Let me preface this review by saying that this movie can either be light-hearted and goofy or like teeth being pulled out, as someone who hasn't fervently followed Kevin James' career I could see it going either way. It's not a good film, but it's a nice film. The movie is about a demoralized once-great-teacher (Kevin James) who takes it upon himself to try to raise 48k to try to save a school's music program and in turn his friend's (Henry Winkler) job. There's some bits of dialogue and moments that you kind of have to swallow as the truth in order for this movie to have any impact.
such as (real spoilers are in here) --Click here to view--
With that being said, the movie was still enjoyable. If you liked the trailer like I did then you'll like the movie too.
Just to note though. In a movie about someone who's never had MMA training fighting his way through the ranks (short though they may be in the movie) the bigger issues it presents understandably and unfortunately takes a back-seat to the comedy of the premise. The major problems the movie brings to light are the questions of what are the possible failings of today's school system: budget cuts, whether disillusioned teachers are a result of a system that doesn't help them or if they are the cause of a stagnating educational system, the pace of studies for the wide spectrum of students, the number of student to teacher ratio, these are all present but only shown on a surface level. I hope someone makes a movie about that.
The Raid: Redemption 8/10
This movie is a blitzkrieg of martial arts action, some of the best I've seen in a long time. Super-crazy, so crazy that it sucks you in. I was out of my chair shouting like I would be while watching a UFC match or football game. The film is about a SWAT-team that infiltrates an apartment complex to apprehend some drug/crime lords. Unfortunately the entire building is occupied primarily by their henchmen. The main protagonist, a rookie on the team, has an ulterior motive for going in which plays for a bit of drama, but this thing is just from start to finish a shot of adrenaline. I highly recommend this for those who liked films like Ong Bak or Crank.
Dark Shadows 6/10
I've only ever watched an episode of the original series this was based off of and obviously never felt a need to watch it again, so I went into this with no bias one way or another at the approach Burton and Depp took with it. That being said, the film plays like any other one where the vampire is the good guy. He's immortal and he's sad because of it. Then that's just layered with the "Ooh look, Tim and Johnny are soooo weird." Tim Burton's production value is as good as it's always been, but there isn't much feeling in this movie, it didn't feel like it needed to be told. Maybe I'm just tired of vampires or maybe I seriously need to write Tim and Johnny a divorce letter, or both.
The Dictator 7/10
Good, dumb, and goofy fun about a dictator who becomes a fish out of water when he visits New York to sign something that'll prevent war, is kidnapped, and has his identity stolen.
I've always liked Sasha Baron Cohen's non-extreme gross-out humor in his other works, so it was nice to get a film where it only played a small role in the comedy. If the first part of that sentence pertains to you, then this is a winner.
Battleship 3/10
I know, I know, what did I expect right? Well, I like Transformers 1&3 for what they are: popcorn, summer-flicks. I don't expect any level of complexity or oscar-worthy dialogue, but man, this film is fowl. It's almost three hours long. Why? Nothing of any importance to the story happens until what felt like an hour into the movie. And there isn't even anything that blows up in that time. This thing is boooooooring! There's a segment where we basically watch someone play the game battleship, and I'd be fine with it, as this is based off of the board game of the same name, if it were only a minute or two, but it's like 15 minutes. Way too long. I can't remember if this sucker bombed or not but I hope that it did so that studios will learn there lesson and not make anymore movies based off of boardgames. Yes, I know there are already several in the pipelines.
Taylor Kitsch, every mainstream movie you have been in has had abysmal writing, so I'll kind of give you the benefit of the doubt, but either hire a new agent or shoot for lower budget films, you'll do less damage that way.
