The Cruise

I had discovered the documentary The Cruise from watching a clip on Rotten Tomatoes that was Edward Nortons 5 favorite films of all time. The Cruise happened to be his favorite film of all time so with Norton being one of my favorite actors of all time, I immediately started searching for it and low and behold it was on the glorious Netflix instant view.

The Cruise is a 1998 documentary that follows Timothy "Speed" Levitch, a tour guide for New York City's double-decker Gray Line busses. This guy knows just about everything there is to know about NYC. He talks a mile a minute, he's flamboyant, he says what he wants, and he means what he says. He knows about the true history of the city as well as the architecture. I'm not sure if he went to school for architecture or not, I'm pretty sure he didn't, but he probably knows more about it than someone that did.

We come to find out that he only makes a few hundred dollars a week but gets a real joy out of teaching people about the city and making them happy. He certainly doesn't agree with current society and strives to be different and to not live in the shoes of someone who wants to follow all the rules and be a "sucker to society" so to say. I must admit he makes some really valid points on what is expected of humans in this world and how if we don't follow these paths of being "successful" that we're immediately shit on as outcasts. Yes he babbles on and on during the film but it really all makes sense and it's entertaining as hell to watch him strut around the city in his polka dotted jacket and his crazy hair flying all around.

There is a scene in this film where Timothy stands in between the Two Towers and spins around and around to make himself dizzy and then lays on the ground looking up. He stated earlier in the film that this was his favorite thing to do as it appears as though the Two Towers are crashing down upon you. This scene is absolutely beautiful and almost brought a tear to my eye. Timothy "Speed" Levitch may seem like a crazy person at first glance but he's really a beautiful human being with an extraordinary outlook on life and all it's beauty that so many people in this world pass by every day without even noticing. The Cruise gets a 4 and 1/2 outa 5.

Fido

I've been meaning to see Fido for quite some time now. I remember always passing it at the Blockbuster in LA at Labrea and Wilshire but never ever renting it. Anyways I had some time last night to sit down and watch it on Netflix instant which is streaming it in HD by the way, so if you have that, check it out.

Fido takes place in the 1950's in a small quiet suburb town that's fenced in from the outside world where zombies run loose in the wild. The zombies that are in the suburb have special electric collars around their necks to keep them under control like pets. People use their own personal zombies to mow their lawns, deliver milk, and to wave at people as they enter the town. When the Robinson's realize they're the only family on the block without one, Mrs. Robinson quickly acquires one and her young son Timmy soon forms a special bond with the zombie and gives him the name Fido.

After Fido saves Timmy from a couple of bullies he gets attacked by an old lady who happens to accidentally break Fido's collar causing him to kill her. Timmy then has to protect Fido form getting sent away back to the "other side" of the fence.

The film has a really great look to it with bright colors and a great 50's feel. Like how all the wives kind of act like robots in the 50's. It's got a look and feel of Edward Scissorhands, Pleasantville, and Dawn of the Dead all mixed as one. It's a very original script and story idea too that offers family fun, emotion, comedy, and gore. The entire cast was great. Carrie-Anne Moss as Mrs. Robinson, Tim Blake Nelson as Mr. Theopolis the neighbor, and of course Billy Connolly as Fido. They were all flawless. Carrie-Anne Moss looks absolutely stunning in this film and delivers some of her best acting ever. Just watching her prance around as this 50's house wife....it's amazing. I'm not sure what the budget was on this film but it looked fantastic and I'll be buying this on blu-ray when I get a chance. Go and rent or buy this film asap. I give Fido a 4 outa 5.

Date Night

So I saw Date Night opening night last Friday in downtown Charlottesville at the theater I worked at for a day, so of course I had to sneak around all the employees Mission Impossible style which is always fun. Anyways we got there a little late and got stuck in the second row but it actually didn't turn out to be that bad of a seat other than the super drunk guy next to us was burping and laughing like a drunky.

Date Night is about a couple who steals the reservation of another no-show couple at a nice restaurant and soon gets themselves involved in a serious scandal as they get chased around NYC by crooked cops who are trying to kill them. Steve Carrel and Tina Fey play the Fosters, a couple who aren't exactly questioning the legitimacy of their marriage but they're definitely missing something and there's a bit of tension. In an attempt to change things up a bit they decide to head to the city for their weekly date night and eat at a nice restaurant instead of the normal. This is where things go awry and the action starts.

The film has a strange feel throughout as it's really a mixture of drama, comedy, and action and you're not really sure what feeling to expect next. Sometimes it goes from an intense chase scene to them arguing and an awkward silence fills the theater, but it works for the most part. The comedy is definitely more toned down than that of lets say The Hangover or Superbad, but that's how Tina Fey's last film Baby Mama was too. Fey doesn't go out of her way to deliver comedy or to be noticed which is good, she just kind of has it and it's more realistic in a sense. Carrel is also more toned down in this. I'm not saying there aren't scenes that are dirty and funny, there are. Especially a hilarious scene where Fey and Carrel have to strip in front of a man at strip club. There aren't too many over the top crazy action scenes either with the exception of a really cool and funny car chase scene with J.B. Smoove from Curb Your Enthusiasm. But having everything toned down like that gives the film a more realistic feeling and I think that's what director Shawn Levy was going for.

The performances were good and there are some cameo's by James Franco, Mila Kunis, Mark Wahlberg, and Mark Ruffalo that were pretty decent. It shows them in the trailer so I'm not giving anything away here. There's really just no such thing as a surprise cameo these days and it sucks. Wahlberg doesn't do too much in his scenes other than walk around without a shirt on but he does bring some really funny stuff out of Carrel's character during those scenes. Tina Fey is on a role so far with feature films and although I liked Baby Mama a bit better than this, I'll still be looking forward to her next for sure. I give Date Night a 3 and a 1/2 outa 5.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is Terry Gilliam's latest concoction of fantasy storytelling. Gilliam kind of took a break for a few years after his last film Tideland got pretty poor reviews. I actually happened to like Tideland for what it was and I thought it was a daring move by Jeff Bridges to take on such a dark role of a heroin addict like that. But with Dr. Parnassus, Gilliam is pretty much back in top form with his signature dark and twisted family fun fantasy film much like he was with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, my favorite Gilliam film as well as my favorite fantasy film of all time. But this film is also unique in a way that it just so happens to be the great Health Ledgers final role before his tragic and untimely death.

The film centers around an old fashioned traveling theater that gets pulled around from town to town by horse. Led by the elderly Doctor Parnassus, brilliantly played by Christopher Plummer, the theater offers it's customers much more than they bargained for once they enter through the backstage area. When the traveling theater of four stumbles upon a man named Tony, played by Ledger, hanging by the neck from a bridge, things get even more weird as Tony starts to enter the imaginarium world with the customers.

The unfortunate passing of Ledger led to Gilliam having to shoot the scenes where Tony is in the imaginarium world with three other actors playing him instead of Ledger, and it actually works giving the film yet another unique Gilliam vision. The other three "imaginarium Tony's" are played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell thus creating a freaking all star cast. But I'll give you fair warning that Depp has maybe five to ten minutes of screen time at most, Law scraping in maybe five more minutes than that, and Farrell with the longest at maybe twenty minutes. Farrell actually has the best performance out of the three of them and has a really cool story line too. His section of the film which comes towards the end is definitely my favorite. I must admit that Farrell has been growing on me more and more over the years as I really hated the guy when he first entered the scene, but he really seems to have his shit together now and is choosing his roles more wisely.

The film is visually stunning as are all of Gilliam's films but the script and storyline get a tad confusing here and there and I was led off track a few times. Health Ledger and Christopher Plummer both turn in great performances and it was sad watching Heath knowing that it was the last time we'll see him in something new. It was actually a bit eery in some scenes where I saw the character of The Joker still in him mix in with his Tony character, keep an eye out for that. I didn't want to turn this into a Heath Ledger tribute, I'll save that for another day when I can dedicate my true time to the man, but I will definitely miss him as an actor. At least he left us with many great memorable films to remember him by. As for Terry Gilliam....keep'em coming man. I'm excited for this blu-ray as I'm sure it will look spectacular. The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus gets a 3 and a 1/2 outa 5.

Greenberg

The only film that I've seen that Noah Baumbach has directed is The Squid and the Whale and I thought is was brilliant. I remember calling my Mom right after I saw it and begged her to go see it. It was so good and so original, even though it uses some very famous music in it like Pink Floyd, it's executed very well. For some reason I skipped his next film Margo at the Wedding and waited for Greenberg. I don't know. There was something about Margo at the Wedding that just didn't appeal to me at the time. But after seeing what Baumbach did with Greenberg I'm very excited to go back and watch Margo.

Greenberg is about Roger Greenberg, played by Ben Stiller, who moves back to Los Angeles from New York City for a month to house sit for his brother who's on vacation in Vietnam with his wife and kids. While there he strikes up a weird and extremely awkward relationship with his brothers assistant/nanny Florence, played by Greta Gerwig. We quickly come to find out that Roger is an ex-musician who could have possibly made it big time if it weren't for a rash decision on his part to refuse a record deal. Now he's a carpenter who just want's to do a whole lot of nothing for a while, as he puts it. While in L.A. he comes into contact with a few few old friends, some of which were in his band and are still quite upset about his decision. But the majority of the film focuses on Greenberg and how much he simply just....hates everything.

The film is a good mixture of drama and dark comedy. There are some really funny moments though including a scene at a restaurant during Rogers birthday dinner, a last minute pool party Roger decides to throw, and an unexpected visit from his teenage niece who throws a massive party at the house. This was actually my favorite scene in the entire film and shows that Ben Stiller has acting abilities that no one has ever seen before as the party starts with him doing coke for the first time in years (hilarious scene), and ends with an intense argument with his best friend in the backyard.

Greenberg may seem to drag here and there but overall I was very much entertained by simply just watching the character of Roger Greenberg being played out by Stiller. He's kind of a more angry version of Larry David, and more of an ahole. With that, I will end this review with my favorite quote from the film by Roger Greenberg, "Some people say that youth is wasted on the young, I say that life is wasted on people". Greenberg gets a 4 outa 5.

The Edge of Darkness

The trailers for The Edge of Darkness had me sold on the film for three reasons only. One, it was Mel Gibsons first major starring role since Signs and he was kicking all sorts of ass in it, second, it was directed by Martin Campbell who helmed Casino Royale which demonstrated that he's certainly no stranger to action, and third, Gibsons character says the line "You're either hangin from the cross, or bangin in the nails" as he's bustin some poor dude up against the wall. Yes, those three things had me sold on this film before I even saw it. But in the end....sadly I had been misguided.

The film centers around Detective Thomas Craven investigating the death of his activist daughter. Everyone else on the force thinks that Craven was the real target for the killer, but Craven knows it was for his daughter and what he unravels is a large cooperate cover-up. He soon finds himself being chased around the city of Boston as well as doing some chasing himself. The story is way over the top and feels very unrealistic. The ending is one of the cheesiest anti-climatic endings I've seen in a while and I was not expecting this from Campbell nor Gibson. The film is honestly kind of boring as well with all the action scenes in the trailer.

With that being said it was still good to see Gibson on the big screen again and although his Boston accent was nowhere near as good as Dicaprio's in The Departed, I mostly blame director Campbell for this failed Boston cop story. I never saw the show that this is based on, also bearing the same name and created by Campbell that aired in 1985, but I heard that that is the one to watch and saw that it got great reviews. Still like I said, it's great to have Mel back as an actor on the big screen, that's for damn sure, and I'll be looking forward to his next project The Beaver which looks damn entertaining. The Edge of Darkness gets a 2 and a 1/2 outa 5.

Hot Tub Time Machine

I'll start by saying that Hot Tub Time Machine is a balls to the wall, all out, hard R-rated comedy that doesn't hold back for a second. It's an ode to classic 80's and time travel films with a fantastic 80's soundtrack that will make you feel like you're....well....partying in the 80's.

The film stars John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, and the man who stole the entire film, Rob Corddry. It's directed by Steve Pink, who also wrote the films Gross Point Blank and High Fidelity which also star John Cusack, so he knows how to work with the man and it certainly shows in this film as we see Cusacks charm flow off screen and mesmerize the audience in virtually every scene he's in. He's got one of the best voices in Hollywood, and he's one hell of a cool dude.

The film centers around the four friends retreating to a hotel at a ski mountain that they all stayed at one time during the 80's together and all experienced life changing events during that time. This time around they're trying to help out their best friend who, the night before, ended himself in the hospital from an alcohol and car exhaust overdose (an absolutely hilarious scene to start the film). Once arriving at the hotel they immediately start partying it up in the room and reminiscing a bit on the last time they were there, in the 80's. Pretty soon the hot tub starts working, they all get naked (yes four straight guys), jump in, party like maniacs, and soon get transported to the same day in the 80's when they last stayed at the hotel. From then on they have to try and play everything out exactly how it happened then, or else the hot tub time machine (god I love writing that) will not work correctly and they wont make it....back to the future. But they learn that it's not that easy and the temptations arise and hilarity ensues for the remainder of the film.

There are some hilarious cameos in the film including Chevy Chase, Crispin Glover (from Back to the Future), and William Zabka, who played Johnny from The Karate Kid. This is a party film by all means, so when you go see this in theaters or you wait to dvd or blu-ray for some dumb reason, be ready to party. Hot Tub Time Machine gets a 4 outa 5.