Director: Steven Brill
Producers: Judd Apatow, Susan Arnold, and Donna Roth
Writen by: John Hughes, Kristofor Brown, and Seth Rogen
Starring: Owen Wilson(Drillbit Taylor), Nate Hartley(Wade), Troy Gentile(Ryan), David Dorfman(Emmit), Alex Frost(Filkins), Leslie Mann(Lisa) IMDb. Rated PG-13.
Wade and Ryan are are excited about the first day of high-school. Eager as can be they could not have waited to meet new friends as they were already strategizing on how to be popular. These plans were thwarted when Wade decides to intervene while Filkins (the school bully) was harassing a peculiar kid named Emmit. Wade's bravery granted Filkins a license to make high-school difficult for himself, Ryan and Emmit. Feeling beat-up, frightened, and frustrated, Wade, Emmit and Ryan decided to hire a body-guard as refuge from duress, and that body-guard was ultimately Drillbit Taylor.
The most pronounced performance in this film was provided by Alex Frost. He was absolutely convincing as a bully. From the facial expressions to the intimidating disposition, Frost delivered quite nicely. He did not seem to struggle in the role, and that made him appear quite believable. What was not so believable was that this 18 year old senior in high school lived an unsupervised life. While there was some effort by the film makers to justify that aspect of the characters life, as a young man is his late teens having a parental figure in his life could have kept the integrity of the bully role intact. Attributing parents to that character may not have affected his function in the film.
The texture of the film felt somewhat odd at times. There was something about some of the dialogue that felt rehearsed, for lack of a better term. The on-screen chemistry between Wade and Ryan was descent although hopefully the tall and chunky duo will not become the motif for, from nerd to popularity teen movies. We see this duo in Superbad, hopefully this great irreverent comedy has not created a monster.
The pace of the film was excellent. The acting was good but again some of the dialogue did feel rehearsed. I really enjoyed watching Owen Wilson perform in his usual laid back comedic style. This movie was very entertaining with the bulk of the comedy coming from the scenes where Filkins is bullying Wade and Ryan. They endure some much humiliation sorrow is induced, but laughter is still a priority. According to Movies.com , critics gave this film a C. The fans gave it a B, and I will give it a C+. Stay tuned, Movieporium.blogspot.com.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Shutter: Ghostly Figures
Director: Masyuki Ochiai
Writer: Luke Dawson
Producers: Doug Davison,Takashige Ichise, Roy Lee
Starring: Joshua Jackson(Benjamin Shaw), Rachael Taylor(Jane Shaw), Megumi Okina(Megumi Tanaka), David Denman(Bruno), John Hensley(Adam), Maya Hazen(Seiko) IMDb.Rated-PG13.
While driving on a dark road Benjamin and Jane accidentally run over a young woman, but after the police complete a thorough search no traces of the young woman can be found. The couple subsequently move to Tokyo on account of Ben's work as a photographer. Jane begins to notice some the pictures her and Benjamin took together are marred with a white cloud like streak, and this also applies to some of the pictures taken from Benjamin's photo shoots. In one instance, Benjamin's assistant(Seiko) noticed the streak on the pictures and tells Jane of "spirit photography", and recommends that she should see her former boyfriend who owns a spirit photography magazine company. Seiko's former boyfriend refers Jane to a local spiritual medium which Jane and Benjamin end up consulting after they both saw the ghost of the young woman they ran over.
During the film I struggled quite considerably to sustain a measure of interest. The film was entertaining intermittently because the sequence of events within the film were ineffectual in terms of potency. The supposed frightful scenes were not frightful enough and that left me seeking to be frightened. In absence of suspense there were no special effects to tickle the mind into amusement, but admittedly the pace of the plot was descent, but that still did not save the impotence of the film, for the horror element did not rise to the occasion. The death scenes were not extraordinary, and they were rather platitudinous. At minimum a film must be entertaining but this film was not so entertaining in my opinion. Shutter is small screen entertainment, and my kind heart will grade it a D+. Stay tuned, Movieporium.blogspot.com.
Writer: Luke Dawson
Producers: Doug Davison,Takashige Ichise, Roy Lee
Starring: Joshua Jackson(Benjamin Shaw), Rachael Taylor(Jane Shaw), Megumi Okina(Megumi Tanaka), David Denman(Bruno), John Hensley(Adam), Maya Hazen(Seiko) IMDb.Rated-PG13.
While driving on a dark road Benjamin and Jane accidentally run over a young woman, but after the police complete a thorough search no traces of the young woman can be found. The couple subsequently move to Tokyo on account of Ben's work as a photographer. Jane begins to notice some the pictures her and Benjamin took together are marred with a white cloud like streak, and this also applies to some of the pictures taken from Benjamin's photo shoots. In one instance, Benjamin's assistant(Seiko) noticed the streak on the pictures and tells Jane of "spirit photography", and recommends that she should see her former boyfriend who owns a spirit photography magazine company. Seiko's former boyfriend refers Jane to a local spiritual medium which Jane and Benjamin end up consulting after they both saw the ghost of the young woman they ran over.
During the film I struggled quite considerably to sustain a measure of interest. The film was entertaining intermittently because the sequence of events within the film were ineffectual in terms of potency. The supposed frightful scenes were not frightful enough and that left me seeking to be frightened. In absence of suspense there were no special effects to tickle the mind into amusement, but admittedly the pace of the plot was descent, but that still did not save the impotence of the film, for the horror element did not rise to the occasion. The death scenes were not extraordinary, and they were rather platitudinous. At minimum a film must be entertaining but this film was not so entertaining in my opinion. Shutter is small screen entertainment, and my kind heart will grade it a D+. Stay tuned, Movieporium.blogspot.com.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Movie Favorites: Red Dragon
This is a great film, that is smart, engaging, and it has Anthony Hopkins, what more can be said. There may be very brief commercial interruptions, but the movies is not censored with all things being equal.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Doomsday: The Grunge of Scotland
The film features Rhona Mitra(Eden Sinclair), Bob Hoskins(Bill Nelson), Alexander Siddig(John Hatcher), Craig Conway(Sol), MyAnna Buring(Cally), and Malcolm Mcdowell(Kane). Neil Marshall directed and wrote, and Benedict Carver, and Steven Paul produced the film(IMDb). Rated-R.
All is well in Scotland, but when the "Reaper" virus infected the population, the government decides to build a wall around Scotland serving as a moat to protect England and the rest of the British Isles. However, 25 years later, well after the authorities believed the virus was extinct they were surprised to discover that the virus had resurfaced, and with only 48 hours before the virus begins to infect England, Major Eden Sinclair was recruited to find a cure, but the cure is in Scotland where part of the population has become cannibals.
The action scenes of the film were cut way too often to fully appreciate them, especially some of the fight scenes after Major Eden and her crew had initially entered Scotland. Furthermore, the lack of proper lighting in Kane's laboratory made that particular fight scene even more difficult to enjoy. During some of the fight scenes I could not help but think of how much I enjoyed the fight scenes in Rambo, and how Sylvester Stallone could have helped with technical advice.
While watching this film if you are reminded of Madmax, The Road Warrior, or Escape From NewYork, that is because the director was trying to combine some of the elements of the post apocalyptic films of the late 70's and and early to mid 80's, according to Wikipedia. This was also a cool way to pay homage to those films. The Medieval parts of the infected Scotland (influenced by the movie Excalibur) was centered around Scotland's Blackness Castle. It was a little weird, but what helped assuage the weirdness was the transition of using the supply tunnel. The supply tunnel beautifully bridged the grunge world and the medieval world.
The script was adequate for what the film intended, and the acting was solid for what the film intended. Rhona Mitra was awesome, and her character was tough, but her toughness may have been more pronounced if she had more fight scenes involving hand to hand combat, because that seemed to have been a great strength of the character. Rottentomatoes.com has given the film 4.5 out 10, and according to Movies.com the fans gave this film a B and critics gave it a D+, and I will give it a C-. Stay tuned, movieporium.blogspot.com.
All is well in Scotland, but when the "Reaper" virus infected the population, the government decides to build a wall around Scotland serving as a moat to protect England and the rest of the British Isles. However, 25 years later, well after the authorities believed the virus was extinct they were surprised to discover that the virus had resurfaced, and with only 48 hours before the virus begins to infect England, Major Eden Sinclair was recruited to find a cure, but the cure is in Scotland where part of the population has become cannibals.
The action scenes of the film were cut way too often to fully appreciate them, especially some of the fight scenes after Major Eden and her crew had initially entered Scotland. Furthermore, the lack of proper lighting in Kane's laboratory made that particular fight scene even more difficult to enjoy. During some of the fight scenes I could not help but think of how much I enjoyed the fight scenes in Rambo, and how Sylvester Stallone could have helped with technical advice.
While watching this film if you are reminded of Madmax, The Road Warrior, or Escape From NewYork, that is because the director was trying to combine some of the elements of the post apocalyptic films of the late 70's and and early to mid 80's, according to Wikipedia. This was also a cool way to pay homage to those films. The Medieval parts of the infected Scotland (influenced by the movie Excalibur) was centered around Scotland's Blackness Castle. It was a little weird, but what helped assuage the weirdness was the transition of using the supply tunnel. The supply tunnel beautifully bridged the grunge world and the medieval world.
The script was adequate for what the film intended, and the acting was solid for what the film intended. Rhona Mitra was awesome, and her character was tough, but her toughness may have been more pronounced if she had more fight scenes involving hand to hand combat, because that seemed to have been a great strength of the character. Rottentomatoes.com has given the film 4.5 out 10, and according to Movies.com the fans gave this film a B and critics gave it a D+, and I will give it a C-. Stay tuned, movieporium.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Hulk Trailer 2008
There seems to be very little buzz about the upcoming Hulk movie. While most are eagerly anticipating Ironman and Batman, the Hulk is set to release on June 13, 2008. From what the trailer allows us to see, the film already looks fun to watch, and the incredible Hulk is tailored as a force of goodness. The 03 Hulk looked impressive, but noticeably too florescent. In contrast, the 08 Hulk is dark green in appearance with more muscle definition. One key distinction noted in the trailer is the nemesis figure contrived by the film makers. The dichotomy of good against evil is ostensibly better defined, and if compared to 03 Hulk the antagonist was not as defined, albeit the antagonist did emerged during the falling action of the film. The Hulk is against tough competition this summer, and the trailer for this film may have been released a little late considering that the Batman and Ironman trailer has been in release for a while. Stay tuned, movieporium.blogspot.com.
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