Movie Review: BRIDESMAIDS

BRIDESMAIDS

2011
R

Bridesmaids is a 2011 comedy directed by Paul Feig that centers around one woman's struggle to be her best friend's maid of honor. When Annie's (Kristen Wiig) lifelong friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) asks her to be the maid of honor at her wedding, she immediately accepts the offer. When she starts to meet the rest of the bridesmaids at the engagement party, however, Annie starts to realize that the path to Lillian's wedding might be a bit more interesting than she had originally imagined. Rounding out the bridal party are innocent newlywed Becca (Ellie Kemper), bitter mother Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey), Lillian's soon-to-be sister-in-law Megan (Melissa McCarthy) and Lillian's apparent new "best friend" Helen (Rose Byrne), who believes she should have been chosen as the maid of honor. The tension between Annie and Helen begins almost immediately and permeates throughout all of Annie's duties as the maid of honor. To add to the problems, Annie's personal life starts to spiral out of control. Her bakery went out of business, forcing her boyfriend to leave her. She offers herself physically to a man who doesn't reciprocate her deeper feelings. All of her problems make it all the more difficult for her to accept that Lillian is moving onto the next chapter of her life and just might be leaving her behind.

At first glance, I didn't think that Bridesmaids was going to be my type of movie. With a female-dominated cast that delves into much of the women's side of the wedding process, I wasn't quite sure whether there would be anything to which I could relate. However, when the film started to garner rave reviews from critics, I figured I'd give it a shot when I had the opportunity. That chance came today, and I can say that I was delightfully pleased with what was brought to the screen.

The story is a rather simple one, but there's something about the screenplay that just amps it up. We do get a bit of raunchy humor - that seems to be what sets Bridesmaids apart from other female-centric romantic comedies - mostly at the expense of Melissa McCarthy's character, and I think she's the one that drew me into the story the most. However, written within the raunch was a story with a lot of genuine laughs and definitely a lot of heart. There's definitely a very human element throughout the entirety of this film, and it all culminates in some of the final resolutions towards the end. I have to give screenwriters Annie Mumolo and Wiig herself a lot of credit for finding a perfect balance between all of those different facets of humor.

The cast is also superb and should definitely be applauded. I've been a Kristen Wiig fan for a while now, finding her quirky humor to be rather appealing and refreshing. She wrote her character's part exceptionally well and in a way that only she may have been able to pull off successfully. It's definitely Wiig's vehicle, and her presence is so strong that it's hard to deny the fact that she should now be considered a bona fide movie star. I'm also a bit of a Rose Byrne fan, and she does extremely well with her role as our main antagonist. From the first moment she appears on-screen, she oozes this personality that's so easy to hate, and that makes her all the more effective. The verbal sparring between Wiig and Byrne throughout the film is comic gold and should be viewed as such. I can't really say enough about the rest of the cast, especially the bridesmaids themselves. McCarthy brings the most outright laughter, but Kemper and McLendon-Covey definitely throw in a couple of brilliant one-liners as well. I'd also like to commend Chris O'Dowd, who works as the most prevalent male character in the film. In a movie dominated by women, he definitely holds his own.

At the end of the day, Bridesmaids may not be a movie that every guy is going to enjoy. Still, it definitely has quite a few parallels to "guy" films like 2009's The Hangover, and I personally found quite a bit to laugh at. If you're in the right mood, Bridesmaids can definitely be one of the betters comedies you've seen in a while, so I personally think you should give it a view if you've got the chance.

Movie Review Summary:

Grade: A-
1.5 Thumbs Up

Movie Review: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

2011
PG-13

X-Men: First Class is a 2011 superhero action film directed by Matthew Vaughn that serves as a prequel to the 2000 film X-Men and its subsequent sequels. The film opens in the mid-1940s, giving a little exposition for our two male leads: Charles Xavier (to be played by James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (to be played by Michael Fassbender). We then fast forward nearly twenty years to the early 1960s, where Erik has spent the majority of his life looking to avenge his mother's death by the hand of a man named Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). Meanwhile, Charles is finishing his doctoral dissertation about genetic mutation in humans while living with his seemingly-adopted "sister" and friend Raven (Jennifer Lawrence). On the night of his dissertation presentation, Charles meets a woman named Moira MacTaggart (Rose Byrne), who tells him of a matter of major security: Shaw is dealing with the Russians in order to start what looks to be a third World War. Charles and Raven accompany Moira to stop Shaw's plan and meet Erik in the process. After learning that each of them is a mutant, the three agree to join forces with the CIA in order to put a stop to Shaw's plans. By recruiting a number of mutants from around the United States, Charles and Erik assemble a crackpot team to do battle against Shaw and his loyal followers, all in the hopes of preventing a massive nuclear war that could wipe out the face of humanity.

When I first heard about plans to produce a prequel to the X-Men franchise, I can honestly say that I was a little unnerved. I had never been a huge fan of the X-Men films, but I had thoroughly enjoyed all of them (the Wolverine spin-off included, if only for Hugh Jackman's charisma). As the cast list slowly started to trickle through the grapevine, however, I found myself becoming more and more anxious for the film's release. With stellar actors like McAvoy, Fassbender and Bacon headlining the cast, I assumed we'd be in for a pleasant treat. Still, taking a story back to its roots can be a daunting task, and I've seen some "origin" stories simply crash and burn. Fortunately for us, First Class is, as one of my readers so blatantly put it, "a first class movie."

Let's start with the acting since I've already mentioned it a little bit. McAvoy proves to be the perfect fit for a young Charles Xavier, in my opinion. He brings the grace and the attitude that Patrick Stewart brought to the role in previous films, and he doesn't forget to turn on the charm now and again. It's a different look at Xavier, however. We get to see him as a young man who, despite all of his ambitions, desperately wants to fit into society as a normal individual. Fassbender was an equally good choice to take over the role of a young Magneto. His character is benefited by one of the larger character arcs in the film, giving Fassbender the opportunity to strut his stuff a little bit more than the rest. Although his Irish accent starts to slip out a little bit towards the end of the movie, he mostly stays on an even keel and provides a strong and surprisingly emotional performance. Recent Academy Award nominee Lawrence gives a decent performance, but having seen her in Winter's Bone makes it a little difficult for me to believe her as Raven/Mystique because the characters are so glaringly different. It took me a little while, but I finally fell into her character and could believe her in that role. And what can I say about Kevin Bacon? If anyone's stealing the show here, it's him. He and Fassbender work their multilingual magic throughout the film; the difference, however, is that we all knew that Fassbender could rock it. When Bacon started spouting in German and Russian, I was simply blown away. He gets a lot more screen-time in the first hour of the film, but he makes the most of what he's given. Kudos, Mr. Bacon. I tip my hat to you.

Now, I could go on and on about every character in the film, but we're really being given a solid performance from every featured actor. And boy do we have a laundry list on our hands, folks. There's so many recognizable faces in this film that it was difficult for me to wrap my head around it all. Be on the lookout for the likes of Oliver Platt, Zoë Kravitz, January Jones, Olek Krupa and Michael Ironside. Oh, and there is one cameo that I'd rather not mention because it's probably the funniest part in the film. I'll leave it for the people who've already seen the film to know what I'm talking about.

In addition to the stellar acting ensemble, we're also getting a solid screenplay to bring the story to life. As I said earlier, it's almost like an origins story, in that we're getting a lot of the back story on our two main leads, and it's telling us how we get to the events that take place in the original X-Men film. I personally have always been rather fond of films that take true historical events and warp them a little bit, twisting them into an alternate reality (i.e., the entirety of 2009's Inglourious Basterds). This time, we're getting a crack at the Cuban Missile Crisis, a moment in U.S. history that could have easily spelled the certain doom of America. Fortunately, it never panned out extremely violently, but this screenplay takes a look at how it might have turned out had mutants been involved. It's a clever twist on history, and it makes for an interesting concept. That being said, the real meat of the screenplay comes in the exposition and the back-story for both Charles and Erik. While Erik's is a little grander and more drawn out, getting the in-depth look at the driving forces behind their personalities is quite a treat for the viewer.

Now, there's been a TV spot running around with a review that said that X-Men: First Class is better than 2008's The Dark Knight. I'd like to quash that right here and now: First Class is a great film, but it doesn't come close to touching the brilliance exhibited by Christopher Nolan's second Batman flick. So please, let the comparisons stop there. I'm not saying that First Class isn't good - it just doesn't reach the bar set by The Dark Knight. Still, I personally believe that First Class is the best X-Men film to date. As I said earlier, I was never huge on the previous films, but I always found them entertaining. This one, however, is another another plane entirely, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Movie Review Summary:
(I'm going to start giving my "score" for each film I review in addition to its grade. For a breakdown of how I "score" films, take a look at my grading system.)
Score: 8.5
Grade: A-
2 Thumbs Up

Movie Review: INSIDIOUS

INSIDIOUS

2011
PG-13

Insidious is a 2011 horror film directed by James Wan that follows the story of a family who is terrorized by a number of spirits. When the Lambert family moves into their new home, everything seems to be right as rain. On one of their first nights there, however, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai's (Rose Byrne) eldest son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) falls from an old ladder in the attic. Initially, he seems fine, but when he doesn't awake the next morning, the parents take him to the hospital where doctors cannot figure out just what's wrong with him. The two have no choice but to keep Dalton at home where they give him as much care as they can. However, strange occurrences start to happen around the house, forcing the family to flee in fear of their haunted home. Unfortunately, the paranormal menace follows them to their next home. With the help of Josh's mother Lorraine (Barbara Hershey), the family enlists the help of a paranormal expert named Elise (Lin Shaye). With the help of her two semi-bumbling assistants (Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson), the crew sets out to discover the mystery being Dalton's "illness."

I originally saw Insidious at an early screening last summer. It was a work-in-progress, with some of the visual effects still unfinished. Even from the rough cut, however, I grabbed a very distinct opinion of the film: I didn't like it. It was a little too out there for my tastes, and ultimately, it wasn't that scary (which isn't good, considering it's a horror flick). Then again, there's a lot of films that scare me that modern audiences wouldn't find all that horrifying, but I think I have a different taste in terror. For me, true horror is all about the suspense and the build-up of a story. While Psycho may not make you jump out of your seat, there's something more underlying and sinister about the film that makes it completely terrifying for me - there's a reason I think it's the greatest film ever made. However, Insidious delves into the type of horror that's become more of a mainstay in recent years. They go for the cheap thrills, hoping literally to scare the audience out of its seats. I don't think this is true horror because it's not the type of scare that's going to stay with you past the actual screening. Psycho has stuck with me since I saw that infamous shower scene when I was five, but Insidious didn't interrupt one minute of sleep since I saw it last summer. But I digress...

I'm going to start with the acting for two reasons: I have fewer negative things to say about it, and I'm set in how I feel about it. Wilson and Byrne are okay as our leads, and I suppose they do enough to warrant our attention, but I never really felt that strong of a bond towards them. They never really made me care about their characters, and that doesn't bode well considering at least one of them is on-screen for nearly the entire film. The supporting actors are a little more effective. Hershey, who some of you may recognize from 2010's Black Swan, is decent in a limited number of scenes, and Shaye probably delivers the best performance of the film (it's not great, but in comparison to everyone else, she deserves an Oscar). Whannell and Sampson are good for a couple of well-placed laughs, but they're ultimately expendable at the end of the day.

I'd like to take a moment to trash the film's musical score, if that's okay with you. While it has its bearable moments, the screeching score from Joseph Bishara was so loud and obnoxious that it completely took me out of the film. It almost hurt my ears, it was that bad. However, if you take a look at my grading system, you'll see that my rating for a film's music isn't about whether the music is good or bad; instead, it's more about how well the music flows with the film. Bishara's score doesn't flow; it simply conflicts, proving to be more detrimental than anything else.

And now onto the screenplay. I currently have mixed emotions about the story we're given (the dialogue isn't anything great, but it's not terrible, so that's all I'll say about that). The story is definitely...unique. Without giving away too many spoilers, I'll tell you that the story revolves around the concept of "astral projection" - basically, a glorified term for an out-of-body experience. According to the film, an individual who can astrally project can navigate their soul around the world outside of their physical body. The film's central situation stems from the fact that Dalton, who happens to be a gifted astral projector, somehow gets lost during one of his experiences and ventures into a realm that Elise refers to as "the further." If you're scratching your head right now, you can imagine what I've been wondering since last summer. Basically, Insidious is a film that requires you to suspend your system of beliefs. If you can do that, you stand a much better chance to enjoy it. For the time being, I've given the film a little bit of the benefit of the doubt, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to rate it higher than the grade I've given it at the end of this post.

Overall, I'd warrant caution if you're gonna go see Insidious. I personally didn't find it to be that effective in hooking me into the storyline or scaring me out of my wits. Those two things spell certain doom for any horror movie, so I'm still trying to figure out how it's garnered as many positive reviews as it's received (it currently holds a 59% approval rating on the online review aggregate Rottentomates.com, but I saw it as high as 71% at one point). If you like cheap thrills, this one's probably up your alley, but otherwise, I'd say save your money.

Movie Review Summary:

Grade: D
1 Thumb Down