BOUNTY KILLER (2013) ** RENTAL ***

BOUNTY KILLER (2013)

A post-apocalyptic action comedy with sexy bounty hunters.  Directed by Henry Saine.  Stars Matthew Marsden and Christian Pitre with appearances by Kristanna Loken, Beverly D'Angelo, Eve,  Alexa Vega and Gary Busey.

The story: After corporate greed has left the world a giant wasteland, white collar crimes get a death penalty.  Bounty Killers are the people who go after them and are celebrities with fans.  The story follows Drifter (Matthew Marsden) and Mary Death (Christian Pitre) as a bounty is placed on Drifter and they team up (after she goes after him for the bounty) have to evade killers and gypsies to track down the council to find out what is going on.

Was it good?

It was entertaining for a bit.   The strange mix of desolation and celebrity was interesting, and this is certainly a movie that tries to do a lot more than most low budget films.  The co-star Christian Pitre is beautiful and energetic.  This is a movie that just wants to be a B-movie, almost more homage than
real film.  Where as other movies like DEATH RACE 2000 and MAD MAX used the concept to delve into something more, this is just all superficial fun.  Unfortunately, like most movies that are 70% recycling, the humor isn't funny, the characters are cardboard, the plot doesn't make sense and ultimately the movie feels like a pretty empty thing.

Still, Considering the title and cover, you get the feeling the renters will know what they are getting, and while it doesn't have enough to it to make it a cult classic, it has enough for people who like action, sexy women, and ridiculous sci-fi a watch.

***RENTAL ***

FLYPAPER (2010) (a review)

FLYPAPER (2011) (a review)

A heist movie and a detective movie and a romance all in one. Stars Ashley Judd and Patrick Dempsey.

The story: Tripp (Dempsey) flirts with a cute teller, Kaitlin, who is about to be married (Judd) when two groups enter the bank to rob simultaneously. But then things start to go wrong and now Tripp, who is eccentric and obsessive tries to figure out who really set up the heist and what plan they have for all of them.

Was it good?

In parts. As a heist movie it isn't that interesting or exciting. As a romance, it isn't that convincing. And as a comedy it wasn't very funny. However, there is something charming about it. Between Tripp and Kaitlin's flirting, everything going wrong and Tripp's attempts to figure out what is happening it is constantly entertaining. Unfortunately, a lot of the explainations don't really hold and the movie at times veers off into the silly/unbelievable catagory. In a lot of ways it reminded me of a silly (and not as good) version of the episode "Bad Breaks" on BURN NOTICE. In that episode Michael is trapped inside a bank during a robbery and he has to try to stop the robbers by sabatoging them while pretending to help them. This movie isn't as clever or as funny and some of the twists are obvious and even the ones that aren't just never really surprise you.

Still, for all the ways in which is doesn't succeed, it is consistantly entertaining and almost always charming. I wouldn't recommend it at theater prices, but for a light/fun movie with a little robbery throw in, it's definitely worth a rental.

*** RENTAL ***

ELEKTRA LUXX (2010) (a short review)

ELEKTRA LUXX (2010) (a short review)

Written/directed by Sebastian Gutierez (Gothika). It features an amazing cast with Carla Gugino (Sin City, Spy Kids) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Batman 3, Inception, 500 Days of Summer) and in smaller roles Emma Bell, Julianne Moore, Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage), Malin Akernam (Watchmen, 27 Dresses), Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights, Red Dawn remake), Marley Shelton (Death Proof, Sin City, Scream 4), Josh Brolin (Milk, True Grit, Jonah Hex), Timothy Olyphant (I Am Number Four, Rango, Justified).

The story: a porn star's life is turned upside-down when she finds out she is pregnant.

Was it good?

No. It's one of those slice of life comedies without any real plot. Unfortunately, the bits aren't funny. I like these actors a lot, but watching them trying to make this unfunny, unfocused script work was painful.

*** AVOID ***

ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) (a review) *** RENTAL ***

ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) (a review)

A Brittish horror-comedy from the studio behind SHAUN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ and SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD.

The story: after robbing a young nurse new to their neighborhood, a group of street thugs on the verge of becoming drug dealers realize their block is being attacked by space aliens and struggle to defeat the monsters and save their neighborhood.

Was it good?

Kind of.

Honestly there was a lot I liked. The space aliens as monsters were pretty cool (kind of like the Iz in THE MAXX). There was a lot of comedy and once they start having to deal with the aliens it was all really good. There was just one big problem -- the kids.

The basic arc is that these kids start out as street hoods and then become heroes, but for me nothing they did later made up for who they showed themselves to be early on. These weren't good kids in a bad gang or kids who needed money to pay some bills -- these were kids that were taking pleasure in terrifying other people. Especially with the nurse, not only robbing her but trying to frighten her and enjoying it. And the whole "redeem" arc just didn't work for me. I didn't believe they had changed, I didn't think they deserved to be forgiven, and honestly I was hoping the monsters would kill them all.

Another weird thing, when the nurse was attacked it was the cops who came to her aid and tried to help her. But later (as we're supposed to side with the kids) the cops are portrayed as bad guys and I just never felt that.

Now if the movie had just let the kids be real anti-heroes instead of trying to turn them into "good" kids/redeem them, then it might have been more interesting. The aliens attack but the kids fight them off not because they are really good kids, but because they are more vicious and sadistic than the aliens...that might have been interesting.

So this is a tough call for me. There's a lot to like and if I just cut off a bit from the beginning and the end, it would have been a great film and a strong recommend...but as it was once I could feel the filmmakers pushing me to be sympathetic to the kids, I just couldn't accept it. However, there's enough here that it might be worth a look for some...

*** RENTAL ***

HORRIBLE BOSSES (2011) (a review)

HORRIBLE BOSSES (2011) (a review)

A black comedy starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx.

The story: three guys hate their bosses and make an agreement to kill each other bosses. However, after doing some recon, one of the bosses kills one of the other bosses and now they the chief suspects in a police investigation and while trying to get the killer boss to admit to what he did they he now is after them to knock them off as well.

Was it good?

Not really. The problem is that the central idea -- these three guys wanting to commit murder -- just wasn't funny. The best parts are when the bosses are being abusive. The three main characters were annoying. So I wasn't rooting for the main guys and I wanting rooting for the bad guys and that means I was just kind of there.

That said it wasn't horrible. If you get into the concept or are a fan of any of the actors maybe you'd be able to get into it more than I did. The movie keeps moving and they work in plenty of jokes. I just wasn't into it. So for me I can't recommend paying theatrical money, but would tell people that are interested to check it out on video.

*** RENTAL ***

BAD TEACHER (2011) (a review)

BAD TEACHER (2011) (a review)

An R-rated comedy starring Cameron Diaz, and co-starring Justin Timberlake and Jason Segal.

The story: Elizabeth (Diaz) is a bad teach. Doesn't care about the students or teaching or any of it. She is on the verge of quitting her teaching job so she can get married to a super-rich guy and be set for life, but gets busted that she's just marrying for his money and the wedding gets called off. She decides she needs money for breast implants so she can attact a rich guy. Then she meets the new substitute teacher (Timberlake) who is both cute and rich. Now she will pursue him while trying to raise the money for implant, however he is kind of a dork and instead she will become attacted to another teacher (Segal) who is just as much of a jerk as she is.

Was it good?

Yeah. It was good. Lots of funny parts and it was nice to see a woman in an outrageous comedy for a change. But there were also a lot of things that didn't work which stopped it from being in the same class as movies like FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL.

First, the story doesn't really make sense. She wants implants to attact a guy, but the guy she is going after doesn't seem to care if she has them or not. So the implants are to attact a guy like that one who doesn't care if she has implants or not??? Doesn't make a lot of sense.

And of course the second half loses its funny as she begins to realize the rich guy isn't for her and the other guy is the one she likes. Yawn. One of the things about these irreverent characters is that they are fun when they are bad and once they stop they become boring. Luckily that when the movie ends, but it's more of a limp-to-the-finish ending than a great rousing finale.

The best parts are when Diaz gets to be bad. Let her rip on some kids, be crazy, be sexy, be bad. That's the fun parts and those (along with some good lines by the supporting cast) are what make the movie worth watching.

*** RECOMMEND ***

ARTHUR (2011 remake) (a review)

ARTHUR (2011 remake) (a review)

This is a remake of the classic Dudley Moore movie about a constantly drunk millionaire who is forced to choose between his money (and marrying a woman he doesn't love) or the woman he loves. This version stars Russell Brand in I believe his 1st starring role in a big American film after having small roles in movies like FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL and hosting the MTV awards and marrying Katy Perry.

The story: Arthur (Brand) is a child-like billionaire, who avoids work and responsibility and anything remotely not-silly or un-childlike. His mother wants the family to continue running their company and clearly he is incompetant for it, so she wants him to marry some corporate woman who will be able to take over. Arthur doesn't want to -- he doesn't like the woman although I believe he has already slept with her before -- but his mother threatens to cut him off financially so he agrees. And then he meets a woman he actually connects to and falls in love with her. That starts the central question -- love or money -- who will Arthur marry?

Was it good?

No. The biggest problem was Brand as Arthur. The weird silly child thing combined with the playboy sex addict just wasn't interested. And it just wasn't funny. I'm too tired to write more. There really just wasn't anything that worked for me here. There's this idea (I think) that some childhood trauma made him now reject the grown-up world and pursue childhood fantasy...except he doesn't really do that in any real way. He is childlike and they want to make it seem like he has more going on, but really he's just kind of a selfish dick. I mean, with his money -- if he wanted to pursue the childlike sense of wonder -- he could be entertaining children or doing children's theater or running a play group. In fact, a story where he is running an elementary school that emphasizes play and imagination but his mom wants him to take over the company would have been much more interested. Here, he's just a brat. And really not even love redeemed him of that.

*** AVOID ***

TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL (a review)

TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL (a review)

A horror/comedy that flips the horror genre on its head. Stars Alan Tudyk (Serenity/Firefly), Tyler Labine and Katrina Bowden (30 Rocks). Written by Eli Craig and Morgan Jurgenson and directed by Eli Craig.

The story: A group of college students are going up to some remote location where they run into local hillbillies -- the kind who are always serial killers in movies. However, the movie then switches to be about the hillbillies who are just a couple nice guys going up to a cabin to fix it up as a summer home. However, the kids are convinced that they are serial killers. When one of the girls falls in the water in her attmept to get away from them, they save her from drowning and now the other kids will try to rescue her by any means necessary. Unfortunately their plans backfire and they end up killing off themselves...which only convinces the survivors that the hillbillies really are killers.

Was it good?

YES. It was good -- very good. It just fell a smidgeon short of being great. I mean this movie is THAT CLOSE to being a classic. I would have thought that the concept would be too one-note and it would get boring and repetative, but the writers did a nice job of mixing it up. Specifically, there is a love story between the captured girl (Bowden) and the hillbillie. So why doesn't it get the classic rating? Hmmm. It's hard to say. While the movie didn't feel too one-note, it never reached that second level of awesomeness either. It has the reversal of cliche in the concept, but then everything really does play out as expected. The girl realizes the hillbillies are actually nice, the college guys end up being violent jerks, etc. It all works fine, but for greatness it needs that next smart spin to make the second half be not simply good, but great. Still, the is one of the best horror-comedies I've seen in a long time. I've seen ads saying it's the best since SHAUN OF THE DEAD. I actually liked T&DvE more!

*** STRONGLY RECOMMEND ***

THE PENTHOUSE (a review)

THE PENTHOUSE (a review)

A comedy. Sort of. Stars: Rider Strong (Boy Meets World, Cabin Fever), Corey Large, April Scott (Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning), Kaley Cuoco (Big Bang Theory), Mya

The story: the winner of a reality show moves into a penthouse apartment and invites his two best friends to live with him. However, while one loves the constant partying, the other struggles with whether to move in with his annoying girlfriend or start a relationship with his best friend's incredibly hot younger sister.

Was it good?

No. I mean, read the story -- was the hell was this thing supposed to be about??? There's no story, no drama. And yes, it's a comedy, but good comedy still has drama at the heart of it. This is just one guy trying to decide...and what is he trying to decide? Whether or not to stay in a penthouse or move in with his girlfriend? WHO CARES?!?!? Or his other option is to start dating some other really hot girl. Oh, no...what a bunch of horrible choices...how will he ever deal with all the pressure!

Stories at their simplest are a person has a problem and we watch them try to solve the problem. If the problem isn't interesting...well, then why do we care what happens? It's at that basic level that the movie fails.

I will give them props for hiring April Scott. I'd never seen her before but she is gorgeous. Unfortunately, not enough to make this worth watching.

*** AVOID ****

MILF

MILF

Once the word was made famous in AMERICAN PIE, it was only a matter of time before a teen sex comedyw ith this title came out.

The story: a couple hopeless college guys realize they can get easy sex by hooking up with older women...usually the divorced moms of the friends.

Was it good?

Not really. It wasn't bad. I mean, it's a teen sex comedy and they throw in plenty of sex, so it works on that level. However, most of these t-s-c's these days pair the sex romps with some outrageous comedy and a nice character arc. Here there's nothing like that. There are some attempts at comedy, but nothing really gets laughs. And if there was a character arc I missed it. So is it good...well, no...but it's a pretty harmless sex comedy. I might have even given it a slight rental, except there are just plenty of other t-s-c's out there.

*** AVOID ***

ROAD TRIP 3: BEER PONG (a review)

ROAD TRIP 3: BEER PONG (a review)

I have to admit I missed ROAD TRIP 2. Luckily this one is it's own story so you don't need to see the first couple. It sticks to the same formula, just as a straight to dvd movie it only captures 70% of the original, but that's still probably enough to fans.

The story: a guy finds out his long distance girlfriend has transfered to be with him which freaks him out, so he goes on a road trip for a beer pong tournament where he hopes to meet with a hot model he knew and almost hooked up with years ago.

Was it good?

Yeah, it was good. It was what you'd expect -- some college humor, some outrageous stuff, some nudity, a little character arc that feels lame but isn't too bad. It's just very light compared to the first. The original has a guy racing to get to his long distance girlfriends campus before a sex tape he made with another girl arrives. In that one there is clear stakes and a ticking clock. This movie didn't have any of that. It does have that same core of a guy struggling with where he is in his relationship and if he's ready to be serious (he thinks he is but he's not). The outrageous humor is more outrageous, but less actual funny because of it (what do you expect about a movie that centers around a beer pong tournament?).

Still, if you are a fan of the first movie or of the American Pie dvd's, this is probably right in your wheelhouse.

*** RENTAL ***

AMERICAN ORGY (a review)

AMERICAN ORGY (a review)

Not an American Pie style comedy. Not a big sex romp. More an indy comedy about relationships. Stars Laura Silverman (sister of Sarah Silverman), Adam Busch (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ted Beck, Edrick Browne, Aimee-Lynn Chadwick, Yasmine Kittles.


The story: Three couples gather at one couple's rural house to have an orgy.

Was it good?

No...but it wasn't as bad as you might think and there was actually some interesting stuff, but it needed to either go more the indy route (which is where the interesting stuff was) or it needed better comedy because this just wasn't funny enough to recommend.

A lot of the story you can probably guess -- some people are all for the orgy, some people are hesitant, which will create conflict, and, of course, the full blown orgy never happens. (This is true of most movies -- the more the title promises sex the less it delivers.) It's one of the biggest problems of the movie is that nothing really special happens that will grab your attention. And while there are some parts that are amusing, nothing was really laugh out loud funny here. What did work was some of the surprising, more indy-feel, choices that were made. One of the best scenes has the characters talking about what parts of their body they don't like. This could have been played just for laughs, but when the married mom starts listing everything, well, it's actually a pretty powerful moment. Another interesting choice is that at the hour mark, when a proper comedy about an orgy should be getting to the down and dirty stuff, they instead have the characters seperate to talk -- one guy to one girl who are not already in a relationship. They focus on one guy and one girl, a girl he has a crush on, and we just watch them talk about their lives, their relationships and finally he tells her that he loves her. It's pure indy stuff -- it goes on way too long to ever be in a HW film -- but another great moment.

Unfortunately, after those two moments we get more wacky attempts at comedy, the whole collapse of the orgy, and lots of stuff that just doesn't go anywhere.

It's a shame...there might have been a very interesting movie here, and there are a couple moments, but not enough to recommend.

*** AVOID ****

KNIGHT AND DAY (a review)

KNIGHT AND DAY (a review)

A weird, crazy action comedy starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. I think a lot of people remember this movie as being a bomb, but it's grossed over $250M worldwide.

The story: Diaz gets on a plane to go to her sister's wedding and meets a handsome man (Cruise) who it turns out is a super spy wanted by the government for stealing this device and now the government is after them to get it back.

Was it good?

Yes. Kind of. Maybe. In a weird way, but yeah, I guess I'd say yes. Maybe.

First I want to say I watches this movie right after watching the comedy The Other Guys (recommended, see review). That's an over-the-top action comedy with emphasis on the comedy. This movie made a nice second feature to that. If I hadn't seen that movie first, I don't know that I would have liked this one. It's a weird combination of over-the-top action and comedy with some quiet character work thrown in there too. Now, for me it worked as this over-the-top comedy. But I can see some people not getting it. Tom Cruise isn't a comedy guy and the way the story is written it seems to want to be a lot more grounded than it is. It's like it wanted to be SALT, and then got twisted into THE OTHER GUYS, so there are some problems all around. The comedy is uneven, and Tom Cruise doesn't feels awkward as an action/comedy star, and Diaz has great energy for comedy, but her character is supposed to be more grounded so that doesn't really work either. During the first half I thought they should have reversed them -- get a comedic star for the action hero role (which is so o-t-t it's hard to imagine anyone taking it seriously) and then a more dramatic actress for the female lead so that the role can be grounded and have some emotion. However, after thinking about it I'm not sure. Maybe this is what's needed to even out the two sides, much like THE OTHER GUYS has a comedic actor paired with a dramatic actor.

It's a tough call. This is a movie that had a lot of cool, neat things, but also a lot of problems. Like I said, watching it right after T-O-GUYS made it work for me, but I can understand the people that had problems with it. Still since it worked for me, I'm going to give it a slight recommend.

*** SLIGHT RECOMMEND (especially as the second in a double feature with THE OTHER GUYS) ***

THE OTHER GUYS (a review)

THE OTHER GUYS (a review)

A comedy starring Will Farrell and Mark Wahlberg about two cops who try to take over for a pair of daring hero cops who get killed. Also stars Dwayne Johnson (the Rock), Samuel Jackson, Eva Mendes and Michael Keaton.

The story: two hero cops get killed chasing bad guys and two other cops (Farrell and Wahlberg), one of whom wants to be a hero cop and the other who is happy doing paperwork, try to step up and stop a major crime. Sort of.

Was it good?

YES.

I know I'm not explaining it well, but this movie is a little more odd, then a similar movie COP OUT(Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, directed by Kevin Smith) and between the two this is a much better movie -- it's bigger and weirder and funnier. At the same time it's harder to explain because because the crime they are foiling is a little weird and they come at it in a very strange way. You see there's this guy who lost a lot of money -- like a couple hundred Billion -- and so he's going to pull this scam to try to get it back. Except the cops don't know anything about it. In fact, Farrell's character arrests him for some permit violations, except then these guys steal him back right out of police custody which leads them to think something is up, but they don't figure it out until the end.

So it's a police movie where it isn't clear who the bad guy is or what's going on or even if there is really a crime for most of the movie. But it still works. And the reason it works is because it's funny. It's funny the way COP OUT wanted to be, with all the weird antics of the cops and all the strange and funny dialog. Plus this movie has this nice twist that it starts out with two other hero cops who pull the kind of ridiculous over the top stunts you only see in movies, and then when they are killed our two protagonists struggle to become the next hero cops. It's better because one of them wants to be a hero and the other doesn't, but then of course learns to embrace his crazy hero side too.

I liked COP OUT. But I liked THE OTHER GUYS a lot more. A LOT MORE.

**** RECOMMEND ****