Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Zookeeper- Very unmemorable, and not even a good family film. All the voice work is terrible, the idea made no sense, and there was really no comedic moments. I liked 'Paul Blart' when I looked at it as a fat man's spoof on 'Die Hard', my favorite action film of all time. But this is dreadful. Poor Happy Madison Productions, which is slowly pit-falling into making me assume all their films are terrible. 'Jack and Jill', come on?!?!?!! Not as bad as 'Grown Ups' but still a waste of my time.



- Jeff Bassin

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Lives of Others- Absolutely amazing piece of work. The film rings so much truth and tragedy that you want to bow down to the film's greatness. Yes, it's a bit long. Yes, it's kind of odd that the film has like three "2 years later" bits in the course of 10 minutes, but this is a really good German film well deserved of its praise. It's too bad that director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (try saying that 10 times as fast) really hit a low note with his next film (Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie's 'The Tourist'). This film shows much greater potential. One of my favorite bits is the interchanging of the characters of HGW and Georg Dreyman as they search Dreyman's apartment. The tension that Donnersmarck creates is fantastic. This movie has so many interesting angles going for it that you really are invested in all three leads for the entire 2 hours and 20 minutes. Trust me, it's worth having surveillance over.



- Jeff Bassin

Saturday, November 26, 2011

The Muppets (2011)- After giving myself some time to think, I would have to say that this movie is highly recommendable. The reason I gave myself some time before reviewing it is because its one of those movies that gives you a "fun high" after it. TOO MUCH FUN! If someone walked into the movie with expectations for a character driven story, they won't get it. But if they are looking for a good time, plenty of jokes, and certain freshness that comes from the combination of young (Selena Gomez and Jack Black bits) and old (Pee Wee Herman map traveling) ideals, they will definitely be pleased. The performances are hammy (especially the muppets, "Waka waka") from Jason Segal and Chris Cooper (the military dad in 'American Beauty') but that's all part of its charm. Also, Amy Adams gets her fair share of screen time doing musical bits, which is a welcome return to her big break in 'Enchanted'. Speaking of the music, the film contains many homages to the HBO show 'Flight of the Conchords', of which I was a fan of. Many of the musical numbers are written by one of its stars, Bret McKenzie, featuring clever and catchy tunes like a rap by Chris Cooper, and one about a party of one (a "me" party) that I absolutely enjoyed. In fact, the music was probably one of my favorite aspects. Though music only goes so well with its director, also a creator of 'Flight of the Conchords', James Bobin, who actually did a stunning job, considering a lot of the work he did for the TV show was very low budgeted. It seemed fairly unexpected that the pieces in this film be so large and "in your face", but oh how they were. Definitely give this movie a shot if you are in the mood for some good ol' fashioned family laughs.



- Jeff Bassin

Friday, November 25, 2011

Early Review of The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn- Spielberg (Come on… fine: 'Saving Private Ryan', 'Schindler's List', 'Jaws', etc)/ Jackson ('The Hobbit', 'Lord of the Rings Trilogy', 'Dead Alive', etc.)/ Wright ('Scott Pilgrim vs. the World', 'Shaun of the Dead', 'Hot Fuzz') all working on one film. It's a dream come true for any film aficionado. But… sadly it didn't reach my expectations. To be fair to the people behind it, it really is a great film. It's the 'Indiana Jones' comeback we wish we could have had. Only, I had it pegged for the best movie this year and it surely isn't that. It's one of those odd circumstances where every element of the film analyzed on its own is either "good" or "perfect", but put together only averages a "pretty good" in my mind. Spielberg's direction is perfect, Weta Digital's animation is beautiful, the performances by Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell, and Daniel Craig are thoroughly fun, and the script from Steven Moffat ('Doctor Who', anyone?), Edgar Wright, & Joe Cornish (the exceptionally entertaining 'Attack the Block') is fairly solid (even though lacking the comedy and character development I would expect from someone like Wright) for the first of what is proposed as a trilogy. Of course, I enjoyed the movie. But I was disappointed. Let down. Maybe the sequels will be better. This was supposed to be the best film of 2011, but now I'm thinking it won't even win best animation film at the academy awards. But then again, we'll see. After all, its main competition is 'Cars 2' at the moment.



- Jeff Bassin

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Wings of Desire- This is the kind of film idea that I love. A unique concept that allows the filmmaker the ability to create a beautiful story while also allowing the audience to see inside the minds of even the smallest characters. As it says in the film, they are more than extras. They are important. They are extra human. It's almost a complete and utter masterpiece up until it reaches the end, because then it keeps going. The film chooses to go on for so long that when it finally gets to that "To Be Continued." at the end (it has a sequel), you kind of ask "Why?". There's a very long and kind of confusing monologue at the end that while it is talented, it really just grows boring. It's like that bit in 'Brief Interviews with Hideous Men' where John Krasinski does the same thing for 10 minutes. It's too much. It's just not very believable unless in a theatrical setting. Director Wim Wenders could have easily had actors Bruno Ganz and Solveig Dommartin have a friendly conversation. It would have made way more sense than a Dommartin's odd poetic profession of love at their first meeting. On a final note, Peter Falk is pure magic in this movie, both interesting and memorable. I will definitely give the sequel a go when I get the chance, if only to see him do that "as himself" character again.



- Jeff Bassin

Monday, November 19, 2011

Mr. Popper's Penguins- "No penguins were harmed in the making of this film. Jim Carrey, on the other hand, was mercilessly bitten. But he had it coming." This is the proclamation the film makes during the credits of the film. And maybe he did have it coming. After all, 'Yes, Man' was pretty darn terrible. But not for this film. It's a family film. So don't complain. I thought Carrey was actually quite entertaining and not that much over the top in this one, which is a good thing (his old 'Ace Ventura' style doesn't really translate well into modern day in my opinion). It's also always nice to see Clark Gregg and Philip Baker Hall, two really great character actors, and Angela Lansbury from 'Murder, She Wrote' is in it (I don't watch the show, never seen it, but hey, I do like the song and I have seen it on while channel surfing). Technically, nobody was harmed in making this film, physically, financially, or popularity wise. A good move on Carrey's part.



- Jeff Bassin

Friday, November 18, 2011

Friends With Benefits- Like I've said before, the cast really makes this film. The whole film seems cheaper when I think about the dialogue and app jokes coming from other people's mouths (though Kutcher and Portman probably could have done this one too though). So enjoy it, a solid enjoyable romantic comedy doesn't come around that often.



Transformers: Dark of the Moon- All together a little tiring the second time around. Especially knowing that after 2-3 hours of explosions (cool though they are), I will be rewarded with nothing but that same shlocky Optimus inspirational speech, with no real ending in sight. My problem is that it is left open ended. Why? It's the end. Why can't it seem like it? Everything until then is fine though (explosions and money burning by the second)… I mean, for a Transformers flick.



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2- It's finally gotten to the point where I can completely decide that I enjoy Part 1 more than Part 2. Despite the Helena Botham Carter/ Polyjuice scene being one of the best in the series in my opinion, the film really is just okay. By okay, I mean good, just not notable. I liked it, but it feels like a concluding chapter rather than one on its one. It's like the last chapter in a book. You've already gotten through the real arcs, now you just have to finish it so that nothing is left to watch. Actually, I'll put the movies in order so you get that I'm not hating on it.
8: Chamber of Secrets
7: Order of the Phoenix
6: Sorcerer/Philospher's Stone
5: Half-Blood Prince
4: Deathly Hallows Part 2
3: Goblet of Fire
2: Prisoner of Azkaban
1: Deathly Hallows Part 1
None of the films are bad. All are awesome. But after about ten minutes of deliberation, that's my order of 8.



- Jeff Bassin