It was fun while it lasted....

Bob and Jason are going on vacation. Hopefully while away they can find the joy in watching movies again.

The Other Guys

I have waited since 2004 to see a Will Ferrell movie I really really liked. Stranger Than Fiction was a good role for him, although I don't think I loved it as much as most people. Talladega Nights had its moments, but then Ferrell seemed to be typecast into a collection of sports-comedy roles, which I chose not to see. I hated Land of the Lost last year, worrying that Ferell might have permanently lost his comedic way. Finally, here he is back in a film that has consistent laughs and feels fresh for him.

He plays Detective Allen Gamble, a forensic detective who prefers to be at his desk rather than on the streets. He has had Terry Hoitz (played by Mark Wahlberg) as his partner ever since Hoitz accidently shot Derek Jeter during the World Series. Though the rest of the department thinks of the duo as butt-ends for office jokes and pranks, the pair get the break they never thought they'd get when their idol police detectives take a literally unexpected drop (which I found hilarious).

There are many great comedic moments in this movie, one of my favorites being an old lady with a walker being used as a go-between messenger when Gamble tries to make up with his extremely hot wife. I tend not to watch a funny movie too often for fear that the jokes will wear off on me if I overkill viewing them, but this along with Hot Tub Time Machine are two 2010 movies you should consider seeing more than once for a good laugh.

Inception

I have yet to walk out of a Christopher Nolan film saying, "Well that sucked!" Considering how much I love his work so far, I really hope I never will. What Nolan does so well is that he tells a great story while dazzling us with great special effects. That is never more apparent than in this film, where the topic of entering people's dreams allows computer technology to have a field day making these imaginative worlds come to life. Then we get into dreams within dreams. Everything goes much faster the deeper you get, allowing for certain ideas to be implanted into one's mind without the dreamer noticing these are not truly his original thoughts.

This has been a good year for Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in the also quirky Shutter Island. I liked Shutter, and I think I liked Inception even more. DiCaprio has a great character to play, dealing with the loss of a his wife, whose memory sabotages his dream extraction missions. One day, he is offered a job that will clear him of murder charges and allow him to see his kids. Does he succeed and see his family? I won't reveal it here of course, but the ending, like Shutter Island, is one that will have its audience members talking. An early candidate for one of my top ten films of the year.

Despicable Me or Jason was going to talk about the subtext of therapy in the movie but un-unfortunately became distracted.

1. Did I enjoy it? YES
As I watched the years worth of raccoon feces slide off my in-laws deck, I realized Despicable Me is the second best animated film I've seen all year. Yeah my brain works that way. I wonder...am I scatterbrained or do my thoughts travel hyper-dimensional vectors moving across and outside time's arrow appearing as scattering non-sequiters to us poor linear-bound perspectivists? 

2. Would I watch it again? YES
Absolutely, who doesn't want to laugh. I'd even make time to watch it again and not make some vague plan to accidentally catch it on television at a time I have nothing else going on. Nope. I'd definitely make time to watch it again.

Wolfman or Jason joins in the screaming.

1. Did I enjoy the movie? YES
Almost as enjoyable as the decidedly Gothic setting of the film was the man behind me shouting at the screen. As if the characters could hear his warning. As if in some metaplot twist actually comprehend his warnings and violate the narrative course of events. As if I could help myself and avoid joining in.
2. Would I watch it again? MAYBE
 I really enjoyed this movie with its dark Gothic landscape, characters who chew their dialogue more than deliver it, and unbridled gore, I do not know if I would enjoy it a second time. Part of the fun of a movie like this is seeing it with a crowd. Everybody starts to get pulled in, screaming and yelling at the screen, that it becomes a communal event. There is a power in that moment of inter-connectivity. Sitting on my couch by myself...not so much. Even if it is Blu-ray.

Toy Story 3 or did that little kid just call me a pussy for crying?

1. Did I enjoy it: YES
There is a wonderful alchemy at work in film, especially the Pixar films. A story told in the right way can slip past all your emotional barriers and bring out all those buried emotions. Or at least bring on that sensation where your heart expands in joy pushing out the tears. Tears of joy as they used to call it. Such an odd oxymoronic concept. I count myself lucky any time a movie can make me cry. Lucky and fortunate.
There was a period in my life where I could not cry. It was miserable. I would feel the sadness welling up, and instead of being released through tears, my body would clamp down and nothing. The sadness remained just sitting there, like a weight. I do remember crying as a kid. Mainly from when report cards came home. Once I hit fourth grade, this was a time of terror for me. It became routine even. The report cards would arrive and my parents would yell at me for not getting good grades. A's were the only grade good enough. How I needed to do all my homework. How I needed good grades because Mom and Dad would never have the money to send me to college and I needed a scholarship for college because if I don't get a good education I'll starve. How I was wasn't living up to my potential. Then the waterworks would start.

How I hated report card day.

I still remember the day I stopped crying. It was my birthday during my freshman year of high school. My first order with the Science Fiction bookclub had arrived and my parents got Little Ceasar's pizza. Everything was going fine till the food poisoning set in. I never vomited that much in my life. That was the last day I cried, and incidentally vomited, for about ten years.

Over time I came to realize how precious crying was. It is very important to our well-being and should never be viewed as weak. The act of crying serves as a pressure release valve to a build up of negative emotions. The body is forced into a reaction and uses up all its energy, thereby not having the strength to put into whatever foolish coping patterns you were engaged in. Tired and exhausted, we have a chance to choose a new path in life.

So here I am in Toy Story 3 watching as these characters I have grown with, have grown to love, deal with such sour notes and still have the capacity to love. I am moved. Deeply moved. I let the hot tears roll down my cheek. I hug Felix. I hug Suzanne. I would of hugged my dog had she been there. Toy Story 3 slipped past my adult cynicism and defences to remind me of the preciousness of life. And with each tear, I am thankful.

2. Would I watch it again? YES
This movie basically summed up everything I can think of as important in life. Stuck inside the furnace, our heroes are going to die. What do they do? They hold hands. They decide to spend what short time is left enjoying each other's company. That is a simple yet powerful message. One I, and probably others, could do with reminding.

It Came From Kuchar

According to wikipedia, which we all know is never wrong, an underground film is a film "that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing." George and Mike Kuchar certainly made films fitting that description, not to mention experimental and exploitative in the extreme.

I love documentaries about filmmakers, and this one is particularly interesting because these brothers are some of the weirdest looking guys I have seen who enjoy making pictures that are some of the weirdest looking films I have ever seen. As the documentary shows clips of the Kuchar films, all of them seem to be made on micro budgets (Roger Corman would be proud), concentrate on the vile and disgusting, and usually deal with some strange sexual perversions. I'm not sure if George Kuchar was high throughout his filmmaking career or if he was simply channeling Corman, Ed Wood and Herschell Gordon Lewis. Most of these films I would probably hate and walk out of if shown in a theater, but the fact that the Kuchars are willing to show films with feces, vomit and men in love with gorillas makes them stand out as filmmakers who took film to places you never thought it went, but did.

Shutter Island

While I'm not ready to say that Leonardo DiCaprio is the best male actor of his generation, it is becoming obvious at least to me that each year he is offered some of the most choice pictures in Hollywood. 2010 is no exception for DiCaprio, although Shutter Island was originally scheduled to be released in 2009 before being pushed forward to its current year.

The film follows U.S. Marshal Edward Daniels, as he and new partner Chuck Aule arrive at the Ashecliff Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island. They are there, Daniels believes, to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, a patient who has unexplainably vanished.

Then the film takes several turns into the unexpected and the bizarre. Is Rachel really missing? Does she really exist? Why is Daniels really at Shutter Island? Is he even who he thinks he is? These questions and their answers are mused over and hinted at throughout the film and will have viewers wondering even after the credits role what the truth really is. This is not Martin Scorsese's best film, but this psychological thriller is ground he hasn't covered quite in this way before. In any case, this movie still stacks up as a noteworthy film and one I dare you not to see more than once. This is good stuff.

On Best Buy's Minion Mode app for translating what the minions say at the end of Despicable Me.

Reverse thank you Best Buy for encouraging even more people to use their phones during the movies.

Leap Year or Undistracted by what is going on on the screen, Jason has time to wax philosophical.

1. Did I enjoy it? NO
Spraining my knee has given me time to catch up on my film reviews. But the question that keeps coming back to me is why did I ever get behind in the first place. Really great films, and even really bad films for that matter, generate conversation. You can't wait to tell your friends about what excited or outraged you. You quote the movie. The movie shows things about yourself you did not know.

Then there's mediocre movies. They just slip out of thoughts after you leave the theatre. Leaving you with nothing to talk about or be excited about. Or maybe the problem is not the movie but me.

Many my modern American lifestyle has blinded me to the subtleties of cinema. (The fact I enjoyed Furry Vengeance may be a supporting factor in that argument.) Has the dichotomy of great indie films versus big blockbusters blinded me to the charms of simple middle of the road film making. Amy Adams was cute. Matthew Goode was charming. The Irish countryside was beautiful. Shouldn't that be enough. Unfortunately it isn't. Perhaps if it was I'd be a happier person.

2. Would I watch the movie again? NO
One time is enough thank you.

Furry Venegence or My two year old son tried to walk out of this film then came back and grabbed my hand so I could help him walk down the stairs so he could leave.

1. Did I enjoy the movie? YES
I don't normally find myself contemplating bear rape when I look at movie poster, but when I do a few thoughts run through my mind. Does the bear represent the wilderness "coming" into the hero and changing him from a city-boy to a feral-child. Is the bear rape symbolic of the character's mental disturbance that finally comes to the surface? Or, maybe, the scriptwriters drew words at random during a moment of writer's block.  Furry Vengeance let me down.

Let it be known: If like me, you looked at the movie poster and thought to yourself that bear looks like he's going to rape Brendan Frasier, know no bear raping occurs in this movie. The bear merely steals Brendan Frazier's pants. Steals them in a way that seems physically impossible, even if said bear was propelled from the doomed planet krypton and upon arriving at earth found he had superpowers from earth's yellow sunlight.

The bear's superpowers or lack of superpowers aside, the bear and Brandon Frazier share a scene that defies description in it's awfulness. Watching Furry Vengeance, I found myself in a two part viscous cycle. First I would watch a scene and think how the movie has set a new low in every one's career. Then the next scene would lower the bar even more.
But through it all there was Brandon Frazier. For me it was method acting taking to the next level. The actor becomes the character in that moment so thoroughly that it transcends the medium and starts to work voodoo magic on the audience.

Then Felix, my two-year old son, had enough and wanted to leave. Guess the kid has no taste for camp.

2. Would I watch it again? MAYBE
When I first saw this movie, I thought it was so campy I could watch it again and again. Bring all my friends over and laugh at how ridiculous and awful the movie is. Then I watched it a second time for work, and well, no. I never want to watch this film again. Each scene of this movie is like a clip from a future retrospective on Brendan Frazier's career. The low points. It only gets the Maybe because I actually did see it again, but not from choice.

On the dancing dog segemnt at the end of Marmaduke

Why?