As a rule I loathe films with Jack Black. I know the man has his fans, I ain’t one of em’. If I want to see an out of shape, unwashed guy act kooky I’ll ask my brother-in-law about politics. I don't think there is a film with Jack Black that I have enjoyed, until now.

Along with my rule about films with Jack Black, I have another regarding non-Pixar animated movies – in short, they stink. Pixar revolutionized big budget animated movies and have established the measure for the genre. Animated movies now fit into two categories, 1) Pixar movies forgettable animated crap. This is the first animated film (except Wallace & Gromit) made in the last twenty that has made it into the first group from the second. The story centers around a bumbling Chinese panda named Po. Po dreams of fighting alongside his heroes Furious Five -- Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey. Predictably enough, he gets his chance when he is accidentally chosen to join their ranks and do battle with the villainous snow leopard Tai Lung. The plot isn’t brilliant; actually it is rather paint-by-the-numbers. The film works because of the clever dialog and animation. The script by former King of the Hill writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger is lighthearted yet smart. The cast, which includes Black along with Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Ian McShane and Seth Rogen is given plenty of space to perform and they each deliver. I have to admit that even Jack Black gives an impressive performance as Po. As much as I hate to admit it, he was the best choice for the role.

A majority of animated films, despite that they are made to be viewed by small children, are loaded down with sexual innuendos, political agendas and scatological jokes. This film avoids those traps and delivers a solid, family friendly film worthy of your consideration.




Related Reviews:
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Robots (2005)
The Incredibles (2004)


Other Critic’s Reviews:
Film Freak Central Review
FilmGeekz

Labels: Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, film, Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, movie review, Seth Rogen

I was surprised by how tedious this movie turned out to be. Timur Bekmambetov’s (Nochnoy dozor”Nightwatch”) big Hollywood crossover is just a bunch of firecrackers tossed into a blast of hot air. There some empty flashes along with a whole load of empty dialog. James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland) stars as Wesley Gibson, an awkward office pack mule who believes he lives a meaningless life. His father abandoned him, his girlfriend hates him and his boss is abusive. Screenwriters Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Chris Morgan go out of their way to drill the point home that the average person is a miserable cog. Wesley only finds an escape from his commoner fate when he is approached by Fox (the frightening skinny Angelia Jolie). Fox reveals to Wesley that his father was a great assassin and that he is the heir to his legacy. From this point forward the script jumps from one moment of peril to the next until the final credits. Wesley joins a league of assassins, gets trained and then tracks down the man who killed his father. There’s supposed to be a big surprise during the mid-point reversal but this reveal is only shocking if you’re a complete dimwit. Bekmambetov forecasts his intentions clearly throughout the film removing any tension and makes the film rather plodding.

The performances are stock. McAvoy, Jolie and Morgan Freeman (as the wise old man Sloan) are all passable but not remarkable in their roles. This seems to be mostly because the script doesn’t ask too much from them. The emotional range of the film is limited and the actors spend most of their time trying to look cool instead of making a connection with the audience. Much of the film reminded me of Jolie’s previous Tomb Raider movies. This, like the Tomb Raider movies, is nothing more than content-free film making. The point of the film is a chain of action sequences, the characters are developed enough to keep them from being notably thin and the ultimate point is lost in illogical double talk. The summation provided at the final moments of the film contradicts the lesson learned in the final act as Wesley effectively adopts the philosophy of the villain. To be fair, it doesn’t really matter one way or the other because the philosophies forwarded by the script are so muddled that they are little more than slogans. He basically goes for “taste good” over “less filling”.

If you’re looking for a senseless action film you will find there’s more senselessness than action in this film. There are some action sequences that are designed to be spectacular but they are empty of tension. This leads the film to be jammed with action without purpose – the cinematic equivalent of empty calories.




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Evan Almighty (2007)


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Labels: Angelina Jolie, film, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, movie review, Timur Bekmambetov

The cast looks good. Eastwood knows how to make a dang good movie. Jolie can act. I feel like I should be more enthused than I am.

I kept expecting Bud White to show up and kick somebody's butt.




Screenwriter: J. Michael Straczynski
Director: Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby)
Actors: Angelina Jolie (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons), Jeffrey Donovan (Hitch) and Michael Kelly (Invincible)

Labels: Angelina Jolie, Clint Eastwood, film, movie trailer

Despite the incredible advances in computer animation films like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Polar Express and this one have one huge problem:

Every one has cold dead eyes.

Actually, this film takes it one step further and has the piece cast with completely soulless characters. Robert Zemeckis had a similar issue with Polar Express, he seems to concentrate so strongly on the animation and making sure the movie is visually dazzling that the story goes flat. Even though this is based on the classic poem, this adaptation is missing any depth, tension or purpose. It is a series of scenes that are as inorganic as the characters that populate them. At the least this film should have been a visual treat, but it fails on that front as well. The animation is stiff, really failing when confronted with replicating any physics. Every time someone jumps or moves too quickly they get clunky. This stilted movement distracts from the action.

This may seem like a good idea, but the execution is a failure. This film shows that some great works simply are not capable of being adapted.


Related Reviews:
Beowulf and Grendel (2005)


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Film School Rejects
The Japan Times

Labels: adaptation, Angelina Jolie, film, movie review

Short Review: Go find the trailer of the film and play it over and over for two hours. Essentially, this is what the director has done.


The movie is almost exactly one-half good, one-half bad. The meat (or should I say beefcake) of the movie is Pothead Brad Pitt and Angelina “No, I’m not crazy, trust me, I’m sane now, honest!” Jolie as an unhappily married couple who are actually fantastic international spies who end up having to kill one another…or something like that, Jolie kept distracting me and I lost a couple of the plot points. Once the two join forces and they blow up their home the film is actually over. Unfortunately, moderately talented director Doug Liman (the man responsible for having the world pretend the puggish Matt Damon is a tough guy in the sleepy Bourne movies) is too limited to understand this wholly obvious point. The film drags on for another hour after this point.

Here’s a clue for Hollywood directors and writers, have a bad guy. Have a breathing, talking, visible bad guy. In this film, Pothead Brad and Human Lipgloss Ad Angelina are the good and bad guys and their respective agencies are their backdrops. Once the two come together the central conflict and the reason for watching the film evaporates. They are left battling faceless minions of an unknown evil for the remainder of the film. This is why the film goes from a mindless but enjoyable Hollywood flick to brainless and horrid shoot-em up.

The first half of the film is very tongue-in-cheek and well written for having the depth of a Bally’s Ad. This part of the movie is pure fluff but relatively harmless in its own little post-modern way. Pothead Brad Pitt is a charismatic actor and Angelina’s surgeons and make-up artists should be proud. Brad offers some endearing quirky moments and Angelina provides her “turn my head to the left and look out of the corner of eyes at the camera while offering a come hither look” look. Perpetual second-banana Vince Vaughn injects his unique brand of buddy character acting that makes me wonder which beer commercial he’s escaped from. Overall, this is just a plain ol’ stupid Hollywood movie, but a passable one.

The second half is a cartoon based on the first half of the film. Pothead and Lipgloss spend their time being chased by their former compatriots in tedious battles. In the final big battle the two models shoot roughly 6,893,886 ½ bad guys while not messing up their hair. This portion is so mindless and slapped together, Pothead is stabbed in the leg by Lipgloss and he doesn’t even yelp. He pulls the offending knife from his thigh and continues to slaughter bad guys. To make things worse for those of us who can’t help but pay attention, Pothead keeps forgetting to limp for the rest of the film.

Here is my advice, watch until their house gets blown up. That is the movie. The rest is just filler.


Related Reviews:
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Meet Joe Black (1996)
Troy (2004)
Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow (2004)


Other Critic's Reviews:
FilmCritic.com
Movie Gazette

Labels: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, film, movie review, spy, Vince Vaughn

I've always felt Dreamworks Animation has the sense of trying too hard. I consider them to be a poor man's Pixar. Where Pixar focuses on sharp stories and clever writing (The Incredibles, Finding Nemo), Dreamworks tries to match up by pulling out extensive cast lists and petty pop-cultural references (Over the Hedge, Shark Tale). Of course, you can have as many brand name actors as you want, but if your writing stinks so will your movie.

Hopefully, this outing will be different than what we've seen before...I see they've already pulled out the extensive cast list...

Labels: Angelina Jolie, animated, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen

Labels: Angelina Jolie, Common, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, movie trailer, Timur Bekmambetov

Labels: Angelina Jolie, Common, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, movie trailer, Timur Bekmambetov