Reviews

Ugh. As a huge sci-fi fan, I was really intrigued by the concept of this movie - despite the obvious problems with physics. But I was willing to look past that because what's great about sci-fi is that you don't always have to follow the rules. I was also willing to look past Kirsten Dunst who has always bothered me as an actress and she has a weirdly pinched face.

There was so much more wrong with this movie than Dunst.

The overly dramatic narrator for one thing. Sturgess' narration introduces the movie and explains the two planets, two gravity conundrum. Okay, fine. But the dialogue sounds as if it was written by a few love lorn teenagers dreaming and waiting for something romantic to happen to them.

Secondly, THE GAPING PLOT HOLES. #1. In the overly dramatic narration at the beginning of the movie, we find out that after prolonged contact between matter from each world, the matter will start to heat up - after about the course of an hour we find out. So how is Sturgess' character able to sleep (lying down, full body contact) on the other world? How is Sturgess' character able to eat food from the other world? #2. In one scene Dunst is on Sturgess' shoulders and he's jumping around like someone would if they were carrying around an anti-gravity partner on their shoulders (which he was) but later in the movie Dunst and Sturgess' characters are floating together. #3. Both characters are able to walk around on the other world without a problem. Wouldn't someone black out from being upside down for that long? Maybe I missed something in the cheesy, over dramatic narrations.

At any rate, if you're in to overly cheesy, mushy, sentimental love stories then you'd probably like this movie. I prefer a little more substance.

You can think I'm jumping on the bandwagon or whatever you want - this movie was AMAZING. I would give it a 10 out of 10 if Cobie Smulders hadn't been so poorly miscast. Go back to Ted, Robin, you don't belong here. I would be hard pressed to find anything else wrong with this movie.

The best scenes are not when the Avengers are working together to fight the enemy, it's when they're fighting each other - with words (hilarious!) or with weapons (bad***!). Some might say the beginning of this movie starts out too slow and there isn't enough action - I'd say they are dead wrong. Dead wrong. This is a movie that doesn't insult the audience by assuming that all they want are things to go crash and boom. This is a movie that cares about developing their characters and cares about an actual storyline. Sure, they're all superheros, but they're all also human. Don't worry though, there's still plenty of action to go around and each of the characters in this movie pulls his (and her!) own weight.

My only piece of advice is to first see Captain America, Iron Man (at least the first), and Thor. Especially Thor since the entire premise of this movie is based on Thor's brother Loki - Tom Hiddleston is RIDICULOUSLY amazing in this movie. Avengers does a good job of catching you up to speed if you haven't seen these other movies (or read the comic books, which I admittedly haven't) but I would still recommend seeing them.

Bottom Line: If I had the money, I'd be paying to see this movie in the theater every day.

I'm not sure why this movie didn't do well and people didn't like it. There were some seriously funny scenes! Sure there were the obvious crass jokes but there were also some less in-your-face ones also. The dudes who walk with their kids in the park were hilarious and Rebel Wilson steals absolutely EVERY scene she is in. That girl cracks me up. Sure, Cameron Diaz is still horrible (she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag) but I love everyone else in this movie - even if Dennis Quaid and Brooklyn Decker are a bit over the top. It's funny but it also has a lot of heart. Do yourself a favor and stop listening to what the critics are saying - go see this movie.

Bottom Line: I'd pay $10 to see this in the theater.

This movie works. It just works. From the three beginnings (one of them a GREAT cameo with Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin) to the 1, 2, 3... something endings - it's a horror movie that isn't really a horror movie and isn't afraid to make fun of itself along the way while still managing to take itself seriously. What makes this movie so solid is that it never strays from the original 1996 Scream premise and the original cast members - what would Scream be without Gale, Sidney, and Dewey? The ones who have been through it all and mock the new crowd for their inexperience. They all see everything coming but manage to get there just a bit too late. Of course this movie is almost entirely predictable but it's SUPPOSED to be. Trust me, it doesn't ruin the twist ending that I honestly DIDN'T see coming. Pretentious, know-it-all movie snobs will tell you, "Of course I saw it coming!" But what's the fun in figuring out the ending before it happens? Watch, enjoy, be surprised. It's a sequel, so the rules have changed - but have they? One thing Sidney is sure of, "You don't f--- with the original." And this movie doesn't. Classic Scream.

Bottom Line: I'd pay $10 at the theater to see this one.

Moments of slight suspense broken up by intense deja vu. Sure there were fight scenes and a car chase and lots of, "Wait, what's going on?" meant to elicit intrigue - but for far too long I was left with no idea as to what was happening and I found myself not really caring either. Diane Kruger's performance was flat and Liam Neeson was his usual squinty eyed man-on-a-mission. Before I was keyed in to what was actually going on, all I could think about was Sandra Bullock's 1995 movie, The Net. Since the moment I was finally clued in to what the real story was, I've been plagued by the idea that I've seen this exact story line before but I can't for the life of me remember if it was another movie, a TV show, or even a book I read once. All in all, I felt like I'd seen the whole thing before and the weak twist at the end wasn't enough.

Bottom line: I'd watch it if I didn't have anything else to do and it was on TV.

The foul-mouthed Paul the alien was a wonderful breath of fresh air after watching movie after movie of boy meets girl, boy and girl have lots of sex, boy and girl get into a fight, boy and girl make up and live happily ever after. It was ridiculously refreshing to watch a movie with NO love story at all. I've read a few reviews saying that this movie will only appeal to the nerdy crowd - maybe I'm part of that crowd and just don't know it but I've never been to Comic-Con and I still thought it was hilarious. The computer generated Paul was so well done that sometimes I forgot I wasn't watching a real alien. And the scene where Paul eats the bird... "Well, I'm not gonna eat a dead bird am I?!" Priceless.

So if I liked the movie so much why doesn't it have a higher rating? Well, it seems like the only people you can make fun of in this world anymore are Christians and I don't really appreciate that. Watching the character Ruth learn how to swear was admittedly, pretty damn funny. But the characters of Ruth and her father were so exaggerated as to be offensive. I know now you're thinking, "Then why did you watch it???" Well, I didn't know it was coming and I can't UN-watch a movie.

Bottom line: I'd pay $10 to see this in the theater.

This movie is definitely not for everyone. I feel like this is one of those movies where people either love it or hate it - there really won't be any in-between. It was equal parts sad and sweet. Your insides twist and turn for this guy who is just not comfortable in his own skin and has no idea how to relate to people. I squirmed in my seat feeling just as awkward as Lars. No matter how delusional Lars was there was always something completely relatable about him - who hasn't wished at some point that they could create and then live in their own world? Watching Lars learn how to talk and interact with people through the relationship delusion he created was an incredibly sweet transformation. I just hope that if someday this ever happens to me, I'm living in a town where everyone is as accepting as the town in which Lars lived.

Bottom Line: I'd pay $10 at the theater to see this one.