Man this list was a lot harder to put together than the 10 best. There just seemed like so many worthy candidates for this one. But I had to narrow it down to just 10 and here is what I came up with. I tried to keep it just theatrical movies so Pulse 2 and Lake Placid 2 and shit won't be here, although they damn well deserve to be.
10 Worst Movies of 2008
10.Madagascar Escape 2 Africa
Never thought I would hate this one as much as I did. It almost escaped the bottom 10 but wasn't quite lucky enough. This is lazy on every level, except the somewhat decent animation. The script is terrible, the voice acting sounds like everyone is bored and the whole thing screams cash grab. This movie angered me with it's awfulness and kids deserve a lot fucking better than this dreck.
9.Over Her Dead Body
Another oldie. I couldn't remember how much I hated this one until the memory returned that we had to shut it off and my girlfriend refused to watch the rest, leaving me to watch it alone. Aside from it's retarded name and premise, I still don't get what the fuck Paul Rudd was doing here. I remember seeing him in interviews before it came out and was sure he sounded disinterested. They must have had some dirt on him because wow, I can now see why. Throw in one of the dumbest twists ever (one that is stolen from There's Something About Mary anyway) and you have yourself the ninth worst movie of the year.
8.Fool's Gold
Fool's Gold tried to be a romantic comedy and a classic adventure movie rolled into one. Well, it sucked at being either of those things. Adding another pile of shit to a pair of resumes already oozing them, Matthew McCounahgheywas and Kate Hudson give us another reason to wonder why they keep getting work. I've never seen more attention paid to a story that was frankly never worth telling in the first place. 10 straight fucking minutes of backstory and exposition?! This movie has more plot explanation than every James Bond villian combined I think. Just an awful, awful movie.
7.Prom Night
This movie is the epitome of everything that is wrong with the horror genre these days. It's lazy and generic, yet it rakes in money. What the fuck is wrong with everyone? This movie inspired one of my only rants, that's how awful it is. The lamp jump scare will forever rank as one of the worst moments of my movie going life since not only did it happen, but people fell for it! Read my review for this one, I'm kind of proud of it.
6.Star Wars The Clone Wars
It wasn't easy to make a movie I disliked more than the prequels but here it is. So kid friendly it was nauseating, this takes the Star Wars name, pisses on it, kicks it in the face, rapes it, and leaves it to die in a ditch.
5.College Road Trip
This movie is 90 minutes of people shouting at you. To make matters worse, they think it's hilarious. It's a trial to sit through this movie. They even throw a musical number at you in case their movie wasn't terrible enough. Martin Lawrence....please just, just leave us alone. We didn't do anything wrong to deserve this! Just leave us alone!!!!
4.Mad Money
Apparently Katie Holmes turned down Dark Knight for this one. Hopefully she hired someone to kick her in the head every time she tries to make stupid fucking decisions like that again. I barely remember this movie except I know I hated it. At least it can be forgotten, that's the only positive thing I can say about this one.
3.Witless Protection
Worse than I ever could have imagined. People have defended this movie on the internet but I have to assume those posts are being made when they are on their break from drooling on themselves and yelling at birds. I can't believe this movie really exists. Enough people got behind it so that it got made. This is the movie that makes failing screenwriters want to kill themselves.
2.American Carol
All the terrible parody humour you're used to, plus a political arrogance to boot. Painfully unfunny with an agenda that I just can't get behind, this one is epic in it's awfulness. However it still can't even come close to number 1....
the worst movie of 2008.....
1.Meet the Spartans/Disaster Movie
I was going to divide these up but come on, they both deserve the top spot. They're both made by the same guys and they are both SOOOOO bad. Granted I would say DM is the worst of the two but MTS is still like having a dog munch on your testicles. These 2 movies have my longest reviews because I couldn't stop my hatred from flowing out of me. Thankfully I don't think they have another movie lined up at least. This year we may have seen the rise and death of Aaron and Jason and if not....well then hopefully someone just kills them.
Honourable Mentions: How She Move, College, Babylon AD, Meet the Browns, The Women, Strange Wilderness, 88 Minutes, Made of Honor, The Happening, Meet Dave, The Love Guru, What Happens in Vegas, Hottie and the Nottie, Bangkok Dangerous, Deception, My Best Friend's Girl, Beverly Hills Chihuahua
So that's it, the worst movies of the year. I'm sure some of the movies I missed would have a chance at this but I think I saw all the worst ones. If ever confronted with someone who wants you to watch one of these movies with them, simply throw acid in their eyes, and run the fuck away.
HAPPY '09 EVERYONE!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
TOP 10 OF 2008
It's kind of sad how few of these came in the first few months of the year. My god things really did get out to shitty start this year. It's really too bad that I fell behind on this. It's almost a little sad to look back to the beginning of things when I was on the ball and making sure I kept up to date with all of the release. Didn't take long to fall behind though. But now we've reached the end and it's been a fun ride and I'm glad I will have this blog to look back on in the future. There are a lot of fond memories wrapped up in this thing and hopefully it's something I will hang on to for many years.
So let's start by talking about the 10 best I saw this year. I would say most of the movies I watched in 2008 ranged from mediocre to just fucking terrible. Hell the great movies didn't even start to show up until the last week. I would say half of my list is made up of movies I've watched in the last 5 or 6 days. But here are my picks for the best. They may not represent their original scores but some of these have had repeated viewings, and that can alway schange your opinion on a movie.
Top 10 of 2008
10. In Bruges
One of the biggest surprises of 2008 for sure. This was just a great movie. It had comedy, drama, action, all blended together with great story and great performances. Plus Colin Farrel can now always claim he did at least one good movie! Hoorah!
9.Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Often in my comedy reviews I would at the end say "it's funny, but not the funniest of the year". Well this friends, is the funniest of the year. It was pretty close with this one and Pineapple Express but this one got the edge. I've seen it 3 times, plus the commentary and it's still a great movie. It's funny and sweet, but never goes too far into sappy territory. It's full of hilarious actors and great lines and once again, is one of the bigger surprises of the year.
8.Iron Man
We knew it would probably be good, but did we think it would be that fucking good?! I remember the screening we had for this just blowing everyone's minds. Everyone loved it and it was a great start to what turned out to be a really solid summer for movies. Robert Downey Jr got put back on the map with this one. It has now written the book on how to do a super hero origin story as well. The action was satisfying and it was a great summer blockbuster that didnt pander to the audience.
7.Wanted
This one is probably my most bizarre choice but I loved it. I have no shame in saying that Shoot 'Em Up was easily one of my favourite movies of last year and this one is this year's version of it. It's ridiculous but it's fucking fun. I've watched the full movie a couple of times since buying it, plus just random scenes every now and then. It was sort of a guilty pleasure but I loved every second of it.
6.Slumdog Millionaire
This one actually ended up a little lower on the list than I originally expected it to. Oh well that's how it works I suppose. I pretty much just wrote the review for this one so there's not much more to say. This one will be tearing up the Oscars I'm sure so make sure you check it out.
5.Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I literally just finished writing the review for it before I fired this article up so again, check that one out for more thoughts on it. It was a great way to end the year and lived up to a huge amount of hype I built up for it. Here's hoping this is David Fincher's award movie because my god he has earned it.
4.The Wrestler
I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed this one. I'm tempted to watch it again and I only just finished it yesterday. It's one of the best examples of a simple story being told in an impossibly engaging way. Plus Mickey Rourke is fantastic in it. And they invented an 8-bit Nintendo game just for the movie!!!
3.Cloverfield
Bet a lot of you fuckers forgot about this when making your end of the year lists huh? Ohhhh not me. It was one of the first of the year and remained one of the best, no matter how many more times I watched it. It lived up to my impossible hype, and had everyone at my theatre talking about it and dissecting it for weeks. I have such fond memories of everyone neglecting their work duties to sit in the theatre and try to spot the object falling from the sky. This movie contains a lot of my best movie memories for the year.
2.The Dark Knight
Every bit as good as people say it is. One of the best screen villians ever, a fantastic story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and Christian Bale sounding a bit like a jackass. But hey, the movie is so good we can overlook that.
and number 1.....
1.Wall-e
No surprise here. I loved this movie and would rank it in my top of all time too. It's perfect in just about every way and really holds up to repeated viewings. Pixar is gonna have a tough time topping this one, but I knew they are up for the challenge.
Honourable Mentions: Changeling, Gran Torino, Revolutionary Road, Let the Right One In, Kung Fu Panda, Speed Racer, Milk, Pineapple Express, and more I'm sure
So that's it, my 10 favourite movies of the year. Now let's get to the fun stuff....BRING ON THE 10 WORST!!!!
So let's start by talking about the 10 best I saw this year. I would say most of the movies I watched in 2008 ranged from mediocre to just fucking terrible. Hell the great movies didn't even start to show up until the last week. I would say half of my list is made up of movies I've watched in the last 5 or 6 days. But here are my picks for the best. They may not represent their original scores but some of these have had repeated viewings, and that can alway schange your opinion on a movie.
Top 10 of 2008
10. In Bruges
One of the biggest surprises of 2008 for sure. This was just a great movie. It had comedy, drama, action, all blended together with great story and great performances. Plus Colin Farrel can now always claim he did at least one good movie! Hoorah!
9.Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Often in my comedy reviews I would at the end say "it's funny, but not the funniest of the year". Well this friends, is the funniest of the year. It was pretty close with this one and Pineapple Express but this one got the edge. I've seen it 3 times, plus the commentary and it's still a great movie. It's funny and sweet, but never goes too far into sappy territory. It's full of hilarious actors and great lines and once again, is one of the bigger surprises of the year.
8.Iron Man
We knew it would probably be good, but did we think it would be that fucking good?! I remember the screening we had for this just blowing everyone's minds. Everyone loved it and it was a great start to what turned out to be a really solid summer for movies. Robert Downey Jr got put back on the map with this one. It has now written the book on how to do a super hero origin story as well. The action was satisfying and it was a great summer blockbuster that didnt pander to the audience.
7.Wanted
This one is probably my most bizarre choice but I loved it. I have no shame in saying that Shoot 'Em Up was easily one of my favourite movies of last year and this one is this year's version of it. It's ridiculous but it's fucking fun. I've watched the full movie a couple of times since buying it, plus just random scenes every now and then. It was sort of a guilty pleasure but I loved every second of it.
6.Slumdog Millionaire
This one actually ended up a little lower on the list than I originally expected it to. Oh well that's how it works I suppose. I pretty much just wrote the review for this one so there's not much more to say. This one will be tearing up the Oscars I'm sure so make sure you check it out.
5.Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I literally just finished writing the review for it before I fired this article up so again, check that one out for more thoughts on it. It was a great way to end the year and lived up to a huge amount of hype I built up for it. Here's hoping this is David Fincher's award movie because my god he has earned it.
4.The Wrestler
I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed this one. I'm tempted to watch it again and I only just finished it yesterday. It's one of the best examples of a simple story being told in an impossibly engaging way. Plus Mickey Rourke is fantastic in it. And they invented an 8-bit Nintendo game just for the movie!!!
3.Cloverfield
Bet a lot of you fuckers forgot about this when making your end of the year lists huh? Ohhhh not me. It was one of the first of the year and remained one of the best, no matter how many more times I watched it. It lived up to my impossible hype, and had everyone at my theatre talking about it and dissecting it for weeks. I have such fond memories of everyone neglecting their work duties to sit in the theatre and try to spot the object falling from the sky. This movie contains a lot of my best movie memories for the year.
2.The Dark Knight
Every bit as good as people say it is. One of the best screen villians ever, a fantastic story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and Christian Bale sounding a bit like a jackass. But hey, the movie is so good we can overlook that.
and number 1.....
1.Wall-e
No surprise here. I loved this movie and would rank it in my top of all time too. It's perfect in just about every way and really holds up to repeated viewings. Pixar is gonna have a tough time topping this one, but I knew they are up for the challenge.
Honourable Mentions: Changeling, Gran Torino, Revolutionary Road, Let the Right One In, Kung Fu Panda, Speed Racer, Milk, Pineapple Express, and more I'm sure
So that's it, my 10 favourite movies of the year. Now let's get to the fun stuff....BRING ON THE 10 WORST!!!!
Shawn's Curious Case of Benjamin Button Review
2008 Movie #165 - Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Well this is it, my last official review of the 2008 blog. That's a pretty god damn high number of movies seen too. That's even after missing a lot. I would post a full list of everything I missed but I think it would just depress me. This is the last movie I was really excited to see from this year so it's a great way to go out I would say.
From the very first trailer where there was no dialogue and just music (great trailer by the way), I knew I had to see this movie. You throw in David Fincher as the director and I'm set. I can say the man has never made a bad movie. Sure Panic Room was mediocre and Zodiac way too long, but they were still enjoyable. Plus Seven and Fight Club are two of my favourite movies ever made. So I knew this one was a must see. Once it started showing up near the top of a lot of top 10 lists, the excitement grew even more. I was starting to get worried that I was building up expectation for this movie that would be impossible to meet.
Well it met them. It's not the best movie I've seen this year but its' a really great one. People have been comparing it to Forrest Gump and while I can see where they are coming from, they are very different movies. Like Zodiac this one is also a little long and tends to have a few slower parts in the middle, but it's always engaging and never boring.
We have to start with the acting for sure. Brad Pitt is great as Benjamin and he damn well better be up for best actor for this one. Cate Blanchett is also great and each of them are fantastic representing the different ages their characters go through in this movie. We basically get to see every stage in each characters life and they are phenomenal. I'm not sure if that was actually Cate Blanchett as the old woman in the hospital but if it was, my mind is officially blown the fuck away.
Second of all, the make up in this thing is incredible and I would say a shoe in for the Oscar. It's crazy how they made Brad Pitt look in the beginning stages of this movie. It's overall great and a huge achievement. The whole movie looks terrific though and will definitely be up for a lot of visual awards. Hell I even enjoyed the music, which is something I almost never notice when I am watching a movie.
It's a great, original story that is very well told. It has 2 great performances and looks fantastic with some of the best makeup work I have ever seen in a movie. What else do you need to hear to go and watch this one?
**** 1/2 / 5
Well this is it, my last official review of the 2008 blog. That's a pretty god damn high number of movies seen too. That's even after missing a lot. I would post a full list of everything I missed but I think it would just depress me. This is the last movie I was really excited to see from this year so it's a great way to go out I would say.
From the very first trailer where there was no dialogue and just music (great trailer by the way), I knew I had to see this movie. You throw in David Fincher as the director and I'm set. I can say the man has never made a bad movie. Sure Panic Room was mediocre and Zodiac way too long, but they were still enjoyable. Plus Seven and Fight Club are two of my favourite movies ever made. So I knew this one was a must see. Once it started showing up near the top of a lot of top 10 lists, the excitement grew even more. I was starting to get worried that I was building up expectation for this movie that would be impossible to meet.
Well it met them. It's not the best movie I've seen this year but its' a really great one. People have been comparing it to Forrest Gump and while I can see where they are coming from, they are very different movies. Like Zodiac this one is also a little long and tends to have a few slower parts in the middle, but it's always engaging and never boring.
We have to start with the acting for sure. Brad Pitt is great as Benjamin and he damn well better be up for best actor for this one. Cate Blanchett is also great and each of them are fantastic representing the different ages their characters go through in this movie. We basically get to see every stage in each characters life and they are phenomenal. I'm not sure if that was actually Cate Blanchett as the old woman in the hospital but if it was, my mind is officially blown the fuck away.
Second of all, the make up in this thing is incredible and I would say a shoe in for the Oscar. It's crazy how they made Brad Pitt look in the beginning stages of this movie. It's overall great and a huge achievement. The whole movie looks terrific though and will definitely be up for a lot of visual awards. Hell I even enjoyed the music, which is something I almost never notice when I am watching a movie.
It's a great, original story that is very well told. It has 2 great performances and looks fantastic with some of the best makeup work I have ever seen in a movie. What else do you need to hear to go and watch this one?
**** 1/2 / 5
Shawn's Let the Right One in Review
2008 Movie #164 - Let the Right One In
Well it's 2009 now so really I should be done with this blog. I basically am, just have this review and then one more to write. Then it's the top and bottom 10, followed most likely by a year in a review that will come in the next few days. That may conclude with a link to my 2009 movie blog but I doubt the goal of that one will be to see all of the movies.
Anyway, this is another movie that kept showing up on best movies of the year lists and got me curious. Now this movie is exactly what Twilight should have been. It's essentially a vampire love story, only the kids are younger, and the movie is well...good. I don't know if it will crack my top 10 list since recently there has been a whole lot of worthy candidates for it, but it's a really good movie that's for sure.
It's getting pretty hard to do an original take on the vampire genre. It seems like just about everything has been done with it now. Kudos to this movie because it actually manages to take the whole vampire thing in a new direction and give you something you haven't seen before in the genre. I would qualify this movie more as a drama than a horror movie, but there are some definite horror moments in there. There is a good amount of gore, including some stuff that actually made me cringe, which is getting harder and harder to do these days. There is some creepy imagery as well but for the most part, this is a fucked up romance movie.
The acting is top notch. You know it's really good when you can tell even though nobody is speaking English. I forgot to mention this movie is subtitled but whatever, it's worth it you lazy bastards who don't want to read. You are invested in the main story and you really, really, want to know what's going to happen. The movie keeps you guessing and you are never really sure how things are going to turn out.
It's another example of a simple story, but one that is just told really fucking well. It terrifies me that there is already talks of doing an American remake of this one. There's no need! Give this one a wider release and call it a day. You're only going to fuck it up by trying to make it more like Twilight. That's the beauty of this movie...it's everything Twilight isn't.
****/5
Well it's 2009 now so really I should be done with this blog. I basically am, just have this review and then one more to write. Then it's the top and bottom 10, followed most likely by a year in a review that will come in the next few days. That may conclude with a link to my 2009 movie blog but I doubt the goal of that one will be to see all of the movies.
Anyway, this is another movie that kept showing up on best movies of the year lists and got me curious. Now this movie is exactly what Twilight should have been. It's essentially a vampire love story, only the kids are younger, and the movie is well...good. I don't know if it will crack my top 10 list since recently there has been a whole lot of worthy candidates for it, but it's a really good movie that's for sure.
It's getting pretty hard to do an original take on the vampire genre. It seems like just about everything has been done with it now. Kudos to this movie because it actually manages to take the whole vampire thing in a new direction and give you something you haven't seen before in the genre. I would qualify this movie more as a drama than a horror movie, but there are some definite horror moments in there. There is a good amount of gore, including some stuff that actually made me cringe, which is getting harder and harder to do these days. There is some creepy imagery as well but for the most part, this is a fucked up romance movie.
The acting is top notch. You know it's really good when you can tell even though nobody is speaking English. I forgot to mention this movie is subtitled but whatever, it's worth it you lazy bastards who don't want to read. You are invested in the main story and you really, really, want to know what's going to happen. The movie keeps you guessing and you are never really sure how things are going to turn out.
It's another example of a simple story, but one that is just told really fucking well. It terrifies me that there is already talks of doing an American remake of this one. There's no need! Give this one a wider release and call it a day. You're only going to fuck it up by trying to make it more like Twilight. That's the beauty of this movie...it's everything Twilight isn't.
****/5
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Shawn's The Wrestler Review
2008 Movie #163 - The Wrestler
I was really looking forward to watching this one, even before all of the positive buzz started to come in. Now I gotta say, this is one fantastic movie. It's easily making it's way onto the top 10 list I would say. It may be nearish the bottom, but it's still a great movie.
A lot has been said about the performance of Mickey Rourke in the lead role and I have to say, it's deserved. I don't think it's as impressive as Marv in Sin City, but it's damn good. His character reminded me a slightly smarter, more crass, Rocky Balboa. Despite his many mistakes, you can't help but root for the guy. You want things to work out for him and it's genuinely sad when they don't, even when it's his own fault. Great character and a great performance.
It was also cool to see a good role go to Marisa Tomei. And she shows her boobs a lot, so nothing wrong there either. I thought she was really good and I also liked Evan Rachel Wood in a somewhat small role. She's another actress I don't think I've seen in a while. Then again I can't think of anything I liked her in so maybe that's ok. She's good here though.
I just liked watching this movie unfold. I love the camraderie between all of the wrestlers. It's a side you don't normally see and there's a great scene at the beginning where they are all discussing what they will each do in their matches. Very cool stuff.
Also any movie that not only features an original Nintendo, but actually takes the time to invent a game for it, is automatically awesome. I mean they took the fucking time to show us an 8-bit wrestling game that doesn't even exist! That's just pure awesome.
It's a simple movie, but it's a great way. It has a sort of documentary feel to it that really works well and really helps draw you in to the story and the characters. Great movie.
**** 1/2 /5
I was really looking forward to watching this one, even before all of the positive buzz started to come in. Now I gotta say, this is one fantastic movie. It's easily making it's way onto the top 10 list I would say. It may be nearish the bottom, but it's still a great movie.
A lot has been said about the performance of Mickey Rourke in the lead role and I have to say, it's deserved. I don't think it's as impressive as Marv in Sin City, but it's damn good. His character reminded me a slightly smarter, more crass, Rocky Balboa. Despite his many mistakes, you can't help but root for the guy. You want things to work out for him and it's genuinely sad when they don't, even when it's his own fault. Great character and a great performance.
It was also cool to see a good role go to Marisa Tomei. And she shows her boobs a lot, so nothing wrong there either. I thought she was really good and I also liked Evan Rachel Wood in a somewhat small role. She's another actress I don't think I've seen in a while. Then again I can't think of anything I liked her in so maybe that's ok. She's good here though.
I just liked watching this movie unfold. I love the camraderie between all of the wrestlers. It's a side you don't normally see and there's a great scene at the beginning where they are all discussing what they will each do in their matches. Very cool stuff.
Also any movie that not only features an original Nintendo, but actually takes the time to invent a game for it, is automatically awesome. I mean they took the fucking time to show us an 8-bit wrestling game that doesn't even exist! That's just pure awesome.
It's a simple movie, but it's a great way. It has a sort of documentary feel to it that really works well and really helps draw you in to the story and the characters. Great movie.
**** 1/2 /5
Shawn's Bedtime Stories Review
2008 Movie #162 - Bedtime Stories
I was pretty damn ready to hate this one. The trailers made it look pretty bad and the reviews for it certainly aren't great. In the end, I didn't hate it. In fact I kind of liked it. Only kind of though, I still thought there were a lot of problems with it.
My first problem is with Sandler himself. I like Sandler, despite some of his recent film choices. He's not bad here and it's kind of neat to see him doing a kid's movie, but he seems to be trying way too fucking hard. He uses his traditional goofy voice he uses in most of his movies but it's way too overdone here. I can't help but wonder how much of the dialogue was improvised by him. This could have been a very different movie with someone else in the lead. Anyway, he's ok in it but it reminded me a bit of Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty where you just wanted to tell him "ok shhhhhhhhhh!!"
The rest of the cast is good. Always great to see Keri Russell in a movie since she always looks fantastic. The rich daughter character was extemely attractive and kudos to the writers for not making her a complete airhead bitch either. It would have been the easy route so at least they chose not to go on it. It's weird to see Russel Brand in a family movie but he does alright here. It's also a little weird that Courtenay Cox is playing Sandler's sister here after playing his wife in Longest Yard but hey, whatever.
Another thing that bugged me is the universe in which this movie takes place. I understand the idea of bedtime stories becoming true is pretty god damn out there in the first place, but I assumed aside from that the movie was supposed to take place in some sort of reality. Then the cartoon eyed guinea pig shows up and throws that idea right out the fuckign window. I hated that thing. Every time it showed him having a cartoony reaction to something I wanted to step on it. Who the fuck thought of that? And why did so many jokes center on it?! There were at least 90..at least! Also stop having dogs react to things!! It's not funny! AAAAAAAA!!!
To continue on the same idea, there is a scene at the end on a motorcycle that is so fucking out there and ridiculous I couldn't believe it. By this point there is no WAY this movie can be grounded in reality at all. ...Although I guess the whole movie is supposed to be like one big bedtime story huh? Well shit. Meh...either way that hamster was not fucking funny!!
In the end, it's an ok kid's flick. It's a feel good movie and pretty fitting for the holidays...unlike that Seven Pounds. Which by the way is now being marketed in the commercials as a "feel good holiday gift for the whole family." Did the commercial not see the actual movie? Cuz it should check it out before it says shit like that. As for Bedtime Stories...
** 1/2 / 5
I was pretty damn ready to hate this one. The trailers made it look pretty bad and the reviews for it certainly aren't great. In the end, I didn't hate it. In fact I kind of liked it. Only kind of though, I still thought there were a lot of problems with it.
My first problem is with Sandler himself. I like Sandler, despite some of his recent film choices. He's not bad here and it's kind of neat to see him doing a kid's movie, but he seems to be trying way too fucking hard. He uses his traditional goofy voice he uses in most of his movies but it's way too overdone here. I can't help but wonder how much of the dialogue was improvised by him. This could have been a very different movie with someone else in the lead. Anyway, he's ok in it but it reminded me a bit of Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty where you just wanted to tell him "ok shhhhhhhhhh!!"
The rest of the cast is good. Always great to see Keri Russell in a movie since she always looks fantastic. The rich daughter character was extemely attractive and kudos to the writers for not making her a complete airhead bitch either. It would have been the easy route so at least they chose not to go on it. It's weird to see Russel Brand in a family movie but he does alright here. It's also a little weird that Courtenay Cox is playing Sandler's sister here after playing his wife in Longest Yard but hey, whatever.
Another thing that bugged me is the universe in which this movie takes place. I understand the idea of bedtime stories becoming true is pretty god damn out there in the first place, but I assumed aside from that the movie was supposed to take place in some sort of reality. Then the cartoon eyed guinea pig shows up and throws that idea right out the fuckign window. I hated that thing. Every time it showed him having a cartoony reaction to something I wanted to step on it. Who the fuck thought of that? And why did so many jokes center on it?! There were at least 90..at least! Also stop having dogs react to things!! It's not funny! AAAAAAAA!!!
To continue on the same idea, there is a scene at the end on a motorcycle that is so fucking out there and ridiculous I couldn't believe it. By this point there is no WAY this movie can be grounded in reality at all. ...Although I guess the whole movie is supposed to be like one big bedtime story huh? Well shit. Meh...either way that hamster was not fucking funny!!
In the end, it's an ok kid's flick. It's a feel good movie and pretty fitting for the holidays...unlike that Seven Pounds. Which by the way is now being marketed in the commercials as a "feel good holiday gift for the whole family." Did the commercial not see the actual movie? Cuz it should check it out before it says shit like that. As for Bedtime Stories...
** 1/2 / 5
Shawn's Changeling Review
2008 Movie #161 - Changeling
Now we're getting back to the good stuff. I had wanted to see this movie for a while but only had the chance to sit down and watch it yesterday afternoon. This is one hell of a movie that I really hope gets a good chunk of nominations at Oscar time. I think Jolie should be up for Best Actress, Eastwood for Best Director, Costume Design, even Best Picture maybe. I really hope to be seeing a lot of this one.
To begin with, I really liked the story for this movie. I like that it's based on a true story that I would say 99% of the population most likely aren't familiar with at all. It's cool that there are stories like this that haven't been told in a movie yet. The story keeps you interested and is very well told. It's powerful stuff man, powerful stuff.
I've already touched on the performances a little bit but let's get back to that for a moment. Jolie is great in this movie. It's weird to watch Wanted and go on to this one because they are two very, VERY, different roles for her. At least we know she can act now. My respect for her went up infinitely after this one. It was also very cool to see John Malkovich playing a good guy. I don't think that's ever happened before. He may play a good guy who is also creepy, but never just a flat out good guy, so I enjoyed that as well.
This movie also made me mad, but in a good way. Remember how in my Gran Torino review I mentioned how rare it is to actually hate the bad guys in a movie? Well I fucking HATED them in thsi one. I mean I wanted to walk into the actual movie and just start kicking the shit out of everyone. All of the cops and doctors are just so fucking smug and assholey that it drove me insane. I wanted Jolie to expose these assholes more than I wanted to be alive. Good job Changeling, it's not easy to ge tme that fired up.
All in all, this is great stuff. Great story, excellent performances and characters so well written you just want to fucking stab them in the face.
**** 1/2 / 5
Now we're getting back to the good stuff. I had wanted to see this movie for a while but only had the chance to sit down and watch it yesterday afternoon. This is one hell of a movie that I really hope gets a good chunk of nominations at Oscar time. I think Jolie should be up for Best Actress, Eastwood for Best Director, Costume Design, even Best Picture maybe. I really hope to be seeing a lot of this one.
To begin with, I really liked the story for this movie. I like that it's based on a true story that I would say 99% of the population most likely aren't familiar with at all. It's cool that there are stories like this that haven't been told in a movie yet. The story keeps you interested and is very well told. It's powerful stuff man, powerful stuff.
I've already touched on the performances a little bit but let's get back to that for a moment. Jolie is great in this movie. It's weird to watch Wanted and go on to this one because they are two very, VERY, different roles for her. At least we know she can act now. My respect for her went up infinitely after this one. It was also very cool to see John Malkovich playing a good guy. I don't think that's ever happened before. He may play a good guy who is also creepy, but never just a flat out good guy, so I enjoyed that as well.
This movie also made me mad, but in a good way. Remember how in my Gran Torino review I mentioned how rare it is to actually hate the bad guys in a movie? Well I fucking HATED them in thsi one. I mean I wanted to walk into the actual movie and just start kicking the shit out of everyone. All of the cops and doctors are just so fucking smug and assholey that it drove me insane. I wanted Jolie to expose these assholes more than I wanted to be alive. Good job Changeling, it's not easy to ge tme that fired up.
All in all, this is great stuff. Great story, excellent performances and characters so well written you just want to fucking stab them in the face.
**** 1/2 / 5
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