21

So I thought I’d write this review a little differently. I don’t feel like writing really long paragraphs today. Instead I’m going to go with some observances while watching 21 this past Friday. While I’m writing down the times, don’t take them seriously because I really didn’t even look at my watch during the screening.

10:25pm Wow, there’s a lot of people here for a late show on Friday night. The place is packed. People are sitting in my black-railing seats. Crap. I’ll sit in front of them so I can stretch my legs into the walkway. At least I’m not in very front like those poor saps who got in just as the lights were dimming.

10:35pm No Stella Atrois ad. Hallelujah!

10:40pm Some of these previews aren’t bad. I was worried about one with Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz but I found myself laughing by the end of the preview. Same goes for Adam Sandler as a hair-dresser. Are they piping laughing gas into this theatre?

10:48pm Okay, the movie is starting. It’s based on a true story. Is it supposed to be taking place in the past or in the present? Can’t tell by the music. No obvious references to the past that I can see. I guess it’s present day.

10:55pm Hey, Jim Sturgess is speaking American. I keep expecting him to belt out a Beatles tune in his British accent.

11:00pm Jim’s character, Ben Campbell, just turned 21. Soon, he’s going to learn how to get 21 in Blackjack. Wow, maybe he lives on the 21st floor of a building or something.

11:01pm I recognize Josh Gad, who plays best friend Miles. He’s on that show Back to You with Kelsey Grammar. He plays a similar role. He’ll probably be typecast forever.

11:06pm When’s the last time I saw Kevin Spacey in a movie? I should look that up on IMDb when I get home.

11:15pm Now we’re getting into Blackjack and counting cards. This movie reminds me an awful lot of Rounders with Matt Damon. Guy trying to do the right thing gets pulled into gambling and ruins his life in the process.

11:30pm Check that, this is more a mix of Rounders and Swingers. You’re so money and you don’t even know it.

11:35pm Ben is denied a kiss in the subway. The whole audience feels his pain and embarrassment. I guess more than one person can relate. I’m thinking Ben will get some action soon.

11:44pm Is it just me or is Laurence Fishburne looking a little chunky in this film?

11:53pm Finally, Aaron Yoo was in Disturbia. I just saw the movie last week. Boy, that was bugging me.

12:01am Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth are making out. I heard they both were completely hammered when they shot this scene. Some guy with a telescope is having a good night in Vegas.

12:12am Okay, if they kick you out of Vegas, why not just go to Atlantic City? It’s even closer. I thought this kid was smart.

12:16am Just tripped a person walking back to their seats. Oops.

12:22am Spacey has a sweet “Bono from Across the Universe” costume. Nice diguise.

12:45am Okay, that was really similar to Rounders. Good thing I liked Rounders. 21 wasn’t the greatest movie ever, but it was a fun ride. Could've waited for the DVD.

12:49am I have this urge to go to a casino. Maybe I could be like Ben Campbell. After talking it over with my friend, I realize that I would suck at counting cards because I’d have to use my fingers. Oh well, better head home.

Semi-Pro

I think I laughed about ten times. Don’t ask me how many times I cringed. And the cringing wasn’t even for grossness (well, sometimes), it was for the sheer patheticness of the film. I kept wondering who greenlit Semi-Pro in the first place? Is it because it’s Will Ferrell in a sports comedy? Okay, it worked in Talladega Nights and maybe Blades of Glory, but have you seen Kicking & Screaming? Is it too much to ask for fresh material?

So Semi-Pro using the seventies as its backdrop for a struggling basketball franchise that longs to break into the NBA. That means we get loads of afros and loud clothing patterns. Am I supposed to find that funny? Maybe I’ll give it a mild chuckle, but only once. Will Ferrell plays singer/owner/coach/player Jackie Moon as a man about town with an overconfidence that usually gets him in trouble. Hmmm. Sounds a lot like his previous roles in Talladega and Blades. And that cockiness just screams Ron Burgundy; which already nailed the 70s machismo. Now that was funny. Will Ferrell shouldn’t be rerunning his old stuff already. Don’t get me wrong, I like Will Ferrell and I think he is a very funny man but he has made some poor decisions in his movie roles lately. Maybe I just like him better in small spurts, check out his work on funnyordie.com and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

And what’s up with Woody Harrelson? Why is he in this movie? He plays Monix, a tough-guy ‘pro’ who tries to turn the team around. He’s not tough. I’ll always remember him as the sweet lunkhead Woody Boyd from Cheers. That was his masterpiece. Okay, he was good in Natural Born Killers and he did a fine small role in No Country for Old Men, but did you see the atrocity that is Kingpin? There goes my gag reflex. Didn’t like him in White Men Can’t Jump, Money Train, The Cowboy Way, Indecent Proposal, Doc Hollywood, Will & Grace, shall I go on? I don’t think Harrelson plays the jerk all that well. It’s sad. So very sad.

Like Pepper and Cotton’s commentary in Dodgeball, I did enjoy the banter of Will Arnett and Andrew Daly as the Tropics colourmen. They played well off each other and added some much needed laughs into this ‘comedy.’ I also thought Andre Benjamin (of Outkast fame) did an okay job as Black Coffee, the only player who knows how to dunk a ball. Most of the rest of the cast were useless. Rob Corddry was a waste of screentime. I have no idea what Andy Richter’s position on the team was. Jackie Earle Haley as Dukes the stoner was funny but the joke got old pretty fast.

The biggest confusion when it came to casting was Maura Tierney as Lynn, the love interest for Monix. Why was there even a love story? It didn’t work at all! It seemed tacked on so that they could have a female in the cast. Monix is still in love with Lynn who is married to an oblivious Monix-fan loser played by Corddry. I wanted to cry when these scenes were getting played out. But that’s not the only part of the story that sucked. The basketball playing is pathetic and cliché. I got more enjoyment from The Mighty Ducks. The only thing that seems to work in this film is the outrageous promotional ideas submitted by Jackie Moon. Bear wrestling was funny. Sabotaging his own teammates so he doesn’t have to buy the sold-out crowd corndogs was funny. But that’s about it.

This movie would have been better served as a series of short skits on SNL not as a slapped together ninety-minute movie. You’ll probably laugh at some of the ideas and one-liners but not much else. Avoid the theatre. Even avoid the DVD. I would wait until they play this on TBS. You know you can watch it while you’re working on something else. Yep, it’s just that bad.

Definitely, Maybe

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an all-out chick flick. Maybe years. I have seen ones that have been aimed at mostly female audiences like Atonement and Hairspray but not a pithy romantic comedy like Definitely, Maybe. So what made me turn to this film? First, the films I was anticipating this spring have come up with the worst ratings ever. Be Kind, Rewind, Semi-Pro and Vantage Point have all come up critically short. Surprising enough, Definitely, Maybe had the highest ranking of the four. And second, well, let’s just say I have my reasons.

Definitely, Maybe was definitely not bad. Granted I was going in with pretty low expectations. Ryan Reynolds does not inspire quality. Sure, I enjoyed his work in Van Wilder but Waiting and Just Friends were dreadful. In this film, Reynolds pulls out the charm and does a fine job playing Will Hayes, an ad-exec with a precocious daughter. He is endearing as a father and is puppy-doggish lovesick when it comes to his interactions with his multiple lovers. As the only male that didn’t fall into an annoying stereotype, I found myself able to relate to Reynolds a bit more. I didn’t think Van Wilder had it in him.

The scene-stealer award of Definitely, Maybe can be given to Little Miss Sunshine herself, Abigail Breslin. As inquisitive daughter, Maya, Breslin gives each scene heart. Maya spends the movie trying to piece together who her real mom is by listening to her dad’s recounting of three significant women in his life. Her early interruptions in the story were fun and cute. In fact, my biggest complaint of this film is that these interruptions/commentaries didn’t happen more in the film; after a few comments, the flashbacks take over and last too long. I enjoyed the optimism Breslin gives to her character and let’s face it, she’s too adorable to ignore.

Of three main women in this film, only one sticks out. It’s not Elizabeth Banks. I find her annoying. She reminds me of a poor-man’s Rachel McAdams but with added dullness. She was also a terrible addition to Scrubs last year. Maybe that’s why I don’t like her. It’s also not Rachel Weisz. While I do like a lot of her work but she doesn’t seem to fit into this type of film. I expect more drama from her, not some sugary love story. The one that makes the material work is Isla Fisher. She not as crazy as her role in Wedding Crashers and not as unbelievable as she is in Hot Rod but she plays it perfectly in between. She has a spark. Fisher brings energy to the screen and there is obvious chemistry between her and Reynolds. She’s the one I was rooting for in the film.

I’m not going to tell you who Maya’s mom is. Not that I think you’re spending sleepless nights wondering. The story, written and directed by Adam Brooks, is interesting but not compelling. The mystery element may draw you in but it doesn’t keep your attention throughout the film. One of the major flaws in this film has to do with its pacing. Too much time is spent on each of the women, which doesn’t leave us wanting much more. Also some of the dialogue is pretty syrupy, but I wouldn’t expect much more from a chick flick like this.

So should you see Definitely, Maybe in the theatre? Well it might have already left the theatre a couple of weeks ago. (Sorry, the review is so late. Been busy with school and such for the past month.) In any case, this is one for video. I’m not going to say you should see it definitely, maybe. Instead I’ll say: “Should you see it? Sure, Why Not?”

Oscar 2008 Wrap-Up

So I did worse this year. Last year I got 15 out of 24, this year I got 13. I did very poorly on the short films and I was pretty shocked with Bourne Ultimatum’s three wins, as were most people. The award ceremony was nothing really to write home about. Jon Stewart did a fine job at keeping the show moving but there wasn’t too much comedy to be had. There were some nice scarastic comments but there wasn’t much of a entrance this year; he just showed up and talked. I guess with less writing-time, that’s what you get. Thankfully the stars were all there and some of the banter was adequate. Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen’s Halle Berry fight was pretty good. I did enjoy the quickly thrown together binocular & awakened by nightmare montages. It just goes to show how many montages they make for this very-long award show. Notably absent were the long drawn-out clips for the best picture nominees, I guess that saved some time. Also with the large number of international winners this year, the acceptance speeches were relatively short. There were no Cuba Gooding Jr or Roberto Benigni moments this year. Not surprisingly, this was one of the least-viewed Oscars ever, but that’s because most people hadn’t seen the five movies nomintated for best picture. This says to me that America needs to get out more and experience all the good stuff modern cinema has to offer instead of seeing the cookie-cutter blockbusters plaguing the screens. Oh well. Here is a list of the winners. (right=yellow, wrong=red)

Live Action Short Film: Le Mozart Des Pickpockets
(Way off. The clips looked entertaining though)
Animated Short Film: Peter & the Wolf
(Okay, I was way off with my short film guessing this year)
Documentary Short: Freeheld
(I guess lesbian rights trumps Iraq kid with AIDS.)
Sound Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum
(Okay, I didn’t see that coming.)
Sound Mixing: The Bourne Ultimatum
(I was right the sound editing and mixing was a two-fer this year.)
Original Score: Atonement
(Finally, something I got right. Thank you Mr. Typewriter.)
Original Song: “Falling Slowly” (Once)
(Loved Jon Stewart mocking their ‘arrogantly’ gracious acceptance speech.)
Visual Effects: The Golden Compass
(Seriously? A polar bear beats a transforming robot. C’mon people!)
Make Up: La Vie En Rose
(Thank goodness Norbit didn’t win. The world is right again.)
Costume Design: Elizabeth: The Golden Age
(I guess colourful beats dark and dismal)
Art Direction: Sweeny Todd
(Another correct guess, yippee!)
Film Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum
(C’mon, no one predicted Ultimatum would win 3 awards!)
Cinematography: There Will Be Blood
(Roger Deakins was robbed. I guess his two films cancelled him out.)
Documentary Feature: Taxi to the Dark Side
(Is this a Star Wars parody? Just kidding. It’s supposed to be good.)
Animated Feature: Ratatouille
(Liked Brad Bird’s ‘unhelpful guidance counsellor’ acceptance speech)
Foreign Language Film: The Counterfeiters
(It’s about the Holocaust. Pretty hands down.How right I was.)
Adapted Screenplay: No Country for Old Men
(Okay, now the predictions are going my way.)
Original Screenplay: Juno
(Glad they won best picture at the Spirit Awards the night before.)
Best Director: Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men)
(A well-deserved win.)
Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
(Is it just me, or does she look creepy. Her skin looks fake. Scary eyes too!)
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
(Loved his touching address to his mother. I assume it was touching.)
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)
(Lot of people were surprised. Many critics picked her to win. As did I.)
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
(No shock there. It’s amazing how soft-spoken he is. What a great actor!)
Picture: No Country for Old Men
(This movie had it all: great acting, story, editing, cinematography, sound and more. I think it deserved more than four awards but I’m very happy it won the big prize.)

How did you do this year? Did you beat my piddly 13 correct predictions?