TL;DR EDITION
– Hugo: Sucked.
– The Dictator: Passable. Should have been better.
– The Three Musketeers: Sucked. Couldn’t finish watching it.
– Wanderlust: Not bad. I am beginning to forgive Paul Rudd for How Do You Know (2010).
– The Avengers: Good. Buy it on September 25th.
Boring, boring, boring. Movie never goes anywhere. Attempts to be quirky/fantastic, ends up dull, lifeless and riddled with scenes that don’t seem to belong together. How this was even nominated for academy awards, much less won them, is a testament to how far sucking off the right people will get you. Or, in the case of Martin Scorsese, how being revered in your field can garner your projects praise even when they don’t deserve it.
Sacha Baron Cohen is really the only reason to watch this movie. His character’s love interest with Lisette, played by Emily Mortimer, is the only genuinely intriguing part of an otherwise underwhelming performance on all sides of the ball. Unfortunately it never gets developed, half the characters in the movie aren’t developed for that matter, and the one thing that could have saved this film is shat on in favor of more disjointed scenes of visual “splendor”.
I’m pretty sure Scorsese watched James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) and thought “You know what? I bet I could make a film about absolutely nothing and get away with it, too.” Unfortunately for him, wannabe students of film are the only ones who pretended to like this movie–it bombed financially–so it never reached the mythical bullshit level of success enjoyed by Avatar.
Speaking of Sacha Baron Cohen, I watched The Dictator recently. While I really enjoyed the character of Admiral General Aladeen, the film itself falls a little flat. Based on the premise it could have been amazing, but it is spackled with jokes that fall on their face or scenes that go on much longer than they should. I, personally, would have liked to see more of the Supreme Grocer period of the movie.
Do not watch this movie–ever.
Paul Rudd is dead to me. Okay, not yet. After agonizing through one of his previous films, How Do You Know (2010), I vowed to never again watch a movie where Mr. Rudd played a primary role. I would talk about what a piece of work his character was in what was supposed to be a romantic comedy, but that’s a review for another time.
I reneged on Paul Rudd last year when I sat down to watch Our Idiot Brother (2011) and was pleasantly surprised. I allowed him a reprieve, but it wasn’t without some hesitation that I recently decided to watch Wanderlust, his newest film which co-stars Jennifer Aniston as his wife.
The movie wasn’t bad. It was surprisingly good. Paul Rudd has once again convinced me to offer him clemency. That’s not to say the movie isn’t without its faults. Many scenes drag on far too long. I recall one in particular where Paul’s character is trying to psyche himself into sleeping with Eva, a recently converted hippy played by Malin Akerman, by talking into a mirror. The scene itself was awkward in both its length and its dialog, and when completed it jumped right into another scene with the same tired gags.
After the movie finished I realized what Paul Rudd’s problem is. He’s extremely funny, he’s charming, he’s an excellent comedic actor. Wait, what is his problem? The problem occurs when Paul Rudd plays a character trying to get a girlfriend. At which point the movie turns into a raging pile of dog shit and you literally hate his character so much you refuse to watch any movie he’s in, sorry Anchorman. However, in both Our Idiot Brother (2011) and Wanderlust (2012), Paul’s character is not trying to find a girlfriend and both movies end up being really fun.
If you’re reading this, Paul, don’t make any more shitty romantic comedies and people will stop hating you.
What do you say about the most successful superhero movie of all time? It was good. It didn’t blow my mind. It didn’t change how I think about superhero movies. It didn’t help me find religion or make me want to travel the world in search of my true self. It did, however, make me say “yes”.
Initially I didn’t understand why Loki was chosen as the villain for this movie, considering that he was already the villain in Thor (2011), but the character–played by Tom Hiddleston–does exhibit a certain sleazy charm. After he was given some screen time I settled for Loki and ended up happy that they brought him back into the fold.
Robert Downey Jr was his usual awesome self, but that’s to be expected. I have heard that he also looks a little bit like me, so that makes him even more cool. Everyone did an admirable job portraying their comic book alter egos, however I’m still not sold on Samual Jackson as Nick Fury, but I guess I’ll just have to live with it. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some bad motherfucker, he just isn’t Nick Fury.
I have to say the best part of the entire film is watching the Hulk smash everything within a nine block vicinity of the camera. There is one scene in particular that depicts the Hulk racing through a skyscraper toward one of the flying alien worm/troop deployment system vehicles. Whoever animated him should pat themselves on the back, because they did a fabulous job capturing everything the Hulk represents as he plows through the structure, completely unfazed by everything, and then leaps out through the building and onto the flying worm/personnel carrier and proceeds to bash its face in.
Awesome movie, and you should definitely pick up the home version when it is released on September 25th. Also, staring at Scarlett Johansson’s ass in tight, black leather is never a bad thing. In fact, you literally cannot stop looking at it. I couldn’t. My wife couldn’t. I don’t think anyone else in the theater could have pulled their gaze away from it.