It was an incredibly busy weekend for me and movie watching! I watched 3 movies, two of which I really liked and one I could have done without.
The Green Hornet
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie! I was expecting a bumbling-idiot sort of hero who somehow saves the day in the end. Something along the lines of Blankman or Get Smart. This is partly because of the way it was advertised and partly because... well, it's Seth Rogen. I was as surprised by Rogen's transformation from raunchy sexual humor to everyman's superhero as I was by Jake Gyllenhaal's transformation from awkward scrawny kid to epic adventure hero. Rogen wholly embraced the new genre and role and made Britt Reid believable and well-rounded. I really liked the character development, as I was just about to write the character off as a selfish jackass when he got the proverbial slap-in-the-face and the character transformed.
In fact, the entire cast was great! Jay Chou was amazing as Kato, with moves as impressive as Jackie Chan, while infinitely less choppy. Kato kicked ass and if it he hadn't needed Reid's money, he would have ruled the superhero world on his own! Cameron Diaz, as always, brings flare and beauty to the screen, and does so gracefully. I am always impressed with a celebrity who embraces their age openly and doesn't look like they're made of plastic. I loved James Franco's small part as the drug lord on high. But I think my favorite character was Chudnofsky, played for Christoph Waltz. This character desperately wanted to be as powerful, charismatic and feared as Colonel Landa, the role Waltz played in Inglorious Basterds and for which he won an Academy Award. But Chudnofsky just can't get the love. And his frustration is so apparent... and almost... well, cute!
Now, I haven't ever read the Green Hornet comics, but I very much enjoyed the "comic book" feel of the film with several fun special effects and the cinematography we have come to expect of superhero movies. The plot developed nicely. There were a few minor errors I noticed, the most obvious being that the newspaper staff were talking about the outlandish things the Green Hornet was doing, including shooting out a red light camera.... which he doesn't do until the next scene.
The 3D was unnecessary and was only really "cool" during the end credits. If you're gonna go 3D, go full out! They did a neat scene transition at the very end with a comic book feel and a great 3D hornet. If they had incorporated that throughout the film, it would have made the 3D worthwhile. As it was, I could have done without the uncomfortable glasses.
Overall, really fun movie - oh, and the score was great! Worth seeing, but if it's available in 2D, I would save the extra $3.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Okay, this movie isn't gonna be for everyone. I can see how some people are going to hate it. That said, I loved it! It was so cute!
Scott Pilgrim was a graphic novel and is now an old-school type pixelated video game. So the movie was filmed as a graphic novel/video game hybrid that was so much fun to watch! But, you have to embrace the process and concept to really enjoy it. For example, when he "kills" an enemy they disappear and coins fall on the ground. And when he does something that develops his character, he earns a new weapon or an extra life.
Again, I've never read the graphic novel, so I can't compare it to that, but the story was original and well-developed and the characters were hilarious! Scott Pilgrim is the type of character Michael Cera fits so perfectly. Mary Elizabeth Winstead lends a great balance of cynicism, heart and deadpan humor to Ramona Flowers. And Kieran Culkin is hilarious as Scott's gay roommate.
Overall, this is a super fun movie that I will definitely add to my "I need to own that!" list. Truly entertaining!
Dinner for Schmucks
I rented this movie because my husband loves "dumb humor" and I have to admit, many of them are really entertaining. He seemed to like this movie, though probably not enough to own it. I, on the other hand, really didn't like it at all. It's not an all-time worst, but I certainly won't be watching it again.
The premise of this movie is that Paul Rudd's character, Tim, wants a promotion and he's told that he's in the running for it. But the last "deciding factor" is a dinner to which each of the candidates are invited and they must each bring a guest. The catch is that the guest must be a "schmuck," someone weird and freakish... and the one with the most freakish guest will get the promotion.
Along comes Barry, (Steve Carrell) who becomes Tim's schmuck. Predictably, once Tim gets to know Barry and learns his sad story, he feels bad and has a change of heart. It reminded me a little of Planes, Trains and Automobiles where John Candy played the "schmuck" character and Steve Martin's character is stuck with him and hates him... until he gets to know him and his sad story, then has a change of heart. The difference is that John Candy and Steve Martin are (were) amazingly talented comedians and developed their characters well.
The problem with Dinner for Schmucks is that the characters are far too stereo-typical and completely unbelievable. Paul Rudd plays the only "straight man" and does him well, but that's kind of Paul Rudd's thing. It seems Steve Carrell is much like Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell and so many other comedians today - he does one part really well and everything he does is that same character! Barry's stupidity and knack for ruining people's lives is too over-the-top. I've never in my life met someone as obnoxiously annoying as he is and couldn't imagine this being a real person. Along the same lines, Tim's co-workers were truly horrible people, openly laughing in the faces of the dinner guests and making fun of them behind their backs. The whole concept was so terribly cruel and I couldn't imagine anyone actually doing that in real life. Not only that, it's not like Barry's "sad story" is really all that sad. His wife left him. Oh bummer. She didn't die or anything, he just had his heart broken by a floozy woman.
The shining light in this movie was Zach Galifianakis, who I've never really liked, but he played Barry's crazy mind-controlling boss so well! I probably liked this because his over-obnoxiousness worked so well for the character he was portraying.
Overall, watch this movie if there's nothing else on... Don't waste money on it.
