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IanHackbarth
Reviews
The Informant! (2009)
Oddly Entertaining
Where to begin with this film. Well, I suppose we can begin at the beginning.
The film opens on Mark Whitacre (Whom I had never heard of before this movie) trying to tell his son that virtually every food in existence has a little bit of his company in it. And what is his company? ADM, they manufacture corn syrup (I think).
Mark is your normal everyday corporate executive, in that he is a slime ball of course. He is soon entangled in a web of lies with the FBI. Trying to bring down his company for price fixing.
I must admit that Damon is in full swing here, he plays this character with such simplicity. For Mark Whitacre would like you to think he is no more than a simple man who wants to provide for his family.
However, as it soon turns out, Mark is anything but simple. I will not give too much away, but this film does a brilliant job of making Mark out to be the Protaganost for the first half, then making him the "bad guy" in the second half.
Personally, not knowing the story of the real Mark Whitacre I was profoundly surprised by the turn of events and the eventual conclusion of the film.
I must issue a warning however, the posters and promos made this film out to be a laugh out loud riot and it sadly was not for me. Sure there were funny parts, and the whole thing seemed like some satirical ride, but i was not rolling on the floor.
Is this as good as Sodenbergh's other films, no way, is it still good in its own respect, yes. With all of the filth littering the cinemas today, This is a little shiny gem that should not be missed.
Bangkok Dangerous (2008)
Another in a line of Good but not great Nicholas Cage movies.
Sigmund Freud - "The very emphasis of the commandment: Thou shalt not kill, makes it certain that we are descended from an endlessly long chain of generations of murderers, whose love of murder was in their blood as it is perhaps also in ours."
I remember a time when Nicholas Cage was like Will Smith, every movie that he released was an instant blockbuster. Nowadays Nicholas Cage has been slightly lacking in this area, is it because of his age, I am not sure. The last movie that he did that I really enjoyed was 2004's "National Treasure" everything after that was really below par.
I also find myself just not really liking him anymore, and I have come to the conclusion that it is because as an actor the only emotion he can really portray is the calm dude with the voice that never changes whether he is having dinner or in a car chase, in essence it his because he is devoid of any emotion.
Now what might be the perfect character for that type of actor, why an Assassin who is completely devoid of emotion.
So we get "Bangkok Dangerous" the story of a Hit-man who is on his last hit. This movie was exactly like "Hitman" from last year, only better because I hadn't played a video game based on it.
The story starts with Joe, who arrives in Bangkok to kill four targets. And he enlists the help of a local, as he apparently does every time he has a new job, whom he plans to kill once his target is dead.
But alas instead of killing him he decides to train him to be another assassin. Also in the same time frame this cold blooded killer asks the local pharmacy girl on a date. I am just a little confused as to how this seasoned hit-man can abandon the "alone" rule of contract killing twice in the same month.
That aside it is a good action flick with plenty of explosions and a lot of killing and shooting. The only thing that I found really disappointing was the ending, no it was beyond disappointing, it was just plain awful.
So, all in all it was surprisingly entertaining, until the end of course, which I cannot stress enough how stupid, pointless, and awful it was.
Disaster Movie (2008)
Funny if you enjoy the Extremely Stupid
"The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter."
-Mark Twain
I am not sure when it became OK to keep making movies that virtually no one goes to see, but in the case of the recent plethora of spoof films I for one am glad that they continue.
Now I know a lot of people out there cannot even fathom why people would enjoy such stupidity, but that is just it, you don't need to understand, sometimes people should just let go and be stupid.
Stupid is the perfect word to describe "Disaster Movie" actually no matter how many times you say the word stupid, it would never be enough to justify just how stupid it is. But for me I absolutely love these stupid spoof movies.
The "story", and I use this word very lightly, gives us Will, who is right in the middle of his Super Duper Sweeet Sixteen (even though he is actually 25) when the world starts coming under attack, from mostly meteorites, and tornado's, and earthquakes. Loosley following the "Cloverfeild" plot, Will must reach his girlfriend who is trapped in the Museum where she works.
But does he have to do this alone? Of course not, there are plenty of stupid characters and even stupider obstacles that he must overcome.
By far the best spoof on a character here is Juno, played by Crista Flannigan, who has done this before on Mad TV I think, she had me rolling on the floor more than anyone. Second to her is Nicole Parker, who is hilarious as Amy Winehouse, Jessica Simpson, but most of all the princess from Enchanted. Who is not actually a princess but a drugged out homeless chick, F-ing hilarious.
Of course no movie is safe, everything from the past year gets made fun off, from Indiana Jones, all the way to Step Up. Most are funny some are really stupid.
The one bad thing that I have to say, is that some of the Spoofs lasted way longer than they needed to, it should be spoof, spoof, spoof, story advance. Only it is Spooooooooof, Spoooooof, story advance. And how many characters does Ike Barenholts need to play, seriously its like they didn't have the budget for more actors. But he was pretty funny.
All in all this was really good, definitely better than last years "Meet the Spartans" not as good as "Scary Movie" so I would rank it up there with "Epic Movie" which I thought was also great. If you like stupid, and you are not old enough to see "College" then you should really check this out.
Traitor (2008)
Very Good
"All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
-Voltaire
"Traitor" is another movie in the line of Iraq war movies. And while this film does not directly deal in the actual war, it does deal in the war against terror, which I am pretty sure are the same.
Reminding me immensely of last year's "The Kingdom", "Traitor" follows the story of a Muslim man, Samir (Don Cheadle) who is actually a deep cover operative for a branch of the US government.
How does this remind me of "The Kingdom" you ask, well if you have seen that movie you know that it casts a sympathetic light on the otherwise slandered name of the Muslim. Both of these films show that not all Muslims want to blow Americans up.
Samir is a deeply religious man, who wants only to serve God, after being caught while trying to sell detonators to, who we can only call Terrorists, he is sent to prison. Now before I get to ahead of myself I have to let you know that the story gets sort of confusing at times, at least for me.
For instance I am not sure why, out of all of the people there, the FBI chooses to interrogate Samir, but maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention.
Without revealing too much I will just say that Samir escapes and gets caught up with a radical terrorist group that tests both his faith in God and in man in general. And of course the FBI is after him at every turn.
The FBI are Guy Pierce and Neal McDonough ,who to their credit do a very nice job, although it was a just a little too "Good cop, Bad cop" for the entire film. Perhaps my favorite character has to be Jeff Daniels who plays Samir's US contact. But that is just because I am a huge fan of his.
In summation this is a great thriller, if you can wrap your mind around the plot, with great acting. Unfortunately I do not foresee any Box Office records being broken, or Oscars being won, but if you are in the mood for a good ride then I would recommend "Traitor"
The Rocker (2008)
Well....
We all love The Office right? That was a Rhetorical question, Of course we all love the office. Micheal,Pam, Jim, Dwight, and all of the rest. But what happens when one of our favorite Office cast members decides to make a movie. Three words License to Wed. Sure we could see John K., a big player on the show, in his own leading role,Even though it was not so memorable, but Dwight Shrute?
Quite honestly I can say that I had never heard of Rain Wilson before the Office. But Admittedly he is one of the funnier characters. So sure I was on-board to see how he handled the driver's seat of his own movie. And was I pleasantly surprised by how well he did, No. Was I thoroughly disgusted by his attempt, No. So, I did not Like or dislike this movie, it was just OK.
Rain plays down and out drummer Robert "Fish" Fishman who was kicked out of what is now one of the biggest bands in the world. The opening scenes where he is running 60 miles an hour to keep up with his fleeing Ex-band mates was actually pretty funny.
Cut to twenty years later, and we find Fish out of work and living with his not-so-comforting sister played by Jane Lynch.
The story kicks off when Fish's nephew needs a new drummer before playing the prom at school. Fish actually does a good job, except for a little show-boding, and after a quick debate the band makes him one of their own.
Now I am not sure who wrote or sang the songs that the band does in this movie, but they are actually really good. And the young actors who play the band to a stand up job with what little they have to work with. The only one that I really knew was Emma Stone, who appeared in last years "Supperbad". I believe that "Josh Gad" who plays the nephew was in "21" earlier this year, but that role was much more forgettable than this one, although I did find humor in the fact that his mother point out that he has been accepted into MIT.
Once the band reaches stardom thanks to a You-Tube video, which was funny, there follows a montage of the gang doing there very first tour.
And of course there is a falling out and a maniacal Music executive to deal with. But eventually the film ends with Robert having to open for the band he was once kicked out of.
Possible my favorite part is when they finally meet again after twenty years, and all of the band members have British accents.
So, in conclusion, this is yet another Hollywood attempt at a quick buck, but it is not the worst attempt they have tried. Its PG13 rating should help its opening weekend, as all kids love stupid comedies. It will be interesting to see how this stacks up to Death Race.
Baby Mama (2008)
Pretty Funny
OK, so I had a choice between this and Harold and Kumar 2. I chose Baby Mama because I am a huge SNL fan, and I was getting paid either way for watching one of these so I was pretty happy.
While I did expect a lot more from this film, I was not totally disappointed.
So we have this girl Kate (Tina Faye) who really really want's a baby. But unfortunately her "T" shaped uterus stops those plans in its tracks. So what is the next best thing. Ah of course, the Baby Mama.
After visiting an agency that helps locate the proper surrogate. Which Segorney Weaver's character is the head of. Now I cannot recall ever seeing a comedy with Weaver in it, but in this movie, every scene she had made me burst out laughing.
Anyway, who is the Baby Mama you might ask. None other than fellow SNL alumni Amy Pohler. (Angie) The two's chemistry in this film is quite believable. It most likely stems from their Real-life friendship.
Although not every joke was utterly hysterical as I had hoped. They were pretty funny. The other things that I really enjoyed about this were the addition of both Greg Kener and Steven Martin, who I had not even known were in this. Steve Martin plays Kate zenned out boss, and he is absolutely hysterical.
So with pretty good humor, interesting side characters and an unforeseen plot twist, I would definitely recommend this Movie.
Prom Night (2008)
Not Really Good, but OK
My expectations were not high as I went into this film. And that was a good thing because had they been I would have been severely disappointed.
This is your average run of the mill horror film. Just about every single horror cliché is thrown in here. Including the old shut the mirror and there's someone behind her thing. which has to have been done at least ten times in this movie. It was also horrible predictable, every plot point can be seen from fifty miles away.
Even with all of those flaws it is an OK movie. Our main character (Donna) is at her senior prom, when her crazy-obsessed ex-teacher escapes from the mental hospital and then proceeds to kill anyone in his way. There is a lot of killing in here yet, to my disappointment, virtually no blood or gore.
If you have absolutely no other way to spend your weekend, and your in the mood for a scary flick, and you haven't already seen the ruins, then go ahead and check this out.
The Ruins (2008)
Not at all a Bad Film
Well, I went into this thinking that it would be yet another American horror film. You know predictable and not even scary. And was glad to be wrong. While there were some predictable points I could not guess what was going to happen throughout the entire movie, as I normally can.
The film starts in a Hostile-isk sort of way. Four Americans are on vacation in, I am guessing Mexico, when, the day before they are scheduled to go home, they are lead to a secret Myan ruin by a German guy looking for his brother. However when they reach the Ruins they find that everything is far from okay.
Without spoiling anything I will just say that from the previews I guessed that the evilness or whatever you want to call it, was snakes. I was wrong. Instead the monster is something that I actually cannot recall being featured in any horror movie for at least a while. Proving that there are some original Ideas out there. (Even if they have to be taken from a book)
One other piece of advise, If you have a weak stomach I would recommend that you don't eat anything during this movie.
The only negative thing I have to say is that I did not like the ending. Again I will not spoil anything, but based on another review from this site that said the ending was good and not done very often I was expecting more.
The bottom line is, you really should see this movie. It actually is scary, but mostly disturbing. And bravo to Hollywood for giving yet another reason to stay home.
AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem (2007)
A Merry Christmas Indeed
It has been awhile since I have seen a movie that has really kicked a whole lot of ass. This is just such a film. AVPR picks up right where the first film left off, and from beginning to end it is non-stop Predator Vs. Alien action. You find yourself thinking you will be watching a predictable "Horror" film and find yourself a surprisingly satisfying, actually scary at points, thing of beauty.
Clocking in at almost 90 minutes it hardly seems that short. With actors that have not done anything huge before, but still deliver, and fight scenes between our two favorite extraterrestrials this film has every right to be called a Blockbuster.
For Vetrans of the Aliens series, you will notice a few actors and other things, that were previously featured in the various films.
Though it does have a rather simple plot, you hardly notice underneath all of the cage match action between two of the most terrifying monsters in film history. And the ending gives sweet promises of a sequel.
Bottom Line- See this movie, if you don't you are going to feel very left out on what everyone will be talking about the next day.