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Jack Rico

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2010/03/25 at 12:00am

Hot Tub Time Machine

03.25.2010 | By |

Hot Tub Time Machine

The R rated comedy ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ is a disappointment that could have been prevented if the writers would have delivered better jokes, more frequently. Besides a few laughs, this comedy isn’t worth the ticket price or your time at the theater, but perhaps at home on DVD on a lazy Saturday night.

The story is simple. Four guy friends (John Cusack, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry), all of them bored with their adult lives, travel back to their respective 80s heydays thanks to a time-traveling hot tub. What ensues is nostalgic moments for most of the protagonists and a predictable twist for the finale.

For many men, there is nothing better than calling friends on a Friday night and catching a riotous R rated comedy. The attraction is the raunchy sexual humor and dialogue, ape-like rationale and an inane plotline that is already inherently funny. Many comedies in the decade of the 80’s embodied that sort of unrefined and unpretentious hilarity such as ‘Airplane’, ‘The Naked Gun’ and ‘I’m Gonna Git You Sucka‘. They were made for men and boy did we love them. 2008 saw one of my personal favorites – Role Models starring Paul Rudd and and Sean William Scott. They created a gem with scenes that pushed the envelope of comedy to its limits by having little kids curse like old curmudgeon truckers. ‘The Hangover’ reached perfection in the last decade. It received a Golden Globe nomination and even speculation that it would be nominated for an Oscar in the best picture category.

So what went wrong with ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’?

The jokes began strong and then they lagged. Those lagging moments cost the film everything. The writers, Josh Heald and Sean Anders needed to create rapid-fire jokes to avoid the sour comedic bits from affecting the strong, quick pacing of the beginning. As a result, the audience is left in limbo awaiting on hilarity that is saved for seldom occasions, as if there were rations of jokes left for us to laugh at. The acting overall was fine, some secondary 80’s cast selections were great such as Crispin Glover (Marty MacFly from Back to the Future) and Chevy Case.

The protagonists were a nice mix of actors that provided their fair skill of comedy. The highlight was Craig Robinson, who seems to be at home in this genre. If you ever saw him in ‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno’, he carried that movie on his back! John Cusack was a nostalgic touch that director Steven Pink I’m sure had as his secret weapon. John Cusack is the 80’s and it was great to see how he behaved under the ambiance of the period that made him a star.

Nevertheless, I was expecting so much more from this film. Whenever you see “rated R” next to a comedy, you feel like we’re in for something different (e.g. The Hangover). It’s a movie that filmmakers can sink their creative juices into without restraint. That mere idea is obviously much more difficult than it looks.

Terry Kim

By

2010/03/23 at 12:00am

Men Who Stare at Goats

03.23.2010 | By |

Rating: 2.5

Rated: R for language, some drug content and brief nudity.
Release Date: 2009-11-06
Starring: Peter Straughan
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://www.themenwhostareatgoatsmovie.com/

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The Men Who Stare at Goats is based on a book by Jon Ronson of the same title, and judging by his track record—Ronson wrote books with titles like Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness and Them: Adventures With Extremists—it isn’t surprising that Heslov’s movie is an hour and a half of paranormal activity (or something like it) inside the U.S. Military. Bob Wilton (played by Ewan McGregor), at first searching for a way out of his heartbreak (his wife and college sweetheart leaves him for his one-armed editor), lands himself in uncanny situations that cannot possibly be real… or are they?

 

Bob begins his adventure in Kuwait City, where he runs into Lyn Cassady (played by George Clooney), who will ultimately be the link to the story behind the First Earth Battalion. When the Cassady-Wilton duo courageously ventures into the deserts of Iraq, the first big thing that happens is a car crash, and into a glaring boulder in the middle of the road, no less. Not to mention that the first “help” they acquire is a group of petty thugs that want to sell this clueless American pair. For Wilton’s first big adventure, he’s doing pretty great. Once he starts to glean out some of Cassady’s stories, however, he realizes that the U.S. Military isn’t as tough as it looks.

 

Meet Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), leader of the First Earth Battalion, who uses his “education” (if naked hot tub sessions count as education) to get his men in touch with Mother Earth. Lyn Cassady is Django’s main protégé, and when a fellow Battalion member, Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey) enters their Garden of Eden, things go terribly amiss: Django gets a dishonorable discharge, and even worse, Cassady stares at a goat so intently that it drops dead. Lyn has thus traversed into the dark side, and to top it off, Larry taps him with the “death touch.” But not to worry; all ends well, with Bill’s vision of Timothy Leary, and some military breakfast laced with LSD. Thus Bob Wilton emerges, cured of his heartache, and in tune to his inner hippie.

 

The director of The Men Who Stare at Goats is Grant Heslov. This is his feature debut behind the camera, but not his first opportunity to join forces with Clooney. He co-wrote (with Clooney) and produced Good Night and Good Luck and filled similar producing duties for Leatherheads. The two men clearly know each other and work well together, and it shows in the easy way this movie unfolds. Heslov is not performing without a net. Who better than Clooney to lend a helping hand – a man who has learned from Soderbergh and the Coens and directed three films in his own right (two of which he collaborated with Heslov)?

 

George Clooney seems to have walked off the set of Burn After Reading and straight into this one: the expressions and the speech are identical. Comments on the acting aside, the laugh-out-loud moments are worth the psychedelic overload. The attention, however, appears to have gone mostly into the dialogue, and the audience knows all too well that dialogue alone does not carry a whole movie. If you’re looking for more reasons—as if there aren’t enough already—to scoff at our former president, look no further than The Men Who Stare at Goats. It’s always fun to make fun.

P.S. Warning to all hamster owners: remember to keep your furry friends away from glaring men.

Jack Rico

By

2010/03/21 at 12:00am

IMAX:Hubble 3D

03.21.2010 | By |

IMAX:Hubble 3D

How many times are you going to hear someone say that there is a film out there right now that has better 3D special effects than Avatar? Most likely you won’t until you witness ‘IMAX: Hubble 3D,’ one of the most tantalizing 3D imagery ever put on celluloid.  It is a truly eye-popping experience that will make you shake your head over and over again. This is a documentary done by NASA, not be confused for a fictional film. The images and scenes you will see here is real. None of it is fake.

The story crafted by the director/writer Toni Myers and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio is about seven astronauts who in May of 2009 traveled to space to repair and update hardware on the Hubble telescope. The images that were later captured, according to the documentary, were the farthest pictures ever captured by human machinery. It is from what they say, the end of the known universe.

The most boggling and staggering thing about Hubble is the 3D ‘voyage’ the director takes us on billions of light years away to what is presumably the actual end of the universe as captured by the Hubble telescope. This happens a few times and it feels like you’re on a ride at Epcot Center.

Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t the best narrator, I would have much preferred Morgan Freeman or Tom Hanks, even Tom Cruise, but he gets the job done.

Overall, ‘IMAX: Hubble 3D,’ is a technological advancement that is sure to be adopted by many studios from now on. I hope it is, because if this is the future of films, then we are in for an IMAX HUGE treat!

Namreta Kumar

By

2010/03/20 at 12:00am

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

03.20.2010 | By |

Rating: 2.0

Rated: Not available.
Release Date: 2009-11-20
Starring: Melissa Rosenberg
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

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It seems like it took a long while coming, but New Moon just does not thrill audiences the same way Twilight, the movie or the books have. Overall the film covers the basics of the novel but fails to deliver as compelling a story.

As with any rewrite, stories have to be manipulated to adapt however for a novel about the development and growth of two prominent characters and relationships this film never fully develops. Everything about the film, from the music to most of the liberties, seems so disconnected and distant that it always feels like you are watching clips of the book.

Despite the problematic nature of the adaptation Chris Weitz’s constant desire to keep the original style of the film was very rewarding. With the exception of the almost obvious edits to existing sets, the overall style of the film and direction are what keeps this film close to the original novel. The novels established characters all seem very believable; however the triangle that is supposed to be formed at the end of the film, almost seems established from the start.

As a movie audience it is hard to see how much Bella has grown attached to Jacob without inserting dialogue. However, for a two-hour movie, this movie comes up short of making any progress and so the dialogue falls flat. In fact when it finally seems to be getting somewhere the conclusion of the film picks up its pace too rapidly and then it almost seems like a second films is starting.

Unfortunately this film just never gets passed the dramatics of a smaller role for Edward and fails to deliver the conflict that is supposed to drive this film and fuel the next.

Jack Rico

By

2010/03/20 at 12:00am

The Princess and the Frog

03.20.2010 | By |

Rating: 3.5

Rated: PG
Release Date: 2009-12-11
Starring: Ron Clements, Rob Edwards, Greg Erb, Don Hall, John Musker, Jason Oremland
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/princessandthefrog/

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“The Princess and The Frog” is an historic moment for Disney, but it also represents a step forward in the entertainment industry to diversifying its films to reflect today’s current social landscape. Perhaps a long anticipated Latina on the horizon? Cinematically speaking, the film is an entertaining and amusing throwback to the classic Disney cartoons of old, but doesn’t really hold its own compared to the classics. The same formula is used with a twist, but its missing originality.

This animated romantic comedy set in the great city of New Orleans in the 1920’s features a beautiful girl named Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, and a fateful kiss that leads them both on an adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana.

The voices are top notch across the board. The music is not at the height of previous efforts and feels like producers just picked up some songs from the Disney archive catalog. The production quality of the animation though is a pleasure to behold. In a time when CG, 3D and even stop-motion animation are all the rage, this seems like an old friend coming back to visit.

Kids and parents will have a good time with it and sing along with the crocs and bugs, but is it a classic? No, but it is historic enough that it must be seen.

Jack Rico

By

2010/03/20 at 12:00am

The Fourth Kind

03.20.2010 | By |

Rating: 2.5

Rated: PG-13 for violent/disturbing images, some terror, thematic elements and brief sexuality.
Release Date: 2009-11-06
Starring: Olatunde Osunsanmi
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://www.thefourthkind.net/

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The Fourth Kind has many a scares, but it feels more like a made-for-tv movie than anything else. That doesn’t make it bad, it just makes the decision to wait for it on DVD that much easier. 

 

The film, based on ‘real events’ and shot juxtaposing documentary and reenactment footage, is a good thrill… for a few minutes. The film’s publicity and marketing material suggest that The Fourth Kind is based on actual occurrences , but the reality is that this is as “based on a true story” as Fargo was (not at all). It’s all part of a backstory that extends beyond the screen. The director, Olantunde Osunsanmi, purports include “real” footage of unexplained phenomenon that transpired in Nome, Alaska during the early years of the 21st century, but there are plenty of clues both in the footage and outside of it that debunk its veracity. One doesn’t need to be aware that no one named Abbey Tyler practiced psychology in Alaska to know this woman is not real. The makeup applied to her face during her “interviews” is not convincing and the unidentified actress playing Abbey may cause pause even for those who want to buy what Osunsanmi is selling.

 

Although it’s fascinating to dissect the movie on an intellectual level and examine what pieces and structural choices work and don’t work, I’m sure that’s not how the filmmakers intended their production to be approached. On a purely narrative level, The Fourth Kind offers the occasional “boo!” moment but is too tame (consider the PG-13 rating) to generate any lasting horror and too contrived to work on a dramatic level. The best thing I can say about it is at least it’s not another Asian horror remake.

Jack Rico

By

2010/03/20 at 12:00am

City Island

03.20.2010 | By |

City Island

‘City Island’ is one of the more charming comedies to come out in a very long time and thus far this 2010. It is a magnetically crafted indie comedy that provides jokes worth laughing at and charming characters worth liking. It’s a feel-good movie that is sure to satisfy your every need at the movies. You really wont’ regret it.

Prison guard Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) is a prison guard, but has one secret no one knows about. A closet actor, he lies to his lovely wife, Joyce (Julianna Margulies), about going to poker games when he’s really traveling into the city to attend an acting class presided over by the Michael Malakov (Alan Arkin). Joyce, recognizing her husband isn’t being truthful, suspects he’s having an affair. But Vince has an even bigger secret: a newly paroled prisoner (Steven Strait) who has been offered lodging on his property, isn’t just some random ex-con; he’s Vince’s son. No one knows this except Vince and Molly (Emily Mortimer), his partner at the acting class. Vince isn’t the only one with secrets. His son, Vince Jr. (Ezra Miller), has a fetish for fat women. His daughter, Vivian (Dominik Garcia-Lorido), works as a stripper.

Cuban actor Andy Garcia dishes out some of his best comedic moments here and it is truly enjoyable to watch. He has not been a part of many talked about movies the last few years, but just like Robert De Niro in ‘Everybody’s Fine,’ Garcia has once again found his form. His timing, delivery, his expressions, the nuances and reactions, it all works here. The rest of the cast are wonderfully charming. They manage to compliment Garcia without a problem.

Are there any problems with the film? Perhaps, but they’re so minimal that you won’t notice them. I barely did. City Island is a fantastic, pleasurable experience, one that I recommend highly!

Jack Rico

By

2010/03/19 at 12:00am

Repo Men (Movie Review)

03.19.2010 | By |

The first hour of the new futuristic action film Repo Men, one of the most violent and bloody films I’ve seen since Ninja Assassins, is a slow, gouge-your-eye experience that has you asking for a refund. But the second hour really picks up and it is where the true entertainment value of the film lies. The story is very compelling tied with a dose of dark comedy, but the dialogue is vacuous and there were some major miscasting calls with Jude Law and Forest Whitaker.
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Alex Florez

By

2010/03/18 at 6:13am

Cbd oil for dogs dosage

03.18.2010 | By |

Provacan is definitely the biggest UK-focused CBD oil retailer, offering up CBD oil to the hashish-deprived folks of Britain. The model buy cbd oil online cheap can be linked to cannabis and CBD research teams, permitting for a considerable quantity of new and exciting discoveries into the usefulness of CBD and totally different products that may be created from it. Charlotte’s Web is legendary for growing a unique pressure of hashish that is extremely rich in CBD, almost wholly lacking in THC. Initially created to deal with a girl named Charlotte’s notably awful case of epilepsy, Charlotte’s Web now also provides all types of various CBD oil products made from their very own strain. Lab-testing food and drinks is a reasonably quick course of; CBD oil is a bit more difficult.

The other main compound is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the ingredient that produces a “excessive.” CBD has no such psychoactive properties. The very notion of there being a median CBD oil worth is a problematic one; the actual price of CBD oil goes to shift, alter, and change based mostly on all manner of various issues.

Can u drink alcohol with CBD oil?

You shouldn’t stop taking any medications you’re already using without talking to your doctor first. Using CBD oil may help your anxiety, but you could also experience withdrawal symptoms if you suddenly stop taking your prescription medications. Symptoms of withdrawal include: irritability.

As this 2017 evaluation reveals, a substantial amount of analysis has found that it’s a relatively protected treatment. The studies analyzed in that evaluate didn’t show that there’s one universal dosage of CBD that everyone ought to take. Instead, it underscored the truth that different people (and, in the animal studies, different animals) reply to different dosages of CBD. Most of the human research use dosages anyplace between 20 and 1,500 milligrams (mg) per day.

I even have been taking CBD oil for 17 months now and I took it two hours of all my different medicines together with B/P pills and within a pair months I was off all my drugs. I take alprazolam ER 0.5 mg 2x day by day, and atenolol 25 mg x day by day can I use CBD oil all spectrum it’s 250mg per 1oz bottle. But I’m kind of scared as to not really explaining why it’s okay. This is apparently not typical, but I even have met a few different “unhealthy back individuals taking opioids” with similar complaints.

Be certain to subscribe to our publication / check different posts on our weblog. CBD has been utilized in various methods to assist remedy different ailments and deal with opposed psychological effects.

  • It can be robust to figure out how a lot CBD you must take, as CBD isn’t presently regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and there aren’t any official beneficial dosages.
  • If you think that you’re not metabolizing CBD oil as anticipated, ask your doctor to test your cytochrome P450 enzyme system before adjusting your dosage.
  • Laboratory proof indicated that cannabidiol may cut back THC clearance, increasing plasma concentrations which may increase THC availability to receptors and enhance its effect in a dose-dependent method.
  • Experts don’t recommend CBD oil for use in children, as there is little analysis on the results of CBD oil on a baby’s growing brain.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permitted one type of CBD as a treatment for people with two uncommon and specific sorts of epilepsy, namely Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) or Dravet syndrome (DS). One report found that quick-term use of CBD oil might reduce the levels of spasticity an individual feels.

Average CBD Oil Price: Final Thoughts

Not solely do they have an effect on the final health of an individual but additionally drain the body’s energy. Stress and anxiety don’t have any scheduled timetable for one to arrange for them. These two partially negative emotions may cause cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and bodily harm. The physique loses extra energy in such circumstances since it has to work harder to deal with these adverse emotions than different processes.

The human body can even construct up a tolerance to THC, which additionally performs a definite position in the illness of addiction. Though many U.S. states have decriminalized marijuana use, it’s still listed as a Schedule I drug underneath the Federal Controlled Substances Act, which has stalled research on hashish in general. Whether hemp oil and CBD oil are the identical factor depends on whether the oil was derived from the hemp plant or from the hemp seeds.

I can also give you an awesome hyperlink to attach you with a doctor who specializes on this and can the best cbd oil provide a extra personalised recommendation for you. Hi, Since we are not licensed practitioners or doctors, so we are not legally capable of answer that question.

All of them seemingly present CBD as a product that makes use of the body’s own systems to create conducive environments for vitality creation. Correspondingly, CBD makes use of the body’s white adipose tissues to supply extra vitality and finally create the brown adipose tissues. This process can also be significant because it helps forestall individuals from being overweight. CBD additionally works in close collaboration with the brain which is responsible for power regulation.

Namreta Kumar

By

2010/03/18 at 12:00am

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

03.18.2010 | By |

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Unfortunately Diary of a Wimpy Kid does not make nearly as strong of an impact as the books do. The film never seems to capture the same charm, although it does have some reminiscent moments.

Greg Heffley, played by Zachary Gordon, is the middle child starting is first year at middle school, and his “diary” catalogs his plan for survival and the year. He is accompanied by the usual suspects: his older brother, Rodrick (Devon Bostick), whose favorite pass time is picking on Greg; the seriously weird kid, Fregley (Grason Russell), who is so far down the social ladder it almost seems like they had to create an underground; the overachieving spoiled, Patty (Laine MacNeil), who is hell-bent on revenge from kindergarten; and the endearing best friend, Rowley (Robert Caron), whose sincerity completely off-sets Greg’s “ambitions.” Along with that you have the cheese touch, the myth of the school, the one no one knows where it began but everyone continues to live by.

Jeff Kinney’s cartoon filled novel is filled with nostalgia without making anything epic or any of his characters highly noble. The driving force behind the story is with the kids, and as we all know kids can be cruel. Middle School is that ground where we begin to define and rank ourselves and Greg plans on being ahead of the curve, however there is no predicting what his schemes lead to.

Thor Freudenthal cleverly adapted the cartoons into the film’s treatment and never lost Greg’s original voice. Unfortunately it seems like it took Zachary Gordon a little while to warm up to the character of Greg and that off set the start of the film. As it rolls forward though the relationship between Greg and Rowley, becomes the focal point of the film and the contrasts give the film its own charming moments.

Although the film has its own magnetism, it failed to capture the appeal of the illustrated novel. The fun that children of all ages (and adults alike) can have with the “diary” in their own hands is almost lost in film form. The visual element of the film can be appreciated best in certain scenes that are larger than the book, for example Halloween, and the school play. However overall the charm lies in the book and the film is best appreciated by a family movie night.

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