The Hangover

I saw the Hangover on opening night and I have to say that it was one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time! This film achieved so much with a very basic story about a group of guys in Las Vegas for a bachelor party that goes bad! It was a great take on any comedy that takes place in Las Vegas! The characters were all so funny and their conversations were very similar to Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen comedies. Finding out what they got themselves into that night is the best part of the movie because it's so crazy and they all have no recollection of the night! The part with Mike Tyson is absolutely classic! I especially enjoyed the end credits montage as it showed all the crazy pictures they took that night and completely forgot about it until the end!
The characters were all so original and they were easy to relate to. They were just regular guys trying to go to Vegas to be like other guys that have gone to Vegas in movies! Director Todd Phillips threw in an homage to Road Trip, one of his earlier films, in this movie that really sold the theme of the chracters trying to be different! The surprises in this movie are everything, so I won't say anything about that! I would highly recommend this movie as I predict it to be one of the summer's best comedies!

This Week's Movie

Snatch

Guy Ritchie did it again. Two years after the previous movie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Ritchie comes back with another comedy with a bunch of boneheaded underworld types. The story involves an 84 ct. flawless diamond, a pack of gypsies, boxing, a man that dodges bullets and a man the has a few in his mouth. Ritchie not only directed this one but he wrote this as well. So much like LSTS it is very complex. Not too give to much away, the movie stars Jason Statham and Vinny Jones again. Statham is a promoter of illegal boxing matches who is just trying to get by and buy himself a new caravan (trailer). Jones comes along much later so just watch and see who he is. Trouble arises early on when Statham tries to buy a caravan from the gypsies and his prize fighter is knocked into next week by a lanky Irishman played by none other than Bradd Pitt. To make a long story short without giving away any details, Pitt decides to fight for Statham. Now onto the other story involving the diamond. Benicio Del Toro steals the diamond and then has the diamond stolen from him. Thats as basic as I am willing to make it. Just watch the movie and you can figure out what I mean.

Reasons to watch:

1. Guy Ritchie: The man is a genius when it comes to envisioning a story and capturing it through a camera lens. The movie is complex yet easy enough to follow for most viewers. He shows you everything up his sleeve and doesn't leave a briefcase with a golden glow up for interpretation.

2. Fight Club: Did you like watching Brad Pitt beat up people in Fight Club? If you are thinking to yourself "Yeah I did enjoy him beating up guys twice his size", then this is a movie you have to see. The man is unstoppable. Well at least the character he portrays it unstoppable. He bare knuckle fights two men bigger than him and another with gloves on. Definitely not to be missed.

3. Re-watch: The movie should be watched twice I know I saw this a while ago and forgot about it but coming back with the goal of promoting has made it stick out in my head. Watch it again before you recommend it to friends. Or not.

4. Review: Check out the reasons why to watch Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. I would say the same reasons apply here.

In Theatres?

So I realized the other day when I was doing this up-coming Sunday's post, (Don't say overachiever because I'm not) I have been doing movies that have been on DVD for at least a year or two. Last night I had the opportunity to go and see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian with some passes. For those who don't know this is a sequel. Surprise. The original starred Ben Stiller and Robin Williams. Stiller plays a night watchman at The Natural History Museum in NYC who really wants to be an inventor. Williams was a wax model of Teddy Roosevelt in the museum. The whole movie revolves around this tablet that allows the exhibits to come to life. To make a long story short for the sake of catching people up, the old night watchmen try and steal the tablet and Stiller along with the help of the museum's exhibits stop them.

Flash forward two years when the sequel takes place. Stiller is a successful inventor with his own company. He still routinely visits the museum to visit at night, one night he goes and finds out the exhibits are being shipped off to the federal archives at the Smithsonian Institute. Stiller tries everything to keep them from being put into storage without the tablet but he fails. After they have left one of the exhibits calls him saying they are being attacked. Stiller rushes off to try and help. He runs into another security guard played by Jonah Hill (surprise he is in everything). The battle ensues between Stiller and bad guys throughout time. Al Capone, Ivan the Terrible, or awesome (played by Christopher Guest) and the leader of the bad guys Kahmunrah (played by Hank Azaria who has two other roles in the movie).

Overall the movie was pretty amusing. I laughed out loud throughout most of the movie. If you liked the first one then you will like this one even more because it is better than the first. Go check this movie out and tell me what you think.

-Bob

This Week's Movie

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels

A ridiculous comedy directed by Guy Ritchie. LSTB stars Jason Statham, before he broke out in The Transporter. The movie has a large cast that I do not feel like listing out here, but if you have scene Layer Cake you will notice that the gentleman that played Cody also stars in here as Soap. Another man from Layer Cake, Crazy Larry, also plays in this movie (anyone notice a pattern?). This movie sounds like an action movie and I actually looked for it in the action section of Blockbuster, but it is on the verge of slapstick. Some of the scenes run like something that would appear on the worlds dumbest criminals. Statham and his three friends decide it is there time to make it rich. They put their faith and a hundred grand in the hands of their friend, Eddie. Eddie is a great card player since birth, he would have won it all if not for foul play. He and his friends end up four hundred thousand in debt to Harry, the man who arranged the game. If they do not come up with the money in a week they lose their fingers and Eddie's dad loses his bar. The odds are stacked against them and you will have to watch and see if they make it out with all their digits and a pint in front of them.

Reasons to watch:

1. Gritty: The movie is shot almost without white balancing giving a hard look to it that almost makes you not want to watch it yet at the same time you can't look away because it is something that is not seen very often.

2. Hard Hitting: The camera angles used in the movie are very disorientating and almost give you a headache at times. Yet, at the same time pulls you in deeper into their world.

3. Soundtrack: Throughout the movie there is a constant bass line, almost jazz like. Every time 

this is heard something is about to happen, whether your about to be introduced to another story line or Eddie just lost all their money.

4. Award Winning: Guy Ritchie won "Best New Filmmaker" from the MTV Movie Awards back in '99. Since then Ritchie has gone on to direct six movies. He just wrapped up production on his version of Sherlock Holmes (Check out Pete's preview below).

5. Multiple Story Lines: The movie has at least two stories that occur simultaneously. They all come together and not as confusing at Tarantino movies do either.

6. Re-watch: I watched this movie twice before writing here. The first time was to get a handle on the movie, the second was enjoyment and to figure out what exactly happened. So before you judge this movie watch it again to make sure you are fully grasping what is going on.

This is a wrap. Tell me what you think and feel free to recommend a movie for me. Include your name and who knows you might be famous.

-Bob

Observe and Report...

Recently I saw Seth Rogen's new movie Observe and Report. I thought it was pretty damn funny. This mall cop movie was different from others in the genre (Paul Blart: Mall Cop) with its crazy dialogue, over the top violence and full frontal male nudity! The movie itself was very funny, but you have to get used to Seth Rogen playing a new type of character. In this movie, he isn't the dumb stoner. He is a lonely guy that seems to take his job too seriously! I would reccommend this film to anyone that enjoys Seth Rogen's movie, but just have an open mind about him in a different type of role.