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Reviews
American Reunion (2012)
Reclaiming the glory of the previous good instalments, a great if touch flawed entry
American Pie is such a popular franchise, it stands out from most of the terrible sex gags and crude humour you see in most teen movies these days, what separates this from the rest of them is the underlying tone of innocence and likability. Out of all of the crude gags and sexual antics, there's something genuine and honest about it that catches the audience, this is down to the characters. Although not all of them are particularly good (Oz being the main example) they all work as cogs in a machine interacting with each other in a way that always makes the audience and fan base laugh. It's the definition of a fun movie about crude subjects done right.
The first film was a classic and stands up by modern standards, it's even in a sense funnier now than before because of how dated it sometimes seems. The second is pretty much the same but different sequel, however unlike most sequels (The Hangover being one of them) it does what good sequels do, it expands on the characters and makes them products of the first film going into the second and actually develops them further (the Empire Strikes Back is another example of this). The third was unnecessary and weak (particularly the overuse of Stifler) but had a few laughs. The straight to DVD spin off's were all awful, turning the franchise into something that it used to separate itself from (that being the terrible crude teen movies referred to previously), Eugene Levy's talent was misused in most of them. The first and foremost decision that was made in this one was ignoring the spin off's like they never happened, already a step in the right direction, the second was toning down Stifler and making him the Greek chorus he was in the first two, while still providing the laughs.
American Reunion's first and foremost achievement is getting the original characters SPOT ON, even improving on some of them, Jim is Jim, his Dad is his Dad, Kevin, Oz, Finch, Stifler, Michelle e.t.c are all their characters from the original and more, the new writer and director know these character and portray them with great success. Oz (who I previously stated I didn't like all that much) is given more to do character wise in this one, he satires the cheesiness of a lot of celebrity personalities in a way that was genuinely clever, it showed how much society has progressed and measures the differences between the original films and today, and Chris Klein is pretty good at portraying that aspect. The second achievement is the humour, this is the first time in a while that an understanding of what makes American Pie so great is explored to it's full potential, what makes American Pie funny isn't the sex gags or gross out humour, it's their characters and their interplay with the situation they are faced with, the awkwardness of Jim and his dad discussing sex is funny because it is both as much cringe worthy as it is touching. The gross out humour is minimised in this one, I believe this is a good decision as it shows the maturing nature of most of the characters.
The negative aspects of the film are the new story and new characters, it doesn't feel like any new or memorable characters were added to this instalment, others in the Pie series gave us new characters that were memorable, in this one all the new editions seem very much like shoe horned plot devices to serve a quota, Oz's and Heather's other halves were written as bad apples from the start, so everyone knew they'd just get back together in the end, same goes to the love interest for Finch, although it was satisfying seeing Finch finally get into a proper relationship, the character portrayed wasn't that memorable. Same goes for the Kara (a girl Jim used to baby sit) sub plot and her boyfriend which seems to come across as generic opposition for the sake of it, the new characters feel more like people you'd see in the spin off's as main characters as oppose to the genuine characters of the original. However the plot and new characters isn't what the audience came to see, or the focal point of the film, which is why this can be forgiven.
The film as a whole is great, it provides a great nostalgia factor for the fans and lovers of this kind of comedy, the original cast do a great job even if some are there as cameos (I'm just grateful they got all the main ones back) the funniest aspect of this film is the second act with Jim's dad, everything from the online dating montage to the Stifler's mum sequence is comedy gold thanks to Levy, not to mention some genuinely touching character moments when it comes to his wife and her passing away, it puts a different spin on the relationship with Jim and is packed full of heart.
I recommend this film to anyone who likes the series or this kind of comedy. But I do warn people that it is made for the fans, so if you find yourself confused due to not watching the previous films, then you may not like it, at least watch the first 3 (or 2 as the 3rd is unnecessary to this one) before seeing this one, if you do you'll love it as much as I did.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The greatest book to film adaptation and fantasy film of all time, bar none!
On Lord of the Rings in general:
This is how film making should be done, this beautifully woven piece of cinema deserves all the praise and attention it gets, it is truly a labour of love and care, the tremendous amount of effort put into these films makes it a must see for anyone wanting to see how a big budget fantasy blockbuster SHOULD BE MADE! There's nothing bad about this film, and if there is then people would be looking for things that are bad, and that's just knit picking. Everything from the writing, casting, acting, production design, art, cinematography, lighting, music, sound EVERYTHING is spot on with this these films.
On this film in particular:
The best of the three, that's right, this is the first time I have watched a trilogy/ sequel and can put my hand on my heart and say that these films get better as they go along, mainly because it reaches the ultimate climax it possibly can without losing any momentum and steam from the first films, and has the best pay off you could ask for, changes have been made from the books of course, but every change Jackson has made from Tolkien's novels is completely justified for it's use in a cinematic context, I honestly cried at the end of this film, and that's not an easy task for me, to get me as invested in this world and it's characters as Jackson's trilogy has, well lets just say, it takes a lot, only Pixar has achieved the same with me, and I'll be lucky if any other film is capable of making me do so again. What is there more to say, a beautifully made film, with a wonderfully dramatic climax, you really do get the feeling of being on a journey with these films, you feel enticed with the characters as they embark on it, and for a 3 hour film to do so without losing any momentum (as with all three of them), well that's an achievement in itself. It honestly deserved every award it got and then some.
Jack and Jill (2011)
Utter tripe and a landmark achievement in proving why film making has degraded from the art form it once was
Why?? Just why??? Why does Adam Sandler insist on releasing this utter pile of tripe upon the world?, oh yeah of course, it's obvious, money. This isn't a film, it's a RIP OFF! Anyone who went to see this film and likes it or believes that spending time and money on it is a good thing, are clearly far too stupid to understand that Adam Sandler has them by the wallet, or they just live in this sweet illusion of a world where there's no such thing as independent thought and intelligence.
NEVER have I seen a film (I say seen, watched about half of it, couldn't watch any more it was like torture) more blatant about ticking boxes to suit a lowest common denominator demographic, sure I've seen films like that, but this is on a completely new level, the 'humour' is completely phoned in and contrived in every single way, no thought or care has been put into it, no matter what fans of Sandler will say, I recommend this film to anyone with a brain cell count lower than 3, I'm sure they'll love it.
And don't get me started on the big names in this film, it's obvious Sandler threw a tonne of money at some actual talent to give his film just a shred of credibility in order to try and make this legit entertainment, if this is seen in any way as legit entertainment, then I'm the Pope.
Hide your children! Hide your pets! Hide your Grandparents! The big bad Adam Sandler cash grab is on it's way to get you!!