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Showing posts with label one arm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label one arm. Show all posts

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Hot Tub Time Machine


Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Four guys (John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clarke Duke) get transported back to 1986 in a hot tub that's a time machine, and as they try to retrace their steps, so as not to disrupt the present, they figure out where their lives went wrong.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clarke Duke, Sebastian Stan, Lyndsy Fonseca, Crispin Glover, Chevy Chase, Collette Wolfe, Lizzy Caplan, Charlie McDermott, Aliu Oyofo, Jake Rose, Brook Bennett

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: PhotobucketGo! Why the Hell not?!

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: At first I was worried, as the audience around me laughed and I didn't. But when I finally did get around to laughing, they were big belly laughs.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Some of those 80s fashions might make you cry. Especially when you realize that they're not that different from the stuff that's coming into style right now.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Not so much an award as whatever the opposite of that is called. You see, while the movie takes place in 1986, the notoriously funny 80s styles that the film features are actually from 1982. I imagine the film was written in hopes of exploiting 1982's New Wave style, but it probably took several years to sell, get packaged, and get made, so they had to move the date forward or the main characters would've been pushing 50, if you do the math (which I did). At the same time, there's no point in doing a time travel theme to the 80s, if you're not going to highlight the beautiful colors and shapes that make up the look of 1982, so they cheated. But I was there, and I know the truth.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Sebastian Stan plays a dead-on 80s bad guy, and gets you wondering how the acting back then got away with being so bad. And if Rob Corddry hasn't broken out for you yet, this movie should do it. He's got most of the funny lines.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Steve Pink does a great job of spoofing 80s movies, from the two-dimensional good looking preppy bad guy who always wants to pick a fight for no good reason to the abundant gratuitous bouncing bare breast shots that used to be in every movie about teenage boys. Remember those? And remember how our parents used to let us go see them? Yeah, times have changed. You just can't make movies about teenage boys who have the power to pop open women's shirts with their eyes, anymore. (P.S. if you're too young to remember Zapped, I suggest you rent it. If nothing else, so that you can better understand why Generation Xers turned out the way we did. We grew up on movies like that.)

Q: How is the story/script?

A: While you can predict a lot of what's going to happen, the writers create original dialogue by following convention and then taking it back as soon as they've done their due diligence to the convention. So that the joke becomes, "We know how this scene is supposed to go, and we're going to make you think we're going that way, but we're not really going to go that way. Instead, once you're comfortable with your little convention, we're going to go much further, in a potentially offensive direction, that you didn't have the guts to predict." After you've seen it, think about what I'm saying. Preferably while under the influence of magical mushrooms. It will make perfect sense.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/hot-tub-time-machine/37538/trailers

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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Sunshine Cleaning

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A dark comedy about a couple of struggling sisters (Amy Adams & Emily Blunt) who try to make ends meet by starting up a business that involves cleaning up after people's bloody deaths.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack, Steve Zahn, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Clifton Collins Jr., Eric Christian Olsen, Paul Dooley, Kevin Chapman, Judith Jones

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: PhotobucketProceed with Caution. In this time of recession, it's interesting to think about the different odd jobs out there that might be lucrative, but it's depressing to think about how easily your whole plan can get ruined, ruining you in return for your efforts.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: It's from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine and the darkness of the humor is similar, but the laughs in this one aren't as frequent or as plentiful.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Some people cry at the sight of blood and death. Personally, I'm just thankful that they never perfected smell-o-vision.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: They really teach you everything you need to know about starting this kind of a business, so I'm thinking it'll probably be the movie most likely to inspire people to get over their fear of death and get a job cleaning up after it.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Amy Adams is her regular delightful self. Emily Blunt is a pleasure that I look forward to watching more of as soon as possible. Alan Arkin is exactly the same as he was in Little Miss Sunshine, but with less funny lines to say. And Steve Zahn is desperately underused in this and the rest of the movies getting made around Hollywood, in particular, the ones he's not cast in.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The only moment in which the directing really draws attention to itself is when we see the mom, and then dissolve from one sister's face to the other, instantly realizing how incredibly well cast it is, as the mom has the exact facial features necessary to link the two actresses faces, and create the illusion that they're really related. Separately, you should know that considering all the blood involved in death, the director has intelligently shot this such that the gore-level isn't too high.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It's definitely a story that's never been done before, so there's that. The question remains: is this a story that needed to be done? And that's where I'm on the fence.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/sunshine%20cleaning/trailers

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