Coraline
3D stop-motion animation based on a book by Neil Gaiman (slightly macabre writer) and directed by Henry Selick who directed Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach (ergo, a slightly macabre director). The end result is gothically weird. There's plenty of offbeat humour - like the dead dogs dressed an angels - but overall it's a bit of a horror movie for young 'uns. I wouldn't take small kids to see it, but I enjoyed it.
Jongudmund's rating: 7/10 Well worth a look
Monsters versus Aliens
Hilarious cartoon. An evil alien attacks earth to reclaim a meteor that has transformed an ordinary woman into a 'monster' 50ft version of herself. Spoofing The Fly, The Blob, Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Godzilla-style monster films and just about everything else from those 50s monster movies, I imagine most of the jokes would go over the kiddies' heads. But I laughed a lot, particularly at Bob the Blob voiced by Seth Rogan. It had a bit of a deeper storyline than you normally get from this sort of thing too.
Jongudmund's rating: 8/10 Thoroughly worth it
Tropic Thunder
"Comedy" that falls short on just about everything. A weak storyline based around making a Vietnam war film fails to use the comic genius of several top-rate actors , including Ben Stiller and Jack Black. There is a LOT of swearing in it and far too many in-jokes about film-making and studio bosses that would be funny to people working in Hollywood, but are craply dull to the rest of humanity. Frankly, this is one sick puppy that should have been drowned at birth.
Jongudmund's rating: 1/10 Avoid, avoid, avoid
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
An oldie seen on TV. Given the way profile of Angelina Jolie in the TV spots and billing, she's hardly in it. Which is disappointing as her character is easily the best one. This has the feel of a hammy TV serial from the 60s. The plotline is interesting. There are one or two holes, and several cliched plot 'twists' and conversations.
Jongudmund's rating: 4/10 Mildly diverting. Probably more fun if you fancy Jude Law (I don't)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The only problem with this is that I kind of guessed/knew all the plot twists before they happened. Of course the British guy was going to sell him out, obviously Mutt was Indy's son, etc. Harrison Ford is always good value and the script had its moments. But this seemed scattergun in its approach to story. It was very episodic and some things seemed to happen because they're the sort of things that happen in Indiana Jones films, not because they added to the plot - like mysterious decorated natives jumping out on Indy and Mutt in a cemetary. Half the time I was left thinking 'Why?'
Jongudmund's rating: 5/10 Watch it if you're an Indy fan
Showing posts with label Jack Black. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jack Black. Show all posts
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Kung Fu Panda on IMAX
If you haven't see a trailer for this latest animation from Dreamworks, it's about a Panda who dreams of becoming as a Kung Fu master, which you've got to admit is a funny premise. Add in the vocal talents of Jack Black as Po the Panda and the film sounds like it's going to be good.
In fact, it's more than good. It's brilliant. The animation is superb, and being in a place where they have an IMAX cinema, we took the opportunity to watch it on IMAX, which made the animation even better. The characters do actually have some character, partly because of the impressive acting talent bringing them to life - Dustin Hoffman particularly stands out as the rodent-type thing who trains Po (he might be a red panda, or some kind of squirrel, I'm not sure).
I'm not going to spoil the story by explaining it for you beyond what I've already said. There's a bad guy, and an interesting moral about the 'secret ingredient' of success. But really you have to go see it.
It has been noted before, by many people, that I bear a resemblance to Jack Black. (This was especially true a couple of years ago when Shallow Hal came out). Unfortunately, it would seem the resemblance includes when Jack Black is a cartoon panda, because Cathy reckons I still looked like him. Bizarrely there was a wise old turtle character who really reminded me of my Grandad, especially when he smiled and his wrinkles all bunched up.
So, if you go see it - let me know if you think I do actually look like Po. I'd appreciate your opinion.
Jongudmund's rating: 10/10
And finally, to end this review on a note to sicken British-based readers of this blog, going to see an IMAX film in America cost us less than going to see a regular film back home...
In fact, it's more than good. It's brilliant. The animation is superb, and being in a place where they have an IMAX cinema, we took the opportunity to watch it on IMAX, which made the animation even better. The characters do actually have some character, partly because of the impressive acting talent bringing them to life - Dustin Hoffman particularly stands out as the rodent-type thing who trains Po (he might be a red panda, or some kind of squirrel, I'm not sure).
I'm not going to spoil the story by explaining it for you beyond what I've already said. There's a bad guy, and an interesting moral about the 'secret ingredient' of success. But really you have to go see it.
It has been noted before, by many people, that I bear a resemblance to Jack Black. (This was especially true a couple of years ago when Shallow Hal came out). Unfortunately, it would seem the resemblance includes when Jack Black is a cartoon panda, because Cathy reckons I still looked like him. Bizarrely there was a wise old turtle character who really reminded me of my Grandad, especially when he smiled and his wrinkles all bunched up.
So, if you go see it - let me know if you think I do actually look like Po. I'd appreciate your opinion.
Jongudmund's rating: 10/10
And finally, to end this review on a note to sicken British-based readers of this blog, going to see an IMAX film in America cost us less than going to see a regular film back home...
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Nacho Libre
Back in the days when I worked in minimum wage hell, I was a lowly minion in a cinema. It was around this time that I first became aware of Jack Black – mainly because we had posters up advertising Shallow Hal and I apparently bore more then just a passing resemblance to Jack, as he appeared on the poster (hugging Gwyneth Paltrow).
One of the naff ways the cinema tried to be ‘fun’ was that it made you have your favourite movie on your name badge alongside your name. It wasn’t long before some jokers ordered me a name badge saying my favourite film was Shallow Hal.
Recently Shallow Hal had its TV premiere and three people, none of whom knew about my minimum wage hell experience, said that they’d “seen this movie last night which really reminded me of you…”
Then last week, within a 24 hour window, my foster sister told me that she thought I ‘was’ Jack Black, a friend who I’m going to collaborate on writing a film script with told me we could do an autobiographical with Jack Black playing me, and my office’s resident filmaholic asked me what I was doing that evening, because there was this film he wanted to see with me called Nacho Libre.
So, I went to see it last night. What a disappointment.
The thing that got me was that this was a huge missed opportunity. The basic premise is flawless – a monk, wanting to buy decent food for the orphans in his care, ignores the Church’s condemnation of wrestling, dresses up as a (masked) wrestler, and in this secret identity wins enough money to buy the orphans salads for a change. As a concept, it can’t miss. As a film, it did.
Jack Black is a good comic actor. I liked Shallow Hal, despite the constant annoying comparisons. I liked Orange County, which if you haven’t seen it, is just brilliant, mainly because of Jack’s performance as a hippy stoner. I liked Envy, where he outperforms Ben Stiller – no mean feat.
Admittedly he wasn’t great in King Kong, but then King Kong was awful. And I personally thought School of Rock wasn’t that good, although I know people who loved it to bits.
I’m not a huge fan of his band, Tenacious D, although I will admit the video for ‘Tribute’ is funny (especially ‘he asked us “Be you angels” and we said “Nay! We are but men!” ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh’), but the album is ropey at best, with too many ‘spoken word’ segments. Unsurprisingly, there’s a Tenacious D movie in the works.
So, where did Nacho Libre go wrong? Well, firstly the script was poor. It felt as if the actors were improvising. There were lots of standing/sitting around scenes where not much happened. To make scenes ‘funnier’ the director had the brilliant idea of having Jack’s character Ignacio, sitting on a toilet while talking to someone else. Literal toilet humour.
One of the naff ways the cinema tried to be ‘fun’ was that it made you have your favourite movie on your name badge alongside your name. It wasn’t long before some jokers ordered me a name badge saying my favourite film was Shallow Hal.
Recently Shallow Hal had its TV premiere and three people, none of whom knew about my minimum wage hell experience, said that they’d “seen this movie last night which really reminded me of you…”
Then last week, within a 24 hour window, my foster sister told me that she thought I ‘was’ Jack Black, a friend who I’m going to collaborate on writing a film script with told me we could do an autobiographical with Jack Black playing me, and my office’s resident filmaholic asked me what I was doing that evening, because there was this film he wanted to see with me called Nacho Libre.
So, I went to see it last night. What a disappointment.
The thing that got me was that this was a huge missed opportunity. The basic premise is flawless – a monk, wanting to buy decent food for the orphans in his care, ignores the Church’s condemnation of wrestling, dresses up as a (masked) wrestler, and in this secret identity wins enough money to buy the orphans salads for a change. As a concept, it can’t miss. As a film, it did.
Jack Black is a good comic actor. I liked Shallow Hal, despite the constant annoying comparisons. I liked Orange County, which if you haven’t seen it, is just brilliant, mainly because of Jack’s performance as a hippy stoner. I liked Envy, where he outperforms Ben Stiller – no mean feat.
Admittedly he wasn’t great in King Kong, but then King Kong was awful. And I personally thought School of Rock wasn’t that good, although I know people who loved it to bits.
I’m not a huge fan of his band, Tenacious D, although I will admit the video for ‘Tribute’ is funny (especially ‘he asked us “Be you angels” and we said “Nay! We are but men!” ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh’), but the album is ropey at best, with too many ‘spoken word’ segments. Unsurprisingly, there’s a Tenacious D movie in the works.
So, where did Nacho Libre go wrong? Well, firstly the script was poor. It felt as if the actors were improvising. There were lots of standing/sitting around scenes where not much happened. To make scenes ‘funnier’ the director had the brilliant idea of having Jack’s character Ignacio, sitting on a toilet while talking to someone else. Literal toilet humour.
Ignacio and his tag-team partner get beaten up a lot by a variety of dwarf wrestlers/ women wrestlers/ bizarre character wrestlers. He falls in love with a nun who seems to spend most of the film combing her hair while wearing a long nightdress.
I’ve reached the conclusion that there are only so many times you can watch Jack Black getting beaten up in a wrestling ring without it getting deathly dull. That number is somewhere between once and twice. After that, it’s just boring.
Ignacio is a bit of a dunce, and therein lies another missed opportunity. This could have been a powerful comedy drama with a hint of ‘liberation theology’ as a monk takes his calling to stand up for the poor and dispossessed seriously, flouting pious religiosity to become a folk hero. Instead he comes over as a pathetic, misunderstood clown. There are nods to the dramatic. Ignacio asks ‘What is the gospel?’ with the questioning attitude of many who have discovered that religion talks the talk but does not walk the walk. But that’s about it.
Ultimately, the biggest disappointment of Nacho Libre is that it could have been so much better – a great concept, a great comic actor, a huge marketing push.
I’ve reached the conclusion that there are only so many times you can watch Jack Black getting beaten up in a wrestling ring without it getting deathly dull. That number is somewhere between once and twice. After that, it’s just boring.
Ignacio is a bit of a dunce, and therein lies another missed opportunity. This could have been a powerful comedy drama with a hint of ‘liberation theology’ as a monk takes his calling to stand up for the poor and dispossessed seriously, flouting pious religiosity to become a folk hero. Instead he comes over as a pathetic, misunderstood clown. There are nods to the dramatic. Ignacio asks ‘What is the gospel?’ with the questioning attitude of many who have discovered that religion talks the talk but does not walk the walk. But that’s about it.
Ultimately, the biggest disappointment of Nacho Libre is that it could have been so much better – a great concept, a great comic actor, a huge marketing push.
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