Kimputer's Weblog

Saturday Night Live’s alumni bundle together for a movie, and with Tina Fey mostly out of character, it seems almost refreshing. Paired with Amy Poehler it’s still not a laughing riot. It’s your average comedy, following a predictive path. Greg Kinnear as the romantic male lead works pretty well, as well as parts of Sigourney Weaver and Steve Martin, while most of the other SNL cast have cameos.
If you’re up for easy non-extreme jokes, this movie is for you.7-.

The second Daniel Craig outing as the not so secret agent (while just earning his 00 license, already everyone knows him by name and face), and it’s the same raw violence, but with less depth and drama. It’s a bit sad, since that’s what made Casino Royale so good, but director Marc Forster thought he’s go straight forward with just action. And that’s the strange thing, the director of dramas like The Kite Runner and Finding Neverland abandons that what he is good at, and goes for something he’s never done.
And it shows, action sequences are cut together with scene changes easily counted by mere frames (while brand logos, like Ford, get some full seconds), making some sequences a total blur of head scratching and wondering what the hell is happening.
That’s not to say it didn’t inherit some good things from Casino Royale, there’s still a bit of drama and intrigue, and M plays her role well again. It also still abandons high tech gadgets and the following breed of bad and mismatched CGI overload, depending on more traditional stunts and car chases, giving it a more authentic feeling.
While it will be a break out hit again, building on its first chapter’s success (probably outpacing its previous boffo earnings), it’s definitely no master piece like The Dark Knight, and hence will have to do with a lower box office score.
So, it’s lacking and slightly below expectations, but still enjoyable.7+.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt team up again, but also with the Coen brothers. The result is a drama with some comedy aspects. Mostly what the Coen brothers had in mind is to think up how to make up the most weird characters. You will hence get ridiculous story lines, but still the mix of drama and comedy just isn’t my cup of tea (mostly because it creates a fake-ish feeling). For heaven’s sake, just pick a side. Until then, I’m definitely not a fan of these two people (they actually chose the drama side for No Country for Old Men, but that was just okay, not super).6-.

A typical British dog-eat-dog crime flick, nothing more, nothing less. Some smiles here and there, but mainly, the story is a bit slow and doesn’t say a lot. Also, it’s mostly predictable. Count me out for the sequel.6-.

It’s the usual Jason Statham action flick, low on brains (and mostly his characters share the same profile), high on adrenaline. It’s fast paced action, coupled with an almost non-existent script that’s highly predictable. Set your brains on minimum savings power, and you just might enjoy Jason kicking butt in a car, beating the bad guys along the way.
But hey, if you happen to miss this one, how about waiting for the same type of movies coming up like Crank 2 and Transporter 3. Is there any difference at all ? 6.

Shia LaBeouf teams up with DJ Caruso (and producer Steven Spielberg) again for fast paced thriller. The quick editing (where only a car chase it cut too close to make any sense), the action and the thrills is what carry the movie, as the suspension of belief will test your plain ol’ logic big time. If you leave the thinking at the door though, it’s somewhat enjoyable, but it’s sure not the best work of either aforementioned people.7-.

Nice little independent dramedy about the Californian wine making uprise, where a Frenchman decided to setup a blind wine testing competition. A little light on everthing (for both drama and comedy), it’s still fresh and quick enough to have the same sensation as drinking a fruity white wine.
Character design is a bit predictable, but the mostly unknown cast (except for maybe Bill Pullman) do carry the sometimes illogical motivations well.
If you want something different from the normal Hollywood crop, this might just do it.7.

Ben Stiller is able to put together an action-comedy with more names on the bill than at first glance (himself, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, but in fact includes Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, Steve Coogan and some more cameos). It looks big budget, and the pacing is unregularly high and cut together with dialogue at true thunder-speed. It leaves no room to go into anything really deep, but at least it’s consistently funny (though never reaching levels where you roll on the floor). For a comedy, it’s thumbs up, but not fully two.7½.

It’s been a while since we had some new release opening the same week as in the States. Part of the rush is seeing it one day before the people in the US, of course, with the risk of no critical reviews warning you of something bad.
On the surface, you should’ve recognised this one too though, being a video game translation (usually never offering real depth). Lots of violence and Mark Wahlberg headlining got me over the line, but it turned out not to be really much.
It’s basically your average revenge story, set in the present, but still trying the film noir look and feel for no other reason than giving it style. But it leads to the expected style over substance cliche, as the story is slow, not much saying and slim to the bone.
The action are the usual slow-mo shots, with the Matrix copying here and there, and they’re far and apart too. The whole movie is on the verge of being boring, and for a movie marketed in the action genre, it means at least 4 nails in the coffin.6-.

British caper based on a real heist back in the early Seventies. Of course it means Jason Statham has to headline, and his acting is as you’d expect.
The story starts up slowly, with more than a dozen of characters introduced (only becoming clear what their purpose is far into the story). While a few things seems to be stretched from the truth, they seem to be really based on facts indeed, but it still dampens a heightened state of thrill.
This is just a normal heist flick, with no ingenious plot twists or extra-ordinary features pulled off.7.

Low budget independent film that comically chapterises 5 unrelated sexual encounters. It provides nothing new in the screenplay, touching predictable topics, but with the unknown actors and quickly paced dialogue, it’s mildly entertaining. While the full title (abbreviation of Young People F***ing) might make you suspect a full frontal hard porno flick, but it’s all decent and the most outrageous thing on screen just be a pleasurising appliance.7.

Thriller pits Ewan McGregor against Hugh Jackman in a cat and mouse game, where things are too obvious, revealed too soon, and doesn’t hold the intensity. Absolutely no surprises if you keep your eyes open, and think of all the contrived story points, because the writer didn’t bother throwing in any misleading clues. Sure it’s consistent, but it doesn’t leave any thrills and results in a softy movie.6-.

Russian director Timur Bekmambetov gets a break from his low budget Matrix copies, and gives it a try in Hollywood. It results in an entertaining pop-corn movie, where a mindless office drone (James McAvoy paired with vixen Angelina Jolie) also gets a break from his routine to do some cool action stuff. There’s not too much thinking involved, and the narrative isn’t mindbendingly sharp, but it sure is a break from reality. Pacing and quickly edited action sequences finish off the most surprisingly brainless entertainment on the brink of this summer.7½.

The title reads like it’s made up by an illiterate, but the movie seems like it’s made by twin amateurs. The story seems laughable when you see the B story develop, and the actions by the main character (Nicolas Cage) leaves a lot of room for head scratching. Furthermore, it’s full devoid of emotional resonance, as much as they try to fill it with cliche dramatic turns. Cinematography is irritatingly dark (even daylight scenes have dark grey filters over them) and action is shoddy with coarse extreme color contrast substituting as style.
Even hardcore Cage fans will have to leave this one be ! Let me warn you one more time, Bangkok Boring.4-.

Mike Meyers creates a new character for a new comedy, but there’s nothing new to be seen. Not nearly as outrageous as Austin Powers, but more smart or subtle humor it ain’t either. So it’s some kinda weak carbon copy that just goes through its normal way to the end without any surprises or laugh fests. Having Jessica Alba as eye candy is a life saver, but I still can’t sell this movie with my full support.6-.