Movie Monday

It has become a weekly tradition for Tim and I to make the short drive over to the shopping center each Tuesday (better known as Cheap Tuesdays) and rent movies and order pizza.  Given that the movies are discounted to $2 each on Tuesdays, even the new releases, we always end up with more movies than it is probably healthy to watch in one week.  At any rate, here are some reviews of the movies that we watched this past week.  I will give each one a rating out of 10 and write a short blurb about what I thought of it (except for the first one because it was just too ridiculous to keep the review short).  I know very, very little about film so don't be surprised if these reviews are a little less than professional.

1. Red Riding Hood  (4/10)


This movie was so bad that it was actually kind of funny.  Don't get me wrong, it had its entertaining aspects.  And for $2 (of Tim's money) I don't really feel like I was cheated out of too much time or money.  The movie had plenty of beautiful imagery from the weird spiky trees to the neat little wooden houses.  It also seemed to be always snowing in this movie but nobody seemed to feel it since they all wore short sleeves anyways.  There was little to no character development in the movie.  There were two leading men, both equally hot: the dark, mysterious, poverty stricken woodcutter, Peter, who was Valerie's not-so-secret childhood love and the rich blonde blacksmith, Henry, who Valerie was engaged to by choice of her parents.  Why being a blacksmith made Henry so rich, I will never understand.  It was obvious that, as the viewer, I was supposed to be rooting for Peter for the simple fact that he was the poor one.  But he seemed to dwell on his poverty way too much and instead of seeming sad and haunted, he mostly just came off as a total asshole.  Sweet, caring, wealthy Henry, on the other hand, seemed like a much better choice despite the fact that he really needed to grow a pair.  Here is a list of some of the many things about this movie that I found stupid:


1.  Both Henry and Peter got stabbed pretty thoroughly at some point during the movie.  I guess these guys have special healing powers that they forgot to mention because after about 5 seconds of laying on the ground, they were both able to hop right back up and continue their vendetta against the werewolf.


2.  The scene where Valerie had a dream about her grandmother pretty much just made me go WTF.  The producers managed to shove in the whole "what big teeth you have" bit without it making any sense in the context of the movie whatsoever.


3.  The whole thing about the dad being the werewolf and wanting his daughters to run away with him was just stupid.  It was a very badly thrown together justification for slaughtering a village and a very unsatisfying conclusion to the movie.


The movie did manage to keep me guessing about the identity of the werewolf but only because it deliberately pointed fingers at every other character in the movie except the one that it actually was.  In conclusion, if you are bored and have nothing better to do, then watch this movie.  It will give you some pretty scenery, a few laughs, and lots of WTFs.



2. Paul (6/10)

This movie was pretty cute and moderately funny.  The characters were very likable, especially Paul the alien.  The plot was a bit cliche but I'm pretty sure this was deliberate.  Kristen Wiig, as always, was a comical genius.  I think that, without her, the film would have been a little lackluster.  Overall, I think that Paul is worth watching on a rainy day if you don't have much else to do, but I wouldn't really consider it a must-see.

3. Megamind (8/10)

Megamind was a clever twist on the classic tale of good and evil.  I thought that the development of the main characters was quite well done.  The movie was witty, entertaining, and very well-animated.  The plot was well-paced if a little predictable.  If you are a fan of animated movies and enjoyed Up, then you should definitely check this one out.

4. Horrible Bosses (7/10)

This movie was a fun and light-hearted comedy.  Jennifer Anniston was great as the sex-crazed dentist.  The plot was pretty far-fetched but the movie flowed pretty smoothly from one scene to the next.  I thought the movie was well-cast and had some unexpected twists.  My favorite scenes were the ones involving "Motherfucker" Jones played by Jamie Foxx.  It was not particularly intelligent and certainly won't win any awards, but it's definitely funny, and a must-see for fans of comedies like The Hangover and American Pie.

Well, that's all for now.  I hope you liked my movie reviews!  I will try to post more each week.  Take a moment to tell me about some good movies that you have seen lately.

Cheers,

Amanda