When I heard that Judd Apatow was involved in writing this script, I was immediately interested. Another selling point for me was Will Ferrell was not starring as the lead. It’s not that I don’t like the man’s work, it’s just that I’ve reached my limit of seeing him play the ridiculous roles for a while. Stranger than Fiction was definitely a breath of fresh air, however, for some reason I’m really looking forward to Step Brothers. Which leads me to John C. Reilly, who starred as Dewey Cox.
If you didn’t already know, this movie is somewhat a parody of 
Walk the Line, the story of Johnny Cash, with plenty of extra things thrown in. There are also a slew of cameos by many, many actors playing famous musicians and whatnot. I’m pretty sure Reilly did his singing. I can’t vouch for that, but if anybody knows anything about that I’d love to know. I thought he did a fine job in the role.
While I can’t say I fell in love with this film, I can definitely say that I loved many small parts. The Beetles scene was one of my favorites, along with the running sink joke. Jack White was also hilarious as Elvis. Other than that, I’m not sure I have much more to say about this film. It kind of falls into the category of fluff entertainment for me, yet not quite good enough to inspire multiple, future watchings. I’d love to hear what you thought of it.
Rating: 
I finally saw the long awaited and hoped-for Superbad and have to say that I was in no way dissapointed. I think this is by far, the dirtiest teen-genre movie I’ve seen and it wasn’t full of naked co-eds going at it like rabbits. In fact, the only nudity is at the very beginning of a movie when we see a magazine cover. One side note is that when Liz and I saw this, a guy walked in with his 3 or so very young children. We were pretty worried about them being in there, but he got up and ushered his youngtsers out before they were even out of the convenient store (couple minutes in). That made us quite relieved. He must not have realized what the movie was.
As I’ve said before, Judd Apatow is amazing. He didn’t direct this, but he did produce the film along with co-writer and star Seth Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg. Like most “cool” Hollywood people, Apatow and Rogen brought in tons of their friends from previous shows and movies. That’s one thing I’ve really enjoyed about Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up - I get to see all my favorite actors and actresses again. One of my favorites was seeing Steve Bannos as the math teacher. He was also the math teacher in Freaks and Geeks. Then there are also the new people brought in like Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Michael Cera, an upcoming comic genius to be reckoned with.
Story - this is probably the best high school portrayal I’ve seen in a long time. This is even better than Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Dazed and Confused. Elephant is another amazing high-school movie, but it’s in a totally different league. One thing I love so much about things Rogen and Apatow are involved in is just the dialog. It’s so real. Yeah it can be rough around the edges and a little “dirty” at times, but it’s how I remember high school. Just the way people act, think and look is so amazingly perfect. I’m continually wowed.
The basic gist of the story is you have three fairly average senior high school students. One of them has just acquired a fake ID with the name ‘McLovin’ and the three friends have promised to buy booze for a popular girl’s party. This sounds pretty average. In fact it sounds way too average. What happens in between the promise and fulfilling it is what makes this a masterpiece. Store robberies, mistaken identities, crazy adult-parties, bar fights and a pair of buddy-cops that could give Hot Fuzz a run for its money and turn this into one of the best movies of the summer.
I know I can’t recommend this to a lot of people just because of the content. They’ll turn it off or walk out just like that responsible father did within the first few minutes or scenes. Even though this movie is pretty dirty, it’s still going in my top three movies of the year. The hard part will be decided which I like the best.
Yet another amazing creation from Judd Apatow. If you’re a fan of Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared or 40 Year Old Virgin, you’re sure to love this one as well. It’s full of faces you’ll remember along with more side-splitting comedy.
In this film Ben, played by Seth Rogen, meets Alison, played by Katherine Heigl, at a bar and she gets “knocked up”. The story then unfolds as Ben tries to do the right thing and be a responsible father while Alison is trying to deal with an unplanned pregnancy and living with her sister who’s having some marital problems of her own. Mixed in are Ben’s stoner buddies and all kinds of hilarious one-liners that will probably have you laughing out loud. Most of this humor is pretty crude though so it’s something to keep in mind before going to see it. There’s a good chance you could be offended.
One thing I love about Apatow’s projects is they just seem so real and down-to-earth to me. I see these characters and I can relate to them, or they embody someone I know. I see realistic conversations and situations being played out that I could see happening or have heard similar stories about. I think this is why I like it much more than your run-of-the-mill comedy/romantic-comedy that creates impossible situations with unbelievable outcomes.
This has to be right up there with Hot Fuzz being some of the funniest movies of the year. I highly recommend seeing this one.
As soon as I saw the trailer and Lewis Black, I knew I needed to see this movie. After finally seeing it, I can’t necessarily call it a high quality film, but I can say it was very entertaining.
The basic plot is there are a couple guys having problems getting into a college after graduating from high school. So to trick/apease their parents, they create their own school. Soon, things get a little bit out of hand and their little rouse turns into a full blown reality. In the end, they are eventually found out and the movie ends with an Animal House style hearing where their legitimacy as a place of higher learning is decided.
I gave this one a 4 stars out of 5, just because I liked it. If you’re a Lewis Black fan, you’ll want to definitely check this one out as you’re sure to get at least a few laughs.
I’ve really fallen behind in posting about movies so here I go….Saw this one with Elaine, Liz and Sarah. It was definitely the best example of existentialism I’ve ever seen. It’s one of those things I read a little bit about in a couple classes, but never really quite grasped the concept. Wonderful performances by Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore (1998)) and Mark Wahlberg. You also had Jude Law, Dustin Hoffman, Naomi Watts, and Lily Tomlin. Definitely a star-studded cast. Elaine had told me while watching this movie she was kept on the edge of her seat waiting to hear what they would say next. I’d have to say I concur. Definitely great dialog going on here. For some reason while watching it I was constantly reminded of John Cusack. One actress in here was the teacher he talked to outside the high school in Grosse Pointe Blank who he told still dresses like Mary Tyler Moore. There were also little things that reminded of some of his other movies. I thought Naomi Watts did an awesome job portraying how shallow everyone was in treating her after she quit trying to look “pretty” all the time. There were also a bunch of little things like when Jude Law threw up in the meeting and him crying at the end. I also loved when he admitted going to the existential detectives just to get Albert kicked out.
This is definitely a movie that can be appreciated on multiple levels. It’s entertaining and witty on the surface, yet is also much deeper if you want to sit and really think about what you’re watching. Definitely something to watch sometime.
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