A former DEA agent moves his family to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth druglord. From: IMDb.com

A former DEA agent moves his family to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth druglord. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Gary Fleder

Starring: James Franco, Jason Statham, Winona Ryder and others

Current release date:  November 27, 2013

A former DEA agent moves his family to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth druglord. From: IMDb.com

Don't really know why this movie isn't liked any better. Perhaps some people take offense to its concept but personally I thought this was a pretty solid and also certainly original little comedy.

A bunch of priests cursing, fighting, drinking and having sex perhaps may sound a bit lame and makes this sound like a one note movie but the truth is that it's actually being a pretty creative movie with its concept and it luckily isn't just constantly repeating the same jokes and patterns over and over again.

The movie as it is is a pretty fun and entertaining one to watch. It's a comedy, so of course it isn't one to take very seriously. The movie itself certainly isn't. It loves to exaggerate with its comedy and horror elements at times, without ever making anything truly ridicules. In my opinion the comedy and concept of the movie works out well due to all of its diverse characters and the actors that portray them. I definitely liked Clancy Brown, in particular.

The story itself isn't really anything surprising but at least I can say that this movie does have a story in it. Thing that often annoys me about these horror comedies is that its story always comes secondary. This movie definitely feels more story driven, with its constant developments. But again, nothing too original or surprising really, so I can understand why some people won't like it and just can't get into this movie. It's an original movie with its concept and comedy but not really ever with its story and storytelling.

But of course the most important thing about this movie still is its comedy. It perhaps isn't one that is going to make you burst out into laughing but it definitely is one that is a constantly fun and very occasionally a funny one to watch as well.

Give it a chance. You may end up liking it.

7/10

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A former DEA agent moves his family to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth druglord. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Gary Fleder

Starring: James Franco, Jason Statham, Rachelle Lefevre and others

Current release date:  November 27, 2013

Sometimes some movies are unrighteously bashed and hated. But while this is far from the most terrible genre movie that I have ever seen, I can still totally understand why lots of people are hating on this movie.

It of course really isn't anything too uncommon for a horror movie to have a sort of slower first half. It gives the movie plenty of time and room to set up its story and introduce its characters to the viewers and start working on setting up its mystery and tension. This movie has a slower first half as well but with as a big difference that it isn't really setting up its story, or has any good character development in it. It's constantly building up but never toward anything all that interesting, tense or ultimately very rewarding.

And it's not like this movie is getting any better once its horror starts to kick in. To be perfectly honest, I still prefer the slower and not so very exciting first half of the movie, over the horror cliché filled second half. In the second half, I don't really know what's going on anymore, simply because I didn't care about any of it. This really also was because of the extremely poor character development and storytelling of the movie.

It's actually shocking how poorly this movie handles all of its characters. It never feels like you get to know any of the characters and it keeps on changing its focus. The first half of the movie still pretty much focuses on the adults of the family, while the second half is just about its younger characters and for some odd reason forgets all about its earlier introduced characters and adults, that all seemed important to the movie its story, in the first and better half of the movie.


The movie basically has no idea how to approach its story and handle all of the horror ingredients. Seems to me that director Anthony Leonardi III had seen a bunch of modern horror flicks and thought it would be enough to feature a mysterious atmosphere in it, in which characters look and stare at each other ominously and talk to each other in vague terms, in an attempt to create mystery and tension. Other than that, there are no scares, no gore, no real killings and just a girl painted white with black eyes, all courtesy of some CGI effects. In other words; really not enough to call this a very good or effective horror movie. I'm somewhat reluctant to even call this a horror movie, since the approach and eventual end product are really far from what I consider to be horror.

Still, I just can't say that this movie is an absolutely terrible one as well. It's still good looking all and the acting really isn't all that bad either. No big surprise, seeing how Anne Heche and Clancy Brown are in it. And despite the fact that there isn't all that much happening or developing in this movie, it never feels like a boring one as well. The storytelling was a bit messy at parts and it didn't ever really explained anything properly enough but it never got offensively bad or silly with anything.

There seriously are far more worse modern genre movies out there but having said that; this clearly isn't one that's amongst the best or most effective ones either.

4/10

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The Augustine Interfaith Order of Hellbound Saints, a team of blasphemous ministers who live in a constant state of debauchery, work to drag the worst of demons back to Hell. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: J.T. Petty

Starring: Clifton Collins Jr., Clancy Brown, Andre Royo and others

Current release date: October 18, 2013

A former DEA agent moves his family to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth druglord. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Gary Fleder

Starring: James Franco, Rachelle Lefevre, Jason Statham and others

Current release date: November 27, 2013

A family's journey toward a better life is interrupted by an unstable man of the cloth. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Anthony Leonardi III

Starring: Anne Heche, James Tupper, Ethan Peck and others

Current release date: 2013

A new street drug that sends its users across time and dimensions has one drawback: some people return as no longer human. Can two college dropouts save humankind from this silent, otherworldly invasion? From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Don Coscarelli

Starring: Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti and others

Current release date: January 25, 2013

Well, this is a rather short animated special, so it doesn't exactly shines through its originality or greatness but the special as it is is definitely a watchable and still fun enough one, especially when you are into SpongeBob of course.

Even though this special uses stop motion, as opposed to classic drawn animations, which the TV show uses, it still features the exact same style and atmosphere of the TV show. the comedy and its timing is exactly the same, which actually helps to make you forget you are watching a stop motion production here, which of course has quite a different look to it, compared to the animated TV-series.

The story is some pretty standard stuff and I must say I didn't really ever got a true warm Christmas like feeling from it but it does offer plenty of entertainment. Guess you could say it simply works better as just a SpongeBob episode than a Christmas special really but I don't really know if that truly can be considered a complaint.

It just seems to me that if they truly wanted to do a Christmas special they should had at least made it 30 minutes longer. That way they could had fitted more stuff into it's story and let it all come across feeling less rushed. That way they could had also fitted more songs into it, which was actually something I liked about this special and helped to still make it stand out.

But this special is what it is and it's truly not bad! I just can't see this becoming a Christmas special classic, that could be played over and over again, for every Christmas yet to come.

7/10

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It's a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. On the street they call it Soy Sauce, and users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John and David, a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can't. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Don Coscarelli

Starring: Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti and others

Current release date: January 25, 2013

(Review originally written at 2 September 2006)

The beginning of this movie already gives away how the rest of the movie is. In the beginning the movie tries to be style-full and surprising but it instead is simple and predictable, as is the rest of the movie. The movie is filled with countless predictable and foremost improbable moments. The movie tries to distinct itself from other genre movies but in the end this movie is nothing more than a below average thriller that is watchable but most certainly no must-see.

The movie mainly tries to be different mostly through its characters. It's nice to see that this time the lead is a strong independent female, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. They try to give her a strong and emotional involving personality but most sequences in which they try to achieve this don't really work out, with also as a result that the movie is filled with some too long and unnecessary sequences. It also tries to be different with its villain and it takes a more emotional and realistic approach, rather than a 'simple psychopathic non-explaining' approach of the villain. Also problem here is that this mostly doesn't work out. Not really the actor or character's fault but more of the story and directing-style, that provides the movie with some completely ridicules and unlikely moments. Because of this the most emotional and realistic things don't work out in the movie, which causes this movie to be a rather failed one, as a thriller.

I still sort of appreciate and like it that this movie takes a different approach and tries to be original. It still distinct this movie from most other genre movies. However something went terribly wrong during the process of making this movie. Instead of original and surprising the movie is predictable and simple, despite its original approach of the story. The movie is too simply put together by Kathryn Bigelow and the movie too often takes the simple and easy road, which is the main reason why the movie mostly is predictable as well as unlikely.

Really the worst thing about this movie is that its filled with some amazingly bad and unlikely sequences. It makes the story even more ridicules and improbable. Once again the movie makes the police look like narrow-minded persons who can't seem to arrest a chimp and only thrust on their own instincts, rather than facts. It all adds up to the fact that this movie its story is unlikely as well as perhaps a bit ridicules. Especially the way Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver) and Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) keep finding each other gets highly unlikely and ridicules after a while. Especially the ending is disappointingly ridicules and far from satisfying.

The acting all around is quite solid. Jamie Lee Curtis plays a fine strong character and Ron Silver is a good enough actor. Not really convincing enough as a psychopath but a fine performance nevertheless. Clancy Brown is also good, although he always has been a better voice-actor. It was also fun to see Tom Sizemore in an early and small role, already acting crazy as always. Also small roles are there for Matt Craven, Richard Jenkins and Kevin Dunn, among others.

The style of the movie is quite disappointing. It tries desperately at moments to be almost artistic like. This doesn't always work out and instead are mostly too distracting and in contrast with the rest of the movie and story, that is quite simple. The weird and simple Brad Fiedel musical score also doesn't add much good to the movie its style and atmosphere. Also this movie isn't the best example of character treatment. It doesn't always lay the right emphasis.

Only still sort of watchable for the most hardened thriller-fan, that wants to see something different. Just don't expect too much of it all.

5/10

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(Review originally written at 26 July 2006)

Fans of SpongeBob and its special humor will certainly enjoy this movie, although it's not as good as the television show. But at least the story is bigger and more adventurous than an average SpongeBob episode.

The movie, the story and its humor mostly relies on its randomness. The randomness works good and fun in the television series but its not quite good enough to fill an entire movie with, even though the movie is only 90 minutes short. It falls flat, especially toward the ending, that is disappointingly simple and ridicules. No big finale, just a simple conclusion.

Many new but also many pointless characters are introduced. King Neptune has become a different character from the show and is this time voiced by Jeffrey Tambor. The Mindy character (Scarlett Johansson) is a pointless one. She could had worked in the movie and its story if she perhaps had been someone's love interest (Patrick's). Probably the only good new character is the assassin Dennis (Alec Baldwin). He is a cool and dangerous character.

Luckily the fun main characters are also present. SpongeBob and Patrick form a great stupid comical duo and Mr. Krabs and Squidward are also present but unfortunately a bit underused in the movie, especially Squidward, who always is such a fun, grumpy and dry character to watch in the television show.

You would normally expect from a featured animated movie to be better and more detailed than its television show. There however is hardly any difference notable in terms of style and quality of the animations. Only thing that looks better is the life action. But of course when you have David "The Hoff" Hasselhoff as a character, you can't get any better life action, except when you have Chuck Norris maybe. Not sure if the pirates were completely necessary, they made a pointless and unfunny impression on me.

This movie will probably divide the fans of the television show into two groups. One group will love this movie for its fun, simple adventurous movie and others will find it disappointing that the typical SpongeBob humor doesn't work out quite as well as in the television show. I personally am somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed watching the movie but also have to admit that watching the television show is more fun and overall better to watch.

7/10

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(Review originally written at 29 April 2006)

This movie really feels like a wasted opportunity. With so many talent involved, how could this movie turn out to be so disappointing? It probably is due to the messy script that uses too many plot lines that never get fully developed or that work out completely the way as they were suppose to. You can say that the movie feels incomplete. I don't know, were they in a hurry or something to complete this movie? I have a feeling that a month or two more work on the movie- and perhaps its script, would had made this movie a better one.

It's still somewhat decent entertainment for the kids. The characters should be enjoyable for them and some of the comical situations are good enough to make them laugh.

Robin Williams is always fun to watch in a comedy but however in this case it feels like he's holding back to not completely play a nutty professor. It's perhaps a bit of a disappointing to most. When you know Robin Williams plays the lead role in a comedy you would expect some more fireworks and hilarious situations from him. His talent is wasted, a real missed opportunity for the movie to become a great one. Christopher McDonald plays a typical 'villainoush' Christopher McDonald role and he does it once more really great. Other well known actors in the movie are Marcia Gay Harden, Raymond J. Barry (boy, he's beginning to look really old now), Ted Levine and Clancy Brown. But none of the characters feel really developed well enough in the movie, with the exception of the robotic character Weebo. Of course it's not a very good sign when the best developed- and featured character of the movie is not even an human...

Also the use of 'Flubber' is highly below par. From a movie named "Flubber" I expected something more from the green slimy stuff. It however doesn't play a that significant role in the movie and the things that are done with the Flubber are far from original or interesting. The Flubber itself however looks fantastic through some early computer effects. Remember that this movie was released in 1997 when the special effects were of course not as advanced as present day is the case. The effects from this movie look great and really fully convincing. Too bad that it isn't featured very well in the movie.

The story is of course predictable from A to Z and the movie has absolutely no surprises in it. It makes "Flubber" a very easily forgettable movie that is far from great. The movie had far more potential really. If only that had made some better choices with its story and perhaps picked a different director...

The movie is good and professional looking, so from a technical point of view the movie does really not disappoint. Also the fun musical score by Danny Elfman makes the movie a watchable one

The kids will probably still enjoy it but still the movie feels like a big waste of some far more and greater potential, which the movie really had.

5/10

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