Unfinished Business (3/10): Dumb and Dumber Eurotrip.

“Hello, I’m Mike Pancake.”

This quote is just one example of how uninspired the screenwriter was at the moment of writing the script for Unfinished Business. Of course he followed it up by making several breakfast references, but none of the jokes were actually funny. It’s a shame because Ken Scott had a stronger cast to work with here than in his previous collaboration with Vince Vaughn, Delivery Man, a film I didn’t really like but that I didn’t dislike either. I’d rather sit through that movie than watch Unfinished Business because this was incredibly dull, the jokes were lame, and the story was completely unfocused and all over the place. Delivery Man is a masterpiece next to Unfinished Business. It seemed like screenwriter Steve Conrad thought about several funny scenes he could include in a movie like having Vince Vaughn run in his wife’s jogging clothes, but he didn’t worry about giving any reasonable explanation for the scene other than having his young daughter confusing her mom’s clothes with his (like if that were a possibility). Actually the entire subplot with Vaughn’s family is unnecessary and shouldn’t have been included because it felt completely out of place. I’ve read some positive reviews and I respect them, but I honestly didn’t find this film funny and thought that it was a waste of a talented cast. My greatest problem was the lazy writing, the forced jokes and the unfocused story. 

In Vince Vaghn’s latest bromantic comedy he plays Dan Trunkman, a salesman for a big company who decides to quit and start his own small business after discussing with his boss, Chuck Portnoy (Sienna Miller). He offers the rest of his fellow co-workers the opportunity to come work with him and the only ones who follow him are Timothy (Tom Wilkinson) and Mike (Dave Franco). The only reason they do is because Timothy has been forced to retire because of his age and Mike was actually interviewing for a position which he didn’t get. Tom immediately invites them to Dunkin Donuts to plan their strategy. A year goes by and the three of them are still having their meetings there, but they are about to close their first important deal. In order to do so they must travel to Germany where they will meet Jim Spinch (James Marsden) and his assistant Bill (Nick Frost) to shake hands and seal the deal. Unfortunately the sale isn’t as closed as they had anticipated because Chuck has been interfering and trying to seal another deal with them. In the meantime, Dan’s kids Paul and Bess (Britton Sear and Ella Anderson), are having trouble in school and his extremely supportive wife, Susan (June Diane Raphael) needs his attention. Dan will have to try to balance his family life and his business, but things get extremely wacky in Europe where a sex fetish event is taking place at the same time as a global economic summit.

I honestly have no idea what Dave Franco was thinking when he decided to play this character, but I guess he never considered taking Robert Downey Jr’s advice of never going full retard in a movie. It’s hard to understand what he’s saying at times as he doesn’t speak out much and seems to mumble and make up words. Vaughn is playing the same character he has been playing in his latest comedies and I’m glad he is finally going to be doing something different in the upcoming True Detective series because he needs to try to break out from that tired formula which worked wonders for him in Wedding Crashers, but has gotten old now. Tom Wilkerson is a terrific actor, but his character isn’t funny at all. He plays an old man who is looking forward to getting divorced and having sex for the first time with someone he can love. Not even the reliable Nick Frost is given decent material to work with. The film is only 90 minutes long but you feel every second of them because most of the jokes miss the mark. The film is also incredibly unbalanced being on the one hand an irreverent business road trip and on the other trying to deliver an anti-bullying message which is never actually resolved and ends up being an afterthought. 

My Review: The World's End (7/10)

"And here we go! Just like the Five Musketeers!"

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and director Edgar Wright's final installment of the Cornetto trilogy is a very entertaining and funny film. Just like its predecessors The World's End works as a comedy although this time the focus is on the sci-fi genre. Shaun of the Dead was based on horror, Hot Fuzz on buddy action films, and now The World's End makes fun of the apocalyptic science fiction films we've all seen. However the films all work best as a comedy considering Wright carefully constructs them and builds momentum at the right moments. The fans who pay close attention to the script will catch several of those small elements he includes in the comedy. Pegg and Frost also deliver great characters and have a solid supporting cast. If you enjoyed the humor in their previous films then you will be very satisfied with this film because it follows the same premise and has several of the same actors involved once again. The script is witty and the direction with the fast edits, slick camera angles, and well timed action sequences works really well. It might be a slightly more mature film than its predecessors, but it still includes all the key elements that made the first two such likable films. My personal favorite of the three will still be Hot Fuzz, probably because it was the first film I watched since I had never seen Shaun of the Dead, but I still enjoyed all three films. The humor in The World's End isn't the cheap kind, the jokes are well constructed but I understand that its humor isn't for everyone. The characters are all very well developed and each one has his or her own personal traits defined. It has a nostalgic vibe to it as well considering the characters all seem to lament over their lost youth, and are trying to live out those memories for one last time. It's a very satisfactory conclusion to the trilogy.

The film centers on five friends from a small English town that decide to get together 20 years later and finish what they never could during their teenage days: complete an epic pub crawl known as the Golden Mile. It consists of drinking one pint of beer in all 12 Newton Haven pubs in the course of one day. Gary (Simon Pegg), who was the leader of the group, decides to round up the crew and accomplish this goal. He is very self centered and doesn't treat his friends really well, but somehow (probably from a sense of nostalgia and trying to relive the best year of their lives) they all still decide to tag along. The group consists of Pete (Eddie Marsan) who was bullied upon during his youth, Steven (Paddy Considine) who is currently dating a young fitness instructor, Oliver (Martin Freeman) nicknamed O-Man because of a birthmark he had on his forehead that resembled a 6, and Andy (Nick Frost) who used to be Gary's best friend before they had a fallout and became estranged. As they begin their quest for the Golden mile they run into Sam (Rosamund Pike), Oliver's sister, with whom Gary had a one night fling when they were young, but Steven is the one who has been in love with her all his life. They are surprised to discover that the people in the town have changed and are behaving strangely. What begins as an apparently innocent and fun night might end up being a nightmare as they begin uncovering a conspiracy that threatens all of humanity. 

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost sort of switch roles from the ones they played in Shaun of the Dead. This time Nick plays the much more mature character, while Simon is the childish one. Pegg is really unlikable at the beginning of the film, as he manipulates and completely ignores his friends, but his character soon grows on us as we identify with his sense of nostalgia of the past. I think that the scenes between these group of friends hanging out in the pub was probably the strongest part of the film considering that the sci-fi scenes were a little too over the top (although some action sequences were really entertaining). The way these characters interact with one another is what makes this film worth seeing. The satire and slapsticknalso mixes really well with this smart comedy. I still think that Scott Pilgrim is Edgar Wright's best film to date, but he always delivers fun and entertaining movies. 

My Review: Shaun of the Dead (7/10

"We're coming to get you, Barbara!"

Shaun of the Dead is one of those films that benefited from the release date since a few weeks earlier the zombie horror flick, Dawn of the Dead hit theaters worldwide. A couple of years before that Danny Boyle scared audiences in England with his successful zombie flick 28 Days Later. Shaun of the Dead works as a spoof to all zombie movies so the distributors had perfect timing which is essential for a comedy. The film also had a pretty strong fan base considering Simon Pegg and Nick Frost had worked with director Edgar Wright in the past in the TV series Spaced. The setting for this film was just perfect and Wright and Pegg did a great job with the script. Thanks to Shaun of the Dead we got to see these actors team up together for another great film: Hot Fuzz (a spoof on pretty much all the 90's action movies) and for the upcoming The World's End which is receiving great reviews from critics. Fans of the TV series Spaced might enjoy some inside references in Shaun of the Dead, but regardless of wether or not you've seen it you will still have a great time with this film because the script is witty and clever while the performances are also all pretty strong. The more zombie movies you've seen the more you will enjoy this because it makes fun of several of those generic stereotypes. I wouldn't say this is a horror flick because there isn't really a scary moment, but it is an intelligent comedy that makes fun of those cheesy moments in horror films (jump scenes where one person shows up all of a sudden with creepy music in the background). Shaun of the Dead is worth your time if you are looking for a good and fun time.

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is kind of a slacker who hasn't done much with his life. He is content to spend his days with his roommate Ed (Nick Frost) and his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) hanging out at the local pub where he is a frequent customer. The problem is that Liz is tired of the relationship since all they do is hang out with Ed at the pub and she barely gets to have time alone with him. Shaun promises to take her out to a nice restaurant and turn his life around, but the next day he gets distracted by a visit from his stepdad (Bill Nighy) who reminds him he has to go visit his mother (Penelope Wilton) thus forgetting to reserve a table for dinner with his girlfriend. Tired of Shaun's broken promises, Liz decides to break up with him. Shaun realizes it's time to turn his life around, but something strange is happening in his town. All of a sudden dead people are coming back to life and attacking everyone so Shaun realizes this is the perfect opportunity to prove to Liz that he is capable of saving and protecting her from the deadly zombie attacks.

Shaun of the Dead works really well thanks to the great chemistry between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost; you can tell their friendship transcends the big screen and seeing them pair up is what works best in this film. The British gags and cultural references cross borders and the jokes are effective anywhere. This is one film anyone can enjoy because it works on its own. It isn't one of those spoof films which you can only enjoy if you've seen the movie it's making fun of. The fun and the jokes work on their own and the relationship between the characters is also really strong. Shaun of the Dead came to my attention when Quentin Tarantino shared his list of the 20 best films of the last 20 years and this movie appeared on that list. I really enjoyed this movie, but I don't consider it among the best comedies of our era. In my opinion Hot Fuzz was even funnier, but I really look forward to The World's End which looks really promising. Shaun of the Dead is worth checking out if you are one of the few people that haven't seen it.

Rating: 7,8/10

My Review: Snow White and the Huntsman (5/10)

¨Lips red as blood. Hair black as night. Bring me your heart my dear, dear Snow White.¨

This is as close of a Tim Burton version of Snow White then you`ll ever see (even if Tim Burton himself directs one). The visual style of the film is pretty dark, but fascinating. It stands out in the film, but what the movie has going for it visually, it lacks story wise. The movie dragged for very long periods of time and moved really slowly. If it weren’t for the great visuals I might have not made it through this original version of the classic story we`ve all seen hundreds of times before. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Disney`s first feature length movie and one of my favorite classics. I recall the darkness of it involving the evil witch, but I also remember the sweetness of Snow White and the playfulness of the seven dwarfs. Director Rupert Sanders does a very good job at setting the dark mood thanks to the strong performance from Charlize Theron, but he fails to capture the sweetness and innocence that embodies Snow White. As much as I like Kirsten Stewart, she really never convinced me as Snow White and that is my greatest complaint along with a lack of a better or more engaging storyline. This film was written by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, and Hossein Amini (the screenplay writer of my favorite film last year: Drive), but despite being beautifully shot and having great visuals it lacked a bit more heart in the story and a better conclusion. Despite moving so slow during most of the story, it seems to finish rather quickly and abruptly at the end. The movie does have some positive things however, such as Chris Hemsworth`s performance and some of the great actors playing the dwarfs.

We are all familiar with Snow White, although this film does take several liberties and takes us different places (despite having several of the same characters and lines from the original like ¨Mirror, mirror on the wall who is fairest of them all? ¨).  Snow White is played by Kristen Stewart who`s a princess until the day her mother dies and her father remarries Ravenna (Charlize Theron). Once Ravenna becomes Queen she murders Snow White`s father and locks her in the towers. The evil Ravenna begins to rule and the kingdom grows very dark. She`s a witch with eternal beauty thanks to the hundreds of girls she`s killed. Their hearts are the secret to her youth and beauty. She rules along with her brother Finn (Sam Spruell) who is more like her servant. Once Ravenna discovers that Snow White`s beauty is a threat to her powers she sends Finn to bring her in order to kill her, but Snow White manages to escape and hides in the dark forest. That is when Ravenna hires the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to go after her and bring her back, but once the Huntsman meets Snow White he decides to protect her instead. Snow White`s childhood friend, William (Sam Claflin), hears she`s still alive and also begins searching for her in order to protect her and overthrow the evil Queen. Along the way Snow White and the Huntsman run into some dwarfs (played by such great actors as Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, and Johnny Harris) who also decide to protect her from the evil powers of the Queen and so the journey continues.

 I actually enjoyed some of the supporting characters in this film. The actors that played the dwarfs brought a lot of comedy to an otherwise very dark and serious film. Chris Hemsworth was the other actor who brought some comedic relief to the table, and perhaps my favorite character of the film (reminding us as to why Thor was so good despite the ridiculous plot). The film had its entertaining moments, but I just felt it too dark of a picture for my enjoyment and really wished it would have had a better ending. Was it better than I expected it to be? Yes, but that doesn’t mean it was good either. Kristen Stewart is a beautiful actress, but she didn’t fit the role of Snow White, she is not the typical sweet actress, there is some darkness in her as well. This is not a kid’s version of Snow White and is mostly for adults, but I still was left with an empty feeling from the theater as if something were missing. I didn’t have a terrible time with this film; I would give it a 5.8, almost enjoyable.

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My Review: Attack the Block (7/10)

¨Dogs? What kind of dogs those? Dogs with no eyes? Dogs the size of gorillas? You think them things are dogs? Go out there and try feeding them some Pedigree Chum! They`re ALIENS, luv! ¨

Attack the Block is one of those small films that absolutely caught me by surprise. This is Joe Cornish`s first feature film and he delivers a very entertaining movie with the right amount of comedy mixed with horror. I am not a huge horror fan, and find most these movies stupid, but Attack the Block was really a delight to watch on screen. This is a British movie with a bunch of unknown actors, but they are just great together in this movie, which was also written by Cornish himself. The dialogue is fun, the action scenes are entertaining, and the horror although low budget works really well. The aliens are simplistic but cool looking with their glow in the dark teeth. At first the movie seems like it is going nowhere, but as it progresses the plot continues to get better and better all the way to the climatic ending. Nick Frost is probably the only known actor in this movie and he`s barely in it, but it doesn`t matter because the rest of the cast leaded by John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker don`t disappoint. They give believable performances and also have several funny lines throughout the film. This is a movie which should be taken lightly; it`s not meant to be a scary horror film that will have you at the edge of your seat. It kind of works in the same way Zombieland worked in America, although this film had a much more restricted budget. Most of the action takes place at a block in South London so the constraints work quite well.

The movie begins with Sam (Jodie Whittaker) walking down a dark street in South London, when all of a sudden she gets robbed by a group of young teens. The leader of the gang, Moses (John Boyega), points a knife at her and steals her cell phone, wallet, and ring. The other four guys involved in the robbery are Pest (Alex Esmail), Dennis (Franz Drameh), Jerome (Leeon Jones), and Biggz (Simon Howard), who all seem delighted with how things went. The kids are young and act like their gangsters, but you can tell they`re just wannabes. On the way back to their block something like a meteor falls from the sky and smashes a car. When Moses goes to look inside he gets his face scratched by some sort of alien, and in a moment of outrage kills the alien along with his buddies. They take the corpse back to the block where they live and show it off to their friends. They tell Moses to take the body to Ron (Nick Frost) who lives near the top of the block and who knows a lot about animals since he watches a lot of National Geographic to see if he can identify the species. Ron is a drug dealer who happens to be dealing with Brewis (Luke Treadaway) when the gang arrives. While they are trying to discover what sort of alien or animal they are dealing with they see several more meteors falling from the sky and decide to go hunt these creatures, although soon they will realize that perhaps it`s the other way around and that they are the hunted ones.

I have to admit that at first I didn`t think this movie would succeed since the main characters seemed to be quite unlikeable. I mean who would want to root for these criminals? But after the first few minutes went by and when things began to turn around and the teens became the victims the film grew on me. John Boyega gives a great performance and he will be one to watch. He has great facial expressions and made for a memorable character. Attack the Block is extremely short and the movie is really fast paced but it manages to explain the plot pretty well with the little time it had and doesn’t leave thing unexplained like in other sci-fi films. The soundtrack is also pretty catchy and works well with to establish the mood of the movie. The gore scenes are pretty fake, but it doesn’t matter because it isn’t really the issue. For the most part things occur behind the camera, but there are a few gory scenes. This movie isn’t supposed to be scary, it`s more of a sci-fi comedy with some interesting action scenes. Attack the Block is a small film and probably not as easy to come across by, but if you get the opportunity to watch this than by all means do because you won`t be disappointed. It`s not a masterpiece, but it is very entertaining and fun.

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My Review: Paul (5/10)

¨This is America. Kidnapping a Christian is worse than harboring a fugitive.¨

British comedians, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, are back again with a new comedy following up their successful movies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. In Shaun of the Dead they satirized George A. Romero`s zombie films, while in Hot Fuzz they did the same thing with pretty much every Hollywood action film from Bad Boys to Terminator. Now with Paul they try to satirize pretty much every movie involving aliens and the Roswell incident. It`s also a buddy road trip comedy. I was a huge fan of Pegg and Frost`s first two films, but Paul really didn’t work for me since I was expecting more from this great duo. I also had huge expectations knowing Greg Mottola was going to direct their movie since I really loved his earlier films: Superbad and Adventureland. The movie was really disappointing and I found the comedy in it really cheap. Sorry critics but I had more fun with The Hangover sequel than I did with this. I didn’t find anything fresh about this comedy. It would have worked better as a skit for Saturday Night Live. It`s too bad because both Frost and Pegg are great actors, and there were also some interesting cameos from some great American actors. Seth Rogen is always funny, but his voice for the alien Paul never felt too connect with me since I kept on imagining him smoking pot while giving the alien a voice. There were really very few funny scenes that worked for me. I know these guys can write much better scripts because they`ve done it before. Paul is just another silly forgettable movie.

Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are two best friends who`ve decided to travel from England to San Diego for the Comic-Con Convention. They are having the time of their life, meeting some interesting people and doing what all sci-fi geeks do. After spending the evening at the Convention they decide to take a road trip across America´s UFO highway trying to reach New Mexico and the crash site of the supposed Roswell incident that took place over half a century ago. While they`re on their way they have an accident and nearly crash into another vehicle. The other vehicle spins out of the highway and when they stop to see if there`s anyone hurt they discover the alien. He isn’t harmed and tells them his name is Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) and he`s been working at a secret military base for the US government for the past 60 years after his spaceship crashed in Roswell. He has finally decided to escape after realizing he was being kept prisoner and asks Graeme and Clive to help him return to his space ship so he can finally leave this planet and return home. The duo accepts to help Paul in his mission and decide to take him along with them on their RV. They soon discover that they are being followed by Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman) and two other officers, Haggard (Bill Hader) and O`Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio). To make matters worse they also sort of accidently kidnap a young woman named Ruth (Kristen Wiig) so her father Moses (John Carroll Lynch) is also trying to track them down and so the chase begins.

The actors are pretty actually good in this film, but the screenplay was just far too silly and Paul didn’t really work as a smart alien satire film in the same way that their earlier movies had worked. There were a couple of funny scenes like when Paul revives a dead bird only to eat him afterwards because hey he wasn’t going to eat a dead bird. That was perhaps the highlight of the movie for me. There are also some supporting roles and cameos from the funny Jane Lynch, Sigourney Weaver who starred in the Aliens franchise, and Jeffrey Tambor. The rest of the movie consisted of gay and anal jokes which weren’t really funny and several anti-Christian remarks; nothing remarkably original at all. Paul was simply a very silly and forgettable movie and there isn’t really much more I can add to my review. I know that it is one of those movies that can’t be taken seriously, and I actually enjoy a lot of those movies, but this was just a poor attempt at comedy. I hope Pegg and Frost get on the right track for their next film and work a little harder on the screenplay. I also hope Greg Mottola goes on directing another Adventureland type of film: funny but smart and touching at the same time. I really wasn’t a huge fan of Paul, but perhaps it just wasn’t my type of film considering several other critics seemed to have a good time with it so you might want to check it out; just don’t expect another Shaun of the Dead kind of comedy this time.

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