Hot Tub Time Machine is even more silly and absurd than you think and is a lot of fun but is a tad disjointed and random for its own good.

Following a seemingly accidental suicide attempt, a group of friends go back to their old vacation stomping grounds to blow off some steam and reunite after growing far apart into their dull lives.  The town and ski lodge is not what it used to be and after a call in to get their hot tub fixed, a mysterious sparkling new one is installed.  Drunken debauchery begins between the three friends and one their twenty something nephews and after spilling some illegal Russian energy drink on the tubs controls the group is sent back in time to 1986, entering the bodies of their teenage selves that were visiting for Winterfest 86’ that year.  The group then enters into a Back to the Future type plot that has them trying to recreate the night’s events at the risk of derailing their lives and possibly erasing the nephew’s existence.

Now, this film is not to be taken seriously, and if you come into it expecting anything serious than you will be seriously disappointed.  With that said if you are looking for gross out and ridiculous fun this is a solid comedy entry for 2010.  Too all over the place and incoherent to work from top to bottom there are definitely plenty of laugh out loud moments sprinkled through out.  The running bit’s with Crispin Glover’s bizarre bell hop and his arms impending doom, a high stakes bet on a football game, and a botched threesome are the highlights of the picture, with plenty of gross out humor in these scenes.  In fact the stuff in a pair of these sequences is pretty original which is what makes it work so well.  The humor in the film rarely doesn’t work and while there are a lot of decent chuckles compared to belly laughs the fact that it rarely misses is a strong feet for a comedy.

The cast in the film also helps the film to succeed with John Cusack leading the way.  When he gets into his teen angst mode for the second half of the picture I couldn’t help but reminisce on his earlier work in the 80’s.  He also has some great one liners here and there and watching him get blasted out of his mind tickled my funny bone as well.  Craig Robinson is great as the straight man of the group and does just as good a work here as he does in everything he does.  It is nice to see him get a more featured role and I think his stuff will play better at home as a lot of his lines were throwaways drowned out by laughter.  Rob Corddry successfully plays the dick friend of the group and perfectly walks the fine line of being a douche without being annoying almost 95% of the time.  Clark Duke also delivers his best work in a film yet and shows some real promise as a comedy star down the line if he just takes some roles outside his safe look.  Chevy Chase has a couple funny bits as a hot tub repair men and Crispin Glover is great as the insane, soon to be one armed, bell hop.

In the end, Hot Tub Time Machine is exactly what it is selling and lived up to my expectations; silly, stupid, fun.  The cast is solid, the humor almost always works, but it is a bit to random and disjointed to really excel.  Now, a film doesn’t have to have a perfect narrative to work, Wet Hot American Summer is one of the best comedies of the last decade and is completely random, but this film doesn’t come close to the greatness of that picture.  With that said, it is a solid comedy and if you are interested I am sure there is plenty you will find to like in the picture, though don’t expect this to transcend audiences like the Hangover did last summer, even if I think it might be as funny as that film at times.

Hot Tub Time Machine is a B-

P.S. The younger version of Cusack is a dead ringer for Cusack from the 80’s

Tim Burton’s latest collaboration with Johnny Depp is a gigantic, uninspired, and boring mess of an adaptation of the Alice in Wonderland mythology.

The story is a sequel to Disney’s previous animated version of Alice in Wonderland and picks up some years later with Alice, now nineteen, about to be married off to the son of an old family friend that is very well to do but Alice is still haunted? By reoccurring “dreams” of her trip to Wonderland as a child.  When the young man proposes to her in front of a giant crowd at a prearranged engagement party, Alice gets cold feat and runs off into the garden, chasing the white rabbit, and down into a rabbit hole and back into the world of Wonderland.  The look of the place has changed significantly and we discover from a few familiar faces that there is a long standing search for Alice and they aren’t quite sure if this Alice is the real one.  The prophecy is that Alice will return to Wonderland to rid it of the tyrant Red Queen and restore peace to the once jovial nation.

Now, I have a lot of problems with this film, but first and foremost I just didn’t find it at all that engaging or entertaining.  When the film isn’t seemingly just walking down memory lane of Wonderland, and it does a lot of this for the first hour, the story they try to concoct is so unoriginal and uninspired it just never grabs you.  The plot also has countless gapping holes in it, just ignores logic, and makes no sense on a number of occasions.  From the desperate attempt to give the Mad Hater some depth to his character, the complete surface depth of the evil characters, the use of CGI for Crispin Glover’s body, and the fact that nobody in Wonderland seems to like the Red Queen yet she is some how in power, these are just the tipping point of problems I have without spoiling things.

Possibly my biggest issue with the film is Alice’s demeanor and logic on her being in Wonderland.  She is convinced this experience is a dream, even though her old method of waking up from one doesn’t work.  Also, she doesn’t seem to remember or recognize Wonderland, how is this possible?  It doesn’t look all that different and she has previously told us that she is still having “dreams” about her first trip to Wonderland so why is everything so foreign to her?  It takes 95% of the movie to unfold before she starts to finally come to this realization and I don’t know if she ever acknowledges that she really had been here before, but more or less just bought into the laid out prophecy.

Burton given this endless world of imagination brings next to nothing new to table and the film is creatively dry if you ask me.  The moments that work in the film are re-hashes of the animated film, Cheshire Cat and the Blue Caterpillar are a pair of the very few highlights, and I just didn’t find the world incredibly rich or wondrous.  Also of note, the use of 3-D is just as uninspired and pointless and not necessary for the viewing enjoyment of the picture.  Avatar has spoiled us and I think a lot of the 3-D pictures this year will come across as a disappointment in that element as most directors are still trying to figure out how to use the medium.  The CGI in the picture, especially for one that cost two hundred million dollars, was also not that impressive stylistically or consistently.  There are a number of shots in the picture that do look gangbusters, don’t get me wrong, but for every winner there are two shots that look a little too eh.  Danny Elfman’s score is even an uninspired and unnoticeable element to the film.

The acting work in the film is also nothing to write home about and none of the on screen actors do anything special for the entirety of the picture.  Helena Bonham Carter is the highlight as the Red Queen but her part gets stale and repetitive in a hurry.  Johnny Depp’s interpretation of the Mad Hatter is bad weird and never really worked for me as he tried to give him a dark side, or something, on the inside.  The kookiness of the character never charms or is all that funny and it is probably one of the worst turns of the gifted actor’s careers.  Mia Wasikowska stars as Alice and she is unfortunately really flat and has no pep what so ever in the picture.  She dully delivers her lines and doesn’t have the cheery aloofness Alice has in the animated classic, Wasikowska does come a bit alive in the third act.  Anne Hathaway needs to put her hands down, Crispin Glover does alright and kind of weird work, but most of the voice actors do solid jobs in their roles.  Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat and Alan Rickman as Blue Caterpillar are the highlights of the voice actors, and the voice casting was one of the few things Burton got right.

In the end, Alice in Wonderland is nothing but a big mess.  Where the original film was a crazy and tripped out adventure through this mysterious and wondrous world, Burton and company try and give this iteration a plot that is stale, uninspired, and unoriginal that leaves us scratching our heads.  Beyond being unoriginal the film doesn’t really flow very well, idling with nothing much happening for the majority of the picture, and then tries to patch together a plot that makes no sense with gaping plot holes to get us to the finale.  The acting is weak, the direction uninspired, effects that are dull, and 3D that is pointless and misused there is nothing to really recommend about this picture.  A front runner for biggest flop of the year due to the talent involved, there are at least a couple characters and scenes worth checking out but this is a rental at best and the worst Burton and Depp film to date by a wide margin.

Alice and Wonderland is a F

Shane Acker’s feature length debut is a bit of a half baked idea paired with astonishing visuals that in the end overcomes most of its short comings with its imagination and originality.
9 awakens in a world destroyed by war and immediately is thrown into an adventure to not only save a new friend, but to discover the world and what happened to it. 9 himself is a sack like creature (think Little Big Planet without as big a head) and he quickly discovers that he is not the only one of his kind milling about. The human race is all but gone, as a war with machines has decimated both their world and the species, and all that we are aware of being left is a group of frightened and reclusive sack creatures numbered from 1-9. The remaining group quickly tries to convince 9 to hide with them and not try and do anything heroic after the loss of the fourth member of their group to a monstrous machine that prowls the city. But 9 won’t have it and is able to sway 5 to head after 2 and the adventure soon becomes even bigger than they thought possible as a new threat arises from their search.
Now the whole idea of machines destroying the world and what have you I understand is a bit tired, but it is not the focal point and is more a catalyst for the story and the confrontations of the film. Above this idea lies an interesting and unique story about these little creatures that are enlightened by 9’s appearance and his gung ho attitude to see what is out there. Though a couple things might make you go wait a minute? 9’s motivations come out of no where and he seems to be acting just because the film needs him too as the hero. Now the origins of these creatures might help you rationalize why he is the way he is, but it doesn’t quite make sense and isn’t adequately explained. In fact, the end game of the picture leaves you scratching your head quite a bit as it is a touching end but doesn’t quite make a lot of sense again as they leave things to open.
But like I mentioned in the intro, the film mostly overcomes these confusing bits with incredible visuals and elaborate set pieces that will distract you from any of the awkward story stuff. The action scenes come quick and are beautifully executed with everyone playing a part that is involved in each respective scene. The battles are also just epic in proportions, taking place all over the sets and causing loads of destruction and drama for the characters in their peril. In fact, one thing that this film has going for it is its ability to establish anyone can go at any moment as a number of the characters will fall before it is all said and done. In particular, the attack by the winged creation on the characters is one of the finer action sequences of the year and was the stand out scene in the film. 3 and 4 are also extremely well done and are creative characters and will probably become your favorite of the 9 the instant they show up.
The voice work in the film is also very adequate with John C Reilly as 5 and Elijah Wood as 9 getting the most time in the picture. Wood brings confidence and go for it attitude to 9 but is more or less the same character from Happy Feet here. Reilly on the other hand creates this torn and vulnerable character that slowly emerges from his shell and is really the stand out in the picture. Crispin Glover as 6 also does some nice work, though he is delegated to the background most of the time.
In the end, 9 is a wonderful looking animated film that has a unique vision that doesn’t quite execute to its fullest. Be prepared to wonder why everyone is acting the way they are and hopefully you can make some sense of the explanation and ending as I don’t think it works 100%. But at a tight run time and a quick pace the film moves right along with some awesome action scenes grounded with wonderful production values and some great animation that will make the film more than enjoyable. One just can’t help but wonder what this could have been if they had worked out all of the head scratching plot details and made a more cohesive story. Oh well, its still worth your time.
9 is a B-

Let’s get one thing out of the way, if you see this, see it in IMAX 3-D. The 3-D is phenomenal and a must see for anyone that enjoys film or wants to see the future of the medium. The 3-D gives the movie a bit more life than it might normally have had, but you accept the look and it is a part of the film after the first Grendel attack.
Now the movie. Beowulf is a pretty good, with a classic story, a beautiful look and some amazing action scenes. The movie opens with a celebration of King Hrothgar and his people when Grendel, a beast of terrifying looks and brutality, barges in and kills pretty much everyone in the hall. This leads to a call for a “hero” to come and kill Grendel and Beowulf answers the call. To tell more would take away from the film and while it is a bit predictable and there aren’t any major twists, it is still probably best enjoyed knowing as little as possible.
This movie, as you might know is animated, which looks great, but is drawn to look like the actors who filmed the movie performance capture on a blue screen. This is the best way to tell this story I feel and I don’t think it would have looked as good or as doable as a live action film with CGI elements added in. The movie being animated also allows you to easily accept and not be taken aback by the scenes that would have been blatantly CGI enhanced as it looks just like everything else in the world.
The actors do alright work here, though Robin Wright Penn is a bit too wooden even for being a sad, sad character. Anthony Hopkins is also alright as the King with Ray Winstone playing an excellent bad ass in Beowulf. John Malkovich is also good as the sleazy Unferth with Brendan Gleeason being as great as he always is. Angelina Jolie also turns in some sexy and mysterious work as the mother to the best actor in the movie Crispin Glover. Glover as Grendel is terrifying and is a character that is truly freaky on screen. Glover throws together a performance that is unsettling and just eats away at you. I would love to find out how much of the physical performance he did as well.
Another bit to note with this movie, is that it is brutally violent and in no way is it possible that this is PG-13, I have no idea how it received that rating. Be warned if you are bringing little ones, it’s scary and messed up and there is plenty of blood and bodies tossed around the screen.
Any who, the movie is worth seeing just for the 3-D alone, but you will also be able to enjoy a classic tale, beautifully realized in this animated feature. The movie could have been trimmed up a bit and the acting could have been better, but the action and animation make up for it’s shortcomings easily and it’s ultimately an entertaining movie.
B-