Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond: Rob Corddry

Showing posts with label Rob Corddry. Show all posts

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Pain & Gain - Review

Pain & Gain
(2013 - April 26)
Action | Comedy | Crime
2 hr. 9 min.

Rated: R Crude Sexual Content, Bloody Violence, Drug Use, Language Throughout and Nudity. NOT FOR CHILDREN it should have been Rated NC-17 in my opinion. Read more
Grade: D+
Director: Michael Bay
Writers: Christopher Markus (screenplay), Stephen McFeely (screenplay), Pete Collins (based on his magazine articles)
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie | See full cast and crew

From acclaimed director Michael Bay comes "Pain and Gain," a new action comedy starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie. Based on the unbelievable true story of a group of personal trainers in 1990s Miami who, in pursuit of the American Dream, get caught up in a criminal enterprise that goes horribly wrong. (c) Official Site

Pain & Gain is like a cinematic version of the Darwinian Awards, riddled with crass, crude, profane language and sexual references plus lots of barely clad buxom women, and plenty of sacrilegious humor. If none of that bothers you, you might just enjoy this film.

The audience in the fairly packed theater, where I saw Pain & Gain, certainly seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps it's just indicative of the type of audience this sort of film appeals to, but this audience laughed consistently at all the crude jokes and F words etc. As I often say, without all the profanity and crudeness they could have reached a much broader audience.

All that said, it is advertised as a crime/action/comedy and it does at times deliver laughs although the comedy is quite dark and at the same time appalling.

It is, to some degree, amusing watching how stupid these guys were/are, all the more amazing in that this is a true story about actual events of crimes committed by the Sun Gym Gang in Miami from 1994-1995. The old adage that truth is stranger than fiction applies here, while the bumbling criminal buffoons can be comical, at the same time it is horrifying that such heinous acts are being played for laughs.

Pain & Gain is effectively directed and staged by Michael Bey and the performances by the cast are adequate to good. I would like to have given this film a better grade, in that I can really enjoy a good black comedy, but because of the writing and directing for Pain & Gain chose to aim for nothing higher than the gutter, in good conscience, I just couldn't. This sort of 'entertainment' appeals only to a very limited audience.

Pain & Gain is a violent, offensive, "stupid true crime" story with no positive role models and few if any redeeming values which, to be fair, is often the case when portaging the lives of criminals and murderers.

Behind the scenes with director Michael Bey

Cast

Mark Wahlberg Dwayne Johnson Anthony Mackie

Daniel Lugo Paul Doyle Adrian Doorbal

Tony Shalhoub Ed Harris Rob Corddry

Victor Kershaw Ed DuBois John Mese

Rebel Wilson Bar Paly Ken Jeong

Robin Peck Sorina Luminita Johnny Wu

Friday, February 1, 2013

Warm Bodies - Review

February, a time for Valentines, Romance and Zombies!

Warm Bodies
(2013 - February 1)
Comedy | Horror | Romance
97 min

Rated: PG-13 Zombie violence and some language | What parents should know.
Grade: B+

Director: Jonathan Levine
Writers: Jonathan Levine (screenplay), Isaac Marion (novel)
Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich | See full cast and crew

A funny new twist on a classic love story, WARM BODIES is a poignant tale about the power of human connection. After a zombie epidemic, R (a highly unusual zombie) encounters Julie (a human survivor), and rescues her from a zombie attack. Julie sees that R is different from the other zombies, and as the two form a special relationship in their struggle for survival, R becomes increasingly more human - setting off an exciting, romantic, and often comical chain of events that begins to transform the other zombies and maybe even the whole lifeless world. (c) Summit

Warm Bodies is the debut novel of author Isaac Marion. The book is described as a "zombie romance", and makes allusions to William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Issac Marion is based in Seattle, hie novel originated as a short story titled, "I am a Zombie filled with love". It first attracted a wide internet audience which led to Atria Books (a division of Simon and Schuster), acquiring the publishing rights to the full novel in early 2010. (Buy the novel here)

Warm Bodies is charming, quirky, sweet, odd and refreshing, if nothing else a pleasant surprise at the very least. The film is formulaic, full of clichés and at the same time fresh, unique and heart warming. One of the more original on-screen pairings. It's a little bit Romeo and Juliet (especially the balcony scene), a little Edward Scissorhands, a little bit Twilight Series and maybe even a little bet of the Hatfields and the McCoys and I'm sure you can come up with more comparisons on your own.

I would have been more generous with my grade if not for the gratuitous use of a word starting with an 'F' and a few other words that were supposed to be funny (just cheap shots for cheap laughs). Thankfully the profanity is brief and the sexual content is not crass nor graphic.

Any teenage boy (or any man that has been one) can identify with R's (Nicholas Hoult) ability to formulate smooth, romantic, witty lines in his head but when attempting to express those ideas is limited to a series of brutish grunts, groans and shoulder sruggs.

One glaring negative was the miscasting of John Malcovich, an obvious attempt to add some gravitas to the cast but when he phones in his performance it is counter productive and a distraction. John is a good actor but seems to have become lazy. He is becoming a caricature of himself as of late.

I really liked liked this film. It's a story of relationships and humanity. Nicholas Hoult is a romantic lead with a capital R! The plot is simple, your typical girl meets zombie story...enjoy it with someone you love.