Movie

Dredd (2012)

Judge Dredd 2012

Dredd (2012)

Director:

Pete Travis

Starring:

Karl Urban

Olivia Thirlby

Lena Headey

Plot:

In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.

Review:

Recently I came across a thread that asked you to list the greatest action movies of all time. Now I wouldn’t say that the list that came to my mind was the greatest, but they’re all really good and some of my favorite movies.

Judge Dredd was on my list and I realized it’s been way too long since I’ve watched it. What if I don’t like it anymore?

Not possible.

Judge Dredd is one of those movies that I joke I’m going to buy for everyone at Christmas. It’s almost always cheap and there’s really no good reason for someone not to own it. I say I’m joking, but am I? One day…

A quick disclaimer, I have never read a Judge Dredd comic or watched the original movie.

Karl Urban as Dredd is such a badass. The way his face is in a perpetual frown and the fact that he barely speaks. Perfect.

Ma-Ma, Lena Heady, is an evil as fuck villain and you know this immediately because the movie starts with her having three dudes skinned alive and then thrown from near the top of a skyscraper while doped up on drugs that slowed time.

Seriously?

Yup.

Olivia Thirlby, Anderson, provides a nice newbie to ride along with. She’s a mutant that has psychic abilities, she reads people’s minds. By the end of the movie she’s earned her position as a judge, though, I’m not sure if I’d call her a badass. However, when she invaded that dudes mind and messed with him it was pretty cool.

The movie as a whole is great and I wish desperately that it had received a sequel, but it bombed in theaters because… people can’t enjoy a graphically violent sci-fi action movie? I don’t know, but it’s sad. To add insult to injury Urban’s TV show Almost Human was canceled too.

Bitter?

Yeah.

I highly recommend this movie.

5/5

Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007)

Mr Beans Holiday

Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007)

Director:

Steve Bendelack

Starring:

Rowan Atkinson

Willem Dafoe

Emma de Caunes

Plot:

Mr. Bean wins a trip to Cannes where he unwittingly separates a young boy from his father and must help the two come back together. On the way he discovers France, bicycling, and true love, among other things.

Review:

I love Mr. Bean, I still laugh every time I see my favorite episodes of his show. I don’t remember being very impressed with the Mr. Bean movie from 1997, but saw this on Netflix and thought why not.

While not as bad as the 1997 movie, it still didn’t capture what I enjoy so much about Mr. Bean. I think the character might just work better in a shorter format. An entire movie with his antics can grow boring and tedious. There were several scenes that I laughed at and tons of awkward hard to watch moments, but I also spent a lot of time not paying attention to the movie cause I was bored.

I think I’ll just stick to watching the Mr. Bean TV show episodes and stay away from any further movies.

3/5

For A Good Time, Call… (2012)

For a Good Time Call

For A Good Time, Call… (2012)

Director:

Jamie Travis

Starring:

Ari Graynor

Lauren Miller

Justin Long

Plot:

Former college frenemies Lauren and Katie move into a fabulous Gramercy Park apartment, and in order to make ends meet, the unlikely pair start a phone sex line together.

Review:

So we have Bromances what are girl best friend movies called? Sismances? Girmances? No idea, but this was that type of movie.

The girls didn’t like each other because of a small incident that was easily overcome. They had a rough start but quickly overcame. It was a really cute movie and made me wish I had a close girlfriend, but man friends are so much work and you have to find them and… Oh well.

Anyway, I’d recommend this movie. It had it’s funny moments but it wasn’t hilarious. There were several surprise cameos from people I wasn’t expecting. The ending was kind of weak, but I understand why they did what they did. Overall, not bad and better than average.

4/5

Hot Pursuit (2015)

Hot Pursuit (2015)

Director:

Anne Fletcher

Starring:

Reese Witherspoon

Sofía Vergara

Plot:

An uptight and by-the-book cop tries to protect the outgoing widow of a drug boss as they race through Texas pursued by crooked cops and murderous gunmen.

Review:

I’m not sure why, maybe it was the trailer, but I was expecting this to be a lot funnier than it was. I ended up really disappointed and a little angry by the time this was over.

Witherspoon’s character grew up wanting only to be a cop and ended up choking and became a joke in the force. She is give the opportunity to redeem herself by escorting Vergara’s character to Dallas because apparently they were in Texas, though Witherspoon is one of the only characters with a southern accent and it’s not even the right one.

Whatever.

Vergara is more than just a pair of boobs, though she has no problem using them to get what she wants. Witherspoon of course misjudges her because of that and they argue about it on multiple occasions.

This reminds me of the Identity Thief movie in that these two opposite characters were supposed to learn from the other. Sadly, they didn’t learn to be better people. Evidently when Witherspoon relaxes she steals. I’m not sure what Vergara learned, let the police kill the bad guys?

2/5

 

In a World (2013)

In a World

 

In a World (2013)

Director:

Lake Bell

Starring:

Lake Bell

Fred Melamed

Michaela Watkins

Plot:

An underachieving voice coach finds herself competing in the movie trailer voice-over profession against her arrogant father and his protégé.

Review:

This movie had been on my to watch list for a while but for whatever reason I just never felt in the mood. To be honest I only selected it this time because I wanted something short and this was just over ninety minutes.

The amount of times I wanted to slap the father in this movie quickly escalated to just wanting to punch him until he was a bloody pulp. Argh!

The supporting characters were all pretty good, though, I was screaming at the sister. She at least didn’t totally fuck up and was a good sister.

Carol, Lake Bell, was a likeable character and even though she initially came off as a slacker she proved me wrong. I liked her, she was quirky had a dream and kept getting punched emotionally.

4/5