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July 02, 2009
July 01, 2009
Toy stories
Read it in today's Post-Bulletin.
June 18, 2009
The Proposal
Read the review in Thursday's Post-Bulletin.
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Year One
Some chuckles. Could have been so much better. What did you think?
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June 14, 2009
Eddie Murphy, funny again ... Imagine that
In Imagine That, the new family comedy starring Eddie Murphy, a little girl’s imaginary princess friends predict future events like Iran’s spurious election and dubious recount—no big prognostication; Minnesotans had seen that too. But if they’re right about additional Ahmadinejad absentee ballots turning-up in the trunk of an election director’s car that would be freaky.
Financial wizard Evan Danielson (Eddie Murphy) has met his match. Two of them, actually. One is a rising star at the office named
Johnny Whitefeather (Spider-Man 3’s Sandman Thomas Haden Church) and the other is his own socially detached seven-year-old daughter Olivia (newcomer Yara Shahidi). When Whitefeather threatens his promotion by stealing clients away with new age hokum, Evan starts to pay closer attention to Olivia and her fantasy princesses who reveal pending financial trends that help him inch closer to the big prize: a top spot in the empire of Warren Buffet-like Dante D' Enzo (Martin Sheen). What Evan finds, of course, is that some things are more important than money. That, we all saw coming.
What no one guessed, however, is that Eddie Murphy is back. The comedian, whose métier was the raw R-rated genre and films like 48 Hours, Trading Places, and Beverly Hills Cop had been in a slump with a string of failed reinventions, most visibly, Meet Dave and The Haunted Mansion. Thankfully he’s found his groove again. Sure, Imagine That is no Coming to America but it’s no Bowfinger, either.
Indeed, this cute and satisfying feel-good film is far from perfect. Veteran actors Ronny Cox and Martin Sheen are squandered in vapid roles and the imaginary character names and dialog are irritating baby talk (Olivia’s magic blanket is her “Googaa” and you tire of hearing that almost immediately); though the latter may be intentional. Equally childish is Whitefeather’s stereotypical Native American shtick that “we’re all under one sky,” or that by listening to the “Dream Sparrow” he can “rain down prosperity. And how!”
Still, it all comes together for some very funny moments like the Grace that’s prayed over the pancake breakfast featuring condiments like mustard and hot sauce (“Oh Lord, please protect my daddy's throat”) or Johnny Whitefeather’s abject act of desperation: for $6000 he has a blanket of his own blessed by a tribal elder and forces his son on a hysterical late-night vision quest (“your tribal name: Red Bull!”).
In the end, the plot is hackneyed and a bit too saccharine-sweet, but Eddie Murphy is funny again.
Imagine that.
2 Honks
MPAA Rating: PG for some mild language and brief questionable behavior.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809932975/trailer
...And see what else the Med City Movie Guy is up to here:
http://postbulletin.typepad.com/med_city_movie_guy/2009/05/chris-miksanek-med-city-movie-guy-happenings.html
June 04, 2009
'The Hangover' creates quite a buzz
In the wild new comedy from Old School director Todd Phillips, three friends awake in their Sin City hotel suite after an alcohol-fueled bachelor party to find a baby and a tiger, but no recollection of anything and no sign whatsoever of the groom-to-be. The film was originally titled, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, but you ought to follow-up with your own doctor when you get back home.”
Doug’s getting married and his best friends Stu and Phil are not about to let his bachelorhood go quietly into the night. So with a borrowed vintage Mercedes and future brother-in-law Alan, they set-out for one last celebration that begins with a toast atop the roof of Caesars Palace … and that’s the last thing they remember.
The next morning, Stu is on the floor with a missing tooth, Phil unknowingly sports a hospital bracelet, and Alan discovers a baby in the closet. Nowhere to be found, however, is Doug. Armed with those few clues, the trio sets-out to recreate the night and find their buddy, along the way, perhaps, explaining why an escort named Jade is wearing Stu’s grandmother’s Holocaust ring, why Mike Tyson is dogging them, and what’s the deal with the little Chinese gangster, Mr. Chow, who jumps out of the trunk of their car swinging a tire iron.
The film stars Bradley Cooper (He's Just Not That Into You, Yes Man), Heather Graham (Swingers, Boogie Nights), Ed Helms (The Office’s “Nard-Dog” Andrew Bernard), and relative unknown Zach Galifianakis in essentially another “men behaving badly” tale, but with a twist: It’s original. The plot is intriguing. The way the story unfolds is fresh. And the comedy? It’s as undeniable as it is offensive. Stu’s song (“What do tiger’s dream of when they take a little tiger snooze…“), the Rainman send-up, Mike Tyson singing Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” … these rank among some of the funniest cinematic moments. But it‘s not for everyone. Throughout the ninety-nine minutes you’ll find yourself shocked and maybe even embarrassed, but never bored.
Unfortunately the characters are one-dimensional and their mission is insipid. Consequently, you take little away from this film beyond the laugh-out-loud raunchy and often politically incorrect laughs. It’s not a feel-good movie, in fact, there‘s nothing meaningful about it at all, and that’s OK. Sometimes a flick is just an hour and a half of idiotic fun and … well … that pretty much describes The Hangover.
2 ½ Honks
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language, sexual content including nudity, and some drug material.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810044687/trailer
And see what else the Med City Movie Guy is up to here:
http://postbulletin.typepad.com/med_city_movie_guy/2009/05/chris-miksanek-med-city-movie-guy-happenings.html
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May 31, 2009
How much do you know about these films that “Made the Grade?”
Like the flicker of a Bunsen burner’s flame so goes another school year. But before you start celebrating, there’s this one last final exam. Pencils, err..., popcorn ready?
1. Gabba gabba, hey! In Rock 'n' Roll High School, P. J. Soles not only convinces these punk rockers to hear the song she wrote, but also succeeds in mainstreaming their controversial musical genre:
a. The Clash
b. The Ramones
c. Iggy Pop and the Stooges
d. The New York Dolls
2. “Hey bud, what's your problem?” This impertinence brought Jeff Spicoli precipitously closer to a showdown with Mr. Hand in Fast Times At Ridgemont High
a. taking delivery of a pizza in class
b. piping Van Halen through the P.A. system
c. burning incense
d. chewing the gum he found on the bottom of his checkered Vans
3. Though old enough to teach at the time, he played a high schooler in three movies: Carrie, Grease, and The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.
a. Sylvester Stallone
b. Mickey Rourke
c. John Travolta
d. Jason Acuna
4. Director Amy Heckerling literally went back to school to make Alicia Silverstone’s Cher Horowitz and Co. realistic in this 1995 classic:
a. Clueless
b. American Pie
c. The Principal
d. Loser
5. Addressing The Breakfast Club’s John Bender, Dick Vernon warns, “Don't mess with the bull young man, you'll get the horns.” What was Vernon's position at Shermer High School?
a. The principal
b. The assistant dean
c. The basketball coach
d. The guy who stocks the Pepsi machine
6. Leelee Sobieski offers Drew Barrymore “a certain amount of protection” if she'll join this club in the 1999 romantic comedy, Never Been Kissed
a. The pi R squares
b. It’s all geek to me
c. Rebels without a subordinate clause
d. The Denominators
7. In arguably the high point of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, two parking attendants take Cameron's father’s Ferrari airborne in one of the few opportunities to spy this apropos customized license plate:
a. NRVOUS
b. IJUST8
c. TRUBOL
d. FARARI
8. Fame, which documents a group of students at The New York High School of Performing Arts, starred:
a. A young and spry Irene Cara
b. A young and lucid Paula Abdul
c. A young and slim Kelly Clarkson
d. A young and restless Jeanne Cooper
9. This TV series was reportedly based on the 1957 breakout hit, Cooley High
a. 'What's Happening!!'
b. 'Good Times'
c. 'Welcome Back, Kotter'
d. 'Chico and the Man'
10. Today there is hug therapy and sensitivity training, but back in 1980 Chris Makepeace addressed his problem with a bully the old-fashioned way in this feel-good tale from The String producer Tony Bill:
a. Summer School
b. 187
c. My Bodyguard
d. I’m Tellin’
11. This Oscar winner was a disruptive student in The Blackboard Jungle and went on to teach a bunch of them in To Sir, with Love
a. Paul Winfield
b. Sidney Poitier
c. Vic Morrow
d. Jim Backus
12. In Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams tells his students that if they feel “daring” they may call him this
a. “Hey you!”
b. “John”
c. “O Captain! My Captain!”
d. “The One”
[1.B, 2.A, 3.C, 4.A, 5.A, 6.D, 7.A, 8.A, 9.A, 10.C, 11.B, 12.C]
May 24, 2009
“Salvation” has redeeming qualities
The year 2018 is predictable in the new film, Terminator Salvation, the fourth episode of the saga that began twenty-five years ago: Skynet runs amok, California passes a proposition allowing cyborgs to marry and Norm Coleman files another appeal after four hundred ballots are found inside an abandoned ATM machine in Polk County.
John Connor (Christian Bale) is a rebel leader fighting the formidable self-aware computer network known as Skynet and is #2 on their hit list. Number one is Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), a young outlier Connor will send back to 1984 to beget himself and for now shows his mettle by rescuing Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). Wright, who is a remorseful death row inmate just now awakened some fifteen years after donating his body to Cyberdyne Systems, learns he is actually a machine but is nonetheless intent on not squandering his second chance.
Using a secret radio frequency that immobilizes the terminators (déjà vu, Lukas Haas, Slim Whitman’s “When I’m calling yooooooooouuuu,” Mars Attacks!), they set-out for Skynet’s San Francisco headquarters to put a stop to the bionic brigands.
The film features Christian Bale – who last year starred in The Dark Knight, and this year in a youtube on-set meltdown – and the relatively unknown Australian actor Sam Worthington. All eyes, though, are on the T-800 endoskeletons that are introduced at the very end. These are the first terminators to sport the T-101 organic shell that resembles a certain governor. (Yea, I am a little embarrassed to know these things, but Trekkies are still bigger dorks.) Bryce Dallas Howard (Spider-Man 3) as John’s wife Kate and Moon Bloodgood (Eight Below) as fighter pilot Blair Williams round-out the cast.
Notwithstanding a few over-the-top effects like the gigantic terminators that spawn motorcycle-riding mobile miniatures, Terminator Salvation, does not disappoint and even manages to shoehorn-in the iconic catchphrases “stay with me if you want to live” and “I’ll be back.”
Still, critics were not kind to Terminator Salvation, whose weekend box-office take was only slightly less than co-debutante Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. But the film has redeeming qualities. Although it is not helmed by James Cameron who brought us the first (and best) two installments, The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), this one will surely satisfy fans. Director “McG” (Joseph McGinty Nichol), who made his bones with the Drew Barrymore big screen version of Charlie’s Angels and has steered dozens of music videos, delivers a gritty sci-fi action piece that fills-in a few blanks while at the same time moving the plot forward at a comfortable pace.
3 Honks
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action, language, and an audience almost entirely devoid of women.
And see what else the Med City Movie Guy is up to here:
http://postbulletin.typepad.com/med_city_movie_guy/2009/05/chris-miksanek-med-city-movie-guy-happenings.html
Sequel rights
Friday's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian picks up where the successful 2006 Ben Stiller "dramedy" left off. Critics will chime in, naturally, but exactly how good this sequel really is will be decided by moviegoers voting with their dollars. We'll have to wait for the weekend box-office numbers to see what they say, in the meantime:
Best sequel: The Godfather Part II
Worst sequel: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
What's on your list?
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