Be Warned: You will need tissues, to assist with the massive amounts of tears of laughter. This film had me in hysterical "teenage girl" laughter. About two scenes worth I could not stop laughing for close to five minutes. Neither could the completely full cinema.
The Rocker tells the story of a failed drummer who is given a second chance at fame. Robert "Fish" Fishman (Rainn Wilson) is the extremely dedicated and astoundingly passionate (not to mention sweaty) drummer for the eighties hair band Vesuvius, who is living the rock n' roll dream until he is unceremoniously kicked out of the band. Twenty years after his rock star fantasies are destroyed, just when Fish has finally given up all hope, he hears that his nephew's high school rock band A.D.D. is looking for a new drummer. They reluctantly make him the newest member of the band, giving him a chance to reclaim the rock God throne he's always thought he deserved, and taking the young band along for the ride of their lives.
This film is not releasing until late August but mark it in your calendars as it is well worth a fun night out. The film is the first full feature comedy riding on the shoulders on Rainn Wilson and he does it complete justice and has no problems making a fool of himself. Rainn is coming from being Dwight on the US version of The Office and as the hysterical shopkeeper in Juno. He fully embraces the role and his comedy is exactly the kind of semi rude sarcastic laughter that gets me every time. It was close but due to scripting I think that SNL's Jason Sudeikis nearly stole the show however he has way less scenes and kills them with on the edge of offensive one liners that will have you wetting yourself.
Christina Applegate is great and still beautiful, I wish she would do more!! I thought she may look a bit young to be playing Curtis' mum and I seriously thought she would end up with Fish. Josh Gad (21, Back to You - TV) and Emma Stone (Superbad and "upcoming" The House Bunny) are great support band members and minor comic talent but this film is all Wilson's and he does leave them behind. Teddy Geiger provides some genuine rock god cred and thank god he is incredibly H O T because the boy needs some acting lessons. Some scenes worked and some didn't but he is sure nice to look at.
The film occasionally borders on entering the teen film genre and will be massively HUGE with this market - note to film marketing - if you put Teddy on more posters you will get more people!! Rainn is sensational but let him share the artwork as him in lycra is funny but not appetizing. LOL. One thing that was slightly annoying and was pointed out by Sam, my film buddy, is that the music is quite annoying and not that good. For a rock band becoming huge they needed one awesome song written for the film and not songs that sound like studio written post Australian Idol recordings. We all know how good Teddy is at singing, why not let him rip with a song he could have written for the movie.
I would like to thank my friends at Fox for this ticket and your media word of mouth screenings are sensational. I would also like to thank Sam for meeting a guy at the bar who wanted to sit with us through the movie who was nearly as funny as Rainn Wilson with his laughter sounding like a cross between a hyena and a steam train, I swear half the audience kept laughing partly because you could here him in another state.
Do yourself a favour and head out in August to watch this Juno styled comedy. I will be heading out to watch this one again when it releases just so I can remember the one liners. I could write some down but it would a) ruin them for you and b) will sound nowhere as good - I have the verbal comic timing of a picture frame and written, even worse. Well worth the $14-.
Way more enjoyable than anticipated this is a no nonsense film pairing for the first time Jet Li and Jackie Chan in a Asian fantasy film borrowing themes from TV's Monkey Magic and The Karate Kid. It's something adults should enjoy for the pairing of the two plus the visuals similar in scenes to Crouching Tiger and kids should love it because it's funny, it does not take itself seriously and it has plenty of great scenes. Violent but in a funny way with hardly any signs of blood. A very good action family film that would make a great night out for all.
East meets West and kung-fu legends collide as Jackie Chan and Jet Li square off in the fists-a-flying, family-friendly FORBIDDEN KINGDOM. Based on the classical Chinese novel JOURNEY TO THE WEST, the film begins in modern-day Boston. There, while teenage kung-fu flick enthusiast Jason (Michael Angarano) is buying bootleg DVDs from his favorite shopkeeper, Old Hop (Chan, aged by prosthetic makeup), he is drawn to an ancient golden staff. When a local bully forces weakling Jason to help rob Old Hop, Jason escapes with the staff and is magically transported to ancient China. He is soon rescued from the forces of the Jade Warlord by Lu Yan (Chan), a raggedy wanderer whose wine-guzzling ways conceal his kung-fu mastery. Yan reveals the truth of the staff, and that Jason is the fabled Seeker who must return it to the Monkey King (Li) to prevent the warlord's evil plans. The two are joined in their quest by a kung-fu master, Silent Monk (Li), and a beautiful orphan (Liu Yifei) who harbors her own personal vendetta. Despite their differences, the two masters teach Jason the ways of the kung-fu warrior. And when Lu Yan is gravely wounded by the warlord's sexy assassin, Jason must bring his newfound skills and courage to bear if he is to save one world and return to his own. Choreographed by action impresario Woo-ping Yuen and shot on location in China, FORBIDDEN KINGDOM is an appealing family adventure about the importance of working together and the value of believing in one's abilities.
If this film was made in the 80's or 90's it would have been a box office smash - it fits the genre of Gremlins, Karate Kid, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Princess Bride and the Dark Crystal. It's fun, it's sometimes tacky but it's harmless and completely enjoyable with a few laughs and it never takes itself for more than it is. It isn't one of these films of late that try so hard to be more than what they are and made on a budget of a small country's annual turnover. We get to see Chan in comic mode and Li in serious mode and they work well together on screen and I hope we get to see more of them as a unit. There were a couple of scenes though where I did find it hard to understand what Chan was saying but all was forgiven whenever the action started. The film is nearly worth seeing for their first fight scene together. Choreographed by legend Woo-ping Yuen who is known for the following:
* The Bloody Fists (1972)
* Fist of Legend (1994)
* The Matrix (1999)
* Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
* The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
* The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
* Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)
* Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004)
* Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
* Danny the Dog (film) (a.k.a. Unleashed) (2005)
* House of Fury (2005)
* Fearless (2006)
* The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
* Robot (2010)
Yes - he knows what he's doing!!!!!
I enjoyed the performance of Michael Angarano who has come a long way since playing Will Stronghold in Sky High but do find his characters very similar, geeky kid who overcomes his weakness to become a hero. He is a great comic partner to Chan in this one and their teaming in their first fight scene is a good laugh. I don't know whether trying to make him a sex symbol will prove successful but he will probably set some young teenage female hearts a flutter.
Trivia: 1) Based on the Chinese epic story 'Journey to the West', one of the four great classic novels of Chinese Literature. The novel is a fictionalized account of the legends around the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzhuang's pilgrimage to India during the Tang dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist scriptures. Many programs have been based on this tale, such as television show "Saiyûki" (1978), and anime series "Dragon Ball Z" (1989/I) holds a few loose facts from the same story. 2) The characters are mostly taken from Chinese mythology and adventure pulps. Lu Yan is a famous Taoist Saint (He's better known as Iron-crutch Li, one of the Eight Immortals). The Jade Emperor is the ruler of the Heavens in Chinese myth. The Monkey King is from a 16th Century fantasy epic by Wu Cheng En. Golden Sparrow was the name of the character played by Cheng Pei Pei in a number of Shaw Bros films like Da zui xia (1966). The White Haired Demoness is the anti-heroine of a pulp novel by Liang Yusheng (filmed twice) with the same title. 3) This movie marks the very first collaboration between martial arts masters Jet Li and 'Jackie Chan'. 4) This movie went through five script re-writes before it was completed, many of which were done in the middle of filming. 5) Jason Tripitikas' last name is derived from Tripitaka, the monk whom Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, accompanied in "Journey To The West". 6) Just before Sparrow throws the dart at the Jade Warlord, she says "Come Drink with Me" which is the English title of the old Cheng Pei Pei movie where she played a character named Golden Sparrow.
In the words of Rene Rodriguez from the Miami Herald "The Forbidden Kingdom may be nothing but disposable fun, but it is a great, heaping, overflowing helping of fun. If you're 10, it may also seem like Citizen Kane." And in my words - one for the whole family and people who want to see a more fun family version of Crouching Tiger. Playing now and worth $12-
I faced a massive dillemna with this film, how do you judge something you worshiped for close to ever. (I have started watching the entire show again on dvd in order.) On one hand this film has been too long in the coming, is it too long? As a fan I want to see something that brings the characters back into my life with a bang and then they are doing a "stand alone" film similar to their horror fest stand alone episodes. What can I say......WHY????? The show was massively popular and has a mega following of now older people, these people want PURE X FILES, that would be something that reunites the characters and does it in the strongest XFILES style ever, which in my opinion, would be going back to it's bread and butter, ALIEN CONSPIRACY. Instead we get a decent story much more suited to a double episode they should have made for the small screen. Someone please tell Chris Carter to get off the crack, his thoughts that if this film does well he will make a third XFILES movie and return to its strength, ALIEN CONSPIRACY. Why he did not make that film first to reintroduce people to Skully and Mulder with an alien conspiracy. I could pitch it myself: A UFO crash lands in a popular area, witnessed by hundreds of people, the old Alien Conspiracy Government Agents are no longer around and the FBI calls Skully and Mulder back to help them with handling it. Half an hour in Mulder is introduced to the spaceship and one dead alien but one of them is out there. OMG I am good!! Mulder is placated, there is an alien on the loose and he has finally been justified in his beliefs and the FBI has welcomed him and Dana back with open arms. The chase is on and Mulder and Skully must decide if the world is ready for THE TRUTH. But are those Alien Conspiracy Government Agents really all gone???????
I would be in, I would buy a ticket and I would be ready to watch anything that Chris Carter throws at us with the XFILES after that with them reinstated BUT we get something completely different.
I feel that fans will be excited, like I was, just to see Duchovny and Anderson back together, but they will be disappointed in this mediocre return to the screen. OK, our leads are great, but this time Dana's doppelganger of abundant negativity was kind of annoying, seriously, why does her character even want to live? She is miserable through the whole thing. Mulder is Mulder however his Mulderisms are much declined in this one. I caught three of his smart ass comments through the whole thing. BUT, one of the things I most wanted to see, and what made the show so successful was the chemistry between the two of them. It is still there!!! Yay That!!
I am worried that people who are not fans won't get into it. It is a great "stand alone" film but it's too hard to watch it as that when you know what the X Files can be. Some things I did love were the return to Canada for filming and the fact there was snow everywhere, I love snow, it's so pure. I also liked the cinematography and feel of the movie, it has a small feel of old X Files and it is a dark dark topic and this adds a depression to all the characters and scenery. Skully and Mulder together again is heartwarming but are they too together this time? There is a couple of scenes fans will gasp at. They have both aged a fair bit, and have done so quite well. Gillian Anderson has never looked so good and I finally realised how frumpy they made her look in the older episodes. She is so slim and beautiful, something I had never realised before and I had the privilege of meeting her once and being photographed holding the door of her limo open (one claim to fame, lol).
Some Trivia:
1) Gillian Anderson told The New York Times that it was harder than she expected for her to get back into character as Scully to make this movie after five years had passed since the end of the television show. The Times quoted her as saying, "I walked in thinking, it's going to be like riding a bicycle. It wasn't. It was like riding a [fucking] unicycle. I'd been trying so hard to stretch myself in other roles, and to catch myself when I did anything that remotely resembles Scully, that when I was put back in the ring with her, my brain started misfiring."
2) The television show ("The X Files" (1993)) upon which this movie is based was filmed for its first five seasons in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The show's production moved to Los Angeles for seasons 6-9, but this movie was once again filmed in and around Vancouver. While the show was made in Vancouver, the show often used local Canadian actors in guest and secondary roles, often reusing the same actors in different parts in multiple episodes. With the franchise's return to Vancouver, the producers were able to continue the tradition by recasting many of the same actors they had used so often on the show. For example, Alex Diakun (Gaunt Man) appeared as different characters in three episodes; Lorena Gale (On Screen Doctor) appeared as different characters in three episodes; Stephen E. Miller (Feed Store Proprietor) appeared as different characters in three episodes including the pilot; Sarah-Jane Redmond (Special Agent In Charge) appeared as different characters in two episodes; Stacee Copeland (Doctor) appeared as different characters in two episodes. Callum Keith Rennie (2nd Abductor--Janke Dacyshyn) appeared as different characters in two episodes and was the original choice to play the long-running character Alex Krycek. Several other secondary and tertiary members of the movie cast had also appeared on the show as other characters.
I really wanted more, and hope this does good enough for them to make the film they always should have. Worth $11-
Rendition is a 2007 "political" drama directed by Gavin Hood and starring Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Omar Metwally. It centers on the controversial CIA practice of extraordinary rendition, and is based on the true story of Khalid El-Masri who was mistaken for Khalid al-Masri. The movie also has similarities to the Canadian Maher Arar case. Arar (born 1970), a telecommunications engineer, lives in Canada, holding dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship. He was deported to Syria and tortured, in an apparent example of the United States policy of "extraordinary rendition
Based on the novel by BABE author Dick King-Smith, THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP is set in Scotland during World War II, and focuses on Angus (Alex Etel), a young boy who discovers an unusual egg at Loch Ness. When the egg hatches to reveal a dinosaur-like creature, Angus finds that he has a unique pet, a mythical "water horse," which he names Crusoe. Complicating matters are Crusoe's fast growth rate and soldiers stationed near the lake, factors that make it very tricky to keep the friendly beastie a secret. A thoroughly likable family film directed by Jay Russell (TUCK EVERLASTING), THE WATER HORSE provides an intriguing spin on the classic boy-and-his-dog tale. While Etel, who won over audiences in MILLIONS, ably carries the movie, he is supported by a topnotch ensemble that includes Emily Watson as his mother, newcomer Priyanka Xi as his sister, and Ben Chaplin as a good-natured handyman. Primarily sharing the screen with Etel, however, is the Loch Ness Monster-in-the-making, which is wonderfully rendered by Weta, the company behind the digital effects for THE LORD OF THE RINGS films. Both cute and in his larger state, intimidating, Crusoe strikes up a surprisingly believable relationship with Angus, providing the heart of this beautifully photographed story
In 1972, Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine starred in the screen adaptation of SLEUTH, based on Anthony Shaffer's Tony Award-winning play and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Olivier played Andrew Wyke, a droll old writer whose wife is having an affair with the young, ambitious Milo Tindle, played by Caine. Thirty-five years later, Caine is starring as Wyke in an updated version of SLEUTH, completely rewritten by Nobel Prizewinner Harold Pinter and directed by multiple Oscar nominee Kenneth Branagh. Jude Law, who played the Michael Caine role in the 2004 remake of ALFIE, now takes over as Tindle, a hairdresser-actor who has shown up at Wyke's estate to demand that Wyke divorce his wife so Tindle can marry her. But the extremely successful and wealthy Wyke is not about to give up his wife without a very determined and well-calculated battle of wits. Wyke lives by himself in a home that features dozens of electronic gadgets and odd contraptions, forcing Tindle to always be on the lookout for something strange to happen. The cat-and-mouse game continues as Tindle and Wyke play mind games with each other in a thrilling contest of one-upsmanship that soon involves a gun. Caine is marvelous as Wyke, strutting through his home with the absolute confidence that he will get the best of Tindle, but Law, who is also one of the film's producers, holds up his end of the drama, giving as good as he gets. Branagh keeps a steady hand as director, not allowing the camera to get in the way of the two dueling characters, but Tim Harvey's unusual production design nearly steals the show
I was really surprised by this one. After reading nothing but loathsome reviews and seeing only a 15% rating on the tomato meter at www.rottentomatoes.com I was expecting utter diabolical elephant sized shit. But it's not! It's Mike Meyers, you shouldn't expect Schindler's List, you should expect pure comedic farce. I was nearly wetting myself in some of the high end toilet humor and big dick gags
Further to my Mamma Mia review and my discovery of St Tula following is the article in regards to St Tula: Our Lady of Cinema - The Patron Saint of Film.
Jack Bauer - my idol!
Capt Janeway - anyone that can have haridos like that and still keep everything alive and running rules!!
Capt Jean-Lu Piccard - best Capt EVER
And the two guys from Supernatural!!
I think she did the two of them as a package deal. Much preferred her in Lions. But the woman could do commercials selling toilet paper and win an academy award.
Hmmmmmmmmmm - I knew I was old when I saw this article and thought "please tell me I am not yet old - I better check" and thanks alot - I was singing to elevator music about two days ago!! And OMG - I got laughed at for wearing black sox out under my red crocs. Hahahahaha - I think I am about to receive an intervention and be shipped to an old peoples home. I also realised I was old when on my birthday this year one of the staff turned to me and said "wow, we're friends - you could be my father". Heaven help me NNNNNOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW.
I love love love asparagus. It smells and tastes delicious but you need a WW2 gas mask to wee afterwards. LOL. My fave way to eat them is steamed sitting on top of a ham steak with a poached and unhealthily smothered in hollandaise sauce. OMG - I am so hungry now. Not fair.
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