Superhero Movie

“Superhero Movie” has not chosen a genre so much as a sub-genre, this one being superhero films. Our protagonist is Rick Riker (Drake Bell), a dorky high school kid who lives with his aunt and uncle (Leslie Nielsen & Marion Ross), has the hots for the hottest girl in school, Jill Johnson (Sara Paxton) and is being pursued by a scientist who is sucking the life out of people to prolong his own, Lou Landers (Christopher McDonald). After a class field trip to a research lab, Rick is bitten by a radioactive dragonfly and begins to notice he has unusual super powers, which he eventually masters and starts using for good. Memorable side characters include Brent Spiner as Dr. Strom, Tracy Morgan as Professor Xavier, Jeffrey Tambor as an E.R. doctor with a strange way of delivering bad news and Robert Hays as Rick’s father. The film is filled with well-known character actors and well-known comedic actors, some turning out to be more successful than others. Some fall completely flat, like Robert Joy as Stephen Hawking, a joke which seems both offensive, unnecessary and tasteless in the extreme. The ending of the film is all about good versus evil, Rick Riker versus Lou Landers. In many ways, the ending feels like an actual ending rather than the parody of an actual ending.

You have to trust your audience and “Superhero Movie” does not. You have to give you audience credit for being able to tell when something is funny and something is not. “Airplane!” did that and so did the best of the Zucker Brothers films. You create a joke or situation and then you hit the audience with the punchline and cause them to laugh well into the next joke or situation. What “Superhero Movie” does is create the joke and then cut to a reaction shot from one of the different characters, that way the audience knows it’s supposed to be absurd or funny. It’s like the film does not trust the audience to figure things out for themselves. In addition, the film seems forced. It feels as if the production was on this deadline and some of the scenes feel like they are not complete, like they are shots the cinematographer forgot to get.

            Oddly enough, however, the visual effects in the film are not that bad – far better than we’re used to seeing in spoofs of this nature. Many of the prop gags work also, as when Professor Xavier’s wife (Regina Hall) lifts up a little boy in a wheelchair. Or, as when a small snail slowly makes its way to make some ‘snail business’. As mentioned before, the film has some genuine laugh out loud moments. They also manage to work a classic fart joke into the picture and not make it so disgusting that you can’t stand it. “Superhero Movie”It doesn’t rely on toilet humor alone to elicit laughs. You can always count on a film like this to let the words find the humor more so than the sight gags. “Superhero Movie” was disappointing, but with some humorous moments.

Year One

Year One,

A movie of biblical proportions, Year One was a large laugh stretched out through the duration of a movie. Be warned however if you are really Christian, I mean like married to a pastor religious, then this movie will more than likely offend you.

That said it is also a movie that some find just plain stupid, so you may be one of the afore mentioned. All the warnings aside we can proceed to my review of this movie. From start to finish this comedy had a well played cast from the obvious Jack Black(Nacho Libre and School of Rock), to the not as big role from Paul Rudd (I Love you man, and Role Models). In the beginning Zed, played by Jack Black, and Oh (Micheal Cera) are hunter-gatherer friends.

When Zed causes trouble he leaves the tribe and starts on his own, of coarse with Oh by his side. Along their journey they witness the first instances of circumcision, Sodom and Gomorrah, and many other biblical events. The feud between Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd) was riveting in this hilarious parody. In fact the whole movie is basically a parody of parts of the Bible, and was Blasphemously (is that a word?) exciting.  

So if you like parodies and are not too squeamish about poking fun, pick this one up the next trip to the rental store. This movie kind of reminds me of the banned commercial of Adam and Eve, where it turns out Adam is gay. Also there were so many great actresses and actors in this, such as; Oliver Platt, Juno Temple, Hank Azaria, and Olivia Wilde. 

Titanic

Titanic; Disaster movie/ Drama, USA, 1997; D: James Cameron, S: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Billy Zane, Frances Fisher, Kathy Bates, Victor Garber, Gloria Stuart, David Warner, Bill Paxton

In the present, a team of explorers investigate the wreck of the famous ship Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean. They discover a drawing, and the woman on it is still alive, Rose Dawson, now 100 years old. She tells them her tale: back then, she boards the Titanic with her rich and arrogant fiance Cal. But at the ship she meets the poor, cheerful painter Jack who won the ship ticket in a bet. The two of them fall in love, but just then the Titanic hits and iceberg and starts slowly sinking. Cal framed Jack and accused him of robbery, handcuffing him in a cabin in order to drown, but Rose is able to save him. Since the ship is sinking and there are not enough life boats, people start panicking. Jack freezes to death in the Ocean while Rose is barely saved by a boat a few hours after the disaster.

During the course of the time, some people have started openly dismissing James Cameron's hydrophobic epic romance "Titanic", calling it a lousy film with a lousy script. True, despite the fact that "Titanic" won 11 Oscars and 4 Golden Globes, including for best picture and director, there were at least 10 better films released that same year. The BAFTAs even awarded "The Full Monty" as the best film of 1997. At some moments, the story is indeed a little bit too kitschy and artificial - for instance in the scene where Jack is practicing spitting, the whole moment where Jack and Rose run away in the engine room and hide to make love in a car, Rose's fiance Cal is a typical cliche bad guy and the special effects are truly average. Still, after a non-stop display of action films, Cameron for once showed his gentler, emotional side and one can notice he put his soul in the film. And sadly, some people are still afraid of their emotions. The first part of the film, the calm one, is sometimes shaky, but once the second one starts, where the Titanic starts sinking, it really becomes powerful and engaging, filled with great little details: the rats are running away from the water in a cabin, a group of musicians is brought on deck to play cheerful music to "calm" down people before the evacuation and once the panic starts the sailors have to shoot at the passengers to bring some order in the filling of the life boats. The sole tipping of the ship offered an interesting perspective and insight, while the dramatic moments about life and death are bittersweet and poignant. It's a spectacular film that only gets pushed down because of some weak attempts at humor, but the emotions are really there. Many have also made fun of Celine Dion's famous closing song "My Heart Will Go On", but the question is only why: it's an perfect song that nicely suits and elevates the film. "Titanic" is a flawed, somewhat uneven, but still very good film that doesn't sink.