Movie Night
Jul. 6th, 2010 12:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slycatI happened to have a couple of new movies to watch and so ended up watching them all in one evening.
First up was The Losers which was apparently a film based on a DC Comics graphic novel by the same name, but I hadn't heard of it. Save for the rather silly villain, you couldn't really tell it was a comic book movie anyway. It was more a kinda typical action fest about an elite special forces team framed for a crime they did not commit (hmm, where have I heard that before?) with some great actors including Jeffrey Dean Morgan, better known as The Comedian from Watchmen, Zoe Saldana, better known as Neytiri from Avatar and Chris Evans, the bloke from Fantastic Four (not a film I rate but I like the actor). Apart from some confusing scenes surrounding Zoe Saldana's character, I found it to be a rather enjoyable above average action film but not something I felt like I missed out on watching at the cinema.
Next was Cop Out directed by Kevin Smith. You could probably call me a Kevin Smith fan as I'm very fond of all of Smith's View Askewniverse movies (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma & Jay & Silent Bob) as well as Zack & Miri. I hadn't bothered with it in the cinema due to the bad reviews but I still held up hope for the home version as it couldn't be that bad... surely? However it seems that the reviews were justified, I found utterly let down by Kevin Smith's choice to direct this movie. I know he didn't write it which was the movie's first mistake. I knew from reading his book "My Boring-Ass Life" that he idolised Bruce Willis and wanted to have him star in one of his movies but I couldn't help but feel that there must have been a better movie for Smith to put Willis in.
The movie itself is modelled after your typical 80's buddy cop movie as Smith loved the genre and wanted to try to bring it back. Impressively, Smith even convinced classic 80's film score composer Harold Faltermeyer (responsible for classic soundtracks such as Beverley Hills Cop, Fletch, Top Gun & The Running Man) to come out of retirement to add to the 80's feel but I just ended up thinking the soundtrack didn't really fit. That said, it would have taken a lot more than a decent soundtrack to improve the film Cop Out turned out to be. My main problem with it was that it just wasn't funny. I didn't laugh once during the whole thing which is a big problem for a film selling itself as a comedy. Moreso, Tracey Morgan played the most irritating character I've seen in film in a long time and by the time the film was about half way through, I had just lost interest. There wasn't a compelling or original script and I just found the film boring. I really hope that Smith keeps to what he's good at in the future and keep to stuff he's written (just as long as he doesn't attempt something "mature" like Jersey Girl again.
The last film of the evening was the latest Steve Carell comedy vehicle, Date Night. I wasn't expecting much from this film as again I remember it getting mediocre reviews however, I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure if it's because I had just watched such a terrible film, but there were plenty of laugh out loud moments. I'd say the closest comparison in terms of how the film felt was True Lies, although that's probably not an accurate comparison. The film is basically about a married couple worried about the fact that their lives had become routine and monotonous who are mistaken for people they're not and as a result they have to find a way to prove who they really are by finding the people they were mistaken for. I know that may sound a little confusing but read it a few times or view the trailer and all will make sense. It was a fun movie which again isn't the sort of thing I'd see in the cinema but held my attention and entertained me during it's running time.
So yeah, in summary (and for people who just skip to the end!), The Losers was above average, Cop Out was terrible and a great disappointment, and Date Night was surprisingly good.
First up was The Losers which was apparently a film based on a DC Comics graphic novel by the same name, but I hadn't heard of it. Save for the rather silly villain, you couldn't really tell it was a comic book movie anyway. It was more a kinda typical action fest about an elite special forces team framed for a crime they did not commit (hmm, where have I heard that before?) with some great actors including Jeffrey Dean Morgan, better known as The Comedian from Watchmen, Zoe Saldana, better known as Neytiri from Avatar and Chris Evans, the bloke from Fantastic Four (not a film I rate but I like the actor). Apart from some confusing scenes surrounding Zoe Saldana's character, I found it to be a rather enjoyable above average action film but not something I felt like I missed out on watching at the cinema.
Next was Cop Out directed by Kevin Smith. You could probably call me a Kevin Smith fan as I'm very fond of all of Smith's View Askewniverse movies (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma & Jay & Silent Bob) as well as Zack & Miri. I hadn't bothered with it in the cinema due to the bad reviews but I still held up hope for the home version as it couldn't be that bad... surely? However it seems that the reviews were justified, I found utterly let down by Kevin Smith's choice to direct this movie. I know he didn't write it which was the movie's first mistake. I knew from reading his book "My Boring-Ass Life" that he idolised Bruce Willis and wanted to have him star in one of his movies but I couldn't help but feel that there must have been a better movie for Smith to put Willis in.
The movie itself is modelled after your typical 80's buddy cop movie as Smith loved the genre and wanted to try to bring it back. Impressively, Smith even convinced classic 80's film score composer Harold Faltermeyer (responsible for classic soundtracks such as Beverley Hills Cop, Fletch, Top Gun & The Running Man) to come out of retirement to add to the 80's feel but I just ended up thinking the soundtrack didn't really fit. That said, it would have taken a lot more than a decent soundtrack to improve the film Cop Out turned out to be. My main problem with it was that it just wasn't funny. I didn't laugh once during the whole thing which is a big problem for a film selling itself as a comedy. Moreso, Tracey Morgan played the most irritating character I've seen in film in a long time and by the time the film was about half way through, I had just lost interest. There wasn't a compelling or original script and I just found the film boring. I really hope that Smith keeps to what he's good at in the future and keep to stuff he's written (just as long as he doesn't attempt something "mature" like Jersey Girl again.
The last film of the evening was the latest Steve Carell comedy vehicle, Date Night. I wasn't expecting much from this film as again I remember it getting mediocre reviews however, I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure if it's because I had just watched such a terrible film, but there were plenty of laugh out loud moments. I'd say the closest comparison in terms of how the film felt was True Lies, although that's probably not an accurate comparison. The film is basically about a married couple worried about the fact that their lives had become routine and monotonous who are mistaken for people they're not and as a result they have to find a way to prove who they really are by finding the people they were mistaken for. I know that may sound a little confusing but read it a few times or view the trailer and all will make sense. It was a fun movie which again isn't the sort of thing I'd see in the cinema but held my attention and entertained me during it's running time.
So yeah, in summary (and for people who just skip to the end!), The Losers was above average, Cop Out was terrible and a great disappointment, and Date Night was surprisingly good.
