Semi-pro: Jive Turkey !

The film features Will Ferrell(Jackie Moon), Woody Harrelson(Monix), Andre Benjamin(Clarence 'Coffee' Black), Maura Tierny(Lynn), Andrew Daly(Dick Pepperfield), Will Arnett(Lou Redwood), and Andy Richter(Bobby Dee). Kent Alterman directed, Scot Armstrong wrote, and Jimmy Miller produced the film(IMDb). Rated-R.

Jackie Moon was originally a singer who had a hit single "Love Me Sexy." The proceeds from the single enabled Jackie Moon to buy a basketball team called the "Tropics" out of Flint, Michigan in the ABA(American Basketball Association). The team sucked, and when the ABA decided to merge with the NBA four teams were to be integrated with the NBA excluding the Tropics and the rest of the ABA. In a league meeting, Jackie Moon being dissatisfied with the terms, persisted that the conditions for entry into the NBA be based on performance, and then begins the race for the prestigious and highly coveted fourth place.

Seeing Will Farrell in 1970's fashion is funny in itself, but the overall movie did make me laugh. The humor in this film may appeal and satisfy the comedic demands of those who appreciate weird humor such as a man biting his hand because his team did not qualify for the NBA. Those who are not really into the sort humor that Will Farrell is known for, may see absolutely nothing funny about that. There was some subtle humor in the movie that went right over the head of movie-watchers, for example, when Jackie Moon walks into the night club with ice packs taped to his knees. Nobody in the theater laughed at that, but basket ball fans may have appreciated that because professional basketball players wrap ice around their knees court-side but never in night clubs presumably.

Potentially, the funniest part in this movie is the jive turkey scene. Besides the obvious careless play with the gun, another funny part of that scene is, Lou Redwood is angry about being called a "jive turkey" rather than a "cock sucker." This scene is classic and movie-watchers responded with incessant laughter. The scene where Jackie Moon fights the bear is also funny, but that scene is beat by the fight scene during the commercial break.

The script is adequate for what the movie intended be, which is a pleasantly stupid movie designed to make people laugh. Although as I walked out of the theater, one young woman mentioned the movie was not funny, the film still had an appeal that Will Farrell fans will appreciate. Now, was this movie funnier than Superbad? No, apparently not. The rhythm of the film was sometimes lost by the subtle humor mentioned earlier, and for this reason its either the audience was laughing really hard or just chuckling at parts that were mildly funny. The casting was great, and the chemistry amongst the actors was awesome, but this movie was simply entertaining, but according Movies.com fans and critics agree, Semi-pro deserves a B-, but I'll give it a C. Stay tuned, movieporium.blogspot.com.

Definitely Maybe: Bare Ass and Sand Paper !

Universal Pictures

The film features Ryan Reynolds(Will Hayes), Isla Fisher(April), Rachel Weisz(Summer Hartly), Elizabeth Banks(Emily), Abigail Breslin(Maya Hayes), Derek Luke(Russel T. McCormack), and Kevin Klein as Hampton Roth. Tim Beven and Kerry Orent produced, Adam Brooks Directed and wrote the film.


Will Hayes is a thirty something going through a divorce who ends up explaining to his daughter Maya, why relationships do not last. At first Hayes did not want to tell the story to Maya, because he felt that relationships were complicated, but Maya disagreed, and persisted that Daddy tell her anyways. Hayes then decides to tell Maya about the three women in his past, one of which became Maya's mother, but the names of the women have been fictionalized, and Maya has to guess which woman eventually becomes her mother.

Admittedly, romantic comedies usually do not attract me, but I wanted to see something light hearted, and did not expect much from this film besides the template found in most romantic comedies such as couples falling in love, breaking up, and getting back together. Actually that template can be found in this film too.


The point that this film makes is that, one simply does not meet one person, and stay with that person for the remainder one's life without dating other people, and sometimes lovers may try and rekindle a past relationship and encounter failure, as in the case of Hayes and Emily. Reflecting the real life schedule of most working divorced adults, Definitely Maybe is a romantic comedy that is not so romantic, in the amatory sense, and also in the idealistic sense, thus making the realism of this film appreciable-if your a fan of dark romantic comedies like Closer and Feast of Love.


The script was commendable as far as it goes, and the dialogue between Reynolds and Breslin was amusing because Breslin played the role of the precocious child well. Reynold's was great too don't get me wrong. My favorite was Summer. I love her, and when we get married our kids will be eclectic and beautiful. OK let me get a grip. Summer is a character in a movie. The casting was great and the chemistry between the three women and Reynolds was proof of that. Furthermore, the chemistry between all the actors was great period. In terms of characters, amongst the three women, the chemistry between April and Hayes was pronounced. I enjoyed this film for what it is, so I'll give it a C+. Stay tuned, movieporium.blogspot.com.

Vantage Point : Rewind

The film features Dennis Quaid(Thomas Barnes), Matthew Fox(Kent Taylor), Forest Whitaker (Howard Lewis), Sigourney Weaver(Rex Brooks), William Hurt(President Hashton), Edgar Ramirez(Javier), Said Taghmaoui(Suarez), Eduardo Noriega(Enrique), Ayelet Zurer(Veronica). Pete Travis directed, Barry Levy wrote, and Neil H. Moritz produced the film(IMDb). Rated PG-13.

This film certainly lived up to its title. The movie begins with the vantage point of the media, as Rex Brooks and her crew witness the assassination of the president while covering an anti-terrorists summit in Spain. Then the vantage point of the Secret Service Agent, Thomas Barnes is shown, and how his presence affects the events of the assassination. The film provides the vantage point of the tourist with the camera, Howard Lewis, the Spaniard cop Enrique, the assassin Javier, President Hashton, and the terrorists. And within the five major vantage points, there is the subordinate vantage point of the little girl and her relation to the vantage point of Howard Lewis. All these vantage points combine beautifully for an integrated ending that was semi-climactic.

The vantage point I found most interesting was that of President Hashton. In one of the trailers, it is suggested, the president was not shot, and this is true. While President Ashton was driven to the summit, he was told by the Secret Service the terrorist threat was real, and immediately a double replaced him, and that double was shot instead by the terrorists. At some point during the vantage point of the President, one of the Secret Service men mentioned the U.S had been using doubles since Reagan. Could this be true? I have no evidence to suggest it is, but that was a very interesting line.

Editing was key to making this film work, but how the film was edited annoyed movie-watchers tremendously. At the end of every vantage point a rewind effect took all the events back to the assassination. Movie-watchers hated this, and some made fun of the movie because they saw the same assassination scene over and over. What annoyed movie-watchers was not the different vantage points, but the fact that they had to see the beginning of the film repeatedly. While I was watching the film, I was annoyed because the vantage points could have been as effective by using a Pulp Fiction type storyline. On the other hand, although the rewind effect was a nuisance, I did appreciate that the powers that be behind the film took a chance and tried something different.

The major action scene occurred at the end. The car chase was impressive but I sensed it was not cutting edge enough to yield a mind blowing feeling. Adequate, defines the car chase and not spectacular. The acting was good, and the script was standard. Dennis Quaid played the role of an anxiety ridden person well, but over all everyone in the film was great. Based on one review of the film, the movie-watchers did not seem to like this film on account of the rewind effect. Despite how annoyed I was while watching the film, I think the film is worth watching, so I'll give it a-C. Stay tuned, movieporium.blogspot.com.

Vantage Point

Jumper: Here and There (Use firefox for best display of article)

The film features Hayden Christensen (David Rice), Samuel L. Jackson (Roland), Diane Lane (Mary Rice), Jamie Bell (Griffin), Rachel Bilson (Millie), and Michael Rooker (William Rice). Doug Liman directed, David S. Goyer and Jim Uhls wrote, Lucas Foster, Stacy Maes, and Jay Sanders produced the film(Imdb). Rated PG-13.

Jumper begins with David Rice narrating how he initially discovered his power to teleport himself anywhere in the world. Rice was giving his crush, Millie a gift, and he was interrupted by the derision of Mark Kobold who threw his gift on an unstable frozen lake. Rice, eagerly wanting to repossess the gift for Millie, walks on to the unstable surface of the lake, despite Millie begging him not to.

Once Rice had the gift, moments later the surface cracks and Rice Finds himself trapped beneath the surface of the lake. In sheer anxiety and fear, Rice teleports himself to a library. After gaining an understanding of how his ability works, as a teenager in a troubled home, Rice moves away to the big city, and he begins robbing banks for a living, but little does Rice know that Roland his hunting him.

Rice’s ability to teleport is not so well explained. How was mark endowed with this ability? The film never really explains that, but the film does briefly mention that jumpers have been around since ancient times. How mark inherits the trait of teleportation is an absolute mystery. The absence of the explanation subtracted from the depth of the film, leaving a sense that the movie was somehow incomplete because not enough is known about the ability, and where the Jumpers and those who are hunting the Jumpers originate.

The pace of the film was steady, and the lag factor was minimal. Following the plot of the film was not difficult, and the script was not spectacular but it got the job done. The action sequences were ok, with the exception where Rice teleports a portion of Millie’s apartment complex.

Hayden Christensen’s laid-back way of acting seemed well suited for the role of David Rice. Speaking of characters, Griffin was very charismatic in his cynical and sarcastic ways, and while Griffin and Rice were together in the same scene Griffin seemed to have made more of an impression because his sarcasm and cynicism was attractive. Samuel L. Jackson was great as Roland, and the white hair along with his stern character was consistent with classic “bad ass” Samuel L. Jackson.

Over all this film is simply entertaining, nothing spectacular, and the reviews for this film were not on the positive side. According to Metacritic.com, based on 28 reviews the film had an average score of 36 out of 100, and according to Rottentomatoes.com, out 92 reviews only 15% gave the film a positive rating. Stay tuned, movieporium.blogspot.com

Jumper

The Eye: Bruja !

The film features Jessica Alba(Sydney Wells), Alessandro Nivola(Dr.Paul Faulkner), Parker Posey(Helen Wells), Rade Serbedzija(Simon McCullough), Fernanda Romero(Ana Christina Martinez),Rachel Ticotin(Rosa Martinez),Obba Babatunde(Dr.Haskins). David Moreu, Xavier Palud directed, Sebastian Gutierrez wrote, Paula Wagner, and Don Granger produced the film. The film is based on the Honk Kong film Gin Gwai, released in 2002(IMDb). Rated PG-13.

Sydney Wells became blind as a child while she and her sister were playing with a firecracker. As an adult, Sydney had a corneal transplant which helped her regain her sense of sight. Shortly after her bandages were removed, Sydney's blurred vision managed to detect an amorphous dark figure in the corner of the room, and being that she could not see well, she disregarded the figure. Well after the surgery, Sydney began seeing more dark figures along with what she believed to be the souls of the deceased. Being curious about her condition, Sydney began searching for her donor alongside the reluctant and and cynical Dr.Paul Faulkner.

There were plenty of scenes in this film that caused the audience to scream and jump out of their seats.The element of suspense was well wrought, and admittedly there were some scenes that gave me chills. The tone of the film was adequate considering the objective of the film was not to produce a horror thriller that was centered around gore, but centered around a woman's quest to live a normal life as she deals with an unexpected, and unwanted ability to see the deceased.

Understanding the source of the ability was the principal aim of Alba's character, and ultimately the film is about saving lives rather solving the mystery of the death of one life or lives as commonly found in most horror films that involves hauntings of some measure.

Common special effects were used in this film, involving distortion, and frightful sound effects in the screams of the dark figures. Although the special effects were common, they were effective to a respectable extent.

Jessica Alba was very believable as a blind person, and unlike her character in Awake, she played a gentle, compassionate,and amicable character. Alba seemed at ease playing this role, and she did not overact the blind role by gazing aimlessly, but it also helped that she was not blind for most of the movie, but visually impaired. The pace of the film certainly kept the film interesting, and the script was not spectacular, but it was adequate and suited the film well, but I opine, the best part of the film was the ending. Stay tuned to Movieporium.blogspot.com.