OUR IDIOT BROTHER

Our Idiot Brother stars Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Rashida Jones, Steve Coogan and Adam Scott. Directed by Jesse Peretz. Rated R with a running time of 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Plot: Ned (Paul Rudd), is an erstwhile organic farmer whose willingness to rely on the honesty of mankind is a less-than-optimum strategy for a tidy, trouble-free existence. After being released from jail for selling pot to a uniformed police officer, Ned's girlfriend kicks him off of his farm and he is forced to live with his three sisters (Mortimer, Banks, Deschanel) visiting one after the other after they each eventually kick him out for meddling in their lives. But as each of their lives begins to unravel, Ned's family comes to realize that maybe, in believing and trusting the people around him, Ned isn't such an idiot after all.

The cast in this film was very promising since it is full of some of the best comedic talent working today. Paul Rudd would either make or break the movie since the whole movie is basically about him and his relationships with his sisters. Rudd does a good job in the movie and delivers the laughs as needed, he definitely made the movie. But unfortunately he is not enough to make this movie a top comedy of the year, instead it's just a mediocre comedy.

I found the sister characters to be very uninteresting as they were all portrayed as neurotic women with men problems. It's nothing against the actresses (Mortimer, Banks, Deschanel) but the script made these characters annoying and it made me not want to sympathize with them. They were all actually quite mean to Ned so that didn't help with the audience caring for them. Another problem I had with the film was that it ended rather abruptly and I was left feeling like the story wasn't finished. It should have showed more scenes with Ned and his sisters after all the crazy debacles they encountered.

Two actors who did great work in this film were Paul Rudd and T.J. Miller. Miller is a rising comic actor and has been in films such as She's Out of My League and a small part in Get Him to the Greek. He has a rather small role in this movie too but he doesn't waste a second when he is on screen and is hilarious throughout as the guy who moves in to the farm with Ned's girlfriend. Rudd plays Ned in the unique way in that yes he does make idiotic choices but he is an all around nice guy so the audience can relate to him. Paul Rudd and T.J. Miller deliver the laughs in Our Idiot Brother but they aren't quite enough to make this comedy stand out in what has been the summer of R rated comedies.

B-

FRIGHT NIGHT (2011)

Fright Night stars Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, David Tennant, Imogen Poots and Toni Collette. Directed by Craig Gillespie. Rated R with a running time of 1 hour and 46 minutes.

Plot: Senior Charlie Brewster (Anton Yelchin) finally has it all going on: he's running with the popular crowd and dating the most coveted girl in his high school. In fact, he's so cool he's even dissing his best friend. But trouble arrives when Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a great guy at first, but there's something not quite right, but everyone, including Charlie's mom (Toni Collette), doesn't notice. After observing some very strange activity, Charlie comes to an unmistakable conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on the neighborhood. Unable to convince anyone, Charlie has to find a way to get rid of the monster himself.

Fright Night is kind of like Disturbia but with more blood and the obvious vampire twist. As for the vampire himself, Colin Farrell is excellent as the lean mean blood-sucking machine. He's a good villain and it's fun to see a vampire actually being a vampire unlike those love-sick, vegetarian ones from Twilight. Farrell is taking some career risks by doing a mainstream comedy earlier this summer in Horrible Bosses and is now playing a vampire. I think it's working for him as he is strong in both movies. The rest of the cast including Yelchin, Poots, Mintz-Plasse, and Collette were fine but nothing that really stood out. Though David Tennant provides some funny moments as a vampire "expert" whom Charlie seeks help from.

Fright Night has a good cast and some great visuals but some of the story points irritated me. At the beginning of the film entire families are disappearing (due to being Jerry the vampire's dinner) and the whole town doesn't seem to notice or care. I know I'm just supposed to watch and not worry about that, but it stood out to me and pretty much distracted me. Also when Jerry decides to blow up the Brewster's house none of the neighbors seem to notice that the house just exploded....or they just don't care. I don't know maybe I'm just nit picking but those things stood out to me and bothered me.

Unfortunately I was forced to see Fright Night in 3D and while it was useful in a handful of scenes, it still could have gone without the 3D. Fright Night is entertaining most of the time and uses it's Las Vegas setting to it's full potential, but some glaring plot holes stood out to me and took away from the good of the movie. It is mindless entertainment and if you want to just relax and sit back for a couple of hours, then Fright Night will suffice that need.

B-

30 MINUTES OR LESS

30 Minutes or Less stars Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson and Michael Pena. Directed by Ruben Fleisher. Rated R with a running time of 1 hour and 23 minutes.

Plot: Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is a small town pizza delivery guy whose mundane life collides with the big plans of two wanna-be criminal masterminds (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson). The volatile duo kidnaps Nick and forces him to rob a bank. With mere hours to pull off the impossible task, Nick enlists the help of his ex-best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari). As the clock ticks, the two must deal with the police, hired assassins, flamethrowers, and their own tumultuous relationship.

When you have a zany action comedy movie like this the only way it can succeed is to have the right cast to bring these characters to life. 30 Minutes or Less does this and that is why it is easily the funniest movie I have seen this year. Eisenberg and Ansari have great chemistry and their fire rapid delivering of dialogue is hilarious. McBride and Swardson are also very funny as the criminal "masterminds" of the movie. There is really a 2 part buddy comedy movie as it follows Eisenberg and Ansari and then McBride and Swardson. If you like any of these guy's previous work like Eisenberg's Zombieland, Ansari's Parks and Recreation or even McBride's Eastbound and Down on HBO, then you will enjoy their performances in this one.

There really isn't a lot I can say about this movie other than it is hilarious. It's a fast-paced, gut busting, action comedy with a zany twist. Yeah thats how I would describe 30 Minutes or Less. It's actually a little too short and left me wanting more, which is a good thing. Ruben Fleisher also directed Zombieland so he really knows how to do comedy and I'm interested to see what he does next.

B+

COWBOYS & ALIENS

Cowboys & Aliens stars Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde and Sam Rockwell. Directed by Jon Favreau. Rated PG-13 with a running time of 1 hour and 58 minutes.

Plot: 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger (Craig) with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.

Cowboys & Aliens is certainly an intriguing idea and I do believe that the filmmakers tried their best to make a good movie but sadly a good movie this is not. It's definitely one of the biggest disappointments of the summer, right up there with Green Lantern. There's definitely a great cast here with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford but it's just the story that is dull and boring. It starts off with the typical western movie cliches, a stranger comes to a new town and clashes with the locals. Then the aliens arrive and abduct some of the townspeople and the rest of the movie deals with the rescue of those people.

I found the story to be very unoriginal and quite lazy. Which is disappointing with all the talented people working on the film. The action scenes were loud and boring and simply not special. The aliens were also unoriginal since they are variations of all the other aliens we have seen in countless movies. I also think that Cowboys & Aliens was hurt by being another alien movie in a summer filled with them. Earlier this year we had Battle LA, Super 8 and Green Lantern, and they all had enough aliens for moviegoers this year. Cowboys & Aliens was simply just another alien invasion movie but added nothing new to the genre except, obviously, the setting.

Favreau fans will definitely hate me for saying this but I still don't think he is a very good action director. Yes I know he directed the 2 Iron Man movies but to me they didn't have very special action climaxes. They weren't bad but I just don't think they were very good either. I found this to be the case with Cowboys & Aliens too. The movie was an intriguing idea but the story was very average and it just ended up being another alien invasion movie, and not a very good or interesting one. I don't think we will be seeing anymore cowboy and alien movies anytime soon.

C+