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Review: Dodgeball- A True Underdog Story (2004)

March 12th 2010 21:38

Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller take center stage in “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story”, a film about two rival gym owners. Vince Vaughn plays Peter La Fleur, a champion of the average person. La Fleur’s gym, Average Joes, has the exact opposite philosophy of White Goodman’s gym, Globo Gym. Goodman, portrayed by Ben Stiller, is an arrogant individual who looks down on everyone else. The plot involves Goodman wanting to buyout La Fleur’s gym, which has substantial financial problems. The only way La Fleur and his gym members can raise the money they need to solve their financial problems, while avoiding Goodman’s jerkiness, is to win the International Dodgeball Open Tournament.

“Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” proves to be comedy at its best. As long as you have a pretty relaxed sense of humor, you should enjoy this movie. For example, one possibly offensive line in the film includes “It’s like watching retards hump a doorknob.” As long as lines like that don’t bother you, you will like “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.”

“Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” has so many memorable parts, I honestly don’t know where to begin. The dodgeball tournament gets broadcasted on ESPN 8, “The Ocho,” with brilliant insight such as “It’s unbelievable. I can’t believe it” coming from color commentator Pepper Brooks (Jason Bateman). The Average Joes team gets mentored by dodgeball great, Patches O’Houlihan (Rip Torn), who’s training philosophy involves the idea “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.” Ben Stiller is at his best in the film with lines like “Nobody makes me bleed my own blood” and “Here at Globo Gym, we understand that ‘Ugliness’ and ‘Fatness’ are genetic disorders.”

In addition to the comedy, “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” has a few surprise guest appearances, including Lance Armstrong and Chuck Norris. Overall, “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” should be watched, if not a part of the movie collection, of all comedy fans (with the exception of those who easily get offended).

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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Review: Wedding Crashers (2005)

March 7th 2010 22:00

Wedding Crashers stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as best friends Jeremy Grey and John Beckwith, who make a habit of crashing weddings in order to get with horny and vulnerable women. The lifestyle starts to lose favor with John as the two grow older. John’s internal conflict hits its climax when the two crash the wedding of Secretary of Treasury William Clearly’s (Christopher Walken) daughter, where John finds himself falling for the bride’s sister and maid of honor, Claire Clearly (Rachel McAdams).

Overall, Wedding Crashers proves to be a very funny movie. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson interact with each other excellently. The antics of the Clearly family and of Claire’s longtime boyfriend Zachary (Bradley Cooper), nicknamed Sack, adds to the film’s fun. Will Ferrell even makes an unexpected appearance close to the end of the film, playing Chazz Reinhold, a legendary wedding crasher who has turned to embrace a new challenge, crashing funerals.

In conclusion, I would recommend Wedding Crashers to anyone with a sexual sense of humor. If you find humor in sexual situations than Wedding Crashers will leave you laughing.

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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Review: The Book of Eli (2010)

March 4th 2010 01:06

“The Book of Eli” stars Denzel Washington as Eli, an intelligent but ambiguous character, who is traveling across a land on foot with no specific destination. Notice I said “a land.” According to the movie synopsis on IMDB, Eli is traveling across America, but nothing in the movie indicates America as the setting.

The film doesn’t stop at an underdeveloped setting, as the plot remains unclear too. Supposedly, again according to the IMDB movie synopsis, “The Book of Eli” takes place in America after an apocalypse has destroyed life as we currently know it. Again, the problem with “The Book of Eli” is none of this is really made clear within the movie. An apocalypse disaster gets referred to time and time again, but only vaguely. While “The Book of Eli” synopsis makes clear this movie takes place in the future, nothing in the actual film really indicates the timetable for the movie.

The lack of development in “The Book of Eli” prevented me from enjoying the film. This isn’t a crack against the actors and actresses in the film. Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis (who stars as the lead actress), and the rest of the cast do the best they can with the overly indistinguishable movie script. Unless you absolutely have to see every Denzel Washington movie, or every adventure movie, I would pass on “The Book of Eli.”

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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Review: Pineapple Express (2008)

March 1st 2010 17:52

“Pineapple Express” stars Seth Rogen as Dale Denton, a vocal marijuana advocate and user, who works for the city serving court orders to people. After picking up a fresh load of pineapple express, an extremely rare type of marijuana, from his drug dealer Saul (James Franco), Denton goes about with his job of serving court orders. At his next job Denton witnesses a murder involving a dirty cop. Panicking, Denton tosses the pineapple express roach he was smoking into the street, and hightails out of there. However, in the process he makes so much noise the murderer and his cop friend notice him. Desperate, Denton goes back to Saul’s place, where the two decide to run away, out of fear the roach Denton tossed out would be traced back to them. From there, hilarity ensues.

“Pineapple Express” proves to be comedic gold. Seth Rogen and James Franco both do a great job of making the viewer laugh, with lines like “Why didn’t you smash it (cell phone) against a rock like a normal person?” and (when being asked about how many women he had slept with) “Like two and a half.” “Pineapple Express” would be the perfect movie to watch after a really long stressful day, when you could use a good laugh

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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Review: Mr. Deeds (2002)

February 22nd 2010 02:45

“Mr. Deeds”, a remake of the 1936 film “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town”, stars Adam Sandler, as Longfellow Deeds, and Winona Ryder, as Babe Bennett. Deeds, a good natured small town boy, finds himself in New York City after his great uncle, who he had never met, passes away. Deeds’ uncle owned $40 billion worth of stock in Blake Media, a large media company. Without any other living relatives, the fortune of Deed’s uncle becomes inherited by Deeds. While in New York, Deeds meets Babe Bennett, a tabloid reporter, who creates the alias “Pam Dawson”, in order to get close to Deeds. Things begin to get interesting when Babe starts to fall in love with Deeds.

Adam Sandler. Photograph taken by Rita Molnar, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

“Mr. Deeds” can best be described as a fun movie. Some scenes in the film are a little over the top, such as a scene in which Babe fights with Deeds’ employee Jan (Conchata Ferrell). However, these scenes don’t prevent “Mr. Deeds” from being entertaining. Anyone interested in film making should find “Mr. Deeds” enjoyable, as the movie demonstrates a great sense of continuity. For example, a silly scene where Deeds reveals his gross foot to his servant Emilio (John Turturro), ends up playing a significant role later on in the movie

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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Eddie & the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives (1989)

February 13th 2010 03:30

I remember watching the original Eddie & the Cruisers film during my childhood. When my parents told me there was a sequel I couldn’t wait to lay eyes upon it. However, we could find the movie nowhere. It was as if the movie never existed. Therefore, my excitement level increased when I found “Eddie & the Cruisers 2: Eddie Lives” in its entirety on youtube.

“Eddie & the Cruisers 2: Eddie Lives” proves to be okay, at best. The story revolves around musician Eddie Wilson (Michael Pare), who supposedly died in a car accident 20 years earlier. Eddie reinvents himself as Joe West. Eddie, as Joe, enjoys a simple life as a construction worker. Everything is going fine for Eddie until the radio starts playing his unreleased music. This publicity haunts Eddie, who would like nothing better than to forget his past as a part of Eddie & the Cruisers. But rather than forgetting his past Eddie reluctantly finds himself in a new band, worried that his cover as Joe West will be exposed

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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Sherlock Holmes (2009)

January 27th 2010 00:49

“Sherlock Holmes”, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. John Watson, is interesting at best. While nothing about the movie stands out as bad, there is very little which is attention grabbing. The interesting aspect of “Sherlock Holmes” originates from my fascination with television shows like “Criminal Minds” and “Psych”.

In many ways “Sherlock Holmes” is the predecessor of these shows. “Criminal Minds” is about a group of FBI agents who work together to solve heinous crimes by studying the behavior of criminals. “Psych” is about a fake psychic detective who uses his ability to notice the unnoticeable to convince the Santa Barbara police department he is a psychic who can be an asset to their department. In many ways the characters on “Criminal Minds” and “Psych” are modern day Sherlock Holmes, considering a lot of Sherlock Holmes detective work was based on his observation of human behavior

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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Blades of Glory (2007)

January 6th 2010 15:32

“Blades of Glory” tells the story of figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Will Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder). Both Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy get banned from figure skating after the two disrupt a presentation of medals by getting in a fight. The banned figure skaters encounter misery in their lives after figure skating. Well, at least until an obsessive fan of Jimmy MacElroy discovers a loophole in the ban. The ban, technically, only prohibited the two figure skaters from participating in singles. Therefore, Michaels and MacElroy, quite grudgingly, decide to become the first male-male figure skating pair in the history of the sport, in order to once again feel the ice underneath their skates.

Overall, “Blades of Glory” is a fun movie. Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, and the rest of the cast does a good job in providing humor. The movie’s humor even transcends the script, into casting. For example, Craig T. Nelson, famous for playing a high school football coach on television, plays the ice skating coach of Jimmy MacElroy in the film

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Invictus (2009)

December 20th 2009 00:14

“Invictus”, a film directed by Clint Eastwood, is based on the true story of Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman). Nelson Mandela, a South African, spent time in and out of jail in the 1950s for protesting against racial discrimination happening in South Africa. In 1962 Nelson Mandela was sent to prison for 28 years for illegally leaving the country. In 1993 Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize and a year later made history by becoming the first black president of South Africa.

“Invictus” is about Nelson Mandela’s connection to the country’s most popular sport, rugby. When Nelson Mandela was elected president blacks wanted South Africa’s rugby team- the Springboks, to be abolished because the Springboks symbolized the country’s past racism. Whites feared that Mandela would abolish the Springboks, leading to an increase in racist feelings. Mandela saw this racial powder keg as an opportunity to unite his countrymen. Reaching out to the Springboks’ team captain, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), Mandela used the pop culture phenomenon of rugby to fight the issue of racism

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The Blind Side (2009)

November 24th 2009 14:57

In the promotion of “The Blind Side” you hear the names Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw most often. However, Quinton Aaron is the true star of “The Blind Side”. “The Blind Side” is the true story of professional football player Michael Oher, who is currently in his rookie year in the NFL. The story of Michael Oher is amazing and inspirational. Oher has gone from being in the shadows of the streets to the spotlight of America’s most popular sport.

Quinton Aaron, who plays Michael Oher in the film, does a brilliant job of making Michael Oher’s story come to life on the big screen. Aaron’s nonverbal communications in “The Blind Side” makes you sympathize with his character. The words Oher speak are few and far apart, especially in the beginning of the movie. This is a part of what makes “The Blind Side” and more specifically Quinton Aaron’s acting so good; the Michael Oher character does not need much vocalization

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March 2010

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February 2010

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January 2010

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