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Reviews
Reno 911!: Miami (2007)
Missing the speed and subtleties of the TV series
I recently stumbled into Reno 911! on Comedy Central and fell in love with the delivery found in every scene of that show. From the Hummer to Rick, the writers and actors involved in the show were capable of constructing hilarious little nuggets every couple minutes. Unfortunately, random, but frequent, spells of hilarity do not translate well to an 83-minute big-screen rendition.
One funny moment that shimmered with the chemistry formed on TV came during the on-boat interrogation by Paul Rudd. After a minute of intimidation with a weed wacker, the hostage poked, "You're insane. Who has a weed wacker on a boat?"
All in all, I'm still an avid fan and advocate for the TV series, but would caution most people who are drawn to the subtleties found in the show to be prepared for an average comedy most of the time.
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
One of Stewart's Best
I went into this movie expecting another good movie by the standards of its time, but I was gladly mistaken. Anatomy of a Murder can be considered very good even among today's standards.
Jimmy Stewart plays one of his best roles in this movie, and probably the best that I've seen so far. He plays a country-boy defense attorney that is hired to defend a husband who killed the man that raped his wife. His character feels, at times, like Travolta's character in A Civil Action, and at others, it feels like Damon's character in The Rainmaker. Very well done and a very complete performance.
The execution of this movie was just about spot-on, but aside from Jimmy Stewart, most of the cast only delivers an average performance. The comical lines are delivered in such a way that they are actually FUNNY; unlike a lot of the movies from that time.
I give it a 9/10, if for no other reason than the court scene where George C. Scott keeps blocking Stewart's view of his witness (very, very funny).
If you like courtroom dramas, don't miss this!
What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? (2004)
Can anyone say after-school special?
This movie felt like a film I would have to watch in high school Physics. I don't even know where to begin with it. It's so pretentious and overbearing. I had hoped that it would be another Waking Life, but it is definitely not. The dramatic sequences are very sophomoric and amateur. The points these filmmakers and scientists are attempting to make are delivered very obviously, so obvious that, at times, the movie manages to offend me.
If you want a different, well-established look at the world and life, then go ahead and avoid this movie and watch Waking Life. At least that movie feels like something other than a school movie, or even worse an after-school movie.
** out of 10 at best.
Garden State (2004)
Kudos to Braff
Zach Braff put forth an exceptional effort in his directorial/writing debut about a forced-out son (Braff) who returns to his New Jersey home after a decade for his mom's funeral, only to meet the one girl (Portman) that made him feel again.
The movie flowed very well, and the characters were believable. I will admit that I despise the standard romantic comedy, but this was far from standard. The bittersweet approach to the romantic story by the characters made this movie more than tolerable for me, it made the movie downright lovable.
The only bit of resistance I have towards the movie comes from the overall feel I got from it. It seemed to be Lost In Translation meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in a few aspects. Andrew Largeman could be compared to Joel Barish in that they both have difficulties with emotions and feeling happy/satisfied (clearly for two very separate reasons). And Sam could be compared to Clementine through the ideas that they were both very quirky, fumbling, but also very cute (again, through different ways). And this movie reminds me of Lost In Translation primarily because it's about two people who meet each other and through the course of a few days, manage to change each other's life. Granted, the ending here is a bit different from the ending in Lost In Translation, but the similarities are hard for me to ignore.
I give high praise to Braff for this movie. It's nearly flawless, and that's a feat for any a veteran director/writer. I give it an 8/10 solely because I felt something at the end, but it wasn't something I haven't experience before.