Fat Guys On ...

Be Kind, Please Rewind: A couple of losers band together to make cheap and silly movies on the fly. No, not Chris Durant and James Faulk with “Ilegal Smile.” It’s some other silly movie.

Faulk: Walking out of the theater after seeing this, I had the itch to go out and make another movie. If Jack Black and Mos Def can do it, why can’t I?

The trailer presents this as a laugh-out-loud comedy. While there were comedic moments, and a general sense of silliness pervaded the whole thing, overall it was a much more serious film about the real value of art, both to the individual and the community.

Hat’s off especially to Jack Black here. He is the kind of actor that can easily become a caricature of himself, one locked into roles that fit people’s conception of him.

While his character in this movie is not too far of a departure from the normal Jack Black role, there are moments of seriousness that I think may help him break into more serious roles.

Rating: XL

And on the radio?

Posted by James Faulk at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As a kid, the thrill of hearing recorded voices played back at high-speed — or through the filter of helium intoxication — was wondrous. Now, not so much.

Alvin, Simon and Theodore gravely disappointed this former Chipmunks junky. Not because they betrayed the OG version, but because now I lack the lack of critical thinking skills. Ah, the loss of childhood innocence.

My main crtitique, I suppose, is that computers had to be used — or back in the day, old fashioned animation — to make the chipmunks talk. Surely some combination of tongue splitting, genetic engineering, and corporal conditioning could have taught three real live chipmunks to sing for all they were worth. Instead, we're left with that digital blur that leaves so little to the imagination.

Rating: Doesn't even qualify for a small.

Posted by James Faulk at 09:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I saw this Will Smith vehicle with — and at the urging of — The Wife. We both walked out of the theater partially entertained, and partially undertained. The Wife, at least, had the pleasure of admiring the Fresh Prince's newly collagen-filled muscles; and while I'm at least 52 percent sure the biceps were not CG, I just couldn't be jealous of a guy who used to tour with "Jazzy Jeff."

What it had: Will Smith on steroids like Linda Blair in "Terminator"; the great-great-great-great-great-great-great grand daughter of Rin Tin Tin in her first starring role; unoriginal Zombies; Will Smith, mouthing the dialogue to "Shrek" and welling up with manly "I'm the last man standing" kinds of tears; and a heart-rending, but tragically missplaced, copter crash that kills some folks viewers just don't want dead.

What it lacked: Explanation of some necessary Zombie science — were they, like, evolving? Were they becoming more intelligent over time? Were they becoming more resistant to sun light? I definitely need to know loads more about the lanky, pale-faced and shirtless Zombies that wander the streets of New York City like a methamphetamine epidemic.

Continue reading "The Fresh Prince is Legend" »

Posted by James Faulk at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Unlike Faulk, I had no idea of what the movie was about when I went in, not even knowing it's a series of books. I was pleasantly surprised and so were my kids.

With today's CG effects and all the bells and whistles that are becoming crutches in Hollywood, it's probably easy to make decent fantasy flicks. The acting was solid, I mean it had Sam Elliott in it and that's enough for me. But is it a requirement to put Ian McKellan and Christopher Lee in fantasy movies now? These guys should take some time off.

I like the whole daemon aspect of the Golden Compass universe, but how come no one had a daemon like, oh I don't know, an elephant or a giraffe or maybe even a whale or something?

And, as with everything else now-a-days, there's controversy that I heard the filmmakers tried to tone down.Still, it's pretty obvious that the Magistarium, or whatever it was called, is the Catholic Church.

And then there's going to be more. Can't anyone just make one movie anymore? Or has greed really taken a hold of that bastion of ethics and good-feeling we know to be Hollywood?

Rating: L/T

Posted by Chris Durant at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)