Friday, August 17, 2012

Blue Crush (2002)



Number Rolled: 62
Movie Name/Year: Blue Crush (2002)
Genre: Drama
Length: 104 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Director: John Stockwell
Writer: Susan Orlean, Lizzy Weiss, John Stockwell
Actors: Kate Bosworth, Matthew Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Sanoe Lake, Mika Boorem, Chris Taloa, Kala Alexander, Ruben Tejada, Kaupena Miranda, Asa Aquino, Faizon Love

Blue Crush was one of those ok movies that’s amazingly mediocre and just like every other rags to riches sports movie out there. Alright. The movie didn’t suck. It was just… un-imaginative, un-eventful, un-suspenseful and … well… do I need to go on?

This is a perfect example of a writer and director playing it safe. It’s a storyline enough people can relate to that it’ll make at least some money, and the girls are pretty enough that a guy isn’t going to immediately say no to going to that specific chick-flick with his girl. The most interesting part of the movie was about 5 minutes long when a maid yells at a football player about being a pig. Funny as hell. The rest? Well it makes decent white noise for the background if you hate studying in the silence.

Overall Opinion – 2/5

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Problem Child (1990)


Number Rolled: 13
Movie Name/Year: Problem Child (1990)
Genre: Comedy
Length: 81 minutes
Rating: PG
Director: Dennis Dugan
Writer: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
Actors: John Ritter, Amy Yasbeck, Michael Oliver, Jack Warden, Michael Richards, Gilbert Gottfried

I don’t care what anyone says. I loved this movie when I was a child and I love it even more now that I’m an adult. Granted, Gilbert Godfried is ridiculous and his voice makes me want to punch a kitten – but he is a very minor aspect of the movie. John Ritter played his part VERY well and Michael Oliver was fantastic – especially for a kid.

This movie shows an orphan with behavioral problems after being consistently abandoned by the people he is supposed to be able to trust. He acts out in horrible ways, while a family that was conned into adopting him attempts to cope. With a storyline like that, this movie could have easily been crap as a comedy and spectacular as a drama. Luckily, Dennis Dugan, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski knew what they were doing. Putting it from the viewpoint of Junior, the orphan child, was also a very big risk that paid off.

In the end, the story is deeper than one would expect from a comedy of this sort, but almost expected of the director, Dennis Dugan, if you look at the films he worked on after this one such as: Big Daddy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, The Benchwarmers and Grown Ups. All comedies that are relatively to extremely funny but with underlying lessons and deeper meanings than there seems.

All in all, I love the entire Problem Child series. Also, I’d love to know what became of Michael Oliver. Even IMDB pulled up nothing. Where is he now?

Overall Opinion – 4.5/5

Monday, August 13, 2012

Kick-Ass (2010)



Number Rolled: 70
Movie Name/Year: Kick-Ass (2010)
Genre: Action & Adventure
Length: 117 minutes
Rating: R
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Writer: Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn, Mark Millar, John Romita Jr.
Actors: Aaron Johnson, Nicholas Cage, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Garrett M. Brown, Clark Duke, Evan Peters, Deborah Twiss, Lyndsy Fonseca, Sophie Wu, Elizabeth McGovern

In case you didn’t know, Kick-ass was not exactly the movie to end all movies according to the box office. I blame the PR on it though. This movie did indeed kick ass.

Undoubtedly, the idea of a 9 year old child slicing through bad guys with weapons sharper than most of us have ever touched is probably a bit unsavory to some people. If it were real life? Yeah, it’d be unsavory to me too, but it’s a fucking movie. Furthermore, it’s a movie based on a comic. Fantasy. As in, not real. Get over it!

Now, I’ve never read the comics that preceded this movie, so I can’t speak on the relation between the two. However, I can say I’m much more likely to read the comics now that I’ve seen the movie. I loved the actors, the story, the concept, even the script. I just wish they had advertised it correctly to start with!

Overall Opinion – 4/5