My Review: The Other Guys (7/10)

¨ You have the right to remain silent... but I want to hear you scream! ¨

It was about time 2010 gave us a comedy that was actually funny. The Other Guys isn`t a perfect comedy, but it does have several laugh out loud moments. This is one of Will Ferrell`s best movies since Talladega Nights. It was good to see him team up with Mark Wahlberg in this buddy comedy and their chemistry was great. Most of the movie focused on them, leaving the supporting cast kind of flat, but it did pay off at the end. Eva Mendes, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton, and Steve Coogan had good supporting roles, but the main attractions are actually Ferrell and Wahlberg and the movie keeps us focused on them. Director Adam McKay knows Will Ferrell really well since they have worked together before in Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers. This is probably not as good as their two first movies together, but it is definitely an improvement over Step Brothers. McKay wrote the screenplay along with Chris Henchy who had also written a screenplay for Ferrell`s other movie Land of the Lost. Ferrell is back to his old self mixing his calm behavior and nature from Ron Burgundy in Anchorman with some outbursts here and there. Wahlberg`s comedic timing isn`t the best, but he is funny nonetheless when he is screaming and insulting everyone. The movie could have been a lot better since the first half of the film is actually much funnier than the second, but it is still worth a watch considering there haven`t been great comedies released this year so far.

Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) works as an accountant for the New York police department. He is very happy with his safe job and is always in the mood to do all the paperwork for the true heroes of the city: street officers P.K. Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson) and Christopher Danson (Dwayne Johnson, better known as The Rock). Danson and Highsmith have just tore up half of New York City chasing a pair of criminals in a car pursuit. They catch the criminals who only happen to possess a quarter pound of cocaine, but are still received as heroes by city citizens because they are willing to do what it takes and even defy the laws of physics in order to catch criminals. Allen`s office partner is Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg), who is really unhappy with staying indoors all day and wants to be in the streets fighting real crime. The problem is that Terry has had a funny incident in the past (which I won`t give away) and therefore he isn`t allowed to work in the streets anymore. The police captain is Gene Mauch (Michael Keaton) who needs more men in the streets after he loses Danson and Highsmith. Hoitz forces his partner Gamble to accept a case in order to stop from being simply the other guys. Gamble isn`t too happy about leaving his job because he doesn`t like taking risks and he enjoys his happy life with his beautiful wife Dr. Sheila (Eva Mendes). Forced to take a call Gamble and Hoitz head to the streets where they accidently run into David Ershon (Steve Coogan). Gamble has been building a case on Ershon because he believes him to be a shady capitalist, and now he and Hoitz have an opportunity of a lifetime to become heroes if they can uncover his fraud.

The Other Guys may not end up being a very memorable comedy, but in a year with lack of good comedies, this was a fun and entertaining experience. Will Ferrell may have other funnier comedies as well, but it had been awhile since he had had one, and teaming up with Mark Wahlberg was a great idea. The chemistry between them worked really well and they made for a good couple in this buddy comedy. The beginning of the movie was pretty funny, Samuel L. Jackson and The Rock were hilarious during the opening scene and they also have a very memorable one when they are at the rooftop of a building chasing some criminals. I laughed really hard during these opening scenes. Will Ferrell was his usual self, without overacting this time and playing the nice guy. He does have a secret past which really works in this movie and makes up for the funniest scenes. He also happens to be a chic magnet which also brings several laughs throughout the film. Mark Wahlberg may not have the perfect comedic timing that Paul Rudd has for example, but he is still funny and makes for a good comedic partner. Eva Mendes also had some funny lines and we have seen her do comedy really well in the past as well (Stuck on You and Hitch). The action scenes in this movie are actually pretty well done and a lot of fun. The scene where Wahlberg fights off a bunch of guys on motorcycles is really well choreographed. I ended up enjoying this movie quite a bit, but I am still waiting for this year`s The Hangover.

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My Review: The Last Airbender (5/10)

¨ He will begin to change hearts, and it is in the heart that all wars are won. ¨

This is the first film that M. Night Shyamalan directs an adapted screenplay since his earlier works have all been original screenplays written by him. I am probably one of the few Shyamalan fans left. I was a huge fan of his earlier movies; The Sixth Sense is one of my favorite films, I also loved Unbreakable and Signs. I even enjoyed his much criticized films: The Village, Lady in the Water, and The Happening, but I can`t save him this time with his latest movie: The Last Airbender. He adapted the screenplay from the successful Nickelodeon anime series titled Avatar: The Last Airbender. I personally never saw the series, but I know it has a lot of fans and that it consists of three seasons (there are three books: Water, Earth, and Fire). I can only judge this film based on Shyamalan`s screenplay since I know very little about the series, but from what I saw from the movie I am guessing it didn`t translate very well into the big screen. The main actors were totally miscast, the transitions from scene to scene felt forced, the screenplay was very poorly written, and the characters were one dimensional. Between the bad actors and the poor script the movie failed to entertain, but I didn`t hate it as much as most critics did. I don`t think it is among the worst movies of the year, although I am not saying it is good either. The Last Airbender is Shyamalan`s worst movie and the first that I actually found rotten. I still believe he will rebound from this, my faith isn`t lost in him.

Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) are brothers from the Southern Water tribe. Katara is a water bender and she discovers a giant frozen sphere outside of her village and decides to melt the ice. She accidently discovers that there was a boy who has been frozen in that sphere. The boy tells Katara that his name is Aang (Noah Ringer) and supposedly an Avatar, the last of the Airbenders. This avatar has been missing for a hundred years and during that time the Fire Nation has been dominating the rest of the nations (Earth, Water, and Air). The Avatar was the only one who maintained the balance in the world since it could bend the four elements, but Aang never got to learn how to bend the rest of the elements since he escaped from his training and was frozen for a century. Now the Fire Nation controls most tribes, they have extinguished the Airbenders and don`t allow the water and earth nations to bend their elements.  Whoever is discovered to have bending abilities is imprisoned by Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis) under Commander Zhao (Aasif Mandvi). Lord Ozai´s son, Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) was expelled from the Fire Nation because he refused to fight with his father in a duel after challenging a Commander`s decision during war. The only way Prince Zuko can regain his honor back is by capturing the Avatar and bringing him back to his father. Zuko is not alone in his quest; he is protected by his uncle Iroh (Shaun Toub). Aang begins to travel with Katara and Sokka setting earth villages free from the Fire nation, beginning rebellions, while heading to the North Water Kingdom where Aang will learn how to master water bending.

The main actors, Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone, are really miscast in this film. I don`t know if it was their acting or the script, but every scene they were in and every line they had to say felt really forced. The first thirty minutes of the film are really terrible, the scenes where Aang and Katara go free the Earth tribes are really poorly executed, and it isn`t until they reach the North Water Kingdom that the movie picks up a little. The best scenes in the film are the ones with Dev Patel and Aasif Mandvi; they have the best dialogue on screen. I really didn`t have any trouble with the special effects, although they aren`t anything out of this world, just your average effects. The score was decent as well and it is the seventh time that Shyamalan has worked with composer James Newton Howard. I don`t know if they will continue to make the next two sequels for The Last Airbender, but if they do they will have to correct a lot of things if they want to keep fans interested (beginning with the acting and the screenplay). This is a bad movie, but not among the worst I´ve seen either. My love for Shyamalan hasn`t died yet and I still think he is a great director although he has lost his touch with his latest work.

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My Review: Vampires Suck (2/10)

                                    ¨Once you go bat you never go back XD ¨

Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer have done what I thought was impossible: make a worse movie than ¨Meet the Spartans¨. As a matter of fact the only spoof movie they have made that I actually enjoyed for at least the first hour was Scary Movie. After that they have just gone downhill with the Scary Movie sequels, Date Movie, Epic Movie, and Disaster Movie. Every new spoof movie they come out with is worse than its predecessor. The main problem with Vampires Suck is that it only spoofs the Twilight franchise, while in the other movies they had more variety. The jokes are pretty much the same and they get old after awhile. The main actors were actually pretty decent at imitating Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson`s mannerisms, but this would have been great for a 5 minute Saturday Night Live sketch, not an 80 minute film that seems to drag forever and is just pointless. There are hardly no funny scenes and the film just seems to insult the viewer`s intellect. This is by far the worst movie of 2010 and really a waste of time. Friedberg and Seltzer keep on making these movies which just get worse and worse because they use the same repeated formula in all their films. There isn`t a single fresh thing about Vampire Sucks and no memorable scenes either. Twilight fans will obviously hate this, those who haven`t seen the Twilight franchise will miss out on most of the jokes, and those people who hate Twilight but are forced to watch it by their girlfriends will even despise this movie more since this is exactly how they perceive the original anyway.

The entire movie is a spoof of the first two Twilight films. Bella`s character name in this movie is Becca Crane (Jenn Proske) and she is just moving in with her single dad (Diedrich Bader) in Phoenix. At her new school she meets Edward Sullen (Matt Lanter), a very pale and strange teenager, and both of them fall in love very quickly. Of course since this is a spoof of Twilight there has to be a love triangle and Jacob White (Chris Riggi) shows up and tries to court Becca. Becca soon discovers that Edward is really a vampire, but she is turned on by this. Jacob White isn`t who he seems either and can actually turn into a Chihuahua. The voltures from Twilight are also represented in this movie by Daro (Ken Jeong, the Chinese dude from The Hangover), Becca`s best friend at High school is the selfish Jennifer (Anneliese van der Pol) who only cares about becoming the prom queen, and Edward`s parents are played by Jeff Witzke and Crista Flanagan. Every character from Twilight is spoofed and are all pretty well cast. Edward`s brothers are played by Stephanie Fischer, Kelsey Ford, Zane Holtz, and Nick Eversman. The plot is just an 80 minute summary of the 4 hour Twilight films with really bad jokes.

Vampires Suck is officially the worst movie of the year in my opinion. I can`t say anything positive about this movie, except that Jenn Proske and Matt Lanter were pretty good at imitating Bella and Edward. Proske spoke exactly like Kristen Stewart and had her same mannerisms: biting her lips, staring at the ground, and constantly playing with her hair. Lanter also imitated Pattinson pretty well with the dead stares and paused speaking. So I can`t really complain about the actors in this movie, they just didn`t have any material to work with. The only thing I can say is that Friedberg and Seltzer should start trying to come up with some original material because they are repeating themselves too much. At least this time they came out with an original title and didn`t call this Vampire Movie. That is the only original thing they could come up with, but I guess if people continue to go see their cheap movies then they really don`t have any reason to change. I personally think this is the worst movie of the year, it was not funny at all, and you should skip this. I am still waiting for this year`s hit comedy.

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