Dell's Good, Bad & Ugly Movie Reviews

[dell71]

Very nice review on CK. I will have to watch it soon. Also I lvoe you Man was funny for exactly what you said, and Walk hard I thoguht was actually pretty funny, mostly w/e he talks to that black guy about drugs.

That was funny the first time, but they did the same exact thing like 3 more times...but I'll cop to laughing when they got to Viagra as the drug.

5/10 pretty harsh for Walk Hard.... one of my favorites.... I don't know why, I just find the movie funny as hell. I wouldn't say it's a terrible movie just because it has a naked guy in it, lol.

To each, his own. And no, it's not terrible because it has a naked guy in it. I just used that as an example of a missed opportunity. Yeah, he was naked but he didn't do anything funny while naked so it was kind of pointless.

I Love You, Man sorta bored me the way Role Models sorta bored you - I felt like I'd seen it before. Between the fact that it's essentially a guy-guy romance movie and having seen Role Models it was like I knew exactly what was going to happen.

Completely fair assessment. I just felt this movie did those things better than Role Models. But I can certainly understand seeing it the other way around.

[SOS4Prez]

Great review of Citizen Kane. I completely agree.

[dell71]

Hey I would like to see what you think about State of Play, I liked it but also had a few problems with it, would like to hear your opinion.

Great reviews recently, keep them up.

Haven't seen it, yet. I plan to in the next week or two.

[dell71]

Bad Education AKA La Mala Educacion
2004. Rated NC-17, 106 minutes.
Director: Pedro Almodovar.
Starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Fele Martinez, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Francisco Maestre.
Enrique (Martinez) is a famous film director who is struggling to come up with an idea for his next movie when an old friend of his suddenly shows up with a compelling screenplay. The friend doesn't want any money for the screenplay itself, but wants to star in the movie which is apparently autobiographical. Of course, things aren't quite as they seem. The movie the characters are making and the one you're watching are fascinating, disturbing and intertwine nicely. It throws us a couple of vicious curveballs we don't see coming and has a twisted sense of humor. Gael Garcia Bernal is fantastic in the lead role. This performance, combined with his stellar work in Amores Perros and Y Tu Mama Tambien have convinced me he is among the best actors of this generation. Sadly Americans, in general, know nothing of him. The movie as a whole is a winding, twisting and daring affair that never has the slightest inclination towards political correctness. It shocks you, not for the sake of shock but to advance the plot, which it does rather effectively. Both homophobes and subtitleophobes beware. Nearly every character is a gay man and yes, there are sex scenes. And the movie is in Spanish.
MY SCORE: 9/10

[dell71]

17 Again
2009. Rated PG-13, 102 minutes.
Director: Burr Steers.
Starring Zac Effron, Michelle Trachtenberg, Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann.

Plot: Just when his life seems to be completely falling apart, near 40 Mike O'Donnell (Perry) has an "accident" that causes him to physically revert back to exactly the way he was at 17 years of age.

The Good: It's funnier than you think its going to be. It gets a lot of mileage out of the difference in attitude between high school kids and a dad, as well as the fact that the 17 year old version of Mike is played by Zac Effron who makes young girls everywhere swoon. And it actually handles both fairly well. Finally, Thomas Lennon is a riot as Mike's best pal Ned, whose life-long geekiness has apparently made him a multi-millionaire.

The Bad: Everything goes exactly like you think it would. More problematic, however, is that the movie is guilty of the same thing dads everywhere are guilty of (myself included): the double standard involved in how we treat the sexuality of our sons as opposed to that of our daughters. Needless to say, it and we are far more liberal with our boys. For us older viewers, we'll also notice it borrows heavily from Back to the Future. It seems everything is here except the DeLorean and actual time travel.

The Ugly: Ned's "peacocking" tactic.

Recommendation: This is a fairly harmless, somewhat funny and completely cute movie. Honestly, its also a solid way for Effron to expand his brand just a bit. By that, I mean he'll rope in some of the girls that are just a tad too old to be into High School Musical. Parents rest assured, though it is a little more risque than HSM, its hardly anything to get worked up for. It seems to have only garnered its PG-13 rating based on a handful (or less) of "colorful" words.

The Opposite View: Liam Lacey, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

What the Internet Says: 6.6/10 on imdb.com (9/21/09), 58% on rottentomatoes.com, 48/100 on metacritic.com

MY SCORE: 6/10

[dell71]

Sugar
2009. Rated PG-13*, 114 minutes.
Directors: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck.
Starring Algenis Perez Soto, Rayniel Rufino, Jose Rijo, Andre Holland.

Plot: Miguel Santos (Soto), nicknamed Sugar, is a young pitcher from a poor neighborhood in the Dominican Republic. We follow him as he tries to make it to Major League Baseball.

The Good: This is a baseball movie unlike most that have been made. It's more about a young man's coming of age through his journey in life than about the game itself. This is despite the fact that there is plenty of baseball throughout. We see the sport defining him, at first, then him wrestling with that definition. Algenis Perez Soto gives us a wonderful performance that makes the whole movie tick. In him, we see a young man going through some intense growing pains. He gives us this without resorting to a bunch of big, showy moments like we see from the Oscar winners every year yet, it's still one of my favorite performances of the year. The directing team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck help in this aspect as well by pacing the movie beautifully. It doesn't just rush us from one big game to the next like most sports flicks. It sort of moseys along, the way a minor leaguers' career might, but it never drags. The icing on the the cake, for me at least, is it has the courage to give us one of those ambiguous endings I love so much. As an audience, we're not sure how we're supposed to feel about the place in Sugar's journey where we stop watching. Leaving us something to ponder gives the film resonance.

The Bad: This is all nit-picking. An interesting dynamic develops between Sugar and the daughter of the family he lives with while playing 'A' ball. We sense she's a major reason his English improves but aren't really told as much. More troubling is how things are left between the two. It plays out the way it probably should but we'd like to hear her side of things. I also would've liked to hear Sugar deal with his homesickness a bit more. This would've added another layer of depth.

The Ugly: Discovering the great American freedom of ordering porn to your hotel room.

Recommendation: If you enjoy character studies at all, see this movie. If you're looking for a baseball flick, see this movie. In fact, just see this movie. I feel very comfortable saying its among the best baseball movies I've ever seen. I also feel very comfortable saying it won't be see enough to attain such lofty status. Of course, the other disclaimer is there are no "Rocky" type moments, supernatural occurrences or slapstick comedy. Those things aside, perhaps because of them, its an awesome sports movie that seems destined to be underappreciated, even by people who see it. Subtitleophobes beware, most of the movie is in Spanish.

The Opposite View: Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle

What the Internet Says: 7.3/10 on imdb.com (9/23/09), 93% on rottentomatoes.com, 82/100 on metacritic.com

MY SCORE: 10/10


* Apparently, the theatrical release was Rated R but has been edited down to PG-13 on the DVD version.

[padman59]

Now I'm really interested to see Sugar. I stumbled upon it last week, and it sounded like a solid movie. It's moving to the top of my queue now.

[dell71]

Now I'm really interested to see Sugar. I stumbled upon it last week, and it sounded like a solid movie. It's moving to the top of my queue now.

I hope you like it. I really did & judging by the tomatometer (93%) and metacritic (average score of 82/100 by critics, I'm not alone.

Just bring your reading glasses - most of it is in Spanish. (Edited review to include that fact).

[dell71]

Next Day Air
2009. Rated R, 84 minutes.
Director: Benny Boom
Starring Donald Faison, Wood Harris, Mike Epps, Omari Hardwick.

Plot: A package containing cocaine is shipped "next day air" and delivered to the wrong address. Gangsta style hijinks and shenanigans ensue.

The Good: It takes the Guy Ritchie gangster-comedy formula and endows it with hood sensibilities. Wisely, the movie is centered on its two funniest characters, Gooch (Harris) and Brody (Epps). The banter between them is sharp and funny. The two really pull off being a pair of dimwits who both think they're criminal masterminds and as contentious as their relationship is, they still show us an obviously high level of friendship. To go a little further, most of the characters aren't too bright and the movie gets a lot of mileage out of this.

The Bad: It uses the Guy Ritchie gangster-comedy formula but doesn't go quite far enough to really pull it off. The basics are there: a group of people come into possession of something they know is valuable but aren't exactly pros at handling it, while others who don't know them, or even that they have it, try to track down said valuable items. Well, it dumbs things down by not having as many characters as necessary to a)keep the audience guessing and the item moving around and b)keep the movie going, hence the brief 84 minute runtime. What we end up with is an abbreviated version of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels that ends where that movie simply changes directions. Oh, and if you can get Mos Def, and to a lesser extent Debbie Allen, in your movie they need more than a few short moments of screen time each. Especially Def's character, who had loads of potential.

The Ugly: "Y'all did." See it and you'll understand why those two words are comic-gold.

The Opposite View: Clay Cane, BET.com

What the Internet Says: 6.1/10 on imdb.com (9/25/09), 20% on rottentomatoes.com, 46/100 on metacritic.com

MY SCORE: 6/10

[Buzzman]

damn Mos Def wasnt it it that much? I remember the trailer had him all voer this.

[SHOGUN]

damn Mos Def wasnt it it that much? I remember the trailer had him all voer this.

Yeah, I was kinda gassed to see this because of Flaco Bey, but to see that he's not in it that much makes me sad.

[dell71]

damn Mos Def wasnt it it that much? I remember the trailer had him all voer this.

That's about as much as he's in it.

[dell71]

Crank: High Voltage
2009. Rated R, 96 minutes.
Directors: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor.
Starring Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Bai Ling, Dwight Yoakam.

Plot: After falling from a helicopter and apparently dying at the end of Crank, Chev Chelios (Statham) is literally scraped off the street by some bad guys. They revive him and steal his heart, replacing it with an artificial one hooked to a small battery. Once he wakes up, mayhem ensues.

The Good: It's absolutely ridiculous. Hardly a minute goes by in which something insane doesn't happen. While on his quest to get his ticker back, our hero has to find ways to literally keep his battery charged, and like the original, this movie is wildly creative in that area. In fact, this movie is wildly creative in just about every aspect while simultaneously not at all trying to be "good" in the traditional sense. It's humor is nothing short of wicked and goes the extra mile to offend those given to taking offense. In short, nothing about this movie is the least bit serious and nothing is off limits, including that bit of awkwardness you feel when you see the role David Carradine plays. And for those with fond memories of the 80s, there's a Corey Haim sighting.

The Bad: It's absolutley ridiculous. Hardly a minute goes by in which something insane doesn't happen. As a result, some viewers will be quickly overwhelmed and turned off. Basically, its just too stupid and repulsive for some people. Oh, and I get the impression that Bai Ling is either desperate for money or desperate to star in American films. She couldn't possibly have played a more stereotypical role.

The Ugly: This movie has fetish for abusing male genitals.

Recommendation: If you can't find constant murder, maiming and misogyny funny, stay far away. If you decide to give it a shot, don't take even one second of it seriously or you'll doom yourself to hating this movie. Simply put, its so bad its awesome!

The Opposite View: Is there really an opposite view when you know its terrible and love it anyway?

What the Internet Says: 6.6/10 on imdb.com (9/26/09), 62% on rottentomatoes.com, 41/100 on metacritic.com

MY SCORE: -10/10

[dope]

Simply put, its so bad its awesome!

couldn't agree more

[dell71]

The Uninvited
2009. Rated PG-13, 87 minutes.
Directors: Charles Guard, Thomas Guard.
Starring Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel, Elizabeth Banks, David Strathairn.

Plot: A year or so after her mother died in a horrible fire, Anna (Browning) comes home from the mental institution. Of course, she still has ghastly visions and nightmares, a whiny older sister and dad's new girlfriend, and mom's ex-caretaker, appears to be...e-e-evil...muwahahahahaha...ahem...sorry. Anyhoo, it's a remake of the Korean movie A Tale of Two Sisters.

The Good: Whenever Anna starts seeing stuff, we get some fantastic visuals. There's not a drop of blood until very late in the movie but the sights are arresting, nonetheless. The twist at the end has been done before but its still fairly effective and almost enough to redeem the movie.

The Bad: It just plods along, re-enacting bits of better horror movies we've already seen. Though it's a remake of A Tale of Two Sisters, the movies that most readily come to mind are Pet Sematary and The Sixth Sense as it borrows heavily from both. Even if you don't see that comparison, there's another major problem: Elizabeth Banks is horribly miscast. She's supposed to be creepy, even a bit of a scary prospect for a stepmom but she can't quite pull it off. This is no knock on her acting ability in general, but she just doesn't seem to have a real dark side to pull from. It's too easy to tell that she's manufacturing vaguely mischevious facial expressions and delivers many of her lines flatly, mistaking monotone for menacing. The overall effect is we don't believe she had to do much of the conniving attributed to her to get into dad's bed. She's simply the hot blonde hanging around after his wife died; a wife that couldn't give him any for quite awhile anyway. Sorry to be blunt. Speaking of the dad, he's played by David Strathairn whom I respect a great deal as an actor. However, he seems to be slumming for a paycheck.

The Ugly: The wanna-be boyfriend's back bends at a rather impressive angle.

Recommendation: Fans of The Sixth Sense will likely eat this up and proclaim it an awesome movie. For me, it was way too formulaic, moved way too slow. Seriously, I had no idea 87 minutes could take so long. Still, the last 15 minutes or so elevates the rest of it, making it an overall decent watch that comes up a bit short. Personally, I'm going to seek out the original.

The Opposite View: Kurt Loder, MTV

What the Internet Says: 6.3/10 on imdb.com (9/28/09), 32% on rottentomatoes.com, 43/100 on metacritic.com

MY SCORE: 5/10