Hilarious Change-Up Hits the Funny Bone in all the Right Places

The Change-Up
5 stars out of 5



When I went into the theater to see the Change-Up, I thought "Hey, why not?  It's free" but i didn't have any expectations that i would actually enjoy myself.  I've seen the body switch movie done many times over, and done in many ways. The most famous versions are the actioner Face-Off and the various versions of Disney comedy Freaky Friday.

I have seen many recent comedies including the hit the Hangover (same writers as the Change-Up) and while the Hangover was a hit, i didn't find it as funny as many others did.  The Change-Up, however, is comedy done right.  The comedy is both sophistocated and raunchy, and there were cetainly some gross out moments, but overall, the movie was jus a blast.

Jason Bateman(Dave Lockwood) and Ryan Reynolds (Mitch Planko) shined as best friends walking two different roads in life.  They both got their share of laughs, and they played sucessfully off of each other.  Leslie Mann was also great, and has some genuine funny moments as Dave's wife Jamie. I also have to give some props to young Sydney Rouviere whose limited scenes had me roaring as Dave's young Daughter Cara. 

The rest of the cast was great as well.  I did have some concerns about the creepy children playing Dave and Jamie's youngest, twins Peter and Sara (Luke and Lauren Bain).  They had some funny moments, but overall they were a little creepy.    If you see the movie, you'll see what i mean.
I certainly don't want to spoil it for you, but this movie had some great surprise funny moments, but it also had its serious moments - especially at the end when reality sinks in and Mitch and Dave realize what we all know they're going to realize - that they want their own lives back.

In the end it was a great surprise with a great cast and many laughs.  At times, the entire theater was laughing.  At the end, I was sorry this was over, and this is one movie I'll be catching again on DVD. 

Kick- Ass Movie Review

Kick-Ass

Released on DVD and BluRay August 3rd, 2010

(Spoiler Free Review)

WARNING: This movie is not for children or those easily offended by violence or profanity.

I never read the graphic novel that this is based upon, but the movie itself was awesome.  I have seen most of the movies to come out of the Great Superhero Boom of the last ten years, starting with Spider-Man and X-Men, all the way through My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Superhero Movie. 

I can honestly tell you that I have never enjoyed a superhero movie as much as i enjoyed this one.  It is ultraviolent, perverse, controversial, grounded in reality, witty and intelligent. The main character Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is naive, relatable, believable and just a little pathetic as he dons the green and yellow scuba suit and attempts to fight crime as Kick-Ass.   He instantly gets in over his head, and the viewer legitimately feels bad for him.

Where the movie really shines, however, is with the introduction of Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz).  As a general rule, I can not stand Nick Cage, and i dislike pretty much every movie he's ever been in.  Here though, he's a flawed, realistic parent trying to right a wrong, and stop the bad guy.  He plays a borderline unhinged father with his own idea of parental responsibility and an ongoing quest for vengeance. 

The most controversial figure in the movie is Hit Girl.  She's 11 years old.  She swears (a lot).  She gets shot at.  She slices off limbs.  and she steals each and every scene that she is in. Hit Girl is by far the most entertaining character in the movie, and Chloe Moretz plays her perfectly in every scene she is in.  This is an actress to be watched.  Hit Girl was so well received that fans have been asking for a Hit Girl movie, though a Kick-Ass 2 is probably more likely. 

I would sing the praises of this move all day, but the bottom line is, you should go see this movie.  It may not have gotten the box office reciepts of Iron Man or Spider-Man, but where those movies are sometimes formulaic and predictable, this movie is mature, exciting, different, and ...well it kicks ass.

5 stars out of 5 - Kick-Ass Kicked Ass

Joss Whedon confirmed as director of Avengers

As i mentionned earlier today, at Comic-con today, Joss Whedon, eager to please his fans, finally confimed what we all knew - that he'll be directing Marvel Entertainment's The Avengers, to be released in 2012.

The current cast includes Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

It is rumored that Mark Ruffalo is in talks to take over the part of Hulk, last played by Edward Norton.

Scarlett Johansson is rumored to be in the film, again as the Black Widow, as is Don Cheadle as War Machine.

There are also some rumors that both Ant Man/Hank Pym and Wasp/Janet Van Dyne will be in the film.  The most rumored actors for these roles are Eva Longaria and Nathan Fillon (but these are just rumors).

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3-D Audience Fatigue - Real or Imagined?

Before the massive success of Avatar, the idea of having the best and the biggest movies of the year released in 3-D sounded like something reminiscent of the 80s.  Since then 3-D has been saved for horror movies,and the occasional animated film.

These days, you'd have to be living under a rock to miss the trend. With the massive 3-D ticket sales of Avatar, Clash of the Titans,  Alice in Wonderland, How to Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3, and Shrek Forever After, studios have been snatching up every property they could get their hands on and releasing them (or panning to) in 3-D. This means they can charge a few dollars more per 3-D ticket in a year when theater revenues are down across the board.

Part of the problem is that many of these films, such as Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans, were not shot in 3-D, they went thorough a 3-D conversion after the fact.  These 3-D films are much less impressive visually, and often times the 3-D effects look thrown in (because it wasn't necessarily designed as a 3-D film).

It seems that audiences are feeling the 3-D fatigue as the opening weekend 3-D revenue percentages of recent 3-D films has plummeted to under 50% for Despicable Me.  3-D Conversions have likely hurt the trend.  It's also much more expensive to buy a 3-D movie ticket, then a regular movie ticket, and particularly for family films, that means 3+ tickets at an inflated cost.  Additionally, due to the technology of projecting the films, without a digital projector (which most theaters do not have) the films are often dimmer (much dimmer) which is detrimental to some of the darker films.

It isn't important how much 3-D technology has improved over the last twenty years when you consider the current state of the economy - there's always going to be better places to spend those extra dollars. What do you think?

Films Being Released in 3-D:


The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
Alpha and Omega (2010)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked (2011)
Amphibious 3D (2010)
The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Captain America (2011)
Cars 2 (2011)
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
Contagion (2011)
Drive Angry (2011)
Frankenweenie (2011)
Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)
Green Lantern (2011)
The Green Hornet (2011)
Gulliver's Travels (2010)
Happy Feet 2 (2011)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2010/2011)
Hugo Cabret (2011)
Jackass 3D (2010)
Judge Dredd (2012)
Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom (2011)
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2012)
Mars Needs Moms! (2011)
MegaMind (2010)
Men in Black III (2012)
My Soul to Take (2010)
One Way Trip (2011)
Piranha 3-D (2010)
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
The Power of the Dark Crystal (2011)
Priest (2011)
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
The Ring 3D (2012)
Rio (2011)
Sanctum (2010)
Saw 3D (2010)
Shark Night 3D (2011)
Spy Kids 4: Armageddon (2011)
Step Up 3-D (2010)
The Smurfs (2011)
Tangled (2010)
Thor (2011)
Titanic 3D Re-Release (2012)
Transformers 3 (2011)
Tron: Legacy (2010)
Yellow Submarine (2012)
Yogi Bear (2010)

What do you think?

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