The Pacifier
After my wife and I went to Hitchhiker's Guide... we went out to eat and then went back to the theater for another film. Our first "double feature" if you will. Our second choice was The Pacifier. We've both wanted to see this one ever since we saw the trailer for it. Brief summary is that Vin Diesel (xXx, Knockaround Guys) is a Navy SEALS Spec-Ops officer and ends up being in charge of watching over a gov't scientist's children when their mother has to go to Switzerland to retrieve the contents of a safe deposit box.
Visuals: Only a 3 here. Very basic stuff. Not really any dramatic cinematography or special effects. Just your average movie going experience as far as visuals go.
Sound: Sound is worth 3 as well. Nothing really sticks out in the sound department. Some of the dialogue is very cheesy, but that's to be expeceted with this type of movie considering the target audience.
Story: Well, I'd say this is worth 3.5. I take into consideration that I am older than the target audience here. I try to imagine that I were a kid here, and the rating would go up to a 4.5. If I had children, I can foresee them REALLY enjoying this one. It's along the lines of Kindergarten Cop and Mr. Nanny, but better. And yes, I've seen both of those as well.
Entertainment Value: Overall, a 3.5 for this film. Again, if you have children, definitely go to this movie or rent it when it comes out. Your children will really enjoy this one, I'm sure of it. It's not too painful to watch it as an adult either. See it at the cheapseats if you can. I recommend it.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Well, I went to this one yesterday afternoon. I found it to be quite entertaining. There were a few things that were annoying to me, but overall, I enjoyed it. I have not read the book, so I can not nit-pick any small details that were left out, or exaggerated, or anything along that line. So... that may be a good thing for me. If you're familiar with the book, then you know what to expect of the movie's plotline. If not, here's a small summary for ya. The story follows a British man, Arthur Dent, and his adventures. Following a crazy morning of lying in front of a bulldozer to protest the destruction of his house, finding out his best friend is an alien, and being airlifted by an alien spacecraft to avoid being blown up with the rest of the planet Earth, he ventures all over the galaxy, rescues his love interest, gets answers to his questions from an interactive encyclopedia, finds out the ultimate answer of life, and has lunch at the end of the galaxy. Not neccessarily in that order.
Visuals: I give visuals a 4. There were some very cool special effects in the movie and most of them were believable. I really liked how the Hitchhiker's Guide consisted of a bunch of Flash animations. Good stuff. There were only a few moments where I was thinking "Oh, that's a special effect and you can tell."
Sound: This gets a 4 also. You definitely have to watch this movie in a surround sound setting. There's one point that sticks out in my mind as awesome. There's something falling, and as the characters are walking away from the camera, you hear the falling object crash behind you. Great stuff. Very subtle, but great none-the-less.
Story: I give this a 4 also. Since I've never read the book, I can't base my judgement on details that were left out. I've read reviews that say the movie sucked because "such-and-such" was left out, or that "so-and-so" wasn't cast right, or what have you. Well, I enjoyed the casting with one exception. That being the President of the Galaxy. He was very annoying to me and there were aspects about him that I didn't understand. Well, he was supposed to be annoying, so that's ok. They cast the part correctly then, right?
Entertainment Value: Overall, a 4. As you can see this movie is above average in my opinion. It isn't an "OH MY GOSH I'M GONNA RUSH OUT AND BUY THAT THE DAY IT COMES OUT" kind of movie, but I wasn't sorry for spending the money to see it in the theater. Well worth it.
Meet the Fockers
So... the last film we rented this past weekend was Meet the Fockers. If you've seen Meet the Parents, you already know what to expect from this movie. Except this time Gaylord's parents, Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) and Roz Focker (Barbra Streisand), are in the mix. Since his parents are involved, you can only imagine what sort of things they come up with to embarass Gaylord, aka Greg. This is pretty much what the movie consists of.
Visuals: As far as visuals go, I say 3.5. There's really nothing special about the visuals in this movie either, but if you pay attention to detail, you'll be able to appreciate some great artwork that can be seen in the Focker house. I don't know who the artists were/are, but I do know that I liked a lot of the pieces/decorations that were in the house.
Sound: This gets a 3. It's just your basic music at times when it's called for type of sound. Nothing special, nothing fantastic. Fits the movie.
Story: Here I give a 3.5. Some of the events that take place are quite funny, but nothing that made me roll on the floor laughing. I found myself amused during the movie, but nothing over the top. My favorite scene would have to be Gaylord's speech at the party. Something that Jack Byrnes (Robert DeNiro) does to him before hand makes it very truthful. But, I'd have to say that I like the first of these two films better.
Special Features: I only watched the outtakes as far as special features go, so I can't give a fair rating on this one. For a full list of bonus material, visit the official site and click on bonus material.
Entertainment Value: Overall value of the film according to moi? I say 3.5. Just above average, but nothing really all that special about it. Would I own it? Maybe. I own Meet the Parents, and I might just buy Meet the Fockers to have them sitting side-by-side in my collection, if I can pick it up on sale or something like that.
Spanglish
The second film my wife and I watched was Spanglish. It's about a hispanic woman Flor (Paz Vega) and her daughter Christina. They move from Mexico to LA. Flor works two jobs, but as Christina matures Flor realizes that she needs to quit her night job to make sure her daughter stays out of trouble. The job she finds is as a housekeeper for the Clasky family. At first there's misunderstandings because of the language barrier between Flor and the Clasky's. As Flor gets more involved with the Clasky's, she decides to learn the english language.
Visuals: I give this a 2.5. It's very average as far as visuals go. There aren't any moments of wonderful cinematography that stand out in my mind. There are no crazy special effects. It's just a normal feeling movie. Nothing extraordinaire about the visuals.
Sound: Only a 3 here. There are no incredible things about the sound of this movie either. There's music in the background when there should be, there's silence when it's appropriate. Just as with the visuals, nothing special here.
Story: I give the story a 3.5. I really liked how it flowed in the beginning of the film, but as it got into the middle it tended to drag a bit. I also enjoyed the overall feel of the film at the beginning, but not as much as it went on. I should also note that there are some great moments of comedy as well. I especially like the scene with Christina confronting John Clasky (Adam Sandler) about the deal for the glass. You'll have to watch it to see what I mean.
Special Features: I wasn't able to watch any of the bonus material for Spanglish, so I can't give a rating here. If you wish to see a full list of special features, visit the official website.
Entertainment Value: Well, overall I say 3. It's just an average romantic comedy, if you ask me. Nothing special about it. Will I buy it? Even though I'm an Adam Sandler fan, I have to say no. I most likely will not buy this one.
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
To anyone who cares,
This past weekend my wife and I rented 3 movies, and we've finally finished watching all of them. The first was Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. The basic plot rundown is three incredibly intelligent children are told that their parents have just died in a disastrous fire. They have inherited an enormous fortune which cannot be used until the oldest, Violet, is of age. Until that time, they are to stay with their "closest" relative, Count Olaf (Jim Carrey). They discover very quickly that the Count is only after the fortune for himself. The rest of the film is filled with antics of Count Olaf doing anything he can to acquire the fortune.
Visuals: A 4.5 is well deserved here. I really enjoyed the look and feel of the film. All the different areas that are travelled to present their own mood. The visuals give you the same feeling you get from a crazy Tim Burton film.
Sound: As far as sound goes, I'd say a 4. The musical score is very fitting to this film. It doesn't stand out from the rest of the film, and if you've read my other reviews you know that I believe that's a good thing. The sound of this movie fits right in with the visuals as well.
Story: As far as story goes, I only give this a 3.5. I enjoyed the smoothness of Jude Law's narration as Lemony Snicket. But there are some weak points in the story. The reason I say this is because there were times where I was wondering how certain things happened and they were never explained. I enjoyed the actions of the characters more than I did the actual storyline of the movie.
Special Features: Based on what I watched, I give the bonus material a 2. Keep in mind that I rented this movie, so this is based on the one disc version of the dvd. I'm sure the 2 disc set is much better in this catagory. With that stated, I watched the deleted scenes, the outtake reel, and a very small part of a featurette called "Making an Evil Character" or something like that. I liked the outtakes because it's basically Jim Carrey being his crazy self. The deleted scenes were very boring. I should note that there is also a feature commentary with director Brad Silberling, but based on what I saw of him in the small amount of the featurette I watched, I have a feeling that the commentary would be very dull.
Entertainment Value: Overall entertainment value... hmmm... I say a 3.5. The visuals of this film were definitely my favorite part of the whole thing. My wife enjoyed the movie more than I did, and I don't know if we'll end up owning it. I wouldn't mind receiving it as a gift for Christmas or something. But I don't think I'll go out and spend $20 on it myself. Worth renting just for the visuals.
