Jen's Ruthless Reviews
Recent Reviews - not yet out on DVD
Wall - E
1 watch check
This is my favorite Pixar movie since Toy Story. I loved it! Wall-E is my favorite robot since R2!
It's very cute, robot-love-story-with-a-message. There's not much dialog, in fact, I think the first half is mostly sight gags, beeps and warbles -- and it works tremendously! Take all your little people (and their grandparents) to see this one; it suitable for everyone -- and at only an hour and a half, probably the right length for most people!
(Plus, thanks to a voice that frequently makes audix think I'm a digital beep, I can add my impersonation of Wall-E to my repertoire, which brings it to 2 (the chipmunks is my other one).
Wanted
1 watch check
So, since Thursday, 2 people called to tell me that this might be too violent and graphic for me and maybe I shouldn't see it; but it looked really cool so we decided to go see it anyway).
I have to say, this is the most original action movie I've seen since the (first) Matrix! The chase scenes were exciting, the fight scenes were well done, the story was actually pretty interesting too.
I don't believe they could have gotten another actress to play Fox than Angelina Jolie -- she was incredible; James McAvoy was pretty good; the sound track is excellent! You get a huge adrenaline rush just watching the movie; and the ending is great!
Having raved about it so far, I should call out, I did spend a fair amount of time with my eyes closed, and a few minutes with my eyes closed and my hands covering them (just in case I blinked) -- it's very gory, but kind of on a comic-book level, not on a watching the news level. It's all so improbable that if it wasn't gory, it probably wouldn't be so bad. They must have gone through all the red paint/fake blood in Chicago and Prague when filming this! So I didn't care for that.
I would recommend it as it's very original, but with reservations, due to the gore and (literally) over-kill.
I would say that if you're only seeing one movie this summer, you might want to wait for the Dark Knight or go see Wall-E, because while this one is exciting and pretty cutting edge, I'm not sure it's the BEST movie this summer.
Not many interesting previews between the two movies - I'll probably see Journey to the Center of the Earth and Swingvote, absolutely see Dark Knight and I'm on the fence about the Mummy 3 given that they seemed to have replaced Evie. Have you noticed that about half the previews these days are for 3-D movies? Be interesting to see if that takes off this time -- I'm not sure "Fly me to the Moon (astronaut-flies (serioulsy)) in 3-D is the way to do it!
The Happening
6 watch checks
This is a HORRIBLE movie.
It's a very interesting premise, and was making an interesting point, which is why I didn't walk out. I kept thinking it had to get better, but I was wrong.
I had skipped the last M. Night Shyamalan movie (the one with the woman living in the apartment complex pool!) because The Village was so bad. i thought perhaps having given his movies a break, this one would be better, plus it did have Mark Wahlberg and he's hot. I should have skipped this one.
I think the movie had a very interesting premise, and was making an interesting point, which is why I didn't walk out. I kept thinking it had to get better but I was wrong.
As we all know from the hook on the trailers -- this is the first R rated movie by Shyamalan. Apparently, with the R rating, he forgot that the things you don't see can be the scariest of all and just went for the buckets of blood. They should have named it 9 million most grotesque ways to kill yourself - I spent many scenes with my eyes closed, waiting for the sounds of the next scene to start.
Not even Mark Wahlberg could save this one (although he tries). Zoey Deschanel who plays his wife wonders through pretty much the whole movie asking "what's happening" (guess that's where they got the title), and she's very wasted in the movie.
I really would not recommend this movie and unless Shyamalan starts making a different type of movie, I think I might just be done with his films.
I really wish I had gone to see the Incredible Hulk instead!
(They did have some great trailers before this, so it wasn't all a loss -- I can't wait for the X-Files movie, Traitor with Don Cheadle looks interesting, and Swingvote with Kevin Costner looks cute).
Sex and The City
2 watch checks
This was very fun! A great adaptation of the series, with lots of true to character moments.
If you liked the series, you'll enjoy the movie. If you didn't see the series, not sure why you'd go see the movie.
It does drag a bit in the middle, they tried to put way too much into it. They could have left out the whole interlude with Jennifer Hudson (she was fine but it was pointless). The reason people would come to see the movie would be to see Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha (along with the men that surround them). No idea why they felt they needed to add a new chick. That would have made the movie a better length too!
Other than that, it's more of the same, great shoes, bizarre fashion, and an enjoyable ending. I think they've wrapped it up nicely!
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
1 Watch Check
Loved it, loved it, loved it! Harrison Ford's best movie since Air Force One - totally made me want to rush home and rewatch all the Indy movies plus the original Star Wars trilogy.
I loved that they don't try to pretend no time has passed between Last Crusade and Crystal Skull, and that they give you a (teeny-tiny) glimpse into what has happened in Indy's life between then and now.
I thought some of the humorous banter at the beginning was a bit forced, like they were trying to make sure everyone knew that they knew Indy was getting old.
The action sequences are excellent; only one that I think was really greenscreened in and it's was actually a bit jarring since it seemed that everything else was actual people doing the stunts.
There is another (not action) sequence that was pretty obviously CGI but given the storyline, it made perfect sense.
I loved:
the interaction between Karen Allen, Shia LeBeouf and Harrison Ford;
that Karen Allen's Marion actually got some action scenes of her own;
John Hurt as Professor Oxley
Ray Winstone as Mac (I actually didn't recognize him at first)
the action scenes
most of the banter
the underlying mythology of the crystal skulls
the ending
the obligatory snake scene
Sadly, not even 4 hours after seeing the movie, I've forgotten most of Cate Blanchett's performance; she just didn't stand out/stand up to the action and treasure hunting.
There's also a couple of insect related scenes that really got to me; in fact they made me itch all over!
I'd forgotten how many movies want to be Indiana Jones movies -- the National Treasure movies are just bad knockoffs; the Mummy movies are somewhat better, but I can't imagine that the one due out this year is going to do very well compared to the real Indiana Jones -- they just don't hold a candle to a real Indiana Jones movie!
I would totally recommend seeing this -- if you're a fan of the original 3, you'll enjoy this one; if you didn't then you probably won't care about it much.
They had some great trailers for some more big summer movies -- can't wait for Hancock. Hellboy II looks entertaining; the Curious Case of Benjamin Button looks very interesting. They showed the first lengthy trailer I've seen for Baz Luhrmann's Australia and it looks great (although the first glimpse of Nicole Kidman makes her look like a giant for some reason).
Iron Man
1 Watch Check
LOVED IT! It's the perfect summer movie - men in funny outfits, lots of action, great special effects.
I'm not a fangirl so I've never read the comic (er, graphic novels) about Iron Man so I can't say whether it's good from that sense or not, but I think it's the best superhero movie since Batman Begins.
Robert Downey Jr is excellent -- his best performance since Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (which I highly recommend).
Gwyneth Paltrow is not annoying in this and Jeff Bridges is great (although almost unrecognizable) and Terrence Howard gets some really funny scenes.
Some of the plot is pretty transparent, but it is a summer superhero action adventure so that's not unexpected. The effects are very well done, and I especially want a Jarvis of my own.
Definitely one to see to get the summer started!
Baby Mama
0 Watch Checks
This is really a cute (but predictable) movie; Tina Fey and Amy Poehler may be two of the funniest women working right now! It has many laugh out loud parts (including some not in the trailer, which is always nice) and it has a heart too!
Steve Martin is great as the owner of the pseudo whole foods/wild oats chain; he has a few management techniques I might have to adopt -- particularly his reward for a job well done!*
Greg Kinnear is quite adorable as well and I thought Romany Malco almost stole the movie as Oscar the Doorman. Sigorney Weaver is downright creepy as the head of the surrogate agency, I really hope she was supposed to be!
All in all, an entertaining film, probably a rental for most people.
*just kidding
Street Kings
1 Watch Check
Disclaimer -- With the exception of A Scanner Darkly, I see all the Keanu Reeves movies and have since the Bill and Ted days, I think he's very under-rated as an actor (watch River's Edge and you'll understand why) and I love his action movies (Speed, Matrix).
This is a very Training Day-esque movie, but I think it's much better than Training Day. James Ellroy wrote it (he also wrote one of my favorite movies, LA Confidential) so it's very, very dark and pretty much everyone is flawed. There are lots of gunfights, a few chases and more double crosses than I can count, but it's all very well done.
I loved Hugh Laurie, found Forest Whitaker to be a bit over the top, I didn't really buy Chris Evans as a detective because he looks like he's 12 but they worked that into the story too, so it was good. Keanu's performance is great, very much in the vein of the original Die Hard (without the humor).
You can tell it's getting close to summer blockbuster time, since there's no redeeming social message or deep meaning here, it's just an entertaining shoot-em-up movie!
1 watch check
This is my favorite Pixar movie since Toy Story. I loved it! Wall-E is my favorite robot since R2!
It's very cute, robot-love-story-with-a-message. There's not much dialog, in fact, I think the first half is mostly sight gags, beeps and warbles -- and it works tremendously! Take all your little people (and their grandparents) to see this one; it suitable for everyone -- and at only an hour and a half, probably the right length for most people!
(Plus, thanks to a voice that frequently makes audix think I'm a digital beep, I can add my impersonation of Wall-E to my repertoire, which brings it to 2 (the chipmunks is my other one).
Wanted
1 watch check
So, since Thursday, 2 people called to tell me that this might be too violent and graphic for me and maybe I shouldn't see it; but it looked really cool so we decided to go see it anyway).
I have to say, this is the most original action movie I've seen since the (first) Matrix! The chase scenes were exciting, the fight scenes were well done, the story was actually pretty interesting too.
I don't believe they could have gotten another actress to play Fox than Angelina Jolie -- she was incredible; James McAvoy was pretty good; the sound track is excellent! You get a huge adrenaline rush just watching the movie; and the ending is great!
Having raved about it so far, I should call out, I did spend a fair amount of time with my eyes closed, and a few minutes with my eyes closed and my hands covering them (just in case I blinked) -- it's very gory, but kind of on a comic-book level, not on a watching the news level. It's all so improbable that if it wasn't gory, it probably wouldn't be so bad. They must have gone through all the red paint/fake blood in Chicago and Prague when filming this! So I didn't care for that.
I would recommend it as it's very original, but with reservations, due to the gore and (literally) over-kill.
I would say that if you're only seeing one movie this summer, you might want to wait for the Dark Knight or go see Wall-E, because while this one is exciting and pretty cutting edge, I'm not sure it's the BEST movie this summer.
Not many interesting previews between the two movies - I'll probably see Journey to the Center of the Earth and Swingvote, absolutely see Dark Knight and I'm on the fence about the Mummy 3 given that they seemed to have replaced Evie. Have you noticed that about half the previews these days are for 3-D movies? Be interesting to see if that takes off this time -- I'm not sure "Fly me to the Moon (astronaut-flies (serioulsy)) in 3-D is the way to do it!
The Happening
6 watch checks
This is a HORRIBLE movie.
It's a very interesting premise, and was making an interesting point, which is why I didn't walk out. I kept thinking it had to get better, but I was wrong.
I had skipped the last M. Night Shyamalan movie (the one with the woman living in the apartment complex pool!) because The Village was so bad. i thought perhaps having given his movies a break, this one would be better, plus it did have Mark Wahlberg and he's hot. I should have skipped this one.
I think the movie had a very interesting premise, and was making an interesting point, which is why I didn't walk out. I kept thinking it had to get better but I was wrong.
As we all know from the hook on the trailers -- this is the first R rated movie by Shyamalan. Apparently, with the R rating, he forgot that the things you don't see can be the scariest of all and just went for the buckets of blood. They should have named it 9 million most grotesque ways to kill yourself - I spent many scenes with my eyes closed, waiting for the sounds of the next scene to start.
Not even Mark Wahlberg could save this one (although he tries). Zoey Deschanel who plays his wife wonders through pretty much the whole movie asking "what's happening" (guess that's where they got the title), and she's very wasted in the movie.
I really would not recommend this movie and unless Shyamalan starts making a different type of movie, I think I might just be done with his films.
I really wish I had gone to see the Incredible Hulk instead!
(They did have some great trailers before this, so it wasn't all a loss -- I can't wait for the X-Files movie, Traitor with Don Cheadle looks interesting, and Swingvote with Kevin Costner looks cute).
Sex and The City
2 watch checks
This was very fun! A great adaptation of the series, with lots of true to character moments.
If you liked the series, you'll enjoy the movie. If you didn't see the series, not sure why you'd go see the movie.
It does drag a bit in the middle, they tried to put way too much into it. They could have left out the whole interlude with Jennifer Hudson (she was fine but it was pointless). The reason people would come to see the movie would be to see Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha (along with the men that surround them). No idea why they felt they needed to add a new chick. That would have made the movie a better length too!
Other than that, it's more of the same, great shoes, bizarre fashion, and an enjoyable ending. I think they've wrapped it up nicely!
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
1 Watch Check
Loved it, loved it, loved it! Harrison Ford's best movie since Air Force One - totally made me want to rush home and rewatch all the Indy movies plus the original Star Wars trilogy.
I loved that they don't try to pretend no time has passed between Last Crusade and Crystal Skull, and that they give you a (teeny-tiny) glimpse into what has happened in Indy's life between then and now.
I thought some of the humorous banter at the beginning was a bit forced, like they were trying to make sure everyone knew that they knew Indy was getting old.
The action sequences are excellent; only one that I think was really greenscreened in and it's was actually a bit jarring since it seemed that everything else was actual people doing the stunts.
There is another (not action) sequence that was pretty obviously CGI but given the storyline, it made perfect sense.
I loved:
the interaction between Karen Allen, Shia LeBeouf and Harrison Ford;
that Karen Allen's Marion actually got some action scenes of her own;
John Hurt as Professor Oxley
Ray Winstone as Mac (I actually didn't recognize him at first)
the action scenes
most of the banter
the underlying mythology of the crystal skulls
the ending
the obligatory snake scene
Sadly, not even 4 hours after seeing the movie, I've forgotten most of Cate Blanchett's performance; she just didn't stand out/stand up to the action and treasure hunting.
There's also a couple of insect related scenes that really got to me; in fact they made me itch all over!
I'd forgotten how many movies want to be Indiana Jones movies -- the National Treasure movies are just bad knockoffs; the Mummy movies are somewhat better, but I can't imagine that the one due out this year is going to do very well compared to the real Indiana Jones -- they just don't hold a candle to a real Indiana Jones movie!
I would totally recommend seeing this -- if you're a fan of the original 3, you'll enjoy this one; if you didn't then you probably won't care about it much.
They had some great trailers for some more big summer movies -- can't wait for Hancock. Hellboy II looks entertaining; the Curious Case of Benjamin Button looks very interesting. They showed the first lengthy trailer I've seen for Baz Luhrmann's Australia and it looks great (although the first glimpse of Nicole Kidman makes her look like a giant for some reason).
Iron Man
1 Watch Check
LOVED IT! It's the perfect summer movie - men in funny outfits, lots of action, great special effects.
I'm not a fangirl so I've never read the comic (er, graphic novels) about Iron Man so I can't say whether it's good from that sense or not, but I think it's the best superhero movie since Batman Begins.
Robert Downey Jr is excellent -- his best performance since Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (which I highly recommend).
Gwyneth Paltrow is not annoying in this and Jeff Bridges is great (although almost unrecognizable) and Terrence Howard gets some really funny scenes.
Some of the plot is pretty transparent, but it is a summer superhero action adventure so that's not unexpected. The effects are very well done, and I especially want a Jarvis of my own.
Definitely one to see to get the summer started!
Baby Mama
0 Watch Checks
This is really a cute (but predictable) movie; Tina Fey and Amy Poehler may be two of the funniest women working right now! It has many laugh out loud parts (including some not in the trailer, which is always nice) and it has a heart too!
Steve Martin is great as the owner of the pseudo whole foods/wild oats chain; he has a few management techniques I might have to adopt -- particularly his reward for a job well done!*
Greg Kinnear is quite adorable as well and I thought Romany Malco almost stole the movie as Oscar the Doorman. Sigorney Weaver is downright creepy as the head of the surrogate agency, I really hope she was supposed to be!
All in all, an entertaining film, probably a rental for most people.
*just kidding
Street Kings
1 Watch Check
Disclaimer -- With the exception of A Scanner Darkly, I see all the Keanu Reeves movies and have since the Bill and Ted days, I think he's very under-rated as an actor (watch River's Edge and you'll understand why) and I love his action movies (Speed, Matrix).
This is a very Training Day-esque movie, but I think it's much better than Training Day. James Ellroy wrote it (he also wrote one of my favorite movies, LA Confidential) so it's very, very dark and pretty much everyone is flawed. There are lots of gunfights, a few chases and more double crosses than I can count, but it's all very well done.
I loved Hugh Laurie, found Forest Whitaker to be a bit over the top, I didn't really buy Chris Evans as a detective because he looks like he's 12 but they worked that into the story too, so it was good. Keanu's performance is great, very much in the vein of the original Die Hard (without the humor).
You can tell it's getting close to summer blockbuster time, since there's no redeeming social message or deep meaning here, it's just an entertaining shoot-em-up movie!
