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Date Night: Carrell and Fey a perfect match

Posted on 18 August 2010

Both Steve Carrell and Tina Fey have had their share of fame and fortune in the past few years; Carrell with The Office and Fey with her incredible imitation of politician Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.
Coming together for Date Night was a no brainer for these two and is just another success to add to their resumes.
Claire and Phil Foster are just a boring couple from New Jersey, stuck in a rut and worried about their future together.
When Phil decides to shake up date night with a trip into the city, their night turns from boring and routine to outrageous and crazy.
When the two can’t get a table at Claw, the hottest new restaurant in Manhattan, the two steal reservations under the name Triplehorn.
After numerous bottles of wine and a meal they can barely afford, trouble arrives in the form of two thugs.
When two armed men escort them from the restaurant, the Fosters find themselves in a simple case of mistaken identity.
They’re not the Triplehorns but big names in the world of crime think they are because what kind of people steal dinner reservations?
Now the two are running for their lives all over New York in a hilarious goose chase for a flash drive containing black mail photos and the real Triplehorns.
They are aided in their insane plans from private security and tech junky Holbrooke Grant, played by Mark Walberg, who has an obsession of constantly going shirtless and keeping Claire in fits of giggles and flirtatious chatter.
When the two realize that turning to the police may put them in even more danger and not everyone is as they seem, the two have no choice but to take matters into their own hands and bring down a crime lord and crooked public figures.
The Fosters go from being the average American couple to repeat offenders in a matter of hours, breaking into offices and apartments, stealing files and running from the police, all to hunt down a computer sticky thingy and save their butts.
The two comedian actors definitely do not disappoint in the hilarious yet suspenseful film.
With witty remarks, gun fights, car chases and one laugh after another, it’s not a movie to miss.

By Sarah Madussi

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Hot Tub Time Machine: exceeds low expectations

Posted on 10 August 2010

With John Cusack playing the lead role of Adam, you would think it would be a great movie.  Well, it left a little to be desired, although it delivered in the comedy department.
Three friends that are down on their luck, decide to take a little vacation to their old stomping grounds of the ’80s.  Heading to their winter resort party central of their younger days, friends Adam, Nick (Craig Robinson), Lou (Rob Corddry) and Adam’s nephew Jacob (Clark Duke) head on a journey filled with surprise.
As they arrive at the once thriving resort, the men find it to be a run down dump in the current year.  Deciding to stay anyway, the group figures a night of laughs, alcohol and a hot tub might be just what the doctor ordered for their turbulent lives.
With Adam having been dumped by his girlfriend, Nick with a job that is going nowhere and a cheating wife, and Lou living as a suicidal alcoholic, the men needed a break.  Jacob has an addiction to video games and never leaves his basement abode to see the real world or the sun.
As the group enters the hot tub, a spilled drink on the controls reveals the true use of the tub, which is a time machine.  The men are sent back to 1986 to a night that holds traumatic and dangerous memories for all of them.
With many references to the ’80s hit, Back To The Future, the movie carries us through many of the age-old situations when watching time travel unfold.  Not wanting to change history, running into old friends and enemies, finding a loved one was once a drunk or overly promiscuous, making sure the love that existed and is meant to be continues to the future, and ensuring that the ones who were meant to be born, are still born, such as Jacob.  All of the classics of the time travel world are included in this comedy.
With some interesting appearances by actors such as Crispin Glover as Phil, a bellhop for the hotel, who gives us a comedic storyline all on its own through the entire movie.
Another guest star on this film is Chevy Chase who pops in and out of the movie as the hot tub repairman.  With a fairly non-descript role in this movie, he still lends some of his unorthodox humor to the movie.
Not a movie I would run out and buy, but worth watching for some of the simple, mindless, classic ’80s humor.

By Ally Dunham

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The Bounty Hunter: A few laughs but all around, nothing special

Posted on 27 July 2010
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By Sarah Madussi
Having watched this movie less than 24 hours ago, I sat down to write the review and realized there aren’t many memorable parts in The Bounty Hunter, at least none that stuck out and came to mind right away.
The story is about a divorced couple. Milo Boyd, played by Gerard Butler, is an ex-cop turned bounty hunter looking to make some big money by bringing in bail-jumping criminals.
Nicole Hurly, played by Jennifer Aniston, is a rising journalist who finds herself on the wrong side of the law and in her ex-husband’s handcuffs, all for a breaking news story.
When Nicole skips bail after a fender bender to investigate a murder-ruled-suicide, Milo is brought in to bring her back to jail. Tracking her down wasn’t hard but keeping her tied up was more than he asked for. Now the two are being chased around the country by murderers and the police.
So what else would a divorced couple do to make themselves scarce in the eyes of the law? Hide out where no one would think to find them; the same place they spent their honeymoon. A beautiful bed and breakfast called Cupid’s Cabins, where the owners still remember them and wonder how they keep their love alive.
So they leave out the bit about being divorced and on the run and pretend everything is hunky dory, at least until Nicole ties Milo to the headboard and takes off in his 1988 convertible.
Milo, however, always finds a way to track her down. He is a bounty hunter after all and her ex-husband. After that, well, I’ll leave that to the audience.
What it finally comes down to is that The Bounty Hunter is pretty basic. It gives the audience a few laughs, sends the main characters on a wild goose chase and has a fairly predictable ending.
If it weren’t for the fact that Gerard Butler is co-starring next to Jennifer Aniston, this movie probably wouldn’t have been on the review list this week.

By Sarah MadussiHaving watched this movie less than 24 hours ago, I sat down to write the review and realized there aren’t many memorable parts in The Bounty Hunter, at least none that stuck out and came to mind right away.The story is about a divorced couple. Milo Boyd, played by Gerard Butler, is an ex-cop turned bounty hunter looking to make some big money by bringing in bail-jumping criminals.Nicole Hurly, played by Jennifer Aniston, is a rising journalist who finds herself on the wrong side of the law and in her ex-husband’s handcuffs, all for a breaking news story.When Nicole skips bail after a fender bender to investigate a murder-ruled-suicide, Milo is brought in to bring her back to jail. Tracking her down wasn’t hard but keeping her tied up was more than he asked for. Now the two are being chased around the country by murderers and the police.So what else would a divorced couple do to make themselves scarce in the eyes of the law? Hide out where no one would think to find them; the same place they spent their honeymoon. A beautiful bed and breakfast called Cupid’s Cabins, where the owners still remember them and wonder how they keep their love alive. So they leave out the bit about being divorced and on the run and pretend everything is hunky dory, at least until Nicole ties Milo to the headboard and takes off in his 1988 convertible. Milo, however, always finds a way to track her down. He is a bounty hunter after all and her ex-husband. After that, well, I’ll leave that to the audience.What it finally comes down to is that The Bounty Hunter is pretty basic. It gives the audience a few laughs, sends the main characters on a wild goose chase and has a fairly predictable ending. If it weren’t for the fact that Gerard Butler is co-starring next to Jennifer Aniston, this movie probably wouldn’t have been on the review list this week.

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Scorcese delivers thrills and chills in Shutter Island

Posted on 20 July 2010
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While by no means Martin Scorcese’s best work, the suspenseful thriller Shutter Island never really puts itself in a position to be judged alongside the eminent director’s more grandiose pieces.
This is genre piece, a psychological thriller in the classic sense — made all the more classic by the 1950s setting. And in its efforts to titillate, distract, confuse and entertain it makes no attempt to live up to the ‘feel’ of a Martin Scorcese film, or the hype surrounding the man in the director’s chair. That’s a good thing, I say.
All the elements are there — a stunningly talented cast, a beautifully structured plot firmly rooted in political and social circumstances of its times, and inspired photography.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow draw the viewer in like a rat in a maze into a gritty, frightening world where nothing may be as it seems.
DiCaprio and Ruffalo play a pair of U.S. Marshals, investigating the baffling disappearance of a mental patient on a desolate island-bound institution for the criminally insane.
When nothing in their investigation adds up, DiCaprio’s character Teddy Daniels begins to suspect a conspiracy is afoot despite arguments to the contrary by Shutter Island’s top shrink, played by Ben Kingsley.
As the tension rises and the viewer is torn between what to believe, a hurricane settles in cutting off all means of escape from shifting realities of Shutter Island.
To reveal anything more would be acrime.
If there was anything that seemed a little disappointing, it could have been DiCaprio — for whom the mannerisms and persona of a 1950s detective seemed a little forced when put up against the easy swagger of Mark Ruffalo whose talents seemed underused in this film.
Kingsley is, as always, a joy to watch. So was a bit part involving Jackie Earle Haley who has returned to form as Rorschach in the recent Watchmen film and stars as the new Freddy Kruger in the latest reprise of Nightmare on Elm St.
A great flick for a stormy night at home, or better yet at the cabin.

By Chris Marchand

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Alice in Wonderland: Tim Burton plays it down for the kids

Posted on 16 June 2010

Alice in Wonderland: Tim Burton plays it down for the kids

There’s no denying that the original Alice in Wonderland was weird and some people may say that the creators of the fairy tale were influenced by one substance or another when writing the tale. Add director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp into the mix and they could have had one terrifying flick.

Surprisingly enough, they didn’t. Alice in Wonderland sticks to its roots of a childhood story even though Alice is 19 and being pressured to get married.

See, the latest Alice in Wonderland is a sequel of sorts. Nineteen-year-old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) has been having the same dream since she was a little girl. A white rabbit in a waistcoat, a dodo bird, a smiling cat and a blue caterpillar run around in her mind.

When she sees the white rabbit at a party, she takes off after it and falls down the very same hole in her dream. She goes through the growing and shrinking process to get through doors and finds herself in Underland. Yes, that’s Underland.

Little does she know, her dreams are just memories from her childhood. Alice has been to Underland before but always referred to it as Wonderland.

All of the characters are there from her first visit but they’re unsure if they brought the right Alice back to Underland. She, herself, is still convinced it’s a dream.

But, there is more pressing matters at hand. The Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) stole the crown from the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and all of Underland is in shambles and terrified for their lives. The Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover) and his army chase Alice around Underland and run her right into the hands of the Mad Hatter (Depp) who is more than eager to help her escape.

Unfortunately, all of her running around runs her into the Red Queen’s castle and the Mad Hatter is captured, set for a beheading unless the good creatures of Underland and Alice can save him in time.

The only way to stop the terror is to steal the Vorpal Sword from the Red Queen, slay her precious Jabberwocky, and put the White Queen back on the thrown.

All of this is to take place on the Frabjous Day as predicted by Absolom, the blue caterpillar. Alice is sure that she’s not the right person for the job but Absolom shows her that she is in fact the right Alice.

Not nearly as scary and creepy as it very well could have been, Alice in Wonderland is movie set for all ages. Words of warning, it’s still Alice in Wonderland and it’s still weird but if nothing else, you can see the Mad Hatter do a Fudderwupping dance and it’s pretty funny.

- Sarah Madussi

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