PAUL

PAUL (2011)
UK/US
Directed by Greg Mottola

CAST:
Simon Pegg - Greame Willy
Nick Frost - Clive Gollings
Seth Rogen- Paul (voice)

PLOT:
     Two British comic-book geeks traveling across the U.S. encounter an alien outside Area 51.

REVIEW:
   

     I must say I'm surprised. I said in a earlier review that Seth Rogen doesn't understand that being excited doesn't mean yelling. Well, he proved me wrong in Paul. He actually is learning how to act from what I can tell in this movie. Even though it's just his voice, you can tell he put emotions into his role which have been missing from his other films.  Plus, he's really likable in his role as Paul as he plays it more laid back and with a wisdom I haven't seen in any of his previous roles.

     Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are always good together as they play so well off of each other, that no matter what they're in I'd probably watch it. If you've seen Shaun Of The Dead or Hot Fuzz that should be enough to tell you about them in this. Jason Bateman is fun to watch as the no nonsense Agent Zoil who is always one step behind the protagonists almost the whole movie as no matter what he's outsmarted at every turn. Kristen Wigg's Ruth Buggs as well is fun to watch as the religious nut who gets her eyes open in more ways than one thanks to Paul, who happens to have a indulging love for cussing, including some I've never heard put together before, but was good for a laugh as well. Yet the film could have done more with the religious sub-plot they started with her. Here's a warning though, if you're really religious stay away.

       I will admit that the first 15 minutes of this movie had me kinda scared due to that it just moved very slowly setting up Frost and Pegg's characters as well as their run-in with rednecks, which the whole scene just seemed a little more forced than what is usual in their movies. Thankfully it picks up after Paul is introduced and doesn't slow down really after that. I would like to have seen more of Paul past, as he says himself in the movie that a lot of the pop culture from the 80's came from him. There's one scene in particular that had me laugh and remember my childhood at the same time as Paul is talking to a famous person (yes, that is his actual voice you are hearing) while sitting in a undisclosed warehouse filled with crates that stretches for what seems like miles. It's scenes like this that are pure gold in this movie, and there are plenty of them. I won't go into those scenes cause I feel if I do it would ruin the surprises that the movie holds.

     The best way I could really describe this film is it's a love letter to 80's movies. There are so many cool parts that come out of nowhere that you can't help but to laugh with what happens on screen. While it's been said that the movie is raunchy, the fact is it's not as bad as what was being said about it. While some of the movie is predictable, it doesn't tarnish the film in any way. What the movie has though is a heart and plenty of it. While Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz is a send up of movies more than anything else, this feels like a "Thank you" to past filmmakers.  If anyone fell in love with the movies from the 80's, you should go and see Paul as it's fun and enjoyable.

BEST DEATH:
     Sigourney Weaver's compressing close encounter of the third kind!

BEST LINE:
     See. I told you you'd recognize it when you saw it!

FUN FACTS:
     Seth Rogen had to get help from Andy Serkis on how to work with a motion capture suit.

     Due to scheduling conflicts though, Joe Lo Truglio,  who also plays O'Reilly in the film, took on the part. He studied Rogen extensively in order to impersonate his voice, performed on his knees to capture Paul's physical presence and even improvised in character as Paul.

     The movie was written by both Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

THE GREEN HORNET

THE GREEN HORNET (2011)
US
Directed by Michel Gondry

CAST:
Seth Rogen - Britt Reid/The Green Hornet
Jay Chou - Kato
Christoph Waltz - Chudnofsky

PLOT:
     After the death of his father, Britt Reid becomes the publisher of The Daily Sentinel and his father's substantial assets. After firing almost the complete staffing of his estate, one of the ones that is left is Kato, who happens to be a amazing engineer and martial arts master. It is after foiling a robbery that Britt and Kato decide to pose as criminals to fight crime.

REVIEW:
     I'm trying to think of the best way to start this review and I'm not having very much luck. I didn't know much about the story past what I learned from watching the 1960s TV series with Bruce Lee and Van Williams which wasn't as cheesy as one might expect for the time as it was played straight unlike how Batman was made during that time. I must say that I actually liked the TV series more than I should. In that series Britt is actually a above average detective who, with the help of Kato, fights crime while having help from the D.A. and secretary Lenore "Casey" Case. Yet this isn't a review of the TV show, it's a review of the movie and what I thought of it. So what did I think of the movie?

     I wasn't really that impressed through most of it. The main reason for this is Seth Rogen's Britt Reid. Now Rogen has never played a genius before in any movie, and yet I liked him in all the comedies I've seen him be part of. But in this movie he just plays a complete moron through most of it, good intentioned and an ass, but dumb and someone I wanted to strangle every time he opened his mouth. Most of the movies I've seen him in he plays the slacker/stoner in comedic roles that are so similar that you might think that his character from The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked up are the same. I'm not saying that Rogen is the worst actor in the world, it's just that to me, he doesn't have the range yet or he hasn't found the director to really push him out of his school boy humor mode to play a role like this yet. That's not to say Rogen doesn't do good in his role, it just takes to long to get there where you actually see a character progression, growth, and maturity and only in the last 15 minutes of the movie. As a side note his performance that really should be mentioned, instead of talking he screams his way through most of the movie which get's annoying after the second time he does it.

     Now Christoph Waltz's character in the movie had me confused as when you first see him he's supposed to be the boss of the underworld but comes off meek and quiet. Is this really the same guy that was in Inglorious Basterds, this man that looks like he's about to break out in tears at a moments notice. I know that Waltz has charisma, it shined like a lighthouse in Basterds, but here, it's like watching a firefly at a distance. Most protagonists are defined by their antogonist,, but hell a five year old wouldn't be afraid of Chudnofsky or Bloodnofsky, as he calls himself at the end of the movie cause he's wearing a  blood red jacket and he thinks it will make him scary. Yeah, real scary. But then again Waltz's character has issues as he's insecure and to overly concerned what others think of him to much, yet I could have cared less. I can easily say the same for Cameron Diaz's Lenore Case. The first time you see her on screen is the way you always see her on screen for most of her roles, comes into a room, stops, then smiles with no worries or cares. Just plain boring. Which is what I felt through most of the movie.

     That's not to say the whole movie is bad. One of the best parts of the movie is Jay Chou's portrayal of Kato. It might be because he deadpans the whole way through the movie, but the movie could have been called Kato and did just as well as the only person I really did care about in the movie was Kato. Or it could be that he actually was in all the interesting scenes or was just more interesting due to the fact that he wasn't trying to make jokes or act like an ass throughout the whole movie or laugh at his own jokes he tells. He also seemed the most fallible out of everyone in the movie as he shows he's jealous, can't swim, and doesn't like how Britt is always overshadowing him but yet the story doesn't help his character evolve anymore than what was shown. Now while Michel Gondry does try to do a good job with the movie, and in his own style that he's known for, he just doesn't fully pull it off as the movie seems like it's directed by two different people at times. During the action scenes the camera is fluid, even though the action does get lost sometimes it's not for long. While during the non action parts of the movie the camera is static and unmoving usually set to a wide angle where it can catch all the people at one time. While the movie was supposed to be fun, I found it to be just kinda "meh". That's the best I can put it as the end of the movie was best part where everything happens almost at one time but yet after spending an hour and forty minutes with these characters being inept, I still didn't feel anything for them. So if you're looking for a brainless action movie this would fit the bill for that as there is no character progression for the most part and what the bad guys do is even told to you even before it happens, which pulls the surprises for those scenes away from the viewer and treats us like idiots. So if you can deal with all the flaws this would be the movie for you.

BEST DEATH:
      The Black Beauty when it goes out of 10th story of The Daily Sentinel which a passenger on the front of the car and we go along for the ride.

BEST LINE:
     I'll go with you, but I don't want to touch you.

FUN FACTS:
     This is Seth Rogen's first live action movie not rated "R".

     In the original radio programs, Britt Reid is the grandenephew of the John Reid, the Lone Ranger.

     Seth Rogen lost over 30 pounds for his role.

     Seth Rogen also helped write the script for the movie with Evan Goldberg.