The Darkest Hour - Movie Review.

Battleship - Movie review.

A Dangerous Method - movie review.

The Dictator!

So, for those of you who don't know, the star of this film is Sacha Baron Cohen, he of Ali G, Borat and Bruno fame.  In this one, it's a little different than his other works: it actually has a linear plot and it's less of a documentary style and more of a conventional movie.  However, you don't have to fear as it still has his touches all over it, it's satirical and ironic, it has crude humour and a lot of commentary about a wide variety of topics, mostly to do with the United States.  If you're a big fan of some of his other works, then you'll probably forgive the parts in the film that aren't that funny, if you have never watched any of his other films, in my opinion Bruno and especially Borat are slightly better.  I'll get into it a little more. 


So, there is a lot that works and a lot that is funny in The Dictator.  My favourite scene was actually the scene in the United Nations involving the fake Dictator and what he does to the Jewish delegation (I won't give it away here).  Let's just say that I was laughing my ass off.  The movie starts off hilariously and really keeps the momentum going while he is in the fake nation of Wadiya which Baron Cohen's character is the dictator of.  I actually think those scenes are funnier than his scenes when he's coming to America.  I just like this idea of having this completely amoral person walking around, doing whatever he wants, he's completely clueless but because he's in charge, no one can really stop him. 


Then he goes to America.  He meets the requisite American girl who is absolutely appalled with what he does.  The momentum keeps up for a while in America, but then things start to falter.  Partly because of the relationship -- it's not bad or anything, but it's not really good, either.  I'm not interested in seeing Baron Cohen's character reform or find love or anything like that.  Like I said, it's not really bad or anything, but it just doesn't interest me, I'm more interested in him offending everyone.  He does this somewhat, but it gets a little muddled, because there's actually a storyline -- he's got a mission he's got to do, there's a deadline and it's sort of geared to that.  That being said, there was some stuff I just think fell flat...the masturbation scene, the birthing scene (though it recovered a bit at the end) and the decapitated head all produced crickets in the theatre.  It wasn't like the Borat scene where he and the other guy were wrestling naked in the hotel where you just watched it build to it went to ludicrous heights...these scenes were just "okay, this isn't really funny or going anywhere, let's move on". 


However, there's more to like in this film than dislike.  The other actors in the movie don't really get in Baron Cohen's way, he is the star and the movie is all him.  The jokes hit more than they miss and there's a lot to like about the movie.  For me personally, like I said, I enjoy seeing him do ridiculous and outrageous things in Borat or Bruno a little more just because of the style it's done -- having it like a mockumentary, a lot of people would take this stuff for real, he didn't really use actors in that film and the reactions just strike me as funnier.  In this one, it's a movie, I know it's a movie, it doesn't mean it's not a funny movie but I think having more overtly a movie lessens his impact a little bit and makes the jokes that don't work a little more negative to the overall film.  


That being said go check it out, you'll probably find it absolutely hilarious and if you're clever, you'll like it for what it is.  


Rating: 3.5 out of 5. 


- Stephenstein

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE - My thoughts.

WTF is happening to Community?? Dan Harmon fired, Community’s new Friday death slot, and new directions.

So, the NBC show Community ended its third season this past Thursday with a mini marathon of three new episodes. After having been jerked around this season (it was placed on “hiatus “ after the Fall, then brought back for the Summer after much speculation that it was cancelled), NBC has announced that Community is indeed coming back for a fourth season, but in Friday, the notorious “death slot”. NBC also fired show runner and creator Dan Harmon (all of the writers are off too – not fired, but some have left for other jobs, one quit over Harmon being fired). The head writers are not going to be David Guarascio and Moses Port, writers for Happy Endings – a show I really effing despise -- and creators of the frankly shitty Aliens in America (a concept done way better at the same time in this country with Little Mosque on the Prairie).



Ah, Community. For those who don’t know, I really love this show. I’ve see every episode since day one and own the first two seasons on DVD (I intend to get season 3 when it comes out). I love the characters (my favourite being Abed) but I also love all of the cleverly handled tributes and spoofs on all things pop culture. Dan Harmon himself is in his late 30s and he seems to have been influenced by the same pop culture references that I love. That said, mainstream acceptance and longevity seems to have been sacrificed for “gimmick” or “theme” episodes, of which this show has thrived on for episode after episode in seasons 2 and 3. While I love the Youtube episode (made of clips in the spirit of random Youtube fan clips), the all claymation Christmas episode, the Dungeons and Dragons episode in which the characters do a quest involving all of the D&D rules, the alternate reality episode and even this Thursday’s all 8-bit video game episode (in which most of the episode was entirely done in 8-bit videogame style), most people will not understand what the hell is going on. As well, even I admit to being tired of all of these strange theme episodes. The characters don’t seem to have a chance to grow and breath. Annie and Jeff’s characters (Alison Brie and Joel McHale respectively) looked like they were heading into a relationship with each other heading into season 2, but then their relationship was addressed sporadically, taking a back seat to all of the pop culture tribute shenanigans. Hell, the most they ever showed of this storyline was the alternate reality episode, and that part of the episode didn’t matter to the rest of the continuity. Also, Brita is impregnated by Chang (Yvette Nicole Brown and Ken Jeong respectively) in a Halloween episode none of the characters remembered because they were infected by a government-made drug that made them all zombies. Then, there are characters acting out of character. I loved the character of Abed (Danny Pudi) in season one. He was portrayed in that episode as a quite boy who appeared quirky and strange to everyone, but was really intelligent and in full command of himself, but just had trouble communicating to people. I loved that he loved watching movies and TV shows and had a full encyclopedic knowledge of all of it, but was still a cool, intelligent dude who had a calm outlook on life that elevated himself above the others around him who thought he was odd. I remember the episode where his simple notion that he should do a favour for a friend no matter what caused him to outwit a bunch of lab students being a favourite of mine, and I love one epidoe (I think it was the first Halloween episode?) where Jeff accuses Abed of not being connected to reality, and Abed giving a speech part way through the episode where he admits that he does know what’s real and what’s fake at all times, but chooses to view reality through the lens of pop culture. Oh, and I love the episode where in Jeff breaks down and lives life like Abed, spending his days watching TV shows and movies with Abed in his dorm room, until Abed realizes that isn’t eh life for Jeff and creates a plan for Jeff to stand on his own two feet – because Abed was fully aware of his surroundings enough to know what Jeff was doing to himself was wrong. Then what happened? Apply the Abed of those episodes to the Abed of season 3. Abed is nothing but a wack job now. He plays in the “imaginatorium”, he thinks he’s Batman, he has mental breakdowns of yelling fits when his favourite show is cancelled – WTF? I don’t know but, isn’t this out of character for him? Then Chang gets crazier and crazier, taking over the school and kidnapping the Dean. And speaking of the Dean, he becomes more and more of a crazy homosexual stereotype with every episode. Sure, the costume changes are entertaining for about a second when you see them, but that’s all the character is good for now. And all character arcs, from Annie, Abed and Troy (Donald Glover) sharing an apartment together, to Shirley having her baby are back-burnered while everyone does the Pulp Fiction episode, or the 40’s gangster film episode (you know, the episode with the chicken fingers). I can see why Community’s numbers aren’t where they should be.


On the other hand, NBC has done a piss poor job of promoting this show. They’ve run more ads for the obnoxious Whitney than they have for Community. For eff sakes, Joel McHale and Donald Glover are two of the most talented stand up comedians in the business, comedy legend Chevy Chase is a regular cast member on the show, movie star Ken Jeong (no matter whether or not you like him, he's popular among the young crowd and is a regular on the show), and for eff sakes Jim Rash who plays series regular Dean Pelton won an effing Oscar this past year and I saw nothing in the ads saying “starring Oscar winner Jim Rash”!! How the hell many TV shows this season boasted an Academy Award winner. And forget ads mentioning Jim Rash, I just didn’t see ads for Community. Could they not just mention the show just a little bit? I mean, Joel McHale promoted the show on his other series The Soup, and he was doing that on the E! network!!! NBC couldn’t parlay an all star comedy cast into a powerhouse marketing campaign!!??

So, what do I think of all of the changes to Community for the upcoming season? First of all, if this is a move toward telling stories that focus more on the characters, than I applaud that. And that’s about where my enthusiasm for these changes to Community ends. First, the Friday slot is usually a signal that a show is close to being cancelled. Much is being made of the fact that Community will now lead into Grimm, one of NBC’s only hits of the past year. But Community’s move to Friday with a measly 13 episodes looks to all the world like NBC just wants to order up a few extra episodes, in order to have an attractive syndication package in which to make really money on the show (the new episodes will push the total for the series to 80 episodes). As for the new show runners, hooo boy. As I said, I really hate Happy Endings, a show these two are really involved with (my Wife loves that show, btw). Everyone on that show is trying to act witty and funny with quick, zippy lines, but I don’t know if it’s just the bad delivery of the cast – everything is terribly unfunny. The jokes don’t seem genuine, just stuff that’s read aloud by the cast – none of the dialogue seems natural. Sure, characters in TV shows don’t talk the same way real people do, but you’re not supposed to notice that – and I do with Happy Endings. And let’s not talk too much about Aliens in America, a show that was supposed to explore Muslims living in America and coping with American customs in a “humorous” way – it was really short lived. And these jokers are taking over Community. If the new show runners will be moving away from the pop culture stuff to focus on characters, I guess that’s fine but they should know this – Community’s backbone has become that savvy deconstruction of all things pop culture that the show’s studio Sony, and the show’s network NBC seem so squeamish about. I don’t want this show to turn into Big Bang Theory. As much as that show is hugely, insanely popular (which I do want for Community), Big Bang got that way by skirting the line between pop culture (and so called “geek culture”) awareness and mainstream pandering. Big Bang did this by mainly positioning the jokes to laugh at geeks rather than with them. And sometimes, it kind of crosses a line and rings false (the last episode of Big Bang I saw featured a line where Sheldon disparaged the Green Lantern movie and I swear the audience moaned when he said it, knowing that it was noticeably out of character for Sheldon who would have probably thought the movie was awesome). Community does not laugh at geeks, but with them, in increasingly clever ways. I really hope they continue that.


Anyway, that’s my long winded rant on Community. I wish everyone involved in season 4 the best of luck. I’ll be watching.


-Deceptisean

Total Film's Most Hated Films of all Time # 31 - Sucker Punch

Last year, I ranked Sucker Punch as the best movie I'd seen in 2011. 


So, you know right off the bat, I'm not a supporter of this film being in the "most hated films of all time" category, nor do I think it should be there.  First of all, the movie's a year old, so even if I did not think this movie was great, I would question why a movie that's barely a year old deserves to be on the list of worst movies of all time.  I do think that the quality of movies in general has lessened over the years, but I think it's hard to screw the pooch that badly, that fast.  Especially considering the director of the film is Zack Snyder, who could do not wrong before this film came out. 


If there is angst against this movie and I'm not going to argue that, I read the reviews, I know what's going on out there, then all I have to say is I greatly underestimated the sheer ignorance of the group of sad human beings who call themselves movie critics and I also greatly underestimated the sheer stupidity, arrogance and ignorance of that group of sad human beings who spend their time posting on movie websites sheerly to put their utterly worthless vote behind movies that other people tell them are good instead of formulating an opinion that is uniquely their own.  People didn't like Sucker Punch because they couldn't understand it, they thought it was like a video game and they thought the women's clothes sexualized these young girls. 


Here's my counter-arguments:


1) You didn't understand the movie.  Well, I saw it the first time and I got it.  Babydoll is equating her experiences in the insane asylum to being in a bordello.  It's not that far a stretch as they both have the same principles: in this case, women being tied down to an authoritative masculine figure.  When she fights back by her dancing, she imagines it much like one of the fantasy scenarios in the movie, fighting zombie Nazi's, stealing fire from a dragon, defusing a bomb made by robots...it's not that hard to figure out.  Go buy the Director's Cut of the movie, read Wikipedia and do some research before you dismiss the movie for being "stupid" because you couldn't understand it, because trust me my friend, the only stupid one we're talking about here, is you. 


2) It's like a video game.  What isn't these days?  The line between video games and movies have become so blurred.  Take for example Mortal Kombat.  Do you know the latest one, if you type in "Mortal Kombat 9 Story Mode" on Youtube, you know what comes up?  A link that says "MORTAL KOMBAT MOVIE" and showing all the cutscenes bunched together into one two-hour MOVIE.  So, you know what?  You saying it's just like a video game as a negative point shows how ignorant you are of the direction that media is moving in.  Video games are now movies and vice-versa.  You don't like that, fine, I didn't say you had to, but hating on this movie for that point is absolutely absurd. 


3) The girls were oversexualized (with their outfits being mentioned).  Don't watch Manga much, eh?  Guess not, because if you do, you would be appalled.  Just terribly scandalized.  Because EVERY YOUNG FEMALE CHARACTER IS SEXED-UP IN THOSE SHOWS.  Don't go on the web much?  Don't browse around, look at media websites.  I guess not, you're too busy joining that nunnery or something.  The fact is, the girl's costumes are representative not just of a culture (in this case manga and if you're turning your nose up to Manga now, just remember that Japanese Manga is more popular than anything North America has churned out in animation recently, you bigot), but also of their respective roles in the movie.  Nurse, Warrior, Armed Forces, it's all in there.  You just have think about it and maybe do a little reading, instead of having everything explained to you because you're too damned stupid to think for yourself.


So, that's my post on Sucker Punch.  The fact that this movie is included doesn't surprise me, but as you've guessed, it sure as hell has irritated me. 


Worth the hate: Up yours, Total Film and haters of this film.


- Stephenstein