The JCA site has been down for a while, and we're celebrating it's return with a big review round-up. Here are some small reviews for big shows and movies over the past few weeks, to be followed up by Graham later this week with some album reviews.
MOVIES
The Other Guys
Adam McKay teams up once again with his partner Will Ferrell to add another bromance to their previous three efforts - the great (Anchorman), the good (Talladega Nights), and the decent (Step Brothers). This time they're tackling the cop duo comedy with The Other Guys, with a movie that surprisingly stopped the team's downfall in quality right in its tracks. No, The Other Guys is not even close to matching the delightful insanity that was exploited so well in Anchorman, but it managed to play out a full length much better than the uneven Step Brothers. This film falls into the middle with Talladega - fun, occasionally hilarious, and thoroughly entertaining, even if the movie is sometimes too over the top to bear.
The Verdict: 7.9 /10 (Good)
Edgar Wright, the comically genius director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, teams up with awkward teen icon Michael Cera to bring us this new musically infused, naively romantic, and childishly bittersweet tale that will dazzle your vision (employing some of the most daring and inventive visuals I've ever seen on film) and melt your heart. It's funny, it's sweet, and it's a total blast. A true teen fantasy romance for the 21st century that happens to feel more real than anything else released lately.
The Verdict: 9.4 /10 (Incredible)
Pirahna 3D
There are only 3 things you need to know about Pirahna 3D: it's a spoof, it has a purposefully horrible screenplay, and Jerry O' Connel gets his penis cut off. It's trash, but you can count me in.
The Verdict: 5 /10 (The grade really doesn't matter, this film achieved its goal.)
Machete
Robert Rodriguez, famed Quentin Tarantino comparison and the creator of Once Upon A Time in Mexico, returns to the screen after a long hiatus with Machete, another gut-busting, bloodthirsty tale of Mexican pulp fiction. Rodriguez carries much of the film with an entertaining and savage gusto, but too often the revolution enthusiast becomes too self conscious - in some scenes, he magically satirizes the over the top nature of the very grindhouse genre he's celebrating, but he also spends a lot of time trying to humanize his characters, making the balance uneven and throwing off the tone at times. But for the most part he picks his act back up and delivers a sick, twisted ride that will twist your gut like a stab from a machete.
The Verdict: 7.8 /10 (Good)
Ben Affleck, fresh off his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone (a film that is very good but nothing too special), returns to the director's chair with The Town, a conventional but nonetheless riveting cops n' robbers tale. Ben Affleck is great on screen as the film's lead, but it's Jeremy Renner, star of last year's Oscar winning The Hurt Locker, that completely steals the show. His final scene will both shake you and stupefy. While the movie's story has been told a million times, its fantastic cast and incredible direction makes The Town a true wonder - a film that reminds us that you don't need big, brainy twists to tell a good story - you just need a good storyteller.
The Verdict: 9.1 /10 (Incredible)
Gordon Gecko, the role in the original Wall Street that won Michael Douglas an Oscar, said in 1987, "Greed, for the lack of a better word, is good." In Oliver Stone's follow-up, Money Never Sleeps, greed is now "legal". What a haunting thought - one that stings with the fact that the movie never follows up on it. Money Never Sleeps - despite great performances and a few moments that definitely shine - is essentially a failure. It may ditch the cheese of the original, but it employs even more cliches, including a happy, Hollywood commercial ending that made me cringe in my seat. It's definitely a good movie - if just barely - but with the talent and subject matter involved, this should have been a great movie. However, Oliver Stone is too busy making political statements to focus on creating a solid story with compassionate characters. Money may never sleep, but this movie sure does.
The Verdict: 7.1 /10 (Good)
How the year stacks up so far - the top 5 films from the first 9 months:
1. Inception (10)
2. Toy Story 3 (9.6)
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (9.4)
4. Winter's Bone (9.3)
5. The Town (9.1)
TV PREMIERES
Chuck has been one of my favorite new shows on TV - it's fun, clever, heartwarming, and just totally awesome. And it's latest season was definitely still great - but it's finale failed to grip me like its previous season did. But great news: Chuck returns with a bang, delivering a totally entertaining episode that is exciting and funny at the same time. Now that Chuck is over its bump of trying to keep itself on TV, it can stop being self conscious and be the little devil that it is - and I couldn't be more excited for what's to come.
The Verdict: 9.2 /10 (Amazing)
I really don't have much to say about the Glee premiere, other than I hope we can get past it. I feel like the father of a perfect child who just did something naughty - I'm so in love with it that I'm just going to pretend like this mistake never happened. One of TV's most energetic and show-stopping programs put on its worst episode to date - a boring, dull, and depressing episode that had very few moments worth recognition. No reason to be concerned just yet though - I'm confident it can pick up the slack and return to being, well, gleeful.
The Verdict: 5.8 /10 (Mediocre)
Community (NBC, Thursday Night)
Community, a show that went from being decent at its start to great at its end, really went out with a bang with one of my favorite season finales from May of this year. Its premiere doesn't quite follow up that finale the way I hoped it would - it's definitely not as good, but it also quickly brings to an end all possible branches of controversy. Still, the season opener reminds us why we've grown to love the show, and has its share of good laughs - particularly from an awesome guest appearance by Betty White.
The Verdict: 8.2 /10 (Great)
What is there to say about the 30 Rock premiere? It's great, I mean did you expect anything less? If there is one consistently hysterical show on TV it's this one, and it continues its streak. The season 5 premiere isn't the series' best episode, but in a series that hasn't really had a mediocre episode, who cares? The bottom line is, it's awesome - and the show still feels fresh, with no sign of aging anytime soon. Here's to eternal life.
The Verdict: 8.7 /10 (Great)
The Office (NBC, Thursday Night)
The Office, in its third season, may have been one of TV's top 5 shows at the time - it was gut wrenchingly funny, obnoxiously absurd, but also felt very real and in touch with its characters. It was a truly magical show. With season 4, it went from magical to great. Then with season 5, from great to good. Last year's season six was downright one of the biggest disappointments I've seen come out of the entertainment industry in a long time. The show was trying too hard, inconsistent, and failed to go anywhere. And then to top it off, the finale was so mediocre, I don't even remember much about it. All of these reasons add up to why The Office had my favorite premiere of the week: IT'S BACK. Starting off with a fun and goofy musical intro that the cynics will pan but the true fans will die for, the show returns to its roots - outlandish but surprisingly real characters, along with painful awkwardness that will make you cringe and bust out laughing at the same time. This is a very old fashioned episode of The Office, and I like the feeling. This being Carrell's last season, I hope it's here to stay.
The Verdict: 9.5 /10 (Incredible)
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