The Hangover

Director:
Todd Phillips

Writers:
Jon Lucas and Scott Moore

Cast:
Bradley Cooper as Phil Wenneck
Ed Helms as Stu Price
Zach Galifianakis as Alan Garner
Justin Bartha as Doug Billings
Heather Graham as Jade
Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow

Released: 2009
Studio: Warner Bros.
Box Office: $277,322,503

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 78%
IMDB Score: 7.9

Format: Theater/Blu-ray

The Hangover is by far the funniest movie I’ve seen this year. It’s one of the funniest movies of all-time. It’s right up there with The 40 Year Old Virgin as my favorite comedies. I don’t think I’ve ever so hard in my life. It’s so good, I saw it 3 times in the theater. I now have it on Blu-ray.

The film is about a group of friends (and they’re the 3 best friends that anyone could have!) going on a trip to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. Phil is a teacher, Stu is a dentist (paging Dr. Faggot!), Doug is the one getting married, and Alan is Doug’s fiance’s brother. The guys start partying in Vegas and wake up in their room hungover. They awake to several strange things in their room. For example, a tiger is in their bathroom (tigers love pepper, they hate cinnamon), a baby (he’s jacking his little weenus) is in their closet, and they can’t find Doug anywhere. The premise of the movie is Phil, Stu, and Alan trying to find out what happened. Their adventure takes them to a wedding chapel, Mike Tyson’s house, and a run in with a naked Chinese man (toodooloo, mother fuckaaaaaaaaaaas).

I can’t stress enough just how funny this movie is. It is the single most quotable movie in the universe. Yeah, the universe. I always do a favorite quote at the end of every post, and I’m doing one here, but almost every line in this film is my favorite, so I’ve included some as I go along. Zach Galifianakis totally stole every scene he was in. He is one of the funniest characters of all-time. Yes, all-time.

Favorite Performance:
Zach Galifianakis as Alan Garner

Favorite Quote:
Stu Price: What do tigers dream of when they take their little tiger snooze? Do they dream of mauling zebras, or Halle Berry in her Catwoman suit? Don’t you worry your pretty striped head, we’re gonna get you back to Tyson and your cozy tiger bed. And then we’re gonna find our best friend Doug, and then we’re gonna give him a best friend hug. Doug, Doug, oh, Doug, Dougie, Dougie, Doug, Doug! But if he’s been murdered by crystal meth tweakers, well then we’re shit out of luck.

Grade:
A

Major Update 2

I’ve seen nine more movies since I made the last post a couple of days ago, so I feel like I might be fighting a losing battle, but I’m going to stick with it and try to get completely caught up. Also I’ve decided that a few of the films are deserving of full length reviews, so they will have their owns posts scattered in.

Sunshine Cleaning

Director:
Christine Jeffs

Writer:
Megan Holley

Cast:
Amy Adams as Rose Lorkowski
Emily Blunt as Norah Lorkowski
Alan Arkin as Joe Lorkowski

Released: 2009
Studio: Overture
Box Office: $12,062,558

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 72%
IMDB Score: 7.1

Format: DVD

Here is an average film about two sisters who start a crime scene cleanup business. It features strong performances by all the leading characters. It was fairly funny and kinda sweet. I don’t really know what else to say about this film.

Favorite Performance:
Alan Arkin as Joe Lorkowski

Favorite Quote:
Lynn: How’d she die?
Norah: It was sorta a do-it-yourself thing?

Grade:
B-

Memento

Director:
Christopher Nolan

Writer:
Christopher Nolan

Cast:
Guy Pearce as Leonard
Carrie-Anne Moss as Natalie
Joe Pantoliano as Teddy Gammell

Released: 2000
Studio: Newmarket
Box Office: $25,544,867

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
IMDB Score: 8.6

Format: Blu-ray

One of the more confusing films I’ve ever seen. It’s about a guy with a short-term memory problem who is trying to find his wife’s murderer. But the story is told backwards, from the end to the beginning, so the story can be hard to follow. Each scene is about the length of one of his memories, and the end of a scene corresponds with the beginning of the previous scene. Christopher Nolan, who also directed Batman Begins and The Dark Knight is one of my favorite directors.

Favorite Performance:
Guy Pearce as Leonard

Favorite Quote:
Leonard Shelby: I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can’t remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world’s still there. Do I believe the world’s still there? Is it still out there?… Yeah. We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I’m no different.

Grade:
A-

Major Update 1

I’ve really been neglecting this blog over the last couple of months, but now that I’m out of school for a while I’m gonna review the 21 movies I’ve seen since my last update. These won”t be full length reviews but shorter ones hitting on the major high (or low) points of the film. They’ll also have 2 or 3 movies per post.

Adventureland

Director:
Greg Mottola

Writer:
Greg Mottola

Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg as James Brennan
Kristen Stewart as Em Lewin
Ryan Reynolds as Mike Connell

Released: 2009
Studio: Miramax
Box Office: $16,044,025

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
IMDB Score: 7.3

Format: DVD

Here is another comedy following the Judd Apatow formula for funny. An everyman schlup, semi-loser James Brennan gets a summer job at the local amusement park and falls for one of his female coworkers. Ryan Reynold plays a Stifler-esque Mike Connell, an order guy who also works at the park. Kristen Stewart shows that she is actually a competent actress when not stuck in that Twilight garbage. Jesse Eisenberg turns in another good performance thats just proves to me again that he is one of my favorite up-and-coming actors.

Favorite Performance:
Jesse Eisenberg as James Brennan

Favorite Quote:
Sue O’Malley: What are you majoring in?
Joel: Russian literature and Slavic languages.
Sue O’Malley: Oh wow, that’s pretty interesting. What career track is that?
Joel: Cabby, hot dog vendor, marijuana delivery guy. The world is my oyster.

Grade:
B-

X Men Origins: Wolverine

Director:
Gavin Hood

Writers:
David Benioff and Skip Woods

Cast:
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
Liev Schreiber as Victor
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson

Released: 2009
Studio: Fox
Box Office: $179,883,157

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36%
IMDB Score: 6.7

Format: Blu-ray

To me, Wolverine’s backstory was not something that I really wanted explored. Part of his awesomeness, was the mystery surrounding his life before the Adamantium skeleton was inserted. I’m sure it was explained in the comics, but the casual fan (like me) didn’t know anything about Logan, just Wolverine. This movie is full of cliches and all the big budget summer movies staples like slow motion action shots and tons and tons of splosions!!!!!!!!! But it never fully develops the intriguing side characters. Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool(who is also getting his own movie soon) who only had like 5 lines in the whole film. Is it just me, or was he in a lot of movies this year?

Grade:
C-

I Love You, Man

Director:
John Hamburg

Writers:
John Hamburg and Larry Levin

Cast:
Paul Rudd as Peter Klaven
Jason Segel as Sidney Fife
Rashida Jones as Zooey

Released: 2009
Studio: Paramount
Box Office: $71,440,011

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%
IMDB Score: 7.5

Date Seen: August 27, 2009
Format: Blu-ray

This was one of the few times that I didn’t like a movie as much the second time I saw it. When I saw I Love You, Man the first time in the theater, I thought it was one of the better comedies of recent years. But this time, I just didn’t think it was as funny. But by no means would I say it was not funny. Certain parts still had me laughing out loud, it’s just overall I didn’t think the film was as strong. I did feel a connection with Peter Klaven. I noticed several similarities between his personality and my own. We particularly connect with our love of the band Rush and the TV show Lost.

It’s about real estate agent Peter Klaven and the fact that he has no real guy friends. He goes on several “man dates” with different people. He then meets Sidney at an open house and they hit it off and become friends. Typical rom-com hi-jinks happen, Sidney gets between Peter and his fiancee, but they reconcile and all’s well that ends well. Although there is nothing wrong with a movie that follows a typical Hollywood formula. It’s all about how the movie portrays the little things. I have to say that I Love You, Man gets most of the little things right. The characters are believable and the situations they are put in are realistic.

Paul Rudd and Jason Segel play their usual characters and do a good job. The scenes with Jaime Pressly and Jon Favreau are priceless. I was only disappointed with Rashida Jones’s performance. I didn’t like her in The Office, and I didn’t like her in this movie.

Favorite Performance:
Jason Segel as Sidney Fife

Favorite Quote:
Peter Klaven: Slapping the bass! Slappa da bass! Slappa da bass mon! Slappa de bass mon!

Grade:
B

Recommendation:
See it if you want a good laugh.