Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist/starring: Michael Cera, Kat Dennings

Isn't it funny that movies aren't really movies any more? Movies are more of a conceptual package of an attitude and persona. And that's okay. But if you want to get into people's heads and make them think, I think it would be more beneficial to everyone involved to make the attempts at selling an image to go deeper.

Nick and Norah would have been a broadening experience if I was still in high school. The jokes were only good because it emphasizes the current, awkward/confident humor. The use of Michael Cera as the fountain of this humor seems like a brutally ugly corporate tactic to bank in on his knack for playing a soft spoken smart ass.

The use of indie rock music in the film was pleasant, but it seemed too try hard. The film used the music heavily to give the audience a feel of a wild, teenage, emotional night. At the same time the periodic clashing of Norah's nomadic levels of confidence and Nick's undying longing for his ex-bitch of a girlfriend would fail to make you care about the outcome of their relationship. Albeit the acting was amazingly natural in almost all accounts.

This review is sparse but I guess that's okay because the movie felt sparse also. I don't have a lot to go on. But I'll do you one better, I won't drag on the end of this review like the end of the movie.

I give Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist 6 VIP passes out of 10.

Victor Penro

Bangkok Dangerous/Starring: Nicolas Cage, Shahkrit Yamnarm

In all this time I've been reviewing movies, I haven't yet reviewed a new Nicolas Cage film. I know some will doubt my reasoning when I say this; Nicolas Cage is a skilled actor. He may seem silly and over the top at times, but he is very believable. I think he doesn't get offers for the right films. Just my opinion.

From the onset of Bangkok Dangerous, I could tell this movie was going to be as unsubtle as a kick to the groin. The theme of the lonely assassin was applied in three thick coats. The setting wasn't new either, but I enjoyed the crowded Asian cityscape. It brought me back to the days of the old kung fu flicks and 80-early 90's action films. In an interesting twist, the westerner teaches the Asian guy combat moves, when Cage takes Yamnarm under his wing in the film. The action was graphic and implemented in exciting ways. For instance take an Uzi, a motorcycle and a car full of targets and see what you come up with. Even though the aforementioned scenario could be acted out in a complex fashion, the simple road the directors took pleased me. However for the dramatic half of the film, I wasn't rewarded enough for my patience. In fact I was losing said patience about halfway through Bangkok Dangerous. And for the ending we had the usual bad guy dominance torn down by Cage and an uninspired gun fight. Plus the ending simply pissed me off.

Bangkok Dangerous...not a total waste of money, but a perfect end to a trip to Blockbuster in a few months.

I give Bangkok Dangerous 6 VIP passes out of 10.

Victor Penro

Hamlet 2/starring: Steve Coogan, Joseph Julian Soria, Skylar Astin, Phoebe Strole

I was considering reviewing Death Race, but I took a long look at myself in the mirror and asked myself, "Do you really believe Death Race is going to be good?" My answer to my own question was...NO! So I saw Hamlet 2. The commercial for Hamlet 2 intelligently lets you know that a co-writer for South Park wrote this movie. That's what sold me. Not even the jokes they showed in the clips.

Comedies have simple plots and Hamlet 2 was no exception. A washed up commercial actor heads a high school drama club. He is tired of getting bashed by the high school newspaper drama critic and wants to put on a play that will fulfill his dreams of being good at something. Obstacles multiply as he tries to put on his sequel to the play Hamlet.

Hamlet 2 was purposely off-beat. But the film was so off-beat that at the beginning of the movie, I didn't know when a joke was being made or whether the plot was just moving forward. But when I got the hang of it, I had a smile on my face for 90% of the film. I even laughed out loud a few times. This mild contentment I had was the sweet and sour of the film. This film could've had me rolling out of my seat if the performances, writing and timing was better. It seemed like they were concerned about being too dirty. They hinted at dirty jokes in the dialogue but they never really got dirty. They could of got away with some smut if they wanted to. One thing that annoyed me was the setup for one of Dana's (the drama teacher)many heartbreaks. I saw it coming from the start of the movie. And what made it worse was that I had to wait through 60% of the movie to see it really happen. But the good of the movie was mostly in the hilarious Steve Coogan. He reminds me of a Martin Short that's always on. Hamlet 2 was a great attempt at greatness. And I can't say it isn't original. If you're an unpretentious person, I recommend that you check out Hamlet 2.

I give Hamlet 2 6 VIP passes out of 10.

Victor Penro

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

I love animated movies. I wish more adult themed animated movies would hit the big screen. On the contrary, children's animated movies are still incredibly watchable. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a must see for any Star Wars fan. Even so, I was a little apprehensive about stepping in the movie theater. But reassuringly there were a few other guys about 15 to 20 years older than me, by themselves, in the audience.

The plot time line of The Clone Wars is somewhere in between Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith. The story is mostly simple unlike the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Jabba the Hutt's son has been kidnapped and he offers a reward to whoever brings his child back alive. Anakin and his new apprentice sort out this mess during the war.

What I liked about this movie was that it understood what it wanted to accomplish. It set out to be a stunning adventure movie in the Star Wars universe and it delivered. The action in the battles was riveting. It produced a similar sensation to playing through a white knuckle shooter on a video game console. The art style of the characters took about five minutes to warm up to, but overall the visual content of the film was excellent. The tale of The Clone Wars was not too deep. The action seemed to be the main focus, but a movie fails without a decent story. So I guess the story was adequate. The action was surprisingly original for a Star Wars movie. One disappointment I had was that the movie didn't even hint at Anakin's flirtations with the dark side. But it would have been out of place with the rest of the film. Also some of the dialogue was phoned in and lame. It would have helped if the movie were a bit more serious too. But those few points aside, I was glad I saw The Clone Wars.

I give Star Wars: The Clone Wars 8 VIP passes out of 10.

Victor Penro

New Hardware

I missed a few weeks of movies because of a rough move. But soon there will be an addition to movie and music reviews. Since I've just acquired a PlayStation 3, I will be reviewing video games now. Stay tuned.

Step Brothers/starring: Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly

This Friday was a tough call for me. I love the X-Files TV show, but the last movie was lukewarm and I haven't been hearing good things about this one. As things would turn out, I saw Step Brothers anyway. The Ferrell-Reilly combination seemed like a no-brainer. The trailers reinforced the trust I had in the two's on screen chemistry. I didn't feel any remorse when the tickets were bought. Even though my mom bought them. Don't get me wrong though, I'm nothing like the ridiculously late bloomers in the movie. I have my own money.

Not surprisingly, the plot is mostly summed up in the trailers and commercials. Brennan (Will Ferrell) and Dale's (John C. Reilly) parents get married and the two funny men share a room. They hate each other at first, then after boundaries are crossed and fights, they start to like each other. Their parents are tired of both of the men living off of them and demand they get jobs. This creates more funny situations and ends hilariously.

You can see from the clips of the film that this movie has a definite theme; two grown men who live off their parents, move in with each other. To the film's credit, they stuck closely to the theme they presented to us. This movie was really funny. The only drag was the constant play on the immaturity of the two men. Other than that this film is the funniest I've seen since...since, boy it's been that long. Ferrell was a strong force in the laughter effect of this film, but John C. Reilly was almost equally as funny. They both formed this vulgar/childish/comically relevant duo that force you to laugh freely, even when you witnessed minor nuances in their performance. I knew this movie was going to be funny, but I in no way imagined it to be this funny. One warning I have is, if you plan to see it with some person without a sense of humor their silence might make you uncomfortable while you laugh your ass off to the explicit content of the movie. Or you may be surprised to find that this person does have a funny bone. Your call. I loved the flow that was there throughout most of the movie. The good jokes just kept rolling non-stop. Though it's hard to imagine two forty year old men really being that stunted in maturity, Ferrell and Reilly played the roles as believable and as funny as they could be played. Again the only thing that really annoyed me was the heavy reliance on the theme of the film. Other than that this was the best Apatow movie I've ever seen.

I give Step Brothers 7 VIP passes out of 10.

Victor Penro

Mandalorian Dance

Your favorite assassin gets flamboyant.