You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

There are those that hate Adam Sandler movies and those that defend them. Early on I was one that defended them. He first movies had him playing similar parts and I understand him wanting to branch out to different types of characters, but what in the hell is he thinking sometimes? I have but haven’t watched his last two movies(which look pretty good) but thought i would give this a shot since it seemed so over the top. I can not actually believe this got the green light. Admittedly there were a few times i laughed but those were few and far between. In the end I really just wanted my 2 hours back. It took me almost 4 hours to get through it. i was so bored i kept pausing to do something else. i didn’t rate this super low because it did have a few moments and i do appreciate the filmmakers desire to whatever they wanted, despite what i am sure they were told. I can promise that i will not watch this again though. I was also disappointed that one of my favorite actors, John Turturro, couldn’t even save this. i guess in hindsight the poster should have tipped me off.

My rating 4.0 out of 10

Here is the trailer.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

It has been 4 years since Dodgeball first came out, and it is still as funny as when it first came out. I remember being extremely excited for the movie because I loved the director’s Terry Tate Reebok shorts. This movie has allot of the same feel of those shorts and I love it. My wife called me mean for laughing so hard at the “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball” scene. Maybe she is right but damn if those guys getting hit in the face with a wrench didn’t make my stomach hurt from laughter. This movie has tons of of top notch performances. Ben Stiller is just down right silly and I am not sure how many takes he ruined but i don’t see how people kept a straight face while acting in the scenes with him.

Some others really stood out as well. Stephen Root turns in his best performance since Office Space(I don’t think he can top that one ever). Jason Batman and Rip torn were also very funny in their roles. The ref from American Gladiators as the tourney ref was a bonus as well.I laughed more overall in this movie than any movie I have seen in months. I know many people avoid this type of humor (low brow for the most part) but I think they are missing out. The movie is full of quotable scenes and really laugh out loud humor. If you like to laugh, this should be near the top of your list.

My rating 8.5 out of 10

Here is the trailer.

Here is one of the old terry tate shorts if you have not seen them.Awesome stuff!

Stranger than Fiction

It took me a while to get to this one. I knew I wanted to see it since I saw the trailer but just never got to it. i passed on it every time at the theater and just kept passing up seeing it at home until last night. I don’t know why i kept passing it up, since i like Will Ferrell and thought the premise seemed interesting, but I did time after time. I can now say I was making a bad choice most of the time i passed it up. This was almost everything I thought it would be and a bit more. i say almost because it was not as funny as i thought it would be. It did have a nice amount of humor, but not near enough to be a comedy (which i thought it was).

The story is far fetched and kind of ludicrous but I never really questioned it. I am not sure why but it just kinda made sense to me. Will Ferrell is very good in this film. In my opinion this is his best performance to date. i might watch some of his funnier stuff more often but this is by far his best. He did a great job a playing a strange and slightly funny character without taking it way over the top. This movie did a great job at making me care for the characters and proved to be very touching overall.

My rating 8.5 out of 10

Here is the trailer.

WALL-E

so this week I decided to take the whole clan to see WALL-E, the new movie from Pixar(Finding Nemo, Toy Story). As a family, all of the Pixar movies have been near the top of our list. The kids have always enjoyed them and my wife and i have always found enough adult humor to keep us interested. WALL-E was a bit of a departure for Pixar. This movie was different from their others on several levels. For starters in case you haven’t heard, it has very little to no dialogue for the first third or so of the movie. This was really not a problem for me and my kids didn’t seem to notice, or at least never mentioned it. I have heard a few people complain about it though. I felt the action of the cute little robot pulled the movie along well enough without it and kept me interested. I found allot of comedy in the movie in general and my kids laughed several times. To be fair my wife didn’t find it funny in the least.

Another thing that stuck out at me was the movie trying to push its messages. it didn’t come off as preachy but it may have been close. Also to be fair i agree with most of the messages (people getting too lazy and the world not caring enough about being green) so maybe to another person it might come off as preachy. This might push some people away form the movie since it does seem to be making a bigger point than their other films in the past (it is more in your face about it) so it seems a bit less fun on a whole.

The movie does flow well and didn’t seem long to me. it looked beautiful as well and is overall an extremely well made movie.I fell though that many adults will not find this one as fun as Pixar’s past efforts. My wife actually liked the Pixar short that showed before the movie much more than the movie itself. I liked it but it would be far from my favorite Pixar movie.

My rating 8 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

Airplane!

So here is another older movie that I hadn’t seen in years but suddenly had and itch to view again. For those that don’t know, Airplane! is a parody type comedy made by David Zucker and Jim Abrahams (Naked Gun movies). This doesn’t parody other movies but does parody life and takes small things in life and makes the most ludicrous jokes about them. this movie has some of the best lines in the history of comedy that still work amazingly well nearly 30 years later(wow time flies).

I know this movie is popular but i feel it is often overlooked because it’s jokes are so outrageous. Just the fact that some younger people are all there calling the latest Adam Sandler (whom I do think is funny at times) movie the best ever, and have not even seen this movie bothers me a bit. I guess my age is showing a bit as that sounds exactly like when i was younger and my parents were talking about Psycho and 12 Angry Men (they were right by the way) being better than the movies I was watching.

The laughs in this movie come so fast that it takes many viewings to see them all. I found myself laughing through many great jokes and having to rewind. This movie is also best watched with a few of your best friends and with a 6 pack or two. I promise you everyone will have a great time and it will be a Saturday night very well spent.

My rating 9.5 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

There’s Something about Mary

So it has been 10 years since i first saw this film. I remember finding it hysterical and at the time thought it was possibly the funniest movie i have ever seen. I know I watched it several times in the few months following its DVD release back then, but I hadn’t watched it in around 9 years or so. I am not really sure why other than always having tons of other new movies to choose from. A couple of days ago I made a joke referencing a line from the movie and my 16 year old son was completely lost. I was surprised he hadn’t even heard of the movie but decided he was old enough to show him what he was missing.

So the big question is does the movie still hold up after 10 years. The short answer is absolutely yes. I knew the major jokes were coming up and was still doubled over in pain. The scene with him caught in his zipper almost hurt me from laughing so hard. And as proof that it was not just my immature sense of humor, my wife who normally hates potty humor was also laughing very hard. There are several scenes through out the movie that were ground breaking (well boundary pushing) at the time and while they may seem a bit tame compared to some of today’s films still pushed the laugh button very hard.

The movie is not perfect as it does have some dead spots and a couple of not so great performances. It does make up for it in a huge amount of hearty laughs and some career highlight performances. Some critics and purists would scoff at my rating and wonder how i could rate a movie that showed sperm in hair on par with The Godfather. My answer is simple, I rate movies on their particular genre. So this movie may not be as moving as Schindler’s List, It is one of the best comedies I have ever seen and my rating is comparing it to other comedies. Bottom line is if you are not a prude (it is a bit rude in its comedy) and want to laugh, this movie is for you.

My rating 9.0 out of 10

Rating by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.