ChadFeldheimer Reviews

The Hangover Part II (2011)

Cannot believe how similar this is to the first. *heavy spoilers*

[2/10 · 26 May 2011]

This review contains copious spoilers for The Hangover Part II. But so does The Hangover Part I.

I loved the first film. It came from nowhere and was as good as the reception it got, and I was really hoping that the advertising for this one was just some kind of mislead, saving the good stuff and the surprises for the actual movie, but unfortunately for all of us, this is cookie-cutter film making at its most blatant. Start off with a flashback to the beginning of the third act, Bradley Cooper on the phone to someone at the wedding, follow up with a montage set to a Danzig song, throw in some Kanye leading up to the titular event, have them wake up in complete disarray mere days before a wedding, with one of the group (shock horror) missing! Quest to find him while keeping the missus in the dark about the whole situation, with some cute sidekicks a long the way and a bat sh*t crazy Ken Jeong. Have them beat up and shot at with Zach Galfinakis making stupid comments. And then, surprise surprise, he was in the hotel the whole time! Silly us. Score the finale with the exact same music from the first, and, why not, chuck in Mike Tyson. "Hey guys I found all these photos of what we did that night", "Okay, we'll look at them once and delete them", cut to credits, photo montage ensues.

There are definitely laughs to be had, but you'd have far more re-watching the first one. It's not a terrible film, I wouldn't even call it a bad film exactly, but it is such a wasted opportunity... I thought PotC: On Stranger Tides would be the worst sequel of this season, but not too sure at this point.

Thor (2011)

Hail the Mighty Thor!

[9/10 · 19 April 2011]

Okay, so Thor is pretty darn decent. Phew. Without revealing anything regarding the plot, I'll just say that I enjoyed this film quite a lot, and would rate it above both Iron Man films, but not by too much. (If you hated them maybe just stay away from Marvel movies in general?) Very good in all areas, without achieving greatness in any sums up this movie nicely I think. Beautiful costumes and set design, solid acting all around, and much better action than recent movies have offered up. The world of Asgard has been handled wonderfully, looking absolutely gorgeous, and with all of its denizens very well spoken without their dialogue ever being as obtuse or clunky as Thor's 'Ye Olde' English has been known to be in the past. Special mention to Idris Elba for being friggin' awesome. I'm a pretty big Marvel fan, but not knowing what Mjolnir is won't harm your enjoyment of Thor to any great degree I don't think. Also, side note, I personally dislike 3D with a great, burning passion (thank you Clash of the Titans), but it is relatively well done here, never distracting from the film. I would still recommend seeing it in 2D if you can though, as it is quite dark in parts. Several parts. Bring on the Avengers!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Harry Potter meets 90210

[7/10 · 14 July 2009]

Okay, so the first thing you should know is that the plot of this movie at once consists of no more than what was seen in the trailer AND will make no sense without a firm knowledge of the other books and/or films. The bulk of the picture is made up of Ginny Weasley making strong sexual advances on Mr. Potter, and Hermione Granger being pi$$ed off at Ron for some reason that only women seem to understand, making for one very long soap opera, with the occasional bit of magic. This seems to be the movie in the series where they take a break from advancing the plot in any meaningful way (with the exception of Dumbledore's well reported moment) and concentrate on the difficulties of being young and in love, and somehow it works. This may be my favourite HP pic thus far (although Fiennes' turn in 4 gives it a good run for it's money) and it is definitely the funniest, and it's only rarely unintentionally so. Props to Jim Broadbent for carrying on the long standing tradition of lending some emotional weight to the series, and almost making it seem as if the younger members of the cast can act. Almost. This movie is pure filler before things really get going. If you like HP you'll like this, if you don't you won't, simple as that.

Year One (2009)

Go see it, stupid-head!

[7/10 · 18 June 2009]

This movie was really funny, and frankly that is all I'm willing to say on the matter. Honestly, it's very good, did you really think Ramis wouldn't deliver? Well that's your problem mister, and I'm getting' real sick of your nay saying. (Apparently I need to fill ten whole lines for this to count. Ten! So, um, how are you? That's good to hear, I'm doing okay as well. Uh, this movie was good? It could have benefited from being better though. That being said, however, I don't think it really could have been much better, given that it was really quite good. Now I'm just trying to fill up space really, I think this is the last drunken review I'm going to write. Go see it though, it was a lot of fun, especially Michael Cera and whoever it was that played the High Priest. Yup... are we done yet?)