Seriously Overdue Movie Reviews: The Losers, Shutter Island, How to Train Your Dragon, Splice, Get Him to the Greek

The Losers

The only thing memorable about this forgettable action flick will be how similar it is to The A-Team. Wait, I take that back - Jason Patric added some much needed energy to this otherwise bland affair with his creepy villain, a man who became scarier the less he said. The rest is all a blur filled with preening, ridiculous action and over-the-top slow-mo.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."
	Reality: "I want you to punch me as hard as you can."

LAMBScore:

Shutter Island

I get the feeling that I'm going to really regret my initial feelings on this one by the time I get around to its second viewing. I'd spent so much time focusing on how obvious the "twist" was going to be that I didn't spend enough time watching the movie with it in mind. I doubt that a renewed look at it will have me in the "OMG masterpiece!" camp, but I've underestimated the quality and rewatchability of Scorcese before, and I should have learned my lesson.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "It's in the hole!"
	Reality: "Darn tootin."

LAMBScore:

How to Train Your Dragon

If you look up "Overused Phrases" in the dictionary, you just might come across a picture of someone telling you to look up something in the dictionary when they really ought to just come out and say what they mean to. But if you look up "Charming Movie," you just might find the poster for How to Train Your Dragon. Sure, it doesn't hurt when the always self-effacing Jay Baruchel is your vocal lead, but who can resist the Scottish (Vikings)? The adorable pug-like dragon? The spunky heroine and photogenic setting? Not quite a Pixar-ian effort, but a very enjoyable way to spend 100 minutes or so.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "Darn tootin."
	Reality: "Darn tootin."

LAMBScore:

Splice

I'd have a much easier time reviewing Splice if I could figure out what it wanted to be when it grew up.

Is it a commentary on man's quest to play God and the consequences that come from such actions? Is it a metaphor for the inherent evils of man - not the scientific forays, but the natural instincts? Or is it just a creepy psychological thriller hell bent on delivering a shocking (read: ludicrous) ending?

Because you can't tell me that it's all three. It can't have its cake and eat it, too.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "Darn tootin."
	Reality: "Whatever." (mostly for the ending; it's a Darn Tootin before that)

LAMBScore:

Kick-Ass

The first half is an effective and funny spin on Spider-Man, assuming Peter Parker was never bitten by a radioactive spiders and thusly had no great responsibility to worry about. The second half puts its lead character in the back seat in favor of the Big Daddy/Hit Girl storyline, and that was just fine with this reviewer, as they had the more compelling narrative to start with. Nic Cage has rarely been funnier. The three-minute interlude in which Big Daddy tells his origin story via comic-book-come-to-life are the best of the movie - haunting, touching and beautiful, all smack bad in the middle of an otherwise crass (in a good way), hyper-violent tale.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "You're the best...around!"
	Reality: "Darn tootin."

LAMBScore:

Get Him to the Greek

Succeeding perhaps where Sacha Baron Cohen failed (?), Russell Brand effectively takes his Aldous Snow character, scene stealer extraordinaire of Forgetting Sarah Marshall fame, and expands him in GHTTG. He's still a drunken waste of a rock star, but Brand has the chops to pull off the sober scenes just as well, if not better, than the supposedly riotous ones, making a late-night, lonely call to his former lover (Rose Byrne) hilarious as well as tender. Make no mistake, though - this is first and foremost a "wacky road trip" movie, and at that it succeeds as well, though to varying degrees. Jonah Hill brings with him his own unique charms (turning it down a notch, thankfully) and Byrne is all but unrecognizable as the Winehouse-ian Spice Girl that never was.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."
	Reality: "Darn tootin."

LAMBScore:

And then...

Anyone else noticing a theme here?

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet



Shutter Island


And it happens again in Inception, which upon seeing I let out an audible chuckle, surely the only person in the theater that thought the image of Leonardo washing his face was humorous. I tried to find more examples from his previous works, but the interwebs let me down. I was able to find thousands of images from The Departed, only to learn that I was incorrect in assuming he had a face-washing moment in that film. Meanwhile, I couldn't find enough screencaps from films like Revolutionary Road, The Beach, The Aviator or Catch Me If You Can (the most likely guilty parties in my estimation) to determine if he really did have such a moment in any of them. I was, however, able to scan all of The Basketball Diaries via NWI; I'd seen it before and thought it might have one, but, while there's many a bathroom scene, I never did see a splash to the punim.

Can you recall a "Leo washes his face" scene from the actor's career? I'm oddly transfixed by this, thinking he's made it a requirement of the director, under the impression that it adds loads of character to his role.

And then...

LAMBcast #13 (for real this time)

A skeleton crew (compared to recent episodes) was on hand for the latest LAMBcast, with just three geeks sitting around talking movies instead of the usual four or five for episode #13, hosted by Nick Jobe of Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob and supported by Travis McCollum of The Movie Encyclopedia and myself. The feature discussion was Shutter Island, and of course we topped that off with a couple games of Last LAMB Standing (could Nick win a game - or even make it past the first two rounds...on his birthday...with the subject being his favorite actor?) and some Trailer Talk.

As usual, the music, as provided royalty-free by Kevin MacLeod's Incompetech website, is the bomb. Big thanks to Kevin for providing this service.

You can find us on iTunes; just go to the Podcasts section and search for "LAMBcast." And hey - while you're on iTunes, who don't you go ahead and either rate the LAMBcast or write a review of it. Better yet, do both! It'll help us get noticed by the overlords at Apple and earn worldwide fame...or something like that.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, we'd love to hear them - you might even get a mention on a future show.

And then...

TGITDNMAR (2/19/10)

It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.

Just one wide release, but keep an eye out for your local arthouse theater - with any luck, you might be getting a chance to see the Oscar-nominated shorts in the coming weeks. Thanks to local (and ever-expanding) chain Harkins for playing the live-action and animated ones this weekend. We hope to catch at least one of the programs.

Finally, there seem to be more movies I have at least a passing interest in seeing then we might have time for. On the potenial docket: The White Ribbon, The Wolfman, The Last Station, the shorts, and the two listed below. Also, if you happen to see Saint John of Las Vegas, I'd like to hear your thoughts - I've seen mostly rotten reviews for the Steve Buscemi-starring character piece, but in today's paper, there was a 4-star one. Color me confused.

Shutter Island
This sub-genre doesn't exactly thrill me, and I'm not near the Scorcese nut that some people are (don't get me wrong, he's great and all, I just don't worship the ground he directs on), but I must admit that as this has gotten closer to opening, my desire to see it has ticked up a bit as well. Helping matters (a lot) is the neverending list of great (mostly character) actors involved (Levine, Lynch, von Sydow, Kingsley, Clarkson, Koteas). It also helps that there's apparently a shocker ending that must be seen to be believed. Even more incentive - it's the topic of the next LAMBcast, to be recorded tomorrow.

Well, all that and I just love the part where Sir Ben holds his palms opposite each other, spreads them apart slowly and states, "It's as if she evaporated, straight through the walls."
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 81%

The Ghost Writer
Though I was aware of it, I hadn't even watched the trailer for this until earlier today. All I knew previously was Roman Polanski and Ewan McGregor were involved. So obviously not much interest overall. Then, just before seeing the trailer, I saw that Kim Catrall was prominently involved. Ugh.

That's all changed. Though he seems to rarely display much range, I'm a big fan of Pierce Brosnan, especially when he does step out of the "suave guy" role (though he perfected it not in any Bond flick, but the excellent caper remake The Thomas Crown Affair). See The Matador and then tell me he wouldn't be great in pulpier fare. Here, he's playing a possibly murderous writer, and I relish the chance to see him play a villainous character. Also on board is the always-excellent and underused Olivia Williams, last seen being underutilized again in An Education.

But even after just one viewing, the thing that got me the most was the look of the movie; sharp, clean, modern, and just a tap creepy. I have high hopes for this being a memorable thriller.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing: 70%

And then...