Movies I've Seen Recently...
Assassination Of A High School President (2009) B+
I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that "Assassination Of A High School President" as directed by Brett Simon and written by Tim Calpin & Kevin Jakubowski, is done like a pretty funny comedic satire of the film noir movie genre. From the voice over narration by the main protagonist, the convoluted crime mystery complete with plot twists, to the femme fatales, you would think that this is actually a full blown film noir film, except for the fact that this is based in a High School. The way this style works with the characters and setting of the film is what is really enjoyable about this movie, especially if you get that inside joke in the first place. Detention rooms substituting for prisons. A character's sister acting as an inside source of information that takes stuffed animals as payment. The crime of stealing the S.A.T.'s leading to a much bigger mystery to uncover. Pressure from an authority figure, which in this case is the school Principle; played entertainingly well by Bruce Willis. This movie had a lot of elements that I loved. Reece Thompson does an incredible job carrying this movie on his shoulders, as the eager and curious school paper journalist named Bobby Funke, who through detective work is trying to uncover the big mystery, while dealing with obstacles like avoiding getting detention in school, to passing his driver's education course. Despite my positive opinion about this film, because of the fact that this movie is heavy on style, the plot and characters admittedly do feel like they are just going through the motion of a film noir film. Some situations felt a little too calculated and some characters acted a little confined in the roles they are suppose to play, that this movie almost crosses that line of being too smart for it's own good. Although I enjoyed this movie a lot, I can see how this film noir style satire can rub people the wrong way. It can't be denied however that "Assassination Of A High School President" is a nice change of pace from the typical movies out there about teenagers and high school, so I would recommend that you at least give it a chance and check this film out.
Zombieland (2009) B
Mixing zombies with comedy isn't exactly an easy task to do, but that's what director Ruben Fleischer and writers Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick more or less accomplished with "Zombieland." This is a zombie movie where it doesn't really need to show us how the zombies; or the infected, came to be. The world in the movie simply has the zombies all over the place already, so this story focuses more on the survivors, and them coping with this fact. The main characters in Zombieland is what makes this movie really fun to watch, because while living in a land that's infested with Zombies should be a scary thing, they sure don't act like it really is. There are many moments in the film where the characters are clearly aware that there are no more laws to stop them from doing whatever it is they want. There's a certain liberation that comes with that reality and makes it seems like even though there's a chance that they could die at any moment, this "Zombieland" is appropriately like an amusement park. Jesse Eisenberg as "Columbus" and Woody Harrelson as "Tallahassee" completely shines in this. Columbus has these numbered rules of how to survive the zombie apocalypse which is very humorous to learn about, and Tallahassee finds entertainingly inventive ways of how to kill the undead. This movie really is more like a funny road trip movie than a scary horror fest, and that's the charm of the film. You will have to ignore some glaring plot holes with the movie though, which almost ruined my suspension of disbelief. Characters are still doing stupid actions, causing bad things to happen, which makes me scream "What did you think was going to happen?!" Despite the flaws however, I thought "Zombieland" was very entertaining and a good time over all.
the Invention Of Lying (2009) C+
Very ambitious is the first thing that comes to mind about "The Invention Of Lying." It can't be easy to depict a world where nobody knows how to lie and compulsively needs to tell the truth, but co-directors/writers Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson barely succeeds with this concept. While not really a laugh-out-loud type movie, it's easy to see the humor of scenes like a woman bluntly telling her date that he is fat and undesirable, or a world where actors don't exist since that job would be a form of lying in itself. Once Ricky Gervais' character learns how to lie though, things get even more creative as he finds out that he is now able to get anything he wants by manipulating people's perspectives of reality; like simply telling the bank teller that he has more money than what the bank's computer says he really has, or having a woman believe the world will end if they don't immediately have sex together. There are many social commentaries in "The Invention Of Lying" that will definitely get people to think, and the movie even takes on one particular subject that I can see to be very controversial (to us, if not the characters of the movie). Of course in the end there is some moral lesson to all this, like how even though Ricky Gervais' character knows the power of lying, he still has to remain honest to the character played by Jennifer Garner, whom he wants to be his girlfriend. This romantic-comedy aspect of the plot is given far too much attention to in the story though, which is unfortunate as it is the weakest thing about the movie. I did enjoy the movie, but once again I've got to say that while I greatly admired the ambitious nature of it, I ended up questioning the logic of some scenes a little too much, that the movie itself felt a little unsatisfying in the end.
Superman / Batman : Public Enemies (2009) C+
It pays to know that "Superman / Batman : Public Enemies" expects it's audience to already be familiar with the heroes and villains of this story. There really is quite a lack of character development in this, as it favors huge action sequences that while enjoyable to watch, feel more like it's cheaply catering to an audience's basic desire to see super heroes and villians beat each other up. This is unfortunate, since I thought the concept of the story was definitely compelling, with former public villain but now President of the United States Lex Luthor making Superman and Batman fugitives of the law with a hefty bounty on their heads. This means that heroes and villains both are after the two iconic heroes, which leads to more scenarios with fighting and more fighting and more fighting. As plot holes start piling up, the story itself becomes just an excuse to move things along to the next fight scene. Over all, if you can ignore the glaring flaws in this movie and just put yourself in a mindset of a comic book geek that would love to see super powered characters duke it out, then "Superman / Batman : Public Enemies" is the animated movie for you. If you want a little more substance in your super hero movies, then you may want to look elsewhere.
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007) B+
While "Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone" may seem like a standard anime movie involving huge robot-like giants fighting it out in a city, it's really so much more than that, with the real focus being about the characters of the story. The main character; Shinji Ikari, is a troubled teenager who doubts his self worth, is emotionally damaged, has sociopathic tendencies, and is the reluctant pilot of a robot-like giant destined to protect man kind. Compared to other anime, Shinji is hardly the standard protagonist we normally find, and that's just one main aspect as to what makes Evangelion so unique and special. The film itself carefully balances the plot between extravagant action scenarios as well as very introspective dramatic character developments. There is also an underlying plot that is slowly revealed throughout the movie, which hints at huge secrets that has yet to be revealed, but these moments act more like teasers to get the audience intrigued at where the story will go. This movie undeniably has many memorable moments as well, like the final battle that's very much audacious, suspenseful, emotional, and unconventional for your typical robot anime movie ending. Since this is based off the first six episodes of the original anime TV series, the movie can feel a little too dense and convoluted to watch, as it crams as much material as it can, which takes the audience away from a fully cinematic experience. It's also worth noting that the movie is targeted for mature audiences, with it's un-glorified violence depicted on screen, as well as very adult scenarios that goes as far as having a scene that shows a fully naked animated 14 year old girl. "Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone" succeeds for the most part in it's adaptation of the TV series, and does a good job of keeping the interest in this franchise alive.
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