Mar01

Frat Boy At the Movies: Confessions of A Shopaholic

by tonyd on March 1, 2009 at 1:55 am

Okay, first off, I’m not gay for seeing this movie.  Isla Fisher is easy on the eyes and fantasizing about a potential topless scene can help you get through the movie.  But it’s a chick flick, bros.  A big ol’ chick flick and the missus finally dragged me there.

The basic premise, a girl who can’t stop shopping is ruining her life and can’t get a job at the fancy fashion magazine she wants.  And, oh yeah, she falls for her boss, who happens to be handsome and rich.  Not that that matters mind you, he eskews his family millions to make it on his own.  Except for dancing and lots of crying scenes, this pretty much has all the elements of a chick flick.

But the good news is, it’s a pretty watchable chick flick.  Isla’s hot, as is her roommate.

Played by Krysten Ritter.  There are some funny moments, even if you’re not up on all the inside fashion jokes and shopping jokes.  And, hey, John Lithgow has a cameo and it’s good to see him in something.  Also, unlike a lot of chick flicks, this one didn’t make all the men stupid.  They’re kind of boring, but they’re not stupid.

The movie is a bit long (almost the full two hours) and thought it moves fairly well, by the end I was getting pretty antsy.  The talking manequins were weird, but kinda neat.  Still, I would’ve rather have seen someone explode or Wedding Crashers on DVD.  I give this 5 keggers out of 10.

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Feb26

Frat Boy At the Movies: Push

by tonyd on February 26, 2009 at 1:01 am

The basic premise is the X-men meets Asian action movie.  Chris Evans plays Nick Grant, a guy born with telekinesis powers and Dakota Fanning plays Cassie Holmes, a girl that can see glimpses of possible futures.  The back story, like all mutants, Nick was hunted as a kid and his father sacrificed himself to save Nick.  Division, the bad guys, killed Nick’s dad and want to start a huge army of mutants.

The movie lays out something that should be simple.  The government coops the mutants and you either play ball or your life is miserable.  Nick gets hunted down after 15 years, but instead of bringing him in, the Division guys let him go.  Eventually Dakota Fanning shows up telling Nick that they’re going to find millions of dollars, but really, she’s using him to find her mother.  On top of all that, Division is looking for this girl and there’s an experimental drug, mutant Chinese gangsters and a dozen or so other mutants running around.

Much like the X-men, there are probably too many mutants in this yarn.  On the up side, it is paced well and action scenes are nice.  Evans and Fanning are engaging to watch and the villain, played by Dijmon Hounsou, is okay.  Ultimately, the movie feels like 50 issues of a comic book crammed into two hours.  The story kind of ends, but doesn’t totally resolve, leaving room for sequels.  Somehow, I doubt that will happen.

Still, I kind of like a convoluted movie now and again.  It probably would’ve been a better TV show than movie.  And, although I felt for the characters, the formulaic elements that were left out, left me thinking, “I think this movie needs another hour to explain itself.”  It’s also a bad sign when you start to wonder how long the movie you’re watching is going to go on.  It’s almost exactly two hours.

On the one hand, they get right into the superpowers right up front.  But on the other hand, they try and do stuff like hiding the powers during the opening sequence.  Why hide them?  I already know what the movie’s about.  Don’t you realize I already saw the trailer where Evans gets thrown all over the Chinese restaurant?  It’s like making me wait for James Bond in a James Bond movie, you’re just stalling.

Also, Division comes off as vague, rather than clandestined and secret.  It’s only at the end of the movie does Dijmon I.D. it as part of the U.S. government.  That’s something that probably would’ve been better up front.  Plus with all the renditioning and torture, why not throw that in as a way to make the bad guys badder?

I’m nitpicking, but overall, I liked the movie.  I give it 6 keggers out of 10.  It’s probably a better rental.

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Feb22

Level Up: Top Five Online Rock n Roll Games

by tonyd on February 22, 2009 at 2:28 am

Bros:

It’s Sunday and the week is about to start, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still waste time!  This week check out ten games guaranteed to rock!

5: Battle of Rock:  It’s kind of like Guitar Hero for your keyboard.

4: Rock Smash:  Throw rocks at people, who I’m sure, listen to rock.

3: RockBand Roadie: Be a roadie.  A very intense roadie.

2:  Rolling Stone Rally:  As if the kids who go to the MTV website will have any idea who or what the Rolling Stones or Rolling Stone magazine is.

1:  Van Fucken Halen:  Possibly the most awesome thing that was ever created from 80’s nostalgia.

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Feb19

Frat Boy at the Movies: Coraline

by tonyd on February 19, 2009 at 10:54 pm

Let’s be honest, most 3-D movies are a joke in the story department.   Most of the films are excuses to throw pick axes and spears into the audience’s face every ten minutes, but not Coraline.

Based on the novella by the great Neil Gaiman,  (a really nice guy, by the way, interviewed him years ago for my old TV show, the Comic Book Show) Coraline is a little girl whose parents have just moved to a creepy new house.  Her parents are too busy with work to pay attention to her, so Coraline feels neglected.  While exploring the house, she discovers a little weird door.  Normally, the door is bricked up, but at certain times the door is a passage to an alternate reality.  Inside this alternate world, her parents are great people and lots of fun.

But the creepy thing is, everyone in the alternate universe has buttons for eyes.

Eventually, the fun universe is revealed to be something very sinister and Coraline must escape.

The best part of this movie is that the universe on which it is founded is rock solid.  There are rules to this world and Gaiman and director, Henry Selick, stick to them.  The characters are memorable and they are played at the height of their intelligence.  It’s kind of like a horror movie that everyone can enjoy.  (I mean that in the good way, not the family-film, sappy ending way.)

If you’re looking for something intelligent to take your kids to, bros, take ’em to this.  I give this movie 9 keggers out of 10.

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