Super Awesome!

If i were to put the movies I have seen in the past few weeks in a time line it really wouldn't match up with this blog very well. For example the very night before I saw Hot Rod I saw what I found to be the funniest movie I have seen in the theaters in years. I think this may have dumbed down the humor in Hot Rod a bit. I may have even blown a humor fuse from the night before.

What could possibly do this you ask?

Super Bad

I honestly think the last time that I have laughed this hard in an actual movie theater was during Dumb and Dumber. Yeah that's a long time ago 1994 even, but I generally rent a lot of comedies (Blockbuster online is really nice for that).

Mandy and I actually got sneak peak tickets for August 3rd with my little brother and his girlfriend Bethany. They called it a "word of mouth showing". If you like it you'll go talk it up a bit. Well I loved it; Brady loved it; Mandy and Bethany well kind of hated it.

Granted there was a lot of male nudity, and cursing (this movie really earned their R rating), but I really think it added to the humor of it all. I mean honestly who doesn't know at least one guy who draws wangs every once in a while?

One of the writers on this film was the talented Seth Rogen. You may recognize him from such films as 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. He really is a funny writer and actor, and he really flexes both muscles in this movie. I think his character in this is one of the best. A rookie cop who still wants to be considered a cool guy. Nothing wrong with that.

One of the main characters is played by one a gent from one of my all time favorite television shows; Arrested Development. Michael Cera played George Michale Bluth in Arrested Development; hands down his character was my favorite character out of the series. To my surprise the character he plays in Super Bad (Evan) is basically the same character.

So in actuality while watching this movie I am just watching George Michale Bluth in high school being put in adult situations. I really couldn't ask for anything more as far as getting me personally to "want to see this movie".

Tied into the comedy there really is a great story. The movie really has two story arcs to it. These two story's blended together so well that they kept me wanting to see what was going to happen with each of the characters more and more. I think if the story's were told any other way I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. Just when you were getting use to a character and was interested in what he was going to do next you are knee deep into a new character and a new story.

In all honesty this movie is crass, rude, juvenile, and has more perversion in it than most people can stomach, but if you find that funny you'll be in for one hell of a ride.

Also on a personal note; one of the main characters (Seth) is basically Nath Lachapell a friend of mine from High School. Just a heads up to anyone who knew him.

I am ashamed to admit that I saw Hot Rod

I went to this movie with that I thought was an open mind. “So here is an up and coming comedian trying to break his way into the movie biz” I thought. A lot of great movies have come from actors out of Saturday Night Live right? At least ones that are good for a laugh every now and again like Happy Gilmore, Black Sheep, and Tommy Boy. All are funny movies that are not so bad to sit through even if you didn’t get most of the humor.

I am sorry to say that Hot Rod did not follow in the tradition at all.
Hot Rod was terrible.

I can’t think of one “original” redeeming quality for this movie. The only parts that I laughed at were bits taken from other popular movies / TV shows; one being a longer version of the falling down a mountain scene from Black Sheep; the other being a mispronunciation of wh-words straight out of Family Guy.

The story was put together with toothpicks and string. For an “up and coming stunt man” in the finale five minutes the main character magically has everything he needs to jump 15 buses. Bear in mind that the entire movie he is performing stunts on a moped. Perhaps this is part of Andy Samberg’s (the Hot Rod himself) humor and I just missed the boat. If so, then most of the other viewers in the theater were also sitting on the pier as the ferry passed them by too.

The acting was horrendous. I think this movie was made with people that Andy Samberg owed favors to. So he gave them supporting roles (what a great idea!). Somehow that worked for Adam Sandler, but it failed miserably here.

There was a moment in this movie where Hot Rod and he little brother said “cool beans” to each other about 50 times in a row. They also made this sense into an 80’s style rap video. It really was terrible, wasn’t funny, and completely alienated the audience.

I am sure Andy or the director was trying to ride the popularity of “Lazy Sunday” (a SNL skit that was downloaded or viewed over a million times on you tube) with this “cool beans” rap, but they really didn’t do a good job of intergrading it into the movie very well. Personally I never found that skit to be very funny to begin with.

It wasn’t until after the rap and a few other scenes that made no scene that I realized; this movie was made for tripping acid. That was it. That is the only possible way that I think someone could actually enjoy this movie. Even then I would think that it would be completely terrifying.

It has been a while :(

Well it has really been a while. I have seen a few movies, but have been entirely too busy to write about them. So, I am going to try to play catch-up over the next few weeks. I am not going to really go in order of what I have seen, instead I am going to go in reverse order (or write about what-ever movie I have seen last). This way the movies most current on my mind will be well right on the tip of my mind with fresh thoughts. None of that "hmm I thought I liked that movie" when actually I just enjoyed the M&M's I was eating.

Last Friday was a big day for a lot of people. It was a day they have been looking forward to for some time. Die hard Simpson fans from across the nation got in line… wait did that really happen? Was "the Simpson's" really a movie to really hit that "anticipation spot"?

Well, for me; not so much. The more I watched the movie the more I sunk into the "yeah this does feel like a really long Simpsons episode" slump. The more I think about the movie, even now the more I feel that is all that it was. Granted I enjoy the Simpson's, but I am not sure they are "movie theater" quality.

The animation was top notch. The animators and special effects people really did a wonderful job, but there was too many times in the movie where I was thinking "come on Homer do something funny". Of course you have to use the childish Homer voice for that quote to really get the effect. Perhaps it is just me expecting too much, too much previous knowledge on the subject matter (the Simpson family).

On the other hand perhaps I didn't want to like the movie because I have not enjoyed the show as much in the past few years. May-be that upped my standards a bit to the point that I wouldn't enjoy a good movie.

Bottom line is the movie was ok. It wasn't as good as some other comedies I have seen this year, but it wasn't terrible either. I did laugh out loud on several occasions, but it wasn't the laugh fest that I have grown to expect out of the Simpson's.