More Blue than Green: A Review of Green Zone
Political themes have long found their way into film. In a film class I took at Northwestern, our instructor pointed out many of the anti-communist aspects prevalent in the 1960 film, Spartacus. Fifty years later, politics are just as heated and people feel that movies are great way to express their opinions. While I do see the benefits of using film to convey political messages, Green Zone goes too far.
The entire plot of the film is straight from the headlines. Matt Damon is the head of an army regiment that is saddled with the task of finding WMD’s in Iraq. Of course, they can’t find any, and of course the intelligence they have is faulty. We’ve heard this all before. In the end, (SPOILER ALERT) it turns out that a bureaucrat intentionally lied to force troops into an unnecessary war in Iraq. The liberal agenda is not a undertone in the film it is the very plot.
Regardless of your political persuasion, the movie lacks depth. There is no twist, no exciting new information, no intense fight sequences. The plot is predictable because it is what the media has been telling us for years now (speaking of media, Amy Dayne’s somewhat corrupt journalist character happens to work for the Wall Street Journal, go figure). Furthering the ties to actual occurrences, the film’s producer takes an open shot on President Bush as he is shown given a speech to military in the film, thus tying him to the conflict.
The cinematography is intentionally shaky and curt, presumably to give it more of a documentary type feel. It is just another step in trying to convince people that these are actual occurrences. The average civilian has no idea what life is really like in the camps in the Middle East and so however they are portrayed in movies is often the picture that is cemented into our minds.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this type of filmmaking is dangerous (although some might), but it does seem lazy. At least the liberal message in Avatar was shrouded behind intense images and an entirely new civilization. Again, it is clear that those who tend to vote blue will be more likely to agree with the film’s overall message (that Bush and his administration knowingly started a war in Iraq on faulty if not manufactured intelligence), but even then I have a hard time believing anyone will be entertained by this lack of creativity.
1.5 out of 5 stars
Whether you voted for Obama, McCain, or even Perot, you should definitely follow us on Twitter @clawtomicbaum and make sure to post our links on your Facebook. Let me know what you think of my review, I promise I won’t bite. And keep the requests coming. Don’t forget get to comment below if you think Joey should write a review before the year is over. Thanks for checking us out.
-Nuss
Weekend With Steve: Reviews of Dinner for Schmucks and Despicable Me
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
My girlfriend and I were trying to decide whether to see The Other Guys or Dinner for Schmucks this past Friday night. I shot Joey a text to ask his opinion. His response, “Do you like Carell or Ferrell more?” Being huge fans of The Office we both replied Carell and Joey told us our decision was made.
Things that would have been more worth our time:
Watching Steve Carell in The Office reruns.
Watching Steve Carell in Date Night after we rented it from the store.
Watching Steve Carell sleep.
Seriously. If you remember my Date Night review, you know that I was not overly impressed. Let me assure you that it was markedly better than Carell’s latest big screen endeavor. The humor in this film is derived mainly from misunderstandings that arise from the idiocy of Carell’s character, Barry. Paul Rudd’s character, Tim, meets Barry and henceforth nothing that he does goes according to plan. The two continue to find themselves tangled in awkward situations that cause problems for Tim. It may sound similar to the premise of the Meet the Parents franchise but they are world’s apart. Even if you disregard the terribly shallow characters (Larry Wilmore’s character is literally one of the worst I have ever seen) and plot, you are still left with situations that are based solely upon entirely unbelievable characters.
Some of Barry’s quirks (such as the fact that he creates scenes with taxidermic mice) are plausible and funny, but the go overboard in many occasions and make his character a total dolt. Many of his actions do not mesh with the rest of what we know about his character and he is taken from tremendously socially awkward to complete and utter idiot, which seemingly contradicts itself.
Furthermore, the writer appeared to be torn on whether one should feel sorry for Barry and empathize with him or just find him totally laughable. The dynamic between the two does not work well and makes for a feel good ending that leaves you with a confused and dumbfounded feeling. This is one of the worst comedies I have seen in recent memory and certainly the worst work I have seen from Carell. As he transitions away from The Office, hopefully this is not a sign of things to come from Steve Carell’s live action movie projects.
.5 stars out of 5
The reason I say live action projects is because Saturday brought a new day, and I decided to give Steve another chance as I went to see the new Dreamworks animated blockbuster Despicable Me. When you come out with an animated film weeks after the largest grossing animated film to date (Toy Story 3 if you live under a rock and haven’t read this), your expectations have to be tempered. The same must be true when going to watch such a film. If you do, you will be pleasantly amused with Despicable Me. The film’s plot is fairly original as super-villain Gru (voiced by Carell) learns to father three young girls that he has adopted in order to use for his dastardly plan to become the greatest thief of all time. The story is entertaining for both young and old. Children will enjoy the gentle humor and goofy minions while adults will sympathize with some of Gru’s lot and will appreciate some of the jokes intended for a more mature audience (including a jab at the company formerly known as Lehman Brothers).
The difference between this film and Carell’s other recent ones is that it is not based solely upon his character. Gru is in no way similar to Michael Scott and so Carell can successfully create a character that has no ties to what made him big.
Despicable Me is a fun movie that does not try to do too much, but lets Carell break away from what seems to be a patterned typecast. Its humor is driven by good writing, and I’ll say it again, good stories make good movies.
3 stars out of 5
Moral of the story, Joey cannot be trusted. Just kidding. If you haven’t been able to tell by now the two of us have slightly different movie tastes. Hope you are still enjoying the blog, and please feel free to share this link on Facebook or post it on your Twitter. We would greatly appreciate it. Speaking of Twitter be sure to follow @clawtomicbaum for the latest from the minds of two geniuses. And don’t forget to send us requests!!!!
-Nuss
Things that would have been more worth our time:
Watching Steve Carell in The Office reruns.
Watching Steve Carell in Date Night after we rented it from the store.
Watching Steve Carell sleep.
Seriously. If you remember my Date Night review, you know that I was not overly impressed. Let me assure you that it was markedly better than Carell’s latest big screen endeavor. The humor in this film is derived mainly from misunderstandings that arise from the idiocy of Carell’s character, Barry. Paul Rudd’s character, Tim, meets Barry and henceforth nothing that he does goes according to plan. The two continue to find themselves tangled in awkward situations that cause problems for Tim. It may sound similar to the premise of the Meet the Parents franchise but they are world’s apart. Even if you disregard the terribly shallow characters (Larry Wilmore’s character is literally one of the worst I have ever seen) and plot, you are still left with situations that are based solely upon entirely unbelievable characters.
Some of Barry’s quirks (such as the fact that he creates scenes with taxidermic mice) are plausible and funny, but the go overboard in many occasions and make his character a total dolt. Many of his actions do not mesh with the rest of what we know about his character and he is taken from tremendously socially awkward to complete and utter idiot, which seemingly contradicts itself.
Furthermore, the writer appeared to be torn on whether one should feel sorry for Barry and empathize with him or just find him totally laughable. The dynamic between the two does not work well and makes for a feel good ending that leaves you with a confused and dumbfounded feeling. This is one of the worst comedies I have seen in recent memory and certainly the worst work I have seen from Carell. As he transitions away from The Office, hopefully this is not a sign of things to come from Steve Carell’s live action movie projects.
.5 stars out of 5
The reason I say live action projects is because Saturday brought a new day, and I decided to give Steve another chance as I went to see the new Dreamworks animated blockbuster Despicable Me. When you come out with an animated film weeks after the largest grossing animated film to date (Toy Story 3 if you live under a rock and haven’t read this), your expectations have to be tempered. The same must be true when going to watch such a film. If you do, you will be pleasantly amused with Despicable Me. The film’s plot is fairly original as super-villain Gru (voiced by Carell) learns to father three young girls that he has adopted in order to use for his dastardly plan to become the greatest thief of all time. The story is entertaining for both young and old. Children will enjoy the gentle humor and goofy minions while adults will sympathize with some of Gru’s lot and will appreciate some of the jokes intended for a more mature audience (including a jab at the company formerly known as Lehman Brothers).
The difference between this film and Carell’s other recent ones is that it is not based solely upon his character. Gru is in no way similar to Michael Scott and so Carell can successfully create a character that has no ties to what made him big.
Despicable Me is a fun movie that does not try to do too much, but lets Carell break away from what seems to be a patterned typecast. Its humor is driven by good writing, and I’ll say it again, good stories make good movies.
3 stars out of 5
Moral of the story, Joey cannot be trusted. Just kidding. If you haven’t been able to tell by now the two of us have slightly different movie tastes. Hope you are still enjoying the blog, and please feel free to share this link on Facebook or post it on your Twitter. We would greatly appreciate it. Speaking of Twitter be sure to follow @clawtomicbaum for the latest from the minds of two geniuses. And don’t forget to send us requests!!!!
-Nuss
Video games don't make good movies: a review of Mortal Kombat
Friday, August 13, 2010
Ok all you loyal readers out there, trivia question. What is the only movie reviewed on CLAWtomic BAUM that is based on a video game? . . . If you said Prince of Persia (review here) you are a true fan of our blog (good job Joey). Following in the video game theme, I recently watched Mortal Kombat and thought it was review worthy. This film had long been on my list to see as I was a big fan of the video games.
The best place to start with this one is the title. Why the heck is combat misspelled? I know it is spelled this way for the games too, but I still don’t get it. The best part of this movie is the first five to ten seconds. A voice yells “MORTAL KOMBAT!!!” and then the theme song plays. After this, I would suggest you turn of the movie, bust out the N64 and play the game for the hour and a half that you were planning on watching the movie. It is flat out awful.
The main theme of the movie mirrors the plot of the game in that there is a tournament of one-on-one martial arts bouts. Although contrary to common sense, the fighting scenes were apparently not a priority. Most of their clashes were about as realistic as an OJ Simpson alibi. Bad example he got off. They’re about as realistic as. . . the Cubs chances of salvaging this season.
Many of the characters are present with their own shticks and terribly forced conflicts. However, the information surrounding them is shallow at best. Rather than telling the back story of how Scorpion can throw snakes out of his hands or how SubZero can freeze you before he breaks your head off, they settle with just telling you that the two are enemies while the rest is left to your imagination. Speaking of the characters, the leader for the ‘good’ characters is Lord Rayden, God of Lightning. Unfortunately, I think he looked a lot like Phil Hartman, so every time he was on screen I started laughing and could hear Arnold Schwarzenegger yelling “Put that cookie down!!!” Another good laugh was how Liu Kang’s beautiful feathered Asian mullet stays perfectly in place through all of his tussles. It’s about as immovable as Barry Bonds at the top of my all-time least favorite baseball player list (I would have said athlete, but Lebron is closing in).
Mortal Kombat is at very best one you should only watch if you have Netflix and you are streaming it instantly (huge fan of Netflix). It is B-level acting with a plot that rivals the intrigue of watching a NBA regular season game between the Grizzlies and the Clippers. I can safely say that I will never watch it again, but for some stupid reason, I still want to see the sequel.
1 out of 5 stars
Hopefully this blog isn’t as utterly disappointing to you as this film was to me. Let me know what you think. Shoot us an e-mail or leave a comment below. And unless you hate puppies or beautiful sunsets you should check out our twitter @ClawtomicBaum. You won’t regret it.
-Nuss
The best place to start with this one is the title. Why the heck is combat misspelled? I know it is spelled this way for the games too, but I still don’t get it. The best part of this movie is the first five to ten seconds. A voice yells “MORTAL KOMBAT!!!” and then the theme song plays. After this, I would suggest you turn of the movie, bust out the N64 and play the game for the hour and a half that you were planning on watching the movie. It is flat out awful.
The main theme of the movie mirrors the plot of the game in that there is a tournament of one-on-one martial arts bouts. Although contrary to common sense, the fighting scenes were apparently not a priority. Most of their clashes were about as realistic as an OJ Simpson alibi. Bad example he got off. They’re about as realistic as. . . the Cubs chances of salvaging this season.
Many of the characters are present with their own shticks and terribly forced conflicts. However, the information surrounding them is shallow at best. Rather than telling the back story of how Scorpion can throw snakes out of his hands or how SubZero can freeze you before he breaks your head off, they settle with just telling you that the two are enemies while the rest is left to your imagination. Speaking of the characters, the leader for the ‘good’ characters is Lord Rayden, God of Lightning. Unfortunately, I think he looked a lot like Phil Hartman, so every time he was on screen I started laughing and could hear Arnold Schwarzenegger yelling “Put that cookie down!!!” Another good laugh was how Liu Kang’s beautiful feathered Asian mullet stays perfectly in place through all of his tussles. It’s about as immovable as Barry Bonds at the top of my all-time least favorite baseball player list (I would have said athlete, but Lebron is closing in).
Mortal Kombat is at very best one you should only watch if you have Netflix and you are streaming it instantly (huge fan of Netflix). It is B-level acting with a plot that rivals the intrigue of watching a NBA regular season game between the Grizzlies and the Clippers. I can safely say that I will never watch it again, but for some stupid reason, I still want to see the sequel.
1 out of 5 stars
Hopefully this blog isn’t as utterly disappointing to you as this film was to me. Let me know what you think. Shoot us an e-mail or leave a comment below. And unless you hate puppies or beautiful sunsets you should check out our twitter @ClawtomicBaum. You won’t regret it.
-Nuss
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