I just realized that I've seen a handful of movies and haven't given you all any insight on my thoughts on them. Actually too many to run off full length reviews on all of them. Who actually reads the entire review anyway? My dude E keeps telling me he doesn't even do it until after he's seen the movie. If even then because he's always asking me if I've seen a movie which has my review out here. Anyways...I thought I would just do a quick cliff notes version of the ones I've seen recently. Just enough to tease you and you still get the grade of the flick. So here goes...
Kevin Hart : Laugh at My Pain
The first stand-up concert movie I've seen in a while. Very much worth it too. Admittedly, it's not his best stand-up by far though. If you're looking for that then you definitely need to check out his special "I'm a Grown Little Man". I'm STILL laughing about jokes from that one. But "Laugh at My Pain" did have some real good moments. If you are a Kevin Hart fan at all then you will be busting a gut quite a few times throughout. If you're not, check out "Grown Little Man" first then kick yourself in the head for sleeping on him for so long.
My rating : B
30 Minutes or Less
Almost forgot about this movie until I was at Redbox the other day looking for something else. The main reason I wanted to see this was to see how easy it would be for Jesse Eisenberg to fall back into his typecast that helped make him famous after nailing "The Social Network". Apparently pretty easy. He did have a lot of help in this one. Dude from "Community" in his first co-starring role in a feature film was decent. Danny McBride was money as usual. Nick Swardson about stole the show though. This one got off to a slow start but ended up picking up. Although not quite as funny as I expected it to be with that type of cast it was still pretty good for your typical mindless comedy.
My rating: B -
The Change-Up
Yeah, I thought the same thing when I initially saw the preview for this one: It's just yet another "Freaky Friday" type movie with different actors, right? Well one of these actors is Jason Bateman. The other is Ryan Reynolds. Those two put it a cut above the rest. Plus, it turns out they went the extreme route of making this one a raunchy comedy with a solid "R" rating. Now add to that that it actually has a meaningful ending without trying to get overly sappy like some comedies have been doing lately. Quite the pleasant surprise although I still wish there were more laughs.
My rating : B
Madea's Big Happy Family
I'm still trying to figure out exactly when Tyler Perry turned the corner with me. Exactly when was it that I had reached TP overload and it was bordering on backlash? I'm thinking it may have been the television shows. That's probably why I was turned off on even seeing this movie for the longest. Needless to say I was not expecting much from this at all. A brotha was in for another pleasant surprise. Okay..yes..he did have some of the same played storylines. However, I was really diggin' the acting. Especially from Old Spice dude in his first starring role. And even the Madea moments weren't that bad. I won't go as far as to say I'm looking forward to the next Madea movie but I'm at least willing to keep giving his movies a shot. Now his tv shows are another thing altogether.
My rating : C+
Straw Dogs
Hollywood is really getting out of hand with the way they promote movies lately. They were making this out to be one of the most graphically violent revenge films ever. Not even close. In fact, had they not pumped it up like that I probably could have appreciated it a little more. Still, I was diggin' the slow dramatic build up they played through the entire end through to the inevitable conclusion. I'm still not understanding how an old house was that impenetrable but okay. I absolutely LOVED the ultimate payback that James Marsden's character hit us off with. But even more than that was the very last scene which spoke volumes without saying a single word.
My rating : B
Hostel Part III
There are some horror movies that I will always watch their sequels no matter how inferior they may be. "Saw" and "Final Destination" fall into that category only because I'm always interested to see what type of new deaths they come up with. "Hostel" can now be added as well because I now want to see how people keep getting duped and taken hostage for some sickos to torture them. Who is still accepting drinks from strangers in strange places? I suppose these people. I wasn't totally feeling the fact that they brought it home and put the setting in Vegas. I know crazy stuff happens there but how could a torture palace be going on and the authorities hadn't stumbled on it before now? The story was more believable when it was happening in foreign countries. And when they make that change for the fourth one (because you know there will be a Part IV) they need to bring the excessive gore back. I want to see Hostel, not Bad Holiday Inn.
My rating : C -
