Kick Ass

This is the 3rd Matthew Vaughn movie that I am reviewing. That would leave me with a RomCom titled Stardust. It would be interesting to note that Vaughn is not a uni-dimensional director by any mean standards. I thought his work in X Men First Class was average but that was more to do with the fact that X Men should have been directed by Bryan Singer always to maintain consistency. With L4yer Cake, which was his debut movie, Vaughn did quite a solid job of a fast paced action packed drug dealer movie. He then moved into fantasia with Stardust which I still have to see. And last year with Kick Ass, he joins the Super Hero genre. Next up from his table is the sequel to Kick Ass which is aptly titled Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall. I must say though Vaughn has done a commendable job with Kick Ass as well. It was called out by many as a very solid movie and that I must see it. I was more than glad to stay awake till late in the night to finish watching a very entertaining flick and with the exception of the incessant advertisement breaks (which really really get to you every 10 minutes) it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Vaughn’s capabilities to pay attention to detail in a movie that would have otherwise been completed just as a random super hero movie, is quite commendable.

The only weak point in Kick Ass would be the presence of my favouritest actor of all time – Mr. Constipated or Mr. I have been recently dumped by my past 3 girl friends – you got it right – Nicholas Cage. I mean in what frame of mind did Vaughn decide to pick up Cage for the role of Big Daddy / Damon Macready an ex cop who is set up by the local drug lord Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) and has to spend a few years in prison. His wife is distraught with the turn of events and decides to take her life. However, the excessive sleeping pills fail to kill the baby that she is carrying and leaves Damon to take care of Mindy Macready (Chloe Moretz) who will then go on to become Hit Girl – replete with purple hair, purple costumes and an HG belt as well.

But in this entire scheme of things who or what is Kick Ass??? Kick Ass aka Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is this loser boy, the average nerd in high school who no one gives a second look, the absolutely ignored soul or whatever else you would like to call him. Now Dave has always wondered as to why is it that no normal human being has ever taken inspiration from comic book super heroes and gone on a super hero spree in regular life. Like fighting crime on a day to day basis and ensuring that the streets are kept as clean as possible of crime. Not the easiest job in the world because you consistently get beaten up and get back home bloody and sometimes land up in the hospital. But Dave keeps at it and eventually gets into cohorts with Big Daddy and Hit Girl in the noble intent of putting an end to the D’Amico legacy. It’s a totally fun journey I assure you. You will be kept entertained all the way. Safe bet – 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1572603673/

Hot Tub Time Machine

There are slapstick comedies and there are slapstick comedies and then there are the slapstick comedies which are made for the heck of making a slapstick comedy. And if it is directed by a person who goes by the name of Steve Pink (eh?) then you can be even more certain of being given an average fare. That he has co-produced the likes of Grosse Point Blank and High Fidelity (a movie that I had reviewed sometime back) are no reflection on his directorial skills whatsoever but would definitely go a long way to reinforce his complete and utter fascination or love for John Cussack. He has one more slapstick called “Accepted” under his belt. Which would probably explain why Hot Tub Time Machine (HTTM) really did not create too many waves at the Box Office in India. Having said that the movie does have some humour which would explain why I use the term average against the words horrendous or bad while talking about HTTM. Its one of those slapsticks that are barely watchable. For once I wasn’t complaining too much coz I watched it from a copy that was put onto my hard disk by my good friend Parikshit Dalvi (PD – thanks for saving me the money. Knowing me, I would have bought it off the shelf at quite a price).


Adam (John Cusack) and Nick (Craig Robinson) are close childhood buddies who are not too thrilled about their respective lives. Adam has been unsuccessful in love for as long as he can remember and has recently been dumped by his current girlfriend (wait a minute – is that the right way to put it? If he has been dumped then it would be his ex-girlfriend right? Whatever. You guys get the point right?). His nephew, Jacob (Clarke Duke) who is a video game addict. Nick Weber is a henpecked husband who works at a dog spa and has this morbid fear that his wife is cheating on him. They also have another person who completes their circle of friends. Lou (Rob Corddry) who is pathetic at investments and has lost a truck load of money leading him to be debt ridden. He is the true wild child who would rather be a rock star than anything else. When he comes back from a drunken night, he almost dies of carbon monoxide poisoning in his car thanks to a cheap thrill of revving his engine in a closed garage. But he is saved just in time. When Nick and Adam learn of this, they come to visit him and impulsively make a plan to revisit their teenage feral days where they once made a memorable trip to the Kodiak Valley Ski Resort. A very reluctant Jacob tags along. They reach the resort to find a hot tub in their backyard with a dead dog in it. But a few hours later, they find it cleaned and filled up and the night of random partying begins. They wake up the next morning obviously with heavy hangovers but much to their disbelief and surprise – in 1986 – 20 years back. Its now upto them to find out how this happened and more importantly, how they are going to make their way back.

Interesting concept. Could have been executed in a cleaner fashion but Steve Pink is obviously not too capable a director. The acting is again quite average – desperate would be the right word. Cusack should stick to either the acidic comedy genre or the romantic comedy one. Slapstick is just not for him. The only thing us men can look forward to in the uncut version is a fair bit of nudity. In a nutshell – nothing great. I would not give it more than 4 on 10. Watch it if u are a Cusack or a slapstick fan or if you really loved the likes of American Pie.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4173726745/