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movie reviews

mini movie reviews

ROCKING OUT

The Rocker is a film that manages to overcome its inherent crumminess by sheer force of will. A lot has to do with the actors, mainly Rainn Wilson (of “The Office”), who succeeds in his first lead role. Mix in scenes of rock star excess, a couple of prefab romances, the odd nudity joke, a couple of gags about ‘80s hair, a few hipster references to myspace, youtube, Xbox 360, and the game Rock Band (they must have been sponsors), some unfortunately limp songs, and you have a mildly diverting entertainment. It’s not as good as School of Rock, but it’s not as awful as the average Dane Cook movie.
Robert “Fish” Fishman (Rainn Wilson) was the drummer of the 1980s hair–metal band Vesuvius, until his bandmates ditched him. Now he lives a life of little consequence, reduced to sleeping in his sister’s attic. Fish’s nephew, Matt (Josh Gad), is a keyboardist in a band called A.D.D. and he needs his uncle to drum for them. Armed with the cute bass player Amelia (Emma Stone from Superbad), and the oh–so–emo singer Curtis (Teddy Geiger), Matt and Fish hit the road to become superstars. Joining them is a tour manager played by SNL’s Jason Sudeikis, and Curtis’ mom / band chaperone Kim (Christina Applegate).
Dwight is the highlight of just about any “Office” episode, and while Fish isn’t nearly as funny as Dwight is, Wilson still makes the drummer enjoyably insane. Wilson’s great at going crazy – check out the beginning when he’s running after his former band in an insane chase sequence. Usually, the first–time outing of TV actors in movies is a copy of their TV role (see David Caruso in Jade playing a lawman after leaving a TV series playing a lawman), but Wilson doesn’t let himself be pigeonholed.
Emma Stone gets in some of the better lines as the sarcastic bass player, but she isn’t one note: Stone shows emotional depth underneath what is a pretty standard Best Friend role. An attractive and talented gal like her deserves a leading role sometime and hopefully she isn’t stuck as the second banana forever. Josh Gad is good as the geek who overcomes his shyness as he goes to superstardom. As the corporate–synergy loving manager, Sudeikis uses his motormouth to good effect. It’s pretty weird seeing Kelly Bundy transitioning to mom characters, but Applegate is a veteran actress who knows how to milk a small role.
The worst actor in the film is, unfortunately, a pretty big part. As the emotionally tortured singer–songwriter Curtis, Teddy Geiger is a zero personality Jonas Brother clone who can’t act aside from pouting like a wounded puppy. When he goes “bad” for, like, five minutes, he’s shown wearing a Slipknot t–shirt. This is a sign that he’s now bad because, obviously, only jerks would listen to Slipknot, not upstanding whitebread heroes like him. Apparently, Geiger is a musician who got his break opening for a Hilary Duff tour and is now branching out into acting. Aside from rare exceptions like Will Smith, pop stars should never be actors.
For a film that has a fairly family–friendly vibe, it’s surprising that it ranks a PG–13. Things like Fish’s excessive drinking, the manager’s potty mouth, and a very unfunny vomit joke seem like they’re tacked on to give the film more “edgy” content. However, the flick could have passed for a much more family–friendly PG (which it did rank here in Canada). As for the music, A.D.D.’s songs are mindless, generically inoffensive audio pablum. For a movie called The Rocker, you’d figure the tunes would have more bite. It’s flabbergasting how a high school crowd doesn’t respond to Fish’s monster drum solo in the middle of one of A.D.D.’s weak ballads. They should have been throwing out the horns!
There is a bit of ‘80s–related metal humour; however guys in leather and big hair really aren’t as hilarious as the filmmakers intended. To be honest, seeing people in era–specific clothes is never really all that funny. So folks dressed differently at some point in the past, big deal. Anyway, Vesuvius is a pretty great parody of AC/DC and Motley Crüe, if only because Will Arnett playing the lead singer does the strut and faux–cockney accent perfectly. It’s actually kind of odd when A.D.D. gets an opening gig for Vesuvius in the movie because, frankly, it sounds like Vesuvius would blow the roof off of A.D.D.’s bland bubblegum pop.
One of the writers on The Rocker is Wallace Wolodarsky, who penned some fantastic early “Simpsons” episodes like the one where Homer becomes the union leader. By just having that one episode under his belt, you’d figure The Rocker would be better than it is. Director Peter Cattaneo made The Full Monty, a film that had a lot of character, yet this one feels like it’s from a first–timer with no real visual pizzazz and trite characterization. However, as far as disposable entertainment goes, you could do a lot worse. The Rocker will make you laugh, not constantly, but enough.V


The Rocker
Directed by Peter Cattaneo
Starring Rainn Wilson, Christina
Applegate, Josh Gad, Emma
Stone & Teddy Geiger

MILD FORCE

In fall 2008, the Star Wars series comes to TV in the form of a computer–animated cartoon called “The Clone Wars.” Right now, there is the animated feature by the same crew, also called Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The movie is being released as a sort of big–screen pilot episode/teaser for the TV series, a blatant cash grab. It isn’t as elegant as the live action movies – some portions are downright clunky – but it’s still a pretty carefree, enjoyable romp through the Star Wars universe. If you’re looking for transcendent big–screen animated sci–fi for summer ‘08, go see Wall–E. But Star Wars: The Clone Wars isn’t all bad.
Set in between Episode II and Episode III, The Clone Wars follows the conflict between the Separatist droid army, led by the evil Sith Count Dooku, and the Republic clone troopers, led by Jedi knights like Anakin Skywalker and Obi–Wan Kenobi. Unexpectedly, Anakin is assigned a young new student named Ahsoka that he is to guide to Jedi knighthood. Their first mission together is to save the son of Jabba the Hutt from Dooku’s clutches. Along the way, they fight more droid armies and the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress. There’s a late third act plot development where Anakin’s wife Amidala gets involved, but its inelegantly integrated into the story. Always a sign of bad storytelling when an important character pops up near the end to hustle along the resolution.
Star Wars geeks know this is the second Clone Wars series – the first was a traditionally animated series by Genndy Tartakovsky that ran from ‘03 to ‘05. This movie isn’t as cool and strange as the preceding Clone Wars series. Tartakovsky remembered to throw in dark foreshadowing of Anakin’s destiny that gave the series some dramatic meat. In the 2008 Clone Wars, Anakin is a simplistic hero with none of the complexity inherent to the character. It’s all whoop and holler, lightsaber this, blow up that. To its credit, this movie is entertaining. It’s just very shallow.
The dialogue is awkward even by Star Wars standards, which is saying a hell of a lot. Characters seem to talk in simplistic snippets that make for good bits in trailers, but comes off amateurish in the film. Ahsoka has a predilection for irritating nicknames like “Sky Guy” for Skywalker, “Stinkie” for Jr. Jabba, and “Artooie” for R2–D2. Oddly, the dialogue from the droid army who chirp “Roger, Roger!” and frequently get smashed gets laughs because it’s so stupid. It’s like a Three Stooges bit randomly thrown in.
Mostly new actors voice the characters. Obi–Wan and Yoda, played by James Arnold Taylor and Tom Kane, do a good job and sound a lot like their live–action counterparts (both of these actors also worked on the pervious Clone Wars series). The new guy voicing Anakin, Matt Lanter, sounds nothing like Hayden Christensen, instead coming off like a generic good guy. Returning Star Wars vets are Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu and Christopher Lee as Count Dooku. Jackson has five lines overall, but it’s nifty to hear him again. As for Lee, he elevates a pretty simple expository role and gives it some dramatic oomph because his baritone voice could make anything sound impressive. Considering how little time Dooku got in the live–action movies, it’s good to see him as the central antagonist.
Ahsoka is a bit more irritating than was probably intended, mainly because Ashley Eckstein plays her with a whiny know–it–all voice. The character has potential for the TV series, but now she’s kind of a killjoy. Ventress is a pretty feeble villain who we always know is going to lose to the good guys, but at least she has a cool design and a lot of vocal character provided by Nika Futterman.
Animation wise, this is nowhere near the average Pixar movie. The Clone Wars character designs are awkward; everyone looks like bugs. However, even if the character animation and facial expressions are stiff, this is a vibrant and candy–coloured flick. The film has a hand–painted touch that is refreshingly original in the sometimes stale and shiny computer animation genre. While the action gets a little repetitive – you can only see a clone trooper blow up a droid so many times – there are a few awesome scenes like when the clone army vertically scales a wall. However, since we already know where everyone ended up in Episode III, things like Anakin and Dooku fighting is kind of meaningless. Still, even dramatically empty lightsaber fights are cool lightsaber fights because, c’mon, they’re using freakin’ lightsabers!
The potential for stories in the Star Wars universe is vast; just check out the videogames, books, and comics. It shouldn’t be limited to just George Lucas’ movies. As far as Star Wars spin–off material goes, The Clone Wars is simply OK. If you want a really good Clone Wars story, dig through the DVD bargain bin to find the first TV series. If you want to have some mindless fun and see that the Force is, kind of, still alive, see Star Wars: The Clone Wars.V

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Starring James Arnold Taylor,
Tom Kane, Matt Lanter,
Samuel L. Jackson & Christopher Lee

LIGHT ONE UP: PINEAPPLE EXPRESS

Continuing to churn out comedies at a breakneck pace, producer Judd Apatow (Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and his film factory’s latest work is Pineapple Express, a stoner buddy comedy with a bit of ultra–violent action. It doesn’t feel like any of the movies they’ve done before. While Pineapple does have a few pot–influenced digressions that slow the pace, this is a really entertaining genre–bending comedy.
Employed as a process server – the guy who hands people notices that they’re getting sued – weed loving Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) has a problem: He witnessed a murder and now drug lord Ted Jones (Gary Cole) and a crooked cop named Carol (Rosie Perez) are out to get Dale. Grabbing his pot dealer, Saul Silver (James Franco), they try to hightail it out of town. Unfortunately, Dale and Saul spend so much time smoking weed that they screw things up more, and two quirky yet deadly assassins, Matheson (Craig Robinson) and Budlofsky (Kevin Corrigan), are closing in two finish the stoners off.
Like any buddy action comedy, what makes the film work is the chemistry of the buddies. Rogen and Franco work great together. They aren’t friends, Saul’s just Dale’s weed supplier, but they get thrown together in a crazy situation and become friends by default. Dale doesn’t want anything to do with Saul, but Saul immediately likes Dale because, hey man, he’s, like, totally cool.
Rogen, who also co–wrote the script, is a solid lead. The scene when Dale is introduced is a great montage where he goes around in disguise and serves people their court papers, even dressing up as a doctor to serve a guy in the middle of performing surgery. The biggest surprise is a hilariously entertaining performance by James Franco — Harry Freakin’ Osborn! — that single–handedly steals the show. Franco took a lot of undeserved flack for his portrayal of Harry in the Spider–Man movies, but he’s great here. Saul the ganja dealer has an almost admirable dedication to rocking the weed every chance he gets. Franco, shockingly, nails every single line, giving it just enough spaced–out importance that you laugh. Saul is actually a nice guy at heart, if a bit pot addled.
Another dealer is Red, played by Danny McBride. McBride is an up–and–coming comedic supporting actor who was kind of irritating in Hot Rod, but he’s much better as Red. He grows from inconsiderate jerk to….a somewhat less inconsiderate jerk. Craig Robinson from the “The Office” is amusing as an oddly flamboyant killer who can’t take any sort of pain. The other hit man played by Kevin Corrigan doesn’t deliver many yuks, but he has an unconventional character arc about how he’s tired of killing and just wants to go home for dinner with his wife. Gary Cole is a pretty scary looking dude and he puts it to good use here, growling and screaming menacingly on cue. Rosie Perez has gotten a bit grittier in her old age, but it fits the character.
Pineapple is a huge departure for Director David Gordon Green who has a resume of dramatic character studies like All the Real Girls and Snow Angels. Green handles the comedy and action excellently, making it all hang together. There is a lot of surprising violence, a lot of various appendages are blown away, but the gore makes the bad guys imposing. There are great scenes, like the opening, set in 1937, that seems like something out of a black and white sci–fi movie, or maybe Reefer Madness. The scene has “SNL” vet Bill Hader doing a very funny stoned act that is hilariously incongruous with the time period. A car chase is also very well done and suitably wacky, with Franco trying to kick out the window but instead his leg gets caught. When he finally wiggles out of it, Franco smiles and happily notes, “Hey, I can see through my leg–hole.”
Like many marijuana enthusiasts, Pineapple Express tends to ramble. There are little bits where characters get sidetracked in drug–induced conversations that are funny individually, but the overall effect is the movie is a tad too long. This seems to be a staple of the Apatow Factory movies; the guy simply can’t produce a film that’s a brisk hour and a half. (As a rule, comedy movies should be about 90 minutes to ensure the best gags remain.) The final scene where the characters are sitting around basically recapping the movie is a pretty weak ending that’s presumably there for anyone who smoked a lot of weed while watching and needs a refresher.
Still, there is nothing really wrong with Pineapple Express and a lot of things that are right. Those going in expecting a carefree stoner romp may be a bit shocked by the graphic violence, but violence is a convention of the buddy action movie genre where Pineapple Express roams. What really sells it is the amiable interplay of the leads, and how they make this darkly comic craziness seem like fun. And you don’t even have to be high to enjoy it. V

Pineapple Express
Directed by David Gordon
Starring Seth Rogen,
James Franco, Gary Cole
and Rosie Perez

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