Sweeney says...
Joshua Sweeney
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: Opinion
Role Models
I had high hope for this movie and it almost reached it, but it wasn't quite far enough. "Role Models" did what every comedy of today does. It shows the best parts in the trailer and the rest of the movie stinks. Now I'm not saying that you should not go and see it, but be warned that it is not side splitting and that is so hilarious you will be rolling out of your seat. It is a funny movie, but do not expect to see something better than "Superbad" or "Tropic Thunder."
Paul Rudd ("Knocked Up" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall") who plays Danny, is a dead pan guy that hates anything and everything. Rudd also helped write "Role Models," which was his first attempt at writing a script and he did not do that bad of a job and I hope he continues to write. Playing his co-worker is Seann William Scott ("American Pie" and "Mr. Woodcock") who plays Wheeler, is his typical post high school Stilfer character. They are energy drink spokesman for Minotaur and go around to local high schools telling kids to say no to drugs, but yes to Minotaur. After a visit to one of the local high schools they end up having to serve 150 hours community service. This puts them at Sturdy Wings, which is like a Big Brother-Big Sister program. Here they meet Bobb'e J. Thompsan ("Idlewild" and "Boys of Men") who plays Ronnie and Christopher Mintz-Plasse ("Superbad") who plays Augie Farks. Bobb'e Thompsan steals the show with his quick comebacks and foul mouth, but in my opinion they don't put him in the story enough. Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays his typical "Mclovin" nerd part, but even more of a nerd.
Also, throughout the movie you will some of the original people from previous movies, like "Superbad" and "Knocked Up" who help add to the overall comedy that is this movie. Paul Rudd and Seann William Scot have great chemistry on screen. Rudd has a dry sarcasam and Scott plays a sex-addled idiot. Their chemistry and interactions with the two boys is hilarious and fantastic. "Role Models" could have had a few more scenes that would have made this movie amazing, but it fell just short. It reminds me a lot of "Bad News Bears." I don't want to give too much away, so go see this movie one afternoon this week. Trust me I think you will enjoy it. I give it 2.5 stars.
Max Payne
So I originally thought that it kind of would stink to go into a movie where the plot is already written out in a video game and I felt bad for people that didn't know what was going to happen.
I was a little excited before seeing this movie so before I went and saw it, I dusted the game off and played for a bit. "Max Payne" was originally a video game that was released back in 2001.
Mark Wahlberg plays Max Payne, whose wife and child are murdered one afternoon before he gets home. He is a detective for the NYPD, but after the murdering of his family he moves to the Cold Case division. Wahlberg plays his typical "want-to-be tough guy" cop that he has played in his last three movies and it seems he cannot get any better. The story is picked up three years after the shooting and Max is going through the town at night and is trying to find answers about who killed his family.
This is how he meets up with Mila Kunis, who is on "That 70's Show" and the voice of Meg in "Family Guy." She plays Mona Sax. I thought it was hilarious with her in the movie because every time I heard her voice I expected Meg to come out chasing Stewie or Chris. There are some other random actors in the film such as Ludacris, Chris O'Donnell and Donal Logue, but they do not help the movie at all.
On a completely different note, some interesting news is that Mark Wahlberg refused to play the lead of "Max Payne" before performing in this film, but, in addition, I must assume that neither the director nor the screenwriter ever played this game before either. There were a few shots of the background scenery that tied in with the game. I would assume that no one involved in the movie had even seen cut scenes from the game. I would have assumed that they got a one paragraph synopsis on the game, with character names, and just made up their own story that barely connected to the game storyline. Even if you went to see this film looking for an action flick, you would say that this was one of the most boring, yawn-inducing films you'd seen in the action genre. So if you want to see "bird creatures" fly around, people on some weird drugs, very sweet tattoos and a decent shootout scene than this is the movie for you. Overall, I would not recommend this movie. Go to an event on campus and save your money and your brain cells. I give it 1.5 stars.
High School Musical
Yea I went and saw High School Musical 3, you don't know me. Don't hate. It was pretty funny when I saw this movie, because I decided to go see it at 10:30 p.m. so I know I would not have to deal with little kids, but I had to deal with something funnier. A man, probably in his 40's, was the only other person in the theater and he looked so creepy, but he probably thought the same about me.
So anywho, I have seen the past two high school musicals and this one was at least better than "High School Musical 2." I was in musicals in high school so I know a little bit about them and I feel bad for every little kid in America that thinks this is what a musical is really all about. I expected this movie to better than the last two because it was the only one to go to the big screen, which means more money and better equipment.
I hate the path that musicals are going down now. Musicals were amazing back in the day and now are just a big joke. "Mary Poppins," "My Fair Lady," "Singing in the Rain," "Sound of Music" and "Annie Get Your Gun" are classics and movies like "High School Musical" are ruining it. "High School Musical" does not have the true "musical" style music of the classics and it is just brutal to listen to it. The music was just upbeat techno style and I just could not get into it. On the other hand, I would have to say, this was the only one of the three movies that provided a musical theater feel, with the way they did some scene changes.
I expected more out of Zac Efron after coming off the movie "Hairspray." I thought he would have matured and become a well-rounded actor and that definitely did not happen. It seems that Disney paid for more singing lessons than acting lessons.
The plot of the movie hits the idea of what a lot of seniors in high school face when making decisions on college, especially if you have a serious relationship in high school.
One random thing that I did notice through the trilogy is that the basketball team in HSM can only win if they sing during the game, so just a funny joke I thought you should know. One assumption I do have about Disney is that every student in the movie was white and skinny. There was a "heavier" girl they kept for all three, but it's definitely obvious they made her lose weight. I tried to find an article about it, but nothing came up.
Overall, this movie is made for kids and fans of the movie. If you're not a fan, you might want to start with the first HSM and work it up. I give is two stars.
I had high hope for this movie and it almost reached it, but it wasn't quite far enough. "Role Models" did what every comedy of today does. It shows the best parts in the trailer and the rest of the movie stinks. Now I'm not saying that you should not go and see it, but be warned that it is not side splitting and that is so hilarious you will be rolling out of your seat. It is a funny movie, but do not expect to see something better than "Superbad" or "Tropic Thunder."
Paul Rudd ("Knocked Up" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall") who plays Danny, is a dead pan guy that hates anything and everything. Rudd also helped write "Role Models," which was his first attempt at writing a script and he did not do that bad of a job and I hope he continues to write. Playing his co-worker is Seann William Scott ("American Pie" and "Mr. Woodcock") who plays Wheeler, is his typical post high school Stilfer character. They are energy drink spokesman for Minotaur and go around to local high schools telling kids to say no to drugs, but yes to Minotaur. After a visit to one of the local high schools they end up having to serve 150 hours community service. This puts them at Sturdy Wings, which is like a Big Brother-Big Sister program. Here they meet Bobb'e J. Thompsan ("Idlewild" and "Boys of Men") who plays Ronnie and Christopher Mintz-Plasse ("Superbad") who plays Augie Farks. Bobb'e Thompsan steals the show with his quick comebacks and foul mouth, but in my opinion they don't put him in the story enough. Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays his typical "Mclovin" nerd part, but even more of a nerd.
Also, throughout the movie you will some of the original people from previous movies, like "Superbad" and "Knocked Up" who help add to the overall comedy that is this movie. Paul Rudd and Seann William Scot have great chemistry on screen. Rudd has a dry sarcasam and Scott plays a sex-addled idiot. Their chemistry and interactions with the two boys is hilarious and fantastic. "Role Models" could have had a few more scenes that would have made this movie amazing, but it fell just short. It reminds me a lot of "Bad News Bears." I don't want to give too much away, so go see this movie one afternoon this week. Trust me I think you will enjoy it. I give it 2.5 stars.
Max Payne
So I originally thought that it kind of would stink to go into a movie where the plot is already written out in a video game and I felt bad for people that didn't know what was going to happen.
I was a little excited before seeing this movie so before I went and saw it, I dusted the game off and played for a bit. "Max Payne" was originally a video game that was released back in 2001.
Mark Wahlberg plays Max Payne, whose wife and child are murdered one afternoon before he gets home. He is a detective for the NYPD, but after the murdering of his family he moves to the Cold Case division. Wahlberg plays his typical "want-to-be tough guy" cop that he has played in his last three movies and it seems he cannot get any better. The story is picked up three years after the shooting and Max is going through the town at night and is trying to find answers about who killed his family.
This is how he meets up with Mila Kunis, who is on "That 70's Show" and the voice of Meg in "Family Guy." She plays Mona Sax. I thought it was hilarious with her in the movie because every time I heard her voice I expected Meg to come out chasing Stewie or Chris. There are some other random actors in the film such as Ludacris, Chris O'Donnell and Donal Logue, but they do not help the movie at all.
On a completely different note, some interesting news is that Mark Wahlberg refused to play the lead of "Max Payne" before performing in this film, but, in addition, I must assume that neither the director nor the screenwriter ever played this game before either. There were a few shots of the background scenery that tied in with the game. I would assume that no one involved in the movie had even seen cut scenes from the game. I would have assumed that they got a one paragraph synopsis on the game, with character names, and just made up their own story that barely connected to the game storyline. Even if you went to see this film looking for an action flick, you would say that this was one of the most boring, yawn-inducing films you'd seen in the action genre. So if you want to see "bird creatures" fly around, people on some weird drugs, very sweet tattoos and a decent shootout scene than this is the movie for you. Overall, I would not recommend this movie. Go to an event on campus and save your money and your brain cells. I give it 1.5 stars.
High School Musical
Yea I went and saw High School Musical 3, you don't know me. Don't hate. It was pretty funny when I saw this movie, because I decided to go see it at 10:30 p.m. so I know I would not have to deal with little kids, but I had to deal with something funnier. A man, probably in his 40's, was the only other person in the theater and he looked so creepy, but he probably thought the same about me.
So anywho, I have seen the past two high school musicals and this one was at least better than "High School Musical 2." I was in musicals in high school so I know a little bit about them and I feel bad for every little kid in America that thinks this is what a musical is really all about. I expected this movie to better than the last two because it was the only one to go to the big screen, which means more money and better equipment.
I hate the path that musicals are going down now. Musicals were amazing back in the day and now are just a big joke. "Mary Poppins," "My Fair Lady," "Singing in the Rain," "Sound of Music" and "Annie Get Your Gun" are classics and movies like "High School Musical" are ruining it. "High School Musical" does not have the true "musical" style music of the classics and it is just brutal to listen to it. The music was just upbeat techno style and I just could not get into it. On the other hand, I would have to say, this was the only one of the three movies that provided a musical theater feel, with the way they did some scene changes.
I expected more out of Zac Efron after coming off the movie "Hairspray." I thought he would have matured and become a well-rounded actor and that definitely did not happen. It seems that Disney paid for more singing lessons than acting lessons.
The plot of the movie hits the idea of what a lot of seniors in high school face when making decisions on college, especially if you have a serious relationship in high school.
One random thing that I did notice through the trilogy is that the basketball team in HSM can only win if they sing during the game, so just a funny joke I thought you should know. One assumption I do have about Disney is that every student in the movie was white and skinny. There was a "heavier" girl they kept for all three, but it's definitely obvious they made her lose weight. I tried to find an article about it, but nothing came up.
Overall, this movie is made for kids and fans of the movie. If you're not a fan, you might want to start with the first HSM and work it up. I give is two stars.
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