Sunday, August 2, 2009

Review: Funny People

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Title: Funny People
Distributor: Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures
Director: Judd Apatow
Writer(s): Judd Apatow (written by)
Staring: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana
MPAA Rating: Rated R for language and crude sexual humor throughout, and some sexuality.
Running Time: 146 min (2 hr and 25 min)
Synopsis: When seasoned comedian George Simmons learns of his terminal, inoperable health condition, his desire to form a genuine friendship cause him to take a relatively green performer under his wing as his opening act.

Other Reviews

Critics:

Roger Ebert:
3
½ Stars
Michael Phillips: 2 ½ Stars
EW: Lisa Schwarzbaum: C-


Other Sites:

At The Movies:
Ben Mankiewicz: Skip It, Ben Lyons: See It
Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 66% (Fresh), Top Critics: 47% (Rotten), RT Community: 74% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 60 out of 100, Users: 6.6 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 67: (15.6% A, 46.4% B, 33.9% C, 3.9% D, and 0.0% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: B Users: B-

My Review

Source Material: Original by
Judd Apatow

Acting and Dialogue: A-: I never been a fan of the f-bomb and penis jokes in
Judd Apatow but in this movie it works, and I think it works because it is a story about stand-up comedians. I have to comment on the fact that booth Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen have matured from there normal performance in movies. Apatow's wife, puts forth a great performance also. Even Eric Bana's small role is good acting.

Art Direction: B+:
The art wasn't haft bad.

Cinematography: B+: I am always surprised when comedies have good cinematography.

Direction: B-:
Judd Apatow has proven that he can be more than just a producer of comedies but a director as well. I say this because he is matured in the same fashion as Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen. He brought out what he dose best, keep it up Judd. But as far as pace and directing goes it was slow in the middle, not look at your watch slow but man have we really spent 30mins on this scene slow.

Sound and Music: B: Classic
Judd Apatow comedy.

VFX: B: Not much FX because it had more dramatic elements...the fake movies had fake looking FX but I quote, "How can a funny guy like this make such shit movies." So for achieving that is gains kudos.

Overall: B: It is by far
Apatow's best work so I am going to recommend it but be warned it is rated R for things you may not enjoy.

Review: The Ugly Truth

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Title: The Ugly Truth
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Director: Robert Luketic
Writer(s): Nicole Eastman (screenplay) and Karen McCullah Lutz (screenplay)
Staring: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler
MPAA Rating: Rated R for disturbing violent content, some sexuality and language.
Running Time: 96 min (1 hr and 36 min)
Synopsis: A romantically challenged morning show producer (Heigl) is reluctantly embroiled in a series of outrageous tests by her chauvinistic correspondent (Butler) to prove his theories on relationships and help her find love. His clever ploys, however, lead to an unexpected

Other Reviews

Critics:

Roger Ebert:
2 Stars
Michael Phillips: 1 ½ Stars
EW: Owen Gleiberman: C+


Other Sites:

At The Movies:
Ben Mankiewicz: Skip It, Ben Lyons: Skip It
Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 15% (Rotten), Top Critics: 10% (Rotten), RT Community: 62% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 27 out of 100, Users: 5.5 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 38: (0.0% A, 8.1% B, 41.8% C, 37.5% D, and 11.5% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: C- Users: B+

My Review

Source Material: Original: Nicole Eastman (screenplay) and Karen McCullah Lutz (screenplay)

Acting and Dialogue: C: A lot of the dialogue is raunchy and dirty out of this comes humor especially for the guys in the crowd. I say this because a lot of what Gerard Butler’s character believes in is truly how a large amount guys feel about woman.

Art Direction: C: Common city streets and new studio

Cinematography: C: Nothing that impressing

Direction: B-: For new director Robert Luketic put out a Romcom 101 movie which isn’t good…there is a scene that mirrors When Harry Meet Sally

Sound and Music: C: Pop hits, not impressing

VFX: D: When FX was used you knew it was a green screen shot.

Overall: C: When you add up all the elements the film his horrible, but from an entertaining factor it decent or Okay status. Being a Romcom it is better scene with a date.

Genre: ACTION: Dick Flicks (Guy Films)

Genre: A “dick flick” is an action film that is testosterone driven. These films are also called Guy Films (Wikipedia)

Like: The main thing to like about these films is the pace, it keeps the blood moving.

Dislike: I said most action flicks lack story and that is its main weakness. Well “dick flicks” it is much of the same story…or should I say no story.

Websites Top's:

Justaguything.com
AFI
Ask Men
Filmsite
IMDb
Maxim
Wikipedia: Films Considered the Greatest Ever

My Top Films In This Genre (alphabetical order):

Crank
Fight Club
Godfather, The
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Scarface
Se7en
Sin City
Snatch

The Future of Dick Flicks:

Inglorious Basterds
Gamer
Sherlock Holmes

Directors:

Guy Ritchie
Quentin Tarantino
Robert Rodriguez
David Fincher
Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Sneak Peak: 2010 Movies

The Book of Eli --- Warner Bros --- January 15
Legion --- Screen Gems --- January 22
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lightning Thief --- Twentieth Century Fox --- February 12
Alice in Wonderland ---
Walt Disney Pictures --- March 5
Clash of the Titans --- Warner Bros --- March 26
How to Train Your Dragon --- DreamWorks Animation --- March 26
Oceans --- Disneynature --- April 22
Iron Man 2 --- Paramount Pictures --- May 7
Robin Hood --- Universal Pictures --- May 14
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time --- Walt Disney Pictures --- May 28
Jonah Hex
--- Warner Bros --- June 18
Toy Story 3 --- Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar --- June 18
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
--- Summit Entertainment --- June 30
The Last Airbender --- Paramount Pictures --- July 2
The Green Hornet --- Columbia Pictures --- July 9
Inception --- Warner Bros --- July 16
The Sorcerer's Apprentice --- Walt Disney Pictures --- July 16
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I --- Warner Bros --- November 19
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of The Dawn Treader --- Twentieth Century Fox --- February 10

Update #2: Indies I Want To See 2009

The Brothers Bloom (May 15)
Away We Go (June 5)
Moon (June 12) --- Review
The Hurt Locker (June 26)
500 Days of Summer (July 17)
Adam (July 29)
Paper Hearts (August 7)
Extract (September 4)
An Education (October 9)
The Road (October 16)
Youth in Revolt (October 30)
Brothers (December 4)

TBA

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (TBA)
Creation (TBA)

Pre Award Season List

The Summer Movie Season is drawing closer to its end, there is about 3-4 weeks left of summer movies. It looks like this years transition movie is going to be Inglourious Basterds and the last "summer blockbuster" is G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. So the Fall Movie Season is just around the corner...for me the Fall Movie Season is the preseason to the Award Season. To get prepared for what is to come in the Award Season I have start writing post, the first of which was the film festivals 2009 post. The second will be this post. The point of this post is to direct your attention to one of the blogs I follow that is all about Award Season...In Contention. Kristopher Tapley has created a list of movies that he believes will make it on the Oscar nomination list.This list can be found on the right side margin of In Contention website, look for the title 2009 OSCAR PREDICTIONS. Kris has broken up his list into the same categorizes you will see at the Oscars. I have taken Kris' list and compiled into one giant list, taken out any repeated nominations. I did this so us film fans have one cohesive list of movies that we need to keep a closer eye on this Award Season. In alphabetical order here is that list of movies:

A Serious Man
Amelia
An Education
Avatar
Bright Star
Broken Embraces
Chéri
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Funny People
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Hurt Locker, The
Informant, The
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Julie & Julia
Lovely Bones, The
Nine
Precious
Public Enemies
Road, The
Shutter Island
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Up
Up in the Air
Wolf Man, The

Friday, July 31, 2009

Film Festivals 2009


Movie Festivals and Events Worldwide


Europe


Berlin International Film Festival
(Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
05 to 15 February 2009

Golden Bear: The Milk of Sorrow (La teta asustada) --- Claudia Llosa --- Peru


Cannes Film Festival (Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
13 to 24 May 2009

Palme d'Or (Golden Palm): The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band) --- Michael Haneke --- Germany
Grand Prix: A Prophet --- Jacques Audiard --- France
Prix du Jury (Jury Prize): TIE: Thirst --- Park Chan-wook --- South Korea,
Fish Tank --- Andrea Arnold --- United Kingdom


London Film Festival
(Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)

The Sutherland Trophy: TBA

Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF) (Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
19 to 28 June 2009

Golden George
: TBA

Venice Film Festival
(Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
02 to 12 September 2009

Golden Lion: TBA

USA and Canada


Austin Film Festival
(Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
22 to 29 October 2009

Feature Film Award: TBA

Chicago International Film Festival
(Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
08 to 21 October 2009

Gold Hugo: TBA

Heartland Film Festival (Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
15 to 24 October 2009

Crystal Heart Award: TBA

Hollywood Film Festival
(Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
21 to 26 October 2009

Indianapolis International Film Festival
(Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
15 to 25 July 2009

For
Indianapolis International Film Festival Awards click here

New York Film Festival
(Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
26 September to 25 October 2009

Grand Marnier Fellowship Award: TBA

South by Southwest (SXSW) (Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
13 to 21 March 2009

SXSW Wholphin Award: Sister Wife --- Jill Orschel --- USA
Grand Jury Award: Made In China --- Judi Krant --- USA


Sundance Film Festival
(Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
15 to 25 March 2009

Dramatic Grand Jury Prize: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire --- Lee Daniels --- USA

Toronto International Film Festival
(TIFF)
(Wikipedia) (Official Website) (IMDb)
10 to 19 September 2009

People's Choice Award: TBA