"Funny" People 07/30/2009
 
Picture
For years it has eluded major Hollywood films. How is it that Judd Apatow and his rag tag group of geeks can wrangle up a film that is both commercial and critically successful? Is it their completely original premises? Not really. Do they completely kick convention in the face and bid adieu to film clichés? I wouldn't say so.

You see Apatow and Co. have a formula—a formula that seems to succeed every time he steps onto a movie set. His scripts take all the Hollywood clichés we have begun to groan over, and he personalizes them. We've seen all these things before; guy keeps secret from girl, girl finds out, gets mad, then they make up; or guy does something stupid, doesn't realize it, then girl gets angry, guy learns from mistake, and they make up.

This isn't new territory, but Apatow takes these conventions and roots them in a realistic base. Hollywood clichés exist because they happen to all of us, but what most films do is boil them down to their one sentence stereotypes and make them so pedestrian and dull, what Funny People does is it takes those premises and relate them to real people in real experiences with real internal conflicts.

Funny People tells the story of George Simmons and his privileged life. He has it all except friends, family, and that one girl who got away. When he learns he has a terminal disease, George decides he needs to make a change and takes a young comedian under his wing. I won't spoil more.

...more after the jump
 
 
Picture
Being asked to direct a movie like G-Force is the equivalent of a singer being offered a gig as frontman for the FreeCreditReport.com band: it's not exactly what you had in mind when you got into the business. But when you've been working with Jerry Bruckheimer, the man partially to blame for at least one awful summer blockbuster a year since Armageddon, your taste in film is probably a tad questionable to begin with.

To be fair, first-time director Hoyt Yeatman has spent years doing visual effects, and G-Force is nothing if not visually exciting. Talking secret agent guinea pigs look as realistic as their flesh-and-blood co-stars, whether they're narrowly escaping the jaws of a guard dog or taking down a coffee maker-turned-battle mech. This marks Bruckheimer's first venture into the undeniably gimmicky world of 3-D and the film takes full advantage of the technology. Nearly every shot features something bursting out of the letterbox to a series of "ewws" and "ahhs" from the audience.
 
 
Picture

Let me make a disclaimer right out the gate. I am a die hard Harry Potter fan. I read all the books the day they came out (delivered straight to my door at 10am via Amazon, no less). I bought advanced tickets for all the movies. I've even been to Harry Potter release parties dressed in my Gryffindor finest. All this said... I wasn't a big fan of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Cue collective gasps.

Find out more after the jump.

 
 

Every once and a while a movie comes along and just strikes a chord. Sometimes you sit there watching a movie, and it shoots an arrow of unadulterated truth from the screen straight to your heart, and you can't help but want to stand up like a black lady in church and scream out 'Hallelujah!" Well my friends, this is that film. With a charming cast, deft direction, and what is sure to be a hit soundtrack, (500) Days of Summer has done something very few films this year have done, it affected me.

More after the jump...

 
 
Picture
Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat was so 2006, but there is something about his flamboyant Austrian fashionista, Bruno, that feels slightly dated as well. The film follows the Austrian from his hometown as a local celebrity on his quest to America to become uber famous, by exploring every and any which way to exploit himself and others. From adopting an African baby, to attempting to make a sex tape with a one time presidential hopeful, Bruno will stop at nothing to succeed.

More after the jump.
 
 
Picture
You know that really excited feeling you get when you find out your
favorite actor is coming out with a new movie--not just any actor, the
one that you would pay your last dollar to see? For me, that's Johnny
Depp. I’ve seen everything he's been in. I own Don Juan DeMarco. I unreasonably think his movies are better than they actually are. I want to hang out with him. I think he is the epitome of cool. So, keep that all in mind.

Public Enemies is the story of John Dillinger (Depp) and his escapades
in the mid ‘30s as the most notorious bank robber of the Depression
era. Dillinger claims to be able to “take any bank, wherever he wants,
whenever he wants,” and he shows that to be true, much to the dismay
of the federal government. Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) is appointed
head of the Dillinger Division of the FBI and starts hunting down the
Dillinger gang. Despite consistently managing to slip through authority’s fingers, Dillinger begins to see the writing on the wall as his heyday winds down.

More after the jump.