Rango
Release Date: 2011
Director: Gore Verbinski
Genre: Animation
Main Cast: Johnny Depp (as Rango) and Isla Fisher (as Beans)
IMDB Rating: 7.8
My Rating: 7.4
Length: 107 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $135 million/$167 million
I was hoping for another great animated comedy after my most recent viewing of the hilarious and well-plotted Despicable Me. Rango turned out to be a solid watch, although there ended up being little-to-no humor throughout the running script. I also thought it had a little too much of a western emphasis, but it did present a good storyline and moral. It surprisingly did have some above average action scenes for a animation. A little to sentimental for an animation aimed at the younger generations, but a solid overall film that is a good watch.
Miss March
Release Date: 2009
Director: Zach Cregger and Trevor Moore
Genre: Comedy
Main Cast: Zach Cregger (as Eugene Bell) Trevor Moore (as Tucker Cleigh) and Raquel Alessi (as Cindi Whitehall)
IMDB Rating: 4.9
My Rating: 4.3
Length: 94 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: Unknown/$5 million
I am going to attempt to talk less about the terrible films, and more about the ones that are worth reviewing. Thus, this low-budget-attempted crude comedy sucked, was mostly less than funny, and had bad acting (especially from Moore, as he tried way too hard to be funny) throughout a worse plot. Only the ending, gave the film a glitter of decency, but the 90 minutes prior erased any hope of a compilation of that.
I am going to attempt to talk less about the terrible films, and more about the ones that are worth reviewing. Thus, this low-budget-attempted crude comedy sucked, was mostly less than funny, and had bad acting (especially from Moore, as he tried way too hard to be funny) throughout a worse plot. Only the ending, gave the film a glitter of decency, but the 90 minutes prior erased any hope of a compilation of that.
Zack and Miri
Release Date: 2008
Director: Kevin Smith
Genre: Comedy
Main Cast: Seth Rogen (as Zack Brown) and Elizabeth Banks (as Miri Linky)
IMDB Rating: 7.0
My Rating: 3.2
Length: 101 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $24 million/$42 million
Again, not to waste time, this film was awful and gross as well, without any plot or decent acting beyond Rogen's decent comedic casting. In actuality, it was basically just a cheap porn that was more offensive than attractive. Not one to watch with the grandparents.
Adventureland
Release Date: 2009
Director: Greg Mottola
Genre: Comedy
Main Cast: Jesse Eisenberg (as James Brennan) Kristen Stewart (as Em Lewin) and Ryan Reynolds (as Mike Connell)
IMDB Rating: 7.1
My Rating: 4.7
Length: 107 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $10 million/$17 million
The third bad comedy of the week, Adventureland was slightly better than the previous two, but still not close to a decent film. Decent acting by B-Listers Eisenberg, Stewart, and crew, but nothing to rave about, similar to the average plot that didn't go much of anywhere. An overall subpar college romantic comedy that had issues catching the audience and presenting meaning towards any theme.
Crank
Release Date: 2006
Director: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Jason Statham (as Chev Chelios) Amy Smart (as Eve Lydon) and Jose Pablo Cantillo (as Ricky Verona)
IMDB Rating: 7.1
My Rating: 5.1
Length: 93 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $12 million/$43 million
The acting and incredibly ramped storyline caused this film, like its sequel, to be very unbelievable and bad in general. Not often that I give a sub-6 for a pure action, but Statham does not fit into this storyline at all as it is just too outrageous and too heart-pounding as far as action goes. Those factors prove that an action can be too actiony, for lack of a better word.
Land of the Lost
Release Date: 2009
Director: Brad Silberling
Genre: Comedy
Main Cast: Will Ferrell (as Dr. Rick Marshall) Anna Friel (as Holly Cantrell) and Danny McBride (as Will Stanton)
Based On: based on the 1974 Sid and Marty Krofft TV series of the same name.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
My Rating: 6.2
Length: 102 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $100 million/$67 million
This film was heavily fantasy-based and suffered from its alien-portrayal of a mythical alternative universe theme. Ferrell was ridiculous as he is in every of his comedies. McBride has also came onto the comedy scene recently and providing a good supporting comedian to this comedy itself. Full of some quick laughs, Land lacked depth and a decent storyline that could have set it apart from its cheap comedy counterparts.
007: The World is Not Enough
Release Date: 1999
Director: Michael Apted
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Pierce Brosnan (as James Bond 007) Denise Richards (as Dr. Christmas Jones) and Sophie Marceau (as Elektra King)
IMDB Rating: 6.3
My Rating: 7.3
Length: 128 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $135 million/$362 million
My favorite Bond of the four I have seen thus far, The World has the usual Bond plot of him meeting attractive women who end up being being behind potential acts of terrorism that he stops after intense sequences of action, bravery, romancing, etc., etc., etc. Though the plotline is always predictable in a 007 series, I still like the use of technology, the women casted, and the shooting/action scenes that always keep the audience interested. Since 1962, you can never go wrong with Bond, James Bond.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Release Date: 2010
Director: Chris Columbus
Genre: Adventure
Main Cast: Logan Lerman (as Percy Jackson) Alexandra Daddario (as Annabeth Chase) and Brandon T. Jackson (as Grover Underwood)
Based Loosely On: The Lightning Thief, the first novel in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series by Rick Riordan.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
My Rating: 7.2
Length: 118 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $125 million/$226 million
Another film in which I liked the concept of it more than anything else, I liked the theme of the Greek mythology coinciding with modern day culture. The storyline and acting, however, was mostly dry and uninventive, beyond slightly above average perfoming by Lerman and the adults casted. I will be interested to see if these negatives improve within the later installments of the series. An above average start to a decently popular book series that is generally aimed at the adolescent and slightly younger crowd.
Inglourious Basterds
Release Date: 2009
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Brad Pitt (as Lt. Aldo Raine) Mélanie Laurent (as Shosanna Dreyfus / Emmanuelle Mimieux) and Christoph Waltz (as Col. Hans Landa)
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Rating: 8.4
My Rating: 7.7
Length: 153 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $70 million/$320 million
Having not last seen this film since I viewed in the theatres in 2009, the rewatch gave me a better impression of the complex interweaving of the various subplots and characters within. The complexity is aided by the presence of many main characters. It also contains some humor within the redneck-type Nazi hunting party led by well-accented Pitt. A very complex, deep, and comical film that takes multiple viewings to fully understand, one of the few points I did not like was how the plot fell apart in the finale of the film. The critical success of the film speaks for its high quality, however, and it is usually safe to trust the critics.
Pandorum
Release Date: 2009
Director: Christian Alvart
Genre: Horror
Main Cast: Dennis Quaid (as Lieutenant Payton) Ben Foster (as Corporal Bower) Cam Gigandet (as Corporal Gallo) and Antje Traue (as Nadia)
Based On: the freeware video game 1213 by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
My Rating: 8.5
Length: 108 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $33 million/$20 million
Pandorum was a really interesting horror/thriller/sci-fi that both remained mostly biologically factual and had a very intriguing plot twist towards the finale. The acting was subpar beyond Quaid and Gigandet, but the concept of post-apocalyptic renewal of life on another planet is something I really enjoyed, as was the twist of the time-lapse that occurred during the crew's deep sleep. One of my favorite horror/thrillers to date, the sci-fi concepts contained within made the film a great watch for me and those with similar taste.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Release Date: 2008
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Genre: Comedy
Main Cast: Jason Segel (as Peter Bretter) Kristen Bell (as Sarah Marshall) Mila Kunis (as Rachel Jansen) and Russell Brand (as Aldous Snow)
IMDB Rating: 7.4
My Rating: 6.8
Length: 110 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $30 million/$105 million
A decently well done and funny romantic comedy that had an above average cast and stayed rather true to realism. I am a pretty big Russell Brand fan, and I liked how Forgetting Sarah served as sort of a prelude to Brand's character of Aldous Snow that returns in recent release Get Him to the Greek. The film actually accomplished something after Segel's character got over his unfaithful x and moved on to the attractive Kunis. Better than most trashy love comedies these days, Forgetting Sarah stayed above the line of trash to put on a good overall show.
There Will Be Blood
Release Date: 2007
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Genre: Drama
Main Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis (as Daniel Plainview) Paul Dano (as Paul Sunday/Eli Sunday) and Dillon Freasier (as HW)
Based Loosely On: the Upton Sinclair novel, Oil! (1927).
IMDB Rating: 8.2
My Rating: 7.3
Length: 158 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $25 million/$76 million
A superbly acted and casted film that garnered 2 Oscar wins including Best Achievement in Cinematography and Best Leading Actor (Day-Lewis). Day-Lewis pretty much made the film with his magnificent personification of greed and ruthlessness. Supporting members Dano and Freasier also were excellent throughout the film in their young careers. The film proved to be a slow drama, but that was sort of given in an oil production film. This film did a great job of making everything of what it was, while harboring and exploring the themes of money, religion, fatherhood, and most specifically, greed that leads to dire consequences.
A week comprised of both solid films as well as some very poorly produced ones. Hopefully more films of the former category next week, but regardless of the quality, I will keep you informed.
-Jarid Holliday
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