Director Patrick Johnson’s horror thriller wants to be an amalgam of “Fatal Attraction” and Takashi Miike’s “Audition,” and while both ambitions are admirable, neither of those classics rise to the surface to add entertainment value to “She’s Crushed.” While Natalie Dickinson is infinitely sexier than Glenn Close, “She’s Crushed” is never quite sure what to do with itself nor is it clear which character we’re supposed to be following. At times we’re told the entire ordeal is Ray’s where he’s forced to deal with alcoholism and memories of his days serving in the military, all the while coping with a new neighbor who gets the idea Patrick may be in love with her after a torrid one night stand. Apparently Ray didn’t receive the all too important memo that women can get that impression.
Tag Archives: Romance
Easy A (2010)
![easya[1]](https://www.cinema-crazed.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/easya1.jpg)
Hi there, this is me. Felix Vasquez. In the minority. Again. It’s a comfortable place, I’ve built an ass groove, and everything. Anyway. “Easy A” is one of the most smug movies of 2010, and when I mean smug, I mean every single inch of dialogue is so intent on being clever and some sort of bon mot, that there’s simply no humanity to the story. For a movie that purports to be a comedy, it is so focused on being funny, it fails to be remotely humorous, and every character spouts at least four or five one-liners in succession, moving along a story that is supposed to be as in vogue and hip as a normal MTV show. Continue reading
Going the Distance (2010) [DVD/Blu-Ray Combo]
Much like Drew Barrymore, “Going the Distance” is so intent on being cutesy and bubbly that it’s nauseating, and what contributes to Nanette Burstein’s romance comedy being utterly insufferable is its insistence on being two types of movies. It wants so hard to be thought of as a sleazy comedy with incessant and tedious improvisations from every single actor who gets more than a minute on-screen. It also wants to be a cutesy chick flick about a lovely geeky guy and an ambitious young girl who try to keep their romance sweltering over a long distance. And none of it works. Were it not for writer Geoff LaTulippe’s insistence on attempting to please both audiences and entertaining neither.
I Love You, Man (2009)
“Why does everything I do sound like a leprechaun?”
Many films since the rise of Judd Apatow have claimed to be a bromance. Particularly “Superbad.” A bromance of course being a film about the close relationship between men that involves some degree of deep love without progressing in to homosexual activity. But “I Love You Man” may just be the first true bromance that has a central plot based around the deep friendship and admiration of two men while the romance of the main character is something of a secondary element. “I Love You Man” is in its truest form a romantic comedy about two heterosexual men who realize that they love one another.
The Last Airbender (2010)
As big a fan as I am, and continue to be of M. Night Shyamalan, the one tragic fact of “The Last Airbender” is that there just isn’t a need for it. The original television series is about two or three years after its series finale, the series lasted about four or five seasons, it still plays in syndication, and there is a new story waiting in the wings. Fans of “Avatar” are in no short supply of their Airbender fix, so Shyamalan’s adaptation of the show isn’t all too necessary, nor was it wanted. So instantly the cards are stacked against him. Yours truly being a hardcore fan of the animated series (frankly, it’s one of the finest and most entertaining shows of the last decade), I was anxious to see what Shyamalan would do to “The Last Airbender,” and I wasn’t all too disappointed with what turned up on the screen.
The Karate Kid (2010)
You could have called this “Fist of the East,” or “Test of Fortitude” and it would have grossed obscene amounts of money at the box-office, regardless. It’s a movie that is so meticulously built to appeal to audiences and tickle every emotion possible, that it’s so much more a marketing gimmick than it is an actual movie. Calling it “Karate Kid” is just the icing on the cake. Eighties exploitation is huge. There are currently dozens of overgrown men on the cusp of forty mourning the days of Rocky Balboa, and cassette tapes, still bawling about how the eighties were so much better that calling it “Karate Kid” was a bonafide ticket to box office gold. Plus Jaden Smith is Will Smith’s son, and Will Smith always equals big bucks.
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
It’s very rare in pop culture today, where you can watch a film that is a drama and comedy, composed primarily out of performances with expressions and idiosyncrasies rather than endless diatribes and emotional outbursts drowning us in dialogue. With “The Kids are All Right,” the reactions and undertones of sadness are there within every single character. And it’s most important to ignore what they’re saying, and pay close attention to what they aren’t saying. Lisa Cholodenko’s dramedy about the modern family, and the plight of the odd structure of said family is a sad and typically miserable film about worshipping the wrong people, and reaching for a goal that is unobtainable. Every individual in this piece are looking for something to fulfill their lives, and sadly they will have the most difficult time looking for it.