4 stars

Due Date

The other day I went to see the comedy written, directed, and produced by Todd Fillips – “Due Date”. Todd also played one of the supporting roles in this film, which is somewhat usual of him. Two main roles were played by Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis.

Even though I did enjoy this comedy quite a bit, I still felt that it was rushed into production. Some parts of the movie are hilarious. I’ve been laughing out loud more than twice. And even laughed to tears once or twice. But there were parts of this movie which were unnecessary, boring, and disconnected. It felt like these were early drafts.

Robert Downey Jr. was interesting – a somewhat more dramatic character than most of his recent movies. Zach Galifianakis was exactly as he usually is in his most recent movies. There were weird moments, but overall the duet worked together.

I won’t recommend this film strongly, but if you have a chance to see it – see it. It’s not a total waste of time. Ranking-wise, I’d give it a 4 out of 5.

Brothers

I’ve heard quite a few positive reviews of the “Brothers” movie. By chance I got my hands on a copy of it, so I watched.

My feelings about this film are mixed. On one hand, I think that there should be more war movies out there. Pretty much any kind will do – hero stories, the ugliness of war, political intrigue – anything. War is something that people should know more about and think more about. Maybe then we’ll have more peace.

And “Brothers” movie fits the bill. There should be more films like this. It’s just that I didn’t quite get this one in particular. The beginning and middle of the film were nice and engaging, but it got somehow messed up by the end. Or I just didn’t get it. I don’t know.

There was plenty of good acting, especially for the main characters. The score was fine. The dynamics were pretty good, and the switching between the peaceful times and the war zone. The horror of war was illustrated nicely. But, as I said, the ending didn’t do it for me. So I’m sort of lost there.

Overall, still recommended, even with 4 out of 5.

The Hurt Locker

The other day I went to see “The Hurt Locker“. There was plenty of hype around this movie – 6 Oscars, 73 other award wins, and 47 nominations for more awards. Not to mention that the director is Kathryn Bigelow, who is, among other things, an ex-wife of James Cameron. (And as we know, in many cases, you are who you are married to, and if so, it’s extremely helpful in this case).

Anyways. Obviously, with all that noise, I’ve heard quite a bit about the film, and I saw the trailer, and I had a slight idea on what it was and how it was. I went prepared. Or so I thought…

The film turned out to be totally different from what I was expecting. Actually, I think it turned out totally different from what anybody were expecting. And that’s a good thing. Surprise! Somehow this film is very different from pretty much everything. It has action, but it’s not an action. It has drama, but it’s not a drama. It’s supposedly has documentary, but it’s not documentary. The storyline is very vague and doesn’t seem to stand out or lead anywhere, but on the other hand the film is rather long and I didn’t get tired of it at all. It’s very natural.

The way it works, I guess, is that this film is using atmosphere to tell the story, rather than dialogs, powerful music, and impressive shots. As I said, at times you don’t really know where it goes and if it goes anywhere at all. But yet somehow it all makes sense. Also, one other thing that I really enjoyed, and which I thought was a cornerstone of this film is simplicity. The whole situation in Iraq is not simple. There are many sides to it and many points of views. But this film drops down to a very simplistic view of the whole picture from the eyes of a few American soldiers. There is no propaganda, there are no high-flying ideas. It’s just that simple – a few guys at war. It’s not about why they are there. It’s about them actually being there.

The film is not very entertaining, even though it has a few hilarious bits and quite a few action sequences. It’s simple, and yet deep. It doesn’t force ideas upon thee, but it does make you think. And as I said, it’s different from most films I’ve seen, and yet very similar somehow.

Overall, I’ll give it a 4 out of 5, and I would highly recommend it.

Date Night

Last Friday I went to see “Date Night“. Actually, I went to see another movie, but I was confused by the scheduled and arrived at incorrect time. So instead of going back home decided to see this one. Even though I didn’t particularly liked the trailer and didn’t expect much of this movie.

It wasn’t exceptional by any means – the story was average, the acting was average, there were plenty of things we’ve seen before in other movies. But somehow it still made me laugh a lot and left me with a couple of things to think about.

Good Friday evening entertainment altogether. 4 out of 5.

Iron Man 2

Last Friday I went to see a much anticipated movie – “Iron Man 2“. I really enjoyed the first “Iron Man” and the trailer for “Iron Man 2” looked really promising.

The film left me with mixed feelings. On one hand – there was plenty of action and fantastic cast. On the other – this part is much dumber than the first one and the ending is horrible. Sorry, not the ending, but the epic battle between good and evil, the part of the film where the villain is defeated. That sucked really bad. The good thing though that it’s a small part of the film and it only happens towards the end, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the visual effects and such.

I still think that the first part was way better, but this one does count for a good Friday evening entertainment. See it on the big screen, if you are planning to watch it at all. I’ll rate it as a weak 4 out of 5. It barely made it.