The Condemned— “Stone Cold” Steve Austin stars in a film tailor-made for him. He plays a bad-ass military-type who gets unjustly jailed and then finds himself stranded on an island with 11 hard-core killers in a reality competition show. The goal: kill the others within the time limit or die yourself. Now, the premise alone has the potential for an above-average TV movie, but the reality show aspect really brought something more to the table. It’s certainly not a novel idea (The Running Man did it a long time ago, and it’s been probably copied dozens of times since), but this film actually did deal with the production crew quite a bit and raised the question: at what point is human life/dignity more important than ratings? C+
Caprica— The pilot for the upcoming Battlestar Galactica “prequel” series was, hopefully, going to answer some questions I had about Galactica. But it didn’t. And I watched it again with the director/creator commentary, and got even less insight. I guess BSG/Caprica creators/revisionists Ronald D. Moore and David Eick really want to go out of their way to make Caprica separate from BSG, which is okay.
The plot itself is different enough from the first series that this one can stand on its own. A rich inventor found a way to keep his daughter (who died in an accident) alive by using the “brainwaves” (for lack of a better term I can use) she downloaded in a social networking site. He enlists the help of a man who has connections to his rival— who also lost his daughter in the same accident. The inventor also has to present an automated soldier to the government that can help his planet defend itself, but is having problems getting that robot to act independently. The hook of the movie—and the upcoming series—is that a combination of human brain patterns and the robot become what we know to be the Cylons of Battlestar Galactica.
The series (set to air next year) has potential—but if this movie is indicative of the tone the series will have, it may face a tough battle. BSG wasn’t a by the books science fiction series (in the sense that the sci-fi was more back-seated than in typical shows), and Caprica looks to be even less so. Moore and Eick have established themselves as creative-types to watch because of Galactica, but they’ll have to keep the science fiction fanboys happy because I don’t see this show playing all that much to people who aren’t open to sci fi (or Syfy, if you will). B
My Name is Bruce— Beloved, (self-described) b-list actor Bruce Campbell plays a beloved, b-list, drunk, washed up actor named Bruce Campbell in this horror movie parody. And, maybe not-so-amazingly, he was pretty capable at it.
The plot involves teenagers who unwittingly free a demon from his prison, and the demon proceeds to terrorize their town, killing anyone he comes across. The surviving teen tracks down Campbell and asks him to confront and defeat the demon. Campbell’s got nothing else to do—and he’s out of booze—so he agrees to make an appearance. Of course, his arrogance gets the better of him, and he ultimately hits the bar and tries to get into the pants of the first chick he sees. Then he goes to confront the demon, just as he agreed to… And soon realizes the kid wasn’t asking him to make a public appearance set around a “publicity stunt” demon—he really was brought into town to defeat a demon. So he does what any Hollywood B-Actor would do—he runs like Hell. I’ll leave the rest of the plot up to you to figure out (it’s not hard).
This film follows a basic b-movie hero plot, and it’s very-much done in the b-movie style, revolving around Campbell’s usual character attributes. He’s an arrogant coward who thinks just being a movie actor makes him better than others. I highly doubt the real Bruce Campbell is that way (he has a pretty healthy self-awareness of his place in the Hollywood hierarchy—and he’s a huge fan-favorite in a genre known for having massively passionate—and critical-- fans), but he knows the role well enough that he pulled it off wonderfully.
It’s a b-movie—with the usual low-budget sets and effects—so it would normally rate a low-C, but Campbell is so fun and engaging that I’m going to give it a B.
Fired Up— I didn’t have any hopes for this film, but the fact that it stars Eric Christian Olsen, who I’ve really liked since one of his first jobs (in the 1999-2001 series Get Real) made me give it a try. It’s nothing unusual with the basic plot of this type of movie (two horny teens decide to avoid football camp and join the cheerleading team in order to get laid—but, by the last reel, find they actually like cheerleading). But Olsen has a way of making mediocre lines much better than they should be (in much the way that Ryan Reynolds can), so it was enjoyable enough. C+
The Foot Fist Way— The film “discovered” by Will Farrell and Adam McKay (who claimed to have watched it every day over a period of weeks) that introduced Danny McBride to the world. Had I not already seen most of McBride’s other work (most especially his HBO show EastBound and Down), I may have thought this was better. But, right now, McBride is a one-trick pony who does his trick really well— and this was just more of the same. B-
Funny People—film. I don’t consider myself old-fashioned, and I don’t consider myself a prude, but I’m growing tired of the near-constant vulgarity in the Judd Apatow (and the other filmmakers who work in that “arena”) films. Sometimes the profanity works and can make a film really good, but the shock of the “mature humor” has worn off for me. This one wasn’t as gross as past films, but I really started to wonder what was up with all the dick jokes in this movie. I know comics (and this film was set around stand-up comics) try to out-do and out-gross each other, but it’s hard to relate to a guy who’s always talking about someone else’s penis. It’s almost to the point of making these characters seem homophobic (maybe they are—but nothing else in the movie suggests that).
And it’s a shame there was so much to be turned off by because this was a good film (not especially funny—although I don’t think Apatow was going for a strict “comedy”). It was well put-together, plot-wise, and it was a very mature film in the regards that it deals with adult life (instead of the usual childish themes “explored” in these types of films). Death is a major theme, as is regret and loneliness. I’m sure Apatow was using the crude humor to get people to relate more to “real life” issues (much as the best episodes of SOUTH PARK do), but it, obviously, didn’t translate well for fans (as the film wasn’t a big box office winner).
That’s too bad because Adam Sandler (when he wasn’t referring to what he imagines Seth Rogan’s dick is like) was very engaging. His character was not a nice person—who learns to try to be nice and more human. Seth Rogan was perfectly cast, as was Eric Bana. And, as always, Leslie Mann (whom I adore) owned her part. And Jason Schwartzman, who I’m not always keen on, was great in his role as well. C+
The Hangover—film. The funniest movie I’ve seen in many years. I don’t ever remember laughing so hard I physically hurt at a movie other than this one. The taser scene and the end credits had me laughing so hard, my ribs hurt. For real. It’s profane, bizarre, immature, etc-- but it’s also funny. Really, really funny. Great lead and supporting casts; really funny pacing and lines, and it was also beautifully shot. This wasn’t a cheap-looking throwaway comedy. Everything about it was great (and it used crude humor I said I didn’t like earlier very effectively here). Maybe I’m over-reaching by giving it an A-, but the theatre experience definitely elevates it beyond maybe what would be a B+ on DVD… A-
Prison Break: The Final Break— I wasn’t sure if this was necessary when I first heard about it. The series ended well on its own, so I wondered why we needed to start a new story that would wrap up in less than 90 minutes. Plus, this story wasn’t going to be aired by FOX (as of the present—who knows what’ll happen in the future). But as I watched it, I was pulled into the characters and their situation again. This direct-to-DVD story followed the plots of most of the seasons of the show: an event happens that results in some sort of capture, a plan is thought-up and executed, more than a few changes to the plan have to be made, we don’t know who can be trusted, and the climax. It was very effective then, and it’s still effective now (especially since the person who was captured is Sara—nice to shake to things up like that).
If you were a fan of the show and don’t watch this, you won’t necessarily miss anything. But if you were a big fan of the show, or even if you once were a big fan who drifted away as the series got more ridiculous, this is a good capper to the story. It’s got a full beginning, middle, and end—and it also briefly explained how the characters got to where they were at the very end of the series finale (which was especially nice as they floated apart from each other during the last season). It also had a great ending speech by a character that really wrapped up what the TV series was about. B
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