One of the saving graces of “Kick Ass” is the casting of Chloe Moretz, a young girl who manages to completely and utterly steal the show from every single cast member here including Clark Duke, and she’s managed to spawn an unlikely legion of admirers who came to the movie to see a little girl mutilate everyone in her path. While “Kick Ass” never quite manages to muster up the sympathetic story it did in the comics, Matthew Vaughn completely wins over the crowd with Hit Girl aka Mindy, the most interesting character in the bunch who is given the most interesting conflict in the film as this character whose own life manages to play out like a typical hero origin. Little girl loses her mom after her dad is framed for a crime, she’s trained by him to become a killer, the dad dies and she avenges him in cruel and unusual ways. I assumed the girl would hit the big time after seeing her steal scenes from Joseph Gordon Levitt in “(500) Days of Summer” but here Matthew Vaughn shows that he takes the character very seriously and never dodges her sheer brutality in the face of schmoes who happen to come across her blade.
Tag Archives: Comedy
Spiderbabe (2003)
Misty Mundae aka Erin DeWright aka Erin Brown is an underrated performer. I’m a little hesitant to call her an actress, but she is a competent performer worthy of some acclaim if she ever manages to break free from the softcore porn/exploitation genre and approach an actual acting career. If you saw her in the “Masters of Horror” episode “Sick Girl,” she capable of vulnerable sympathetic solid acting. But that’s not to say I don’t love her in what she does. I’ve seen “Playmate of the Apes” where she’s in full on comedy mode leading the charge with a bunch of fake apes going to war, and I enjoyed her in “Lord of the G-Strings” where she engaged in mild girl on girl and petting with some brutally hot fantasy nymphs, so “Spiderbabe” was naturally a treat for me as Mundae explores her comedic talent and her ability to be both grating and charming at the same time.
The Girl Can’t Help It (1956)
If you’re willing to deal with the pre-requisite fifties camp that comes along with this hyper energetic romance musical, then “The Girl Can’t Help It” is pretty much the lightning in the bottle that is the ethereal beauty of Jayne Mansfield. A classic story of the underdog pushed in to becoming a star, “The Girl Can’t Help It” is a wonky romance comedy that stars the immortal Mansfield as the innocent Jerri Jordan, a long leggy, busty, pouty, soft spoken gal seeking only happiness. Pushed in to becoming a star by her dictator soon to be husband Fats Murdock, he insists she become a big music star so he can have something to like about her. Aside from the fact she’s sweet, endearing, intelligent, can cook, is faithful, and insanely beautiful, he just wants to turn her in to a music star and live vicariously through her.
The Heartbreak Kid (2007)
So this is how far Ben Stiller has come in his years. He went from rather ingenious comedy in his old FOX show now starring in remakes of romance comedies that try to break free from the doldrums with over the top sex comedy, and utterly flat improv with his father who plays (surprise, surprise!) a wacky outspoken senior citizen. And trying to break from the conventions, he also pretty much dives head first in to them with endless montages set to forgettable pop rock, and there’s even a prat fall with a bad stunt double that the Farrelly brothers rely on when everything Stiller does fails to draw even the slightest of chuckles.
Sex Drive (2008)
That’s the thing I love about teen sex comedies, the sheer fantasy element where in the main character’s environment is filled with busty, skinny, hot girls in every single place imaginable. I mean they practically live in the Amazon for Christ sake. This is a world where even the frumpy best friend who secretly likes our protagonist is very good looking in spite of the makeup artists best efforts to make them look very plain and unattractive (it doesn’t work, Amanda Crews is mind blowing). You never see seventy year olds or obese women walking the halls of the mall our hero Ian works in, so naturally “Sex Drive” was a fun little comedy to sit through, because it honestly doesn’t try to be anything more than a high energy time waster.
Scream (1996)
When I first watched “Scream” back in 1996 I thought it was a masterpiece, a horror film filled with endless possibilities. But as I’ve gone on and managed to watch “Scream” again I’ve come to realize that Wes Craven played many people, and (whether I like it or not) the series he followed it with has been successful. “Scream” is just more of the same humdrum slasher fare that we’ve seen a billion times, except it’s served up with the deceit that we’re seeing something wholly original. What with the Ghost Face’s eerie facade and the atmospheric setting, “Scream” definitely has that illusion that what we’re laying our eyes on is something we’ve never seen before. In actuality we have, except Craven and writer Kevin Williamson never quite let on about it. “Scream” is a movie that never knows what it wants to be. Is it a murder mystery posing as a slasher film? Is it a horror comedy? Is it a spoof of slashers? Is it a loving satire? If it pretends to be an anti-slasher then why does it jump head first in to cliché slasher trappings in the final half of the film?
Cop Out (2010)
In spite of hating almost everything Kevin Smith has ever done, I’ve always given him the benefit of the doubt because he seems like a cool guy. But at the end of the day being a cool guy doesn’t mean you’re going to make a good movie, and “Cop Out” is proof of that. Being just a goon for hire this time, Smith has released quite possibly his worst movie to date, and the very fact that he’s continued to defend it just astounds me. I mean I’ve heard of directors defending their work, but a lemon is a lemon. “Cop Out” is a movie that had the chips stacked against it from the get go. This is not an original Smith production, and it has some of the worst casting of all time.