Alan's Totally Biased Mini-Movie Reviews for 2008

I just don't have time to write full reviews anymore but I'll try to jab down a few lines about the movies I see at the theatre.

Hancock

Here's the thing about Hancock - It's new.  It's kind of a new superhero story too.  Sure there's been comics that have done the down and out, dirty and corrupted superhero, but we haven't really seen it yet in film (I'll pretend I didn't see My Super Ex Girlfriend.)  So that's the fun here.  It's something new and since it's not based on a comic, we don't know what to expect.  After seeing the previews, I thought I knew what to expect and now that I've seen it I was even more happy with the film than I anticipated.  It's funny and fun, just like a good Superhero movie should be.  The reviewers are being unusually harsh on this film, but don't believe them.  If you like Will Smith (like I do) and Superhero movies then you will like Hancock.  It's as easy as that.

Wanted+

This movie was as awesome as I expected it to be.  Angelina was screaming hot.  And the kid from Last King of Scotland did a good job in the Neo role.  Speaking of Neo, we can all agree that the lobby gunfight in The Matrix is one of the coolest action sequences ever filmed right?  Now we can add to that list the Textile Mill gunfight sequence in Wanted.  Yes... It's that good.  My only problem with this movie, if you could call it a problem, is that the training portion of the film is a little too long.  It would have been cooler to see him go on more assassination missions.  As it is, with the long training section, it's kind of like the "Rocky" of Assassin movies.

 Get Smart

I was disappointed with this movie.  It's either a bad action movie with a few good jokes or a mediocre comedy with action sequences.  The actors all did fine I guess, Steve Carell did a decent Maxwell Smart impression (I was a fan of the TV show as a kid, so I might be kind of overly critical.)  Maybe on a different day I would have liked it more?

 The Love Guru

Critics hated this movie.  I'm not sure why.  It's basically just an Austin Powers movie.  I loved all 3 of the Austin Powers movies and I laughed out loud all the way through this movie.  Justin Timberlake and Ben Kingsley were hilarious too.  And Jessica Alba is in it!  It's a really funny movie.  So if you liked the Austin Powers movies then you will like the Love Guru.  It's as simple as that.  The reviewers are wrong about this one.

 The Incredible Hulk+

First I'll say that I'm a fan of ALL comic book movies and that I liked the first Hulk movie 5 years ago too.  This one is better though.  It's not a "Reboot."  It starts right where the last one left off.  The opening credits cover the whole "How he became the Hulk process."  I love Edward Norton and he is great as Banner.  This movie also has a lot more winks and nods to the TV show so that's fun.  It also has a little more humor.  And best of all, now that Marvel is producing the movies themselves the cross-over future is looking bright!  Keep an eye open for Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and references to SHIELD.  

 The Happening

If you saw the trailer for The Happening, then you saw a 3 minute version of this movie that was much better than the whole film.  This is not to say it wasn't worth watching but I actually saw the trailer again about 15 minutes after the film ended (when I snuck in to see The Strangers) and I thought, Wow!  I wish the movie I just watched was that good!  The best thing about it is it's one step closer to a hypothetical film that Holly and I have been waiting our whole lives for.  You know that first 15 minutes at the beginning of the remake of Dawn of the Dead.  We want to see a whole movie that just shows the quick collapse of society.  Everybody going crazy and all systems failing.  Chaos.  Anarchy.  Weeeeeeeeeee!

 The Strangers

This was a scary fun film.  It reminded me of a European horror film like Funny Games (The Austrian Version) or The Vanishing (The Dutch Version).  It's not fast paced and the body count isn't high but it's a good scare and it's plausibility is the real terror.  Whenever I see a house out in the country set back in the woods I always assume that the people who live there are on borrowed time.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Here's another comedy from the guys who made Knocked Up, Superbad, Walk Hard and The 40 Year Old Virgin.  This was a nice funny romantic comedy.  Along the same lines as Knocked Up.  Ugly, weird, nerdy guy loses and then gets another super hot girl that would only be possible in a Aptow movie.  It had some really funny jokes but nothing compared to the rapid fire hilarity of Walk Hard.  It's a good date movie though.  So if you can't get the wife or girlfriend to go see Iron Man (And you should really try for that first) then you could do worse than seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  Remember Made of Honor is still in theaters too and you don't want to end up there!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I'm a huge fan of the Indy movies.  I've seen them all many many many times.  This new one was good.  I liked everything about it.  More CGI than ever before but that's cool with me.  I don't mind.  It was fun like the other three films before it.  I would say it falls into the Temple of Doom category.  If I was to rank them I would probably say the order is now 1-3-4-2.  Don't be discouraged by this though.  Go see it.  It's a fun summer movie and honestly if you're a fan of the series it's not like you have a choice.

Speed Racer

I was never a fan of the Speed Racer cartoon.  But I am a huge fan of the Matrix series and this is the first film those guys have done since then so despite bad reviews I decided to give the film a shot.  Here's all I have to say - If you want to save 7 bucks just do this:  Take some blue, red, green and yellow food coloring, put a few drops of each into the toilet, stick your head into the toilet, open your eyes and flush.  Do this for 2 hours and 15 minutes and you can then say that you've seen Speed Racer.

Iron Man +

Iron Man is the first blockbuster of Summer 2008.  I haven't decided yet if it is "The Best" or just "One of the Best" Superhero films EVER MADE.  It was so awesome!!!  DO NOT MISS this film at the theater.  Even if you don't know who Iron Man is.  But if you do it's even better (also if your a fan of the comic then definitely stay through the end credits for a awesome bonus scene.

Young @ Heart
My neighbor gave us free tickets to a sneak preview of this movie.  It's not the kind of film I would normally go see but Holly said the movie review guy she listens to on the radio liked it and I read a few good  things about it in Entertainment Weekly.  It was OK.  Kind of cute, kind of sad.  The film is about a group of very old people who perform somewhat contemporary rock songs.  If you're a fan of 80s and 90's rock like The Talking Heads or even a sort of contemporary band like Coldplay, and you want to hear what it sounds like being sung by a group of 80 years olds - Then this is the movie for you!

Semi Pro

Just when I started liking Will Ferrell movies (Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory) he makes another sports spoof and this one only has a few laughs in it.  Time to move on Will.  

Be Kind Rewind

As a  former amateur filmmaker I liked this film because it reminded me of the "Titanic" video that Holly and I shot 10 years ago.  If the whole film was just about 2 guys shooting super low budget remakes of famous movies, and we got to see the movies, then I probably would have liked it better.  But, the film has a message and a heart and a sweet sentimentality that I found kind of boring.

Jumper

This film had cool special effects but seemed more like the pilot episode of a TV show than a feature movie.  The story really got going about 2 minutes before the film ended.  Will there be another episode next week?

Atonement

I don't want to sound like a idiot so I'm not going to say Atonement was a bad film but I will say this:  Having not read the book, I found the shifting time periods and Rashomon-like perspectives confusing.  Holly read the book so she was there to whisper in my ear what was going on when I got that confused look on my face.  It's not that I can't deal with these elements in a film, Quentin Tarantino can chop a movie into pieces, throw it in the air and glue it back together and I can follow along fine.  I think in this case the problem lies in the parts of the story that were not filmed, and the parts that were, did not form a cohesive whole.  Plus it was a chick-flick and I thought it was kind of boring.  There, I said it.

Cloverfield +

AWESOME!  BRILLIANT!  THE BEST FILM OF 2008 SO FAR!  OUT-FREAKING-STANDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!