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.

Iron Man 2

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.

Natural Born Killers

I just finished watching “Natural Born Killers“.  I’ve seen it before, but it was a really long time ago, and it was with a horrible Russian translation.  Plus, I don’t think it was a director’s cut version that I got my hands on today.

The film was shot back in 1994. That’s 15 years ago.  And it still looks quite well, despite all the advances in the moving pictures industry.  I guess that’s because the true values are hardly ageing – interesting story with drama, true love and romance as well as humor;  and tonnes of good acting and directing.  Of course, some special effects are outdated, but that doesn’t spoil the experience even a tiny bit.

Overall, a highly recommended movie if you haven’t seen it yet.  And still recommended if you saw it a long time ago.  5 stars.

Tropic Thunder

I just came back from the movies where I enjoyed an action comedy “Tropic Thunder“.  To be honest, initially I didn’t want to see this movie.  Silly poster, one of my most unfavourite actors and directos Ben Stiller, and a few other minor factors were all pointing to towards “You can safely ignore this movie” sign.  But then I’ve heard a few good reviews and changed my mind.

Gladly, the film turned out to be pretty good.  I think that make-up artists, good cast, and participation of one of the Cohen brothers in the screenplay writing saved this flick.  Ben Stiller wasn’t as bad as he usually is.  Jack Black was pretty good.  Especially in that short little scene where he was tied up to the tree.  Tom Cruise was a surprise – both acting-wise and make-up-wise.  Robert Downey Jr. was really good.  He was as good as his make-up.  Extra make-up point goes for the Japanese-like looking gangster, shooting automatic weapon in the purple haze.  That was aesthetically refreshing.

There is plenty of good action in this film, with gun fights, explosions, helicopters, and so on and so forth. As for the humor – it’s an interesting mix, between the low-level silly Ben Stiller kind of jokes and smart parody and satire Cohen-brothers style.  Done really well.

Overall, 7 out of 10 for good entertainment.

Iron Man

Yesterday I went to the cinema to watch “Iron Man“.  I was a bit worried that it would be based on yet another comic book or something.  But either it wasn’t, or the comic was pretty good.

The movie turned out to be solid entertainment.  It was very much in the style of “Transformers“, but with more style and better special effects.   It was complete even with Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” song in the soundtrack.

Recommended.  7 out of 10.