July 25, 2006

  • Movies I've seen recently...

    Clerks II (2006)  B-

    This is the sequel to the movie "Clerks" that is a cult classic about life in your 20's, at a time when you are still trying to find what you want in your life. Now "Clerks II" is about life in your 30's, wondering why you still haven't found what you want in your life. As this is a Kevin Smith film, this is primarily a talking head piece, where the conversations are usually off the wall, references pop culture, and nothing is taboo on many occasions (not for kiddies). On that level, he delivers as usual. Being that this is the sequel to Clerks, the movie starts off seemingly going nowhere in terms of plot, but by the end of the film you would have followed the natural progression of the story. There were some scenes that I thought did not work that well in the movie, primarily the John Hughes inspired musical montages, and the go-kart scene, and there were also some improbable things that happened as well. Some of the humor also felt purely tongue in cheek funny, but there were several that was downright hilarious and very memorable. The one thing that surprised me the most is the amount of "heart" the movie has on the plot, and you really feel for the situation of the main characters.

    The Hills Have Eyes  (2006)  C+

    We've been getting lots of pure horror movies lately, and "The Hills Have Eyes" is another one to add to the list. This is actually a remake from the original by Wes Craven, but he himself is helping Alexandre Aja make this. Shocking and disturbing is what can be said about this movie. While there's sorta a reasoning to the terrible things that happens here, most of it is just a means to show some gore and violence. If you are looking for some gore and violence, you've got it. Ofcourse it has to be said that a horror movie doesn't need to have a strong oscar calibur plot, but there are some unreasonable things that happen which takes away from the suspension of disbelief. This is a movie that should convince the audience to stay away from uncharted territories in the dessert. Take the plane instead.

    American Pie Presents : Band Camp  (2005)  C+

    Since this is a direct to video movie, it's not too surprising that most everything about the movie are purely average. The characters and the story progression are all cliche driven, by the numbers, with only a few little surprises. As an American Pie movie though, I enjoyed it for what it is, a movie about goof offs, hot girls, hijinks, underachievers, sex, alcohol, and hot girls, all in a High School life setting. Tad Hilgenbrink does his best imitation of Seann William Scott's Steve Stiffler, playing his younger brother who talks, curses, and gets into the same kinds of trouble. Eugene Levy even reprises his role as the very understanding adult figure trying to guide a teen through very embarassing subject matters. "Band Camp" delivers on it's admitedly simple concept, and I definitely enjoyed it.