Tag: Jonah Hill

21 Jump Street

A little behind the times due to being so busy, but we finally made the time for a cinema visit and squeezed in the 2011 update of an old TV series:

21 Jump Street (2012)

“When did I get stabbed? That’s awesome!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Two high school opposites find themselves on the same undercover squad when they join the police… and get sent back to high school

See it if you like: no-brainer, low-brow, side-aching silliness

Jonah Hill had a hand in writing this reworking of the 80’s TV series as well as starring as Schmidt, the fat (but smart) loser. Channing Tatum is square-jawed and knuckle-dragging as his exact opposite, the popular jock who can’t scrape the grades to pass his tests.

The characters and set-up are breezed through very quickly indeed at the start of the film, which is welcome given the fact that it’s hardly original. From high school rivals to police academy buddies in less than five minutes. With a line in humour similar to that found in Hot Tub Time Machine it similarly comes very clean about its lack of originality in a speech by the guys’ captain as the plot is being pushed along.

Kicked from the front line into undercover work, they find themselves thrown back into high school to try and uncover a drugs plot. Throw in a bit of confusion which results in Hill’s Schmidt becoming Mr popular while beefcake Jenko ends up being the nerd, and the laughs genuinely roll in.

It’s not high level humour and it doesn’t ever pretend to be. It’s fairly predictable, but it is also marvellously silly. The two actors work well together and there are some decent little twists in the story to keep you entertained waiting for the next gag or use of the word “****”.

There is absolutely nothing new in 21 Jump Street but it doesn’t matter. It’s funny and entertaining. The theatre was rocking with laughter and we left with big smiles on our faces. What more could you want from a comedy?

Oh, it also has a nice little surprise at the end. See if you can avoid any spoilers before you see it!

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The Sitter / Haywire

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsYay for mothers-in-law. A babysat evening allowed us to cram two films in at the local Cineworld. Unfortunately, one of them wasn’t The Darkest Hour which Cineworld Parkhead had decided to shove on for a single 2D performance a day. At lunchtime. And they can get bent if they think I’ll waste money on a 3D performance.

The Sitter

“I’m more of a ‘sit on the couch, do what I say or I’ll kill you’ type of babysitter.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: College dropout is forced into babysitting three troublesome kids. A night of chaos/hilarity/adventure ensues.

See it if you like: Probably stuff like Adventures in Babysitting or Role Models.

Jonah Hill is somewhat like Seth Rogan in that he always plays the same character. He’s toned down a little for this one, probably as it’s got a young cast. Mind you, any movie with a young girl saying “****** up” is going to score giggle points.

It’s not a new plot – there were at least two films with a similar story released in the 1980’s – but it’s still a good little story. Hill plays Noah Griffith, a college dropout whose father walked out on him when he was a youngster and who now lives with his mother. Our story opens (after some oral sex shennanigans) as Noah is convinced to baby sit so that his mother can go out and hook up with someone who might make her happy.

Of course, the kids he’s to look after turn out to be a bit of a handful. And, of course again, he has to end up in some dodgy situation that places them all in danger. Like, I don’t know, being hunted by a drug dealer and his boby-building henchmen. The usual.

Throw in a wobbly bit of romance, a ton of swearing and a little bit of “finding himself” and you have a shade over 80 minutes of fairly entertaining schmaltz.

Gillian thought it was a little slow, but I was fine with it. Not great, not bad but far better than I expected it to be.

Haywire

“You want me to be eye candy?”

Plot-in-a-nutshell – female secret agent finds herself being used as part of a dodgy bit of work, so goes rogue to try and find the culprit. I think.

See it if you like – weak thrillers with top-notch fight scenes

Steven Soderbergh is known for making high-end “classy” films, and he turns himself to the spy thriller genre for this 2-hour plodge. It’s well-filmed with some excellent fight scenes, but overall the plot doesn’t match up to the cinematography.

The cast is superb and it is well-acted. Gina Carano is both hot and tough as Mallory, the CIA contractor who finds that things weren’t quite what they seemed in her last mission. The story starts with her recalling events to … I’m not sure. Some random she seems to have met in a coffee shop. I don’t think we actually find out who he is. This takes up the first 45 minutes or so of the film and then we step into the present day.

Now I’m not sure if the plot is as complex as the more upmarket reviews make out. Certainly, I didn’t go “wow” at the supposed twist at the end. Partly as I didn’t quite get it (I was tired – Friday night after a long week) and partly as I’d stopped caring. The story just didn’t grab me the way a more action-oriented film would have and I just had a feeling that I’d seen it all before.

Admittedly it is well filmed. It looks lovely and makes good use of non-famous areas of cities such as Barcelona. Alleyways and regular streets rather than landmarks. The fight scenes are superb, not just in their vicious nature but by the toning down of the sounds. Gone are the usual Hollywood smacks and bass thuds with each punch. Instead each fist lands with a dull thwack which sounds a lot more realistic.

I think we both agreed with the person behind us when the trailers started to roll. He turned to the person next to him and stated, “Well, that was crap.” Typically Soderbergh in that the film magazines trip over themselves to rate it highly when the general cinema-going public would, I feel, be more entertained watching something like RED.

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Megamind

Our mission – to take a 2 year 9 month old to his first ever film at the cinema. Stage 1 was to ensure we left on time. We failed, due to “the floors needing cleaned”.

Women. *tut*

After a hasty reschedule, we changed cinema and ended up at the Showcase in Paisley to see Megamind with Austin (2 years 9 months), Ellissa (9 years 9 months) and Louise (9 years 6 months). Oh, and two old fogies.

Megamind

“Good is the path of honour, friends and family. Evil… well, it’s just cooler.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Two aliens arrive on earth as babies. One goes on to be a superhero, the other has less luck and becomes his arch enemy. This… is their story.

The first films that come to mind when looking at the plot of Megamind are The Incredibles and Despicable Me. This new offering, though, is different enough from the two of them to be worth seeing in its own right.

Lookswise, it’s very much along the lines we’re used to from DreamWorks. All curvy and shiny and very cartoony. Nothing wrong with this, but it would be nice if they tried something new the way Pixar do with each film.

The story is good, though, and the trailer doesn’t give much away. This is something that virtually every film studio could learn from. Only a couple of early scenes are covered, so the rest of the plot and jokes are fresh and enjoyable when you see them in the full feature.

It’s fun. It’s got quite a few nods to established superhero history as well – good luck spotting them! There’s not a huge amount of background stuff compared to its peers, but the dialogue and voice acting is top notch with comic timing as good as it gets.

Gill and I both agreed that it was better than we expected. The two girls were enraptured for the whole length.

And Austin? He got a little restless about half way through and chucked two Toy Story dolls and a shoe into the next row in front (thankfully empty). However, he spent most of the time watching the film, although a fair amount of that was stood up with his head pushed between the chairs in front.

I’m taking that as a “recommended”.

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Other Guys, The Kid, Devil and Cyrus

A four-film weekend for the first time in an age. It’s awkward having to swing the car out and back into the car park between films courtesy of the limited free parking at Fountain Park, but hey.

The Other Guys

“Did someone call 9-1-holy ****!?”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: The best two cops in the city suffer a grisly fate during a crime and a couple of washouts from the precinct try to fill their shoes.

Will Ferrell is an unknown quantity. From genuinely hilarious films like Old School to complete cringeworthy crap like Anchorman, you never know what to expect from him. The Other Guys falls mainly in the former territory thanks in part to a decent script, some good one-liners and a pair of characters who aren’t actually annoying.

Ferrell, as usual, plays an off-kilter character. In this case a cop who’s opted for a desk job to keep his inner beasts at bay. His opposite number is smothered supercop Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg), a gung-ho officer stuck at a desk because of an accidental shooting.

Of course, the two are chalk and cheese and they have some “bad cops” to compete with who want to prove themselves first. For a comedy, the plot running underneath has a couple of decent twists involving massive corporate fraud (courtesy of Steve Coogan‘s corrupt banker, David Ershon).

A couple of the jokes just run a little too long, and there’s the usual annoying issue of the oddball character not realising how unusual he is (endemic of most of Ferrell’s roles – and Adam Sandler, come to think of it). Despite this, it’s not too bad and genuinely laugh-out-loud funny in places. The opening action sequence is ludicrously over-the-top as well.

Oh, and do sit through the start of the credits for an interesting set of figures on how the fat cat bankers are really screwing everyone else. Don’t wait for the out-take at the very end, though. It’s not worth getting a numb bum for.

The Kid

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Small child grows up abused and battered by parents, gets involved in crime, eventually stands up for himself and becomes a best-selling author. All based on a true story.

Nick Moran is perhaps best known as an actor than as a director. However, if he can keep pumping out stuff like this then it’s a good job he’s spread his wings. Based on the autobiographies by Kevin Lewis, who wrote the screenplay.

The films begins towards the end with a battered Kevin being thrown out of a van. The story then backtracks to his life as a child.

Kevin grew up in a crappy council house in London. His father a drunken epileptic. His mother a serial child beater. The council uncaring until a school nurse spotted the bruises, cuts and burns and had him removed into care.

As years pass, Kevin is played by a succession of actors (William Finn Miller, Augustus Prew and finally Rupert Friend), all of whom do a superb job with a very difficult role. Hell, thoe whole cast is fantastic from Natascha McElhone as the hateful mother, Gloria, to Ioan Gruffudd as the teacher who tries his best to help the outcast Kevin through school.

Not only does the story focus on the family life, it also highlights how badly “the system” can work. Kevin’s return home being one example, and uncaring teachers who treat the odd kid as just another troublemaker.

Call me a bit over-analytical, but watching the film through newly qualified “teacher goggles” made a difference for me, especially the parts during Kevin’s teens where Mr Smith makes such an impact on his life. Trying to spot what went wrong, who did things they shouldn’t have – or should have done things they didn’t.

To use a trite phrase, it’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Things keep looking up for Kevin, and then he’s dropped right in it again. Time after time. You do wonder how anyone could cope.

It is not an easy film to watch. Abrasive, abusive, hard-hitting and brutal. The worst thing being that so much of it portrays violence to – and by – children. However, that’s not reason not to watch it. It’s a superb piece of film-making. The use of sound, music in particular, is very well done and if I have a criticism it’s that the punches thrown in the fight scenes don’t often look like they connect. Acting and drama-wise there is no fault to be found.

Definitely one to see if you have the stomach for it.

Devil

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Five people stuck in a lift and, apparently, one of them is Lucifer incarnate.

M. Night Shyamalan came up with the story for this one, apparently part one of a trilogy of tales. It’s a nice, short (under 90 mins) thriller/horror with some good pacing that doesn’t push the brain too much.

Five people get into a lift in an office building. The lift gets stuck… and then strange things start to happen. A religious security guard monitoring the situation details a childhood story where the devil appears in human form and punishes the guilty before killing them all and taking their souls to hell. Of course, he’s treated as a mad case while the police try to deal with the jammed lift.

The claustrophobic main set doesn’t keep the action in one place as apparently those who try to help will be struck down as well. The film has a 15 rating so death scenes aren’t that grisly, and you don’t actually see anyone killed or injured… just the effect afterwards. This doesn’t make it any less scary – Tobe Hooper did the same with the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Devil is no classic, but it is a well put together thriller. The ending isn’t quite as unpredictable as it could have been, but it’s an enjoyable movie nonetheless and doesn’t waste much of your time if you don’t like it.

Cyrus

“Plan B – get more drunk”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: A man’s attempts to win over his new girlfriend are sabotaged by her scheming 21 year-old son.

This one was recommended by one of the staff at school and the trailer did make it look good. Don’t be fooled. I was bored senseless. Yes, it’s darkly comedic. Yes, it has a few good scenes. But overall I found it frustrating and empty.

John C. Reilly plays John, a man divorced for seven years who finally meets someone new that he likes (Marisa Tomei as Molly) at a party. She lives with her 21 year old son Cyrus (Jonah Hill) who’s somewhat attached to his mother and resents the intrusion of a new person into the fold.

John thinks he’s going mad until he figures out what’s happening, Cyrus and he eventually lock horns and Molly remains oblivious. In the meantime, the audience shuffle their feet. It certainly wasn’t just me – the half dozen people behind me proclaimed “that was ****” as they filed out at the end.

I guess I just didn’t get it as some of the reviews I’ve seen have been fairly positive. Just not my cup of tea I’m afraid.

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