Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Heartbreak Kid

Wrestlers usually have pretty lame attire and look goofy but what makes them stand out is the name. Names like Andre the Giant, Ultimate Warrior, Ravishing Rick Rude, The Undertaker, and The Road Warriors. One of my friends swears the best professional wrestler of all time is Shawn Michaels The Heartbreak Kid. He will not allow you to say anything negative about HBK in his home or you will quickly see the door. I may not have to liked him but I had to admit that his name was great. It can go both ways he can be the guy who never gets a break with the ladies or the guy who never gives the ladies a break.

With the Farrlley brothers adaptation to the 1972 movie set to hit theaters, I wasn’t sure which Heartbreak Kid was going to show up.

HBK opens with Eddie Cantrow (Stiller) a 40 year old single man set to spend his Valentine’s day alone at his ex-fiancés wedding. After sitting through the ceremony he meets the girls of his dreams. Soon after they are married and plan a trip to Mexico. As quickly as they get married Eddie realizes that he may have been in way over his head. At the resort he meets Miranda (Michelle Monaghan) and falls instantly in love. Now he’s faced with the dilemma of getting rid of his wife and spending time with his new love.

I would love to recommend this movie to my mom, but I know she wouldn’t get past the first few minutes. There is a lot of crude, rude humor. Those happen to be some of the funniest scenes in the movies. None of which they are able to show on a the trailer for the movie. If you are easily offended, this movie is not for you.
This movie has some of the most ridiculous love scenes I’ve ever seen. It’s not just the physical humor but some of the lines that are delivered are priceless. I was laughing after the movie.

Some scene stealers include Carlos Mencia as Uncle Tito. I’m not even a fan of Carlos Mencia. I actually think he’s not very funny, but he’s great in this film. Malin Akerman as Lila the good girl gone crazy. She does a great job as her story unravels and Eddie finds out more and more about her past. Jerry Stiller as Doc has a very small role, but all of his scenes are funny. He even reminds me of my dad. My dad is constantly trying to pimp me out to young women. We had a conversation one day that went like this

Dad: Hey son how are you?
Me: I’m good, just watching tv (girl laughing in the background)
Dad: Is that a girl?
Me: Yeah that’s my friend, she’s over here hanging out
Dad: (rushing off the phone) I’ll let you go. Take care of business son!

Hopefully once I’m married those phone calls will stop


My suggestion: Other than Superbad it’s the funniest movie I’ve seen all year. I laughed more at this than I did at Pirates (yes I’m still mad). I’m off to see this movie again this week. You will definitely leave this movie with a few more slang words that you didn’t have before.

My grade: 3.7 – You can get a good grade just by making the teacher laugh. What a skill!

Monday, October 1, 2007

3:10 To Yuma

I heard a few months ago that Gladiator (Crowe) and Batman (Bale) were starring in a western together called 3:10 To Yuma. They are both two of my favorite actors right now. If I heard they were starring in a film, even if it sounded bad, I might say “Hmmm It could be worth seeing.” For some reason that title sounded familiar.

I went home that night and searched my TiVo and found it on my Westerns Channel. One of the million channels that I pay $89 for every month. That brings me to my rant for the week. Why don’t cable companies let you choose what channels you watch and they can charge you. It can be a base rate for 25 channels and you can pay extra for the pay channels like Showtime and HBO. If you want 25-50 channels you can pay more for that. I think that’s a great idea. I would have half of the channels that I have now. Now if you don’t have cable or satellite you can’t get any channel. Why aren’t more people upset about this?

Anyway I watched the 1957 original Yuma and it was really good, surprisingly good. My roommate said that if the remake was anything close to the original it would be a hit. You know what, he was right.

Yuma picks up with struggling farmer Dan Evans (Bale) crosses paths with notorious outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe). Desperate for money Evans agrees to help transport Wade to the town of Contention and put him on the 3:10 to Yuma Prison where he will be hanged (hence the name of the movie).

They really sell the fact that Wade is a ruthless killer. As you watch the movie you realize that Wade isn’t the only one to be worried about. His outfit is on the way to bust their leader out before he’s put on that train. They are lead by his second in command Charlie Prince (Ben Foster. I almost didn’t recognize him but he played Angel in X-Men 3). Prince is a reckless gunslinger who will shoot anything in sight. He’s a very colorful and one of the more memorable characters in Yuma. So much that in my Fantasy Football League a friend changed his team name to Charlie Prince, and another friend is determined to start a bike club called “The Outfit”.

There are some differences between the original and the updated version of the story. Most notably the ending of the movie, but it still has the same feel to it. Some of the scenes are taken straight from the 1957 version and are done well. This version has way more gunfights and is a lot more graphic, but never gets off track. The characters remain the same and even the characters they added fit in very well. They did a great job adapting this film. You figure it’s been 50 years so something has to change. Showing a struggling farmer in 1957 is different than in 2007. This movie showed how it affected his family and the relationship with his wife and kids.

My suggestion: The best movie of the fall so far. Great remake and a fun story to tell. It’s one of those stories you’d hear as a kid. Bale and Crowe both deliver in this film. I think I may go see it again.

My Grade: 3.3 – Way to start off the Fall. A few tweaks here and there and you may have gotten an A.