My Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (4/10)

“Do not say a word about this to anyone. If you do, we will find you.”

A much more fitting title for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would be April O’Neil considering she is the main character in this film and is on screen for almost its entire running time. Megan Fox was believable as this reporter who was looking for an important story so I didn’t have a problem with her performance. My main issue with this film is how poorly developed the characters were. Its as if they forgot to give these characters personalities and only centered on the action. There were some ok action scenes, but I never felt engaged with the characters which rendered those sequences kind of pointless because I was never interested with what was going on.  As a kid I grew up watching the cartoons and the movies in the early 90’s so I thought I would  be invested in these characters and that the nostalgia factor would play a key role in my enjoyment of this film, but I was wrong because I felt completely disengaged with the turtles. I don’t think I would’ve even remembered the names of the turtles if I hadn’t already been familiar with the characters. Sure, I know that Leonardo is the leader of the four, Donatello is the brains, Raphael the rebel, and Michelangelo the dude, but other than those basic characteristics we don’t get anything else from these characters while they are running around and fighting off Shredder and the foot clan. After having seen Guardians of the Galaxy last week and being invested in those characters, I was really disappointed with how little they tried to give these turtles some personality. And don’t even get me started with the rat, Splinter, which looked completely fake and was perhaps the weakest thing about this entire film. I know it’s hard to pull off a film like this with a talking rat and four talking turtles, but Guardians of the Galaxy proved it could be done with a talking raccoon and tree. This film has nothing going for it, not even the comedy nor the wisecracking attempts at humor from Michelangelo. The characters seemed like they were taken from the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, it was really bad. 

Considering Michael Bay was the producer of this film a lot of comparisons can be made to the Transformers franchise where you have big action scenes and very little character development, but in my opinion this was even worse. Director, Jonathan Liebesman, who still hasn’t made a film I actually enjoyed, gives us a pointless action film which follows pretty much the same standard formula of basic action movies. You have one of the scientist betraying the other (formula we’ve seen in the Spiderman films) and not being able to finish the experiment without the other, then you have the vigilantes trying to save the city, and finally the climactic scene in a skyscraper while a time clock is running down to zero as the evil villain is trying to wipe out an entire city. It doesn’t get more formulaic than that, so it wouldn’t surprise me that in a few days memory of this film would be entirely wiped out because there isn’t one original or note worthy moment during its 100 minute run time. It has no life to it whatsoever and I expect fans of the franchise to be disappointed while newcomers will be in disbelief as to why this was made in the first place. I hope some day these Turtles actually get a chance of getting a decent reboot because I grew up watching the cartoons and playing the awesome video games. 

My Review: This is 40 (5/10)

¨All of a sudden we`re a magnet of negativity. What did we do? ¨

Judd Apatow has produced, written, and directed some of the best comedies since the late 90`s. There is no doubt that he has reinvented the genre and made some memorable comedies like The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. With Funny People he switched to dramedy, a more serious type of comedy that`s sort of a reflection on today`s society. This is 40 is sort of a sequel to Knocked Up since it focuses on some of the supporting characters in that movie, but it follows a similar premise as Funny People because it is much more serious in tone. It has some really funny moments, but at the same time it is an authentic portrayal of an upper middle class Beverly Hills family facing a midlife crisis. Apatow not only directed this film, but he wrote the screenplay as well and worked with his family, so this was a very personal project. The script is funny, but sometimes Apatow relies too heavily on sex and bathroom gags that have already grown old. For the most part this film is enjoyable, but it suffers from an overlong screenplay and some pacing issues. I enjoyed Funny People a little more than this because This is 40 was kind of the same thing. There were some very funny performances and some great cameos as well, but the film gets irritating at times. Some scenes worked really well, while others felt completely out of place making most jokes either hit or miss.

If you haven’t seen Knocked Up it really doesn’t matter because the film works independently from that one since we only follow a few supporting characters from that movie. The story takes place a few years after the events of the previous movie focusing on the lives of Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann), a middle class married couple living in California with their two daughters: Sadie (Maude Apatow) and Charlotte (Iris Apatow). When the film begins Debbie is turning 40 and she is having trouble accepting her age, while Pete doesn’t think it`s a big deal. Debbie doesn’t want a party, she passes the day with her family while they plan Pete`s party which will be in a few days as well. The plot is pretty simple as it follows their everyday ordinary lives and the problems they face. Pete`s routine revolves around riding his bike and working at his independent record company, while Debbie works out with her trainer Jason (Jason Segel) and owns a clothing store. Both Pete and Debbie are going through some financial issues as the record company is having trouble selling and someone has stolen 12000 dollars from the store. Debbie suspects it`s Desi (Megan Fox), but doesn’t want to say anything because she is her best saleswoman. Jodi (Charlyne Yi) also works in the store and blames Desi. Due to their financial troubles, Debbie asks Pete to stop helping out his father, Larry (Albert Brooks), but he can`t help it. Pete and Debbie must find a way to adapt to their midlife crisis before their entire family and marriage collapses. 

Despite playing really spoiled and unlikeable characters, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann, manage to give very strong and likeable performances. The supporting cast was also pretty strong with some very funny scenes between them and Albert Brooks. There is also a great scene involving Melissa McCarthy which I thought was the highlight of the movie. Leslie Mann gave one of her best performances and she must have enjoyed working alongside her husband Judd and two daughters. Their performance wasn’t really strong and at times it felt that they were reading off scrip cards, but I didn’t have a major problem with it. The story felt real and authentic, but I just couldn’t sympathize with these spoiled characters. The comedy has its moments, but it is just too little in such an overlong and difficult to bear story. I wouldn’t say that Apatow has lost his touch, but this film is probably his weakest effort to date. Everyone can have a strike or a miss; hopefully he will come back with another home run, but in order to do so he needs to bring something new and original back to the genre instead of remaking his films over again. We do have to appreciate the honesty he brings to his films, and that is why he has had such a successful career.

My Review: Jennifer`s Body (4/10)

(4/10) Jennifer`s Body was a huge dissapointment for me. I had very high expectations because of Diablo Cody who wrote one of my favorite movies in 2007, Juno. Her script was funny and Ellen Page really nailed her role in that movie thanks in most part to Cody`s writing which resulted in a perfect match. However, in this film the script simply didn`t work. Perhaps the actors didn`t do a good of a job as Ellen Page did with the script she had to work with, but I think this movie was just a mess and tried too hard at being something it wasn`t. Director Karyn Kusama mixed too many genres together and couldn`t decide what kind of movie she wanted to make. The result of the movie was just a mess, you didn`t know if you were supposed to laugh, be scared, or simply entertained because the film didn`t do any of these things for me. They simply tried too hard on trying to make this a cult film, but the movie fails to deliver and simply doesn`t know where to go. Kusama focused so much on trying to make this a different movie that she left out telling a good story. It doesn`t have enough gore to be a teen slasher film, it doesn`t have enough laughs to be a comedy, and it doesn`t have enough scares to be a horror movie.

One thing is for sure, Diablo Cody didn`t count with a talented cast as she did with Juno. Ellen Page was able to deliver her quirky dialogue to perfection and Jennifer Garner was great in her role as well. While in this film the script and the characters didn`t seem to belong together. Megan Fox plays Jennifer Check, a high school student from a small town called Devil`s Kettle. Her best friend from school is Needy Lesnicky (Amanda Seyfried from Mamma Mia) and they decide to go together to bar to listen to a up and coming band called Low Shoulder. Adam Brody plays the lead singer in a very unconvincing role. There is a huge fire in the bar during the concert and many people die, but Needy and Jennifer escape along with the band members. After the incident Jennifer decides to get in the van with the band ignoring her friend`s warning. Later that night Jennifer returns to Needy`s house all bloody and is acting very odd. This is were the action begins and the movie kind of gets lost. Megan Fox actually doesn`t have all that much screen time, the main character here is Needy and she is the one telling the story. Everyone know that Megan Fox isn`t famous for her acting skills, but she wasn`t bad in this film. Amanda Seyfried also was decent in her role, but the script simply didn`t work that well. I have to admit many of the lines are funny on paper, but they didn`t have that same effect on screen. J. K. Simmons who was Juno`s father in that movie, has a small role in this film as the sentimental high school professor and he was probably the funniest in the film.

Perhaps the high expectations I had for this movie killed it, but I ended up leaving the theater with a bad taste in my mouth. I just had finished watching Inglourious Basterds a few days before and loved that movie so much that I was hoping this one would also have the same effect. Diablo Cody took a huge step down from her previous movie and will have to do a lot better on her next project. There is no denying her scripts are funny and original, but she needs to make sure they adapt well to the characters. Some of those lines you just don`t expect coming from a teenage possesed girl. I wouldn`t reccomend this movie. If you haven`t seen Juno, go see that instead. Which reminds me the soudntrack in this film is not nearly have as good as the one in Juno either. I gave this film a 4 out 10 (the film is a 4 out of 10, Jessica`s Body actually is a 10 out of 10).