Quick Reviews (Catching Up Again)

Yeah, I fell behind in discussing movies again. Seeing as how you don't pay me to do this, though...anyway, I'll start with the one that's not really a 2012 movie: "Finding Nemo," which was re-released in a 3D version this fall. Of the Pixar movies, there are only three I haven't seen in full. I've seen parts of "A Bug's Life" and have no intentions of ever seeing "Cars 2." So "Nemo" was the only gap in my Pixar resume. I liked it a lot but didn't love it. If it were on my 2012 movie list I'd give it a grade of B.

"House at the End of the Street" started out slowly but I ended up enjoying it more than expected, especially since it didn't involve a supernatural murderer-come-back-to-life the way it seemed (at least to me, from the little I heard of it going in). And the revelation at the end was a surprise. My grade: B-minus.

I wasn't totally enthralled with "Looper." As much as I love Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I didn't like how they used some prosthetic nose getup to make him look like Bruce Willis. Like "Men in Black III," the time-travel machinations didn't make sense, and even though a meta commentary by Willis' character essentially told the audience that we shouldn't worry about time-travel continuity making sense, I can't go for that (no can do). A certain amount of logic is required. My grade: B.

"Hotel Transylvania" presents Adam Sandler as an animated Dracula. The idea of a hotel that caters exclusively to monsters and keeps them from contact with humans was sort of clever, but it wasn't what it could be, and, I repeat, Adam Sandler as Dracula. My grade: C-minus.

Quick Review: Just Go With It

Oh, romantic comedies. Trying to find a way to make these things really great is either too difficult, or the studios aren't even trying. In "Just Go With It" Adam Sandler plays a plastic surgeon who wears a wedding ring and uses it in conjunction with made-up sob stories ("my wife beats me/cheats/is a prostitute") to pick up girls. Then circumstances conspire to have the ring in his pocket when he meets the apparent girl of his dreams (Brooklyn Decker). After they spend the night together she finds the ring and he says he's about to be divorced. She wants to hear it from the soon-to-be ex-wife. He persuades his office manager (Jennifer Aniston) to play his ex. Then her kids get involved in the story and, well, it's just one lie after another. Yet we're supposed to believe that two women would fall in love with this liar, even the one who knows that he's a liar? It wasn't a total loss. I kinda liked the two kids, and Nicole Kidman and Dave Matthews (as a married couple; she is an old college frenemy of Aniston's character, he claims to have invented the iPod) were fun. Maybe that's why I started out really hating it, but in the end I just...you know the rest... My grade: C-minus.

Quick Review: Grown Ups

Can crude, juvenile humor merge with good clean family fun? That is the scenario of "Grown Ups," starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider as childhood friends who reunite at the funeral of their old basketball coach, and then spend the July 4th weekend together at a lake house with their families (except for Spade's character, who is single). The weekend is spent teaching the kids of the married couples lessons, and resolving the various problems of all of the adults. Some of it's stupid and predictable but with these co-stars, all of whom worked together at various times, including "Saturday Night Live," sometimes you can't help but laugh. Even at Rob Schneider. So, to answer my opening question: not exactly. The film veers more towards the family stuff, which neuters these comics to some extent. Still, it's a little better than Sandler's last film, "Funny People." My grade: B-minus.

Quick Review: Funny People

This movie needs some lithium, stat. "Funny People," the latest from Judd Apatow, swings back and forth from a depressing story about a standup comic/movie star who learns he has a serious blood disease that will likely take his life within a year, to the more typical Apatow raunchfest with guys behaving badly, lots of sex jokes, etc. Adam Sandler plays the star; on the surface his life seems great, but he isn't close to his family and has no real friends. He hires a struggling comic (Seth Rogen, who lost some weight -- specifically for the movie, as the weight loss is referenced, or just because?) as a combination personal assistant/joke writer/opening act. The funny parts are fine, it's well-acted and there are some amusing cameo appearances, but the switches in tone are jarring, and it runs a little too long. My grade: C-plus.