Monsters vs. Aliens

Pixar Studios has been leading the animated films industry ever since they developed Toy Story in 1995, and continued to uphold their prominence by producing films like Monsters, Inc (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007) and WALL-E (2008) that have transcended age and cultural barriers. This fame has led to many challenges from other studios, most recently is Dreamworks Animation’s Monsters vs. Aliens. This latest project is the brainchild of Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman, two individuals who had helped develop Shrek, Shrek 2 and Shark Tale in the past for Dreamworks Animations.

Monsters vs. Aliens is an animated comedy rendered with 3D effects that depicts an impending battle between a secret government agency’s monster squad and a fleet of alien forces. The visual detail of the film is remarkable; every inch of every character is carefully constructed with details present in everyday people, in one particular scene the General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sunderland) is facing away from the camera, allowing the audience to see the very detailed and precise fading hairline that looks almost real.

Aside from the vivid graphic, Dreamworks animators has taken a lesson from Pixar by incorporating easter eggs into the film; easter eggs in animated movies are usually hidden messages or images within the movie that alludes to a previous movie the company has produced. In several scenes of Monsters vs. Aliens, General W.R. Monger can be seen wearing a medal that looks like Shrek.

Despite the intricate details of this movie, it is a third-rate movie because it relies too heavily on the 3D visual effects and its celebrity cast rather than a well-structured plot. In addition the characters are poorly developed. Monsters vs. Aliens will certainly entertain younger audiences but older viewers will be extremely disappointed.

Continue Reading»

I Love You, Man Review

When NBC’s hit television show Friends was scheduled for its tenth and final season, people predicted which of the six original Friends cast members would excel after the show, surprisingly the only “friend” to slowly rise was Mike Hannigan (Paul Rudd). Paul Rudd has been starring in films like The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Role Models, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the upcoming I Love You, Man directed by John Hamburg; who has also worked on screenplays for Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers, Zoolander and Along Came Polly.

I Love You, Man is a hilarious romantic comedy with a unique plot unlike any other movie; the main character Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) goes on a quest to find not the perfect girl but a best man for his upcoming wedding.

Kalven decides to go on this friend-quest after he overhears a conversation between his fiancé, Zooey (Rashida Jones) and her bridesmaids about his lack of male friends and the possibility that his mom is his best friend. Embarrassed at the prospect of not having any groomsmen, Peter gets his charismatic gay brother Robby to help.


Right off the bat Robby tells his brother not to arrange any dinner meets because it will send the wrong message. Peter is, of course persuaded to dismiss the advice later on by his mother, who mistakenly sets him up with her friend’s gay son, Doug (Thomas Lennon). The dinner scene is an ode to Shakespeare as it utilizes mistaken identities to perpetuate comical situations; Peter thinks he’s finally found a new friend while Doug believes he has found a boyfriend, it is not until Doug repeatedly kisses Peter in the parking lot during a farewell does Peter realize the situation he is in.

After several unsuccessful “man-dates” Peter meets Sidney Fife (Jason Sigel), an investor at an open house he was showcasing, and decides to offer his realty services to Sidney as a means to befriend him. Despite Peter’s entrepreneurial instincts the two do not talk about business, they simply hang out for several hours getting drunk and hang out again the next day.

The two continue to hangout with each other everyday and Peter is slowly transformed from an unassertive nice guy to an independent individual capable of expressing himself. The reason for this seemingly savvy character helping Peter out is that Sidney himself has problems. Sidney’s hedonist lifestyle has held him back as his friends pursue careers and start families.

Much of the film’s enticing comedy is in its flawless portrayal of the awkward and silly moments in everyday life. The actors in I Love You, Man interact harmoniously, allowing each scene to seamlessly build to the next. A delightful surprise was the movie’s subtle use of humanizing quirks that just brings the characters to life.

In addition there are numerous supporting characters like Jaime Pressly, Jon Faveru, Andy Samberg, Rob Huebel and several others who have their share of excellent scenes. The movie does not rely highly on any single character to carry the film but cohesive interaction between all actors to produce an ingenious film.

The only negative aspect is the movie tried to end in a happily ever after tone for all characters. For the most part it was successful; but Sidney revealing himself as this highly successful investor was unnecessary and inconsistent with his previous image. If the movie trailer fails to entice you to watch I Love You, Man then your friends who watch the movie will surely convince you otherwise. This is one movie that should not be missed.

Continue Reading»

The Office: Golden Ticket Review

Season 5 Episode 19: Golden Ticket
Director: Randall Einhorn
Writer: Mindy Kaling

The Office is a roller coaster of television goodness; many people criticize the show for its slow plot development and its inconsistent character interaction, but The Office is a show to be enjoyed without much thinking, just embrace the silliness that is Dunder Mifflin!

The golden ticket episode is a tribute to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as Michael Scott (Steve Carell) creates five golden coupons to hide in various paper shipments; each coupon is a 10% discount. Michael even dresses up like Willy Wonka to promote his idea.

Staying true to Murphy’s Law, “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong;” Michael accidentally sends all five coupons to the company’s largest client, without having marked limit one per customer on the coupons. Frightened at the prospect of being fired for his marketing ploy, Michael Scott manipulates Dwight into taking the blame.

Michael has always been a lovable character that everyone just wanted to cheer for but lately his actions are becoming more unbelievable and harder to reconcile with. In the previous episode, Blood Drive, Michael hosted a Valentine’s Day party for singles at the office to attract a woman he met during the blood drive. Michael could have easily asked the woman out when they were both donating blood but he chose to take the improbable path of drawing her in with a singles party.

Michael continues to forgo opportunities and make unimaginable mistakes like an adolescent. While his childish behavior is entertaining, ultimately people want to see characters like Michael Scott succeed by taking charge of their lives and break out of their repetitive nature. It was truly disappointing to see Michael trying to use Dwight as a scapegoat, and then try to reclaim the idea after Dwight received high praise from David.

Andy’s heart broken nature is shown when he gives Kevin dating advice, contrary to his previous courting behavior with Angela, Andy advises Kevin to take extreme caution and to retain the ”power” in the relationship. It is interesting to see that Kevin’s character is slowly being developed as he tries to ask out the woman he met during the party. Even though he is still the child-minded Kevin from the previous seasons, I look forward to seeing more of Kevin.

It will also be intriguing to see the creators develop Creed and Oscar; the two have always been stock characters providing witty sound bites. The best line by Creed has to be, "No one steals from Creed Bratton and gets away with it. The last person to steal from me disappeared, his name, Creed Bratton."

Continue Reading»

The Chopping Block Review

Ever since Bravo Television’s reality show, Top Chef reached critical acclaim, similar shows have risen from other networks, and each one has maintained the basic model of a cooking competition intact to ensure authenticity.

However NBC’s new reality cooking show, The Chopping Block makes no attempt to uphold this integrity; the show utilizes numerous elements from other shows that are unnecessary and wrong for a cooking competition, leaving the viewer unfulfilled and left with another horrendous show on television. If looking for a cooking show, you are better off watching reruns of Top Chef or Iron Chef than watching The Chopping Block.

The Chopping Block is like Top Chef’s “restaurant wars” actualized in New York City; two teams, black and red must open a functional restaurant within the allotted time to serve New Yorkers. During this period the contestants must create a full course menu with appetizers, entrées and desserts.

The two teams are not made up of individual chefs vying together like “restaurant wars” but actually four separate teams, each consisting of two individuals with a preexisting relationship competing for the $250,000 grand prize.

This style works for The Amazing Race but does not work in a cooking competition. Many of the partners end up not cooking and one individual; Denise Nguyen does not even know how to cook. Regardless of any ingenuity or moral support this type of casting creates, a person who cannot cook should never be cast in a cooking competition.

The elimination process for the show is laughable as the “head judge;” Marco Pierre White tries to determine a loser with out having tasted any of the food. The elimination is reminiscent of the boardroom in The Apprentice as chefs bicker to find a scapegoat. The judge does inquire about each person’s responsibility or even assign corrective feedback, he simply watches the debate until he picks someone to eliminate which is ironic because he had said, “when you are playing with people’s dreams you have to be fair, I have a moral obligations to do the right thing.”
The show is overly pretentious as the show is focused on Marco Pierre White’s all encompassing reputation and his personal comments rather than the contestants or food. People enjoy cooking competitions because they want to see the individuals strive for success while they learn about fine cuisine. The Chopping Blocks explores neither aspect, it barely introduces the contestants and only briefly is the food ever the focus of the show.

When watching Top Chef or Iron Chef, one is able to see the contestants conceptualize and create wondrous dishes out of simple ingredients; almost alluding at the possibility that the audience members could do the same. The creators of The Chopping Block have failed to realize this, even with five seasons of Top Chef and the Food Network as market research; perhaps they should spent less money on computer generated images like the ones on Fringe used to convey locations and more on market research and focus groups.

At the end of the show Marco is unable to eliminate anyone because the team of Asian cousins, Khoa Nguyen and Denise Nguyen decide to quit. Khoa is fairly talented as a chef but is unable to endure the intense disputes. The contestant that was supposed to be eliminated said, “it was one of the most selfless things ever.” The act of quitting any competition is not selfless; it is cowardice and should never be done. Khoa’s actions were entirely uncalled for and reaffirmed the Asian stereotype.

If the most enticing incident throughout a cooking show is a large fire grill falling and a glass door oven shattering; then the show is not worth your time.

Continue Reading»

Breaking Bad: Seven Thirty-Seven Review

Season 2 Episode 1: Seven Thirty-Seven
Episode Directed by Bryan Cranston
Written by J Roberts

March 5, 2009 - Breaking Bad debuted its second season with episode, Seven Thirty-Seven in its previous time slot of 10PM. Breaking Bad is dramatic crime series with comedic undertones about a high school chemistry teacher, Walter H. White (Bryan Cranston ) becoming a drug dealer after he is diagnosed with lung cancer.

Season one ended with Walter successfully establishing himself as the most prominent methamphetamine or crystal meth cook in his area with the help of his partner and former delinquent student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). Walter propositioned the alliance when his brother-in-law, Hank (Dean Norris), a DEA officer had arrested Jesse’s partner in a drug raid.

Seven Thirty-Seven starts off by replaying the final moments of a drug deal between local drug lord, Tuco (Raymond Cruz) and Walter. In the midst of the drug buy one of Tuco’s underlings yells, “remember who you are working for”. The moment is slightly perplexing as no one responds to him, until Tuco screams and beats him for making a statement that seemed to imply he was inferior to Walter.

The underling is eventually beaten to death and Walt is unable to revive him with CPR. Walter and Jesse are allowed to leave but feel a rush of panic because they have just formed an ongoing deal with a murderous drug dealer. The rest of the episode depicts a freighted Walter and Jesse trying to figure a way out of their situation, but Tuco ultimately captures them.

At first it is rather perplexing that the writers would take the series in this direction; the junkyard scene in season one’s finale was rather comedic and had a different ambiance than season two’s junk yard scene. One came to the conclusion that Tuco would never kill Walter because he can produce an extremely rare and pure strain of crystal meth that all his customers wanted. The underling’s death was viewed more like a symbol of Tuco’s rash personality rather than an actual plot development. In addition one would think that a drug lord of Tuco’s status would casually kill underlings to exert control and authority.

However, if one evaluated the series in its entirety, the creative direction is rather predictable. Breaking Bad is first and foremost a drama series with comic relief. The writers would not have been able to continue the series with Walter continuously working with Tuco, making thousands of dollars. The show’s current direction ensures a more compelling show; Walter needing to escape Tuco while keeping his family safe and not alerting his brother-in-law who works in the DEA. Afterwards he would then start the process of finding a drug distributor again so the move was smart.

In addition Breaking Bad airs on AMC, a network not as prominent as NBC or FOX so it is safe to assume that Breaking Bad’s budget is much smaller than other television shows in similar genres and timeslots, forcing them to develop episodes that are only compelling or they will lose viewers.

Continue Reading»