Updates to "How this works"

I kinda figured out that the whole "one a day" thing is a little bogus because I've found that I don't watch nearly enough movies for that. I still want to put on a review every time I watch a movie but I still can't promise anything about how often I can do it.

Paul

When Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (of Sean of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame) work together they always seem to impress me. For those of you who don't know, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are two screen writers and actors who make movies specific to people who love movies, and, even better, these people really know comedy when they see it. This film has humor that is completely original and movies that are supposed to be "funny" have really been lacking lately. This movie is something to be desired and actively sought after by the mainstream American Cinema. It is never boring and, except for a slow part at the beginning, it is hilarious almost the entire time.

Plot: Two friends and fellow nerds from England, Graeme and Clive (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) come to America to attend a Comicon in LA. Afterward they decide that since they're already in America they aught to rent an RV and go across the country to visit alien sighting hot spots that they've both followed since childhood. But as they travel looking for aliens they actually find one. Paul is foul mouthed, rude, smokes and has been here since the Roswell incident.Paul explains that he needs their help because he's escaped from the secret base at Area 51 and the government's now trying to kill him. Now Graeme and Clive need to take Paul to a place where he can be safe from the American agents sent to stop him.

What I Liked/Disliked: There was very, very little I disliked about this movie, so I'll start with that. There were only two things that I could think of and really they're both kind of trivial. One was that at one point Paul brings a bird back from the dead (you've probably seen this scene in the trailers) after he does one of the guys asks him if he could bring a human back from the dead and Paul replies that if he did it would be very dangerous for the both of them. As if to say, "when one of us dies later on in the movie would you be able to bring us back?" "Yeah, but it would probably almost kill us both if and when I do." I hate it when movies assume that the audience themselves couldn't figure something like this out. I know you wouldn't know that healing a human is different from healing a bird but I feel they could have set this up in a much more interesting way.

The other thing was the music, and not the music they chose to be in this movie and on the soundtrack, but I'm talking about the original music that they hired a composer to write and an orchestra to perform. It was like listening to any music from any emotional scene from any movie. What it lacked was originality in an otherwise completely original movie.

What I liked was everything else. The acting was superb, and Seth Rogan was perfect as the voice of Paul. Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, and Joe Lo Truglio all did a great job at playing the somewhat befuddling government agents after them. Kristen Wiig also did a good job in this playing a fundamentalist christian who first comes into the movie wearing a t-shirt with Jesus shooting Darwin in the face and spouting how the world is only 4000 years old and God created everyone in His image, only to be "shown" how evolution works by Paul and turning her world completely around. And, of course, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg were perfect for the roles they played.

Another thing that I think should be noted about this movie is how much homage it gives to movies like it in the same genre. The references are nearly non-stop. Think of any movie with an alien in it, Star Wars, Close Encounters, or even Mac and Me, somehow they've managed to put an allusion to it in the film. This is much like Pegg and Frost's previous films wherein they were able to perfectly reference a movie that they are obviously inspired by without totally ripping them off (like many other films tend to do).

Overall: A. The thing I appreciate more than anything else when it comes to cinema is originality. Paul manages to be a nearly perfect film and if not for the 2 problems I had with it it would have been. But despite the minor flaws this is still a film that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys movies either new or old.

Hall Pass

This is a Farrelly Brothers movie and really I suppose I expected more from Hall Pass. I don't know why I expected more since every film they've ever done has followed the same formula that puts people in really odd situations with idiotic conclusions, and their brand of humor has always followed the same rule that if the people in their picture don't act like real people then it has to be funny. I suppose, to be fair, this does work for them...fifteen years ago, but really every flick they've done since Me, Myself, and Irene has given us the same thing over and over again and I get it, really I do. You Farrellys are worried, nay, downright scared that if you were to make a movie that doesn't capitalize on your previous glory you would no longer be popular among your fans, though really I think you should ask anyone who's seen Shallow Hal how popular you are now.

The Plot: Maggie is worried that her husband Rick (Owen Wilson) is losing interest in her sexually when she keeps catching him checking out other women. After talking it over with two of her closest friends one of them suggest to her to give him a "hall pass" or a whole week off from marriage in order to strengthen their relationship. Maggie talks it over with Rick and they decide that she'll take their kids to her mom's house and he can do whatever he wants without any guilt for a whole week. Excited, Rick tells his best friend Fred (Jason Sudeikis) who immediately tells his wife that if she were to give him a week off as well then their relationship would also strengthen. At first Fred's wife is reluctant but eventually agrees (after he's caught jacking off in his minivan by the police). So now it's off to the races as Rick and Fred try their hardest to get layed and other misadventures from having a whole week off from their wives.

What I Liked/Disliked: Let's start with the (false) advertising. What the previews showed you was a couple of guys obsessed with sex who get a week off from their wives in order to cheat on them. It showed you some funny scenes: a guy taking mental photographs of a hot chick, an older "sex guru" type teaching the guys the right ways to objectify women, or even a scene where Fred and Rick are making fun of a man and his wife (and her large vagina) in their house as the subject of their jokes are watching them over the video security system. It looked like a lot of laughs, a lot of sex jokes, and totally a guy movie. What you got though was an entire half of a movie that wasn't advertised which was completely focused on Fred and Rick's wives. This movie is not a guy film, it's a date movie and the only thing keeping it from being a chick flick is all the guy related sex jokes which, unfortunately, are all completely ruined by every good joke being in the previews.

Another thing that really grinds my gears about this movie is its predictability. I guessed correctly at every twist or major plot point that happened throughout the whole flick. It never once tested me or showed me something that I hadn't seen a hundred times before. Then there was the humor. Though there were a couple of scenes that were hilarious and weren't ruined by the trailers, I mostly felt that any funny scene would've been more appropriate in a teen comedy than an adult date movie.

Overall: D-, This movie was sub-par. The acting was nothing special, Owen Wilson played Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis played the guy he played in The Hangover, all the women played the stereotypical woman from any movie. The plot was ridiculous and the only reason I could see for its ridiculousness was at least one of the Farrellys wanted to cheat on his wife and was trying to convince her it was a good idea "to make their marriage stronger." Either that or they've just run out of good ideas and are willing to print any bad one that comes into their heads (Shallow Hal). The only saving grace of this movie, and the only thing that kept it out of an F grade for me, was the soundtrack. And since I really have nothing else good to say about this movie I'm going to recommend that  you just buy the music for Hall Pass on Amazon and watch the preview over and over again as you listen to it and I bet you'd have a much better time than I did watching this piece of trash.

How This Works

Hello, and welcome to my movie blog where I'm going to review movies (duh). How I'm going to do this is simple, I will write a review for any movie I see after I see it. Whether it's something new that I just saw in theaters or a movie I rented that I'm watching for the thirtieth time. Whatever it is I watch I plan to review it as honestly and as timely as I can.

Hopefully I'll be able to do at least one a day but I can't promise anything.