Take Me Home Tonight, Wild Cherry, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend

So instead of trying to write three reviews I'm gonna take a stab at all three at once. Why? mostly because I've been watching so many movies lately that I've overwhelmed myself with reviews I would like to write.  I didn't want to put off any more reviews so I figured I'd do all of these romantically inclined movies together.

Fortunately, my impressions of the first two were similar. They made me laugh at points but overall seemed to fall rather flat. Take Me Home had some amusing scenes.  I think I laughed out loud a few times. The movie is supposed take place in the 80's. Why? I'm not sure. I thinks the idea was to go for the nostalgia hook. I think they were hoping that that hook was going to get people to watch. I admit, that's one reason I wanted to see it. I think they did that to try and separate it out from all the other teen comedies we've seen for year. In that aspect, it worked. When people talk about this movie they describe it as an 80's comedy. Unfortunately, the only thing I can remember that set it in the 80's was the music. If you took out the music and replaced it with modern music, it would be a mediocre modern day teen comedy. One problem with the movie was that they actors weren't used to their full potential. Topher Grace, Anna Ferris and Dan Fogler are all hugely talented comedic actors that, with the exception of Dan Fogler, seemed restrained or at times uninterested in their characters. If that was the case, it was because the characters themselves weren't all that interesting or unique. I wouldn't say this was a bad movie. I enjoyed parts of it but it certainly wasn't the most entertaining movie. I ended up picking up the laptop and surfing about half way through, if that tells you anything. I admit, I did stop surfing to soak in the scene with the always gorgeous Angie Everhart...

Which brings me to Wild Cherry. This movie was supposed to be an "American Pie from a more female perspective." Was it? Eh. Not really. Yes, the lead characters were girls. Was raunchy? Eh... there were a couple scenes, more like one that could be considered raunchy. Was it fun? A little. This one suffered from a similar problem as Take Me Home did. It was rather flat. The charachters were pretty one dimensional and not very fun. I didn't really end up laughing a whole lot or caring about how it was gonna play out for them. I will say that Rob Schneider did a great job playing a nervous dad and Tia Carrere's short "Power of the pussy" scene was rather entertaining. I would have to say though that I liked this one slightly more than Take Me Home.

Lastly we have My Girlfriend's Boyfriend. This wasn't so much a comedy as more of a straight somewhat light hearted romance. I ended up liking this one the most. It went in a different direction then I thought it would which was disappointing and rewarding at the same time. I could watch Alyssa Milano any day all day, but that aside, the rest of the acting was good too. I enjoyed all the characters. I loved that Tom Lenk who played Jonathan in Buff the Vampire Slayer was in it. He's got a great comedic charm to him. Very entertaining. It was in a way kind of hokey with how upbeat the majority of the film was. I loved the music in it also. Even though there only seems to be about four songs.Well It was funny I was brainstorming once on what a cool hacker name would be if I were one (i'm not smart enough though lol) and Said SCSImatrix sounds cool. I hate that my brain has prolonged this review too long for me to get into specifics because specifics don't stick long with me. I'm gonna end this with I really liked this movie. It was charming the characters were engaging and I had fun all around watching it. Now that being said I'm not even gonna do a final proof of this or I won't publish it. So please excuse any bits of poor grammar, run on sentences, half thoughts, total fallacies or devil worship that may have crept in over time. 

Mother's Day

Oh Troma how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
Toxic Avenger, Sgt Kabukiman, Surf Nazi's Must Die, Terror Firmer, Poultrygeist, Class of Nuke Em High...

So much fun to be had by Troma. Although, even though they have some really fun (ie so bad they are great) movies, they do have a huuuuge pile of turds in the mix also. I think Mother's Day fit somewhere above the middle of the pack.
There were parts of this that were a bit slow but overall, for a pre-Toxie film, I thought it was rather fun. The blood and gore was rather tame for a Troma flick but it's an early one and they obviously haven't grown into their now notorious skin yet.
The acting was surprisingly well done for an old C list movie. The bad guys/woman were crazy enough to be entertaining but not so over the top to be ridiculous. The female leads were were better than your average schlock actresses.

Random thought while watching:
The "half the size of your face" 70's style glasses kill me.

These kinds of movies have to be watched on a different scale of likability that other movies. When going in, you know there is going to be cheesy dialog, bad acting, bad/way over the top blood and gore, sex, t&a, violence and some WTF type moments. I think when you're in the mindset for this type of movie you end up being pleasantly surprised when you finish and find yourself not ready to make a deal with the devil to get that hour and a half back. If any of the elements listed above are actually tolerable, it's a win. If you get more than one of these elements working together then you have a good Troma flick.
I didn't put this on the top of my list because it didn't have that fun factor that movies like Poultrygeist and Toxic Avenger have. I think this is due partly because of the fact that the characters weren't completely over the top. It was more on the horror/suspense end than the crazy twisted humor end. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of things that had me laughing and I would in no way put it in the classification of a horror movie. I think that's why I can't put it up on top of the list. Although it was probably one of the more well rounded Troma films out there that's exactly what kept it from being a great movie for me. When I watch Troma, I want crazy. I want head splats. I want people being boiled in a fryolator. I want t&a. I want to go through the whole movie asking myself, "What the hell?!" I want to mutter, "Geezus!" I WANT MAYHEM!
Er... uh... excuse me. Where was I... Oh yeah. I would say that if you're in a Troma state of mind and you're looking for something you haven't seen and you've seen all the Troma greats, I don't think you'd be disappointed with Mother's Day.

Just Go With It

Adam Sandler cracks me up. I like, or at least had many a chuckle from, nearly all of his movies (Except Little Nicky. I don't know what it was about that movie but I couldn't stand it). I also mentioned in my little review about Priceless, that I tend to like romantic comedies. Aaaand, being a guy, adding the fact that Brooklyn Decker, Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman are in it, I was pretty much sold on enjoying some of it at least.
This movie had me laughing from beginning to end. The whole cast seemed to have fun with the characters. Nick Swardson was absolutely hysterical and I have a feeling 10 year old Bailee Madison is going to be absolutely huge in Hollywood in the not too distant future. On topof that, Dave Matthews was friggin great too. Who'd have guessed he'd be a funny bastard on film?
With this type of movie, I usually don't expect there to be too much in the way of plot twists or deep story elements. You know how the movie is gonna end by looking at the cover art. It's not about about whether or not they end up together, it's what happens to them that gets them together and if it makes you laugh and pull at some heart strings along the way.
I think the one thing that really makes or breaks this type of film is the on screen chemistry. Adam Sandler and his crew seem to almost always hit the mark or at least super close to it.
I was talking about this movie to a friend of mine and he said his wife saw the movie and usually she likes Adam Sandler's movies but she didn't like this one. My roommate and I were in stitches through most of the movie. Now being that I'm a guy, I had the added bonus of watching the three lovely ladies I mentioned at the beginning. Obviously this isn't going to be a plus in the eyes of most of the women out there. That got me thinking... Adam Sandler has proven he can pull off romantic comedies that women love. He also has the 5th grade humor that guys like me enjoy. Is it possible that he created a romantic comedy for guys? In thinking back, I did realize that this movie pulled off the romantic comedy story without any huge tension scenes or heartbreaking occurrences. As far as I know, that's part of what women enjoy in this type of movie. I could be wrong (surprise, surprise, women baffle me so I most likely am). This is also the part that makes most guys cringe.Well there ya go.
As Mike Meyers' Linda Richmond character would say...
Here's a topic faw ya: Did Adam Sandler make a RomGuyCom?
Tawk amongst yawselves.

Sucker Punch

I was really excited, like many other people, for Sucker Punch to come out. I try to stay away from trailers and promotions to a movie and go into films with as little info as possible. I ended up seeing a clip or two from this before I watched it and that was enough to suck(er) me in. I added the (er) because I was duped into thinking it was going to be an awesome movie.
I love the new Dawn of the Dead. As much as I rail on this awful "reboot" trend, I liked that remake. I also liked 300. So when I heard and saw that director Zack Snyder had a new, really fun looking movie coming out I thought I was going to enjoy it. I was wrong. I had heard many-a-bad review of this movie before I finally rented it from Redbox and I was hoping that my quirky sense of movie admiration would save it for me. It didn't.
I will say this for the movie, it looked pretty as hell. I loved the style of the movie. Unfortunately, this didn't even come close to saving it. The war/fight scenes where amazing in their imaginativeness, these scenes were so gorgeous and fantastic that you can't help but enjoy them... although somehow you could. They totally fell flat. Why? I'm not sure. For action scenes with lots of shooting and fighting, they felt lumbering and tedious. The problem is now you have two more layers of stories above this to wade through. Yes, without giving too much away, this movie has many layers and unlike Shrek these layers don't lead to a soft and likeable inside.
There was so much potential in this story and somehow it all fell flat on its face. It had beautiful, kick ass women. Gorgeous Baby Doll in pig tails fighting all sorts of fantastical warriors and soldiers. It had steampunk Nazi's. It had stylish cinematography. It had so many great ideas that there should have been no way for this movie to be anything less han fun to watch. And yet... it wasn't that fun to watch. I would really have to watch it again to try and figure out what I think went wrong with it but it's not worth that kind of effort.
I would suggest putting this movie on in the background of a noisy house party. That way people could catch the fight scenes while drunk and not really paying attention. That or just watch the trailer.

Black Swan

Black Swan... hmmm. I guess I'll start off with what I knew about it before watching. I knew that Darren Aronofsky directed it. I knew that I love his films. I knew that two ladies I enjoy watching, Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, were in it. I knew that it was about ballet. I knew I know nothing about ballet. On top of all that I knew that many people proclaimed WTF after watching it and that usually means I'll like it.
I can say that I'm not typically a fan of dramas. There are some here and there that catch my interest but this one unfortunately wasn't one of them.
I didn't think the movie was bad by any means, I just couldn't get into it. I just kept waiting for it to get WTF weird. I think part of the reason was that I have no connection to professional dancing. I don't understand how a person can be extremely technical and not get the same reaction from the audience as someone who "looses themself" in the part. Does emotion really transfer that much through someone dancing on a stage? I can understand it being important in film or TV or even music where the audience is up close an personal with the performers but not in ballet on stage. It's kind of weird that I can understand it in one art form but not another. Although I guess if the dancers didn't immerse themselves in their parts then every production would seem like an elementary school play. This disconnect lent to me not really being able to attach to the characters motives. I also have no idea what it's like to obsess about anything so much that it would drive me crazy. I'm too scatterbrained for that. If something I'm working starts making me crazy, I usually drop it and find a new interest. I never stick to one thing for very long. The other thing that I had a problem with was more with the hype than the film itself. I think if I had seen it cold, without any knowledge of the film, I would have probably liked it more. I wouldn't have been waiting the whole time for it to get weird. Pretty much the whole time I just kept thinking about what was gonna happen that freaked everyone out so much. Then when the end came, I was like, "That's it? Ummmm. OK I admit it was a bit strange but it wasn't THAT crazy." Of course, with the amount of insane films I have watched in my life so far, I'm not too surprised that I was a little let down. But these are my issues, not the movies. If you want to see a portrayal of insanity, watch π, Requiem for a Dream, or go to David Lynch's Eraserhead. Or even better, Slaughtered Vomit Dolls. This is an unbelievably vile and disturbing movie that the director claimed was a representation of "the insanity just before death." If you can make it through while not be completely revolted and feel as though you've gone insane yourself... you're probably already wearing a straight jacket. This is the type of film I compare "strange" movies to.
Overall, I think Black Swan was done well. I think the characters were well acted but many seemed rather flat, storywise (Maybe the script itself was too technical and could have used more human touches to the characters... hmmm). To Natalie Portman's credit, her character was supposed to be rather 2D. Vincent Cassel really flew off the screen and was in your face. And one thing I had taken note of while watching was that Barbara Hershey had my eyes wide in a "wow that was creepy" look at a few points.
The strangeness that went on in the movie helped convey the feeling of someone really cracking under pressure, which I believe is the whole point of the movie. I think if I didn't have my hangups, I would have been more into the flick. Now I want to go and watch π and Requiem for a dream.

Insidious

So my Saturday night started with Paranormal Activity 2 then moved on to Insidious. One scare flick after another. Right off the bat I would have to say I liked Paranormal Activity 2 better.
Did I dislike Insidious?  No. I enjoyed it but not as much as Paranormal Activity 2. I liked how Paranormal Activity 2 knew what it was and didn't veer. Insidious suffered from a personality disorder. It changed it's feel halfway through, then again towards the end.
The beginning of Insidious was quite like Paranormal Activity 2 with it's scare tactics. Then it changed to a Ghostbusters feel with the introduction of the geeky paranormal techies. They were quite the refreshing blast of comedic air. Without feeling hokey, they managed to make me laugh whole heartedly and I immediately attached to these characters. Then it changed from a "realistic" ghost story to a sort of monster flick feel. While watching this, I was reminded of Drag Me To Hell for some reason. Check out my next blog post about that movie because I ended up throwing that in right after this one.
Was it fun? Yes. Was it great? No. I found my mind wandering near the end. It definitely had a few good "jolt you outta you seat" moments and some laughs but I would have to say Paranormal Activity 1 or even 2 was better as far as a ghost story is concerned.

Paranormal Activity 2

So, I finally got around to watching this. I remember the buzz around the first movie and having to search out a theater that was actually playing it around here. I was super excited to see it. Most of the time, that's a kiss of death for a movie because they almost never live up to the hype. I was glad that part one didn't disappoint. I'm usually the type of person who gets annoyed at the Hitchcock theory of it's better to leave stuff up to the imagination of the viewer. I agree that in many cases a movie can be better if the audience doesn't have the whole story shoved down their eye holes. I also think some films really need to show as much as they can. If I am watching a slasher film or cult flick, I want to be shown everything. These types of movies are made to shock and I think in those cases it's more shocking and disturbing to actually see what's going on. With movies like Paranormal 1 & 2 this philosophy probably would have cheapened them. Movies don't spook me easily anymore. It really takes some work to get the hairs on my neck to stand up an both of these films did that for me. When I got home after watching the first one, I actually found myself asking if I really wanted to turn off the lights before going to bed!
Then... a short time after part one was out... the dread news spread around that part two was in the works and, I admit, I groaned. Thinking back to Blair Witch 2. I assumed this sequel would go in the same direction. Why? Because I believe that movies on shoestring budgets actually draw out more creativity. Once Hollywood money gets poured into the likes of Paranormal Activity, it usually goes sour pretty fast. Suddenly it's about special effects and "let's see how we can mold it into a clone of whatever the hot movie was last year." I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how true to the first film this sequel stayed. Actually it was so true that it was almost an exact clone of the first one.
The scares were your classic startle moments... it's quiet... there's a noise... BLAM! Just like the first. I'd have to say that this didn't detract from my enjoyment. The one thing that did distract me was the feeling that this story didn't fit in with the first. By the end, it did seem to fit and I assumed it was my bad memory that caused the rift.
Overall, I enjoyed the flick. Even though it wasn't as good as the first one, it wasn't as bad as your typical Hollywood sequel. I am definitely looking forward to seeing the third in this series in the hopes that it doesn't strive any farther than trying to copy part one.

Star Wars: Death Troopers

Star Wars: Death Troopers (audiobook) by Joe Schreiber

After deciding to try and read more, I went and renewed my library card (I still don't think library cards should expire but anyway). My library also offers audiobooks for download. When looking through the list, I saw Death Troopers which I remembered when it came out years ago and I planned on reading it at somewhere point. Well, many years later I finally got to it. Sort of. I grabbed the audio book because I already bought another book for the ereader and I have been getting tired of listening to music in the car. I like being able to listen to audiobooks in the car, it's a nice change. I'm also, like I've said before, the slowest reader in the world and audiobooks are a faster option for me. In my opinion, it's not as rewarding to finish an audiobook as it is to finished reading a book but it's still enjoyable. One problem I have with audiobooks is that if I don't enjoy the reader it can be tough to get through. I've stopped listening to a few books for that very reason. Fortunately, this one was really well done. It was done like a radio play with sound effects and all. I really enjoyed Sean Kenin's reading. He had enough versatility in his vocal acting to subtly change his voice for each character while sounding completely natural.
So what is Death Troopers about? It's a zombie story set in the Star Wars universe on an Imperial prison ship and and Star Destroyer. So basically, it mixes two things I enjoy into one gory story.
This story is, by no means, deep. There really isn't much for character development or character depth, although there are some attempts. It's your basic story of people trying to survive a zombie outbreak. The zombies are a bit more complicated than your run of the mill zombie which makes for a few interesting developments. It had a decent amount of gory bits and plenty of action.
I'm glad I listened to this book instead of reading it. I really loved the radio show feel. It made for an entertaining listen.
If you love Star Wars and zombies, I think you'll enjoy this audiobook.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Hmm what to say about this one... Well let's start off the fact that although I liked the Ghostbusters movies, I can't say I was crazy about em at the time. I do remember obsessively playing the Ghostbusters game on the Commodore 64 though! I must admit that as soon as I heard the music and had Venkman, Egon, Winston and Ray start talking to my character I went all nostalgic. This is the kind of thing that made me enjoy the game. Now I want to go back and watch the movies again. (In fact I just rented it on Zune) Having all the voices back and the same humor of the movies is what this game is about. I loved that they go back and give back stories to some of the ghosts we saw in the movies. Did I mention...YOU GET TO BE A GHOSTBUSTER!
On to the game play. This is where the game is weak. Not a good thing for a game to have as a weak point but for me the enjoyment of the story and character interactions well than made up for it. Part of the way through the game, I went online and started reading reviews of the game to see if my impressions of the game were on par with what other people thought. I found out they were. There were plenty of times through the game where I just stared at the screen thinking "what the hell am I supposed to do?" I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means so it's not unusual that I get stuck. According to the reviews I read, this is one of the flaws of the game. The level design is pretty suspect at times. This game also lent itself to quite a bit of swearing and cursing it's existence. There is no "dying" in the game but the characters can get knocked out. If all of them are knocked out, you have to restart at the last checkpoint. Basically, in some levels, if you don't pay attention to who's knocked out and run to revive them as soon as possible, you will be restarting the level very soon. The game also jumps from super easy to frustrating as all hell in the blink of an eye. It never gets impossible though. One other thing that was mentioned in the reviews I read, which I also noticed, is how everything you encounter (like chairs, tables etc) act as if they weight as much as a sheet of tissue paper. I understand why they did this though. The reason was to allow you to have the same fun they did in the movies and completely destroy rooms in which you are bustin ghosts. This was something I could forgive because it was fun to see the carnage after all was said and done.
So, would I recommend the game? If you're a fan of the movies, yes... yes I would. If you're just looking for a good game to play but never really cared about the movies, you'll probably want to stay away.

Matthew Reilly

I finally finished 6 Sacred Stones. It's the second in a series which is the second series Matthew Reilly has developed (say that three times fast lol). I loved this book. It took me a while to read because I am an excruciatingly slow reader. Because of this fact I tend to shy away from reading and find everything else to do instead. I read when camping mostly cuz I have less distraction options.
If you have not heard of Matthew Reilly, he is an action adventure writer that has the most insane action you could possibly read. He himself an admitted action junky. He has said that if he has to cut something from a book and it was a choice between character development or action, the character development would go in and instant. What I love about his stuff is that even though he says this, he still manages to flesh out amazing characters that you completely get attached to. I love that in order to keep his books unpredictable he's not afraid to kill off said characters. This makes for an intense read.
I'm not going to go into a specific review of the book because I don't have the memory for any specifics. As I said before, it took me an incredibly long time to read this book but not bcause of the book specifically. Usually for me, I forget most of what I read shortly after. It sucks for me and is also another reason I don't tend to gravitate to reading much. I'm writing this immediately after finishing the book so as to be able to write out my immediate impressions. This book was probably one of his most unbelievable, but that didn't detract from me enjoying the book. Intertwined with all the insane action are great characters and fantastic ancient mysteries based on real ancient wonders of the world.
If you are looking for something entertaining to read, you can't go wrong with Mr. Reilly.
I apologize for the stream of consciousness feel to this entry but that's pretty much what it was. If I don't write it and put it out there asap, I will put it aside and forget about it. I don't claim to be a writer but would like to try and jumpstart the brain cells more and this blog is one attempt at doing that.
Thanks for reading!