Archive for movies
January 14, 2008 at 9:38 pm · Filed under movies, music
Last weekend I saw the Jason Reitman comedy Juno. It was superbly funny, honest and endearing. The characters are refreshingly genuine, the dialog sharp and a potentially polarizing storyline is delicately presented without pretense. It is a comedy along the lines of Best in Show.
Ellen Page plays Juno and is undoubtedly the star, though all the film’s actors performed excellently. JK Simmons is particularly funny as Juno’s father; Jason Bateman is a convincingly pathetic yuppie in the midst of 2/5-life crisis, married to a suburban stereotype well portrayed by Jennifer Garner. Juno’s brazen words and actions provide most of the humor. When Bateman’s character first meets Juno and innocently asks, “Juno, like the city in Alaska?”, Juno simply replies “No,” and offers no platitudes to soften the moment. Not all the humor is uncomfortable or abrasive. It comes hard and fast and will make the film worth watching a second and third time.
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October 9, 2007 at 9:46 am · Filed under movies
It was a violent weekend at the Helms’ house. Donna and I watched Four Brothers and Mystic River, two movies that had parallel storylines: wounded felons seeking revenge for the murder of a woman. In the case of Four Brothers, the murdered woman was a foster mother in Detroit who cared for four young men whom nobody else would take in while in Mystic River the daughter of an emerging neighborhood patriarch was the slain. Clint Eastwood directed Mystic River and John Singleton directed Four Brothers. For my money, both were effective at telling their stories and the actors (Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon in Mystic River: Mark Wahlberg, Andre Benjamin, Tyrese Gibson, Garrett Hedlund, Terrence Moore in Four Brothers) were excellent. Four Brothers was much more gruesomely graphic with gratuitous violence–the bone sticking out of the leg comes to mind.
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August 15, 2007 at 11:08 am · Filed under movies
Today’s movie review is written by my Harry Potter loving wife, Donna. To give you a taste of her fandom, she received HP7 the Saturday it was released at 5pm and finished it less than 12 hours later, around 4:30 am Sunday morning. Book 5 was released one month after we were married. For the few days following the book’s release, I thought Donna married the wrong guy with a big scar on his forehead. She re-read books 1-6 in a week before book 7 was released. She re-read books 1-5 before book 6 was released. Her review does not contain any blatant spoilers for books 6 and 7, but it does speak vaguely about their outcomes.
This past weekend I finally went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I am a huge fan of all of the Harry Potter books, but have yet to be inspired by any of the previous four Harry Potter movies. I had heard very good reviews about the 5th movie and went in with a very positive attitude. As in the previous 4 movies, I walked away very disappointed. Read the rest of this entry »
July 29, 2007 at 7:21 pm · Filed under movies
Here is the first of what I hope will be many posts written by a guest blogger. Today’s blogger is Simpsons’ fanatic, new father, Glenelg and Mt St Mary’s alum, all-around good guy Andy Buening.
My wife and I have had this date marked on the calendar for three months. The marketing for this film has been less than I would have expected, virtually nonexistent. Nevertheless, we knew we had to be at the theater early. Little did we know it would not matter how early we got there, thank you fandango, the movie was sold out. Alas, you will have to wait ’til next week to read my review of Who’s Your Caddy?. Since The Simpsons Movie was playing on multiple screens, whatever time you got to the theater the film was playing within a half an hour of your arrival.
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July 17, 2007 at 12:54 pm · Filed under movies
There’s no denying that Dane Cook is one funny dude. Before the act even started he got my respect for standing on a circular stage in the middle of his 18,000-strong Boston audience with just a microphone and his wit to entertain. For the most part of two hours he had me laughing and/or shaking my head in disbelief. What I enjoyed most were his moments of original goofiness like when he said “What drives me bananasandwhich” or when he used the word snarky and then immediately defended it as a viable word and told his audience to google it.
As funny and clever as Cook is, this is not a show to watch with your parents or in-laws or anyone uncomfortable with vile language and overtly sexual conversation. If you caught him on SNL, you know he has the ability to tone it down and still deliver (one of his joke’s was the inspiration of my brother-in-law’s fantasy football team named the Cashew Slingers).
July 17, 2007 at 12:52 pm · Filed under movies
I remember really enjoying the book How to Eat Fried Worms when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. It was funny and not in a stupid way that super mature kids like me would find obnoxious. From what I recall the movie did not follow the book too closely, but like the book, the movie was good, light-hearted fun. I know the hilarious bit with DDR was not in the book for sure.
The movie also provided race to imdb entertainment due to the appearances of the recognizable, but unplaceable Kimberly Williams (from Father of the Bride) and Hallie Kate Eisenberg, the Pepsi girl from awhile back.
June 13, 2007 at 12:00 am · Filed under movies
I had little to no interest in watching this movie. Donna recorded it and recommended I give it a shot and I’m glad I did. I’m a sucker for Shakespearesque soliloquies and this 1984 meets Count of Monte Cristo meets Phantom of the Opera flick had just enough of them so it stayed on the right side of the cornball line. The less than original premise could be forgiven because of the engaging and thought-provoking plot that had the hero V seeking vengeance on a totalitarian Great Britain.
As is expected, Natalie Portman and Elrond (Hugo Weaving) both put in excellent performances. Check it out if you have the chance.
