Leatherheads 04/08/08

For about a half hour into this film, the movie was in serious trouble. It looked good, the acting was good, it had cool music. There was nothing technically wrong except for the fact that it wasn't funny. They had some potential humorous characters but a lack of any real jokes. The movie's humor was surviving on a shallow reservoir of Clooney's weird facial expressions. There was alot of talk about screwball football with no rules, but very little of any trick plays or cheating was actually shown. This movie, as a comedy, is incredibly lightweight. It seemed to be written by astute British snobs who like to drink tea while discussing monacles. There's one paticular scene that demonstrates this I think. Clooney is discussing a new teammate who apparently is in high school. Except he looks thirty years old and is approximately 300 pounds heavy. Clooney is asking him questions and gets weird answers. He goes back to think, almost says something, than stops and doesn't say anything. What was he going to say? In a better script, probably something funny. But in this one the writers apparently couldn't think of anything. 
What saves this movie is Renee Zellweger, who is currently number 2 on my favorite actress list. (It has been a war between her and Cate Blanchett for awhile. Renee has slipped simply because Cate is on a fantastic roll of late) Zellweger and Clooney are incredible in their scenes together. The sharp snappy dialogue really pops off the screen. Their romance isn't really interesting, I would rather watch the passive-aggressive fighting. Forming the third wheel is John Krasinki, from the Office, in his first big movie role. He's very good too although his character never receives a fair shake from the script I feel. 
This production is soaking in talent through and through, but its one of those productions that have huge talent working on substandard material. As my broadcast professor would say, "Their polishing a turd." This movies speaks to the truth that the script is the most important thing in a movie production. It needed a rewrite or two and then some new energy infused into or something. This is a mild recommendation.

Bee Movie 11/07/07

. Education can in fact be fun and lively. And it is both in Jerry Seinfeld's new animated comedy "Bee movie." This movie not only provides plenty of one liners and colorful charachters but it is also surprisingly knowledgeable about bees, bee society, pollen and nectar cultivation, honey production, and bee psychology. It's probably as good as a anything on the DIscovery channel, and funnier too.
The story itself lags in some parts (due to the educational part) but there is some really clever stuff here. I liked the courtroom scenes, the plane landing, and the bee-human romance. The voice talent is incredible too. The beloved Renee Zelleweger sounds like a seasoned professional at this sort of thing. Her voice is unlike any other. It's distinctive and vibrant and there's isn't a fear of sounding silly. She doesn't have much tonal range and her voice hits this pitch where it starts to rasp and waver. She uses that to her advantage. It's a great performance. John Goodman is fantastic too as a corporate lawyer. It's amazing how different he sounds in this movie than his previously animated Monster Inc. charachter. The way the animators drew the charachters onscreen is great too. Apparently no one told them that any overacting was too much. The charachters bounce around everywhere. It's pretty cool.
Jerry Seinfeld trademark humor is at display here for the first time since his documentary "Comedian," which has been awhile. The story lags sometimes because I don't think Jerry is that comfortable with this new animated format, but there are consistent laughs throughout and the plot contains alot of material. I especially liked the jealous boyfried (Patrick Warburton) who sees a bee taking his place and decides to try to drown him in the toilet. Chris Rock has a mosquito was pretty funny also. Too bad he wasn't in the movie more. That is probably my biggest complaint (which isn't that big). I wouldn't have minded ten more minutes of movie.