Netflix A-Z: Identity Thief (2013)

Moving right along, we hit the I selection.  You know, these are pretty slim pickings.  I, Q, X, you know.  My second round is proving to have some holes where I’m waiting for some interesting selections to pop up. I’m taking chances on some pretty funky stuff for some of these letters. I can only hope I’ll find some treasures.  However, there was no doubt that the first round for I would be this choice, Identity Thief.  I’ve been looking at it for a while.  I just hesitate because Melissa McCarthy’s humor doesn’t always work for me.

Let’s stay positive and give this a go! 🙂

Identity  Thief (2013)

Director: Seth Gordon

Cast: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, John Cho, Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, T.I., Genesis Rodriguez, Robert Patrick

Mild mannered businessman Sandy Patterson travels from Denver to Florida to confront the deceptively harmless looking woman who has been living it up after stealing Sandy’s identity. – IMDB

I always start reviews on comedy genre movies saying that is fully subjective. The humor I appreciate might work for me and not you and vice versa.  Melissa McCarthy falls into the category of not working so often because she always goes into the absurd stupid humor.  I like absurd. I watched Stephen Chow growing up but I don’t like stupid. So there was a 50/50 chance of this not working.  Even the director himself is a hit and miss on my book.  Seth Gordon did Horrible Bosses which I enjoyed but he also did Four Christmases which I dislike. Now that I’ve kind of cushioned where this movie could be a hit or miss, I would like to say that this was for the most part a miss.

Identity Thief was mostly really hard to get invested into. I’m not saying I didn’t laugh a little because there were some parts that worked and I kind of chuckled here and there.  Then the humor was kind of weird and absurd (in a bad way) and pretty stupid.  Melissa McCarthy does certain troupes that don’t always work and for me, it worked only a little here and there but for the most part, it felt like its been there done that and I just felt a little repulsed by it. Other times, it just felt so boring that I tried to stay focused but went off to flip through other pages as I surfed the Internet and it played in the background. Like that scene below was really ugh…like I turned my head in disgust and just didn’t enjoy it.  I understand how for some it could be funny but it didn’t make me laugh.  It was just kind of cringe-worthy.

Set some uneffective jokes aside, as a road trip movie, which it is because Jason Bateman’s character Sandy has to bring Diana (Melissa McCarthy) home from Florida to Denver within a set time frame, they both do have charisma for the characters they play.  They have certain expected things that happen and their dislike for each other and just fight for survival does lead them to do things that can be classified as adventurous or ridiculous.  While I sympathize for Sandy a little more, its hard to not notice that the story did want us to connect with Diana more because they do try to build a back story for her.  For a moment, it almost did pull me in but at a certain point, not funny just got annoying and it just stopped me from caring about them.  I get the urgency and the hate and whatever relationship they have, but it just didn’t work so well.

The parts in the movie I did like was really the more action comedy parts with the two up there who work for a crime boss or gang or something and they are after Diana for something she owes them. It still has some comedic value to these characters but they added a bit of entertainment that gave a break from Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman and their jokes.  It added some danger and intensity (just a bit).  They had some funny bits along with another “bounty hunter”-esque sort of fellow played by Robert Patrick who was actually more fun to watch than the other ones.

Honestly, I’m out of stuff to say about Identity Thief.  It was okay.  I’m a little indifferent but mostly just bored because its the same old troupes that I expected.  I still think Jason Bateman can be a very funny guy when given the right script.  Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing for Melissa McCarthy but her performance always stands out more because its more explicit and/or absurd.  There are a few laughs here but I’m sure in a few days it’ll completely escape my mind and I won’t remember it anymore.  If I wanted to watch a good road trip movie, I’d rather watch something like Little Miss Sunshine and if I wanted a better comedy, I’d go for a thousand other choices like Horrible Bosses even.

Did you see Identity Thief? What are your thoughts? Do you like comedies with Jason Bateman or Melissa McCarthy?

J is up next! What do you think it is? Hint: Irish drama

Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)

I don’t often have the luck of opening the TV and hitting a channel where a movie just starts.  Somehow during our Toronto trip and the night we decide to stay in the hotel room to eat, we land right at the start of Zathura: A Space Adventure.  My best friend had seen the second half of it so the beginning was still new to her.  I’ve never seen this before but always wanted to.

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo, Dax Shepard, Kristen Stewart, Tim Robbins

Two boys Walter (Josh  Hutcherson) and Danny (Jonah Bobo) never got along especially now that their parents have divorced.  When their father (Tim Robbins) leaves them under the reluctant care of their sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart) while he takes care of his work outside of the house.  As Walter gets angry at Danny, he sents him down the dumbwaiter to the basement.  He comes back upstairs with an old space adventure game called Zathura and asks Walter to play with him. Once Danny starts off to play the game, he realizes that the game has shifted the whole house in space physically and the only way they could win was to take turns and complete the obstacles given, reach Zathura to reset everything.

Zathura is pretty much Jumanji but in space.  I’m a huge fan of Jumanji and I still have no idea why my boyfriend doesn’t like it so seeing Zathura was something that would happen eventually.  I’m just beating myself up as to why it took me so long to see it after it was done.  Sure, I figured out a lot of the twists but still, I bought the whole idea of it and it was crazy fun to watch.  Even K. Stew can’t bring this one down.  She was actually quite funny and in what other time can you see her frozen in place, and when she wasn’t, she was emoting.  Good job K. Stew! Still, I’m not going to join Justin in the Kristen Stewart Defense Council anytime soon but she did good in this. Plus, just look at the picture on the top, the special effects and visuals were pretty awesome.  I’d say this one satisfies both kids and parents with the story and the style.

Here we have a very young Josh Hutcherson as Walter.  I’m an only child so I don’t understand the sibling dynamics but my best friend said its normal that older siblings tend to mess with the younger ones.  In this one, Josh plays that older brother who somehow doesn’t like Danny because he thinks that he takes away the attention from his father or ruins everything in his life (maybe he just finds him a nuisance).  As the story progresses, as much as its an adventure movie, its about them treasuring each other as brothers and putting their trust into each other also.  At the same time, Danny, played by Jonah Bobo is a super cute kid and he does a really good job.

There’s a lot to love if not for the principal characters like Walter and Danny but for the other ones that show up.  I’ve already discussed Kristen Stewart above but the other one was putting in the astronaut who really helps inspire the characters and help the kids through certain obstacles they probably wouldn’t otherwise.  It makes something so fictional become slightly realistic.  I’m guessing if any kid got time warped to another time and space, they would probably freak out and not really understand what to do so help is always needed.  The astronaut also makes it a lot of fun because he’s somewhat silly at times as well so it would appeal to adults.  Even in the more dangerous parts, it maintains enough intensity to hold the audience but not enough to scare the younger crowd too much.

If you read all that up there, I’m recommending this one.  Its a great family adventure movie, especially if you are already a fan of Jumanji.  Its lots of fun, full of great characters and even teaches a bit about the value of families especially between siblings.  Kristen Stewart is enjoyable to watch, Josh Hutcherson is young and quite good (before he was all Hunger Games cool) and we even have a little bits with Tim Robbins (which I failed to mention about before). The special effects are nice and visually, its pretty beautiful.  A winner all around 🙂

Are you a fan of Jumanji? Did you see Zathura? What do you think about it?

Iron Man 3 (2013)

The month of May summer blockbusters are intense for me.  The first to come was Iron Man 3.  I’ve been generally looking at the scores that other movie review blogs have given but not read the context much.  If you saw that I liked yours, I will be back to check it out right after this is posted 🙂 Honestly, as much as I was extremely excited to see this movie, I was worried it wouldn’t do as well because I really did not enjoy the 2nd one a lot.  Still, we managed to go last night (Wednesday) and the theatre was pretty much packed except for the few rows right in front of the screen and after watching 30 minutes of ads then another 20 minutes of previews (almost all superhero movies previews), Iron Man 3 started with the narration from Tony Stark 🙂

Director: Shane Black

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, Jon Favreau, Rebecca Hall, William Sadler

A insomniac and anxious Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) after the events of last year’s The Avengers in New York is bothered constantly by the sudden possibility of danger hitting him and the people he loves, especially his girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwneyth Paltrow). When the terrorist The Mandarin starts decreeing that he will take steps to teach the President (William Sadler) some lessons by causing explosions and destruction and it ends up injuring his friend and bodyguard, Happy (Jon Favreau), he issues a threat to The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).  Little to his knowledge does he know that the Mandarin will end up destroying his home and turning it into rubbles causing him to have to scrabble to piece together his life again.  With this fall, he needs to find ways to work with what he has left and try to have his revenge and save the day!

The first Marvel movie to arrive after The Avengers was certainly entertaining! I loved it a lot.  This one was action-packed, fast-paced and still had a lot of Tony Stark’s witty remarks.

Tony Stark is definitely a great hero in this franchise.  This one brings in more of a personal struggle to find himself.  It was not only a struggle against keeping the ones he love safe but also digging deep into who he is amongst all the humor that he lashes out with whoever he is interacting with.  He seeks to find who he is at the base whether he’s really just a hero because of the suit or whether just himself as an individual, he can still be as great an individual.  Packaging that into a lot of action and introducing Don Cheadle’s Rhodey and his version of Iron Man but called Iron Patriot definitely gave this an extra push also.

I also enjoyed the sub characters.  Although Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts got a lot more screen time in this one which was for the better.  Her character has become one that I love and enjoy.  She’s tough and smart and just perfect for the uncontrollable Tony Stark.  I really love the little screen time at Jon Favreau’s Happy had also.  He’s just a hilarious man.  Don Cheadle’s character starts bringing in the political side of the equation as he tries to protect his country in general.  On the more business and science side, we have the great scientist here, Aldrich Killian played by Guy Pearce.  Ever since Memento, this guy has been on my radar and its nice to see him in this role 🙂

Whats a superhero movie without its villain, right? Super hero movies are straight forward and a lot has to do with finding that perfect villain to make the hero look awesome.  In this one, we have The Mandarin and his deadly explosions and taking over the wavelengths to broadcast his plans to terrorize the president and his country.  I’m a big fan of Ben Kingsley.  If you’ve seen this, then you’ll understand when I say that he was so awesome! Its not a normal role that I’ve seen him in but man, he was so good at doing this!

 

Iron Man 3 may not be as great as the first one but definitely is superior and worthy as a sequel, especially after a very unsatisfying 2nd.  The runtime was relatively average at a bit more over 2 hours ( I believe) but the time rolled by relatively quickly as the plot moves forward quickly, the action never stops (or at least it felt that way) and there’s always a lot of humour and snarky remarks (a la Stark style) to keep the audience entertained!  I can’t ask for more! I loved it and its definitely a great addition to the Marvel movies 🙂 I look forward to grabbing a copy of this when it gets released on Blu-ray!

Are you pumped up for the other summer blockbusters coming out? I know I am! Two more to go this month (at least)!

Christmas Marathon ends with Elf (2003)

In line with this, you can call me by my elf name- Cookie Plum-Pants.  Nice to meet you all.  I’m sure I can’t make any toys by the thousand at Santa’s workshop so I will result to testing for defective Jack in the Boxes and eating lots of candy. You can check out how to get your elf name HERE.  Lets start the last review in my Christmas Marathon!

ELF (2003)

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen

Buddy (Will Ferrell) was raised in the North Pole at Santa’s workshop, mostly by Papa Elf.  After knowing that he is actually human, the reason why he can’t perform the elf responsibilities as well as the other elves, he learns that his father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan) is in New York City. He sets out to find his father and tell him about his existence and try to get him off the naughty list.  His habits are not the same as a big bustling city and he doesn’t understand the human ways. His ways leads to some humorous turnouts but also he searches for his true self in a city that has forgotten what Christmas spirit is.

This Christmas flick is always the finale of my Christmas marathon, mostly because its a really awesome movie and its one of my boyfriend’s favorites.  Its funny in a really silly way. I don’t usually buy a lot of that humor but for this, it manages to get quite a lot of laughs.  The more I see it, the more I enjoy it.  Will Ferrell is one of those actors whose humor isn’t always my type of humor, however, in this one, his role as a human raised in an elf world and adapting back to his own life really was amazing.  He did a fantastic job at it.  Humor is a very subjective aspect, what works for one person may not work for another, plus this one does it in a very nice family comedy.  Plus, it has one of my favorite actresses: Zooey Deschanel.  She’s just a sweetheart and when she sings “Baby, Its Cold Outside” or “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, its just so awesome.

Similar to Polar Express, its circled around Christmas spirit.  The concept of believing is the focus: If you believe, you don’t necessarily have to see it.  Christmas is getting very commercialized and I feel that more and more every year, so to me, this movie touches a very important aspect.  Family, humor, music and altogether Christmas spirit: just a great mix for a Christmas flick.

Sorry for the late review.  I got right to it after I had a moment.  Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas celebration with family and friends.