The Brothers Grimm (Take Two: Juvs' Review)

"Hi, I'm Jake. This is Will. I like beans."


The Brothers Grimm...what an interesting movie. I knew it was directed by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame, and I was expecting it to be entertaining, which the movie was. However, I was very much confused. I probably should have read a description of the movie before I sauntered into the theatre. I guess I expected to understand as the film progressed. Luckily, Becky explained the beginning.

Will and Jake Grimm (Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, respectively) are charlatans who "rid" towns of evil spirits, etc...and are befuddled when they finally encounter a real evil witch(Monica Bellucci), kept alive by a eternal life spell, who needs the blood of 12 girls to make her beautiful again.

The concept for the movie was unique, but the execution of it, was sub-par. For one thing, I was confused with character motives. Is that the main villian? Is he helping the Grimms (or the Grimmies)?

What is he supposed to do? How'd that girl do that? The Gingerbread Man?

There were a lot of cameos (or references) to various fairy tales, and I found that amusing. It was cool to see how Gilliam plugged them in. Perhaps on a second viewing, I may like it more. It didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth, but Grimm did not make me jump and shout "EUREKA!" I was amused by Heath Ledger's acting as a "geek." I loved that. No Heath "I'm-going-to-joust-with-a-chunk-of-wood-hanging-out-of-my-shoulder" Ledger. Nope. Nice change. I found it adorable. And Matt Damon was good as well.

I'll give it a 3.5/5 shakas. Alright.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy(Unrated)

"Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident!"


Hey all, Juvs (aka nothintoseehere) here reviewing Anchorman starring SNL alum Will Ferrell.

I started watching this movie by accident. Someone else was watching the movie and I was listening in. I had to watch it through by myself, and I have to say, it's very entertaining.

The movie centers around Ron Burgundy (Ferrell), the top anchorman in 70s-era San Diego. His station earns top ratings over other news channels. His news team consists of Champ Kind, sports(David Koechner, A Guy Thing); Brian Fontana (Paul Rudd, Clueless, Cider House Rules), the on-field reporter, and Brick Tamland(Steve Carell, Bruce Almighty, where ironically, he plays yet another tv anchorman), the weatherman, who admits to having an IQ of 48. At Channel 4 News, it is a man's world.

So it's no surprise that when Veronica Corningstone(Christina Applegate, View From The Top, TV's "Married With Children"), an ambitious reporter enters the scene at Channel 4 News, Burgundy and his team are thrown in for a loop.

What happens afterwards is a hilarious concoction of humor, 1970s Will Ferrell style. There is a lot of "sexual content," (this is the Unrated version, after all) but much of the sexual humor is implied rather than stated. If stated, it is subdued, and Ferrell's Burgundy plays it off (almost) innocently. In the scene where Ferrell is "making whoopie" with a certain love interest, the scene is played off comically as the characters prance about on white cartoon horses in a cartoon "Pleasure Town."

When asked on how love was like, Ferrell starts singing 70s hit "Afternoon Delight," a song famously known for being about making whoopie in the afternoon. Unlike Ferrell's rendition of Kansas' "Dust In The Wind," which elicits snickering amongst Old School viewers, Anchorman's take on "Afternoon Delight" improves on the original. Burgundy's news team joins their leader in soothing harmony. I actually think they've made the song better. Don't believe me? Check it out: Ron Burgundy and his crew harmonize on "Afternoon Delight."

What also stands out about this movie is its quotability factor. Take for instance Steve Carell's character Brick Tamland. I'm not going to spoil anything else for you lovely readers, but you will fall in love with this guy. Carell has done a marvelous job in being Brick. Ferrell's Burgundy has his share as well, but Brick Tamland is most definitely my favorite character in this movie...hands down.

There are many great and funny scenes in this movie, and many cameos. Ben Stiller as a Spanish news anchor; Tim Robbins with a uber curly wig of hair for the Public News...Luke Wilson...

I'll have to give this movie....4/5 Shakas. Man. I should get a 10 point scale instead. Which would make Anchorman get 8/10 shakas. Alright.

Becky's Review of The Brother's Grimm

"I command you to put me in a better movie."

Have you ever heard of the quote, "If you have to do something, do it all the way, or don't do it at all"? If I had one piece of advice to give to director Terry Gilliam, it would be this. His movie, The Brother's Grimm, starts out with a great concept, "What if the authors of Grimm's fairytales were actually charlatans who stole money from neighboring towns in Germany with their stories and setups of fancy and flight, until one day they actually encounter an actual case where their stories are true?" Sounds great in concept, but, unfortunately for this movie, poor in execution.

The Brother's Grimm is a mismatch of weirdness, romance, brotherly love, history, and fantasy. It has some weirdness, but doesn't carry through with it, like Tim Burton does. It only has specks of weirdness here and there. It has some romance, but only for about 15 seconds. Brotherly love ... a lot of that (which is the only watchable part of the movie). Heath Ledger and Matt Damon play well off each other. History ... this movie shows some of what was happening at the time the Grimm brother's existed, including the French occupation of Germany, but not a whole lot. The French in this movie are portrayed as idiots and I honestly could not see how they could have taken over Germany with their intellect. And finally ... fantasy. It has fantasy, but only a bunch of specks of fantasy put together in one whole movie. We see a lot of the Queen in the previews, but she really doesn't appear that much in the movie till the end. We see Little Red Riding, the Ginger Bread man, the Wolf, the glass slippers, Hansel and Gretel, but that's really all there is, and we only see glimpses of them on screen for about 30 seconds... nothing else. The movie kept making me question ... why was that in there? Most of the movie is the Brother's Grimm trying to avoid the French army from kidnapping them and torturing them for their charlatan ways. No offense to the director, but BORING!

This movie could have been a good movie, but the director should have stick with one theme. The Brother's Grimm either should have been a historical take on the French occupation of Germany with the Brother's Grimm using their active imaginations to get them out of their hum-drum existence, or a story of two brothers who briefly (and I mean briefly .. this should take 5-10 minutes of the movie) are in the real world, and THEN are trapped in a fantasy land of fairytales. Again, this movie is interesting in concept ... bad in execution.

Alexander: Director's Cut

"So, an elephant and a horse enter a forest ... oh wait, you've heard this before."

Okay, so I'm reviewing bomb, ...but a "director's cut" bomb. I didn't see the original movie either, but I'll review it anyway. Alexander: Director's Cut is the revamp of Oliver Stone's box office dud. It, supposidly, has more action, less dialogue, but still the same ol' Alexander who loves war, but loves men even more. Sorry, but if you're looking for revisions to this part of the movie, I doubt you'll find it.

For the most part, I didn't think the movie was that bad, despite the one graphic sex scene with Rosario Dawson. The rest of the movie was watchable. Angelina Jolie was convincing as Alexander's mom, Olympia (well, in character anyway, not so much in looks). She exuded a presence of power and could easily show why Alexander had a weird sort of Oedipal complex with her. Val Kilmer was convincing as the Dad, even though I still see him as the same young guy who was in Batman Begins and Tombstone, but the beard and the bad eye tend to cover it well. (Speaking of which, a lot of men in the movie have missing eyes. I'm not sure if Oliver Stone meant to have his characters have missing eyes or if it's symbolic. Not too sure.)

As for Colin Farrell, I can see he tried his best trying to characterize Alexander. He did what he could with the character, and could sure out perform me as Alexander if I ever had to act. However, he exude the presence of a leader to me. He seemed more like an actor trying to be Alexander. Rosario Dawson too. I liked her in Men in Black, but in Alexander, she seemed to be faking her accent. In reality, I think her character could have assassinated Alexander and took over the army herself, but that's just my personal opinion.

Despite some historical inaccuracies (Alexander would have not fought in a forest in India, he would have found a wide-open plain in the area to fight with the Indian army. In addition, I believe there was no record that Alexander had a son), Alexander is a watchable movie. I liked the action sequences. That kept my attention for the most part. If you don't mind the dialogue and skewed interpretation of historical events, you'll actually enjoy this movie. I give the "revised" version of Alexander a 3 out of 5 stars.

Red Eye

"Hmm... Maybe Batman Begins is on this flight too."

Yesterday, I watched Red Eye, directed by Wes Craven, at the Pearlridge West theaters. Overall, it's a very exciting movie. Not too gory, which I like, and the actors were very convincing. In addition, it steers away from conventional horror stereotypes: the slutty teen girl, the creepy child, the large masked slasher, etc.. Instead, it features a strong-willed hostage and a handsome slasher (a creepy, but call me weird, great-looking Cillian Murphy), and features a smart 11-year-old girl who offers some help to our heroine while on the plane, among the group of dumbfounded adults who have no idea what's going on. This is a nice change from the always-screaming Dakota Fanning, who I think is a good actress, but screams way too much in her movies. It's nice to see an actual, smart girl in the movies.

In the end, I enjoyed the movie. A lot of excitement to keep me watching, and not a lot of gore so that I WANTED to keep my eyes on the screen. Also, the movie was just the right length, 1.5 hours. I give it four out of five stars!

Fantastic Four Review

"The channel four news team ... oh wait, it's the Fantastic Four"

I know I saw this movie back in July, but thought this would be helpful first post.

Went with friends to celebrate my special day and watched Fantastic Four. Also, brought ex-boyfriend along, hehe.

Anyway, I thought it was a good movie. All the other movies I've seen this summer have been just plain depressing. War of the Worlds was depressing and the kids in that movie were so annoying! I wish the aliens would just take them already. Madagascar ...okay. It didn't do too much for me. Not sure why. Kingdom of Heaven wasn't that bad, but Orlando Bloom's no Russell Crowe. Sorry Orli. BUT the Fantastic Four was a movie I enjoyed. It has a lot of humor and didn't take itself too seriously. I especially liked Michael Chiklis' performance as the Thing, and Dr. Doom wasn't that corny either. So all in all, I liked it and would recommend it. That and Revenge of the Sith.

Welcome to Becca's Movie Review

Hi Everyone,

I decided to create an additional blog that would allow me to rate and critique recent movies I have seen. Come by and visit often if you want an honest review of today's latest blockbusters and DVD rentals.