"Horton Hears a Who!" is an extremely pleasant adaptation of a classic Dr. Seuss book. Any time you adapt something as short as a Dr. Seuss book into a feature length film, you end up having to add lots of stuff to fill time. This movie takes an interesting approach to the new material. There is no attempt to have the new dialogue or action sound like Dr. Seuss. As a result, it is dead obvious when the movie is quoting directly from the original text. I though this worked well, though, because I'm not sure if an adult could take 88 minutes of dialogue that was all trying to sound like Dr. Seuss. With Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell voicing the main characters, I was also a bit worried that the additional material would be a little too out of control and zany. Instead, the movie does a nice job of giving them enough room to unleash their comic energies, without going over the top. I also thought the visuals were quite impressive. One scene where Horton searches through a field of clover was surprisingly stunning. If you're not into animated films, I wouldn't recommend "Horton Hears a Who!" For every one else, though, I think you'll find the movie a pleasant way to spend 90 minutes.
Final Grade: B
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
10,000 B.C. (2008) - C
I went to see "10,000 B.C." under the theory that despite its terrible reviews, there would be enough cool special effects that I would enjoy the movie. As it turned out, there were just enough fun effects (mostly of humans hunting mammoths) that I didn't think the movie sucked, but just barely. This movie is about as close as you can get to getting a "This movie sucked" grade without doing so.
Unfortunately, everything other than the special effects in the movie is a mess. There are lots of those "Are you kidding me?" moments. It's hard to do voice over narration in a movie well. "10,000 B.C." does it terribly. I pretty much winced whenever Omar Sharif's voice started. The movie also can't seem to decide whether to go historic or fantasy. It mostly tries to stay within the realm of reality, but occasionally embraces some light magic. Since the scenes involving the magic (mostly through a character called Old Mother) universally sucked, I guess they should have stuck with complete realism. I can't recommend this movie to even the most die hard CGI effects fan.
Final Grade: C
Unfortunately, everything other than the special effects in the movie is a mess. There are lots of those "Are you kidding me?" moments. It's hard to do voice over narration in a movie well. "10,000 B.C." does it terribly. I pretty much winced whenever Omar Sharif's voice started. The movie also can't seem to decide whether to go historic or fantasy. It mostly tries to stay within the realm of reality, but occasionally embraces some light magic. Since the scenes involving the magic (mostly through a character called Old Mother) universally sucked, I guess they should have stuck with complete realism. I can't recommend this movie to even the most die hard CGI effects fan.
Final Grade: C
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The Bank Job (2008) - A
"The Bank Job" is a first rate crime thriller. It stars Jason Statham ("The Transporter") as Terry Leather, a petty criminal who is approached by an old flame, Martine, with the idea for robbing the safe deposit boxes in a local bank. Now Terry and his crew have never robbed a bank before, but the plan that Martine proposes seems simple enough, so they decide to go for it. It sounds too good to be true, right? Naturally, it turns out that the job isn't as simple as it appears. Martine has been asked by MI-5 to set up the bank job because one of the safe deposit boxes has compromising photographs of a member of the Royal Family. Along the way, various things go wrong, and more and more villains and government agencies are out to get the crew.
"The Bank Job" features a first rate script. The risk in attempting a story filled with so many subplots and characters is that it would be easy for the film to either become incomprehensible or have sections that seem pointless and a waste of time. Instead, the film does a great job of spending just the right enough time with each character and subplot so that you understand that part of the story, and each thread feels like it is woven smoothly into the overall story.
The film is based on a real life bank robbery that has generated some conspiracy theories in Britain. The government quashed news coverage of the robbery after a few days, citing national security. The reasons behind the news blackout are still unknown to the public. The script does a nice job of creating a conspiracy that is out there enough to be fun and exciting, but never goes so far that you roll your eyes in disbelief.
The acting is also very good. You can't point to any one performance as being especially brilliant, but there are simply no weak links in the cast. Everyone turns in an enjoyable performance. The end result is an extremely enjoyable film. I give it an outside shot of making my top 10 at the end of the year.
Final Grade: A
"The Bank Job" features a first rate script. The risk in attempting a story filled with so many subplots and characters is that it would be easy for the film to either become incomprehensible or have sections that seem pointless and a waste of time. Instead, the film does a great job of spending just the right enough time with each character and subplot so that you understand that part of the story, and each thread feels like it is woven smoothly into the overall story.
The film is based on a real life bank robbery that has generated some conspiracy theories in Britain. The government quashed news coverage of the robbery after a few days, citing national security. The reasons behind the news blackout are still unknown to the public. The script does a nice job of creating a conspiracy that is out there enough to be fun and exciting, but never goes so far that you roll your eyes in disbelief.
The acting is also very good. You can't point to any one performance as being especially brilliant, but there are simply no weak links in the cast. Everyone turns in an enjoyable performance. The end result is an extremely enjoyable film. I give it an outside shot of making my top 10 at the end of the year.
Final Grade: A
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Semi-Pro (2008) - B
"Semi-Pro" is another Will Ferrell sports spoof movie. Set in 1976, Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, a former pop one-hit wonder (of course you get to hear his awesomely bad song "Love Me Sexy") who used his record money to become the owner, coach, promoter, and a player on the Flint Michigan Tropics of the ABA. When the ABA commissioner announces that the league will fold after the current season, and 4 teams will merge into the NBA, Moon manages to convince the other owners that rather than picking the 4 best markets to merge into the NBA, it should be based on performance, with the 4 top teams in the standings merging in. In an effort to fulfill his dream of making it to the NBA, Moon trades for former NBA player Monix, played by Woody Harrelson.
"Semi-Pro" is definitely not one of Ferrell's best movies. There are quite a few scenes that are obvious attempts to follow the Will Ferrell sports spoof formula to success, such as an obligatory near nude scene for Ferrell. The movie also has a few structural problems. For example, it can't quite make up its mind whether Will Ferrell or Woody Harrelson is the star of the movie. Monix feels like the main character, since he is responsible for leading the Tropics' turnaround, and he's the one that gets the romantic subplot. On the other hand, this is a Will Ferrell movie, so Ferrel's character gets a lot more screen time, and one of the casualties is that Monix's romantic subplot feels shallow and superfluous, even compared to the standards of this genre, which is a shame since this means completely wasting Maura Tierney's participation in the movie.
In the end, there are enough clever jokes and new scenes, that if you are a Will Ferrell fan like me, you will enjoy the movie. If you're so-so on Ferrell, though, you'd probably be better off skipping "Semi-Pro."
Final Grade: B
"Semi-Pro" is definitely not one of Ferrell's best movies. There are quite a few scenes that are obvious attempts to follow the Will Ferrell sports spoof formula to success, such as an obligatory near nude scene for Ferrell. The movie also has a few structural problems. For example, it can't quite make up its mind whether Will Ferrell or Woody Harrelson is the star of the movie. Monix feels like the main character, since he is responsible for leading the Tropics' turnaround, and he's the one that gets the romantic subplot. On the other hand, this is a Will Ferrell movie, so Ferrel's character gets a lot more screen time, and one of the casualties is that Monix's romantic subplot feels shallow and superfluous, even compared to the standards of this genre, which is a shame since this means completely wasting Maura Tierney's participation in the movie.
In the end, there are enough clever jokes and new scenes, that if you are a Will Ferrell fan like me, you will enjoy the movie. If you're so-so on Ferrell, though, you'd probably be better off skipping "Semi-Pro."
Final Grade: B
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