Still Playing Review – The Hangover Part II

The Hangover Part II could have easily been one of the best comedies of the summer, but instead of embracing the challenge of besting the first film, it hides behind the popularity of its predecessor, becoming nothing more than an uninspired copy.

The film opens up on Phil exclaiming that “it happened again,” and these words could only be truer had he said, “All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.”  But I don’t really take him to be a Battlestar Galactica fan.  Point is, the writers are obviously a fan of Mad Libs and draw from this passion to create this sequel:  While celebrating [name]’s impending wedding in [location], Phil, Stu, and Alan wake up in a hotel room having no recollection of the night before.  While looking around the room they realize that [name] is missing, Stu has [alteration to face], and they have somehow come into possession of a [animal].  At some point they believe that they have found the missing person, but when they go to the [location] to retrieve him they realize it is not the same person.  Mr. Chow jumps out of the [container] to attack them, [no-no bits] are all around, and when all leads have been explored something clicks and they realize the missing person was on/in the [location] the whole time.  The end. [Read more...]

Review: The Hangover Part II

The Hangover Part II is a lazy, uncreative, and terrible film that improves nothing upon the first film and in fact it copies the original almost note for note to painful affect.

You know the story, (no, literally, it’s exactly the same) Stu, Phil, and Alan go out and get so messed up that they can’t remember what happened the night before.  A fourth party is involved, is lost and missing a finger, and the group must track down their whereabouts the night before.  The problem is it takes what feels like an eternity to get to this point and I feel like the film would have been better off just picking up right with everyone waking up.  We are introduced to quite a few new characters, Stu’s soon to be  in-laws to be exact, get reacquainted with the gang, endure an awful rehearsal dinner scene, all among some rather pointless attempts at character building.  People are signing up for this film to see the debauchery and it takes a very long time to get there.

And when it does get to the crazy stuff, it fails to be all that crazy.  The first film was fresh, surprising, and original and repeating the exact same format beat for beat does not make this film any of those adjectives.  In fact it makes things feel tiresome, extremely repetitive, and stale from frame one.

[Read more...]

Now Playing Review – Due Date

Road trips seem like a fun idea on paper because of all the excitement they promise.  There is the car crammed like a clown car full of duffle bags and people, mix tapes to sing joyously along to, snacks to munch on because restaurants are for the undedicated, etc.  But once you are actually in the car the excitement quickly wanes and before you know it half your friends are asleep and someone is doing their seated pee pee dance.  And just think, these are the car trips that we choose to take.  Due Date is a completely different story.

In order to get to why two very different individuals are stuck on a cross-country road trip together we have to take a few steps back.  When Peter Highman woke up this morning he thought his day was going to be pretty simple.  All he had to do was get on a plane and fly home, giving him more than enough of a cushion to wait out the rest of his wife’s pregnancy before the due date. [Read more...]

Review: Due Date

Due Date is the latest from Todd Phillips and he smartly lets his leads of Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis make the most of a good but far from great script/story.

Peter Highman (Downey Jr.) is a straight shooting architect, with occasional rage issues, that is on his way home to witness the birth of his first child.  His plans are delayed though when his path becomes intertwined with an odd wannabe actor with a dog, Ethan (Galifianakis), and the two end up on the no fly list and have to drive cross country to get home in time.  Of course shenanigans occur along the way and the two get into a lot of trouble as their trail gets weirder and wilder.

[Read more...]

For Your Renting Pleasure

That’s right, my write-up for rentals has changed yet again.  This time around (and hopefully I will stick to it this time) I will write up little blurbs about the movies I have seen in the past week on Fridays, giving you suggestions for what to pick up and what to avoid when considering what to rent that weekend.  On this weeks list we’ve got: The Back-up Plan, The Last SongOperation: Endgame, Repo Men, The Runaways, A Single Man, and The United States of Tara.

Fight for the Last Copy:

United States of Tara: Season One

This Diablo Cody created, Showtime TV show is about a woman who has recently gone off the medications that have helped to suppress the other faces of her multiple personality disorder (or dissociative identity disorder).  Toni Collette plays Tara, and the way in which she moves in and out of these other personalities is pure artistry.  Though this is a serious topic, it does not shy away from the humor of it all, thanks in large part to the people she becomes.  In the beginning she is aware of three: Alice is a 1950s housewife, Buck is the redneck hick with a heart of gold, and T is basically the teenage slut, but eventually another emerges (but I will not spoil in for those who want to watch) in response to the overriding story arc of Tara digging into her past to discover what caused this disorder to take form during her teen years.

The show does not just stop with how this disorder effects Tara, but shows the strain it puts on her family.  John Corbett plays her supportive husband who i leading the search to discover her past and must constantly coral the other personalities (though he is far from ashamed of his wife). [Read more...]

Review: Youth in Revolt

Youth in Revolt might look like another run of the mill Michael Cera movie, but in actuality it is one of his best acted and broadest range shown yet in a surprisingly fun and irreverent farce about fighting for the one you love.
Nick Twisp is your average teenage boy, without a girl, enthralled with sex, and is rather awkward when put in a potential female encounter. Everyone is of course getting some around him as well, including his divorced parents, which only rubs salt in his wounds. So when he meets the girl of his dreams, Sheeni, he decides he will do anything to stay close to her as they are torn apart from both sides. This leads to Nick creating an alternate personality to do what Nick Twisp can’t, and his name is Francois Dillinger, and Dillinger is bad.
Dillinger is barely in the film, popping in and out of scenes, for a matter of seconds sometime, but he is endlessly hilarious and shows Cera’s range as an actor and gives one hope he can do more than what the studio heads want him to do right now. It isn’t a surprise that Cera can do this to his fans that have seen him fool around in behind the scenes stuff he has done, but he will catch a lot of people off guard. But this is a good thing and a step forward to Cera breaking out of his shell. Hopefully we get fresh Cera for Scott Pilgrim next year and more in the years to come, because if Francois is any indication of what he is capable we are in for a treat. [Read more...]

Review: Up in the Air

Up in the Air is a painfully honest film that not only looks into the lives of our three main leads but will cause a number of viewers to reflect back on their own in these troubling times.
Jason Reitman adapts the novel by Walter Kim into a funny and sad tale that takes us all across the country and into the life, or lack there of, of Ryan Bingham; played wonderfully by George Clooney. Bingham’s home is the airport, or should we say, airports. Living his life almost literally in the skies as he flies from company to company around the country as he is hired to come in and make employees redundant. This job has made him numb to the world and unable to make any real connections to just about anyone. Bingham even gives seminars about how to detach yourself from the things that hold you back and possess you instead of possessing them. We see him doing his job, which he does well, and the company he works for sells their business as helping these employees look toward their future and helping them cope with this traumatic moment in their life. [Read more...]

Review: The Hangover

Todd Phillips returns to form after a series of floundering pics with this bachelor party gone bad comedy that keeps the jokes coming and rarely misses a beat from start to finish.
Doug is getting married and the male celebration commences with his son to be brother in law Alan, and best friends Stu and Phil heading off to Vegas for a night on the town. Stu is a whipped dentist that has a raging bitch of a girlfriend, Phil is a disgruntled married middle school teacher, and Alan, well Alan has never left the confines of his wealthy family and is a tad bit socially awkward. The four toast to the night on the roof of their hotel overlooking the city only to wake up the next morning in their trashed hotel room, unaware of anything that happened the night before and missing their groom Doug. The three begin retracing their steps with the clues they have laid before them and their wild night begins to unfold as new hijinks fall in their path.
I won’t go into the plot to heavily with this picture, but the trailer and this synopsis is more than enough to get a grasp on what you need to know whether this picture is up your ally. [Read more...]

Review: Into the Wild

Sean Penn directs his first movie in six years and knocks it out of the park. Into the Wild follows the post graduate life of Christopher McCandless, an Emory graduate that decides to give up everything he has and set off on a life of tramping around the country in an attempt to rediscover himself. [Read more...]