It's not easy being green...

Nope, this review has nothing to do with Kermit the Frog. I'll be reviewing Shrek the Third (2007). I'm going to make this one quick.

Shrek doesn't want to be king, so he has to find the only other heir to the throne. This turns out to be whiny Artie (voiced by Justin Timberlake). Prince Charming is the villain (who is also really annoying). Pretty much, there's 40% good old Shrek, 50% annoying Artie and Charming, and 10% obnoxious happy ending. When I say obnoxious, I definitely mean it. Uber obnoxious.

This is the worst of the 4 Shrek movies.

Shrek the Third runs 93 minutes and is rated PG. I give it 4 ramheads out of 10.

"In the world of cons...Eddie's a Pro"

I found the tag line for Dana Carvey's 1990 film Opportunity Knocks to be too good to pass up as a title to the said film's review. This cheesy film wasn't all bad (but I wouldn't consider it good either.)

Dana Carvey essentially plays himself (named Eddie) as a funny, extremely lucky con man who falls in love with his victim. This causes problems. There are a lot of cheesy moments. Also, the popping music is a little obnoxious. The acting is average.

The theme is very confused. It wants to be a comedy, but turns into a romantic redemption movie. Yup.

All in all, this movie is cheesy. Hands down.

It runs 103 minutes and is rated PG-13. I give it a better-than-expected 5 ramheads out of 10.

Image via Wikipedia

New layout, jimmypautz.com 2.0

Just an explanation for the layout: The field background is mean to feel like an outdoor movie screen, with my banner as screen. I've also maximized the content, condensing the 2 sidebars into one and moving the lists of reviews into separate pages (accessible through the tabs) from the sidebar. I've changed from green-overload color screen to white and green and red and gold. It feels more elegant (to me at least).

If you have any more comments, please help!

New layout...you like?

So I decided to change the layout. Do you like it? What do you think?

Jolly Green G--Ogre, #4

Here's my super-quick review of Skrek Forever After (2010). Shrek has a moment of weakness (and alcohol). He makes a deal which changes everything for the worse unless he can fix it. A classic, "don't-know-what-you've-got-'til-it's-gone" theme. Pretty entertaining humor. Shrek. 4. The end.

Decent entertaining movie with minimal lasting impression. Not as good as the first, but on par or better than 2 or 3. It runs 93 minutes and is rated PG. I give it 6 out of 10 ramheads.

I dreamed a dream

No, this post has nothing to do with Susan Boyle. It does have to do with dreams. Inception (2010) is a film all about dreams.

This is going to be a spoiler-free post, so if you haven't seen it yet, don't worry. Inception, in general terms is a brainy action-adventure film that deals with going into dreams with more than one person. That's all I'm going to say.

My first impression of this film was "Wow, that was COMPLEX!" In all honesty, this might have been the most complex and biggest 'thinker' movie I've ever seen. (The Matrix series is a close second.) You need to be pretty intelligent to successfully watch this film.

The concepts are amazing. The writing and imagination is quite incredible. The characters are relate-able humans, but still are incredibly impressive. The acting was phenomenal. Leonardo DiCaprio is an extraordinarily talented actor. He gets into the role like none other. The supporting cast was solid (Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe). The music was excellent. Hans Zimmer rarely disappoints.

Inception was stunning, brain exercise that really worked. This is what movies are all about. I would give it an Oscar (or a few). Christopher Nolan does it again. It runs 148 minutes and is rated PG-13. I give it what it deserves: 10 ramheads out of 10.
Share

We meet again...wildcat.

A couple weeks ago I reviewed High School Musical 3 and didn't give it great marks. Today, for comparison's sake, here's my review of the first High School Musical (2006).

The first time I watched it, it greatly annoyed me. That is because I expected it to and I wanted it to because of what I had heard about it. As my sister watched it more and more times, I saw parts of it and started liking some of the songs. (Yeah, that's right.) Then I was impressed with the dancing. Really impressed. This made-for-TV movie doesn't feature a greatly impressive plot, polished editing, or perfection, but what it has is honesty. This is High School Musical before the "HSM franchise" and popularity. It is a Disney Channel Original Movie. It's real. I don't like this movie because of the popularity, but for what it is. For the fact that it promotes the arts, and doing a little of everything, and its anti-clique attitude.

High School Musical shows that song and dance aren't lame. The dancing and songs are polished and practiced and downright impressive. The actors (especially Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens) have chemistry. [Their on screen chemistry led to a relationship...] That chemistry was missing in HSM3.

Well, that's all I have for you tonight...

High School Musical runs 98 minutes and is rated TV-G (definitely a family film). I give it 8 ramheads out of 10 for being real and for not selling out (yet).
Share

Arvy and age-travel

This week I watched a couple of mildly popular films that my siblings got from the library. Here's a quick rundown:

The first one, RV (2006) stars Robin Williams in a slap-stick comedy about family, RVing, and life. It is a cheesy emotional family film wrapped in slap-stick humor. It was pretty funny, pretty ridiculous, and entertaing. It was not, though, amazing. It will entertain you, but won't make you feel like you just watched something awesome. It is rated PG and runs 99 minutes. I give it an average 5 ramheads out of 10.The second one I watched, 17 Again (2009) stars Zac Efron in a cheesy, predictable yet entertaining family-comedy. Efron does a great job. Period. This film is packed with awkward funny moments, the kind in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I loved them. There are a few cheesy effects, but otherwise this is a funny, nice movie. It runs 102 minutes and is rated PG-13 (barely). I give it a likeable 7 ramheads out of 10.
Share

Here's a quick plug for some SWEET music

Listen to Sweet Diss and the Comebacks. They are from Seattle, they love The Office, and they play good music. Check them out on MySpace: http://myspace.com/comebacks or download an album at this link: http://sweetdiss.b3an.com/Sweet_Diss_and_the_Comebacks_-_Coulda_Been_Worse.zip

Also, makes sure to Like them on Facebook: http://facebook.com/sweetdiss

Here's a sample of their music (It's called Jimmy in a Well ;):
Share

Watch out Pinocchio

Here's another quicky review:

Bicentennial Man (1999) is a modern day Pinocchio. Robin Williams plays Andrew, an android that has innate personality, emotions, and capability to love. Encouraged by Sir (Sam Neill) he learns how to be human, makes millions of dollars, and eventually requests freedom (which happens to be one of the themes). This film makes one think about the important things in life. Long story short, I love this sci-fi Robin Williams epic.

Bicentennial Man runs 132 minutes and is rated PG. Definitely a family film. I give it 8 ramheads out of 10 (it's not perfect, but very good).


Share

Harry's Back (soon)

WB just released the first poster for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (below) Also, the first official trailer was released earlier this week. (also below)

Share

Aahraharahrar! (Zombieland Review)

This review is going to be short. I just finished Zombieland (2009) and I was pleasantly surprised. Aside from the language, this is a wholesome family, zombie-filled film. It was hilarious, had a few emotional moments, and is interesting...but most importantly, it has zombies.

The actors make me happy. Woody Harrelson is funny and amazing at kicking zombie butt. Jesse Eisenburg delivers a breakout performance. Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin are good too. Bottom line=this movie is good.

Zombieland runs a nice 88 minutes and is rated R (definitely not a kid movie). I give it a nice 8 ramheads out of 10.
Share

Hey Wildcat!

My brother got High School Musical 3 from the library, so I figured I'd watch it before I judge it. I've seen the first two: I didn't mind the first, but wasn't a fan of the second one. Those were both Disney Channel original movies that were made for TV, but the third was a full theatre release film, complete with a real budget. Did they use it for good?

Simple answer: no.

HSM3 was boring until the last 20 minutes, had pretty horrible dialogue, and disappointing music. The dialogue was detached and poorly acted. The setting/attempted theme was very relevant but they didn't use it well. It was rather disappointing. The music was pretty bad, except for a few songs (which were reminiscent of the first movie).

There are two things this film has going for it: dancing/choreography and the already developed likable characters (from the other two movies). The filmmakers should have used the extra money to hire better writers and directors instead of the gimmicks that they featured (there were a lot of stupid gimmicks) and they would have made a halfway decent film...BUT, they didn't.

High School Musical 3 runs 112 minutes (it felt like longer) and is rated G. I give it a disappointing 3 ramheads out of 10.

Share