The Last Couple Of Flicks

It’s been a while since I’ve done any movie reviews.  Hell it’s been a while since I’ve done any posting at all, but that’s another story.  Since my last review, I’ve seen a couple of movies and I figured I’d put them in one nice little post.  Enjoy!

The King Of Kong – A Fistful Of Quarters
I actually saw this a while ago and just never got around to writing a post about it (damn real life getting in the way).  This is a 2007 documentary that tells the story of two men (Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell) attempting to break the world record for Donkey Kong.  That’s right… Donkey Kong.  The story portrays Wiebe as the “good guy” going after the “bad guy” Mitchell’s record.  I’ve played quite a few video games in my days and watching this was absolutely awesome.  If you’ve ever played Donkey Kong and remember how damn difficult that game can be you owe it to yourself to check this one out.  Regardless of if you think gaming is a legitimate activity you can’t deny how much work goes in to being a great DK player.   Check this one out.  You won’t be disappointed.

Live Free Or Die Hard
This is a great little action movie.  Unfortunately it’s not really a Die Hard movie.  Sure it’s got John McLane in it, but that’s about where the comparisons to the original trilogy end.  I guess I feel the same way about this one as I did with the remade Friday the 13th – it was a good horror movie, just not a Friday movie.  This time around, McClane is dealing with a group of virtual terrorists who have managed to “take down the grid” so to speak.  Conceptually this is actually pretty damn cool, especially if you’re a techno geek like me.  As with the other Die Hard flicks you really need to suspend disbelief when you start watching this (McClane takes out a helicopter with a truck… don’t ask) but once you get past that stuff it’s really quit enjoyable.  Bruce Willis gives a fine performance as do Justin Long (the Mac guy from the Mac/PC commercials) and Timothy Olyphant (of Deadwood and Hitman fame).  The cast is rounded out nicely with some folks that you may or may not have heard of complete with a small part by one of my favs Kevin Smith.  Go into this understanding what it is (a popcorn movie) and what it really isn’t (a Die Hard movie) and you’ll have a good time.

Avatar
Going into this flick I figured any movie that had made a BILLION dollars and was like 10 years in the making had to be good.  Unfortunately I was wrong.  Let me start out by saying that this movie looked absolutely AMAZING.  I was lucky enough to see it in IMAX 3D and I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that 10 years from now when we look back and what 3D technology has become, we’re going to point to this movie as the one that started it all.  I’ve got to give James Cameron huge props at having a vision and seeing it to fruition.  As for his story telling ability it left quite a bit to be desired.  The best way I can describe this is Dances With Wolves meets The Matrix.  If that seems like a weird mix of plots, it’s cause it is.  I actually fell asleep during the first 30 minutes or so and didn’t miss a damn thing story line wise.  If you can still catch this one in a theater in 3D then I’d recommend you do so simply so you can see the beauty that’s on screen, but if you’ve missed it and your only opportunity is on DVD then it’s a definite pass.

Hot Tub Time Machine
Had a chance to see this when Pip was in town.  Being a child of the 80’s I was interested to see how they’d handle that decade and I’m happy to say that they nailed it (at least in my memory).  This certainly isn’t a “good” movie by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to tell you that I chuckled the whole way through.  The cast that I thought would be suspect works really well together.  John Cusak in probably my favorite roll since Gross Pointe Blank plays the lead, Craig Robinson (of The Office fame), Clark Duke (Kick Ass) and Rob Corddry in a show stealing performance as Lou round out the cast nicely.  In addition, there are some great 80’s cameos (William Zabka… if you’re a kid of the 80’s and you don’t know that name shame on you), Chevy Chase and Crispin Glover.  All of this PLUS, if you’re a Cleveland Browns fan and “The Drive” still bothers you… well, I’ll just say you need to check it out.

Kick Ass
I’ll get the pun out of the way… Kick Ass kicks ass!!!  Being a comic geek I’m always somewhat worried when these things come to the big screen (though there have been some damn good comic movies in the last couple of years.  I was not familiar with this story going into it and boy was I blown away.  This is an edgy and dark story about a normal guy that decides to be a superhero.  No special powers, no utility belt… just a desire to do something that other people won’t.  He learns along the way that he’s not the only person who’s had this idea and meets up with Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz).  While this is a comic book film, it’s in the same style as the darker comic flicks we’ve been given lately – Dark Knight, Sin City, etc.  This is a very violent movie and definitely not for kids but as an adult DAMN was it a good time!