Quick Movie Reviews: Vol 17

It’s something that makes me scratch my head, but I wonder why movies put arseholes in movies. Or at least put them as the lead characters. With horror movies I might understand the argument that the audience is paying money to see arsehole’s die in horrendous ways, but what of other genres? Even a movie like Very Bad Things where it’s littered with horrendous people, there are still main characters who are somewhat sympathetic. Anyway it’s just a question to think about and I should probably move on to the movies.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Finally managed to watch this found footage movie and the overall impression was? I thought it was a solid movie, but nothing to write home about. I do think the hype about the movie may have been too much for it to live up to. During the course of the movie I did feel tense at some moments, but was never truly scared, and the ending didn’t have that much impact on me. I would like to see the two sequels, so I guess this movie is successful in that regards. Not too sure if I would recommend it to people, but I certainly wouldn’t stop people from watching it if they were interested.

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Wow. Yet again a cartoon proving to me that I still have a child like heart. At the outset I was a little wary as I am suffering from Jack Black overload. But as the movie progressed I was laughing, cheering and generally enjoying the watching experience. I also think the message at the core of this movie is great for children, and yet it’s not overbearing. Simply put that if you have a dream you need to work at it and nothing good will happen if you just give up. The voice acting is also really well done and seemed to suit every character, in particular I thought Jack Black was very good as Po and Ian McShane as Tai Lung brought a suitable amount of menace. I love Pixar but it’s always good to see another company being able to match them, and I think Kung Fu Panda was Dreamworks first step towards that.

Bad Teacher (2011)

My opening paragraph comes full circle, as this is the reason why I’m thinking about arsehole characters at the moment. Or in this case it would be a bitch character. Cameron Diaz plays Elizabeth Halsey, a despicable wretch of a girl who is trying to get hitched to a rich man so she won’t have work ever again. I’m not sure what the point of the movie is honestly. It’s not that funny, the character doesn’t really go through any arc even though her character is supposedly improved somewhat, and actually nice people are punished. It’s the same problem I had with Bad Santa, as the main joke is, “wow. I didn’t expect (enter job) to ever act that way.” Once that joke is used up, the movie become stale as it’s just a repeat. The only thing that I liked about this movie was Jason Segal who seemed to come up with some of his own lines, and at least brought a decent character for me to get behind. Avoid this movie.