Youth In Revolt Review

Youth In Revolt: Michael Cera does play the same character we have come to know and love (awkward/nerdy), but he also pulls double duty as an alter ego that is a dangerous troublemaker. The awkward Nick Twisp (Cera) falls in love with a girl in another town while on vacation. His only way to get reunited with her is to somehow get kicked out of his mother's house. He would then have to live with his dad (played by Steve Buscemi) who has recently taken residency in the same town as his new love. To accomplish this feat he takes on the alter ego - Francois Dillinger. Francois supplies about 75% off all the film's humor. Without this change of character the film would have felt completely unoriginal. I felt the story as a whole felt a bit choppy, with a lot of scenes and smaller characters just thrown in for humor and not adding much to the plot. While some of the jokes are on the border of being stale, most still work rather well. I do not recommend going out to the theater to see this latest Cera fare, but when it comes to DVD - give it a spin!

Rythemovieguy's Rating: B-

If this movie had parents they would be: Fight Club & Rushmore

With a run time of 91 minutes

This film is rated R

A Serious Man Review

A Serious Man: The Coen Brothers' latest effort focuses on a Midwestern Jewish man who is on the verge of a breakdown. Larry Gopnik is a married man and the father of two who sees his life unravel from just about every angle. For starters, his wife asks him for a divorce so that she can marry a friend of the family who is a recent widower. His 12-year-old son's main hobbies are getting high and listening to Jefferson Airplane. Meanwhile, he is up for tenure at the school he teaches at, but even that seems like it is about to become a disaster. Larry looks to his faith for answers on why all of this is happening, but he is having trouble finding an answer. If we have learned anything about the Coen Brothers throughout the years, it is that they are masters at creating and showcasing unique perspectives on distinctive characters. A Serious Man is no exception, the characters are so well written that humor pours out of their smallest actions. However, because the film plays so heavily on Jewish heritage I found myself missing out on a lot of that humor. In fact, at times I felt like an outsider looking in at the party. The film also features a serious side that tackles both morals and faith, but that failed to have enough substance and as a result did not work for me. In the Coen Brothers' filmography this would land somewhere in the middle............I'm serious.

Ry's Rating: B- (RAB: Rental At Best)

If this movie had parents they would be: Falling Down & Doubt

9 Movie Review

9: Gorgeous animation wasted on a sub-par story! The opening scenes set the right tone while showing this film's huge potential. Our main character, a sock puppet named 9 awakens for the first time in a world that has been decimated by war. Those who fought in the war and why is unknown. As 9 discovers the world around him, he slowly uncovers clues as to what caused this mass destruction and wiped out all of mankind. He also encounters other puppets roaming the desolate landscape, each of them made by the same maker and each of them numbered like him. The leader of the puppets is number 1. He believes that they should stay in hiding until all is quite as they know that there is an evil machine roaming around the land that kills anything that moves. The detailed animation is simply amazing and draws you into this strange world. Unfortunately, the film veers from the eerie discovery theme and chooses to focus on big action sequences. This is a terrible mistake as all of the action takes away from the unique feel of the film. I would have preferred to spend more time with the characters adventuring through different environments revealing clues from the past. Eventually we do get a full explanation as to what caused the war and this too can be noted in the disappointment column. It is a story with themes that we have seen more than once before including the destruction of mankind and man vs. machine. The story is not complex enough and that in turn explains why they chose to fill so much time with loud action sequences. In the end, the lesson we learn from 9 is that above all a movie needs a compelling story in order for all of the eye candy to mean anything.

Ry's Rating: C

If this movie had parents they would be: Wall-E and Terminator 4 salvation

With a runtime of 85 minutes

this film is rated PG-13

Public Enemies: Johnny Depp and Christian Bale star in the cool looking, not-so-interesting story of John Dillinger. The casting of Depp as Dillinger is perfect. He brought a flamboyancy to the character that must have been present in Dillinger himself, thus leading to his legendary status. I also really appreciated Bale's performance as Melvin Purvis the FBI agent who was in charge of hunting down John Dillinger. The downside of the movie is the rather weak story. For being one of the most famous bank robbers of all time, Dillinger's life was a rather bore. The film tries hard, but fails to get the audience to care about his relationship with his girlfriend Billie (played by Marion Cotillard). This is supposed to be the emotional side of the story, but I don't think they gave us enough reason to care about either character. The film is brought to us from acclaimed director Michael Mann (Heat, Miami Vice) - this ensures us of one thing.....some awesome looking shootout scenes. I like gunfire on the silver screen as much as anyone, but these scenes came to us with no suspense and seemed to go on for too long. I wanted to be so engaged with the movie that when I walked out of the theater I would be afraid of being shot just like Dillinger was. Instead, I walked out of the theater feeling like I was robbed.
Ry's Rating = C+

If this movie had parents they would be: Road to Perdition & Wisdom

With a runtime of 132 minutes

This film is rated PG-13

Watchmen movie review

Watchmen: The first major “event” film of the new year came barreling into theaters this past weekend. With it comes a peculiar conversation regarding how you are going to judge the film. The conversation always opens up with this question – have you read the novel? The Watchmen graphic novel is held in the highest esteem by its followers. They want to make sure that the movie stays true to the source material. I believe the answer to that question is yes it does. Not that I myself have read it, but hearing from fanboys who have, they seem to really like the final result. However, it also seems to me that the people who have read the novel appear to generally like the movie a lot more than those of us who have not. Let us not forget this is a movie review site, I should not have to read something prior to seeing a film to get the full enjoyment of the movie. What I think that ultimately says is that the movie failed to capture all of the complexity of the characters and of the story lines.
The Story takes place in an altered 1985. It is a 1985 that has Richard Nixon as the president of the United States and has the world on the brink of nuclear war. The Watchmen are a group of people who dress up in costumes and fight crime, but they themselves have no superhuman powers. There is only one hero with powers and that is Doctor Manhattan – he can basically control matter, meaning…he can do basically anything he wants. Can the Watchmen save mankind from destroying itself? If they can, what is the best way to do so? The themes of the film are thoughtful, but I think they are themes that we have seen before (although some may have been stolen from the Watchmen). In the end we have a respectable adaptation that did not live up to the hype for this reviewer. For those on the fence about seeing it – don’t wait for DVD, because the fun I did get out of the movie was just how cool it all looked on the big screen.

Ry's Rating: B-

If this movie had parents they would be: X-men & Dr. Strangelove

With a runtime of 162 minutes

This film is rated R

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones 4: It has been 19 years since we last heard the crack of his whip and seen his famous fedora. The biggest question from fans was in regards to Harrison Ford’s age and if he could still pull off Indy in the way we would like to see/remember. I feel the film did an excellent job of addressing his age, but not overplaying it. Yes there are laughs supplied from Jones being older and not as capable, but for the most part Indy is still Indy and that is still fun to behold! The story gets going instantly - Communists, who have replaced the Nazis as the evil villains have captured Indiana in hopes he could lead them to a supernatural treasure. Just when Dr. Jones is about to wash his hands of the situation a young man named Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) arrives with a letter that only Indy would be able to understand, thus hurling him back into the adventure. The chemistry between LaBeouf and Ford is what really carriers the picture. Furthermore it is the element that separates this adventure from the previous three and also the justification for why Indy came back to the big screen to begin with. The action is done in that classic Indiana Jones style. You can expect astonishing car chases, creepy caverns, and some good old fashion fist fights. The film even supplies some extremely corny moments, although I believe all Indy film are wounded by this. In the end….was it worth the 19 year wait? Probably not, but a chance to catch up with an old friend like Indy…..definitely worth a trip to the theater.
Ry's Rating: B

If this movie had Parents they would be: Raiders of the Lost Ark & The X-Files

With a running time of 122 minutes

This film is rated PG