Monday, September 1, 2008

Juno; Zodiac; Lars and the Real Girl; Atonement; Kung Fu Panda; Don't Mess with the Zohan (quick reviews)

Ok, so I missed some movies from last year, and have seen a few this year... here is a very very quick recap of my findings in no particular order:

Juno: 8/10 - A nice, cute movie with enough emotion and 'deep' character situations to make it a must see. I do not agree that this is a top 5 film of last year, but I think it fits in as 6th man quite well. It deserved nominations, but I do not feel it is in the same universe as There Will Be Blood or No Country For Old Men, or Into The Wild or American Gangster for that matter...

The Zodiac: 7.5/10 - This is a very solid movie, but I really believe you need to be in the right frame of mind to watch this. I actually heard someone say they thought it was just too slow, etc, then I watched it with them and when we talked about it they seemed to really think it was a much better film. In any event, it is definitely worth seeing.

Lars and the Real Girl: 5/10 - I REALLY REALLY wanted to like this movie. I go out of my way to like off-beat, non-blockbuster type movies. I go out of my way to see the artistic side of films. With that said, this movie just doesn't make sense. I get the emotional issues and I get the community trying to help, but it goes way too far and it stretched way too far to even begin to let you imagine this happening. I suggest you not spend any time with this movie, as much as I strived to like it.

Atonement: 7/10 - My disclaimer to this this review is that I had read the book before seeing the movie, which I feel ALWAYS has a strong influence on how you view a movie. I thought the acting was acceptable and the plot pretty true to the book. With that said, it is EXACTLY as I thought the book - the beginning and ending are great... the middle war parts are terribly boring and add very little to the story. THIS IS THE BEST TYPE OF CHICK FLICK TO SEE WITH YOUR GF/WIFE if you need to pick one... you will enjoy it enough and she will love it.

Kung Fu Panda: 7/10 - The rating may be a little too high, but it as very watchable and if you are in the right kind of mind it can be fun. We only went because we were going to do a double feature with Zohan and the timing was perfect, otherwise I would never pay to see this kind of movie, and I suggest you do the same thing, unless it is with kids, which it wasn't for me. Jack Black does a good voice for this movie and overall it is enjoyable, but nothing like a typical Pixar film will produce.

Don't Mess with the Zohan: 7.5/10 - My rating is based 100% on overall movie appeal - if the rating was based on laugh out loud moments it would get a 9.5/10 - I swear I went into this movie thinking "blah, another Sandler farce, maybe laugh a few times, and leave unsatisfied" - hah! Nothing could be farther from the truth...So funny. Yes, slapstick and some over the top humor, but overall it was a very funny comedy and I say see it.

2 comments:

Erin bhabi chhe said...

I agree about Zohan, I laughed my butt off but I thought it was a little cheap and yet classic that many of the jokes came from SNL sketches back in the early-mid 90's: disco disco, that was a sketch with Tom Hanks I believe. But still worth the time.

Matt said...

I will make you SILKY SMOOTH!