Triple Double

So, that review I promised on Monday. HERE IT COMES PEOPLE. And it's a 3 in 1 deal. Lucky for all of you.

The Mist

"As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up ways to kill one another."
- Ollie Weeks

I would consider myself well versed in the realm of paranormal disaster situations. I've seen/read many things about zombies and have developed a personal plan should the dead ever rise again. The Mist deals with many of the same things, just replacing zombies with some really freaky monsters that like to eat humans.

Based on a novella by Stephen King, there are plenty of themes and human tension mixed in with some of the strangest and bizarre creatures I have ever seen. Most of the film takes place with a small town under siege from a thick mist with monsters hiding in it waiting to eat them if they go outside. A large section of the community is at the grocery store restocking after a large rain storm from the night before when the mist hits and they are trapped inside.

Placing the characters inside a grocery store from the very beginning solves one of the greatest problems in a disaster of monstrous proportions right off the bat. With tons of available food, no one has to worry to hard about the basic necessities. They are all clothed, have a roof over their heads, and have plenty of food. Because the basics are taken care of, the people are free to let their minds destroy themselves while waiting and fighting off the monsters.
The monsters are the obvious villains in the film, but the true villainy takes place between the factions of people trapped together and forced to survive together. Human nature will trump paranormal beasts in terms of brutality any day.

The scenes with the monsters are some of the most nerve wracking I have ever seen. I could tell my blood pressure was rising on many occasions, culminating with one of the most intense and heartbreaking endings I have ever seen in movies.
This is a really good and thought provoking movie that was pigeon holed into being a horror flick because of the original material. And it has plenty of scares and gore. But it's not just cheap scares and flashy blood.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

"I just went from Six to Midnight!"
-Mathew the Waiter

Another great comedy from the Apatow Gang. Really, really funny with just enough absolutely over the line humor to keep me engaged.

Dealing with breakups are common fodder for movies, but they are usually from the woman's perspective. This movie tells the tale of an overly sensitive composer who gets dumped by his famous girlfriend and can't quite shake it.

Jason Segel plays the main character with just enough whiny cry baby sniveling to make him attractive to the ladies. Some of the funniest parts of the film are his facial expressions and reactions to seeing his ex girlfriend over and over.

The movie culminates with a great scene featuring the puppet Dracula musical that is a main plot point. Rumor has it that based on this scene alone, the director and writers have been asked to make the next muppet movie. Which would be awesome.
Word of warning, there is man dangle repeatedly in the film. So be prepared.

Superhero Movie

"I can't breathe, your kneeling on my balls"
- Uncle Al

When this originally came out, I had read a few reviews that this was the best spoof movie to come out in the past few years. After seeing this last night, I think that's like being called the fastest swimmer with no arms or legs. It's just not that much of a compliment.

The one thing this film had going for it was that it stayed away from lots of pop culture references that will date it years down the road. Of course this is assuming anyone watches it years from now.

I may have laughed 3 times during this record breaking 1 hour and 10 minute "movie" You can also discount 2:30 minutes out of that for the opening credits. It did succeed in parodying super hero movies, but only because that over half the scenes were shot for shot remakes of scenes from Spiderman 1 and 2 and X-men 1 and 2.

It did have a cameo by Tracy Morgan, so at least that's something.

The scary thing about these spoof movies is that they seem to always make money, which means they will also always be made. According to IMDB, the budget for this was 35 million. I can't imagine what the hell they spent it on. But, it made close to $33 million worldwide in theaters. So all it has to do is sell half a million DVD's and there is a profit for the studio. Even if they make a few million off of each of these shit films, they keep pumping it out.