Gulliver's Travels

Here's a movie that I got formy kids. If Jack Black is in it, you know it's goofy and most likely a kid-friendly movie.

The movie sort of follows the book of the same name, but with a modern spin and a lot of the added antics that you would expect from Jack Black.

As you may know, Gulliver travels by sea, but gets hit by a storm and ends up on the island of Lilliput. Lilliput is full of little people, just like in Ireland, but these people are called Lilliputians. They initially fear Gulliver because of his ginormous size, but he helps to save them at one point and earns their respect - the respect of everyone except for the Princess' fiance that is. Gulliver then abuses his new-found fame, and to his chagrin, the Princess' fiance exposes him. Now he must fight to regain their trust. And it could happen when the Princess' fiance goes rogue.

Gulliver's Travels is full of quasi-famous actors, including Jason Segal, one of the original Freaks and Geeks, Emily Blunt as the Princess, the always lovely Amanda Peet, Gulliver's long-time crush, and Billy Connolly as the King (remember him from Head of the Class? He replaced (succeeded?) Howard Hessman).

Gulliver's Travels was produced by Rob Letterman, not sure if he's related to David Letterman. Letterman, the former, also produced the mildly entertaining Monsters vs. Aliens, which is not to be confused with Alien vs. Predator. The latter is a midly entertaining aging talk show host.

The movie is rated PG for some crude humor, a naked butt (nope, not Amanda Peete's nor Emily Blunts - sorry!), and some mild language.

If I had watched this movie on my own, I would not have liked it too much. But watching it with my kids and hearing them laugh made me laugh. Therefore, it was worth it. I'll give this an even 3 stars. It met the expectations of the intended audience.

Year One

What do you get when you cross the underdog, yet witty Jack Black with the underdog Michael Cera? Of course the answer is you get a predictable comedy set in the stone age.

Year One is the latest installment in goofy movies. Black and Cera are early tribesmen who are shunned by their peers for being too lazy. They are too feeble to be good hunters and too interested in the women to be good gatherers. Additionally, they have a 21st century mentality in a 1st century world. Their world radically changes when Zed (Black) decides to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree and is banished from the village.

Forced out of the village, the 2 begin to travel across what turns out to be Biblical lands. Their first meet-up is with Cane and Able (Paul Rudd). For the religious crowd, you're probably wondering how a primitive human can interact with the sons of Adam. Which calendar are they using anyway?

Further travels have them running into the Sodomites, Abraham, being forced into slavery, fleeing slavery, and eventually saving the girls from their original village.

Year One was directed by Harold Ramis, best known for Ghostbusters and Stripes, and produced by Judd Apatow, known for working with Will Farrell in such movies as Anchorman, Talladaga Nights, and Step Brothers, and also several movies staring various cast members of Freaks and Geeks, such as Seth Rogan in Knocked Up, Superbad, and Pineapple Express, to Jason Seigel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. As you can see, if Apatow touches it, it's usually a big movie. However, there are exceptions.

Year One reads like movie written during recess at a Judeo-Christian middle school by the smart-alec kids trying to poke fun at the divergence of religion, science, and humor. It lacks direction and is only strung together by some funny situations and some good one-liners.

The movie is 97 minutes long and is Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.

Jack Black can usually make me laugh with his uninhibited low-brow comedy and he hits it about average in this movie. I tolerated this movie, but I certainly wouldn't call it a big hit for the year, and certainly a disappointing notation on Apatow's resume. I give Year One 2 1/2 stars.

Be Kind Rewind

Some movies are made to entertain you. Others movies are made to spread a message. And finally, there are some movies where the actor or director wants to express themselves artistically. These are usually the movies that suck.

Be Kind Rewind is on of the artistic expression movies. The movie stars Jack Black as a hopeless movie clerk who works at Be Kind Rewind, a movie rental place that is stuck on renting video tapes, not DVD's. The owner, Danny Glover (pronounced Gwubba when said with his mild speech impediment), decides to go away for a while and leave Jack Black in charge. You know this is a bad idea. Didn't you see Nacho Libre?

Jack Black and his friend Mike (Mos Def) decide to do a science experiment on his brain, but inadvertently erase all of the video tapes. In an effort to rectify the situation, they decide to remake all of the movies themselves using sheets of aluminum foil, bike helmets, and whatever other props they can find. Some of it is clever. Most of it is like, "whatever."

To their surprise, people actual enjoy these home-made versions of the movies. However, the big evil corporations get wind of this and they realize that they are losing hundreds of billions of dollars from these fraudulent impostors. They make it their mission to destroy them. Mia Farrow and Paul Dinello stage a sit-in to help save the store. (That almost sounds like something they would do out of character, doesn't it???) Danny Glover returns home from his hiatus and wonders what the hell is going on.

The situation is eventually resolved, but does it satisfy both parties? The movie intentionally lacks a lot of color (this is the artistic part). It also sporadically lacks direction and humor. Some of the stuff they do is just dumb. I recall watching the clock wondering when this movie was going to end. Fortunately, it's only an hour and 40 minutes, so it did come to an end, just like Bill Clinton's Presidency.

The movie is rated PG-13 for some sexual references, bad acting, and lack of primary colors. I only give this movie 2 stars. If you're a super huge Jack Black fan, you may enjoy this. I know there are no Danny Glover fans out there, so I don't need to comment there. I recommend that you find a different movie.

Margot at the Wedding

Have you ever been on that hike where you know you are lost and you keep walking and walking? You walk for what seems forever, but you can never figure out where you are. Hours must have passed, and still no familiar sites, no distictive landmarks. You may even be walkin in circles. You look at your watch and much to your surprise, you have only been walking for 20 minutes.


Having given up, but wanted to get return home, you start walking in the other direction. This time, you know you've walked for at least another hour. But when you look at your watch, it's only been another 20 minutes. How can this be? How can time pass so slow?


If you've ever experienced this walk either in real life or in a dream, then you've also watched Margot at the Wedding. This movie is proof that the cast of stars does not make a movie. I love me a movie with Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh, best known for playing Stacy in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, for obvious reasons. I like Jack Black, but for other reasons. Yet, this movie just didn't cut it.


Nicole Kidman plays Margot, a mother of a what I thought was a young girl named Claude (short for Claudia???). Her sister Pauline (Leigh) is getting married to dumbass Malcolm (Black). Margot and Pauline have not gotten along for years, so this reunion is a little awkward.

Margot is the psychiatrist-visiting mental case, whereas Pauline is the drug-taking unstable mental case. And Malcolm is just a lunatic - crazy ideas, violent outbursts, spontaneous cursing, and, believe it or not, a reckless relationship with another woman.



Margot tries to talk Pauline out of getting married to Malcolm. Margot's son (that came out of nowhere) is attacked for being a fruitcake. The neighbors kill a pig. A tree falls on the wedding tent. Pauline leaves Malcolm. Pauline poops her panties. Everyone leaves. Margot's son is put on a bus, only to have Margot come chasing after him. End of movie.


Yeah. Just weird.


The movie is rated R for adult situations, Kidman's masterbation attempt, Jennifer Jason Leigh walking around the bedroom with her boobs hanging out, Malcolm's constant profantiy, some child homosexuality, and a beat-down. This is one of the few Kidman movies in which she doesn't show some naked part of her body, though I am fine with that. She's still very attractive. The movie is 92 imnutes long, but it takes about 3 hours of your mental capacity away from you.


Overall I give this movie 2 stars. The movie went nowhere and took too long to get there. If it weren't for the boobies and the self-pleasuring, I would have rather eaten a pillow case. Don't waste your time watching this movie unless you have some guilty pleasures that you need to satisfy.