Hello again! I just got back into town, after spending the weekend down in NY with my Mom and the family. I am very tired now from the drive, but wanted to blog briefly so as not to lose another whole day.
This weekend, in addition to seeing the family and nailing down my plans for grad school, I saw two new movies - Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Wedding Crashers. Both were fun movies, but I must recommend one over the other.
Charlie and The Chocolate Factory was good. The production value was very high, and many of the characters (both main and supporting) were exceptional in their parts. Tim Burton is an absolute genius, and his directing style seems to perfectly fit the style of the story that Roald Dahl wrote. The movie was only soured for me in terms of plot. Without saying too much, roughly 2/3 of the way through the movie the plot deviates sharply from both the original Gene Wilder movie and the book that both films are based upon. I really don't want to go into too much detail here, as I think anyone who is reading this would probably like to see it for themselves. I will just say that I would have gone a different way with the latter part of the movie, and leave it at that.
Wedding Crashers is much different. First of all, let me say that I didn't really look into this movie much before I went to see it. I wasn't expecting much - I just wanted to see a comedy with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. I just assumed it was a PG13 affair, with some raunchy humor, and of course some great Christopher Walken bits. Was I wrong! First off, the movie is rated R, and let me say there is plenty of T&A in the movie, right from the get go. The humor is over the top, but almost always on the mark. And, the plot, while a little lacking in the middle, is helped immensely by the improvisation I'm sure both main actors used. I was laughing my ass off through much of the movie. And, as a final little teaser, I just want to say that there is an excellent cameo towards the end. I won't give away who, but will say that the cameo totally seals the deal on this funny, funny movie.
I recommend both movies. But, I recommend Wedding Crashers more than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I always like to see matinees, to save the money on ticket prices, but will say this - Charlie is much better if you are paying matinee price to see it, but Wedding Crashers would be a good bet regardless. Until tomorrow . . .
1 comment:
So, I saw Wedding Crashers last night. I have to say that the first third of the movie was HI-larious!! I almost hurt myself laughing. But, the story totally fell apart for me halfway through, and then felt about 45 minutes too long. I just can't take those total leaps of logic and common sense that current filmakers ask of me. I think it is just total laziness on their part. Why make the characters have real motivation when you can just throw them together and say "see, we're in love". Especially since the Vince Vaugh romantic relationship was sooo funny and sooo well developed. I did think the end cameo was fab, though.
All in all, I would watch Vince and Owen eat cheerios because they are that funny and have such amazing chemistry and timing. But at the end of the day, this was no Old School, and I was really, really hoping it would be.
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