A brief review of every movie I've seen since last time I did this

Ok... picking up where we left off at the end of July.

Skipped out on: District 9, Gamer. The rest were romantic comedies and movies off the radar. I think we're officially out of summer movie season, so really I didn't miss much.

Ok, now to those I did see.

Funny People: Interesting movie in the sense that it had some absolutely hilarious parts, but overall I never want to see it again. Jonah Hill killed it in this movie, everything he said was pretty funny. Schwartzman and "Hey Teach!" was a riot. A lot of Sandler and Seth Rogan's standup was very, very funny. But as a movie? Not so much! The entire third act with Leslie Mann (who thinks nepotism is awesome, by the way) and Eric Bana really killed the movie. Plus, Adam Sandler's character was completely unlikeable. Some great comedy in this one, but overall a bad movie. I think this was the Judd Apatow ego project and I can't really say that I was a big fan.

2/5

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: I went in to this with very low expectations. The reviews were terrible, the previews weren't that great, and the cast left a little to be desired. But you know what? It worked for what it was. A brainless popcorn flick that maybe brought back some memories of my childhood. GI Joe was my favorite toy/cartoon from when I was a kid. The movie worked despite some questionable casting decisions (Channing Tatum as Duke? A Wayans brother as anyone?). Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow dueling was easily the best part. Also - the sequel set up with Cobra Commander and Destro at the end was nice. I could have done with one "Destro, you idiot!", but I guess that can wait until the sequel.

3/5

Inglorious Basterds: I enjoy Quentin Tarantino. Kill Bill is one of my favorites and all of his movies are enjoyable to me. This was a good movie with a lot of great sequences. Some of it was over the top, but I appreciated it for what it was. The performances were incredible. Hans Landa was one of the best villains I have seen in a movie, hilarious and evil. The acting was top notch. The actor, Christoph Waltz, deserves some recognition from the Academy for his work. The opening scene on the farm built up the tension and paid off in a huge way. Brad Pitt was also good here - mostly playing an unlikeable character who is supposed to be a hero. That sort of goes for all of the Basterds. These guys were crazy and a little bit sociopathic but we cheer for them because they are killing Nazis. The fact that Aldo the Apache was the best at speaking eye-talian was one of the funniest parts of the movie.

Great movie, yes. Tarantino's masterpiece as the ending might suggest? No.

4/5

Extract: Interesting movie here as well. Great cast, decent story, one of the hottest women on the planet (in my eyes), but it didn't work completely. I thought it was a passable and somewhat enjoyable film but it was definitely missing something. I think Mike Judge has had better films, but this is worth a rental if you missed it, and you probably did.

3/5

Jennifer's Body: I've written about this previously. Stupid movie, but good. I enjoyed it a lot. Cheesy dialogue, cheesy kill scenes, two hot chicks. I recommend. Don't expect anything substantial, though.

4/5

The Informant: All-star performance by Matt Damon. Outstanding is pretty much the only way to put it. The story is interesting and the layers of the plot unfold in a way that makes sense and is interesting, by the end it's hard to believe some of the things that are happening. It's made all the more interesting by the fact that it's mostly a true story. If you look it up, most of this stuff actually happened. Cornell graduate! And fun fact, same department as me, same major. Maybe some day I can embezzle 13 million dollars while working for the FBI? Probably not...

4/5

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 3D: It was alright. The 3D animation was pretty spectacular, as it is for a lot of the films these days. In terms of the story, it was cute but definitely geared more towards kids. It's easy to get spoiled by Pixar movies that kids love but have adult storylines that are heartwarming and somewhat sophisticated. This is not that movie. There is a pretty funny monkey in the film, though, and it was enjoyable. Still, not even in the same ballpark as Up! or any other Pixar movie.

3/5

The Invention of Lying: Oh, this could have been so much better. It started off very funny and with so much promise.

"You're early, I was just upstairs masturbating. I'll be right back, in case I get horny again and finish masturbating" - Jennifer Garner

But not good. Two problems: 1) in a world where everyone has to tell the truth, everyone it a gigantic asshole. It's like a non-stop competition to see who can say the meanest thing all movie. Maybe that's how life would be if everyone had to tell the truth all the time, but it was kind of a shock to see.

2) They went in the wrong direction. Him inventing religion and becoming "Jesus" and the commandments on pizza boxes... not how I would have gone at all. I enjoy a good lampoon of religion as much as the next person but they got it all wrong here.

This could have been an outstanding movie, the concept is great. Execution; not so much.

2/5

Going to see Zombieland tonight, and probably Where the Wild Things Are round out the list for movies I'm going to see this month. It's getting in to a slow month or so before the Oscar contenders start hitting theaters!