28 May 2008

Son Of Rambow

Spanks – 4.5

Director – Garth Jennings

Writer – Garth Jennings

Starring – Will Poulter, Jessica Stevenson, Mill Milner, Neil Dudgeon

Release Date – May 2, 2008 (Limited)

MPAA Rating - PG-13

If my family owned a camcorder when I was a kid, I bet it would have been something like Son Of Rambow. It is directed by Garth Jennings, who previously directed the smash hit Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (although Touchstone Pictures might disagree with the smash hit part). The cast is unknown here in America. You might know Jessica Stevenson if you have seen Shaun of the Dead and the show Spaced. I gave the film 4.5 spanks only because the film is on limited release so it might not be playing in a theater near you. If it is, go see it!

Son of Rambow tells the story of two unlikely elementary school aged kids who are making a movie. Lee Carter is the school troublemaker who is uses his older brothers camcorder to make a movie to submit to Screen Test. He meets Will at school and makes him be the stunt man in his film. Will is a member of the Plymouth Brethren religion, which its members are not aloud to watch TV and films, listen to music, or interact with people outside the religion. Will's wild imagination lays unused before he meets Lee Carter and is shown is first film...Rambo: First Blood. From that moment on Will imagination is set free and becomes the Son of Rambow. Friendships are forged and tested throughout the process of completing the film.

Even thought is film is under the radar and didn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars, it will be one of the best movies of the summer. It has everything the blockbusters have except for one thing...originality.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Spanks – 3.5

Director – Steven Spielberg

Writers – David Koepp (Screenplay), George Lucas (Story)

Starring – Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf, John Hurt, and Ray Winstone

Release Date – May 22, 2008

MPAA Rating - PG-13

I would have given Indiana Jones a higher rating if it wasn't for the ending. Don't worry I won't give it away. If you take the ending away, the movie could have been at least a 4, but because George Lucas is a freakin idiot it scores less. If anybody knows Mr. Lucas tell him to stop making films because he has ruined everything that he made that was awesome between 1977 and 1989 (the new Star Wars Trilogy anybody).

If you take away the last 5 minutes it an Indiana Jones adventure movie like the last 3. I thought the Nazis were better bad guys then the Soviets, but they were not around in 1957 so it would be hard to write them into this one...not that that would matter in this movie (see the ending). The movie starts with Indiana Jones getting kidnapped by Irina Spalko (Kate Blanchett) and the Soviets to break into a US Army base to find an artifact that would help with Spalko's research in mind control. The search for the Crystal Skull begins. John Hurts plays a great charachter who is crazy, Shia LaBeouf plays his character pretty much the same way as Sam Wickwicki in Transformers and Kale in Disturbia, and Karen Allen returns as Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I am really glad they kept everything real and didn't George Lucas it with computer generated everything. The computer generated images were for the most part used to fill the background and to enhance the scene and not the entire scene except for Obiwan Kenobi. The scene with the ants was obviously computer generated because the best animal wrangler in the world couldn't teach killer ants, but the Tarzan homage scene was absolutely rediculus.

It might seem that I didn't like the movie because of my complains about some parts, but it is really entertaining film from start til the last 5 minutes. If you enjoyed Raiders, Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade you will enjoy Crystal Skull.


15 May 2008

National Lampoon Presents: RoboDoc

Spanks – 5

Director – Stephen Maddocks

Writers – Doug and Scott Gordon M.D.

Starring – Alan Thicke, David Faustino, Corin Nemec, Michael Winslow, and Will Haze

Release Date – World Premiere 10 May 08 (in theatres summer 2008)

MPAA Rating - R

I was lucky enough to be one of the first to see RoboDoc last Saturday in Orlando. Let me tell you this movie is hysterical. The entire theatre was laughing from the first reel to the last. The film is being distributed by National Lampoon, the same company that made you laugh in Animal House and Christmas Vacation. The film is a spoof on the way health care is provided in America and who better to write a film about this then two practicing doctors.

The stories antagonist is Attorney Jake Gorman who spends his days getting rich suing doctors for malpractice. To stop lawyers like Jake Gorman R.I.P Healthcare hires Jason Dockery ( David Faustino ) to build “Medical Device 63”, who the nurses named RoboDoc. The film then tells of how the staff including Chief of staff Dr. Roskin ( Alan Thicke ) of North Mercy Hospital adjust to having a robot doctor who can do diagnose and work on any medical problem. Every film needs a major conflict, we have Lawyer Jake Gorman who vows to find a way to successfully sue
RoboDoc.

Hopefully the politicians will go see this and realize the problem with American health-care and then fix it. When you go see the film you'll laugh but it will open your eyes to the crumbling health care industry.

07 May 2008

Iron Man

Spanks - 4

Director - Jon Favreau

Writers - Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway

Starring - Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow

Release Date - 2 May 08

MPAA Rating - PG-13

I saw Iron Man on the advanced screening last Thursday. To tell you the truth I wasn't expecting it to be that good...Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man? In reality he was perfectly cast as Tony Stark who becomes Iron Man. It was directed by Jon Favreau who previously brought us Elf and wrote and starred in Swingers. Gwyneth Paltrow looked hot like she normally does and I didn't know before walking into the theater that Jeff "The Dude" Bridges played Tony Starks right hand man Obadiah Stane.

The story tells the origins of Iron Man and the first of 12 movies Marvel Studios has planned to produce by themselves, which will let them have its characters appear in each others films (Tony Stark appears in The Incredible Hulk next month). It lays the ground work for the upcoming Avengers movie in 2001. The film is not loaded with unnecessary special effects and it has just enough action through out to keep the story exciting (but not Micheal Bay exciting). A good origin film to compare it to would be the first X-Men that Bryan Singer did. Stay and watch all the credits too, a nice surprise awaits you at the end.

If you enjoyed the Spiderman, Superman, X-Men, and Batman (excluding Joel Schumacher's) movies you will definitely enjoy Iron Man. If you haven't seen it yet, you probably are not going to go see it in theaters, but definitely check it out when it comes out on DVD. However, it is a good visual movie that the big screen helps project that a TV will not.

The soundtrack is good too. Its not your typical orchestrated film score. Ramin Djawadi did the score. Its like a rock orchestra. Very Cool!





*I have no problems with Micheal Bay. He makes very entertaining films.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Spanks - 3.5

Director - Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg

Writer - Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg

Starring - John Cho, Kal Penn, Rob Corddry, Roger Bart, and Neil Patrick Harris

Release Date - 25 Apr 08

MPAA Rating - R

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is the sequal to arold and Kumar go to White Castle and it takes place immediately following the events of the first. Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay could be taken as a political and cultural satire as it shows how our country is with race, patriotism and terrorism (especially Rob Corddry's character)... but will be looked at as just a stupid movie about nothing but weed, farts, sex and lots of foul language. I thought it was much better and funnier then Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.

The two anti-heroes get busted trying to sneak a bong onto a plane to Amesterdam and get arrested as terrorist. North Korea and Al Qaeda working together. They get taken to Guantanamo Bay by Homeland Security. They escape before having to eat a cockmeat sandwich and the rest of the film they are fugitives getting chased by Homeland Security as they try to clear their names as terrorist while meeting up with hysterical Neil Patrick Harris again. The official website calls it "a epic journey of deep thoughts, deaper inhaling and a wild trip that is as "un-pc" as it gets."

It was written by the same pair that wrote Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. This time they take the director chairs. If your into movies full of dirty humor then this is your movie, if not then maybe you should go see College Road Trip.

06 May 2008

Welcome

Hello and welcome to Spanky's Movie Review Blog. I was doing this on the myspace blog, but now I am going bigger! So here I am joining the world of The Blog. You can read the old ones here.

I am a huge fan of movies. I go to the cinema as much as possible, and I am a big fan of Netflix. If you were to ask my what my favorite movie would be I would not be able to tell you. I can tell you the last movie I watched at the cinema was Iron Man, on dvd was The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and the last dvd I bought was Terminator 2: Ultimate Edition (I never said anything about them having to be new films).

The idea is to write at least one post a week about the films I have watched, but there is no guarantee that that will happen. I will do new movies, movies from local filmmakers and maybe throw in some old timey classics you may not have thought about in years. The sky is the limit really. Suggestions of movies to watch (and review) are always welcomed. To the cinema I must go!

Thanks for reading!
Spanky