Movie Review: Kangaroo Jack

Kangaroo Jack
Castle Rock Entertainment, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Warner Bros., USA, Australia, 2003. 

Mob-boss Sal's (Christopher Walken) step-son Charlie (Jerry O'Connell) works as a hairdresser (but he is totally straight, as he desperately tries to prove). His rascally friend Louis (Anthony Anderson) gets him into a trouble with transporting stolen televisions. The gig leads to police raid on Sal's warehouse full of stolen stuff, oops. To pay back the damages to Sal, the duo must travel to Australia to deliver a shady envelope to Mr. Smith (Marton Csokas).

Charlie, Jack an Louis

Crumble (Christopher Baker) and Smith

When they hit a kangaroo with their car, they decide to take some funny photos with a dead kangaroo. But karma repays the body desecration as the kangaroo is alive and escapes wearing Louis' hoodie. Kangaroo Jack becomes the richest kangaroo in Australia as the envelope was in the pocket. Well mates, better to get the envelope back before Unca Sal gets mad. Curvy Wildlife Veterinarian Jessie (Estella Warren) and bushman Blue (Bill Hunter) help, the former being the romantic interest for Charlie (because he is straight, remember? Get stuffed, Louis.) and the later being your standard comical Australian geezer. 

Blue

Jessie

The beginning feels like classic coming-to-age comedies of 1980-90s, but the story soon degenerates to generic buddy comedy. There's nothing wrong with stupid comedies if the jokes are funny, but here they often aren't. Too much tired toilet jokes and fringe worthy ones about CGI kangaroo imitating a hip hopper. Not surprisingly, Jerry O'Connell won Favorite Fart in a Movie Award at Kids' Choice Awards. At its best the flick has slapstick chases à la Roadrunner.

Originally this was planned as mobster comedy, but then toned to family movie. This time producer Jerry Bruckheimer is wide of the mark as the unevenness makes some jokes too crude for kids and others too childish for adults. The animal in the title has surprisingly little screen time. At least in the end it has some sentimental stuff about friendship.

Going native

Rating: Bad

Starring: Jerry O'Connell, Anthony Anderson, Estella Warren, Christopher Walken, Marton Csokas, Dyan Cannon, Michael Shannon, Bill Hunter, David Ngoombujarra, Marco Sellitto, Damien Fotiou, Christopher James Baker, Ryan Gibson, Denise Roberts, Antonio Vitiello, Mario Di Ienno, Tony Nikolakopoulos, Robert Reid, Shawn H. Smith, Brian Casey, Emma Jane Fowler, Helen Thomson, John McNeill, Paul Wilson, David Walsman, Lara Cox, Terrell Dixon, John Gibson, Nick Jasprizza, Luke Bolland, Melissa Cretney, Adam Garcia, Chris Sullivan, David Utsler Director: David McNally

Movie Review: Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto
New World Pictures, USA, 1977.

Three guys Michael, Trevor and Franklin plan the ultimate heist...

Fooled ya! This movie is not related to the video game series. Except maybe as an loose inspiration. It was Ron "Happy Days" Howard's debut as a director and it was produced by Roger Corman. Howard's clan was heavily involved: the story was written by Ron and his dad Rance and Ron's brother Clint has a role in the movie.

Paula Powers' (Nancy Morgan) rich parents do not like her boyfriend Sam Freeman because he is poor. They would like her to marry a rich snob instead. Sam and Paula steal daddy Bigby's (Barry Cahill) Rolls Royce and start a trip to Las Vegas. Nice trip is shadowed by bounty hunters that Bigby's favourite fiancé and sore loser Collins Hedgeworth (Paul Linke) sends after them. Other chasers are Hedgeworth's mom (Marion Ross), Preacher (Hoke Howell), private detectives and a bus full of pensioners. Over-eager Dj Curly Q. Brown (Don Steele) reports the latest events of the chase.

Sam and Paula

Priscilla (Elizabeth Rogers) and Bigby Powers

Curly Q. Brown

Ron Howard's debut direction is a scathing criticism of forced marriage and a study about love across the class divide from road movie perspective... i.e. it is a silly chase comedy. This is a low budget drive-in cult classic from the 1970s, it has not much plot and it is not the most prominent of the car chase comedies but it is likable in its simplicity. It is just gags, amusing car chases and gratuitous car crashes, pure cult trash. Lots of cars are stolen and crashed, and a fruit stand is destroyed just because. The characters are all caricatures and hilariously over the top. The atmosphere is goofy and fun and no one gets hurt too bad. Thanks to talented crew, it has nice camera work and it is fun: both are features that many modern low budget film makers struggle to achieve.

Collins Hedgeworth

Car wash

Rating: Good

Starring: Ron Howard, Nancy Morgan, Elizabeth Rogers, Barry Cahill, Rance Howard, Paul Linke, Marion Ross, Don Steele, Peter Isacksen, Clint Howard, James Ritz, Hoke Howell, Lew Brown, Ken Lerner, Jack Perkins, Paul Bartel, Bill Conklin, Robert Weaver, Garry Marshall, Leo Rossi, Rev. Bobs Watson, Jim Begg, Allan Arkush, Gisella Blake, Reed Chenault, Jean Clark, Ancel Cook, James Costigan, Laurence Cruickshank, Bill Denochelle, Jimi Fox, Lars Frederiksen, Wayne Goodwin, Ben Haller, Gene Hartline, Cheryl Howard, Karen Kaysing, Todd McCarthy, Leo Michelson, Eddie Mulder, Cal Naylor, Conrad E. Palmisano, Vic Rivers, Felicitas Sanchez, Rick Seaman, Glenn Towery, George Wagner, Tom Waters 

Director: Ron Howard

Movie Review: Warcraft: The Beginning

Warcraft: The Beginning
Atlas Entertainment, Legendary Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment, Universal Pictures, China, Canada, Japan, USA, 2016. 

Warcraft III was a great game. Epic fantasy plot with Humans, Elves, Orcs and Undead was both dark and fascinating. The graphics were good for its time, but somehow the characters looked sympathetically blocky, making the action look darkly humorous which was emphasized by hilarious quotes. I have never played World of Warcraft, but it seemed to maintain the visual style of original games. The movie is freely based on the storyline and characters of the original Warcraft: Orcs vs Humans.

The movie came late (WoW has been running since 2004) and it was crushed by Western critics. Still it was big in China, and Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score was positive. So it can't be totally bad, right? 

By the way the chart looks similar to "King Arthur Legend of the Sword" that seems to flop in the USA, but those who have seen it have generally liked it (I haven't so I can't really say my opinion about that):

Just to show that the fans of certain movie genres shouldn't blindly trust reviews, as they will probably see things differently than the critics. Except for "Lord of the Rings" the medieval fantasy adventures are currently not popular in the USA as superhero movies take the profits. But like any movie genre the medieval fantasy genre will come back again: who would have believed "Pirates of the Caribbean" would be a success after box-office failure of "Cutthroat Island" (which wasn't a bad film, just released in the wrong time)?

Orcs and humans have been enemies since forever. The world of the orcs is dying and they need a new home. Ruthless orc shaman Gul'dan (Daniel Wu) sacrifices prisoners to open a portal to peaceful human kingdom of Azeroth. However it is Gul'dan's evil Fel-magic that is killing the world and Orc Warchief Durotan (Toby Kebbell) does not believe that slaughtering innocents is honourable and heroic. So he needs to find allies against Gul'dan.

Durotan and Blackhand

Gul'dan

Commander Lothar of the Humans (Travis Fimmel) goes to investigate the attacks on military posts. Guardian Medivh (Ben Foster), who should protect Azeroth, does not play with a full deck. Lothar and his new friends Mage Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer) and half-orc Garona (Paula Patton) join the quest to save the world. King Llane Wrynn (Dominic Cooper) and Queen Lady Taria (Ruth Negga) hope that everything goes well and that there could be peace between humans and orcs.

Lothar and Garona

Lady Taria

King Llane Wrynn

Political intrigue keeps things complicated and it is not at all clear who will survive to the end. Durotan's family brings sympathetic aspect to the story of orcs. However the story has too many characters introduced in short time so the motives of the human characters are hastily told. The full-packed story has its flaws it is still one of the better video game adaptations.

Khadgar

Medivh

The geek inside finds joy about the relative faithfulness to the games. Most hardcore fans will always find something to complain about, but otherwise the film makes a new job recreating the world of the games and the graphics look amazing. Bird's eye shots nicely show the size of the world, and remind about the real time strategy game roots. Like the campaigns of original games it is not all battles, but bases are being built and resources are gathered also. Orcs are pleasantly bulky and the battles have raw energy. Couple of familiar monster types appear and orcs ride wolves and humans ride gryphons. The costumes and items look as they should. There is also the amusing sheep spell known from the games. The ending leaves everything open for future movies and it would be disappointing if this wouldn't get sequels.

Rating: Good

Starring: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, Clancy Brown, Daniel Wu, Ruth Negga, Anna Galvin, Callum Keith Rennie, Burkely Duffield, Ryan Robbins, Dean Redman, Glenn Ennis, Terry Notary, Elena Wurlitzer, Michael Adamthwaite, Anna Van Hooft, Callan Mulvey, Adrian Glynn McMorran, Kyle Rideout, Michael Antonakos, Elisabeth Rosen, Patrick Sabongui, Kent O'Connor, Wesley MacInnes, Mackenzie Gray, Christian Sloan, Valérie Wiseman, Dan Payne, Eugene Lipinski, Christina Jastrzembska, Travis MacDonald, Frank C. Turner, Tommy Rieder, Dylan Schombing, Donavon Stinson, Meelah Robbins, One Take Charlie
Director: Duncan Jones