Hello everyone and welcome to the weekend!  The reason why I’m over a day late with the reviews is because only one of them was screened for me (EXTRACT).  For some reason I was kept out of the loop for the ALL ABOUT STEVE screening and wasn’t important enough to get a MY ONE AND ONLY screener.  And GAMER and CARRIERS weren’t screened at all for critics.  So yesterday I saw five movies in a row.  First I saw a press screening of BRIGHT STAR (more on that in a couple weeks), and then ALL ABOUT STEVE, GAMER, MY ONE AND ONLY and CARRIERS (which I didn’t even know opened in MN until an hour before I saw it)  So I’m a little exhausted but will do my best to review.  Let’s get started!!!

GAMER

is the third film from Directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.  They were responsible for the CRANK movies.  I thought the first one was okay, but the second one is a chaotic masterpiece.  Technically, this is their second film cause this was shot before CRANK 2.  Not quite sure what the delay was all about.  Going into GAMER, I was hoping for an outlandish guilty pleasure.  Unfortunately, it fell way short.  It’s a mess of a film mainly because the “CRANK”-style of filmmaking didn’t really fit with the material because for the most part, the movie is played straight.  It’s a real shame cause the premise sounds ridiculously fun.  It’s the future, and millions of people play a game called Slayers, where the player of a game controls an actual real person as the object of the game is to kill as many people as possible, I think.  Don’t worry, everyone in the game is a death row inmate, and if they make it through 30 sessions, they’re set free.  Kable (Gerard Butler) is the number one hero who’s controlled by 17 year old Simon.  The game is televised in a RUNNING MAN-like fashion, but without Richard Dawson.  Of course Kable isn’t really a criminal, he’s innocent and just wants to return to his wife and kid.  Michael C. Hall plays Castle, the creator of Slayers who really knows Kable and has a checkered past with him.  With the help of Simon and some underground rebels, Kable must escape the game and find his family.  What could have been an over-the-top good time becomes a big giant headache of a movie.  The first 5 minutes, when we are introduced to the game, which is a series of great action sequences, but unfortunately they are filmed with such sloppiness that we can never tell what’s happening.  Everything is handheld, which is fine when executed properly (the Bourne movies), but this is so shaky that I couldn’t tell you if the camera was sideways, upside down or upright.  Most of the action scenes are like this.  It became frustrating very quickly.  They also do this thing during the action when the screen becomes static (like a glitch on a computer screen) every so often, and it sucks!  It makes no sense why they would throw that in.  With the CRANK movies, I felt the chaotic approach fit the insanely idiotic story.  They were more like comedies than an action film.  But this is played more seriously, so the A.D.D filmmaking approach is more irritating than anything.  In fact, 10 minutes in I was thinking to myself that someone needed to give Neveldine/Taylor a couple of Xanax.  The acting isn’t much better.  Gerard Butler is fine, but he doesn’t have a whole lot to do besides grunt alot.  He’s just kind of there.  Logan Lerman is alright as Simon.  Actors like Alison Lohman (looking super hot with dreadlocks), John Leguizamo and Zoe Bell(blink and you’ll miss her) are completely wasted.  Speaking of being wasted, one of the best actors working today continues to have his talents reduced to limited screen time, and that’s Keith David.  I love this guy and his scene in this (he plays a cop, of course) is pretty darn good.  I love his line delivery.  Hollywood needs to get off there ass and cast him in a leading role.  In fact, I’m currently writing a western with him in mind.  Anyway, back to GAMER.  The worst performance in this comes from Michael C. Hall.  Now I don’t watch cable so I haven’t seen Dexter, but he’s freakin’ awful in this.  He’s the villain with a southern accent that comes and goes.  It’s a horrible character and a Raspberry Award worthy performance.  It’s not a complete bust.  There’s a few cool images once in awhile during some of the action scenes.  Terry Crews is laughably amusing as a rival player.  Milo Ventimiglia gives the film’s strangest performance that I hope was intentionally bad.  And during the climax there is a musical number/fight sequence that I got a kick out of.   But otherwise it’s a huge mess of a film.  Do yourself a favor and wait for CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE to come out in a week or two on DVD.  Much better.

ALL ABOUT STEVE

is the latest from Sandra Bullock.  She plays Mary, an eccentric woman who creates crossword puzzles for the Sacramento newspaper.  What makes her so unique is the way she spouts off encyclopedic knowledge about the most trivial things, which alienates her from most people which is why she still lives with her parents, doesn’t have a boyfriend, and doesn’t seem to have any friends.  When she’s set up on a blind date with Steve (played by the HANGOVER’S hot hunk Bradley Cooper), she is so desperate for affection that she literally jumps on him in his car before they even leave her place.  This freaks Steve out and he bails on her, telling her a lame excuse about how he has to go to Boston to cover some news (he’s a cameraman for a lousy newsman played by Thomas Haden Church) and tells her he wishes that she could go with.  Well, Mary takes him seriously and she ends up stalking him around the country as he goes from assignment to assignment.  He just can’t get rid of Mary.  This kind of premise is touchy, cause it’s that kind of humor that comes from awkwardness.  It’s kind of sad and a little dark.  It needs to be handled just the right way, and quite frankly director Phil Traill falls flat on his face.  The material is very exaggerated that it calls for the direction to be overstylized, but Traill films it like a standard sitcom.  The result is rather stale.  Bullock’s performance comes across too much like a cartoon character than a real person.  Now if it was shot by a director like, let’s say… Danny DeVito (who’s DEATH TO SMOOCHY was an underrated dark treat), the style of the movie would have matched Bullock’s crazy Mary.  But it just doesn’t work here.  She’s not very good.  Bradley Cooper fares better as Steve.  I’m really starting to like him.  I find him extremely likable, but he doesn’t have a whole lot to do here other than react to the zany antics of Mary.  Thomas Haden Church is doing his thing for better or worse.  I guess his performance fits the character of an egotistical newsman.  Ken Jeong who has been all over the comedy scene the past year playing supporting roles and he’s fine too.  Again, this is the second movie this weekend to waste the fabulous talents of Keith David.  He plays the head of the Television studio. His line delivery is brilliant, but he’s given nothing to do.  The writing is kind of dark for the first two-thirds, but then it tries to turn into a feel good message movie in the last act, and the attempt is embarrassing.  I felt that it contradicted what came before, which made the movie even less believable to me.  I do think Bullock is talented but she continues to choose material that is far below her.  I think I’ve only liked 3 movies that she’s appeared in: DEMOLITION MAN, SPEED and THE LAKE HOUSE (yeah, I know… shut it!).  She’s usually good, just not the movie.  Except she wasn’t even really good in this one.  What hurt this movie the most was a random appearance by Charlyne Yi from PAPER HEART.  She has such an awkward sense of timing that she would have made a better Mary.  After her 5 second appearance as an extra, I just wanted to watch PAPER HEART again, which is one of my favorites of the year so far.  And what was up with that tornado scene that didn’t have anything to do with the plot?  That was kind of a waste of visual effects, just like the movie was a waste of time.

Next up we have Mike Judge’s third film EXTRACT.

His first movie is something of a cult phenomenon, OFFICE SPACE.  It was a box office bomb but managed to rise out of it’s own ashes to become the biggest cult hit in the past decade.  I don’t think it’s quite as good as it’s reputation, but I did enjoy it.  I should probably watch it again since I haven’t seen it in 10 years.  However, I liked his second film, IDIOCRACY even more and feel that it’s a shame that it’s not as big as his first film.  His latest film stars Jason Bateman as Joel, the owner of an Extract plant who is having a slight mid-life crisis.  His marriage with Suzie (Kristen Wiig) has grown stale and he wants some spice in his life.  His bartender best buddy Dean (a hilarious Ben Affleck) tries to help him out by telling him to hire a gigolo (Dustin Milligan) to sleep with his wife so that he doesn’t feel guilty sleeping with his new hot young employee Cindy (Mila Kunis).  But Cindy is actually a con artist who is trying to convince one of Joel’s employee’s to sue the company for a million dollars after losing a testicle during a freak accident.  This movie is pure Mike Judge.  Is it as good as his other two? Not quite.  But it’s not bad at all, in fact it’s mildly enjoyable throughout.  The reason I say “mildly” is because I don’t think I laughed hard very often, but I chuckled alot.  And when I wasn’t chuckling, I was smiling.  It’s nice to see Bateman in a lead role after doing a buttload of supporting work over the past two years.  He’s a terrific protagonist.  Ben Affleck steals the movie as Joel’s pot smoking, Xanax popping best friend.  His philosophies are amusing.  In fact, the supporting cast, as always in a Mike Judge film, is the reason to see this.  J.K. Simmons is awesome as Joel’s co-owner. David Koechner (who I’m not usually a fan of) is priceless as the annoying next neighbor from hell.  His timing is perfect.  Dustin Milligan is also hilarious as the dimwitted gigolo.  Kristen Wiig dials it back, giving a subtle performance as Joel’s wife.  Mila Kunis is okay as Cindy, but I’m not the biggest fan of hers.  Clifton Collins Jr. may have overdone it a bit as the employee with one testicle.  Gene Simmons from KISS has some fun as a sleazy lawyer.  But I was excited to see my favorite overactor, Matt Schulze (FAST AND THE FURIOUS, TRANSPORTER, BLADE II), as Dean’s pot dealing friend.  I love how he enforces his bong onto Joel.  The movie is far from perfect.  After about an hour I realized that it really wasn’t adding up to a whole lot.  The conclusion is very low key and will probably turn off alot of people.  After it was over I felt a bit empty.  But still, I find myself wanting to watch it again.  It’s a small, mild comedy that’s worth a trip to the theater I think.  Not the comedy of the year, but a decent movie with several chuckles in it.  Mike Judge fans will probably want to seek it out, just don’t expect an OFFICE SPACE.

The next movie kind of came out of nowhere.  CARRIERS

opened in only a few markets.  I believe it’s in about ten theaters in Minnesota, but it didn’t even go to L.A or New York.  And that’s a shame cause this is the best new movie in theaters this weekend!!!  I don’t want to say too much about it cause I really knew nothing about it going into it.  Let’s see… the movie opens with four friends in a car (including Chris Pine and Lou Taylor Pucci as brothers, and Piper Perabo & Emily VanCamp as their girlfriends) playing charades.  But when they encounter a broken down car in the middle of the interstate with a man (Christopher Meloni) standing in front of it, they put on surgical masks and roll up their windows.  You see, the world has been overcome with some kind of disease, almost like a plague.  The survivors just wander the countryside looking for food and fuel to last as long as they can.  Once in awhile they hear rumors about a cure, but mostly it’s hopeless.  Anyway, the man in the middle of the road has a daughter who is infected with the virus.  Reluctantly, the group of young adults pick them up and head to a school in a small town where doctors are trying to find a cure.  That’s about all I’m going to say about the plot.  After I saw the movie, I watched a trailer and looked at the posters.  This is being marketed as a horror film.  It’s not at all.  What easily could have turned into zombie movie (which thankfully doesn’t happen) becomes a tale about ordinary people dealing with this tragic situation.  It also could have easily turned into an action thriller, but it doesn’t.  This is an uncompromising, bleak, bleak movie about the possible end of civilization.  And it doesn’t pull any punches.  Now, it’s only PG13, so it doesn’t rely on exploitive fare like sex, foul language or excessive gore.  Instead, it relies on smart writing and unnerving suspense.  You never quite know what’s going to happen as they travel from small town to town.  The acting all around is very good.  Up to this point, I haven’t quite been sold on Chris Pine yet.  I only thought he was okay in the decent but overrated STAR TREK, and hated him in BOTTLE SHOCK.  But here he’s terrific.  He’s arrogant and kind of a prick but we find out why he’s like that.  Towards the climax he gets to demonstrate what he’s really capable of, and it’s a wonderful character arc.  Piper Perabo is very good as his girlfriend.  Lou Taylor Pucci, who I haven’t liked in a movie yet, is excellent as Pine’s younger brother.  Emily VanCamp probably gives the most chilling portrayal as a young woman who must turn off all of her feelings in order to survive.  She looks alot like actress Leelee Sobieski, but unlike her, VanCamp can actually act.  Meloni turns in some heartbreaking work as a man trying to save his daughter.  This stuff really hit home for me since I’m a father of a six year old girl.  The writer and directors of this are two brothers from Spain, Alex and David Pastor.  They’re only 31 and 28, but they have a self-assured confidence in their direction.  Everything is well shot.  One of my favorite images is during an emotional scene with Perabo and Pine in a bathroom and it switches between two shots of each of them in the mirror while they other is out of focus.  It’s a simple premise that’s pretty well written.  My only minor critique would be that it’s a little episodic at times as they encounter different people throughout.  But at 84 minutes, it’s a sharp, swift and unrelenting movie.  I think it’s only going to be out for a week, so please… GO SEE THIS RIGHT NOW!!!  It’s surprisingly fantastic.  It’s too bad it wasn’t screened for critics cause it’s one of the best out there right now.  A movie it reminded me of was THE TRIGGER EFFECT, which also was about people dealing with an unusual situation (a countrywide blackout).  It’s a shame that Paramount buried this movie.  When I see big studio movies like GAMER, ALL ABOUT STEVE and THE FINAL DESTINATION being released on over 2000 screens, and then a small gem like CARRIERS comes out on 100 screens, it makes me furious.  I don’t think Paramount knew just how good of a movie they had on there hands here.  So, just to make it clear.  Go see this, and fast!!!

MY ONE AND ONLY

is the latest from Richard Loncraine.  He made the fantastic RICHARD III.  I never saw WIMBLEDON, but I was disappointed in FIREWALL.  This one is a coming of age story that takes place in the 1950’, based on a true story.  It’s about a young George Hamilton (Logan Lerman, also in this week’s GAMER).  His mother Anne (Rene Zellweger) decides to leave her husband Dan (Kevin Bacon), take her two kids George and Robbie, and roam the countryside searching for a new husband to take care of her, since she won’t ever work cause it’s too far below her.  That’s about it.  It’s a pretty episodic movie as they travel to various cities meeting possible new suitors.  Each one worse than the last.  It’s a nice little movie about a family that must come together.  Zellweger turns in her most inspired performance in a while.  She’s not aging too well, but it works with her character here.  Logan Lerman, who looks alot like Zach Efron, is perfect as young George trying to cope with bouncing from city to city.  Mark Rendall might be a bit much as George’s homosexual brother.  Kevin Bacon gives a cornbread (that’s a good thing) performance as George’s promiscuous father.  The supporting cast is full of recognizable character actors.  Chris Noth was probably my favorite as a strict military man trying to marry Anne.  We also get strong work from David Koechner, Eric McCormack, Nick Stahl, Steven Weber and Troy Garity.  I really liked Molly C. Quinn as George’s not-quite-innocent neighbor.  Can’t believe she’s only 15!!!  Robin Weigert does the best job in the movie as Anne’s passive aggressive sister.  The movie has a beautiful golden look, totally romanticizing the time period.  The script is pretty cliched, but filled with occasional bits of clever humor: like having George saying that “California has too much sun”, which we all know now that his skin is like shoe leather.  It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s a nice little movie to sit through.  Worth a look!

And now a recap of everything that came out this weekend:
(I rate on a four star basis)
GAMER [R] – **
ALL ABOUT STEVE [PG -13] – *1/2
EXTRACT [R] – ***
CARRIERS [PG -13] – ***1/2
MY ONE AND ONLY [PG -13] – ***

Obviously the one to see this weekend is CARRIERS.  And after you see that, check out EXTRACT and MY ONE AND ONLY.  GAMER was a missed opportunity into becoming a guilty pleasure, and ALL ABOUT STEVE was a poorly executed black comedy.

That’s it for now!!!

Be geeky and watch movies!!!

Tags: All About Steve, awesomeness, Carriers, Extract, Gamer, Mike Judge, My One and Only, Office Space

This post was written by Austin Kennedy, Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Musings, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.