Review of Son of Rambow (2007) by Bobby B — 10 Jan 2009

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]VALKYRIE: If you want to get specific, [i]Valkyrie [/i]is more of a 6.5. As a thriller, this movie is totally solid. Although you already know the outcome going in, the film still generates a tremendous amount of suspense. Moments had me absolutely engrossed in their attempts to assassinate Hitler, and watching their plan go wrong is truly gripping. But [i]Valkyrie [/i]does not dig in to the characters or their situation at all. So when tragedy strikes, it left me a bit cold - I hardly felt anything for the characters. Also, Tom Cruise was pretty distracting - you never have one of those wonderful moments where you forget you're watching an actor. It's always Tom Cruise, just with a Nazi uniform on.

SON OF RAMBOW: Starts off extremely well. The first half of [i]Rambow [/i]is wonderful, showing this charming friendship between two very different boys and their very entertaining attempts to make a sequel of sorts to [i]First Blood[/i]. In those first 45 minutes, I thought that I was watching an instant classic among family films - however, I ended up being very disappointed. I've rarely seen a film have such an excellent first half and lacking second half. [i]Son of Rambow [/i]disappears into a boring subplot about a French foreign exhange student, and by the end drifts into obnoxious, over-the-top melodrama that feels awkward after the gentle creativity and fun of the first half. Worth seeing, but set yourself up for disappointment.

GHOST TOWN: An amusing supernatural romantic comedy. [i]Ghost Town [/i]is nothing outstanding and gets a bit tiresome, but it entertains well through its running time. Ricky Gervais is dryly funny, Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear are solid, and Kristen Wiig steals all of her scenes in a hilarious, too-short role. Nothing spectacular, but it'll do.

HAMLET 2: Bizarre movie. Honestly, once this was over I was kind of wondering what the hell the point of it was, but for the most part I had a good time watching it. Steve Coogan is sort of brilliant in the lead role, providing the most spot-on hilarious parody of a highschool drama teacher I've ever seen. The film is gloriously twisted and original, and often very amusing, but it still feels pointless and a bit worthless. Rock Me Sexy Jesus was brilliant, though!

THE HAPPENING: I used to be an M. Night defender. [i]The Village [/i]was flawed but mesmerizing and totally unique, and [i]Lady in the Water[/i], while silly and weird, was too fascinating and creative to ignore. All my M. Night defending stops here. The man has turned into an arrogant hack, and his [i]The Happening [/i]flat-out sucks. The dialogue is awkward, the film is unintentionally humorous, and usually decent actors do horribly. Mark Wahlberg is laughable, and Zooey Deschanel (who I usually love) seems stiff and beyond awkward. I doubt it is because of their lack of skill, but because of the completely strange dialogue. [i]The Happening [/i]is completely unexciting and preachy - one of 2008's worst.

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