July 5th, 2009
Synopsis
Jim Carrey stars in Yes Man as Carl, a divorcee stuck in his life at a dead-end job with an overpowering resistance to doing anything remotely interesting when asked. When he runs into an former co-worker, he ends up attending a self-help seminar that forces him to agree to everything that crosses his path.
Evaluation
Pros
- Jim Carrey returns to what he does best: comedic roles with a solid human component to them. This movie is in the vein of some of his other work that I enjoyed such as Liar, Liar, Fun With Dick And Jane and The Majestic.
- Great supporting work from: Terence Stamp (Superman II, Get Smart) as the self-help guru, Fionnula Flanagan (Brotherhood, Lost) as Tillie, the elderly neighbor with a wild streak and John Michael Higgins as Nick, the former co-worker who convinces Carl to attend this odd seminar in the first place.
- Zooey Deschanel (Failure to Launch, Elf)was perfectly cast as Allison. She is building quite a resumé playing these good-hearted, quirky girls-next-door.
Cons
- Despite good casting choices, I felt that there really wasn’t a great deal of chemistry between Carrey and Deschanel. They seemed friendly enough, but I had a hard time buying them as a romantic couple.
- Some of the writing made me hurt inside and the plot was rather rom-com formulaic — boy w/ dead-end life, boy meets girl, boy has life-changing experience, boy and girl fight, boy and girl make up after goofy chase scene)
Favorite Moments
- The requisite drunken bar fight scene was actually really fucking funny and I have no idea why… “She won’t get to go to the ball!”
- A couple of disturbingly funny scenes involving one with Tillie showing Carl her… um, gratitude for his help with a chore. The other involves Jim Carrey’s bare ass on a high-end motorcycle.
- The scenes with John Michael Higgins at the beginning of the film made me laugh like crazy. The man is so much fun to watch on screen, going all the way back to his breakout role as David Letterman in The Late Shift. You can also catch him in Fred Claus as a lovestruck elf.
- Watching Carl getting grilled while under arrest at the airport was quite touching… oh, and still funny as the cops have the completely wrong idea about him.
- Tape-face!
Judgment
Were there mistakes made with this movie? Yes! Should you still see it anyway? Yes! Can I stop asking random questions like this? Yes!
I like to think of the Jim Carrey oeuvre as fitting into three primary categories: You’ve got his physical comedy movies, like Ace Ventura and The Mask; then there are his darker films, such as The Cable Guy and The Number 23; and then there are his best works to date, like The Truman Show and Liar, Liar. I’d certainly put Yes Man in that last group. Although it’s not his best work and it has its flaws, the film is funny enough to make me want to put it on my shelf to inspire me to better things.
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June 8th, 2009
Synopsis
The HBO series which shows the rise of the Caesars and the end of the Roman Republic. Season 1 covers the rise of Julius Caesar to power and his ultimate assassination. Let’s face it… that’s about as spoiler-filled as Titanic! Season 2 chronicles the power after his death and the beginning of the end of the Republic. All of the grand history is viewed largely through the point of view of two lowly soldiers as they try to survive the upheavals. The ultimate classic buddy picture? Sure… only slightly more bloody than the Lethal Weapon series.
Evaluation
Pros
- From the very first scene, you see the strength and dynamics of two very different partnerships: Julius Caesar and his main general Mark Antony, then centurion Lucius Vorenus and legionnaire Titus Pullo. All are warriors and although Vorenus & Pullo start off not really liking each other, their friendship grows as the best ones do — really, really awkwardly.
- The writing throughout the entire series, especially the first season. There never really feels like there’s a dull moment in the series, even when the characters aren’t really doing anything.
- Casting some really strong actors in these roles. Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson as Vorenus and Pullo, respectively, were amazing to watch the entire time. Between the two, though, I have to give the edge to Stevenson. Pullo has a sunny disposition about him, even through his darkest hours, that just draws you in. His portrayal creates far more sympathy for an audience than does Vorenus. I think in some ways he also attempts serves as Octavian’s Jiminy Cricket during his formative years, but his influence is blunted and overwhelmed by the sheer force of personality of Octavian’s mother, Atia. Polly Walker’s Atia was another great performance, illustrated by her Golden Globe nomination that year. (I remember that the first thing I ever saw her in was Patriot Games.)
- Obviously, it’s hard to judge how historically accurate the series is, since we don’t have the kinds of records we do from even 100 years ago.
Cons
- There were some casting misfires too, I think. Lyndsey Marshal’s Cleopatra was far more effective in Season 2, but in Season 1 I had a lot of trouble believing that she was so powerfully seductive. In her defense, the scene where she orders Vorenus to have sex with her in hilarious!
- Another questionable choice was the character of Gaia, who shows up as a bar wench in Season 2 who later kills Pullo’s wife out of envy. That whole sub-plot seemed pointless to me, especially since they were concerned about having to cut so much because of the short season and subsequent cancellation. Having Eirene die in childbirth or some other non-violent method could have still served to the same effect on Pullo’s worldview. Zuleikha Robinson was good in the role… it just felt unnecessary.
Favorite moments
- A bit from Season 1, when Pullo takes young Octavian to a brothel for the first time:
- Pullo: I don’t suppose… seeing as I’m with the quality, I might be able to–
Brothel manager: Not a chance.
::Pullo hangs his head in shame, defeated::
- As mentioned before, in Season 1, when Caesar first goes to Egypt, Vorenus and Pullo are sent into the desert to find the runaway princess. As they are escorting her back to Alexandria and the waiting Caesar, she decides not to chance not being able to conceive a child with Caesar because… um… the pump is primed, so to speak. So she decides to have one of her Roman escorts do the deed. What ensues involves a lot of awkwardness, sweating and a god deal of ululating.
- Late in Season 2 Servilia, Atia’s nemesis in the series, takes her in her own… in public… in broad daylight…. on Atia’s front doorstep. O. M. G. I think Mark Antony says it best after the moment: “Now that’s an exit.”
Judgment
There were some problems with Season 2, brought on mostly (according to interviews with series creator Bruno Heller) by the fact that halfway through Season 2 they were cancelled and they crammed the major events of Seasons 3 & 4 into the remaining few episodes. In spite of this, the series as a whole has a solid through-line about friendship as expressed by Vorenus & Pullo. Their travails and brushes with history bring the audience closer to experiencing a sense of what it might have been like to live in that time… with a British accent. So I rule in favor of Rome. Not the most family-friendly show, but definitely one for the adults to check out and another jewel for HBO’s original series crown.
Check out the Store for an opportunity to purchase Rome and other films featuring the stars of this series!
Tags: 2009, Rome, television
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June 1st, 2009
(Before I start this review, a note: Yes, I know this first post is actually not in keeping with what will be the true spirit of this site, but I did wait three whole weeks before posting this. It’s kind of what inspired this whole blog in the first place. So, on with the review!)
So, Paramount just couldn’t let it go. I’ll admit that when I heard JJ Abrams had taken over the reins to create a new Star Trek movie, I was confused as to what Paramount was looking for. A parable about the dangers of mankind’s wanton development of science/technology? A semi-mystical story where the Enterprise crew gets stranded on an uncharted planet in some warped version of Brigadoon? Should I risk paying to see it opening weekend? Well…
***SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD*** (That’s for those 5 of you who haven’t seen it yet, but honestly… what am I spoiling at this point?!)
Synopsis
Short and sweet: How the Enterprise gang got together, starting from both Kirk’s and Spock’s independent upbringings through their first interaction at Starfleet Academy through this mighty adventure which shows off Kirk’s chutzpah and proves his right to be the only starship captain under the age of 30 in the galaxy!
There’s also a story there that involves a ship that looks like Satan’s Onion Blossom, time travel, and a sizable role by Leonard Nimoy… but let’s face it, is that really why we watched it?
Evaluation
Pros:
- They established a whole new universe in a way that honors and maintains the current accepted canon of the classic Trek universe. Not all the efforts have been as caring. (That’s right, Enterprise… I’m looking at you.) JJ and his guys have given themselves a clean slate to change everything while not changing anything.
- The actors were all really well cast. Their portrayals really showed a lot of the essence of who these people are (as established by Shatner et al, but circumstances defined their differences from the original. (See previous bullet point or watch the movie to understand.)
- A lot of the classic catchphrases were placed so well into the script that you couldn’t help but laugh/applaud when they came up.
- An interesting situation is set up for the sequels — how will the Federation be impacted by the near-genocide of the Vulcan race? Vulcan and Earth have always been the linchpins of the Federation. For one to be gone creates some great potential for political turmoil in this new future.
- Uhura and Spock. An intriguing combination that adds an new extra dimension to the Kirk-Spock-McCoy manfest of the original series. Should be fun to watch if Kirk keeps trying to hit on her…
- Scotty… all I can say is Simon Pegg FTW!!
Cons:
- There were a few parts of the film that felt forced in there, primarily because they were plot devices to set up something later in the film. First, there was Kirk in bed with the Orion cadet at the Academy. She apparently is Uhura’s roommate, which allows her to foreshadow some info while created some alleged sexual tension between them. Second, was stranding Kirk on the ice planet. Yeah, that’s where he runs into Nimoy and Scotty but it doesn’t smack of proper Starfleet protocol. The monsters that chase Kirk were also just a waste of screen time… could’ve saved a good two minutes off the film by cutting one of them out.
- The scene of the young Kirk with the stolen car was even more annoying in the movie than it was in the trailer. Even a well-placed cameo by Greg Grunberg (who is quickly becoming the Bruce Campbell of JJ’s projects) isn’t enough to save this scene. It doesn’t really establish anything that wasn’t far better represented by the subsequent bar fight scene a few minutes later.
- The villain Nero… well, he sucked. He was honestly one of the most one-dimensional villains I’ve ever seen and I’ve watched every episode of MST3K ever made. His motivation didn’t really play well on the screen and became even flatter once they revealed what his motivation actually was. It was obvious that the goal of the script was to reintroduce the main characters and get them to their accepted roles.
- Chekov. Don’t get me wrong, I like the character; he just really wasn’t needed in this film. They should have waited for the sequel to bring him on board, because Anton Yelchin was just wasted in that role. He was the only one that didn’t get any effective screen time except for a couple of cutesy moments that distracted from the pacing.
- Scotty’s little Ugnaught-looking pal. W… T… F?! Okay, I’ll reserve judgment for a sequel, but that is treading dangerously close to Ewok territory and I won’t have it!
Favorite Moments:
- I’ll just say… Kirk, McCoy, an allergic reaction and clownishly large hands.
- Any scene with Scotty in it. Again, Simon Pegg FTW!!
- Sulu’s fight scene and that telescoping sword was very cool.
- The destruction of Vulcan was well done and a great effect to watch.
- The two Spocks talking near the end of the film. A really great moment that made it obvious that the elder Spock was not going to go gentle into that good night. JJ, bring him back for one of the sequels, even if it’s just a cameo! He’s the only character that can connect with the audience when exploring all the differences between the two versions of the story.
Judgment
If you’re a fan of Star Trek… see this movie!
If you’re not… see this movie!!
Is it perfect? Heck, no, but most Trek movies had something wrong with them. Most movies in general do. But this is a solid jump-start to an aging series that should give it juice for years to come as long as JJ keeps the creative reins.
Check out the Store for an opportunity to purchase other movies & TV shows featuring the cast of this film!
Tags: 2009, movie, Star Trek
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May 31st, 2009
Okay, I just wanted to at least get something on this site before I post the first review.
Welcome to Random Reviews! Here I’ll be posting my thoughts and critiques on various things I see or experience, usually movies but if other things start to catch my fancy I’ll add them as well.
The first review is coming soon so stay tuned!!
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