as Father.
Niamh Wilson (Saw 3-6) as Gracie.
Jakob Davies (Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, 2 eps of Smallville) as Layton.
Dominique Pinon (The City Of Lost Children, Delicatessen, Amelie, Micmacs) as Two Clouds.
Julian Richings (Saw 4, X-Men 3, Detroit Rock City, Man Of Steel, Cube, Mimic, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Naked Lunch) as Ricky.

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Odd Thomas (2013)

Claire: 3.8/5 stars, 8/10.
Carolyn: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Native ratings: 4.0/5 stars Netflix, 6.8/10 IMDB.

Based on a book by Dean Koontz.

Carolyn’s thoughts: It was pretty faithful to the book, except for a few changes. The character Ozzy was pretty much nonexistant. Elvis wasn’t included, but they did have a big cardboard cutout of him. They did a really good job on the bodachs.

Claire’s thoughts: Yes, the bodachs were creepy as FUCK. Very creepy cgi there. Well done. This seemed like a good, quick first installment of something that could easily be a long-running fantasy movie franchise. (But it probably won’t be.)

[minor spoilers about the tone of the end of the movie, without specifics] I just really wish the ending hadn’t been so fucking sad, I’m still sad about it. I’m almost as bummed out as Robin Williams death! [More spoilers — including spoilers for the books after this one — at the end of the review.]

Written & Directed by Stephen Sommers (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Van Helsing, The Mummy movies).

Starring Anton Yelchin (Chekov in the Star Trek reboot movies, Clumsy Smurf in The Smurfs movies, Terminator 4, 1 ep of Curb Your Enthusiasm, 1 ep of The Life & Times Of Tim) as Odd Thomas.
Willem Dafoe as Chief Wyatt Porter.
Addison Timlin (That Awkward Moment, Love & Air Sex) as Stormy Llewellyn.
Patton Oswalt as Ozzie Boone, but he was barely in it.
Nico Tortorella (Scream 4) as Officer Simon Varner.
Kyle McKeever as Officer Bern Eckles.
Matthew Page (The Lone Ranger, 1 ep of Breaking Bad) as Harlo Landerson.

[highlight for spoilers]→ He misses her terribly, but he doesn’t get bitter… The second book has him still in the town (he didn’t go to Las Vegas in the books). The second book has him saving a friend of his, and then after that, he leaves the town to live in a monastery. The third book is him at the monastery. The fourth book he is staying with a retired actor in some beach town… he meets some mysterious woman during that book and the rest of the books involve her… Then there were three prequel graphic novels that featured Stormy and those were cool.

[highlight for spoilers]→ When I read the 6th book (which is the last one in existence at the moment), I got kind of annoyed at the whole thing and wasn’t even sure if I would be interested in reading the last book if it ever comes out. I probably would in the hopes that it would explain what was going on with that mysterious woman. One thing I will say about the mysterious woman was she would call him “Odd One” and say “Let me in, Odd” like Stormy used to do… Oh, and the mysterious woman is pregnant and she just says she’s always been pregnant and doesn’t need a doctor or whatever.. i dunno.. it was weird shit that didn’t make a lick of sense, and the woman spoke in riddles and questions and never would directly answer anything Odd asked her… it annoyed the crap out of me and I was so mad by the time I finished the last book and realized there were no more answers.

The wikipedia entries barely even explained the stuff. I mean, it is kind of funny how detailed the wikipedia entries are for the first books, and then once that woman comes along, it’s only a tiny little blurb about what is going on in the books…

Oh, apparently there are some webisodes somewhere out there
Webisodes

A four-part series debuting in April 2008, Odd Passenger detailed events between Brother Odd and Odd Hours. They were produced by Escape Goat Pictures (www.rungoatrun.com) and were directed by Jack Paccione Jr., with Odd being played by Anthony Marks.[2]

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Her (2013)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Her (2013)

Claire: 5/5 stars, 9/10.
Carolyn: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Native ratings: 3.3/5 stars Netflix, 8.1/10 IMDB (Currently IMDB Top 250: #206).

Spike Jonze sure has a range of talent! He wrote (but didn’t direct) Bad Grandpa — a movie that made us laugh harder than any other movie we watched during the year we watched it. He directed (but didn’t write) Adaptation.  He’s been part of the Jackass writing crew forever. He directed Where The Wild Things Are. He was a producer for Synecdoche, New York. He was an actor on The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. I’m just so totally confused about the amazing range of work he seems to get.

This one is written AND directed by him. That doesn’t happen much for him. It turned out really well.  I’m surprised it’s currently in the IMDB Top 250 movies ever. It’s a sci-fi romance drama, though Netflix tries to act like it’s a sci-fi romantic comedy. It’s not a comedy. It’s a pretty serious movie.

It’s simply a very thought-provoking movie about loneliness and drifting apart from others as you grow and change — not always together.  When we get older, we get so specialized that we often aren’t compatible with others.  Robotic lovers and artificial intelligence companions ARE the future, like it or not. And we will lose touch with each other even further.  This movie is about that.

But it’s also another exercise in seeing how technology may shape the way we live in the future. A little bit Robot And Frank, a little bit Sim0ne, a little bit A.I. [the Spielberg movie], this movie totally explores the philosophy of artificial intelligence, whether they have “feelings”, and how they themselves may come to have motivations and aspirations.

It also challenges the concept of what a relationship can be. Can you have a sex life with someone who doesn’t have a body? (Though I often wondered why Samantha didn’t just draw up plans to place her conciousness inside an articulatable RealDoll — that issue was actually addressed by the reading-a-book metaphor she used later in the movie.)

It’s also weird to have a movie where we only *hear* Scarlett Johansson, instead of *see* her. It really allowed me to elevate my appreciate of her voice more — she could totally do animation. We also get to hear, but not see, Kristen Wiig — but only for a minute. Don’t worry, though — not all attractive women in the film are heard but not seen! There’s plenty of Amy Adams AND Olivia Wild AND we get to see Portia Doubleday at age 25 after only having seen her at age 20. Just saying. A lot of this movie is staring at Joaquin Phoenix talking to himself, but not all of it.

But anyway — a very cerebral, well-written movie in my opinion. Carolyn, not quite being as tech-y as me, didn’t quite like it as much as myself.

Written and directed by Spike Jonze (writer of Jackass, Bad Grandpa movies, Where the Wild Things Are, director of Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, Where the Wild Things Are).

Starring Joaquin Phoenix (The Village, Signs, Hotel Rwanda) as Theodore.
Scarlett Johansson as Samantha, the A.I.
Chris Pratt (Guardians Of The Galaxy, The Lego Movie, Take Me Home Tonight, Movie 43, What’s Your Number?, Jennifer’s Body, The Five-Year Engagement) as Paul, the receptionist coworker.
Rooney Mara (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo remake movies, Side Effects, The Social Network, Youth In Revolt, A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)) as Catherine, the ex-wife.
Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, Superbad, The Brothers Solomon, Men In Black 3, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, The To Do List, Year One, Adventureland, 7 eps of The Venture Bros., 4 eps of The Human Giant, 2 eps of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, 2 eps of South Park, 1 ep of Drunk History) as Chat Room Friend #2.
Amy Adams (Lois Lane in Man Of Steel, American Hustle, Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby, Psycho Beach Party, Cruel Intentions 2, 3 eps of The Office, 3 eps of King Of The Hill, 1 ep of Smallville) as Amy, as Theodore’s friend.
Olivia Wilde (Tron 2, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, The Change-Up, Drinking Buddies, Better Living Through Chemistry, Year One, 1 ep of Tron: Uprising, 1 ep of Portlandia, 1 ep of American Dad) as Blind Date.
Portia Doubleday (Youth In Revolt) as Surrogate Date Isabella.
Kristen Wiig (Young Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development, Date Night, Anchorman 2, 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 SexyKitten (the phone sex in the very beginning).

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/combined

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Friended To Death (2014)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Friended To Death (2014)

Claire: 3/5 stars, 7/10.
Carolyn: 3/5 stars, 7/10.
Native ratings: 5.1/10 IMDB. Not available on Netflix.

Claire’s thoughts: Another interesting movie about post-modern times — this time, Facebook. The Social Network was dry as hell, but very interesting. This is not dry, funny, but not as interesting.

Dude fakes his death to see who his “real” friends are. Reminds me of a guy I knew in college… He always wanted to be bad off enough to go to the hospital, so he could see who his “real” friends were by virtue of who would visit him in a hospital. Well shit… I guess I’m just a bad friend to everybody, then, because I fucking hate hospitals. Totally. But anyway… It also says a lot about social networking, how it’s a substitute for real interaction, and how a tool that should augment peoples’ social lives actually replaces their social lives.

But it’s also funny. The guy is just a prick. He’s a meter maid cop who tickets his own friends’ cars, tickets people a minute or two early, and is just generally full of himself, completely lame and uninteresting, and cringingly unaware of his own hubris. He flails about life, making poor choices… And we watch the trainwreck, and laugh.

Carolyn’s thoughts:  There wasn’t much to this movie.  It had funny moments, with a serious undertone near the end.  It was a good choice for our second movie of the night.

Sarah Smick wrote, directed and starred as Sylvie / Rhune Muhleif.
Also written by and starring Ian Michaels as Kev, the ballz deep douchebag.

Starring:
Ryan Hansen (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Superhero Movie) as Michael Harris (the main character).
James Immekus as Emile Lewis (the other guy who was fired).
Zach McGowan (Terminator Salvation) as Joel (the “best” “friend”).
Angela Bullock (2 eps of Oz, 1 ep of The Sopranos) as Charlotte Lewis, the blom.
Richard Riehle (Santa Claus in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, Smiley Face, Extracted, The Beach Party At The Threshold Of Hell, Office Space, Hatchet, Mysterious Skin, Palindromes, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Dorm Daze 2, The Man From Earth, 4 eps of The Legend Of Korra, 1 ep of Drunk History) as Dan, the blom’s boyfriend.
Robert R. Shafer (Bob Vance in The Office, 1 ep of Malcolm In The Middle, 1 ep of Titus) as Chuck Henson, the boss.
Pancho Moler (Epic Movie) as Lance, the midget co-worker.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2298186/combined

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: That’s My Boy (2012)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: That’s My Boy (2012)

Claire: 5/5 stars, 9/10.
Carolyn: 5/5 stars, 9/10.
Native ratings: 3.2/5 stars Netflix, 5.6/10 IMDB.

Carolyn’s thoughts:  The hilarity never stopped.  I guess I still like Adam Sandler movies.

Claire’s thoughts: Yea, I really don’t have much to say either. I was quite surprised after some recent Sandler duds.  Family awkwardness has got to be one of the most contrived forms of situational humor in existence, yet it’s taken to such a ridiculous, over-the-top level in this movie, that it wraps around and becomes high quality. Who’d have thought?

So yeah. I guess I still like Adam Sandler movies. Sigh.

Directed by Sean Anders (Sex Drive).
Written by David Caspe.

Adam Sandler as Donny.
Vanilla Ice as Himself.
Susan Sarandon as Mary McGarricle (Present Day).
Andy Samberg (Bad Neighbors, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs movies, Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist, I Love You Man, The To Do List, What’s Your Number?, Grown Ups 2, Saturday Night Live, 4 eps of Human Giant, 2 eps of Adventure Time, 2 eps of American Dad, 1 ep of Portlandia, 1 ep of The Sarah Silverman Program) as Todd.
Leighton Meester (Date Night, Remember The Daze, 4 eps of 24) as Jamie.
James Caan (Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Honeymoon In Vegas, Small Apartments, Elf, Dick Tracy) as Father McNally.
Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli in Heroes, Grown Ups 2, and, get this–Wolverine in the English version of the Wolverine anime) as Chad, the marine brother.
Blake Clark (Grown Ups, Slinky Dog in the Toy Story movies, 50 First Dates, The Waterboy, 23 eps of Home Improvement, 3 eps of It’s Garry Shandling’s Show) as Gerald.
Meagen Fay (Woops! [failed post-apocalyptic 1980s sitcom], 11 eps of Malcolm In The Middle, 12 eps of Life with Louie, 2 eps of Six Feet Under, 1 ep of Nip/Tuck) as Helen.
Will Forte (Abe Lincoln in Clone High, Tim And Eric‘s Billion Dollar Movie, Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Sit Down Shut Up, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs movies, Fanboys, The Brothers Solomon, Grown Ups 2, 22 episodes of The Cleveland Show, 8 episodes of Gravity Falls, 5 episodes of American Dad, Saturday Night Live, 1 ep of Drunk History) as Phil, the rival coworker.
Rachel Dratch (Just Go With It, Click, Saturday Night Live, 6 eps of Assy McGee, 2 eps of O’Grady, 1 ep of Superjail, 1 ep of Avator: The Last Airbender, 1 ep of Squidbillies, 1 ep of Aqua Teen, 1 ep of Delocated) as Phil’s Wife.
Nick Swardson (Grandma’s Boy, Grown Ups 2, You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, The House Bunny, Blades Of Glory, Click, Back In The Day) as Kenny.
Eva Amurri Martino (1 ep of Childrens Hospital) as Mary McGarricle (Younger). She’s Susan Sarandon’s daughter, and she plays a younger version of Susan Sarandon in this movie.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232200/combined

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Bad Words (2013)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Bad Words (2013)

Bad Words (2013) –
Claire: 5/5 stars, 9/10.
Carolyn: 5/5 stars, 9/10.
Native ratings: 3.4/5 stars Netflix, 6.7/10 IMDB.

Jason Bateman–a bitter, middle-aged, cynic–finds a loophole in the National Spelling Bee rules, and shoehorns his way into a national competition for children. And he aims to win. With malicious, thoughtful, spiteful intent.  What an amazing premise.

Carolyn’s thoughts: This was hilarious, and awkward, and pretty fun for a movie.  Somewhat predictable, but it was worth the ride.  Hilarious!

Claire: Hilarious indeed. Jason Bateman can play a hilarious spiteful middle-aged man really well!  He’s not good-natured, like in Arrested Development! He has a very willful, malicious, spiteful intent. Also unlike in Arrested Develpment: He is actually very capable at being master of the situation, one-up’ing others, and attaining his goals.

And then you throw in a kid?! And it doesn’t totally suck?!?!  Wow. Even with my own cynical bitterness, the kid was good. Fuck. Don’t make me write that, movie!

Directed by Jason Bateman (3 eps of Valerie, 1 ep of Arrested Development, 1 ep of Family Matters).
Written by Andrew Dodge.

Starring Jason Bateman (Arrested Development, The Change-Up, Sit Down Shut Up, The Invention Of Lying, Identity Theft, Hancock, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Juno) as Guy Trilby.
Kathryn Hahn (Wanderlust, The Dictator, Step Brothers, Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, Wake Up Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, Step Brothers, 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 Jenny Widgeon.
Philip Baker Hall (Bruce Almighty, The Truman Show, Ghostbusters 2, Magnolia, The Amityville Horror, 2 eps of Seinfeld, 2 eps of Curb Your Enthusiasm, 2 eps of Baby Blues, 1 ep of The Life And Times Of Tim, 1 ep of Warren The Ape, 1 ep of Children’s Hospital, 1 ep of 3rd Rock From The Sun, 1 ep of Cheers, 1 ep of M*A*S*H) as Dr. Bowman.
Allison Janney (Juno, Pretty Ugly People, Strangers With Candy, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Object of My Affection, 1 ep of Robot Chicken, 1 ep of Family Guy, 1 ep of Weeds, 1 ep of Frasier) as Dr. Bernice Deagan.
Ben Falcone (Identity Thief, Pretty Ugly People, Smiley Face, Garfield 2, Joey) as Pete Fowler.
Judith Hoag (April O’Neil in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (1990), Salt, Armageddon, 1 ep of Weeds, 1 ep of Dream On, 1 ep of Mad About You) as Petal Dubois. Thanks to the IMDB message board for pointing out this tidbit. I would have missed her name. She was one of the parents in the crowd.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2170299/combined

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016)

[IMDB link]

RATINGS:
Claire: Netflix: 3.4/5 stars. IMDB: 7.4/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 3.4/5 stars. IMDB: 7.4/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: Netflix: 3.2/5 stars, IMDB: 5.8/10.

CAROLYN’S THOUGHTS: This movie was not as good as the first one. It was still entertaining, but overall it was just middle of the road. Replace the frat boys from the original movie with sorority girls and a sequel is born.

CLAIRE’S THOUGHTS: Indeed, compared to original, this one is not memorable. And not simply because they substituted girls for boys, but because it simply wasn’t as funny or as good. It was still funny and good, but more of a above-generic comedy than the mind-blowing good time we had watching Neighbors 1.

PEOPLE:

Directed by Nicholas Stoller (Neighbors 1, Get Him To The Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall).
Written by Andrew J. Cohen (Neighbors 1) & Brendan O’Brien (Neighbors 1), Nicholas Stoller (Get Him To The Greek, Fun With Dick & Jane, Zoolander 2, The Five-Year Engagement, 3 eps of Undeclared), Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express, This Is The End, The Interview, The Night Before, The Green Hornet, Goon) & Seth Rogen (This Is The End, The Green Hornet, Pineapple Express, 5 eps of Undeclared, 1 ep of The Simpsons, The Interview).

Starring:
From the first movie:
Seth Rogen (Neighbors 1, 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, This Is The End, Anchorman, Young George Bluth in Arrested Development, 17 eps of Undeclared) as Mac Radner.
Rose Byrne (Neighbors 1, Moira MacTaggert in X-Men: First Class, Get Him To The Greek, 28 Weeks Later, I Give It A Year, The Internship, Star Wars: Episode II, 1 ep of Portlandia) as Kelly Radner.
Brian Huskey (Neighbors 1, Someone Marry Barry, Chet in Childrens Hospital, This Is The End, The Onion News Network, Step Brothers, Superbad, Fright Night, 5 eps of Bob’s Burgers) as Bill Wazowkowski.
Ike Barinholtz (Neighbors 1, Disaster Movie, MADtv, The Mindy Project, 6 eps of Eastbound & Down, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV::, 1 ep of Childrens Hospital, 1 ep of Weeds, 1 ep of High School USA, 1 ep of Drunk History) as Jimmy, the divorced friend.
Carla Gallo (Neighbors 1, Undeclared, Get Him To The Greek, Funny People, I Love You Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, Carnivale) as Paula, the friend’s divorced wife.
Zac Efron (Neighbors 1, Anakin Skywalker in Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III, That Awkward Moment, 17 Again, The Lorax, High School Musical, 1 ep of Firefly) as Teddy Sanders, the douchy frat president.
Dave Franco (Neighbors 1, Fright Night, The Lego Movie, Warm Bodies, 21 Jump Street, Superbad, 2 eps of Young Justice) as Pete, the brainy frat dude.
Lisa Kudrow (Neighbors 1, Phoebe in Friends, Mad About You, Analyze This movies, Dr. Dolittle 2, Clockwatchers, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Web Therapy, 1 ep of American Dad, 1 ep of Father Of The Pride) as Dean Carol Gladstone.
Hannibal Buress (Neighbors 1, The Eric Andre Show, 8 eps of China IL, 2 eps of Lucas Bros. Moving Company, 1 ep of Delocated, 1 ep of Bob’s Burgers) as Officer Watkins.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Neighbors 1, McLovin from Superbad, How To Train Your Dragon, The To-Do List, This Is the End, Kick-Ass movies, Movie 43, Fright Night, Year One) as Scoonie.
Jerrod Carmichael (Lucas Bros Moving Co, Neighbors 1, 1 ep of Axe Cop) as Garf.

From the second movie:
Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass movies, Let Me In, (500) Days Of Summer, The Amityville Horror, Movie 43, 1 ep of American Dad) as Shelby, the main girl.
Kiersey Clemons as Beth, Shelby’s new friend.
Beanie Feldstein as Nora, Shelby’s new friend.
Clara Mamet as Maranda.
Awkwafina as Christine.
Selena Gomez (Spring Breakers, Horton Hears a Who!, Spy Kids 3, Barney & Friends, Wizards Of Waverly Place, Behaving Badly) as Phi Lamda President, president of the competing sorority.

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Neighbors aka Bad Neighbors (2014)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Neighbors aka Bad Neighbors (2014)

Claire: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Carolyn: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Native ratings: 3.7/5 stars Netflix, 6.9/10 IMDB.

From the director of Get Him To The Greek and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, we expected that this movie would be highly entertaining, and it was.  While not quite being 5-star material, it was still chock full of laugh-out-loud jokes and situations.

It had potential to be a great party movie, but it was a little weird, becase Seth and his wife are trying to “grow up” because they have a baby now. So us “Apatow generation” comedy viewers are once again being forced to face the fact that we ourselves are aging.  Seems that the marketing machine targetted at our demographic is growing with us, in order to ensure that we remain a captive audience. And we do, because this shit is funny.  But still…part of the “message” is lost on Carolyn & I, since we don’t want children — or even comprehend the idea of why anyone would.

Definitely a good drinking movie — whether you’re in your early 20s, or late 30s. And a great cast. Talented people all around. Not necessarily the most memorable or unique movie, but it’s a formula that works, and it’s nice to go into a movie knowing what to expect and have it actually be accurate for once. Good times.

Hannibal from The Eric Andrew Show was great as a police officer. I didn’t even notice Natasha Leggero (Callie from Ugly Americans, Ethel from Brickleberry) as a prostitute.
Directed by Nicholas Stoller (Get Him To The Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall).
Written by Andrew J. Cohen & Brendan O’Brien.

Starring 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, This Is The End, Anchorman, Young George Bluth in Arrested Development, 17 eps of Undeclared) as Mac Radner.
Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggert in X-Men: First Class, Get Him To The Greek, 28 Weeks Later, I Give It A Year, The Internship, Star Wars: Episode II, 1 ep of Portlandia) as Kelly Radner.
Brian Huskey (Someone Marry Barry, Chet in Childrens Hospital, This Is The End, The Onion News Network, Step Brothers, Superbad, Fright Night, 5 eps of Bob’s Burgers) as Bill Wazowkowski.
Ike Barinholtz (Disaster Movie, MADtv, The Mindy Project, 6 eps of Eastbound & Down, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV::, 1 ep of Childrens Hospital, 1 ep of Weeds, 1 ep of High School USA, 1 ep of Drunk History) as Jimmy, the divorced friend.
Carla Gallo (Undeclared, Get Him To The Greek, Funny People, I Love You Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, Carnivale) as Paula, the friend’s divorced wife.
Zac Efron (Anakin Skywalker in Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III, That Awkward Moment, 17 Again, The Lorax, High School Musical, 1 ep of Firefly) as Teddy Sanders, the douchy frat president.
Dave Franco (Fright Night, The Lego Movie, Warm Bodies, 21 Jump Street, Superbad, 2 eps of Young Justice) as Pete, the brainy frat dude.
Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe in Friends, Mad About You, Analyze This movies, Dr. Dolittle 2, Clockwatchers, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Web Therapy, 1 ep of American Dad, 1 ep of Father Of The Pride) as Dean Carol Gladstone.
Hannibal Buress (The Eric Andre Show, 8 eps of China IL, 2 eps of Lucas Bros. Moving Company, 1 ep of Delocated, 1 ep of Bob’s Burgers) as Officer Watkins.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin from Superbad, How To Train Your Dragon, The To-Do List, This Is the End, Kick-Ass movies, Movie 43, Fright Night, Year One) as Scoonie.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2004420/combined

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: The Lone Ranger (2013)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: The Lone Ranger (2013)

Claire: 4.4/5 stars, 8/10.
Carolyn: 4.4/5 stars, 8/10.
Native ratings: 3.2/5 stars Netflix, /10 IMDB.

Carolyn’s thoughts: Fun movie!  I had low expectations because I was like “Lone Ranger? Meh.”  I didn’t remember much from the series that I watched when I was a kid, and didn’t think much of it.  But this movie delivered plenty of fun action and some good comedy splashed in.  I enjoyed it!  Johnny Depp is awesome as usual.

Claire’s thoughts: There was a series? I guess there was, huh? Much like Ninja Turtles, this is something that was around last millennium, but which I’ve never really exprienced until the 2010s. Unlike Caroly, I had no low expectations. I figured explicitly because Johnny Depp worked hard on this — that I’d most likely really like it.  Other peoples’ complaints I filed under the “every remake/sequel has a bunch of fucking whiners attached to it”, and ignored. They only served to make me more interested in seeing it: The more complaints there are, the more there is something they are trying to stop, the more I want to know what that is.

This was fucking hilarious. It was a great adventure movie. I have no regrets. I’d recommend this to anyone who can sit thorugh a 2.5-hour movie.  It’s length really helped mak eit better!

And no, Tonto wasn’t racist. The fucking idians kicked him out because they thought he was crazy. They cover this in the movie! He acted completely different than the rest of them. And there’s an explanation, too. People whining that his depiction was racist couldn’t possibly have seen the movie, are fucking idiots, and should be shot. There. I said it.

Directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates Of The Caribbean 1-3, Mousehunt).
Written by Justin Haythe (Snitch), Ted Elliott (Pirates Of The Caribbean 1-6, National Treasure 2, Aladdin, Shrek, The Mask Of Zorro, The Legend Of Zorro (2005)) & Terry Rossio (Pirates Of The Caribbean 1-5, National Treasure 2, Aladdin, Shrek, The Mask Of Zorro, The Legend Of Zorro (2005)).

Starring Johnny Depp as Tonto.
Helena Bonham Carter as Red Harrington.
Armie Hammer (Mirror Mirror, The Social Network, 1 ep of American Dad, 1 ep of The Simpsons, 1 ep of Arrested Development) as John Reid (Lone Ranger).
William Fichtner (Date Night, The Dark Knight, Wrong, Drive Angry, Ken Rosenberg in Grand Theft Auto, Blades Of Glory, Equilibrium, Endsville, Armageddon, Black Hawk Down, Go, Strange Days, The Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)) as Butch Cavendish.
Tom Wilkinson (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, The Green Hornet) as Latham Cole.
James Badge Dale (World War Z, Iron Man 3, Chase Edmunds in 24 (Kim Bauer’s secret boyfriend who was Jack’s partner in the 3rd season)) as Dan Reid, John’s brother.
Ruth Wilson as Rebecca Reid, Dan’s wife.
Mason Cook (The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Spy Kids 4) as Will, the little boy who old Tonto is telling the story to.
JD Cullum (1 ep of Weeds, 1 ep of Frasier, 1 ep of 24) as Wendell.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210819/combined

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: That Awkward Moment (2014)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: That Awkward Moment (2014)

Claire: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Carolyn: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Native ratings: 3.2/5 stars Netflix, 6.2/10 IMDB.

I don’t know why it was so enjoyable, because it didn’t seem to be that special of a premise.  It worked as a sweet little movie.. yet we laughed HARD during it.

The “so moment” of a relationship is a good concept.

This movie really isn’t that memorable, but it was surprisingly entertaining for what it was. Perhaps because it is related to Movie 43 ever-so-slightly. Of course, most people hated Movie 43, but we loved it.

I truly don’t remember this movie two weeks later. Carolyn does. I’m bad at remembering things I watch, and waited too long to write my “review”.  Suffice to say… This is better than it sounds.
Written & Directed by Tom Gormican (co-producer of Movie 43).

Starring Zac Efron (Anakin Skywalker in Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III, 17 Again, The Lorax, High School Musical, 1 ep of Firefly) as Jason.
Miles Teller (he will be Reed Richards in a The Fantastic Four reboot that is filming right now) as Daniel.
Michael B. Jordan (he’s going to be Johnny Storm in that same Fantastic Four reboot movie that the other guy is also starring in, 2 eps of The Boondocks, 1 ep of The Sopranos) as Mikey, the black friend.
Imogen Poots (Drummond in Filth, 28 Weeks Later, V for Vendetta, Fright Night) as Ellie.
Mackenzie Davis (Smashed) as Chelsea, the wing-woman.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1800246/combined

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Someone Marry Barry (2014)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Someone Marry Barry (2014)

Claire: 4.4/5 stars, 8.4/10.
Carolyn: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Native ratings: 3.2/5 stars Netflix, 5.9/10 IMDB.

Carolyn’s thoughts:  This was entertainly funny.  Lucy Punch was great.    Richard from Silicon Valley is awkward.  Damon Wayans Jr is the son of one of the Wayans brothers [You don’t say? -Claire].  Nice!

Claire’s thoughts: Nice indeed. Wanted a comedy. Got one. A lot of social awkwardness. Barry, the token “friend lacking a filter”. Tyler Labine & Lucy Punch had great chemistry. This is one of those rare comedy movies that is mostly about a romance, but which you would not call a romantic comedy — because the comedy comes first.  Yea, it has its formulaic moments and twists, but I genuinely liked this better than most of what’s out there.

Written and directed by the relatively-unknown Rob Pearlstein. I’d like him to make more ones like this.

Starring:
Tyler Labine (Dale in Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil, Control Alt Delete, Rapture-Palooza, Zack And Miri Make A Porno, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, 2 eps of Dark Angel, 2 eps of The X-Files) as Barry Burke. He doesn’t fuck any computers in this movie.
Lucy Punch (The Giant Mechanical Man, Bad Teacher, Hot Fuzz, St. Trinian’s) as Melanie Miller. I wish she’d do the red hair again, but I still love her.
Damon Wayans Jr. (1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV::) as Desmond (subplot-guy who was fired & not fucking/fucking his wife).
Thomas Middleditch (Richard in Silicon Valley, 2 eps of Beavis & Butt-Head (2011), 1 ep of Ugly Americans, 1 ep of The Office, 1 ep of Newsreaders) as Kurt.
Ed Helms (Andy from The Office, The Hangover movies, The Lorax, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, 5 eps of Childrens Hospital, 3 eps of NTSF:SD:SUV, 3 eps of Arrested Development, 1 ep of Ugly Americans) as Ben, Melanie’s failed date.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1978532/combined

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Sexy Evil Genius (2013)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Sexy Evil Genius (2013)

Claire: 3/5 stars, 7.4/10.
Carolyn: 4/5 stars, 7.6/10.
Native ratings: 3.4/5 stars Netflix, 5.7/10 IMDB.

So, Jsun mentioned there was a new My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, which led me to the wikipedia page in order to find the title, which led me to read said page, which lead me to notice an “In Popular Culture” section that was surprisingly blank, but said one thing: “Their songs are a major plot device in the dark comedy film Sexy Evil Genius.”

Now, I think people related to the movie put this in there, because it’s NOT a major plot device. It’s not even a plot device.  But the band IS mentioned and talked about more than in any other movie I’ve ever seen, and one of the few songs that I ever temporarily considered “my favorite song of all time” is indeed in the soundtrack – A Daisy Chain 4 Satan (Acid & Flowers Mix). So I don’t feel ripped off about that.

The genre made me feel a bit more ripped off. Netflix more accurately categorizes it as Crime-Thriller, while IMDB says Comedy-Drama-Mystery-Thriller which is just wrong. So we had unrealized comedic expectations hurting us.

But, y’know, it was still pretty interesting. Not as much of an overt comedy, but it still had comedic elements. It was more of an intriguing movie of dialog slowly revealing ulterior motives and mysteries, all while sitting at a bar table. Everyone sat at a table and talked — through the entire movie. One of those. If you took out the various flashback scenes, this could easily be a low-budget play with 4 people.

Yet it still worked, and was still entertaining. Seth Green! Michelle Trachtenberg! Katee Sackoff, from 24! The narrator-in-a-wheelchair from Oz … We finally saw him take a few steps! Good cast to do something like this. Worth it for the Thrill Kill Kult and Trachtenberg-eyes alone.

Carolyn’s thoughts: It was very low-key because it was more about dialogue and flashbacks, but it worked pretty well. There was a very interesting style to it.

Directed by Shawn Piller.
Written by Scott Lew.

Starring Seth Green (Robot Chicken, Family Guy, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Can’t Hardly Wait, Hulk And The Agents Of S.M.A.S.H., Greg The Bunny, Titan Maximum, Without A Paddle, Idle Hands, 8 eps of Batman Beyond, 4 eps of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, 4 eps of MADtv, 3 eps of Mad, 2 eps of Heroes, 2 eps of Holliston) as Zachary Newman.
Anthony Michael Hall (The Dark Knight, Trojan War, Edward Scissorhands, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1 ep of American Dad) as Mark Von Dutch. Nice to see our Oz narrator doing something again. He looks slightly different, 10+ years later, but still totally recognizable. Kinda funny that he still doesn’t walk during the entire movie — except when he walks in and sits down. So in two features we’ve seen of him, he’s walked for all of 10 seconds.
Michelle Trachtenberg (Take Me Home Tonight, Weeds, Eurotrip, 17 Again, Mysterious Skin, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, 5 eps of Robot Chicken, 4 eps of Six Feet Under) as Miranda Prague.
Katee Sackhoff (Dana Walsh from 24, Riddick, 7 eps of Robot Chicken, 4 eps of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Battlestar Galactica, 4 eps of Nip/Tuck, 4 eps of Undressed) as Nikki Franklyn.
Harold Perrineau (the narrator from Oz, 28 Weeks Later, The Matrix 2-3, Snitch, Lost) as Marvin Coolidge.
William Baldwin (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Sliver) as Bert Mayfaire.
Nora Kirkpatrick (5 eps of The Office) as Abby.
Derek Mio (G.B.F. aka Gay Best Friend) as Lead Singer.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1801096/combined