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Sarah (7798 KP) rated 21 Jump Street (2012) in Movies
Dec 17, 2017
Much better than expected
Mainstream comedies really aren't my thing, but I have to admit I'm pretty impressed with this film. I wasn't expecting much, but its actually pretty funny.
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum work really well together, although you do have to suspend all disbelief that they could ever be mistook for high school students. Which in all fairness is referred back to in the film for a few laughs. The other cast work well too, and there's a fun surprise cameo from original Jump Street star Johnny Depp.
The plot itself is silly but a bit of fun. Having the two leads switch characters by mistake leaving Tatum as the science geek and Hill as the all star sports player makes it so much funnier. I also think the school environment with the environmentally friendly students as the cool kids is a great idea. The comedy too also doesn't rely solely on crude jokes which is a refreshing change, and I do think Ice Cube is one of the funniest things about this film.
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum work really well together, although you do have to suspend all disbelief that they could ever be mistook for high school students. Which in all fairness is referred back to in the film for a few laughs. The other cast work well too, and there's a fun surprise cameo from original Jump Street star Johnny Depp.
The plot itself is silly but a bit of fun. Having the two leads switch characters by mistake leaving Tatum as the science geek and Hill as the all star sports player makes it so much funnier. I also think the school environment with the environmentally friendly students as the cool kids is a great idea. The comedy too also doesn't rely solely on crude jokes which is a refreshing change, and I do think Ice Cube is one of the funniest things about this film.
Sawyer (231 KP) rated Lego Star Wars: The Video Game in Video Games
Dec 18, 2017
Lego Star Wars is the earliest of the Lego franchise based games I can remember with its success came tons of other games of its kind Lego Indiana Jones Lego Lord the Rings Lego Harry Potter the list just goes on and on Lego Star Wars drops the player
straight into the cockpit of the Vessel that is Star Wars the pre sequel trilogy you work your way through multiple levels that cover the series in chronological order each level has tons of hidden areas and items to find characters to unlock and just plenty of reasons to replay them there are lots of characters to unlock with certain characters having different purposes for the game some of the characters are for fighting some of the characters are for building items and others are for getting into special areas or solving puzzles this game is oozing with charm and comedy which would soon become the trademark of the Lego games no voice acting or dialogue means the story is told through physical acting and they do it a pretty good job at it
straight into the cockpit of the Vessel that is Star Wars the pre sequel trilogy you work your way through multiple levels that cover the series in chronological order each level has tons of hidden areas and items to find characters to unlock and just plenty of reasons to replay them there are lots of characters to unlock with certain characters having different purposes for the game some of the characters are for fighting some of the characters are for building items and others are for getting into special areas or solving puzzles this game is oozing with charm and comedy which would soon become the trademark of the Lego games no voice acting or dialogue means the story is told through physical acting and they do it a pretty good job at it
Paul "xenomorph" Warren (15 KP) rated Beauty and the Beast (2017) in Movies
Jun 17, 2017
The beast cgi is lacking (1 more)
The whole movie feels hollow
More beast than beauty
After watching jon favreau's fantastic the jungle book I was hyped to see what disney did with their 2nd attempt at a live action remake of their animated library of classics. Unfortunately it's no where near as polished imo. There is some good performances though. Josh gad is hilarious as LeFou and contributes the majority of the comedy. However the lack of emotion in what's supposed to be an emotional romance is lost in this movie. The choice to use a cgi beast baffles me. And there is so many opportunities with a cast as strong as this but unfortunately Bill Condon fails to stir up the romance and emotion that the animation did in 1991. Emma Watson took me off guard me with her singing which was a pleasant surprise. Overall it was fairly entertaining however with the calibre of talent on show i kinda expecred more.
Susan (45 KP) rated Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) in Movies
Jul 3, 2017
Everyone who's ever just had enough of life and all it's problems will love the courage of Francis as she chooses to give up everything for an inspiring and sometimes hilarious new life. (3 more)
Diane Lane and Sandra O give wonderful performances.
It's a multi textured and woven script with richly developed characters
A reminder that the scariest part of life is taking chances, so take every chance you get
A tribute to all of us who just want to pack up and run away..except Francis did it!
Contains spoilers, click to show
Romanic comedy dramas aren't necessarily my thing and yet I can watch this over and over again. We've all been Francis at some point in our lives..hurt, overwhelmed, desperate to feel normal again. So she takes us on her own journey where we find ourselves there with her at the Tucan villla she purchased on a whim. Now alone in a new country, surrounded by an unusual cast of characters, she rebuilds the aged villa along with her broken life and learns that hold truly is where the heart is.
Dean (6921 KP) rated Ghostbusters (2016) in Movies
Jul 29, 2017
Decent Cgi for the Ghosts (1 more)
Good cast chemistry
Who ya gonna call?
Well this caused a stir among the Fanboys. I really like the original but not so much I don't think anyone should make another Ghostbusters film. Some didn't like the idea of an all female team this time round, who cares? From the director of @Spy (2015) , @The Heat (2013) @Bridesmaids (2011) , along with some cast members from the latter. This had a good comedy team involved. It's not great, the humour is more on the silly and slapstick side, a bit crude at times as well. The Cgi and ghost designs were pretty good, if a little cartoonish. Almost like something out of Scooby-Doo. Something that makes me feel this was aimed a young audience and not really fans of the original. It has some nice cameos but overall it's an average film. Watch and make your own mind up.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Men O'War (1929) in Movies
Feb 21, 2019
Early L&H sound film finds Stan and Ollie not quite yet in their imperial phase of effortless brilliance, but looking good. They play sailors on shore leave doing what sailors on shore leave do (i.e., attempting to pick up girls). There's a misunderstanding about clothing; Stan and Ollie have to buy a round of drinks despite not having enough money; they cause an impressive pile-up on a boating lake.
You can tell that the formula's not quite there yet, for there is much less emphasis on gleeful property damage and Ollie ending up the victim of Stan's various mishaps than you tend to find in their later films. Instead, there's more reliance on verbal comedy and elements of farce - the first part of the film revolves around a (for 1929) slightly saucy gag about a woman losing her underwear. Suffers a bit from the technical limitations of the period (the lengthy boat sequence at the end is filmed entirely in long shot) but still an ambitious and very funny film.
You can tell that the formula's not quite there yet, for there is much less emphasis on gleeful property damage and Ollie ending up the victim of Stan's various mishaps than you tend to find in their later films. Instead, there's more reliance on verbal comedy and elements of farce - the first part of the film revolves around a (for 1929) slightly saucy gag about a woman losing her underwear. Suffers a bit from the technical limitations of the period (the lengthy boat sequence at the end is filmed entirely in long shot) but still an ambitious and very funny film.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Cold Pursuit (2019) in Movies
Feb 28, 2019
Latest Hollywood remake of a film with the gall not to be in English (the horror!) is a better-not-call-it-black comedy thriller about a snowplough driver whose rampage of vengeance gets out of control. Liam Neeson drives a plough, murders a bunch of drug dealers, and doesn't think enough about what he says on the publicity tour; the quality of the film kind of vanishes into the backdrop as a result.
After a horribly choppy opening - is it a serious drama about grieving parents or another thickheaded Neeson revenge melodrama? - the film settles down to feel like a pastiche of the sort of thing the McDonagh brothers make, with genre elements drolly deconstructed with offbeat humour and a knowing provocativeness. It's just not quite quirky, funny, or intelligent enough; Neeson underplays it too much and film doesn't seem to have any real point to make. Some good jokes and it passes the time, but it would have slipped into obscurity fairly quickly if only Liam had kept his mouth shut on the junket.
After a horribly choppy opening - is it a serious drama about grieving parents or another thickheaded Neeson revenge melodrama? - the film settles down to feel like a pastiche of the sort of thing the McDonagh brothers make, with genre elements drolly deconstructed with offbeat humour and a knowing provocativeness. It's just not quite quirky, funny, or intelligent enough; Neeson underplays it too much and film doesn't seem to have any real point to make. Some good jokes and it passes the time, but it would have slipped into obscurity fairly quickly if only Liam had kept his mouth shut on the junket.
RəX Regent (349 KP) rated Meet the Fockers (2004) in Movies
Mar 7, 2019
Better than the first...
Contains spoilers, click to show
Well, simply put, this was slightly better than the first. Following the exploits of the previous film, "Meet The Parents", Gaylord Focker, Ben Stiller, introduces his fiancée's parents, excellently portrayed by Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner to his family, with the obvious humorous consequences.
Dustin Hoffman is on form and Barbra Streisand, who I honestly cannot recall seeing in anything but this franchise in the last twenty years, is not bad either as the laid-back titular Fockers. Stiller's and his lies are sidelined here, as the focus is on the conflict between the parents themselves, but all is resolved by the end, obviously and even though Owen Wilson's cameo is pretty contrived and we could have done without it, it had its moments.
"Meet The Fockers" is marginally better than "Meet The Parents", I think because the characters boundaries were more clearly defined, the jokes were funnier and tended to be less reliant on the awkwardness. This lighter offering was more than worth the watch and made me laugh which all you can ask from a comedy.
Dustin Hoffman is on form and Barbra Streisand, who I honestly cannot recall seeing in anything but this franchise in the last twenty years, is not bad either as the laid-back titular Fockers. Stiller's and his lies are sidelined here, as the focus is on the conflict between the parents themselves, but all is resolved by the end, obviously and even though Owen Wilson's cameo is pretty contrived and we could have done without it, it had its moments.
"Meet The Fockers" is marginally better than "Meet The Parents", I think because the characters boundaries were more clearly defined, the jokes were funnier and tended to be less reliant on the awkwardness. This lighter offering was more than worth the watch and made me laugh which all you can ask from a comedy.
Awix (3310 KP) rated A Chump at Oxford (1940) in Movies
Mar 24, 2019 (Updated Mar 24, 2019)
Disjointed L&H slapstick comedy, one of their last films for Hal Roach. Originally made as a 40-minute 'streamlined feature' and was extended to 62 minutes by the addition of an opening section which is a tidied-up remake of their 1928 short From Soup to Nuts; naturally, this has no connection with the rest of the story. Stan and Ollie try their hands at catering (badly), stop a robbery (accidentally) and as a reward are sent to Oxford University to better themselves. They antagonise the local students which leads to some surprising revelations as to Stan's past.
The individual sections are not too bad, but the episodic nature of the film means it feels longer than an hour; there are some good bits, but also a sense of the boys having run out of ideas and either repeating themselves or trying too hard. Spotting Peter Cushing (this is possibly the best-known of the films he made while in Hollywood for a couple of years as a young man) adds to the fun, though.
The individual sections are not too bad, but the episodic nature of the film means it feels longer than an hour; there are some good bits, but also a sense of the boys having run out of ideas and either repeating themselves or trying too hard. Spotting Peter Cushing (this is possibly the best-known of the films he made while in Hollywood for a couple of years as a young man) adds to the fun, though.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Agent of Chaos in Books
Apr 1, 2019 (Updated Apr 2, 2019)
Weirdly prescient pulp sci-fi novel. 'The great tyrant ruled with solar system with absolute terror. Only one man dared to fight back!' The man in question being one Boris Johnson, who (laser gun in hand) heroically sets out to bring down the government and plunge the world into complete anarchy (this really is the plot, and yes, the book was written in 1967).
Obviously the book is unintended comedy gold for UK readers nowadays, but as something you might actually want to read for pleasure, or for any other reason, it is quite hard work: the plot is hackneyed, the characterisation thin, and much of the book is taken up with lengthy discussions of chaos and order and anarchy and so on. This has given the book a cult following, although I think it depends on how old you are when you first read it. If you're not into radical philosophy and not amused by the doings of Boris Johnson, there's not much else here to enjoy.
Obviously the book is unintended comedy gold for UK readers nowadays, but as something you might actually want to read for pleasure, or for any other reason, it is quite hard work: the plot is hackneyed, the characterisation thin, and much of the book is taken up with lengthy discussions of chaos and order and anarchy and so on. This has given the book a cult following, although I think it depends on how old you are when you first read it. If you're not into radical philosophy and not amused by the doings of Boris Johnson, there's not much else here to enjoy.