Kick-Ass (2010)

Tags

Aaron Johnson, Action, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Clark Duke, Comedy, Drama, Kick-Ass, Mark Strong, Movie, Nicolas Cage

trick or...treat?

R

Aaron Johnson, Clark Duke, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong

Dave: The comic books had it wrong.  It didn’t take trauma or cosmic rays or a power ring to make a superhero…just a perfect combination of optimism and naivety.

A regular high school kid, Dave (Aaron Johnson), decides to try to become a superhero.  It doesn’t go very well, but he still becomes an internet sensation while also making enemies with some very dangerous criminals.

I had heard a lot of good things about this movie, so I had high expectations going in.  Despite some up and down moments, overall my expectations were mostly met.  Especially in the second half of the movie.  It gets sillier, but very entertaining and even kind of moving at times.

After a rough start where we have to listen to A LOT of voice-over by Dave, telling us just how normal of a teen he is, things finally get rolling.  I liked his initial attempts at superheroing and how mostly he was a failure at it.  I wish the movie had stuck to that premise more.  I was a little sad to see everybody acting fairly superhuman by the end of the movie, but once I came to terms with that disappointment, I was able to just sit back and enjoy it.

Aaron Johnson is pretty likable in the lead, and it’s good to see Nicolas Cage using his oddness to good effect once again, but I’d have to say that little Chloe Moretz steals the show as Hit Girl.  She gets quite a few good lines (often obscenity filled) and is usually at the center of all the best action sequences.  Again, I would have liked to see her abilities be grounded a little more in reality (I don’t think an 11 year old could kick an adult male across a room), but whatever, it works.

As you can probably tell from the title, this is just a fun movie that sets out to entertain the audience in about any way it can.  It mostly succeeds, though I must say it was more violent and intense than I was expecting.  Yet, the comedy, seriousness, violence, etc are all balanced pretty well.  If it had stuck with the idea that real life people could never hope to emulate superheroes, it would have gotten an even higher rating from me.  As is, it’s still a solid recommendation…just don’t try any of it at home.

Body armor…always wear body armor when you do your superheroing.

10 – 1.5 for giving some of the characters too many superhero-like abilities – .7 for some unevenness in tone = 7.7

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Tags

Chevy Chase, Clark Duke, Comedy, Craig Robinson, Crispin Glover, Hot Tub Time Machine, John Cusack, Lizzy Caplan, Movie, Rob Corddry

what could possibly go wrong...?

R

John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clark Duke, Lizzy Caplan, Chevy Chase, Crispin Glover

Jacob: Guys!  This is scientifically possible.
Lou: Oh my God, okay professor Hawking, tell me in your robot voice how this is scientifically possible.
Jacob: Alright, I write Stargate fan fiction, so I think I know what I’m talking about right now!
Lou: …I seriously almost passed out you’re such a dork.

A retelling of the Shakespeare play by the same name, this-…just kidding, it’s about 4 guys that get transported back to the 80s via some sort of time portal in a hot tub.

You know, I could talk about whether or not this movie was funny enough to recommend (just barely) or how likable each of the 4 main actors were (Robinson and Duke – pretty likable, Cusack – somewhat likable, Corddry – not so likable), but the stuff I really want to discuss is fairly spoileriffic.  Well, okay, it’s totally filled with spoilers because it’s all about the end of the movie.

So if you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading when you see the spoiler warnings below and just skip to the end.  If you’ve seen the movie and don’t mind the spoilers, please continue.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS AHHHH RUN AWAY SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS! Okay, so here’s my question about the end of the movie.  Was that supposed to be a happy ending?  The 3 guys get back to the present and suddenly their lives are totally different, apparently for the better, but…they don’t remember any of it!  There’s 24 years of joyful life experiences that none of them remember.  Corddry’s character remembers because he stayed in the past, but the others don’t at all.  That would make me frickin’ miserable!  Cusack is now married (I think) to the completely un-aged Caplan, but again, doesn’t remember a bit of it.  Sure, moving forward from there it should be good times…that is until he forgets their anniversary, her birthday, and everything else about her because from his perspective he’s only known her for about an hour.  Oh well, just wanted to get that off my chest.  I know I shouldn’t care in a goofball comedy, but I needed something to write about. END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS YOU CAN START READING AGAIN END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS.

I’d say this movie is about on the level of She’s Out of My League as far as laughs go.  It seems like a slightly better movie than that one though.  Maybe because of the generally more talented cast, but I’m not sure.  Either way, this isn’t a “can’t miss”, but it is a “can rent”.

It’s better to live a good life not remembered than a tough life remembered…?

10 – 2 because it could have been funnier – 1.2 for the characters really not being all the sympathetic/likable – .3 because couldn’t they have at least TRIED to age Lizzy Kaplan at the end? = 6.5