Posts Tagged ‘parody’

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: Pretty solid all around, though Cruise' playful attitude towards the material makes the film

Director: James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line)

Screenwriter: Patrick O’Neill (Début Film)

Cast: Tom Cruise (Tropic Thunder, Mission Impossible III), Cameron Diaz (Shrek Forever After, My Sister’s Keeper), Peter Sarsgaard (Orphan, An Education) Paul Dano (Taking Woodstock, There Will Be Blood)

Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

Synopsis: June Havens (Diaz) meets Roy Miller (Cruise), seemingly by accident, when they bump into each other at the airport.  June and Roy end up on the same flight and start a casual flirtation.  Things take a turn for the dangerous when Roy kills everyone else on the near-empty flight explaining that he’s a CIA agent on the lam because he stole a valuable new invention called the Zephyr.  June’s involvement with Roy puts her in danger and he insists that she must trust him in order to survive.  However, everything from Roy’s unpredictable behavior to the appearance of FBI Agent Fitzgerald (Sarsgaard) leads June to question Roy’s sincerity.  As June and Roy encounter ever more dangerous scenarios, she must decide whether Roy is endangering her life or protecting it. Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: Delightfully obscene

Director: Jorma Taccone (debut)

Screenwriters: Jorma Taccone (Saturday Night Live), Will Forte, John Solomon (Saturday Night Live)

Cast: Will Forte (Saturday Night Live), Kristen Wiig (Whip It), Ryan Phillippe (Breach), Val Kilmer (The Bad Lieutenant)

Length: 1h 39m

Synopsis: International terror financier Dieter Von Cunth (Kilmer) has just stolen a nuclear warhead and is looking to blow up Washington D.C. In his way stands a man known only as MacGruber (Forte), who faked his death ten years ago and is being reinstated by the U.S. military to intercept the warhead. His methods are perplexing, but he gets results. Highly decorated and highly unstable, MacGruber and his team try their best to thwart Cunth’s evil plan in any way they can – even if it means having to rip some throats out. Read the rest of this entry »