So my good
friend and soon to be collaborator Srinath Bharadwaj posted his views on
Walking With Dinosaurs a little over 12 hours back and I threw back my head to
say, “He’s a new kid. He is obviously
over excited about a Dinosaur movie. It
will be yet another dinosaur tale with all sorts of corny puns that leave you a
tad exasperated but with good effects”. In
fact I had already written my summary line on that thought.
Showing posts with label Justin Long. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justin Long. Show all posts
Saturday, 28 December 2013
Monday, 16 January 2012
Alvin and the Chipmunks – The Squeakuel
It doesn’t take much to figure out that you are in for a really corny movie if you decided to pick up Alvin and the Chipmunks – The Squeakuel. Now which movie maker would in his right sense of mind name a movie The Squeakuel??? Now I am surprised that after the near disaster of a first movie, the makers actually went ahead with a sequel. And as we are all well aware, there is also a third one released quite recently. Aaargh. It is true that there is no dearth of suckers in this world. Especially suckers with children aged between 3 and 8 probably. Who else would be the target for a concept such as Alvin. I mean first of all, they are all squeaky squeaky. And not a nice squeaky like Chip ‘n Dale were but a very irritating squeaky like Chip n Dale but with a hint of chalk rubbing against a black board. Could not think of any other metaphor honestly. In a nut shell, really corny and really squeaky I must say. I guess I was kind of hoping against hope that the makers would have learnt from their previous mishap and improvised significantly on this one. Sadly not to be.
And then there is this aspect of changing directors. At least think about having some consistency people. You have a rep to protect and a brand to build. Unless you made all of the series together, you are going to be losing a ton of money because there is a distinct break in the chain when you change directors. Lets for a moment agree that there is no way you could have continued with Tim Hill. To begin with, he was indeed not much to look up to. So you had to pick up someone else. But did that someone else have to be Betty Thomas? Of John Tucker Must Die fame… or should I say infamy? The same Betty Thomas who gave us 28 Days and Doctor Dolittle? Please Madams and Sirs – Corny is what you should have expected I say. Not corny in an endearing sort of a way. But corny in an extremely irritating kind of way. Should I comment about the direction – forget it. No point really.
Add to the tacky direction a really sensational combination of an inhuman acting attempt in the form of Zachary Levi, Jason Lee and David Cross who continue to keep you on tenterhooks and if society had permitted it, you would have jumped onto the screen and torn it to shreds. Even the attractive female star cast cannot save the day. And if 3 chipmunks didn’t get to your nerves in the first part, you have to deal with 3 more in this one. And that too female chipmunks – The Chipettes – Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette. But then if all of the above coupled with really slapstick American humour with some chipmunky romance thrown in for garnish is up your alley then you must watch this vastly over rated franchise again. I wouldn’t bother going down that road. 3 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi441844249/
And then there is this aspect of changing directors. At least think about having some consistency people. You have a rep to protect and a brand to build. Unless you made all of the series together, you are going to be losing a ton of money because there is a distinct break in the chain when you change directors. Lets for a moment agree that there is no way you could have continued with Tim Hill. To begin with, he was indeed not much to look up to. So you had to pick up someone else. But did that someone else have to be Betty Thomas? Of John Tucker Must Die fame… or should I say infamy? The same Betty Thomas who gave us 28 Days and Doctor Dolittle? Please Madams and Sirs – Corny is what you should have expected I say. Not corny in an endearing sort of a way. But corny in an extremely irritating kind of way. Should I comment about the direction – forget it. No point really.
Add to the tacky direction a really sensational combination of an inhuman acting attempt in the form of Zachary Levi, Jason Lee and David Cross who continue to keep you on tenterhooks and if society had permitted it, you would have jumped onto the screen and torn it to shreds. Even the attractive female star cast cannot save the day. And if 3 chipmunks didn’t get to your nerves in the first part, you have to deal with 3 more in this one. And that too female chipmunks – The Chipettes – Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette. But then if all of the above coupled with really slapstick American humour with some chipmunky romance thrown in for garnish is up your alley then you must watch this vastly over rated franchise again. I wouldn’t bother going down that road. 3 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi441844249/
Monday, 26 December 2011
Alvin and the Chipmunks
For someone who is heavily into movies, I do have some glaring gaps in terms of movies seen. So when Alvin came up with his 3rd movie, I was left in a situation where I consciously decided not to go because I had not seen the 2007 movie or the Squeakel as it was called in 2009. That the franchise has survived upto its 3rd movie is credit to the marketing brains behind the scenes is all I can see. Thanks to Movies Now, I got the opportunity to watch a movie that I haven’t seen before – a rarity on movie channels over the past few weeks (gets immensely boring at times). So on a lazy Sunday afternoon, after a good 10+ hours of sleep on Saturday night, I was quite pleased when I bumped into Alvin on the movie listings. However, my Sunday wasn’t too great with respect to movies. In fact the entire weekend was quite below par with the movies released and on offer on channels . Thank goodness it was quite good in all other aspects.
Alvin (Justin Long), Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Theodore (Jesse McCartney) are 3 chipmunks who are… how do we put it…. Musically inclined. They live in a tree farm somewhere and find themselves transported from wherever they are to Los Angeles where they eventually bump into a song writer Dave Seville (Jason Lee). Now Dave isn’t doing too well with his mushy music and Ian (David Cross) who owns Jett Records thinks that Dave is done and dusted with his music career. The chipmunks find residence in a fruit basket that Dave forcibly takes away from Ian’s office. It takes a while for Dave to find them out and after a bit of resistance and identification of music potential, he takes them in. Things start going out of hand when Ian discovers the munks and turns them into overnight celebrities. Can the kids – as Dave calls them – manage the sudden burst of fame and success?
It is strange to see the success that Alvin has achievement over the years. It is at best an average franchise. The story line is nothing great – if anything it gets all too gooey and mushy for anyone’s comfort. The animation is barely average. The movies have never been rated highly by any critic or not so critical reviewers. It has offered nothing “new” per se for people to be excited about – I mean Chip ‘n Dale were much more fun. The voice overs could have been done by anyone using the right technology. The cast has to really force itself to act. Tim Hill’s direction is average at best (Whats the verdict on Hop by the way? Hasn’t released in this part of the world yet. Not expecting much after this.). Overall – not too great a way to start a Sunday afternoon. Kids would probably love it to bits – which would explain the success. Adults – worth a miss – 4 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi984744217/
Alvin (Justin Long), Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Theodore (Jesse McCartney) are 3 chipmunks who are… how do we put it…. Musically inclined. They live in a tree farm somewhere and find themselves transported from wherever they are to Los Angeles where they eventually bump into a song writer Dave Seville (Jason Lee). Now Dave isn’t doing too well with his mushy music and Ian (David Cross) who owns Jett Records thinks that Dave is done and dusted with his music career. The chipmunks find residence in a fruit basket that Dave forcibly takes away from Ian’s office. It takes a while for Dave to find them out and after a bit of resistance and identification of music potential, he takes them in. Things start going out of hand when Ian discovers the munks and turns them into overnight celebrities. Can the kids – as Dave calls them – manage the sudden burst of fame and success?
It is strange to see the success that Alvin has achievement over the years. It is at best an average franchise. The story line is nothing great – if anything it gets all too gooey and mushy for anyone’s comfort. The animation is barely average. The movies have never been rated highly by any critic or not so critical reviewers. It has offered nothing “new” per se for people to be excited about – I mean Chip ‘n Dale were much more fun. The voice overs could have been done by anyone using the right technology. The cast has to really force itself to act. Tim Hill’s direction is average at best (Whats the verdict on Hop by the way? Hasn’t released in this part of the world yet. Not expecting much after this.). Overall – not too great a way to start a Sunday afternoon. Kids would probably love it to bits – which would explain the success. Adults – worth a miss – 4 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi984744217/
Thursday, 4 August 2011
He's Just Not That Into You
I love the way this movie starts. The first few statements are simply superb. It actually solves the age old mysteries that I had about the female mind. You start watching He’s Just Not That Into You (HJNTIN) and it clears every little doubt about the convoluted female brain (I am certain to lose some female fan followers after this) that you may have had in your mind. Heres the way it goes. The theory says that as children most parents teach their young girls that, “Boys who behave badly with you actually have a crush on you”. This theory then morphs into statements such as, “He cannot handle your emotional maturity” OR “He cannot handle the fact that you are good looking” Or his capability to manage your success is very low”. All of these are statements made by closest friends and relatives who will follow it up by promptly saying, “But he loves you a lot you know”. And dim witted women actually get suckered into it!!!! =)) =)) I mean how difficult is it to believe that, “HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU”??? I could not have said it better.
HJNTIN follows the lives of 9 people who are in various stages of a relationship. And this narration is going to get very complicated. So please bear with me. We start with Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) who believes in putting herself out there as often as she can irrespective of whether her heart gets broken or not – lovely approach but needs an immensely strong heart. She is on a date with Connor (Kevin Connolly) who isn’t too interested in her but more interested in the sizzling hot Anna (Scarlett Johansson). But Anna doesn’t really care much about Connor. To her, Connor is just a squeeze which she uses when she is feeling low. Why she doesn’t see the merit in Connor is beyond my reasoning. Anna bumps into Ben (Bradley Cooper) at a supermarket. Ben is extremely smooth with her and charms her off her feet despite openly declaring that he is married to Janine (Jennifer Connelly). Janine and Ben are having severe problems with their married life and Anna is just the release Ben shouldn’t be looking for. His closest buddy, Neil (Ben Affleck) definitely doesn’t approve of this. Ben has been in a seven year releationship with Beth (Jennifer Aniston), is truly in love with her but doesn’t believe in marriage. Something that Beth is not willing to live with. Now Beth, Gigi and Janine are colleagues. In between all of this is Alex (Justin Long) who is Connors room mate and has trust issues. He appears to be extremely happy go lucky but does let anyone too close to himself. And yes, there is Janine’s good friend Mary (Drew Barrymore) who is struggling to come to terms with technology and how it has affected relationships.
Thrown into this complicated Khichdi (Goulash) are some great one liners (watch out for Drew Barrymore’s small monologue on the tech bit). The 9 people in the lead roles are given pretty much equal screen time and deliver some really solid performances. Ken Kwapis is the guy who also directed Dunston Checks in (Remember the chimpanzee movie?). Predominantly a TV director, he seems to be one of the rare cases of a TV director being quite good on his big screen ventures as well. Some good humour thrown into this heady mix of complicated relationships makes HJNTIY a very enjoyable flick – chick flick nevertheless and my love for them keeps growing. 7 on 10. I liked it. A lot. Most guys may not (I am the exception). Most girls will.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1239875865/
Monday, 7 February 2011
Alpha and Omega
We have had animations movies about almost every living creature in the world to date but I guess somewhere someone missed out on wolves. There has been the odd reference here and there or a significant importance in movies such as Jungle Book but never a full-fledged animation dedicated to wolves and their nuances and obviously some adventure and a couple of love stories thrown in. Cute right? Not very though. Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck – 2 amateur directors in the field of animation come together to try to capitalize on the market gap as one could call it. But unfortunately come a little bit of a cropper. The movie is an OK watch and has its moments but the overall execution of animation and 3D falls woefully short. Nowhere close to the ones like we have been seeing of late.
In the Wolf World, family structure is everything. At the high end of the pack you have your Alpha wolves (either male or female). Serious, strong and they mean business. At the other end are the Omegas. Pretty much diametrically opposite. Fun loving, always upto mischief and their main role is to break up fights whenever they happen. In Wolf World they are kept quite busy. Especially if you are caught between the Eastern Pack in the valley and the Western ones in the hills. And times are not too great. Food is running out quickly and that is leading to major differences between the two packs who are led by Winston (Danny Glover) and Tony (Dennis Hopper). Winston calls for the meeting to figure out the way forward and they decide that the only way out is for Tony to honour his commitment of getting his Alpha daughter, Kate (Hayden Panettiere) married to Winston’s Alpha son, Garth (Chris Carmack). A marriage that would get the families together and bring peace to the land. Kate agrees to do what is right but a relocation exercise gets her moved from the Jasper National Park to one in Idaho. But she is not alone. With her is Humphrey (Justin Long) who is an Omega. The two have grown up together and Humphrey has always liked Kate. And is obviously thrilled that he has a chance now. But Kate needs to get back to the park to prevent the packs from shredding each other up. Along the way, they are assisted by a goose Marcel (Larry Miller) and a duck, Paddy (Eric Price) who play golf in the Idaho Park.
As I had mentioned earlier, it is the animation and the 3D where this one falls woefully short. Like when her mother tells Kate that she looks very beautiful, one really cannot make out the difference. The only entertaining part of the movie seems to be when Marcel and Paddy are on screen. Quite funny. But the shots of Humphrey Air Guitaring and some unnecessary melodrama in the end don’t quite add too much value to the movie and are definitely over the top. Even the wolves howling don’t seem anywhere close to real. No surprise that it didn’t make it to the Oscars this year or that it wasn’t released earlier in this year. I cant give it more than 5 on 10. But kids may like it a bit.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3345090329/
In the Wolf World, family structure is everything. At the high end of the pack you have your Alpha wolves (either male or female). Serious, strong and they mean business. At the other end are the Omegas. Pretty much diametrically opposite. Fun loving, always upto mischief and their main role is to break up fights whenever they happen. In Wolf World they are kept quite busy. Especially if you are caught between the Eastern Pack in the valley and the Western ones in the hills. And times are not too great. Food is running out quickly and that is leading to major differences between the two packs who are led by Winston (Danny Glover) and Tony (Dennis Hopper). Winston calls for the meeting to figure out the way forward and they decide that the only way out is for Tony to honour his commitment of getting his Alpha daughter, Kate (Hayden Panettiere) married to Winston’s Alpha son, Garth (Chris Carmack). A marriage that would get the families together and bring peace to the land. Kate agrees to do what is right but a relocation exercise gets her moved from the Jasper National Park to one in Idaho. But she is not alone. With her is Humphrey (Justin Long) who is an Omega. The two have grown up together and Humphrey has always liked Kate. And is obviously thrilled that he has a chance now. But Kate needs to get back to the park to prevent the packs from shredding each other up. Along the way, they are assisted by a goose Marcel (Larry Miller) and a duck, Paddy (Eric Price) who play golf in the Idaho Park.
As I had mentioned earlier, it is the animation and the 3D where this one falls woefully short. Like when her mother tells Kate that she looks very beautiful, one really cannot make out the difference. The only entertaining part of the movie seems to be when Marcel and Paddy are on screen. Quite funny. But the shots of Humphrey Air Guitaring and some unnecessary melodrama in the end don’t quite add too much value to the movie and are definitely over the top. Even the wolves howling don’t seem anywhere close to real. No surprise that it didn’t make it to the Oscars this year or that it wasn’t released earlier in this year. I cant give it more than 5 on 10. But kids may like it a bit.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3345090329/
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Going the Distance
Meet Garret (Justin Long) is your atypical man in his late twenties (presumably). His “boy next door” image ensures more often than not that he has company. He is not averse to being in a relationship but he just doesn’t know how to sustain it in the long term. He has no clue on the expectations of the fairer sex when in a relationship. To quote, “I didn’t get you a birthday gift coz you asked me not to”. Duh!!! Even I know what THAT means. After every such instance he finds himself at the local bar with his best friends Dan (Charlie Day) & Box (Jason Sudeikis) wondering what could have possibly gone wrong. Not getting drunk. Just getting his mind off. And if he is really off his mind then he indulges himself in a game of Centipede.
Meet Erin (Drew Barrymore) is 31 years old. Very Girl Next Door. She is studying journalism @ Stanford and stays in San Francisco with her sister Corrine (Christina Applegate). She is completing her internship in New York. A few twists of fate in her life led her to drop out of school and follow a guy all over the place (with no references to which places). But over time, realization dawns on her and she eventually gets dumped. She picks up the pieces and gets back to completing her grad school. She is an extremely basic woman with almost little or no hang ups – a man’s dream come true and decent looking to boot. And she is brilliant @ Centipede.
And if u haven’t made the connect yet, that’s how Garret and Erin meet. @ the local bar in New York over a game of Centipede. Garret interrupts her game rudely to say the least. However, when he realizes that she is “ËRL” – the highest scorer on that very Centipede machine – he is quick to apologise and offers to buy her a drink. Well cupid strikes. And quite quickly at that. Before you know it the two are getting really really REALLY close. This despite knowing that the affair can last for not more than 6 weeks coz Erin will be headed back to SFO after her internship. At the end of 6 weeks, Garret drops Erin off to the airport. Both of them have pretty much resigned to the end of the affair. However, they are unable to go through with it and decide to give the long distance relationship a really good shot.
Directed by Nanette Burstein (not known for much per se), GTD is quite funny in parts and very entertaining in the first half. It gets a but mushy towards the 2nd half where our cute couple are struggling to maintain the excitement in the Long Distance Relationship. But it doesn’t drag all over the place. The direction is quite decent. Both Drew Barrymore and Justin Long pull off an above average performance. The support cast is also quite entertaining. Not to mention that there have not been too many movies made on the topic. So definitely a different Rom Com positively. Worth a dekko and even an DVD rental or buy if you haven’t been able to catch up with it on the big screen. 5 on 10 for this one.
Meet Erin (Drew Barrymore) is 31 years old. Very Girl Next Door. She is studying journalism @ Stanford and stays in San Francisco with her sister Corrine (Christina Applegate). She is completing her internship in New York. A few twists of fate in her life led her to drop out of school and follow a guy all over the place (with no references to which places). But over time, realization dawns on her and she eventually gets dumped. She picks up the pieces and gets back to completing her grad school. She is an extremely basic woman with almost little or no hang ups – a man’s dream come true and decent looking to boot. And she is brilliant @ Centipede.
And if u haven’t made the connect yet, that’s how Garret and Erin meet. @ the local bar in New York over a game of Centipede. Garret interrupts her game rudely to say the least. However, when he realizes that she is “ËRL” – the highest scorer on that very Centipede machine – he is quick to apologise and offers to buy her a drink. Well cupid strikes. And quite quickly at that. Before you know it the two are getting really really REALLY close. This despite knowing that the affair can last for not more than 6 weeks coz Erin will be headed back to SFO after her internship. At the end of 6 weeks, Garret drops Erin off to the airport. Both of them have pretty much resigned to the end of the affair. However, they are unable to go through with it and decide to give the long distance relationship a really good shot.
Directed by Nanette Burstein (not known for much per se), GTD is quite funny in parts and very entertaining in the first half. It gets a but mushy towards the 2nd half where our cute couple are struggling to maintain the excitement in the Long Distance Relationship. But it doesn’t drag all over the place. The direction is quite decent. Both Drew Barrymore and Justin Long pull off an above average performance. The support cast is also quite entertaining. Not to mention that there have not been too many movies made on the topic. So definitely a different Rom Com positively. Worth a dekko and even an DVD rental or buy if you haven’t been able to catch up with it on the big screen. 5 on 10 for this one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)