Unstoppable

Denzel Washington stars in this movie; that should be enough cause to rent. But for the sake of this blog, I'll say more. :)

My first concern was that it was a Denzel Washington movie involving trains not very long after Pelham 123. I knew the movies had different plots, but I was pleasantly surprised by how different the movies really are (most importantly, for me, Denzel's role). Rosario Dawson's character is closest to Denzel's in Pelham 123 and Chris Pine's character ends up being the [biggest] hero.

The movie had all the expected suspense and action, but what was really eating at me throughout was how the 'corporate machine' wanted to handle the situation. The most unnerving part was the feeling that it was probably too accurate.

You know, I'm really not sure what else to say about this movie except "go see it." I almost want to mark this a buy, but I know most people wouldn't enjoy it more than once because they would already know the ending. So I'm calling it a rent, but you should probably put it near the top of your list.

Social Network

I watched this movie because a friend told me it was really good. I enjoyed the beginning where the kid is talking really fast, but he's being pretty mean. It was a little like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory and I was imagining all the Facebook fans who went to see the movie and didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Shoot, I'm not sure if they were even keeping up because I was working just to hear every word he was saying. I understood some of it, but I've never known much about that part of computers.

Overall though, while there are worse ways to spend a couple hours. It was a good performance and the movie is enjoyable, I'm just pretty far from Facebook's biggest fans. Actually, I was one of the few who walked away liking Facebook less than before. It seems most people side with the main character, but I think he pretty severely betrayed his friends who helped him build Facebook. But most of those billionaire hotshots have walked all over their partners, so maybe this Mark guy isn't that much different. I say, just watch it like any other story than as a documentary.

Outsourced

I decided to watch this because I've been enjoying NBC's TV series based on this and because I could stream it on Netflix. I only made it about 40 minutes deep before I stopped the movie because I was too tired. However, I got a pretty good idea of what to expect and noticed some major differences between the movie and the TV show.

The movie seemed to work very hard to show the viewer what it would really be like to be dropped into India with little preparation. The TV show feels like an American capsule with some Indian decorations outside the office. There are some parts where they talk about how the food is different, some language and mannerism differences, and one episode with a touch of religious/cultural differences. The movie on the other hand has the main character about as lost as he would be on an alien planet - all the way down to a strange toilet. Then there's the office itself. In the movie it looks like something straight out of the 80s while the TV show has very up-to-date tech. Which do you think is more accurate?

I think it would be best to combine the humor of the TV series with the truth and reality of the movie. If I had to choose though, I'd probably stick with the TV show; but that's only because the character Rajiv is so much better on the TV series and the TV series also has Charlie - a character I'm not sure exists in the movie (I'd have to watch more to find out, but it wouldn't be the same without the same actor).

I Love You Philip Morris

I saw a commercial for this claiming it was one of Jim Carrey's best movies. Being a Jim Carrey fan and hearing that claim, it was hard to not watch this despite the main plot of the movie. It certainly wasn't fun watching two men kiss for me, but there were some funny moments. It is Jim Carrey, after all. I've seen Carrey's co-star, Ewan McGregor, in a few things and that was another reason I decided to watch. Very few moments of his role remain in memory.

I really only have one thing to say about this film - unless you're a die hard Jim Carrey fan or you enjoy watching man-on-man kissing, you can live without seeing this. You're not missing any Jim Carrey you haven't seen elsewhere. Matter of fact, I now object to the claim I heard in the commercial - you can find better Jim Carrey elsewhere. If you want funny, go to Ace Ventura; Liar, Liar; or Yes Man. If you want drama, go to Eternal Sunshine, Truman Show, or Man on the Moon.

Oh, and I would also like to add that I liked that Hollywood left no possibility of impressing the viewer that either of these men were turned gay because of their time in prison. Hollywood is almost always terrible at portraying what prison is really like and this was one, itty-bitty step in the right direction.

The Other Guys

I really didn't like this movie. I'm surprised by that though, because I've enjoyed everything I've seen Mark Wahlberg in before this. Granted, his performance kept this movie from being completely terrible (Dwayne Johnson might have helped too if his character didn't die almost instantly in the movie), but it just wasn't enough. I may have missed a lot of buddy-cop-movie references, but even so I wasn't laughing much and this is supposed to be an action-comedy.

In short, a waste of however many minutes they let this movie go on for.