Review: Away We Go

If there’s one genre of movie I despise, it’s the indie “comedy.” In these movies, the main characters lie constantly and for no reason, they have Wes Anderson-like quirks and aren’t funny at all. Fortunately, “Away We Go” avoids this path and ends up being an extremely enjoyable, and funny, movie.

“Away We Go” starts off with the funniest pregnancy discovery I’ve ever seen, and from there, it moves on to tell the story of Burt and Veronica (John Krasinski of “The Office” and Maya Rudolph of “Saturday Night Live”). After Burt’s parents decide to move to Europe, the couple decides to make their own change of venue.

So after weighing where to live their life, they decide to go on a road trip through Arizona, Wisconsin and Canada. At each stop they run in to a family organized in a different way, making Burt and Veronica to ask if that is the kind of family they want to be.

From start to finish, “Away We Go” has its own style. Krasinski’s bearded and bespectacled character starts out as a bit of a Andersonian character, deciding that he’s going to whittle, just so his son can find him whittling on the front porch. Luckily he evolves past his quirks and becomes a very likable character who yells at his girlfriend jokingly to raise the baby’s heart rate.

Each one of the characters the couple visit offer a different angle for the couple, but unlike last year’s “Four Christmases”, they aren’t drawn out stereotypes. Allison Janney of “Juno” steals the show early on by insulting her daughter and bragging about how incredibly large her breasts were before she had kids. Comedian Jim Gaffigan, Jeff Daniels, Maggie Gyllenhaal and a number of lesser known stars all work wonderfully as the extended family of Burt and Veronica.

The dialogue is also great, thanks to the husband and wife writing team of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. The balance between the charming and the comical is pitch perfect, moving one time from a stuffed animal play to a serious discussion about the couple’s future without missing a beat, and each scene is written without so much as a hit of bad dialogue.

Director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”, “Revolutionary Road”) does a great job in his first feature comedy. The way he handles the mix of emotions, the large cast and the strange mash-up of characters should have his critics backing off for awhile.

The last comedy of this caliber that I can remember, in both its dramatic and comedic elements, was “Juno.” This won’t be as wide in its audience, but is easily as enjoyable as the 2007 hit, even if its ending is a bit simple.

Review: Land of the Lost

In Hollywood’s attempt to remake every TV show, movie, play or YouTube video, the executives at Universal stumbled upon the 1970’s children’s show “Land of the Lost.” Just write a goofy script, plug in Will Ferrel and bam, there’s your movie. Luckily the movie isn’t quite that simplistic, but it won’t be setting off a new generation of loopy time travelers.

Mad man scientist Dr. Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) is in a shameful state after being dissed by Matt Lauer on the Today Show. His wallowing stops when British scientist Holly Cantrell reveals proof that his seemingly insane theories have merit. So the two head to a small theme park in the middle of the desert, where their “guide”, Will, takes them to the spot, which just so happens to be in a haunted water ride. Chaos ensues and the group are transported to the Land of the Lost, an area stuck in between time.

Don’t let the word scientist fool you, because this movie isn’t too smart. Relying almost exclusively on dim humor, “Land of the Lost” keeps it simple stupidly. It’s humor is sometimes funny, but mostly just amusing. It also enjoys being on the edge of going too far in its dim-witted attempts, but never crosses the line. But oh, it gets so close.

There’s a “King Kong” feel to the world, with everything being over-sized. Dinosaurs, mosquitos and even crabs are bigger than their Earthly counterparts. The crab, rather hysterically, gets blown up and eaten by the group while the mosquito sucks a fatal amount of blood out of Ferrel, but without consequence.

Rounding out the cast are British native Anna Friel (from ABC’s “Pushing Daisies”) and Danny McBride (“Pineapple Express”). The group ends up working as a good comedy team. Friel is masked by her natural accent and is generally the meat in cheese in the Ferrel-McBride sandwich. Both of the leading men are goofy, but in different ways. Where Ferrel gets to be, well, Will Ferrel, McBride is a bit more of a lone redneck ranger who doesn’t trust people in tunics.

There isn’t much action to speak of, but there are a handful of chase scenes involving a very sensitive T-Rex. It’s not exactly designed to look perfectly realistic, but then again it is a comedy. The CGI does the trick and looks colorful, but is sure to keep the focus on the comedy.

“Land of the Lost” won’t knock you out like it’s competition this week, “The Hangover”, but it is an enjoyable movie. So if you’re not tired of Will Ferrel movies yet, it might just be worthwhile to check this one out, but being in a goofy mood might help.

Review: My Life in Ruins

According to Nia Vardalos’ character Georgia, “2,500 years ago, Greece was a place of philosophy, art and democracy… then they discovered the nap.” You too will discover the nap should you decide to take incredibly boring trip to Greece that is “My Life in Ruins.”

With the entire country of Greece as its backdrop, “Ruins” follows Georgia, a college history professor turned tour guide, who is at the brink of having a gigantic breakdown. Her tourist groups are always the worst, as are her bus and driver. Her applications to universities in Greece and the U.S. are ignored, and everything else is just going wrong.

One of my cardinal sins of writing is to point out stereotypes before a character is even given a chance to utter a line of dialogue. “My Life in Ruins” breaks this rule in the first five minutes and with all of the supporting characters. ALL of them. If you’re making your characters stereotypes, we don’t need you to tell us what their stereotypes are. That’s why they’re stereotypes!

What’s even more unforgivable is the fact that none of these stereotypes are used effectively in the movie. They’re never funny and they never creep out of their three foot shell that their stereotype sets up. The only person in the group who has any depth of character is Irv, played by Richard Dreyfuss, but even he is all too prone to being put in a box at times.

All of this might be somewhat forgiving if the main character was somewhat amicable. Instead, she complains constantly and wouldn’t command the respect of the most curious amateur historian, let alone the ignorant group of American tourists who are more focused on finding cheap trinkets and ice cream than realizing they are at the cradle of modern society.

Those looking for an update on “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” will be sorely disappointed, and a big reason for is that all of the producers are now executive producers, meaning they weren’t as intimately involved in the story. Vardalos, who wrote the 2002 indie hit, is replaced by Mike Reiss and director Donald Petrie replaces Joel Zwick.

“My Life in Ruins” is all over the place and a complete miscue that isn’t really likable except in select scenes where Richard Dreyfus appears. Avoid this movie if you can because there’s very little to enjoy in this movie full of stereotypes and horrid dialogue. Sorry gals, but this summer isn’t looking good for you.

Review: Drag Me to Hell

Sam Raimi may be the best tongue and cheek director of all time. The whimsical, goofy and American as apple pie tone he put on all three of the Spider-Man and the ridiculousness of his Evil Dead franchise are perfect examples of the mastery Raimi has over his movies. With “Drag Me to Hell”, Raimi does it again, this time by perfectly fusing together a straight-faced horror movie with the tongue and cheek that he is known for.

Christine Brown (Alison Lohman, “Big Fish”) is young, gorgeous and on her way to living a full and happy life. All of this comes to a screeching halt when she crosses the disturbingly disfigured Mrs. Ganush, who tries to get an extension on her loan for her house at Christine’s work. Christine’s boss lets her make the decision and, thinking about how her kindhearted nature could hold her back from a promotion, denies the loan, prompting the elder Ganush to place a curse on our heroine, but not before an extensive and hilarious battle in a parking garage.

The bulk of the movie’s humor comes in the torment of Christine, which more often than not involves vomiting directly in the young loan officer’s mouth. Seriously, it happens over and over again, and it never gets old. The other crutch for the humor comes from Christine’s willingness to remove the curse, including the sacrifice of a small animal after she tells her spiritual adviser in the movie, psychic Rham Jas, that she is a vegetarian.  As the curse wears on her psyche, the lengths she’s willing to go get more extreme, but also funnier.

Possibly the most surprising aspect of the movie is how despite the shots of humor, “Drag Me to Hell” is still very much a horror movie. There are a handful of scary moments in the movie and plenty of tense scenes where Raimi lets the tension of the scene build, working slowly and methodically. The balance between these scenes is flawless, delivering both experiences simultaneously and without feeling like two separate movies.

The cast, headed by Lohman and Justin Long (who plays Christine’s boyfriend), works out well and deliver in their respective roles. Lohman, who must have always had a truck load of breath mints nearby for the vomiting scenes, transforms through the movie from a young and kind-hearted girl to one willing to hand off the curse to one of her nemeses, cursing them to eternal torment in hell. Her tormentors also are great and have to have spent hours in getting makeup applied to look the way they did, because they all look terrifying if they were to be put directly in front of you like they are to Christine.

“Drag Me to Hell” is a perfect example of how to do a great horror movie. Not too serious, not too tongue and cheek, but just the right balance. The PG-13 rating doesn’t hinder the movie, but instead lets a younger generation get a taste of how the horror genre should be done from Sam Raimi.

Review: Terminator Salvation

After conquering his fear of flying in “We Are Marshall”, Joeseph Nichol, better known as McG, decided to take on James Cameron’s epic Terminator franchise. Much like “Star Trek”, “Terminator Salvation” looks to reboot the once great franchise by staying in the future instead of sending robots back in time.

“Salvation” focuses on former inmate Marcus Wright (Australian actor Sam Worthington) who was executed decades before Judgement Day, when the military computer Skynet took over via nuclear holocaust. Wright stumbles upon franchise stalwart Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, “Star Trek”) and helps him get to the human resistance’s base where franchise savior John Connor (Christian Bale) is helping to coordinate the defense against the machines and understand the advice of his mother in the form of audio tapes.

It sounds confusing, but it’s all compacted nice and easily and doesn’t get in the way of what the franchise is known for: its action. The first third of the movie roars onto the screen and doesn’t let up for a good 40 minutes. Car chases, gigantic robots, warlike battle sequences and plenty of airships willing to play along make this section one of the best sequences on screen in years.

Another highlight is the sound, which is loud and gritty. Every gun screams and each explosion sounds brilliant., perfectly mirroring the desert wasteland and metallic prisons the resistance live in. Perhaps the setting is a bit over the top, but what else would you expect a post-apocalyptic future to look like?

Unfortunately, the movie cools down and runs away from the roads in favor of conflicts on foot. These aren’t bad by any means, they just aren’t nearly as spectacular as the encounters at the beginning of the movie.

Not helping things are some of the gaping “plot holes”, if that’s what they could be called. For example, Skynet’s base in San Francisco apparently only has one robot guarding it. There’s also a character caught by Skynet that isn’t killed immediately despite his importance to the framework of the plot against the machines which they know about.

Despite these somewhat gigantic holes, “Terminator Salvation” is still a trip worth taking. The plot will only work to satisfy die-hard Terminator fans, but be enough for casual movie-goers to set the table for the explosive action that can only be expected of the time traveling franchise.

Review: Star Trek

All you need to know about the new “Star Trek” is that it’s the best pilot director J.J. Abrams has ever done.

The guy who helped launch “Lost”, “Fringe”, “Alias” and a host of less successful television series has made “Star Trek” fun and exciting for a generation stuck watching poorly translated remake and reimagination.

The shoots back to a time when James T. Kirk and his Vulcan counterpart, Spock, were just starting out in Starfleet. But instead of heading down the road already traveled by nearly a dozen Star Trek movies and handful of television series, the new “Trek” takes a turn in a new direction thanks to time-traveling bad guy Nero, who is looking to destroy the entire Starfleet and the planets they reside on.

What “Star Trek” does so well is telling its own story. There are plenty of call-backs and nostalgia trips for dedicated Trek fans (“I’m giving her all she’s got, captain,” for one), but takes all of the overly complicated jargon and story lines out of the equation. The word “phaser” makes only one appearance and a ship is a ship, a gun is a gun and a torpedo is a torpedo. There’s no pointless renaming of everything. It’s just what it is.

Abrams carries the franchise to new heights by making the action spectacular and candy colored, but within reason, unlike last year’s “Speed Racer.” Abrams also manages to tell an origin story without making it feel like the movie is stalling to introduce each character. Chekov, Sulu, McCoy and Scotty are introduced in due time and without an overabundance of fanfare. Unlike last week’s “Wolverine”, “Trek” gives each character a proper amount of screen time and will endear them to you quickly and seemingly without trying.

Abrams’ career in television really shines through with the casting of “Star Trek.” He bands together a group of relative unknowns that gel together well. Chris Pine is perfect as the daredevil captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise who goes all out all of the time. He handles the comedic and dramatic scenes of the movie without a problem.

Also fitting in nicely is the new Spock, Zachary Quinto. Pulled from his sinister role on “Heroes”, Quinto pulls a full 180 to the not-so-quiet and calculated Spock. While he is more often than not citing logic and crunching numbers in his head, Quinto adds some weight to the lines making sure it’s clear that he’s not a true, emotionless Vulcan.

It’s not easy launching a franchise, especially one with so much history behind it, but J.J. Abrams did it and made it look easy. “Star Trek” will undoubtably get comparisons to the original “Star Wars” trilogy for its mix of action, drama and comedy. Don’t knock the comparison, because it’s more than fitting. But unlike the “Star Wars” movies, we won’t be waiting three years for the next one. The sequel has already been green lighted and is set to be released in 2011.

The Three Stooges

 

By Rosie Githinji

When I was a kid, one of my favorite television experiences was watching “The Three Stooges”. Imagine my excitement when I was reading through the news headlines and came across a Chicago Tribune story and one on Yahoo that proclaimed a Three Stooges film may soon become a reality.

Not everyone liked “The Three Stooges”. I have friends who actually said they were creepy, but I always remember laughing. The Stooges style of comedy is fun, and did not have to use crude humor or disgusting jokes that seem to prevail in a lot of modern day comedy.

As far as the choices for the characters go, I am not sure how I feel. According to the Tribune Jim Carrey is reported to be in negotiations to play Curly. Sean Penn is set to play Larry and Benicio del Toro is the rumored possibility for Moe.

Carrey has certainly shown the public he is fully capable of keeping us laughing. Penn has played a plethora of roles that keep show he is up to the challenge of a new role, but can Benicio del Toro pull off the role of Moe.

Of the three men that may potentially be in the role, del Toro seems the most unlikely. Most of the movies I have seen with him in them (and admittedly I have not watched that many), portrays del Toro as a serious type. This may be typecasting but my mind cannot wrap around the thought of del Toro being able to pull off the unique slap shtick humor that was so great in the original Three Stooges comedy.

The Farrelly brothers have certainly produced movies that were good for a laugh, like The Heartbreak Kid. Hopefully they will be able to make a Three Stooges comedy that will not detract from the original like so many other remakes these days. 

 

Chris Brown’s good boy image

By Rachel Carlson

The image of R&B singer Chris Brown is just like the boy next door. He has little to no visible tattoos, a bright white smile and boyish good looks that drive the girls crazy. His heartfelt ballads of love equate losing someone to not breathing and wanting to stay together forever. He has your classic good boy image.

Well, more like had your classic good boy image. The fact he may have been involved in a physical altercation with his girlfriend, Rihanna, does not really coincide with that squeaky-clean picture.

If the accusations of assault turn out to be true, Brown can pretty much kiss his career, sponsors and love life goodbye. That clean image he has acquired will be gone forever.

The Monday after news of the assault broke, Brown’s sponsor, Wrigley’s gum temporarily suspended him as if someone would see their affiliation with Brown as condoning domestic violence. Like with any other big celebrity, when trouble brews sponsors hightail it out of there and leave their clients to deal with their mistakes alone. Losing this big sponsor, and the big paycheck, will be a major blow to his career.

Not to mention he also missed a primetime Grammys performance Sunday night and has cancelled an NBA All-Star game appearance set for this weekend. While dropping out of public appearances helps him avoid questions and more controversy, Brown is giving up free press and great career opportunities.

The icing on the cake is that the female involved in the dispute could quite possibly be Rihanna. This makes the situation an even bigger deal because they are both usually in the limelight to begin with. If the woman involved had been a non-celebrity the allegations would still be all over the news, but when you add two stars to the mix it causes huge headlines.

The biggest issue though is that Brown has managed to trash his own image. Teenage girls love him for his tender heartthrob ways. He seemed like the guy you would take home to mom. Now, because of a scandal like this, Brown’s image seems like one you would hide from mom instead. Tender heartthrobs usually do not have that effect.

As an artist, Brown is his own product that he has to market in order to be successful. These allegations definitely make for bad PR and it will show in his sales.

As unfair as it seems, the public will not go by the rule innocent until proven guilty in this case. Brown is a celebrity and celebrities are always judged harshly.

Extension of “Jackass”?

By Sydney Elliot

So I was sitting in the living room last night watching TV with my parents. The commercials ended and the show came back on, “One Way Out.” In this particular episode the main guy was being buried by his friends. They built three walls around him, one with a whole in  it for his head, and then two on the sides. They kept piling the dirt on top of him and when they got to a certain height they would have him breathe into a tube above his head and see how high he could blow a ball up into the tube. 

Their experiment ended at 3 ft. of dirt whenever he could hardly breathe anymore. His breaths were short and he could only get the ball up a short way. 

I don’t understand why this show is on television. Is it supposed to be a more “scientific” version of “Jackass”? It was on the Discovery channel so it is supposed to be educational, right? These types of shows don’t provide anything educational. The argument would be that they are entertaining, but the age of the sitcom was much more entertaining than the strings and strings of reality television taking over the airwaves. Sitting around watching some guy on TV being buried and cutting off his air supply on purpose is moronic, not entertaining. 

Christian Bale . . . Take it down a notch

By Kyle Weise

I certainly do not know everything that goes into making a movie, and I will never claim to be a movie making genius. That being said, I would say Christian Bale’s profanity laced tirade may have come from his inability to control his emotions.

Apparently, the assistant director of photography on the set of “Terminator Salvation” walked back and forth behind Bale’s co-star Bryce Dallas Howard and in his (Bale’s) line of sight. Bale decided he could not let this pass and ripped into this poor soul like Bobby Knight screaming at officials during his prime at Indiana. Not only did Bale scream and yell at this man, but he continued the outlandish blasting for more than three minutes. He even threatened to kick this man’s you know what as well as threaten to tear down the lights this fellow had set up for the shot.

When it comes to any type of a pattern, I would always say the first time an incident happens, it’s an anomaly, the second time it happens, a coincidence, but the third time makes a pattern. This is the second incident of Bale’s within the past year, the first right before the release of “The Dark Knight” which involved him barely escaping assault charges against his family. Perhaps he is under an extraordinary amount of pressure, because this past year has easily been the biggest year of his career, but whatever the case hopefully it will not turn into a pattern.

I am a fan of Bale and of his work, he was probably the best actor to portray Batman, his performance in “3:10 to Yuma” was excellent, and I am very much looking forward to the upcoming “Public Enemies.” However, there are countless stories of the rise and fall of actors in Hollywood, and if Bale is not careful we could see the fall of arguably today’s hottest star. Bale is a tremendous acting talent and despite this tirade has been called a “consummate professional.”

Let us hope he does not have any type of problem because as of right now, Christian Bale has put Hollywood on his back and carried the industry this past year.