Inside Man 2

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
Premise: Following the events of the first film, professional thief Dalton Russell begins another cat and mouse game with Detective Keith Frazier.
Writer: Russell Gewirtz

You ain't winning any awards for this one, Denzel

Inside Man was really really good. It was an interesting look at heist movies. Unfortunately for everyone, it also happened to make money. Why is that a problem? Simple, Hollywood is quickly running out of ideas so they need to churn out sequels to every money maker they have. Few of these films are actually worth revisiting.

Inside Man 2 takes an interesting route. Instead of trying to rehash the events that made the first film so great, they go the direct sequel route. It's an interesting choice. Not necessarily a good one, as their really wasn't any need for a continuation.

Anyway, we open with thief Dalton Russell in jail. Keith Frazier, who dons a sling around his arm, is questioning him about the events that have unfolded. What are these events you ask? Well, one week prior, a jewel heist went down. Det. Keith Frazier is at the helm of this investigation, along with familiar face Bill Mitchell. The bank robbery from the first film has had a lasting effect on the detective. Strangely enough, Dalton Russell himself offers the detective his assistant, as he's head of security for this area. (Remember, Frazier has never seen Dalton's face) Over the course of the film, these two form a bond as they take on the case. We're left to wonder why the hell Dalton is doing all of this.

It's not exactly exciting. It may not be a rehash, but that doesn't make it any less unnecessary. The cleverness of the first film has washed away, and we're left with a cop drama for the first half, and bland thriller the last half. It's all got a been-there-done-that feel to it.

The script faces other downfalls. The dialogue being one of them. Most of it was used to let the readers know what exactly was going on, and it seemed so forced. Not to mention the characters feel like mere shadows of their former selves. And the twist ending isn't exactly to write home about either.

Gewirtz does manage to bring in everyone back from the first film. I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but I figured I'd throw that in there. Jodie Foster's not up to much lately, so she'll probably sign back on...

Now I'm just rambling. There's really not much to say about this script. I give Gewirtz props for trying something new, but in the end it is completely unnecessary. That's probably it's main fault and why I'm looking into all of it's negatives instead of praising the few positives it has. IMDB lists Terry George as the screenwriter and Russell Gewirtz for characters, so maybe they totally scrapped this idea. And maybe I really am looking into the negatives to much, because somehow it managed to keep my interest. So this one ends up leaving me puzzled. So many things working against it, yet I managed to stay mildly entertained, much like I felt for Valentine's Day. So I guess I'll give it the same rating...

[] Somebody should be fired
[] Bad
[x] Mediocre
[] Worth the read
[] Great
[] Amazing

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The Cabin in the Woods

Genre: Horror
Premise: A twisted and unusual take on the familiar "cabin in the woods" formula. Comes out next February.
Writers: Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard

One of the many great posters for "The Cabin in the Woods"

If there's one genre that has the least respect at the moment, it's horror. Hollywood churns out dozens of horror films a year, and you'll be lucky to find one that's actually good. So I was very excited to pick up this script. I'm a fan of Whedon, and after Cloverfield, Goddard was definitely on my radar. So what did I think?

The Cabin in the Woods starts off with five friends. Whedon and Goddard are going for a horror parody here. So it's pretty cliche', but it works and there's a purpose for it that I won't spoil. Anyway, there's Curt the "jock"; Jules, his girlfriend, the "whore"; Holden, the "scholar"; Marty, the "fool"; and Dana, the "virgin". They're all headed toward's Curt's cousins lakehouse. Which is, you guessed it, a cabin in the woods. Along the way they stop for gas, que creepy and disgusting clerk who warns them about the cabin, but of course they ignore him.

While this is happening we meet a bunch of people in some sort of lab. We don't know what they're up to, but it involves our main characters. Once our heroes reach the cabin, we find out that these people are a part of some mysterious corporation who purposefully brought this group of people to the cabin to die. This is where things get complicated. This corporation, whatever they are, have been planning this for a while. There is also some type of magical force that looms around the cabin that the corporation uses to do it's killing.

Our heroes make their way to the cabin's basement. Unfortunately, this is all part of the corporation's plan. Inside the basement there are an assortment of random items. We find out that whichever of these items our heroes pick, triggers how they will die. They unknowingly pick a diary. The diary is of a girl named Patience Buckner who lived in the house a century ago. This is a sick family, and we even get a tip of some sort of torture chamber. Then there's a Latin passage, that stoner Marty warns everyone not to read. You can guess what happens next. That's right, lead heroine Dana reads this Latin phrase aloud and we cut to the woods where a zombified Buckner family rises from the ground, looking for something to kill.

Through security cameras, the employees of the corporation watch as our main characters are picked off one by one. When our heroes finally get an upperhand on the zombies, the employees screw things up even more. It's really a great concept. There's no hope for our characters, so we're left wondering what their next move will be. We're also wondering why this organization has to kill people, and how the hell do they have the power to make creatures carry out their wishes. (even though our heroes face zombies, we are told of all the other sinister options that could have been their fate.)

And then we have out ending. I won't spoil it for you, but it will definitely draw a line. You're either going to love it or hate it. Me? I wasn't that big of a fan. I thought it didn't mesh well at all with the rest of the script, and was just one big WTF moment.

There is one thing I really really liked that Whedon and Goddard incorporated into the script. In your average horror movie, the characters are so stupid, they get themselves into situations that they basically deserve to be killed off. In this movie, our characters have been drugged by the organization, and it makes them get into sticky situations. For instance, after finding out about the zombies outside, Curt runs in and tells everyone to lock the doors and windows, and that they need to stick together. All the labrats need to do is release some gas to alter his judgement, and everyone agrees it'd be best if they all split up.

Overall, I really liked Cabin in the Woods up until the final act. Before that point was a great horror movie that parodies itself and had a great mystery surrounding it. I was just not a fan of the ending. It left a lot of questions, and was just to much of a WTF moment that didn't mesh with the rest of the script. But overlooking that, it was smart, great dialogue, some actual scares, and great characters. Whedon and Goddard knew what they were doing and what they wanted, but I'm worried the ending may be a little too out there for people who aren't already fans of their work.

[] Somebody should be fired
[] Bad
[] Mediocre
[x] Worth the read
[] Great
[] Amazing

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Killers

Genre: Action/Comedy/Thriller
Premise: A vacationing woman meets her ideal man, leading to a swift marriage. Back at home, however, their idyllic life is upset when they discover their neighbors could be assassins who have been contracted to kill the couple. It was previously called Five Killers, but I can see why they changed it, because the number of killers really doesn't matter. Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl star.
Writers: Bob De Rosa, Revisions by a lot of people, including Ted Griffin, Michael Brandt (who also did The A-Team), Derek Haas, and Melissa K. Stack (Dated 2/3/09)

Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl in "Killers"

Next summer, blockbusters will once again be unleashed to the movie going public. There's Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3, and the new Twilight movie. It's very hard to stand out among these heavy-hitters, and right unless your movie's name is "Inception" your going to have to work hard to find an audience. The key of course, is a good script. Look at this summer for example. We had Up, an original animated feature, Star Trek, a reboot to a dead franchise, and The Hangover, which is now the highest grossing R-rated comedy ever. They all had great scripts. So does this film have the potential to match those films? Well, let me set the bar a little lower, could this film breakout ala The Proposal? I think it just might.

Let me start from the beginning. We're in Nice, France. It doesn't take long before we meet our hero, Spencer Broome. He's some sort of secret agent here in France to take out a target. Spencer is pretty much the perfect guy that the dude's wanna be and the girl's want to be with. But at the heart, Spencer's pretty much done with this lifestyle. He's ready to settle down and start a family. Enter Jen Kornfeld. She's here in France on vacation with her overbearing parents. Jen's pretty, but not overly sexy, and she's flatout goofy. Well, the two meet and fall in love. Spencer leaves his spy life behind and gets what he's always wanted.

Cut to three years later. Spencer and Jen are now the perfect suburban couple. I like this, simply because it seems like in any other script, the lead couple will have been at each other's throats by now and instead of being in love are simply going through the motions. So it's a nice change, even if it's a small one. Anyways, Spencer has not told Jen about his past life, but it comes back to haunt him when he gets a package from his "handler". It only contains an address, but not knowing what's going on puts Spencer on edge. Now Spencer is forced to confront his past, and after an attempt on his life, he and Jen are forced to go on the run. Spencer comes clean about everything, and let's just say Jen is a little pissed.

So Spencer and Jen are on the run. Every step they take they are confronted by supposed friends who were actually plants sent to kill Spencer by some head honcho. There are some entertaining scenes here, but most of the problems this couple get themselves into seem like they could have been easily avoided, although I did like the sense of paranoia. They nor we know who the assassins are and who are actually their friends.

The script really was a nice thrill ride. There were some great action sequences, and known of the comedy is forced, it's just trying to show the plot in a lighthearted way. I'll admit, I didn't expect much going in, but I was very impressed. I will say this though, I was kind of disappointed in the ending. I saw it coming from a mile away, and it felt like a cop out. Other then that, it was a fun read. I say read it, and we may see a surprise hit at the box office next summer.

[] Somebody should be fired
[] Bad
[] Mediocre
[x] Worth the read
[] Great
[] Amazing

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MacGruber

Yes, I'm doing an extra special Saturday review.

Genre: Comedy
Premise: SNL-sketch veteran MacGruber teams up with the best timer in the world Vicki and hotshot rookie Piper to take down his arch-nemesis Cunth. (you read that right) The entire SNL team is behind the project. Fast-tracked is an understatement for this film, as the script was finished in June and they have to be done shooting by SNL's late September premiere.
Writers: Will Forte, John Solomon, and Jorma Taccone




Well, let me start off by saying that I'm a fan of the SNL sketch, which parodies MacGyver. If you haven't seen the sketch, it involves MacGruber (Will Forte), Vicki (Kristen Wiig), and that week's host trapped inside a room that contains a bomb that will explode in a matter of seconds. As MacGruber uses random items to try and defuse the bomb, some type of tension between the characters will get in the way and the bomb ends up exploding.

Ok, you may ask yourself, how do you extend this 2 minute (max) sketch into a full length movie? Well, it's pretty hard. The basic plot is this. There's a guy named Cunth (yes, Cunth, and he's going to be played by Val Kilmer) who has a nuclear warhead, and he's going to use it. All he needs are the codes. Then we have MacGruber, who is still grieving over the death of his wife, who was killed on their wedding day by Cunth himself. So MacGruber, who is out of the government agent game, gets back into said game to take revenge out on Cunth.

So where does it go from here? MacGruber assembles a bad-ass team of course! He's got the most bad-ass of bad-asses. They include the likes of Frank Korver, Tanker Lutz, Tut Beemer, Tug Phelps, and Vernon Freedom. I know, pretty bad ass, right? Well, unfortunately they all get in a van Grubes has filled with C4, and it explodes killing them all. So now MacGruber needs a new team. His old pal Vicki, the greatest timer in the world offers to help, and MacGruber is ordered to let a rookie named Piper (to be played by Ryan Phillipe) tag along. So this is our crew, and it's their mission to go pound some Cunth!

So we get some action scenes, but ultimately, MacGruber is emotionally compromised and is taken off the mission. To make matters worse, there's rift formed between Grubes and Piper when the mulleted hero uses the rookie as a human shield. And to top it all off, Cunth kidnaps Vicki and everyone thinks he's innocent, but he really plans on blowing up the White House during the President's State of the Union address. Only MacGruber knows about this plan, but nobody believes him, so it's up to him and Piper to save the day.

Sound cliche? It really, really is. MacGruber is filled with overly cheesy one-liners that are meant to be atrocious. But that doesn't necessarily make them funny. Not to mention all the recycled jokes and gags. Like all of Grubes' buddies getting blown up? Zoolander, anyone? Or the fact that MacGruber offers to let the Colonel suck his dick if he's allowed back on the mission (ehem. Jack Black's proposal to Brandon T. Jackson in Tropic Thunder, anyone?)





But then we get our finale. It's our first glimpse in the script that has anything to do with the sketch. We've got MacGruber, Piper, Vicki, and Cunth all in a room together with a bomb that's about to blow the White House to smithereens. Even this is a let down, as it doesn't match the humor I find in the SNL sketch.

So what we've got is an SNL sketch tried to be drawn out into a feature film. Some of it works, but overall, it's better left in 3-minute format on the small screen. I realize that on the big screen some of the jokes will work better, but most of this had a been-there, done-that feel to it. I will say this though, the epilogue was pretty amusing. I won't give it away, but I will say it's a strong contender for the best death scene of 2010.

[] Somebody should be fired
[] Bad
[x] Mediocre
[] Worth the read
[] Great
[] Amazing

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Weekly Download Chart (8/27/09)

looky here. Date Night just got dethroned by another ensemble film.


Here's the chart:

1. Valentine's Day
2. Date Night
3. Your Highness
4. Kick-Ass
5. The A-Team
6. Easy A
7. Zombieland


That does it for me for this week. Check back next week where I'll have a whole new batch of reviews. What I'm reviewing next week: Cabin In the Woods, Killers, Prince of Persia, Inside Man 2, and if I feel like it Chris Rock's remake of Death at a Funeral.



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The A-Team

Genre: Action
Premise: A group of Iraq War veterans looks to clear their name with the U.S. military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed. Joe Carnahan is directing. Bradley Cooper and Liam Neeson are attached so far. Filming begins this Fall.
Writers: Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal/Current Revisions by Michael Brandt & Derek Haas (dated March 28, 2008)

Well, well, well. I must admit that I wasn't particularly looking for ward to reading this script. I have never seen the show, so I'm not really any sort of fanboy. And often times a movie adaptation of a tv show can end in disaster. So I was very surprised when I started reading The A-Team and I didn't want to stop. It was very entertaining.

I did my research. I know that the original series started off with Hannibal, Face, and Baracus as Vietnam war vets who sentenced for a crime they didn't commit. They escape from jail and are now trying to clear they're names. Along the way, Murdock joins the team. Well, that's pretty much exactly what happens in this script. They brought it to present times, making the boys Iraqi veterans, and then they follow the show's plot very closely.

Let me break it down real quick though for those who haven't seen the show or haven't read the script (yet). Hannibal, B.A., and Face are sentenced to prison for a crime they didn't commit. Well, Face, being the douchebag that he his, manages to get out of jailtime by basically throwing his friends under the bus. Well, Hannibal and B.A. escape from prison and they team-up with a man named Murdock. He's a pilot and he's insane. Like, really insane. Face joins the team again and they must work together to clear their names.

Ok, so that's the plot. But it's not plot people are looking for in a movie like this. It's the action. And this thing delivers. There was action sequence after action sequence, and I found all of them to be exhilarating. I can only imagine what they'll look like on the big screen, and what other visual delights they'll have added by then.

But there is the bad side to things. As always with movies like this, after all the excitement wears off, what are you left with? I found myself asking "why the hell did Murdoch join the team?" Cause it's never explained. I found myself wondering why do I care fir these characters? They've done nothing wrong, but there's pretty much zero character development. But regardless of all it's problems, it did deliver on the one thing it set out to, entertain. I can see this being a big hit at the box office next summer if they market it right. I don't think it will be the last time we see Hannibal and his team up on the big screen.

[] Somebody should be fired
[] Bad
[] Mediocre
[x] Worth the read
[] Great
[] Amazing

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Your Highness

Genre: Comedy
Premise: A lazy prince is forced by his father to go on a quest and in turn he ends up facing an even bigger threat, saving the world. Danny McBride stars.Writers: Danny McBride and Ben Best (Dated Feb. 29, 2008)

Danny McBride

Ok, so I was really looking forward to this script. I think Danny McBride is really funny, and this is his big chance to shine. And the fact that he wrote it is an even bigger plus. Well, I gotta say, I have the same thoughts now that I did while reading Date Night.

So the story starts out with Thadeous, the chubbier, lazier, hornier brother to Fabious, the guy everyone loves. Thad is left in charge of the kingdom because his father has been turned to stone, and his brother is turning him back. Once his father, the King of Doobery, is back to normal, he sees what a mess his son has made of the kingdom and forces him to go on a quest. Thad's quest is to find the Hoop of Doom. Tagging along is his servant Courtney and Boremont, a great soldier for the King, who's job is to keep Thad safe. Oh, and pretty much the kingdom's entire army is there too.

Well, Thadeous is still lazy as hell, and forces everyone else to do all the dirty work. He manages to get the Hoop of Doom (which is basically a hula hoop with special powers), but an evil warlock named Leezar kills the entire army because he wants the Hoop for him self. Now Thad, Courtney, and Boremont must make it back home with this evil magician hot on their tails. Things go awry. Thad falls in love. He becomes a hero and ends up saving the day.

As you can see, it gets a bit cliche. And like I said, it reminded me of Date Night. It sets out to be a comedy, but the one thing you end up getting out of it is the action. And there is LOTS of action to be found in this script. But that can't really save it. I mean, there were some funny scenes. I got a kick out of envisioning Danny McBride twirl the Hoop of Doom around his waist in the midst of a bloody battle. But, like I said with Date Night, this script was set up to have a lot of improvisations. Well, that doesn't help this script one bit. There are lines repeated throughout the script that weren't that funny the first time they were said, let alone the tenth.

I will say this though, I enjoyed the atmosphere of this script. I liked the premise, but the plot could use some work. After the initial setup, it turned into a game of "What wacky situations can we throw our characters in to next?" But there is hope. From all the info I've read, the script's been changed dramatically. I liked this script enough to give the film a chance. And with the talent involved, I'm sure they'll come up with some funny scenes, but until then....

[] Somebody should be fired
[] Bad
[] Mediocre
[x] Worth the read (VERY close to mediocre, but I bumped it up because it actually has potential)
[] Great
[] Amazing

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