When in Rome DVD review

I haven't written a DVD review in a long time, but When in Rome is so bad, it deserves a Hollywood sized reboot. My wife and I watched it and it was bad, really really bad.

When in Rome stars Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel and is directed by the god awful Mark Steven Johnson.

The movie is about a girl who is stuck with a curse of multiple men falling in love with her against their will. But she falls in love with a man, who may or may not really love her... because of the curse of course. Get it? Got it? Bad!



I don't know where to start. Every aspect of the movie was bad. The story is stupid, not even good enough to be in the terrible romantic-comedy genre. The acting is so bad, so unfunny, which came as a surprise to be honest with you. I like both Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Duhamel (Transformers), and neither delivered. Not only did they fail, so did all of their co-stars. The supporting cast is awful, annoying, unfunny and flat out forgettable.

The director, oh boy the director. Mr. Mark Steven Johnson. It took awhile after the worthless Ghost Rider to get another gig huh? Well Johnson probably wont get too many more chances in Hollywood if he keeps pumping out the same worthless junk. He does nothing to help this abysmal story. The pacing is off, the timing is off, poor casting, editing; really though, this movie is THAT bad.

I always love posting these kind of reviews for movies I hated, because I'll get an email from ONE fan to defend the movie. On this, I CHALLENGE someone, anyone, to come up with a reason why this movie doesn't deserve to be obliterated by me. I'm telling you all, I did not laugh one, single, time. Oooouf! I want my 2 hours back.

Tony: Extract review

Hello boys and girls in movieland. Today's review is that of Extract, the new film by Mike Judge. Movie fans know Judge as the writer/director the cult classic, Office Space. Extract is similar in that it focuses its attention on a workplace environment.

Jason Batemen plays a factory owner, Joel and is going through a mid-life crisis of sorts. He's not getting playtime at home with his wife (Kristen Wiig), bad advice by his drug addicted bartender friend (Ben Affleck), has to deal with a lawsuit from an employee who lost their testicle on the job, and an obsession with new temp, played by Mila Kunis. Whoa, a lot going on in the life of the factory owner.

The above mentioned characters are only the beginning. There are 5 to 10 factory workers that are hilarious in their own right. "The guy in the band" that plugs their "next show" as often as he can... it turns out to be in someones front yard. "The racist old, white lady"... accuses every Hispanic in the factory of stealing something of hers. "The goofy general manager" who can't remember anyone's name so he calls them all the same thing. The acting/casting is amazing. The supporting cast holds its own where they could have been flushed out.

The story was great, made sense, and challenges Joel to overcome adversity. There is a small "twist" if you will, but it was hilarious... remember call waiting, you'll know what I mean. The only negative thing as far as the story has to do with the hotel scene. There's a hotel scene with Bateman and Kunis that doesn't need to be in the movie, in fact it takes away from the story. Small negative for a movie I loved.

Judge has till got it. Office Space and even Idiocracy are classics, because of him. He has an ability to write off-beat, dark toned comedy with a human touch. The characters are the true highlight of this movie, which wont take you long to see. They are so well written, so down to earth, you feel for them all. I really loved this movie. The heart is there and so too was the acting. Go see it, you wont be disappointed. Over at rottentomatos.com, the movie is holding at 70%; not bad considering people are not going to "get it". A big thumbs up from Tony at AtD!

Quickie: "Zombieland" Red Band Trailer!

Holy wow this movie is gonna be freakin sweet.

The horror/comedy stars Woody Harrelson ("No Country for Old Men"), Jesse Eisenberg ("Adventureland"), Emma Stone ("Superbad"), and Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine").

Cool. Awesome cast.

The story is pretty self-explanatory after watching the trailer below, courtesy of comingsoon.net.

Caution, it is a red band trailer, and includes bad language, nudity, graphic violence and tons of blood.

Needless to say: Enjoy.

Guest Review: Albert D: "The Proposal"

After seeing the previews to this chick flick, and Friday night rolling around, I had to choose between either this movie or “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” and girlfriend demanded we had to watch “The Proposal.”
I’ve always liked Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, and when I got the hint that they would be paired up in a comedy chick flick I gave in pretty quickly to the girlfriend’s demands.

The movie’s plot is basic. Sandra Bullock plays Margaret Tate and Ryan Reynolds plays Andrew Paxton. They both work for a book publishing company. Margaret is the head editor. She’s the typical in-your-face, “I-will-fire-you-for-breathing-too-hard” kind of boss, and demands perfection from all of her employees at all times. This includes her personal assistant Andrew, who spends every waking moment on call to his boss’ needs to make sure every single one of her demands are met on time and without fuss. Margaret gets notice that she’s about to be deported back to Canada for an expired visa, and blackmails her assistant Andrew into marrying her so she can stay in the country for good. Andrew uses this opportunity to make a few demands himself, which forces their relationship to flip around, giving Andrew the upper hand, and he begins to take control of things.

To make their marriage seem more legitimate to authorities, they decide to take a trip to see Andrew’s family in the great state of Alaska, in which they have to spend the weekend together to learn everything about each other. Let the games begin! From here on out the real movie begins and it is pure, non-stop comedy.

The casting in this movie couldn’t have been any better. I really didn’t have a doubt in my mind that Ryan Reynolds was going to own the comedic part of this movie, but I was dead wrong. It was all Sandra Bullock. Her performance reminds me of the movie she did a while back called “Two Weeks Notice” with Hugh Grant. This is the same kind of witty comedy you’d expect from her. The movie also stars Betty White. Yep, that’s right; the Golden Girl is back in the house, who I heard “steals the movie,” and I’ll back that statement up a hundred percent. And if you’re fan of “The Office” on NBC, be sure to check out Oscar Nuñez. He doesn’t have many lines in the movie, but you’re going to laugh your butt off at the madness of his role.

This movie is going to go down as an instant classic in my book, the kind of movie that you could see over and over, I personally want to see it again just to hear all the lines I missed from everyone laughing so loud. All and all, good stuff, go see it.

Quickie: Matt: "The Hangover" Review

Just a quick rant & review for you guys.

Now when it comes to comedies, I don't like comparing one movie to the other. I hate the review that includes "funnier than..." or "not as funny as...". Comedy reviews should just point out if the movie is good or not and funny or not. Right? So here we go.

I saw "The Hangover" recently and it's really great fun.
The concept of a few friends going to Vegas and getting so smashed that they don't even remember what happened the night before is classic, and the jokes stemming from this are the funniest in the movie.
3 friends wake up in a trashed hotel room to find chickens roaming freely, empty cans of booze everywhere, broken furniture and even a live tiger in the bathroom!

They can't find their 4th friend that went with them and they have to try to piece their night back together to find him.In addition to the ingenius plot, this movie has a funny, unexpected story line coupled with some really good comedic performances by the entire cast, especially the always hysterical Zack Galifianakis.

I also feel as if there are so many subtle jokes thrown in there that it may need repeated viewings to catch them all.
We got a cult classic on our hands, people.
Definitely check this one out, preferably with a large group of friends.

-Matt