Flixd: four

I am happy that this month swung more back to the mindless entertainment category and away from the chick flicks of last month. There’s really only one here at the end, but two seasons of The Hills kinda makes up a lot of hours, so… yeah…

Same rules apply as the others in the series. These are not reviews, just thoughts and heads.

Hancock
I actually watched this in March — probably would have helped offset another chick flick — but forgot to put it in that one because I went off my Netflix list and I borrowed the Blu-ray off my boss. Nothing but a Will Smith popcorn flick and that wasn’t surprising because by all accounts that was the billing when it released, but I expect more from a Peter Berg helmed pic. That and I already knew the secret/surprise, but in all, worth a rental (or borrow).
[ob1 3]

National Lampoon’s Van Wilder
I’m not sure I have a Ryan Reynolds man-crush or not, but I do enjoy most of his work. Something about the way he delivers his lines and that goes way back to Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. Surprisingly, Tara Reid was enjoyable in this one; in fact I never minded her until she went crazy, alcoholicious and plastic.
[ob1 3]

National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj
I feel bad for the rating, but I don’t do points and couldn’t rank it the same as its predecessor. The plot has been done a few times before and while that doesn’t help it rate higher, it doesn’t hurt it either because we like this plot. That said Kal Penn held his own with this one and it had some new parts to its own, but best kept to watching late night when you have 90 minutes to burn.
[ob1 2]

Big Nothing
I realized two things while trying to watch this thing: 1. I finally might see why everyone else I know hates David Schwimmer; 2. I don’t like Simon Pegg without the accent — especially not with a bad mid-western one instead — and he doesn’t make every movie he is in great. I got maybe 20 minutes in on this and had to stop it. Thankfully it was a streaming Netflix because this was a big nothing.
[ob1 0]

The Hills
By knocking out the first and second seasons I now I have the full Hills history and experience. These seasons were good, but the show definitely hit its stride with Season’s 3 and 4. If you look at it as a whole, there is no denying that this stuff is scripted. The same activities happen over and over with only the participants changing. By the end of Season 5 I expect everyone will have slept with everyone else, dated everyone else, broken up with everyone else, hated on everyone else and made up with everyone else. Just like real life. I still love it though. It is still my favorite train wreck to watch and definitely a guilty pleasure.

Season 1: [ob1 3] Season 2: [ob1 4]

Role Models
I have been a big Paul Rudd fan for a while now. You took notice of him in Clueless, but he stood out in Overnight Delivery with a pretty much then unknown Reese Witherspoon (yeah, Fear had been out but Pleasantville was this same year). He’s another guy I like the way he delivers his lines. You always get the feeling that he is the character or the character is him. Anyway, he was great along with the kid that played Ronnie. Jane Lynch was her usual excellent self in a quirky — to say the least — role. Meanwhile, I feel like Sean William Scott played this with a more mature Stifler-like take and did well. As for McLovin, he is McLovin and that’s all he’ll ever be. Sorry dude.
[ob1 4]

Thank You For Smoking
Good casting in this one I thought, which is kinda key for black/dark comedies, right? I mean, who never thought Sam Elliot wasn’t the Marlboro Man? Of course, it being a comedy, it doesn’t really try to present anything new with respect to the topic, so it is no documentary by any stretch. Aaron Eckhart turns in another good performance in another underrated movie. Actually, maybe not underrated but most people haven’t seen it and you should, it is only 90 minutes. Right in my sweet spot.
[ob1 3]

Mr. and Mrs. Smith
I think pretty much everyone knows I’m not one of those Angelina Jolie guys. Maybe if she were never associated with Billy Bob that might be different, but that’s not the point. The point is I kind of enjoyed her performance in this one and Brad Pitt was okay too. Vince Vaughn kinda did his thing and came out even in the end, which really, they could have played him up a little more. In the end though, just more mindless entertainment.
[ob1 3]

Wonder Woman
If you think you know Wonder Woman, think again. This original animated adventure was brutal. Brutal! Not for the kiddies I would say. I enjoyed this one more than Justice League: The New Frontier and I am stoked for the upcoming Green Lantern flick, especially after watching the setup bits on this disc. All this said, I’m not sure this one is as relatable to everyone as Justice League was, but I’d still say check it out if ever enjoyed a super hero cartoon as a kid because this is just sooo much better than any of that.
[ob1 5]

Bleach: Memories of Nobody
Bleach is an anime show I watch every week on [adult swim] and based on a manga, which I don’t read… something about going back to front while reading is just to hard to deal with. Anyway, I really enjoy this show and I’m not even a huge anime guy although there are other series I have also enjoyed on [adult swim] over the last few years. (Really, I know that none of you are going to watch this one so I am just typing up some words to fill the space.) As a standalone movie, it was a good story, but felt very compressed given how they really draw everything out in the show, usually too much. If they ever hit a sweat spot… but, the story was still good although familiar given past events in the series.
[ob1 4]

Just Friends
Hey, another Ryan Reynolds flick! Funny how that happens with Netflix where you add in batches based on suggestions. I think his fights with his little brother were the best part about this one, although Chris Klein as a douchebag was good too. Standard rom-com stuff though.
[ob1 2]

Here’s to hoping, for you anyway, that May brings even less chick flicks. As it is looking now, it is mostly more stuff I missed the past few years at the top of my queue.