Crazy, Stupid, Love Review

I just got back from seeing Crazy, Stupid, Love with Justin. My movie buddy Jacqui wrote a review, but I would like to share my views of the film as well. I personally loved the movie. It really did a great job of blending comedy and drama. This film makes you care about all of the characters involved. Jacqui touched on the plot so I won't reiterate it, but the different storylines were all fantastic and well written. My favorite performance much like Jacqui's was by Ryan Gosling which is odd because I normally do not like his work. I also really enjoyed Emma Stone's character and I am not a huge fan of hers, but she is growing on me in terms of her roles. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling had such GREAT chemistry. Their scenes were so amazing. The chemistry between Steve Carell and Julianne Moore was great and you could feel the long term relationship. One aspect I really liked was it focuses on love from three different age brackets: the young, lustful love with his son Robbie and their babysitter (which has some really hilarious twists in it), the young 20 something love where they're deciding what steps to take (this is observed through different storylines), and the older couples relationship (through Carell and Moore with mid-life crises etc). The plot twists towards the end were so amazing and perfectly connected all the storylines which was very awesome. The theater was packed and one little tidbit that I just cannot give away because it was so perfectly well done got such a great reaction and nobody saw it coming. I had an inkling that it might just based on certain characteristics in the characters, but I really liked the revelation. This whole revelation scene ended up being my favorite scene besides the one with Stone and Gosling. In my opinion, this movie is a must see. The acting, writing, music, plot and cameos by Marisa Tomei (HILARIOUS), Kevin Bacon, Nancy Carell and Josh Groban are amazing. Jacqui gave it a 3/5. I give it a 4/5. I honestly was very impressed with how this turned out and will definitely get the DVD when it comes out. As my brothers Jake and Justin know I have a huge case of DVDS that I call The Case and this movie passes approval.

"Crazy, Stupid, Love"

Last night, I saw Crazy Stupid Love. This is the newest member of the "Steve Carrell Rom-Com" cannon. It also stars Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Also making some memoriable cameos: Josh Groban, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon and Nancy Carrell (Steve Carrell's real life wife).

The brief synopsis is  Cal Weaver (Carrell) thinks he has it all; a great wife (Moore), kids, house etc. That is until his wife announces over dinner that she wants a divorce because she had slept with her co-worker (Bacon). This leaves Cal to navigate the single dating world for the first time ever. His guide on this journey is Jacob (Gosling) who is the local bar playboy. He takes Cal under his wing after listening to the poor guy cry about his current lot for a third night in a row. He teaches Cal everything from dressing right to how to pick up women. Cal has a rough go at first but finds his way through the chaos. There are two other parallel story lines. The first is that of Cal's and Emily's son Robbie experiencing his first love and its complications. You also meet Hannah, a new lawyer and her experiences in the dating world.  I can't give much more than that because it will ruin the storyline.

I should say I am not a rom-com person. Yes, like most women, I admit to having a secret stash of some semi-cheesy movies. However for the most part I usually avoid them in the theatre. Juliane Moore and Steve Carrell moved this one to the theatre category. I was honestly not disappointed.

For me, there are two marks of a horrible rom-com:

1. Cheesy dated music.
2. A totally easy to guess plotline. 

This movie was thankfully missing both. To address the second point, Crazy Stupid Love had some plot twists you expected and others you didn't.  I liked the ending. You don't know how it ends for any of the characters except they all have a great deal of work and growing to do. I won't say this often but Ryan Gosling was actually my favorite part of the movie. He played a very Barney Stinson like character and like the HIMYM Barney shows the ability to change. Also the relationship between Carrell and Moore was very relate-able. You did get the feeling they had been together for a long time through their various inside jokes and other shenanigans (My friends pointed to the scene were they joked about switching their son at birth for example).

Yes, music to me is a very important detail in just about every movie. In Rom-Coms, I have often found sometimes directors will pile on music that will date a movie and effect its replay value (at least for me). I really liked the use of alternative and unheard of artists in the soundtrack, it added to the movie rather than distracted from the story.  This aspect alone would make me want to re-watch it.

Overall, I give this movie a 3/5. I put this in the category of good movie but not mandatory to see in the theatre.

Cowboys and Aliens Review

On July 29, 2011, I saw Cowboys and Aliens with Justin. Overall, I thought the movie was terrible. I did like Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford's characters, but otherwise I just couldn't get into this movie. If they had kept this as a stand alone cowboy film, I think I might have actually liked it. The alien element is just ludicrous and completely taints everything. Though there are some good action sequences, I felt that the concept just fell flat. The story wasn't really developed well and some of the performances, especially Olivia Wilde's were pretty bad. There are A LOT of familiar faces like Paul Dano (who isn't in it long enough and it's a shame because his character was great) and Keith Carradine (who again wasn't in it long enough). Paul Dano is Dwayne in Little Miss Sunshine and Keith Carradine plays Agent Frank Lundy in Dexter for people who don't know who they are. I never liked Sam Rockwell and it continues in this movie as well. As I said, I did like some of the action scenes and there were some genuine funny lines, but I really wouldn't recommend this. I'll be kind and give it a 2/5, but really I could rank it lower based on Wilde, the plot, and whoever came up with the concept from the beginning.

Captain America: The First Avenger Review

Hey my movie blog readers. I was in San Diego last week for Comic-Con and had a blast with my brother Justin and my dad. While I was there, I ended up getting to see Captain America with a packed audience on July 22, 2011. Experiencing a movie on the west coast was fun as everyone was into it from the start. Let me say, this is probably one of my favorite superhero movies besides the X-Men movies (minus Wolverine), Iron Man 1, Spider-Man (all three), and of course all the Batman movies. Yes, I enjoyed Batman and Robin. The cheesy Adam West/Burt Ward movie from 1966 is great as well just because of how amazingly hilarious it is. Anyway, back to Captain America. Being a history buff, I loved how the comic's origins were brought to the screen as he was originally designed to combat bullying from Nazi Germany as well as instilling patriotism at home for the American war effort as they entered the war in 1941. I thought that Chris Evans was very believable in the role and I look forward to seeing what he does in the Avengers movie. I liked how they made the romance between Evans and the Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter character similar to something you would see in a movie of that era. Stanley Tucci provided some great comedic moments interacting with Evans who I feel is primarily a comedic actor. I felt that the best part of the movie was definitely Hugo Weaving's portrayal of Red Skull. He has a gift of creating great characters such as V in V For Vendetta or Agent Smith in The Matrix trilogy. This was no exception as he definitely created an aura that his character wanted to destroy mankind with his Hydra organization which was an opposition to Adolf Hitler's Nazi party. It seems he felt the Nazi's plans weren't harsh enough so he developed more dangerous weaponry he could use to gain better standing. I am very impressed with the action sequences and the effects. I defintely recommend this movie as it gives a basic comic book formula perfectly placed into a historical setting and the results are positive. I give the movie a 4/5

Gerard Verterano

Migrating the Archive..

So some of you might know that there was an original version of this blog. My entries were housed in my MySpace account. As I am currently cleaning up my online persona, I am cancelling the MySpace account. Gerard will laugh at some of these reviews as he was present for many of these movies...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Justin and I just got back from seeing the last movie of the Harry Potter franchise. I loved everything about this movie. I have been an avid fan of the films since The Prisoner of Azkaban. The battle scenes were incredible. There was so much emotion in the characters when the Hogwarts army were slain. Voldemort's army represented evil incarnate which is how they should be portrayed. Ralph Fiennes does such an amazing job in the role. I have enjoyed watching Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint evolve on the screen. These three are loaded with great acting abilities. I like how their relationships are depicted and the casting choices ended up working very well. I am really hoping that they end up getting some great roles after this. Neville Longbottom was awesome in this installment as he was able to do alot more and actually plays a very important role. I love the Hermoine/Ron relationship as it started out with the teasing you'd see on the playground but evolved into love. Harry and Jinny are a perfect combination. The audience was applauding at everything towards the end. It was great being a part of that atmosphere. Alan Rickman and Michael Gambon perform very well in their roles of Severus Snape and Albus Dumbeldore respectively. One scene in particular that I loved was the Snape flashback scene. It was so well done and really helped tie everything in. The movie was well done with amazing visuals, superb acting and capped off an amazing decade of magic that will be loved by generations. This is my favorite movie series of all time and there are quite a few I am fond of. There were so many times in this movie where you couldn't help but start tearing up whether it was out of sadness or joy. It just took you on an incredible journey aboard a Nimbus 2000 or whatever broom you can place here haha. I just have been captivated and am even more impressed at how J.K. Rowling created such creative stories. I can only hope that she decides to write more with the introduction of their children. I honestly would love to see more Potter related stories. I give this movie a 5/5. It will be rare that I give a 5/5, but this deserves it in my opinion. This was my favorite movie I've seen this year besides Super (not Super 8 which I thought was terrible) and Water For Elephants.

Gerard Verterano

Zookeeper Review

My brother Justin and I got haircuts today for our trip to San Diego today so we decided to go see Zookeeper afterwards. All I can say is this movie turned out to be alot better than I thought it would be. I was interested initially because I am a fan of Kevin James and feel he is an underrated comedic actor. The story centers around a man named Griffin played by James who wants to marry his girlfriend Stephanie played by the beautiful Leslie Bibb. She declines his offer because she feels that he is not where she wants him to be. She wants him to change who he is as it isn't enough for her. Rosario Dawson's role in the movie comes midway through and she plays a good protagonist female to feed off of Bibb's antagonist role. I didn't hate Bibb's character, but she was definitely great at portraying that Griffin wasn't good enough for her as she keeps saying multiple times that he has potential. The animals provide some great comedic moments and combined with Kevin James physical comedy, it actually worked very well. The voice talents of Sylvester Stallone, Nick Nolte, and Adam Sandler were great. The TGIFridays scene and the wedding scene were the best scenes as they provided great physical comedy moments for James and legitimate funny dialogue. I would definitely recommend the movie as it may be geared towards kids, but we all have experienced Griffin's dilemmas: 1) feeling pressue to change to be accepted by somebody that they want to be with and 2) realizing that you are perfect the way you are. The female characters definitely help propel these two points. I would give the movie a 3/5. The movie has a great storyline and genuine good, clean comedy that is rare in this day and age.

Horrible Bosses Review

On July 8, 2011, I saw Horrible Bosses with my brother Justin. Let me just say off hand going into this movie, I didn't think I would like it at all, but it ended up being pretty decent overall. If you've seen the trailers, the movie follows three friends played by Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day. They all experience their own problems with their respective bosses played by Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, and Jennifer Aniston. Of course, they eventually get the idea to kill their bosses. After this is established, the movie picks up in entertainment value. The only storyline I didn't like was the Aniston/Day storyline, but I've never been a Jennifer Aniston fan to begin with so chalk that up to what it's worth. The best part of this movie without a doubt is Kevin Spacey. I feel he sets the tone of the movie for what the main characters are rebelling against. Bateman's character is really the only one that you feel for because of hoe Spacey's character treats him. There are some great twists that occur towards the middle of the movie and I liked the direction they took. I would definitely say give this movie a try. There were some legitimate funny scenes throughout the movie as Bateman, Sudeikis and Day have great comedic chemistry, but as I said Spacey is the glue of the movie in my opinion. Farrell is kept to a minimum and really most of his parts can be seen in the trailer, but that's alright since Farrell is not a favorite, though I enjoyed his character of Danny Witwer in Minority Report. Overall, I'd give the movie a 3/5, because I really didn't like the aforementioned storyline but some of the plot twists helped this movie to keep me interested. I normally don't rank comedies that high anyway, but this is definitely one of the better ones I've seen with Bridesmaids being the one to entertain me the most this year.

-Gerard


So I know I said I wouldn't be seeing anymore movies until Harry Potter... Well, I lied. I went to go see "Horrible Bosses". Yay our first double review. Since Gerard has handled most of the summary, I'll just go straight into the review.

First things first, this movie has probably the greatest amount of base humor I have seen since Austin Powers.  However, like Austin Powers it was well executed. My personal favorite parts of the movie were Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston. Any scene those two were in; immediately stolen.

An aspect of this movie that I really liked was seeing actors breaking their "type casting". Aniston playing a crazy bitch, instead of her good girl image was amazing. Kevin Spacey has been known to play some psychotic characters in the past but rarely in a comedy like this. Ioan Gruffud ("Fantastic Four", "Horatio Hornblower") makes a cameo appearance as the "Wet Man", way too funny to fully explain. Ron White also makes an appearance in the film.   

 The base humor accomplished two goals that I personally like to see: 1) actually advancing the plot 2) funny.  Very rare you find a comedy that does both especially with the level of humor that this movie has. This movie also has some replay value. The jokes come at you quickly, so I am sure while I was doubled over laughing I missed something. 

I won't say this is a "Must See" in theatres but it is very enjoyable. I'll go with 3/5 stars

-Jacqui

Midnight in Paris

“Midnight in Paris” is the newest addition to the Woody Allen movie catalog. I will start out by saying this is the best Allen movie I have seen in a very long time. If you decide to see this one, it will not let you down.

The plot summary of this film is you are presented with a family come to Paris for a combination business trip for the parents (played by Mimi Kennedy and Kurt Fuller) and vacation for their daughter (Rachel McAdams) and her disillusioned-screenwriter fiancé (Owen Wilson). The story centers on Owen Wilson and his late night walks around the city where he discovers a timewarp. When he gets into a circa 1920s car, he is transported back to the Paris at the height of the 1920 Expatriot era. He meets an all-star cast of authors and painters from the era who help him with his book. Running concurrently with this story McAdam's reconnects with a pretentious college friend (Michael Sheen) who is obviously much more into culture and the history of Paris than Wilson's character.

This movie is very typical of Woody Allen. You have the hypochondriac-narcissist (Wilson), self-center money hungry girl (McAdams) and crazy conservatives bent on destroying everyone’s fun (Kennedy and Fuller). This goes along with the plethora of characters that just like to hear themselves talk (Sheen). However, if I had to catagorize it in the cannon I would say it mixes some of the comedy of "Scoop" with the seriousness of "Vicky, Christina, Barcelona".

I like how Allen uses time travel to parallel what is going on in Wilson's life. Throughout the movie, Wilson makes the argument that he is not of "this time".  Given the circumstances and the people that surround him, he does feel out of place.  I am sure its a feeling that many of us can understand at various points in our lives. In this case, it was Allen's way of explaining that everything was wrong in Owen's life and he needed to make the shift to fully (or step back literally) to see it.


Overall, I give this one 4 out of 5 stars. The one dimensional aspect of the characters prevents me from giving it a full 5. Well worth seeing in the theatre!

-Jacqui

P.S. this will be the last review until Potter!

"Beginners"

“Beginners” is a movie about a son learning about his father and in the process fixing himself. Starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer, Mike Mill’s (Writer/Director) presents semi-autobiographical look at his own relationship with his father. 

The movie tells the story of Oliver (McGregor) and his father Hal (Plummer). Following the death of Oliver’s mother, Hal comes out of the closet, takes a younger lover and is then diagnosed with terminal cancer. The movie is told is a series of Vignettes and flashbacks showing all the secrets that had been kept in Oliver’s family even before he was born.

Good points. The acting was great. McGregor and Plummer are a great team.  The writing was witty and the banter between the two was what you would expect in a movie like this one with complexities in personality and character. The dog was also hilarious adding comic relief and commentary to the story.

Cinematically, it was hard to follow at times. While movies that don’t go in chronological order is nothing new, I found the organization of the vignettes too disorganized.  I found myself wondering where this part fits in chronology.  Another annoying aspect was the use of truly stock characters.  Goran Visnjic’s “Andy” (Hal’s young lover) is an example of the uncomfortable gay man who still thinks everyone dislikes him because he’s gay. While his character added a something because you saw the happiness he added to Hal; the refrain of  “you don’t like me because I’m gay,” got old quickly.

Overall, this movie was very good. Good but heavy. This is not a movie to watch when you relaxing is your overall goal. Getting to the overall lesson of the movie is a journey worth taking. 

I give it 3 out 5 stars.

-Jacqui 

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review

On Wednesday, June 29, 2011, I saw Transformers: Dark of the Moon with my brother Justin. Coming off of a terrible sequel, I was skeptical about how this endeavor would end up. The movie can be summed up in one word: WOW!!! It was an incredible, action-packed movie with a darker storyline. Shia Lebeouf has been a favorite actor of mine since Even Stevens aired on the Disney Channel. Over the years he has transformed into a good young actor in films such as Disturbia. Rosie Huntington-Whitely, while not as attractive as Megan Fox in my opinion, definitely held her own on the screen. Keep your eyes open for some fun cameos including John Malkovich and Ken Jeong. I normally can't stand Ken Jeong, but he's not on the screen that long and his role suits him. The battle scenes between the Autobots and the Decepticons are some of the most visually stimulating scenes ever. I was very impressed with how Michael Bay presented the battle scenes in this movie. They reminded me of the Mission City battle in the first Transformers movie in 2007 (my favorite of the trilogy). The idea of treason is heavily featured and I like how it was used in both a human aspect and a machine aspect. Optimus Prime is easily my favorite of all of the Autobots, but Bumblebee was actually really awesome in this installment. Instead of being used as a mechanical punching bag as he was in the first two films, he actually ends up fending off an attack by himself when he is outnumbered about 5-1 by the Decepticons. There is a brief scene at the end where Optimus Prime and Megatron team up to take down the Benedict Arnold. Actually, this Benedict Arnold is my favorite character in the movie besides Optimus Prime. I would say who the Benedict Arnold is, but if you haven't seen the movie and plan on seeing it I don't want to spoil that for you. The humor was not nauseating like the second movie. The parents were kept to a minimum this time luckily. I will rank these movies on a 5 point scale and for this first review I will give it a 4/5. Bay must have heard what the critics and the Razzies said about the second movie and upped the ante for this installment. I give Michael Bay's formulaic model a high mark here because it actually worked much like Armageddon did in 1998. The reason I gave it a four is because even though the human villain was portrayed well I couldn't buy the actor playing him as an evil person. That's the only gripe I really had with this. Overall, this almost 3 hour summer blockbuster delivered the big explosions, decent acting, and pulse-pounding battle scenes. The battle scenes take up most of the movie which I love since the movie is really supposed to be about the battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons anyway.

Gerard Verterano