The Hangover Part II

What to say about this movie?  Was it as good as the original?  Probably not.  Did it live up to expectations?  Pretty well.  Was it damn funny?  Hell yes!

Obviously this movie had all kinds of pressure on it to deliver on the surprise success of the original.  And while you could argue they played it safe by sticking to the same formula as the first movie, they certainly raised the bar.  The set up may remain the same, but the stakes are higher, the exploits gorier and the disbelief that this is happening AGAIN manages to be plausible. The first movie found the guys searching for a lost groom in Las Vegas, and while they may have been desperate to get home without getting caught, the only thing in danger was their relationships to the women at home.  Here they are lost in Bangkok, and the damage moves way beyond a possible canceled wedding and a missing tooth; we've got severed fingers, gunshot wounds, and the ever looming threat of being lost to the city, which I'm assuming means getting sucked into the delights of the sex trade and human trafficking.  Not to mention any chances of being thrown into a Thai prison, which given the drugs, dead bodies and destruction the characters leave in their wake must be an all too real possibility as well. Fun stuff.

Aside from increasing the horror in the details of the main characters' forgotten evening, the filmmakers have left all the other details the same, which is where the biggest stumbles happen.  There is still a wedding in two days (the lucky groom is dentist Stu, played by Ed Helms), and they still have to find their lost companion (this time the bride's 16 year old brother) in time to get back for the wedding.  Only instead of being righteously pissed off like the bride in the original, Jamie Chung plays the bride all smiles and cheer, like it's really no big deal her groom lost her brother and vanished for two entire days right before the wedding and returned rocking a facial tattoo.  Methinks that highly unlikely.  The 'aw shucks' exclamations made by Zach Galifianakis' Alan also rang a little forced to me most of the time, which is a shame because that character is really the best part of the first movie.

Basically it comes down to this: there is pretty much no way any movie can ever live up to the expectations everyone had going into this movie.  The FIRST one wouldn't have done so well if we all expected it to be the funniest thing we'd ever seen, so how can the sequel?  But that doesn't mean it isn't still incredibly funny - I laughed pretty much the entire time with varying degrees of hilarity, and that's probably all any comedy can aim for.  There is drug use, death and dismemberment, f-bombs galore, stolen monks, a drug dealing monkey, and plentiful full-frontal nudity (unfortunately not by Bradley Cooper), so maybe don't take your grandma, but by all means, if you liked the first one, go see the second.

The Hangover Part II  1hr 42 min R

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 3D

Let me just say that I did not intend to see this in 3D, nor do I particularly suggest you do so.  I try to avoid 3D whenever possible, but because of technical difficulties at the theater that resulted in all of us lowly 2D seekers getting to see the movie in 3D for free I really had no choice.  Now, since I don't really ever go to 3D movies because I think it's just stupid and distracting and I never feel like I can properly focus on the screen, I'm just going to comment on the movie itself and not the 3D effects because I don't know how they compare to others and if they were really good or not.  I do know there were some pretty cool shots that the 3D captured beautifully (a neat stone arch, a view up through the rigging of a ship), but I certainly wouldn't pay extra money for those shots.
Anyway, after the first couple of minutes when the movie got going and the screen stopped looking all squiggly through the 3D glasses (without making me either nauseated or giving me a headache) I could finally relax and enjoy myself.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (to be called just Pirates 4 from now on, because jeez that's a long title) starts out with Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) up to his usual tricks to save an old friend from a trial, in which he is accused of being... Captain Jack Sparrow.  And there is apparently another Captain Jack Sparrow out there trying to find a crew.  None of this is really addressed or explained, but it also doesn't really matter too much as it is basically only a conceit to reintroduce all of the characters and set them upon the main adventure.  There is action right from the start, accompanied by the fabulous Pirates theme music which serves to make every stunt seem that much more daring, and Depp's Sparrow swaggers with such floppy confidence that he somehow manages to turn his exceedingly poncy gait into something to be admired.

The movie takes place an unknown number of years after the previous 3 movies, and while we see a few familiar faces (most prominently Geoffrey Rush as Jack's nemesis Barbossa), most of the main characters from the earlier films are nowhere to be found.  And that's not all that's different.  Pirates 4 has also trimmed the fat from the plot lines, leaving the main story of the various characters' search for the Fountain of Youth.  Gone are any random subplots and the twisty turning abandonment of all logic or coherence or explanation that drowned Pirates 2 and 3.  Seriously - I've seen both of those movies several times (they're always showing up on cable somewhere) and I don't think I could tell you what happens in them if my life depended on it.  I'm not even sure, if you put one of them on right now, if I could tell whether it was #2 or #3.  So the streamlining of storytelling in #4 was more than welcome.

The other big difference from the first three movies, is that Jack Sparrow falls squarely into the side of the good guy.  Whereas before he wasn't necessarily evil, if always only looking towards his own desires, in this movie he is definitely less selfish.  I mean, in the very first scene he is rescuing an old shipmate which is not something we would have seen before, unless perhaps that shipmate owed him money.  I find the loss of the ambivalence in Sparrow's character (will he or won't he betray them?) a perfectly fine development, because honestly we always knew he'd never do anything truly terrible to anyone else.  And although the writers did try to hold on to it, showing him playing all sides against each other, there is less a feeling that he is doing it for amusement as opposed as strictly a way to survive.

And that could be because the bad guy in this movie is truly bad - Ian McShane plays Blackbeard with zero sense of humor and less patience.  Personally, I think a little bit more fun can be had in playing a villain, but he gets the point across that joking around with Blackbeard will only lead to a quick and even more quickly forgotten, death.  The final player in this outing is Blackbeard's daughter (Penelope Cruz), who is the least developed character.  She was supposedly about to become a nun when Sparrow seduced and fell in love with her.  This all makes sense then that her basic trust in faith would lead her to try and redeem her father with the fountain of youth - except I'm not really sure I would have known this back story if I hadn't read about it in advance reviews.  It was only referred to ever so subtly in the movie, and as such her insistence on saving her father rang a little hollow.  Plus, it seems such a shame to cast such a bombshell in a movie and not use her sex appeal even once (although understandable because I believe Cruz was pregnant during filming).

All in all this was a fun trip back into the fantastical world of Pirates of the Caribbean, and one I'd recommend.  And as usual, there is a little tidbit post credits if you feel like staying for it.  I will warn you that it is literally after the ENTIRE credits, so you'll be waiting for several minutes for about 30 seconds of scene which isn't really anything more than a wink.  No big secrets revealed or sequels hinted at, so decide on your own whether staying is worth it.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 2 hrs 17 min  PG-13

Bridesmaids

Let me just say, that with a title like "Bridesmaids," and a poster like that ^, this movie should have had a lot more wedding mania related hijinks.  Not that I would have necessarily preferred that - thw whole bridezilla thing has been done - badly by Hollywood (Bride Wars), and even worse by reality tv.  So it's cool that this wasn't your typical chick flick catfight type movie, but still - expectations people.

Instead this movie is more about the implosion of one woman's life as her best friend is preparing to get married.  Which is fine and all, except that most of the implosions come as the result of her own pathetic, self sabotaging, woe is me behavior.  Not that Annie (played by Kristin Wiig with all kind of SNL character traits peeking through her body language) is a completely unlikeable character, it's just that because we are left never knowing why she has totally given up on trying at life we are left sort of thinking she should stop feeling so sorry for herself.

The relationship between Annie and Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is joy to watch, because the actresses are real life best friends, and their scenes pop with the chemistry of people who truly enjoy each others company.  But the true stars of the movie are Melissa McCarthy, who is by far the funniest thing in the movie, and Chris O'Dowd, who manages to be a truly dreamy romantic lead despite looking basically like a basset hound (I attribute this to his Irish accent).  Rose Byrne was well cast as the gorgeous, perfect wanna be maid of honor, trying to usurp Annie's spot as BFF, and Jill Clayburgh is ideal to play Kristin Wiig's mom; but Ellie Kemper and Wendi McLendon-Covey were sorely underutilized as a stereotypical naive newlywed and foul mouthed suburban mom.

This movie wasn't as funny as I had hoped, which isn't really saying much because my expectations were pretty unrealistically high.  To be completely honest, the movie was really funny- there were many times when I (and everyone else in the theater) laughed out loud.  This movie has been hailed as the female version of The Hangover, and while I don't know if it is going to have the shelf of life (or spawn the catchphrases) of that film, I do know that it is a really funny, and fun way to spend a couple of hours.


Bridesmaids 2hrs 5 min  R

Priest

 This movie was a real disappointment.  Not because it was particularly awful, but because it could have been so much better.  It had a cool premise - some dystopian future/otherworld where history has been filled with an endless war between man and vampire (NOT regular, Dracula/Twilight vampires, but a whole different species of animal).  The church has become the safeguard of humankind, partially in thanks to super warriors called priests who were strong enough and fast enough to fight the vampires.  At the time of the movie, the vampires have been locked away on "reservations" and the priests have been left on the outskirts of society, unable to be accepted because of the powers they are no longer able to use.

Unrequited love, corrupt government/religious figures denying the truth in favor of blind faith and self interest in power, the purpose and existence of warriors in a culture once there is no more war; these are all themes that were introduced and summarily ignored by this movie.  They also had the unique premise of a sci-fi horror western mashup, which was basically used for costuming only and not explored further.  Oh, and the eyeless vampires (which look exactly like something from another movie - but I totally can't think of what) made for some pretty badass creepies - too bad they didn't get much screen time either.

Instead we were treated to numerous shots of high tech, high speed motorcycles racing across the barren wastelands (a great image, but seriously, once or twice paints the picture just fine, thanks), and a climactic battle where never once did we question the good guys' ability to win, and that was over almost before it started.  if anything, the big climactic battle of this movie played out like the initial fight scene in a normal action movie.  You know the formula: movie intro, set up, fight scene where the good guy prevails, twist where the good guy gets his ass kicked or learns it goings to be way harder than he thought, climax where he wins by the skin of his teeth, most likely after being severely wounded.  This movie threw out that formula, but not in favor of originality- instead it was more like someone said "okay, this is great, but let's edit out anything that seems like it might cause hardship for our hero."  So we're just left with a battle that is entirely too easy to win, and a victory that seems that much more hollow for it.

The cast (lead by Paul Bettany and Karl Urban) was good, even with the sparse dialogue and limitations they were given - look serious and tough and world weary seem to be the main acting directions- and the special effects were fine, if a little derivative - super high, slow motion jumping are great to demonstrate super fight skills, but feel a little thin in the absence of real tension.  This movie is based on a comic, and I'm wondering if the director was a little ambitious when adapting this movie, because it has a real serial feel to it.  To be honest, the lack of emotional depth and serious drama wouldn't have felt as gaping if this were the pilot to a tv show or something.  The ending clearly sets up future action as the world of the movie seems to be headed back into war - and if the closing credits had rolled over a "to be continued...." I would feel invigorated and excited about the next installment.  As it is, the movie may have been hoping for a sequel, but they seem to have misunderstood that to leave 'em wanting more you have to give them something to want first.  Nobody likes a story if they only hear the first chapter, and nobody is going to greenlight a sequel to a movie no one liked.

And seriously, what is the point of having a whole army of vampires if we never see them in action?

Final verdict: if the previews have tempted you in anyway, it is worth a rental.  But not really worthy the cash for feature film, and definitely not worth 3D (I'm assuming, I never see 3D).  And somebody should really get on the idea of using this as the launch for a tv series or miniseries at least.  Four or five little segments like this and we could have a pretty satisfying story.  Which of course, is the problem.


Priest 1hr 27min PG-13


ps: if you like the whole combo of western and graphic novel type sci-fi (this time with ninjas!), check out: The Warrior's Way 

pps: the best line in the whole movie - after one character has let loose with his shotgun at a horde of vampires "you'd have made a good priest."  Heh.