Quick Reviews: J. Edgar, Muppets, Puss in Boots

Blogging for me is in fits and spurts right now. Either I have to be really inspired or it has to be something quick (such as those featuring a photo or two), and my lack of time (due to work and other issues) makes it worse. As far as these movie posts are concerned, I finally decided that I'm just not going to get to separate posts for these right now. So...

J. Edgar: The story (more like a psychological profile) of infamous FBI director J. Edgar Hoover is well-acted but the jumping back and forth in time made it much too disjointed. I read lots of comment about Leonardo DiCaprio's makeup for Hoover's latter days but to be honest I thought the makeup job done on Armie Hammer was worse. My grade: B-minus.

The Muppets: I loved the old Muppet Show and enjoyed this movie, but it was a bit too much of an exercise in nostalgia to be truly spectacular. I appreciate Jason Segel's efforts in getting the Muppets back on the big screen, but somehow I felt this didn't quite fully win my heart. The best celebrity cameo (and one that got quite a reaction from the audience) was by Jim Parsons as...well, I won't spoil it. My grade: B-plus.

Puss in Boots: It took weeks but I finally got to see this yesterday. Spinning Puss (voice of Antonio Banderas) off from the Shrek films wasn't a surprise, but stripping the film of the "Shrek" barrage of pop-culture references was. It was a wise decision. But why didn't anyone tell me they used a Lady Gaga song in the film? I might have seen it sooner. My grade: B-plus.

Quick Reviews: Iron Man 2, Shrek 4

It seems right to combine these two into one post because they're both sequels, and neither lives up to previous installments. And, oddly enough, the title characters in both movies have something in common.

In "Iron Man 2" Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), with his identity of Iron Man now known to the world, seems to be enjoying himself. He charms the crowds at the Stark Expo, and in a Senate committee room where a senator played by Garry Shandling(!) is demanding Stark turn over the Iron Man tech to the government for military usage. However, the substance that powers the "arc reactor" in his chest is slowly killing him, and as a result he's acting out -- getting drunk at his birthday party (while in the Iron Man armor), turning over control of his company to Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), replacing the driver of his car at a Grand Prix race in Monaco. It's at that race that Stark is attacked by Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who wants revenge for what Stark's father did to Vanko's father. And it gets more complicated from there. The fight scenes aren't as interesting as the rest of the movie, to be honest. The whole thing kind of drags a bit. My grade: C-plus.

In "Shrek Forever After," fourth in the series, again things seem to be fine and dandy. Shrek (voice of Mike Myers), his wife Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), their kids, Donkey (Eddie Murphy), Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), everyone in Far Far Away is happy. Except Shrek really isn't happy. He misses the days when he was a "real" ogre, when the villagers were scared of him instead of asking for autographs, when he could take a mud bath in peace instead of attending to his family duties, and so on. After an argument with Fiona at the kids' birthday party Shrek storms off. He meets the sneaky Rumpelstiltskin, who offers a deal: Shrek can have a day where he's a "real" ogre again, in exchange for another day from his past. Shrek signs the deal and soon realizes he's been tricked, and has to learn the old lesson that you don't know what you have until it's gone. There are a few laughs, but more often than not the jokes fall flat. It's being touted as the "final chapter," and based on this one, it better be. My grade: C.