Film Review -- Shrek the Third (PG)

Directed by Chris Miller
DreamWorks Animation
Released May 18, 2007

Rarely do sequels for a good movie ever satisfy viewers as much as the original did. Godfather II is the rare example of a follow up film that is arguably as good as the original. Unfortunately for the people at Dreamworks, Shrek the Third is not in the same category, both in the quality of the film and it's ability to satisfy fans of the previous two movies. Let me put it this way, I went to see the picture with three other people. One person fell asleep and the rest of us struggled to keep our eyes open during the movie. I paid eight dollars to get in and the whole time was thinking about how I could have used that money to buy a sausage over on Landsdowne Street. Afterall, I think the enjoyment I got from the sausage would have lasted longer. Overall I probably laughed once for every dollar I lost seeing the movie.

Shrek the Third follows the adventures of the lovable ogre as he seeks to find a new heir to the throne of Far Far Away so that he will not have to be the king himself. It is stock full of the same characters as the second installment plus Justin Timberlake who plays Arthur a.k.a. Artie. However, the characters are not the only thing that is repetitious in this film. It is again laden with the incessant complaints of Shrek about how he doesn't belong in Far Far Away, rather in his beloved swamp. As if we didn't get the point after the first two stories we have to be constantly reminded of that fact yet again in this one. I know that this series is mainly targeted towards kids, but even they get that point by now. But the whine fest did not stop with Shrek. We were also forced to listen to Timberlake as Artie incessantly bemoan his lot in life as well. Enough already. If I wanted to listen to that much whining I would, well I don't know what I'd do, probably see Shrek the Third a second time, and that's not going to happen. Once was more than enough.

The story also takes a long to finally reach a climatic point and then it is solved rather quickly and almost unsatisfactorily. Overall I give this movie a 1 out of 4, and would say to wait until it comes out on DVD if you are feeling adventurous enough.

1 out of 4
(Review by CMill)

Film Festival -- Martha's Vineyard Independent Film Festival (MVIFF)

Come and enjoy this fantastic Film Festival. Located on beautiful Martha's Vineyard Island, this festival runs for an entire weekend in the early Spring and also for once a week during the entire summer. The 2007 Winter Film Festival will be held at the Chilmark Community Center from March 16th-18th. The summer festival is sure to be wonderful and you can find me working hard as an intern. Hope to see you there and oh yea, Click Here To Get To Their Site!

Film Review -- Reno 911!: Miami (R)

Directed by Robert Ben Garant
20th Century Fox/Paramount Pictures
Released February 23rd, 2007

Are you a fan of Reno 911! on Comedy Central? Because if you are, or even mildly are, just go see the movie.

No, you won't be surprised by dynamic character development. Yes, you might be surprised by a new character that seems to come out of nowhere (and doesn't fit). But undoubtedly, you will laugh at least 10 times in the movie unless you are asleep or there is some sort of large object up you knows where.

For those who don't know the Reno crew, the film (and show) is a mocumentary/COPS spin-off with a group of cops rivaled only by the Super Troopers.

The movie fallows the same crew from their home in Reno to a convention in Miami. The Reno crew ends up running the entire Miami Sheriff Department and of course, they suck at it.

Some side splitting moments, short-shorts, sexual hilarity and explosions. Go see it. Dangle is better than ever.

3 out of 4

Film Review -- The Number 23 (R)

Directed by Joel Schumacher
New Line Cinema
Released February 23, 2007

This film is not bad because of Jim Carey. But nevertheless, it is bad.

The mystery to the story is interesting. And I have plenty of friends who have tried to convince me that yes, everything in the world does somehow connect to 23. But beyond an interesting idea and honestly, some good acting with Jim Carey, the film never got above mildly creepy.

However, with the Oscars a few days away, the release date of this film made it an obvious candidate for a sloppy thriller. Jim Carey's dream of acting in a role that can win him an Oscar was certainly not here. The picture is made for the clinically insane, the conspiracy theorists, and the emo college student.

A well-made movie, I must admit. And I hate trashing Jim Carey, EVER (I honestly think he should have won at least a Golden Globe for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or The Truman Show). But the script ruined the mystery with over clarification and weak dialogue. Sorry Jimbo. You are great at being crazy.

2.3 out of 4 (get it?)

Film Review -- Volver (R)

Directed by Pedro Almodovar
Canal+Espana/El Deseo S.A.
Released November 3rd, 2006

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED:Best Actress, Penelope Cruz

Wowza. It is hard to come by a movie with a narrative that I like as much as this. Director and writer Pedro Almodovar is a goddamn genius. Here again, for about his fourth time, he has made a classic Spanish movie that rivals any of that from the States. This is without a doubt the best drama so far this year and there is no chance that late December has something better to offer.

If you are a fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez books where female lead characters are strong as hell, just about anything fantastical can happen out of the ordinary and the setting itself has its own personality, than you will love this film. Volver is a story of a family in Spain dominated by living women and ill-fated deceased men. In the middle of it all is main character Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) with her adolescent daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo) and her sister Sole (Lola Due�as). All you really need to do is listen to these beautiful names of the characters, let alone the actresses that play their parts (especially Cruz, good lord she is pulling a fine wine and getting better with age) to start to imagine the beauty of this film. In the mix of the family is death, betrayl and secrets. See, I told you it was like a Marquez novel.

So what does this say for Almodovar? The man officially can make a film with a plot as good as a Marquez classic? Not exactly. But Marquez himself dabbled in filmmaking and found it to be too difficult to tell a story from his own eyes because of the entire industry that goes into making film (director, writer, producer, cinematographer, etc.) I honestly do not care who else had input in the film besides Almodovar because I am going to just give him all the credit. And Cruz because she is just that gorgeous and if she ever reads this by chance I want her to find me and love me forever.

The narrative story was beautiful, the production was beautiful, and as always, his use of bright and vivid color was beautiful. My biggest complaint was to myself that I am not fluent in Spanish and had to read the subtitles while the visual stimulation was so mind blowing. This movie is not going to play in theaters around the country for a while so find out when it is coming to your town and see it. Trust me, it is not just another chick flick.

3.8 out of 4

Film Review -- Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (R)

Directed By Larry Charles
Dune Entertainment/Everyman Pictures
Released November 3rd, 2006

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED: Best Adapted Screenplay, Sacha Baron Cohen

Well Hell. He finally decided to take his most beloved character and make a movie out of it. And I was pleasantly surprised when I found out it was Borat. The goddamn racist, ass backward journalist is at it again. This time it was for a full hour and a half.

Whom do I speak of? Sacha Baron Cohen: a goddamn comedic Mastermind "straight outta Britain" who has been making a ruckus around the states for the last few years. For those who don't know, the dude has a show called Ali G that has been on HBO and is probably in its third season. In addition to Borat, the show features Bruno, a hyper gay style freak and Ali G, a half retarded gangster investigative reporter. Cohen uses his three disguised characters to stir up the shit of ignorant and oblivious Americans (think Tom Green or Jackass but foreign).

But enough of that. The movie centers on the life of Borat as he is shipped from his native Kazakhstan to the US "to make benefit". Don't get this film confused with a real deal comedy of epic proportions. Yes, I laughed my ass off. But it is mostly from shock value of anti-Semitic quirks and of course, the ignorant Americans who come to play. But as someone who has followed Borat religiously in his years on HBO, the film was simply a longer version of his usual 10-minute segment.

Don't get me wrong, I would tell anyone who can take a joke to go see this film because in the right, relaxed mood it is hilarious. Perhaps what made it best was a new sidekick for Borat that added the only twist from the usual script. Azmat Bagatov (Ken Davitian), Borat's manager, was just about as funny as a certain rooster who finagles his way into the film.

My only real hope is that this is the end of Borat. No Borat 2. No more Borat on CNN, Daily Show and local news stations nation wide. Congrats Sacha Baron Cohen, you made your money. Go home, smoke a blizz, and laugh about how Borat went ahead and "make benefit". See the movie.

3 out of 4

Film Review -- Flags Of Our Fathers (R)

Directed by Clint Eastwood
DreamWorks/Warner Bros
Released October 20th, 2006

Ouch. I am not impressed. I went into this film with a high on Clint Eastwood. After Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, I was certain that Eastwood was far from burnt out. But this film, a WAR FILM for crying out loud, was not captivating at all. The film has three interweaving plots focusing on the battle of Iwo Jima: the battle itself, the story of the surviving soldiers in the historic photo of marines raising the American flag, and the same soldiers in their old age.

The story of the battle itself was a Saving Private Ryan spin off with the same visual tricks of white washing to show cinematic age and powerful visual tragedies such as soldiers washing dead in the waves. Come on. I was hardly blown away by anything in the battle scene besides the cockpit view of air force attacks on the island of Iwo Jima. The story of the heroes in the picture back in the US was awful. Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) is the drunken Native American troop with a chip on his shoulder about fellow hero Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) who is responsible for his "exile" from combat. Wrapping up the three stooges? John "Doc" Bradley played by pretty boy Ryan Phillippe. Three blind mice.

If the stereotypical battle scene was bad, and the hero story was worse, than the story of the heroes in their old age was pathetic. Why did Eastwood decide to add all this junk to a potential classic war film? I have no idea. The interweaving of the plots was annoying and took away from the action. I found myself wishing I was listening to Johnny Cash's classic hit Ballad of Ira Hayes instead of watching Adam Beach struggle to play the part. And you want to know the worse news? Eastwood plans to make another Iwo Jima story from the point of view of the Japanese. Just stop. Please.

2 out of 4

Film Review -- Man of the Year (PG-13)

Directed by Barry Levinson
Universal Pictures
Released October 13th, 2006

MAN OF THE YEAR was a let down for me. After Wag The Dog, Analyze This (and That), and even The Perfect Storm, I hoped for more out of director/producer Barry Levinson. In a world where I find myself pissed off at the political situation of the US and the two party system, I was ignorantly hopeful that Levinson might actually blow my mind. Not here.

The film is a story about a John Stewart like character Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) who makes the decision to switch from fake news anchor to independent presidential candidate. In an unlikely turn of events, Dobbs wins the election that is the first to be run by a new age digital voting system. The catch? Some hot middle-aged blonde (Laura Linney) knows that there is a glitch that caused the unlikely and raunchy independent dude to win. There are in's and out's, out's and in's, conspiracy here, love there, trust gained and trust lost.

Overall, the film was well made and had the right intensions. But the plot just didn't grab me and I hardly ever laughed even at the political humor written for Robin Williams. I liked the things said about the government, but it honestly just left me as frustrated as I am every time I open The New York Times. The highlights of the film were Tom Dobbs' two Hollywood managers (Christopher Walken and Lewis Black) who added a comic relief to the comic. Odd right?

The film was hardly as intellectually stimulating as Wag the Dog and not nearly as funny as Analyze This (although Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal did make a cameo appearance). I thought this was a set back for Barry Levinson. I guess he hoped that this film would be another way to output his political frustrations about our two party system and the need to stick in an oddball third party candidate like John Stewart to throw off the historic balance? But I mean, Rain Man? Need I say more? I'm not sure. I was more interested in the fact that about two other people were in the theater. Barry, you are NOT reaching the masses.

2 out of 4

Film Review -- The Departed (R)

Directed by Martin Scorsese
Warner Brothers Pictures
Released October 6th, 2006

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: Best Motion Picture of the Year
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: Best Director, Martin Scorcese
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: Achievement in Film Editing, Thelma Schoonmaker
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: Best Adapted Screenplay, William Monohan
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED: Best Supporting Actor, Mark Wahlberg

Without a doubt, this is the hardest movie ever to try and review. This two and half-hour saga was epic. The acting was top notch. Scorsese did the whole world justice by releasing this film. In the post-Sopranos world, I thought that gangster movies were a thing of the past. I dreaded the thought of another Italian mobster flick coming out and tarnishing a genre of cinema that I love so much. So I thank god (or I thank Scorses for that matter, they are same thing) for giving us The Departed: an Irish mob movie set in Boston filled with betrayal, sex, violence and yeah, some more violence.

The film centers on the concept of deception. There is not a character in the film that does not deceive someone at one point or another. From Spy Cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) to Corrupt Detective Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) to Irish Mob Boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), everyone seems to dabble in the two-faced world. Perhaps only Lead Detective Dignam (played by my favorite, Marky Mark Wahlberg) has a clean conscience in the end.

As you can see, the cast is ridiculous. You know that a script is good when actors like Martin Sheen (Oliver Queenan) and Alec Baldwin (Ellerby) agree to be supporting actors. Some people try to discredit the screenplay saying it was a knock off some old Chinese something or rather but I don't care. I was captivated and I left tingling. As always with Scorsese movies, be prepared for some unnecessary violence, some totally strange cinematic events (Jack Nicholson and a coke whore?) and an ending you cannot predict.

3.78 out of 4

Film Review -- Invincible (PG-13)

Directed by Ericson Core
Walt Disney Pictures
Released August 25th, 2006

This movie is just not good. Period. Unless you are a 10 year old football enthusist or a 45 year old ex-cheerleader dying to stare at Mark Wahlberg, do not waste your time coming to this film. The story revolves around Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg), a run of the mill Philidephia loser who gets the chance of a lifetime to play football for his beloved hometown Eagles. I bet you can fill in the rest. He makes the team, he makes a big play, he gets the girl, his family and friends are happy, yadda yadda yadda. The film did not even try to stray away from an completely predictable plot line. Even the title made me mad when I figured it out ten minutes into the film, "Ohh.. Vince is IN-VINCE-IBLE." But the plot and title are not even the worst part.

The film is also cinematically up there with the cheesiest ever. There are at least 7 scenes of Wahlberg walking down a lonesome Phillidephia street thinking about his crap life. After about two or three of these, I thought my popcorn and junior mints were sure to come spewing out of every oraface on my body. If that wasn't enough, the most "inspirational" scene consists of Eagles Coach Dick Vermeil (Greg Kinnear) motivating his squad supplemented by a camera spinning 360 degrees around him at about 80 miles per hour. Now I was certain the Pepsi would come flying out. But I hadn't even seen the cherry on top. A 10 minute long game of "Backyard Ball" played on a muddy parking lot in the rain is stop to finish in slow motion with some sort of Bach concerto blaring in the background. Honestly, if this film did not have any slow motion, it would have been about 20 minutes long.

In conclution, unless you are dating a brain-dead football jock or your dad is a 85 year old Eagles fan, stay the hell away from this movie because you are sure to walk out wishing you could spend your five dollars on a cold brew.

1.5 out of 4

Film Review -- Little Miss Sunshine (R)

Directed by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Big Beach Films
Released July 26, 2006

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: Best Writing, Screenplay for Screen, Michael Arndt
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: Best Supporting Actor, Alan Arkin
ACADMEY AWARD NOMINATED: Best Motion Picture of the Year
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED: Best Supporting Actress, Abigail Breslin

In case there was any debate, Little Miss Sunshine is the best comedy in the 06-07 Academy Year. I have all the love in the world to Talladega Nights, Will Ferrell, and Borat, but this film was too original and too funny.

The film centers on a truly messed up family with father, Richard (Greg Kinnear), at the head. The family is forced to go on an epic road trip (flashback to National Lampoon's Vacation) in a VW bus. The reason? Because young Olive (Abigail Breslin) has the opportunity to star in a Little Miss Sunshine Pageant. So throw the whole crew in: cocaine-head Grandpa (Alan Arkin), suicidal uncle Frank (Steve Carell), mother Sheryl (Toni Collette) and emo, mute, crybaby teenager Dwayne (Paul Dano).

The film's black humor was a breath of fresh air. I can hardly stand the college aged crap that originated with Old School and spun all the way to Beerfest. Little Miss Sunshine was funny for all the right reasons. And in case you are tired of comedy films with HORRIBLE ENDINGS (need I recap The Wedding Crashers?), enjoy a twisted, unexpected and hilarious finish.

3.5 out of 4

Site Update -- Welcome to GoodenoughFilms.com!

Hey what's up peoples. This started as a .com but the class I made it for ended and I decided to just use Blog Spot to keep it running (a.k.a. I was tired of paying for the dot com). So check the blog. I am going to run a bunch of the old movie reviews so that they are on here but then I will start up new in June. So basically, May is just a big cache of all the old stuff. Enjoy.