Posts Tagged ‘irony’

Short Take: As entertaining and well-crafted as anything out this year, short of "Inception"

Director: Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead)

Screenwriters: Michael Bacall (Manic), Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead)

Cast: Michael Cera (Youth in Revolt, Superbad), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Live Free or Die Hard), Chris Evans (The Losers, Sunshine), Jason Schwartzman (TV’s Bored to Death, Fantastic Mr. Fox), Alison Pill (Milk), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), Kieran Culkin (The Cider House Rules), Ellen Wong, Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons

Length: 1h 52m

Synopsis: Scott Pilgrim (Cera) is a 23 year old who shares a small apartment with his gay roommate Wallace (Culkin) and is the bassist for the garage band Sex Bob-omb. Also in this band are his friends Stephen (Webber) and Neil (Simmons), and one ex-girlfriend named Kim (Pill), all of whom don’t really approve of the fact that Scott has begun dating a 17 year old girl named Knives Chau (Wong) (though they have yet to even hold hands). One day Scott sees a girl at the library that he only saw previously in his dreams – Ramona Flowers (Winstead). After meeting her face to face at a party and working what charm he has, Scott and Ramona start becoming a couple. Upon this development, however, Scott proceeds to be challenged by each of Ramona’s Seven Evil Exes. In order for the two to keep dating Scott must defeat each evil ex he encounters, all of whom combat him in an arcade-like manner. Will Scott survive the tremendous onslaught of enemies? And more importantly, will he eventually be able to date the girl of his dreams? Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: Funny and unique, yet the premise goes largely unexplored

Director: Adam McKay (Step Brothers, Anchorman)

Screenwriter: Adam McKay (Step Brothers), Chris Henchy (Land of the Lost (2009))

Cast: Will Ferrell (Step Brothers, Blades of Glory), Mark Wahlberg (The Lovely Bones), Steve Coogan (Hamlet 2), Michael Keaton (Toy Story 3)

Length: 1h 37m

Synopsis: Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) are New York City detectives who are stuck in the proverbial daily grind. Hoitz is always itching to escape the office and do some hardcore investigating, while Gamble is perfectly content with doing endless paperwork. Both partners, however, envy co-detectives Highsmith (Jackson) and Danson (Johnson), who continually create headlines and make the detective life look glamorous and movie-like. These two would-be celebrities end up meeting their maker sooner rather than later, though, which inspires Hoitz and Gamble to take more initiative and be more ambitious with their investigations. This newfound attitude steers them towards a possible grand-scale white collar crime not dissimilar to the Bernie Madoff fiasco, but because of a series of mishaps their Captain (Keaton) and even the District Attorney step in and order them to back off. Despite this order Hoitz and Gamble are unable to let go of the case, and wont stop until they’ve got their man. Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: It's exactly what you'd want it to be.

Director: Robert Fleischer

Screenwriters: Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland), Emma Stone (The Rocker, Superbad), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)

Length: 1h 20m

Synopsis: The world as we once knew it is over. The vast majority of people on earth have become zombies, leaving a remaining select few to wander about trying to survive. A teenage boy – referred to by his home town, Columbus, Ohio (Eisenberg) – gets picked up by a zombie-killing professional (Tallahassee) and the two destine to travel west across the U.S. in search of a zombie-free locale. On their way they encounter two girl con artists named Wichita (Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin), and the two pairs henceforth oscillate between being trusting and distrusting of each other as they travel together. Zombies, as the common enemy, might prove to be the only thing the four have in common. Read the rest of this entry »