Movie Reviews & More
Monster In Law (2005)
Starring Jane Fonda, Jennifer Lopez, Wanda Sykes, and Michael Vartain, Monster In Law is the age old battle between new wife, and old mother, to win the affections of their son.
I don’t know why Wanda Sykes was in the movie, mostly as a black commentary in an all white cast, a kind of feel good corporate production thing. Both characters were over the top, Fonda with the crazy and solidifying any stereotype we may have of aging women, and Jennifer Lopez in her overly cute and innocent acting style. She never has anything different to say.
None the less, this movie is really funny. You don’t go for all that stuff instead, you go to ignore it, and think about how funny this would be, but not so much if it was you. From endless slapping, to sleeping in a platter of octopus, to swollen Lopez platypus lips, there are some classic scenes in this movie, with the perfect title to boot. Everyone should see this movie.
Sideways (2004)
Starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Hayden Church, and Virginia Madsen, Sideways is about a week of wine drinking and running away from the future that two guys do prior to Church’s wedding. They meet two women, Church looking to get laid, and Giamatti looking to feel alive and make a true connection with anyone.
I really liked this movie. Church is the fun guy who is older, and is having problems with the idea of being tied down, that he has given in to one woman and Giamatti is depressed and mediocre, looking to find anyone to connect with that doesn’t force him out of his comfort zone. There is real dialogue, and the whole movie felt like you were spying in on two guys and their week in California. Funny, and realistic, you really relate to what Paul feels and how he reacts to those around him as the movie unfolds his past experiences.
If you can stand some of the male schvenism and brief sex scenes, I would recommend this movie to those people who like a good story about real people and all of their baggage and imperfections.
Paparazzi (2004)
Starring Tom Sizemore, Daniel Baldwin, and Cole Hauser, this is a movie about some of the seediest of paparazzi, the harm they cause in one actors life, and what he does to get even. Produced by Mel Gibson, this is another hotspot topic, just not as great as Christ I suppose. The whole movie I was wondering how Bo(Cole) would be able to get his life back. The blackmail, the lack of regard for family and boundaries for these paparazzi. I left hating them, but I am not sure if that was Gibson’s intention, because Bo does some pretty terrible things to get even, killing with his own hands.
A touch violent, and not necessarily a movie you see for astounding acting, especially the over the top Sizemore, I would recommend this movie to most people, especially for them to see how he gets back at these jerks.
Robots (2005)
Voice talent including Halle Berry, Drew Carey, Mel Brooks, Terry Bradshaw, Greg Kinnear, Robin Williams, Ewan MacGregor, and Jennifer Coolidge, this is a highly under rated animated flick by Dreamworks. I laughed quite a bit in this movie, and I thought that, even though robots are done quite a bit in movies today, this was still a endearing and inventive movie.
Rodney the robot sees a robot on TV named Bigweld, who invites all inventors to come to robot city and have their ideas come to life. Rodney grows up with that dream, to help out his family, and heads to the city, only to find out that it isn’t as he thought.
About helping people, and never to loose your dream, two cliche ideas, this movie is still engaging and fun.
See this one, it will make you forget Shark Tale.
The Rocketeer (1991)
A Disney movie when they were still making good ones in the early 90’s, The Rocketeer stars Jennifer Connelly, Timothy Dalton and Paul Sorvino and is set in the 40’s at the star of WWII. Cliff (Bill Campbell), a no name loser pilot comes into the possession of a jet pack that empowers him to do good and stop evil. Nevlin SinClair (Dalton former Bond) is a Nazi in hollywood, with hopes of mass producing this successful version of the pack in Germany for a whole fleet of airborne troops in a really cool retro type video.
I liked this movie then, and has held up well with ILM doing the special effects, what do you expect. Good family movie, a fun character created by Dave Stevens, who is pretty well known in the comic book world. Plus this is Connelly’s breakout role, and she is just a classic beauty you don’t find anymore.
Road Trip (2000)
A college movie that has such a nostalgic feel for me, we watched the unrated version on the ride home from Charlotte, which is just a touch more raunchy than the version I own. Starring Tom Green, Sean William Scott, and Amy Smart this movie is all about the plight of one stupid horny college kid. Josh (Breckin Meyer) has one adulterous night with a sexy girl (Amy Smart) and videotapes it. One of his roommates inadvertently mails it to his current girlfriend in Texas. 1800 miles away, they take a road trip to get the tape back, and have all sorts of crazy fun, with Sean William right in the middle, from jumping a river in a car, to hanging at an all black fraternity, to stealing a bus from a group of blind people.
A little embarrassed that I like this, but it was such a great movie for where I was at, and I would give it five of five, but I am not quite that bold. I just wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, especially my family.
I liked this movie then, and has held up well with ILM doing the special effects, what do you expect. Good family movie, a fun character created by Dave Stevens, who is pretty well known in the comic book world. Plus this is Connelly’s breakout role, and she is just a classic beauty you don’t find anymore.
Eurotrip (2004)
One of the last recent stupid “college” type movies, I saw the unrated version of Eurotrip again on my trip to Charlotte. The first time I saw it by myself, and didn’t really enjoy it that much. It helps to see it with other people with a good sense of humor.
The movie is about a kid who gets dumped in a terrible way, and then finds out his penpal in Germany is a girl, not a boy. So he heads out with a friend to Europe to try to find this girl and get with her. The movie has small roles for Matt Damon and Kristen Kreuk as the evil girlfriend, and Michelle Tractenburg, and that is it. The movie has a silly guy, but he isn’t really that funny, and that is really what is missing in this movie, a crazy funny college guy that does anything. Most of the humor relies on painful and awkward scenes relating back to sex, like a drunk brother and sister making out, and a crazy sado scene in Amsterdam.
If you liked Road Trip, this is a lesser shell, with less depth, but has it’s own good qualities if you like these type of movies.
