tappingjeff

THE GIST: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud's DESPICABLE ME is best described as "cute", which is a fine thing but not the best thing that this movie could have been. In the film, Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), our evil mastermind for a protagonist, inadvertently adopts three little girls in his quest to steal the moon and better his competing evil nemesis Vector (Jason Segel). The movie is a lot of fun, especially for the G-rated crowd. As for the adults, well...the serious laughs are few and far between and the movie tries too hard to be something its not that it never truly comes into its own. With such a fresh premise that is somewhere between MEGAMIND and MONSTERS INC., it is sad that the conflict is as thin as a Nick Jr. cartoon and the supporting characters overshadow everything else going on in the film. However, the film really owns its cuteness and its heartwarming ending shouldn't be overlooked.

THE BEST PART: The Minions, which are a cross between the Doozers from FRAGGLE ROCK and the aliens from TOY STORY, could carry a movie all their own.

THE VERDICT: Parts of DESPICABLE ME seem awfully familiar and there may not be enough weight in the story to carry a feature-length film, but its goofy enough to smile through and is a sure-fire hit with the under-10 crowd.

THE GIST: Quentin Tarantino has defined himself as an auteur in the good sense of the word. His films have gone on to hallow the halls of the Cinematic Hall of Fame, but this, as a character says in the very film, may be his masterpiece. Full of rich, wonderful characters, careful plotting, a brilliant script, and unbelievably good performances (specifically from Christoph Waltz as the treacherous Nazi commander Hans Landa and Melanie Laurent as Shoshanna, the Jewish escapee). INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is a wholly revelatory work of modern cinema, one of the most important films of the 21st century to date and a revisionist fantasy full of so much cinematic depth, it would take books and essays to cover all that is at play here. Some have called it the World War II film to end all World War II films, which I would agree with. The film's only hindrance comes in it's final act, or "chapter" as Mr. Tarantino would refer, which lacks some of the subtlety that the first 4 chapters had so enchantingly.

THE BEST PART: The thrilling and dynamic opening scene, full of suspense in the classic Hitchcockian sense of the word. One of the best opening scenes I've certainly ever seen.

THE VERDICT: Quentin Tarantino is a landmark filmmaker as proved especially with his truly awesome and provocative INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. Continuing a discussion of cinema itself as well as revenge, both physically and mentally (for the audience), the film will live on as one of the modern classics of the era.

THE GIST: Shawn Levy's latest film starring the dynamic duo of Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn is a far, far cry from their last collaboration, the hilarious WEDDING CRASHERS. The story is seemingly simple: two go-for-broke guys in their 40's are stranded without jobs and look for the most obvious solution to solve their unemployment, an internship at Google. Somehow, though being an unexpected choice, the two get picked for the internship (does the film LEGALLY BLONDE ring a bell?). What ensues is basically MONSTERS UNIVERSITY without the humor, heart, and inventiveness of that fine film. Instead we're left with a film that inspires less "lol" and more "nla", or "not laughing at all". I can't discredit the film for the promising premise that could have showed, and does to a certain extent, the incoming generations lack of personal skills due to technological social interaction or perhaps the struggle of aging and finding a place in the newest era. But no, all of these ideas are certainly too big for the rather dumb script (the characters end up getting in a fist fight at a stripper bar...remind me what this one is about?) that the actors make work moderately, except for Rose Byrne who seems to find footing somewhere as a Google representative that Wilson pines after. The multitude of ethnicity (besides our two main characters, who are both white) is certainly nice to see on the big screen, and there are times where the film really hints at something kind of good.

THE BEST PART: The advertisement-loaded, yet creative and clever final credits sequence. Yes, the best part is the FINAL CREDITS.

THE VERDICT: There's so much going wrong with THE INTERNSHIP. Had it been an indie film in the hands of the right creative team and script it could have been something worth watching. Instead, you're almost wishing you were spending the overlong 2 hour runtime investigating the products on screen. So at least Google got their money's worth.