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Reviews
Out of Jimmy's Head (2007)
Really weird, kind of a throwback
I caught this one afternoon when I was bored. I've never seen the movie and I don't watch a lot of Cartoon Network outside of Futurama, The Venture Brothers, and a few other lessor shows on Adult Swim.
I actually just had the show on in the background in another room, but the sounds and lines were so strange and the laugh-track so loud and annoying, it caught my attention.
At first it seemed to make no sense and be scattered until I started recognizing its influences. The Absurdity of the plot, character types, and character interactions remind me The Adventures of Pete and Pete. The animated bits rely heavily on the visual gags of classic cartoons with an emphasis on Loony Tunes. Some of the pacing of the jokes and timing reminds me of Arrested Development, particularly the similarities of the main character to Michael Cera's brilliant character in that show.
There's a lot of Zucker/Abrams/Zucker (the guys who did Airplane! and The Naked Gun) background gags and archaic clichéd gags scattered throughout. Also like Arrested Development, there's never a "message" in any of the episodes, and characters never seem to learn any kind of lesson, instead maintaining their established character traits. All of this comes off surprisingly well. There should be more kids shows with this level of daredevil comedy.
It's not noticeably sophisticated, but some of the comedy is very dry and referential so it may go over the heads of some viewers, both kids and adults.
I think comedy nerds will like it and anyone who liked Pete and Pete should give it a chance. This show needs to ditch the turned-up-to-11 laugh track (My guess is that someone high-up at the network insisted on the laugh track because they were sweating the dry humor.)
Speed Racer (2008)
Actually quite good.
I'm not sure why this film gets bashed so much, it's waaay better than I expected after hearing such a load of vitriol from amateur and professional critics alike. The race scene's aren't actually hard to follow and the back-and-forth flashbacks during the races were, I thought, a very clever way to show exposition rather than just having various characters rattle-on about what motivation this or that character might have. I think what we've got here is a movie that's not playing well in theaters but will have quite an extended life on-demand and through DVD sales, playing a lot on cable, etc. Sad that it's not getting the box office expected but welcome to the world of cult classics.
30 Days of Night (2007)
Surprisingly Watchable
I usually get bored with movies, so if I can sit through it and not daydream I consider that a great start. Anyway, I went into this not expecting much. Sam Raime's Ghost House Pictures has a reputation for churning out some real crap as far as horror movies go. Josh Hartnet doesn't generally aspire awe with his acting abilities. Melissa George is known in most circles for her looks more than anything else. I was thinking at worst I could catch a 2-hour nap. However. The movie was actually pretty good. The direction and cinematography was great. Hartnett seemed like he'd matured a bit as an actor. He did a fine job. Melissa George has come leaps and bounds since the small parts I remember her from. She was great. Ben Foster is always good to see, and he's turning into a hell of a character actor (check him out in 3:10 to Yuma.) The guy who played the vampire "leader" or "president" or "president elect" or whatever they call it was really really good. Apparently his dad is John Huston too, which seems odd, but he was brilliant. All in all the vampires did a great job. All in all definitely worth watching (and you can't say that about more than 2 or 3 horror films a year these days.)
National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002)
Pleasantly Surprised
I think this was on Comedy Central one night when my other choices consisted of "Lumpy Lout Who Lives In An Outer Bourough With An Inexplicably Hot Wife And Argues Incessantly With His Ridiculously Daft And Profane Parents And/Or Siblings While Perpetuating Only The Most Mundane Male Stereotypes Which Leave This Viewer Wondering Why His Hot Wife Doesn't Ditch His Boorish Ass" and "Sue Thomas, F.B. Eye". I chose Van Wilder. I was only familiar with the name of the movie, as I had long been threatening my friends with a "Van" concept movie night: "Okay, this time we're going to do it. Van Helsing and Van Wilder, one night, the battle to see which is worse." Well, Van Helsing turned out to be completely unwatchable, while Van Wilder was actually pretty funny and heartwarming in the tradition of dumb comedies like Zoolander (one of my favorites) and American Pie (not nearly as bad as it should have been). I think Ryan Reynolds is primarily responsible, he really pulled off the character, made you believe his motivations, held the whole thing together, blah blah blah. Tara Reid is coherent throughout for which she deserves an Oscar (Don't scoff, they gave best picture to "Crash", remember?) And the supporting players pulled their weight. The script and direction was on target. If you're looking for dumb fun, and there's nothing else on, you'll probably like this film.