VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Video Game High School (2012)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Video Game High School (2012)

Carolyn: 5/5 stars, 9/10.
Clint: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Native rating: 7.7/10 IMDB (Not available on Netflix).

First off, this is actually a TV series of short episodes repacked into a movie. It feels way more movie-like than I expected from that description. The episode cuts are not as jarring as one would think; I didn’t notice most of them as being different. If you had told me it was a  movie from the start, I would have believed it.

So anyway, you could call this an alternate-earth movie, where videogames are everything, and you go to college to get better at video games. And if you lose too many matches, you get expelled for having bad game winning stats. Throw in a romantic angle (a must in any college comedy?), a bully (who’s power comes from his videogame prowess), and you get a pretty interesting movie… If you’re a gamer.

It reminded Carolyn of Todd And The Book Of Evil on a few fronts (high school, crush on girl named Jenny, redhed geekier girl who gets with 2nd friend and may actually be hotter than Jenny), though the subject matter really was nothing like it, and I would say something like the movie John Dies At The End reminds me more of Todd And The Book Of Evil.

Johanna Braddy was in the Avatar:The Last Airbender cartoon and in Paranormal Activity 3.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2170584/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: John Dies At The End (2012)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: John Dies At The End (2012)

Clint: 5/5 stars, 9.6/10.
(4/5 stars, 8/10 after first/too drunk viewing)
Carolyn: 5/5 stars, 10/10.
Native ratings: 4/5 stars Netflix, 6.9/10 IMDB.

Holy fuck, this is the most unique movie I’ve watched in awhile.

A supernatural fantasy/psychological horror/drug comedy that does not take itself too seriously.  This movie is WEIRD. SO WEIRD. And kind of confusing.

The first time I watched it I drank too much leftover New Year’s champagne and was a bit too out of it to fully comprehend everything, so I knew I liked it, but I couldn’t really remember any of the plot points, or what the hell had just happened. I watched it again about 4 days later with John The Canadien; Autumn left in the middle of the movie, while Jesse, Melanie, Randy, Chablis, and Steve stopped by mid-movie and watched most of the rest with us. They all kinda loved it or really liked it.

It’s based on a book (that Chablis had read, and Carolyn now wants to obtain).

Anyway, Paul Giamatti & Clancy Brown were welcome additions to the mostly-unknown cast. The screenplay adaptation was done by a screenwriter of Bubba Ho-Tep & the Beastmaster movies.

The movie definitely had its cheesy moments. It was pretty much on purpose. Regardless, this is NOT a movie that you can guess what is going to happen next on. It is a wild ride. It is pretty much impossible to guess where the plot is going. That makes this very charming.

Anyway… Great fucking movie! SEE IT, SEE IT, SEE IT!

Carolyn: Slightly confusing, but thoroughly enjoyable.  Based on a book, which apparently people liked better than the movie.  Be careful when injecting unknown drugs.  They might be part of an alien infection from a parallel universe.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1783732/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Stripes (1981)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Stripes (1981)

3/5 stars, 7/10 from both of us.
Native rating: 3.8/5 Netflix, 6.8/10 IMDB.

This is a classic I had seen several times as a kid, but never watched as an adult.

From the director of Ghostbusters 1-2, Meatballs, Kindergarten Cop, and My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and writers that also wrote on Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Caddyshack, Metaballs, Analyze This/That, The Pink Panther remake and Year One.

With an absolutely stellar cast:

Bill Murray,
Harold Ramis (Heavy Metal, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Airheads, As Good As It Gets, High Fidelity, Knocked Up, Walk Hard, Year One),
Warren Oates (The Wild Bunch),
P.J. Soles (Rock And Roll High School, Joysticks, The Devil’s Rejects, Jawbreaker, Halloween, Carrie, Breaking Away),
Sean Young (Blade Runner, Dune, Fatal Instinct),
John Candy (RIP) (Spaceballs, Little Shop Of Horrors, Hot To Trot, Home Alone, Brewster’s Millions, Canadian Bacon, Heavy Metal, Planes, Trains & Automobiles),
John Diehl (Escape From New York, Joysticks),
John Voldstad (the other brother Darryl from Newheart, Joysticks),
John Larroquette (Night Court, Boston Legal), Judge Reinhold.

Basically, you watch this movie for the performance of everyone involved.

The actual plot isn’t super-stellar: Bill Murray is a loser who breaks rules, so he joins the army with another loser friend. Basic training hilarity ensues, then they end up actually going into actual battle under the strangest of circumstances.

The comedy never stops, but at the same time, it’s not the most hilarious, cutting-edge, modern, relevant comedy.

Strangely — this was originally going to be a Cheech & Chong movie, but C&C’s agent fucked it up for them. Too bad about that.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083131/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: How To Stop Being A Loser (2011)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: How To Stop Being A Loser (2011)

Clint: 4.4/5 stars, 8/10.
Carolyn: 4.6/5 stars, 8/10.
Native rating: 4.4/10 IMDB (not available on netflix).
WTF IT’S WAY BETTER THAN THAT!

Apparently this movie is kind of polarizing. A lot of people think it’s stupid rubbish. After all, it has similarities to MANY other movies (like The Long Weekend, or a billion other romantic comedies).

But this is more of a sex comedy than a romantic comedy, and that’s a plus for us.

It is specifically about a the influence of PUAs (pickup artists) and The Game, and parodies/comments on that phenomenon quite well.

A loser who has the most awkward time possible trying to talk to girls (with some VERY awkward scenes in the movie) finally pays a 2nd rate pickup-artist to try to teach him how to get chicks.

And the psychiatrist he keeps talking to (as a framing device) throughout the movie is pretty funny too!

Plus you get to see the girl who played the main character in MirrorMask as the “nerdy female friend whose sexuality is totally ignored by people who don’t realize she is actually really hot”.

But anyway… For a formulaic movie that wasn’t that unique, this one was better than most.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727506/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Cloud Atlas (2012)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Cloud Atlas (2012)

4.6/5 stars, 9/10 from both of us.
Native rating: 3.7/10 stars Netflix, 8.0/10 IMDB.

I don’t normally like the movies of several different unrelated/barely-related lives, but then, this isn’t that. Everything is connected. The editing and execution was magnificent. They said this book could never be made into a movie, but they were wrong.

Six stories in six different periods of time, all linked, all being told simultaneously. And it’s actually pretty easy to follow, with the exception of the future-English spoken in the post-apocalypstic one. I’m sure I didn’t realize all the linkages between different stories, but it was absolutely watchable and not a scattered mess like some thought it was going to be. It was quite interesting!

Basically, Wachowski siblings FTW! As always!

It actually took me a few seconds to realize which characters were Tom Hanks… And Halle Berry as the male asian doctor was one of the most deceptive makeup jobs in the movie. Basically, each actor was several characters. David Lynch probably really liked this movie.

Carolyn: “I felt like I felt with Benjamin Button, a wholesome love-conquers-all feel, but then also revolution, going against the norm, speaking/fighting for what’s right, not accepting the status quo. It was a good movie.”

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371111/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Dredd (2012)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Dredd (2012)

4/5 stars, 8/10 from both of us.
Native rating: 3.9/5 stars, 7.3/10.

This was quite action-heavy, as expected. Since that was our expectation, we were satisfied.

The quirk of a drug called “Slo-Mo” that slows down time to 1% was amazing with the way they represented it on film. Wow.

At a couple points, they had shitty cgi blood, the worst since Star Trek 5…but fortunately that was only a 1-2 time thing and it looked good the rest of the movie.

Overall, this was visually superior to the previous version…. And the previous version’s visuals were a lot of what it had going for it.
But now things are modern, and sssso deliciously crisssssssp.  The old movie couldn’t offer that.  And I think Stallone is kind of cheesy anyway.

So file this under: Yet another remake I liked better than the original, just like with Total Recall.

Of course one can always say this is not a remake, but another, different adaptation of the source material.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343727/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Leon: The Professional (1994)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Leon: The Professional (1994)

Clint: 3.6/5 stars.
Carolyn: 4/5 stars.
8/10 from both of us.
Native rating: 4.2/5 stars, 8.6/10.

I’d heard “The Professional” recommended so many times. After all, it’s the 31st highest-rated movie in IMDB. Natalie Portman’s 2nd movie, and she’s only about 12 or 13 years old. Starring Jean Reno, who we really only have seen as Ponton in the Pink Panther remake movies, but who is quite good. And Gary Oldman.

I’m not a big fan of the crime genre, but the actors in this were good. The story was kind of generic, but the characters were not. The sexual tension between Natalie Portman and Jean Reno was so completely awkward and cringe-inducing and unique.

The over-the-top mega-acting of Gary Oldman was pretty intense, and at times hilariously cheesy. Yet the movie itself doesn’t come off as cheesy at all. The ending could be better — it felt slightly cliched to me (but I’m a cynic) — but all in all this movie held my interest more than I expected.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1