Movie Review: Rango

(Source)

Rango (2011)

Director: Gore Verbinski
Producer: Gore Verbinski, Graham King, John B. Carls
Studio: Nickelodeon Movies, Blind Wink, GK Films, Industrial Light and Magic
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Release date:  March 4, 2011
Running time: 107 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English
Rating: PG

Official Site

An unnamed pet chameleon (Johnny Depp) becomes stranded in the Mojave Desert after his terrarium falls from his owners' car by accident. He meets an armadillo named Roadkill (Alfred Molina), who is seeking the mystical Spirit of the West and directs the parched chameleon to find water at a town called Dirt. While wandering the desert, he narrowly avoids being eaten by a red-tailed hawk and has a surreal nightmare before meeting the desert iguana Beans (Isla Fisher), a rancher's daughter, who takes the chameleon to Dirt, an Old West town populated by desert animals. (Source)


Movie Tags: Children & Family, Ages 8+, Family Adventure, Animated, Comedy, Goofy, Imaginative, Feel-good, Witty

Just because something is animated doesn't mean it's for kids!

Note: This is not a children's movie! I have no idea how this got a PG rating but it is not, in my opinion, appropriate for children. From it's adult theme, to the crude language, and dark humour.

Children may not understand some of the words, their meaning(s), and the general adult heavy theme, but it is not something they should be introduced to while not understanding.

Under the context of this being acceptable for kids 9+ I am shocked to see what they got away with. The entire movie trends a very thin line of suggestion. Never saying too much but lots of hinting. If you're old enough you'll pick up on it otherwise it will go right over your head, which is what bothered me the most, because of how often it happened.
Such as, right in the beginning there's a moment when Rango asks his headless barbie "Are those real?" Referring to her breasts while not stating where the comment was directed. Then there are moments with quite a bit of quick slick talkin' where a sly change of a word with one that sounds similar and you have a very adult joke on your hands. At least to those who are paying enough attention to catch on but most are left none the wiser. A few examples include; cojones, prostate (and entire joke followed the phrase 'prostate exam'), and mammogram.
Changing a word or two might leave children not noticing but I kept asking "Did they just say that?" I'll admit it's clever, it really is, but not when you label a movie for children.

The worst, I think was the fact the word damn was said once in a pretty intense scene, which I found to be fairly violent (the scene that is, with the cherry topping of a curse word). But then I was pretty horrified with how often they said hell. You say 'heck' with kids, at least that's what I think.

This movie also deals with quite a bit of killing, death, and general violence.

I seriously do not think kids should see this, the theme and humour is more for adults, and those who have a pretty off sense of humour at that.

Putting that aside as I am an adult, I actually enjoyed this movie. It's very strange, I'm not denying that, and it should be noted my sense of humour is all over the place, including being slightly off (at times), which this very much appeals to me in that regard
This movie off the wall, there is no other way to explain it! At first glance I was ready to write it off, walk away and be done, but a movie sharing friend (we recommended things back and forth) highly recommended it. On the recommendation of it being a good movie, I stuck it out. And I'm happy I did! I can't explain the change of opinion other than the movie really does have heart to it. You start to feel for the characters and wonder where everything is going.
I found myself chuckling at the jokes that appalled me at first, mostly based on how clever some of them really are.

If you're able to put up with some weirdness and look for clever joke you will enjoy this movie. It will take some time, and maybe a bit of digging, but this is a great movie.

I do not recommend for the faint of heart. This is a very strange movie that you might not be up for, but if you can give it a chance you may very well fall in love.

Recommended: Adults, broad sense of humour, open-minded.

IMDb | Wikipedia | Rotten Tomatoes

TV Review: Spaced

(Source)

Spaced (1999-2001)
2 Series

"Tim Bisley (Simon Pegg) and Daisy Steiner (Jessica Stevensonn) are two London twenty-somethings who meet by chance in a café while both are flat-hunting. Despite barely knowing each other, they conspire to pose as a young professional couple in order to meet the requisites of an advertisement for a relatively cheap flat in the distinctive building at 23 Meteor Street, Tufnell Park, which is owned by and also houses the landlady, Marsha Klein (Julia Deakin). Also in the building is Brian Topp (Mark Heap), an eccentric conceptual artist who lives and works on his various pieces in the ground floor flat. Frequent visitors are Daisy's best friend, Twist Morgan (Katy Carmichael) and Tim's best friend, Mike Watt (Nick Frost).
The series largely concerns the colourful and surrealistic adventures of Tim and Daisy as they navigate through life, decide on what they want to do with their lives, come to terms with affairs of the heart, and try to figure out new and largely unproductive ways of killing time." (Source)

TV Show Tags: British TV Shows, TV Comedy, British TV Comedy, Sitcoms, Quirky, Witty

I've heard about this series for the longest time, from friends and other generally nerdy related things. I decided to finally sit down and watch it, and I loved it!

The way I describe this show is; it's like The IT Crowd but no one works in the tech industry, if that makes any sense. Now if you haven't seen, or even heard of, The IT Crowd -- disregard that.

This show is littered with quirky, witty, pop culture filled references and jokes, in a good way! Each character is very well rounded, even in their flaws. I found it almost hard to hate some of them.. almost. It was written by, created by, and starred Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson. The series it's self is known for many things such as it's; "rapid-fire editing, frequent pop culture references and jokes, eclectic music, and occasional displays of surrealism and non-sequitur humour".

If you don't get some of that, I shall explain because it really should be noticed. The editing for the show was actually done to cut down as much empty space between scenes and dialogue as possible. To get everything as clean and close as possible and it really shows! It's very interesting to watch, I'm not sure if I've seen that style of editing before.
The references are a bit dated, but if you're over the age of 20 (or even a bit younger) you should still get them. Many of the jokes or scenes are still funny even without references and merely a nerdy set up, such as a great paintball scene from the second season.

The humour is off the wall. Very cleanly and brilliantly done, never going for the cheap laugh.
The way I like to explain it, most of the time there's a build up you don't see coming then *BAM* joke right there. You're left asking yourself how you didn't see it until it's there. Perfectly executed!

I have to give a great example for this that comes right from the first episode.

*BAM* Joke.

Daisy goes into Tim's room, he finds her and asks what she's doing. 
Daisy: I heard a noise, was just just investigating.
Tim: Playing Scooby-Doo?
Daisy: *laughs* Yeah I was always Daphne when I was little, who were you?
Tim: Freddy obviously.
Daisy: Freddy yeah. Now Look at us.



I will admit that at first I didn't enjoy either of the two characters by themselves or together. Overtime you warm up to them after seeing how they function. Daisy has the annoying traits of not being able to focus (sit down and do some work!) or being alone. Both of which drive Tim insane. Tim is very, single minded. He's the typical guy personality. Doesn't worry about too much, doesn't understand women, plays lots of video games and loses himself in those worlds. Over time the all the characters grow and begin to become more independent but still closely relying on each other.

Now I can imagine that many people have seen this or it would simply attracted fans of the Pegg and Frost combo and while I don't disagree it's appealing factor, it might not be quote what you're expecting. It's slightly different from what they are known for (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, etc) although still in the same general genre; quirky, witty, etc. If that's the only reason you plan to see it, it makes me more than a little sad. Their characters friendship is one to remember but I hope it's not the only thing.

This series as a whole is very short, which is upsetting. 14 episodes total split between two series (UK talk for "seasons"), 7 episodes a piece.

This series is definitely worth taking the time to see.

Recommended: If you love semi-nerdy, quirky, wittiness. Enjoying British humour is a plus.





Official Site | IMDb | Wikipedia

Movie Review: Humble Pie (American Fork)

(Source)

Humble Pie (American Fork)

"A gentle giant in an ungentle world.

At nearly 400 pounds, Tracy Orbison (Hubbel Palmer) is a wide target.  When he sets out to pursue his dream of acting, the grocery clerk finds an assortment of people waiting to dash his hopes: a drama coach (William Baldwin) with designs on Tracy's sister, Peggy (Mary Lynn Rajskub); a pack of juvenile delinquents; and his God-fearing, self-loathing mother (Kathleen Quinlan).  Through it all, Tracy remains irrepressibly upbeat, convinced he's destined for something big."


Movie Tags: Comedy, Independent Movies, Independent Comedy, Heartfelt, Quirky


This movie has it's share of ups and downs.

From the moment we enter Tracy's life we see how empty and lonely his world is. From having no friends and nothing more than his job to keep him going, he's just floating along in the world. Everything we see just builds the image of a very unsatisfying his life is, how little drive, ambition, and direction he has..
Between having this crap grocery store job (been there) for 11 years, his only friend is his sister who doesn't get him, to an emotionally detached (borderline emotionally abusive) mother that just wants to see her kids with someone; Tracy doesn't have a lot to look forward too.
Then one day his manager calls him into the office, to talk about his work ethic and future. Things more or less go decently, and giving him tickets for a local play, that him and his wife planned to see what now have other arrangements. Tracy goes with a fellow co-worker and falls in love with the stage. He enrolls in acting classes, only to find that his acting coach was the star of the play he saw, and he begins to idolize him. From that moment his life starts to look a littler brighter.  Tracy starts to put all of his love of life and effort into his acting and begins to see the world in a new light.

After that, the movie fell apart. It literally became difficult for me to watch.

Tracy is a nice guy, who expects more from people as he gives more than most do; he doesn't see bad in people and believes that they can change if you show an interest in their life. Sadly, not everyone in the world is like that.
Throughout the movie he is taken advantage of over and over. Towards the end, the movie tries to level it's self out having some characters turn around and change their ways, but I wasn't feeling it. Too many characters did a 180 with very little drive or explanation behind it. Along with that mentality that "Since I'm sorry it makes everything better" instead of trying to actually make atonement for what you've done.
That is a big no-no in my book.

I have to say, I felt pretty bad for Tracy through everything. Another story about a nice decent guy that gets dumped on in the world. In the end, he did learn more than a few things about himself. Which I suppose is always part of the human journey. To find out who you really are and who is really there for you.

Two things I have to bring up.This movie is NOT a comedy. Seriously, it's not. Also it was great to see Vincent Caso (Bladezz) from The Guild!

I do believe that it's one of those stories "Good idea, poorly executed".
All in all it was simply an okay movie. Not great, not horrible. Trust me I've seen a lot of horrible [indie] movies. Worth watching if only for the actors, lots of actors with great potential.

Recommend: If you want something a little different and enjoy watching personal growth.

Official Site | IMDb | Rotten Tomatoes