The 40-Year-Old Virgin can be looked to as perhaps the breakthrough film that started this new era of comedy. It's Judd Apatow's directorial debut, and with this film, he took the teen comedy format to a whole different level, proving that the movies can be more entertaining and more lucrative if aimed towards an older audience.
Although we've seen over the years smaller examples of this method, Apatow finally proved to the world that comedies could be blockbusters too. To the extent that nearly 15 years later, a film in the genre could potentially be in a box office war with a big budget action flick.
And it's led by a not-yet-well-known Steve Carell, who plays Andy, a 40-year-old nerd who's never been with a girl before. He doesn't really have any friends, so when his four coworkers discover his purity, they vow to "help him out".
His colleagues weren't necessarily friends with Andy before, but throughout this journey, they come to be very close.
The movie's not all pro-sex. In fact, the movie takes a refreshing turn towards the end of the 2nd act. Not only is the movie very funny, but we get a great story out of the characters' varying agendas.
The film also took comedy completely off-script in a way that hadn't been done before. It felt really loose and open-ended. Comedians were able to riff for as long as they wanted to without being confined to what's on the page. And this not only enhanced the intimacy of the viewing experience, but upped the ante for comedies in the future. If a comedy wanted to compete with the likeness of Apatow and Company, it would require some people who were actually funny.
But there's a downfall to all this too. Comedies eventually tended to get way too long, and directors weren't able to tell if a scene dragged on for too long. But the best from the bunch always stood tall.
Carell's supporting cast consists of also-not-yet-well-known Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, and Jane Lynch. Even a young Jonah Hill gets a couple scenes.
Considering all this, it's a surprise that Romany Malco, who plays one of Carell's three work buddies, carries his own extremely well amongst soon-to-be comedy legends. He gets some great lines and executes them as well as anyone could have.
Most people who hear the title of the movie will either want to see it or not want to see it. But the latter may be pleasantly surprised. Whether or not this film is for you, one can't deny how it changed the comedy landscape forever--for better or worse.
Twizard Rating: 92
If ever there was a film that typifies the last 10 years, it's The Big Short. It's filmmaking in its quickest form. And much credit goes to director Adam McKay, who has made a film so rapid fire that it even makes Vince Vaughn stop to catch his breath. It mirrors what goes on in today's multi-tasking society. But also what Wall Street has been doing for decades.
Connecting three stories without much crossover, The Big Short deals with what led to the financial crash of 2008 and the radical few who had the wisdom and the gall to see it coming and act upon it.
It starts with Christian Bales' character, Dr. Michael Burry, a Silicon Valley hedge fund manager who spots an instability in the United States housing market, predicting that the market will collapse in a few years. Much to his investors' dismay, he goes out and bets against the housing market--something that apparently you just don't do--by purchasing $500 million in credit default swaps. Many others catch wind of this, but only several are keen enough to spot the method to Burry's madness.
The film tries and succeeds at making a dry topic appeal to the audience it wants. There's a lot of technical jargon, but McKay makes it easy for us to stay in the loop by doing unusual things like have "Margot Robbie in a bubble bath explain it to you". These celebrities explaining things happens a few times throughout the film for our enjoyment. McKay has such an unorthodox way of filmmaking, but it works here. Characters break the fourth wall about a dozen times, and he enjoys flooding the screen with intercut stills. It's actually very highbrow, but never makes us realize it.
It has a mockumentary feel to it at times, which explains why Steve Carell makes sense here. He plays Mark Baum, a Wall Street hedge fund manager who gets approached by Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) to invest in this whole credit default swap thing.
A third story revolves around these two young investors who happen to get wind of Gosling's plan. They contact Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt), their financial advisor, who helps back the idea.
Each sub story is just as entertaining as the others, so you're never sitting there waiting for so-and-so to come back on screen. You never think about the fact that they're gone, but realize you missed them when they come back.
It's a powerful film, even though it might not seem like it is. It never strays from its point just to get a laugh. Each laugh feels deserved and the humor organic. And with a killer soundtrack (especially if you were a teenager during those years), it's definitely one of the best films of the year.
Twizard Rating: 98
What makes the Despicable Me films so engaging and attractive is the fact that they have a lot of heart. They feature an evil villain who changes his life because he has found love--not in a soulmate, but in 3 girls that he adopts.
This prequel movie tells the origin of the minions and how their journey up until they meet Gru. They can't seem to keep a villainous master, but then then they meet Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), who is the baddest of them all. She hires the minions as her henchmen and orders them to steal Queen Elizabeth II's crown.
The minions are adorable and hilarious, but there's more to a movie than that. We need that extra dynamic that Gru (Steve Carell) provides us with in Despicable Me. He plays the straight-man to the minions' ridiculousness. Bullock didn't work well as the voice of Scarlett Overkill. There was no playing off of each other between her and the minions. She was actually quite annoying. The first act was really entertaining and funny, but once they start working for Overkill, the film drops the ball a little bit.
Among that, the script has a few obvious plot holes and head scratchers, and the plot is really scatterbrained in general. And without the smooth score of Pharrell Williams, Minions just doesn't have that charismatic oomph of the Despicable Me films.
Minions is funny, but does so without the emotional attachment of its source material. I felt very disconnected to the characters. Obviously, we're rooting for the minions, but there isn't really anything at stake. It simply just acts as an origin story and nothing else.
I do applaud the direction for the impressive coherence despite not being able to understand the minions due to the fact that they don't speak English. But overall, we see that as adorable as the minions are, we need the whole package.
Twizard Rating: 74
The only problem with Foxcatcher is that Bennett Miller deliberately creates such a gloomy ambiance that the film has a hard time getting away from it enough to give it any energy. With all the slow building throughout the film, the climax manages to still feel unwarranted. The direction surpasses the script in many ways. You can see Miller wanting to make this film bigger than it is, and more meaningful. But there is just not a whole lot to work with. There are scenes that seem important, but ultimately lead to nowhere. Then finally, after 2 hours, you have a murder.
While the film may be long, it's not poorly made. We see a brilliant comparison between two types of people who long for the same thing--camaraderie. The acting of the three leads is fantastic--especially Steve Carell, who channels nodes of Michael Scott here and there.
You also have to appreciate very deliberate and conscious direction and pacing. Miller does this thing in the film where he likes to keep certain things out of sight (the tops of character's heads or significant objects being referred to)--almost to draw comparisons to the fact that with these characters there is more than meets the eye.
Just don't go into this movie expecting a story about wrestling, because while it touches upon the basic routines, it's not what Hoosiers is to basketball. The sport of wrestling isn't used as a metaphor for anything really. The film is a character study.
Twizard Rating: 84
Steve Carell is always likable and where Jennifer Garner is meant to be funny, she is really funny. And while this film isn't amazing, it's also fairly entertaining. If you can get past the slow set up, the slapstick is pretty fun. However, there are a few screaming plot holes, and some of the minor characters who are contributing to this bad day can get annoying with their unrealistic behaviors. But the main cast was all really impressive, and a few bits had me laughing out loud.
The premise isn't stale by any means, but nothing crazy enough happens in this movie that will get talked about after the day is over. But it's a really good kids movie if nothing else.
Twizard Rating: 78
