2 Minute Movie Reviews.

King of Kong (A+)
King of Kong – Freaking best documentary ever! This movie was so incredibly good. Which considering it’s a documentary about two nerds battling for the all time score on Donkey Kong, says a whole lot. I couldn’t recommend this movie more. It’s basically the story of two guys battling for the all time high score in Donkey Kong. The trailer says it all about the characters and the politics involved in trying to get to the score. This reminded me so much of middle school. And some of my friends who were at the edge of “society”. This is just a classic documentary about a “classic” game. One of the main characters is so sympathetic and sweet that you almost cry along with him. The other is a real arse who you wouldn’t mind dousing his eyes with hot sauce (he’s a hot sauce mogul). Definitely worth checking out.

Margot At The Wedding (D-)
This very well could be the worst movie I’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s by Noah Baumbach which I love from The Life Aquatic and hate from The Squid and the Whale. Outside of Jack Black rocking a serious role surprisingly well and a mustache that looks stellar . . . there isn’t much saving grace in this movie. I guess the acting is good. It’s just that the story sucked. Nicole Kidman was half-way convincing. And the supporting characters did ok. It was just a really, really bad story in my opinion. I know it’s “believable”. But it felt like Noah was trying too hard to make it “believable”. Maybe I don’t get his movies because of my Hallmark card home and upbringing, but this was very much like The Squid and the Whale for me in that it just didn’t move anywhere or say anything.

Rocket Science (B)
This was a quaint movie. I can’t say it was what I expected. But it was very solid. It’s the story of a kid who wants to be on the debate team but has a studder and can’t get over it. Of course there is a girl involved and she tries to get him to overcome it. She uses him. Transfers schools and competes against him in the finals. You know the story right? The movie was shot incredibly well. The way movies are supposed to be filmed. And the soundtrack was stellar. If I made a movie, I’d want to film it and use music just like this movie. The story was ok. And didn’t end anywhere near where it could have ended, but I guess that’s what you get with “indie” films who have great soundtracks and cinematagraphy.

Semi-Pro (D+)
I have a tradition. Or habit. One that is quickly turning into a bad habit. And that is that I go and see every Will Ferrell movie that comes out on opening night. I have for everything. Except Kicking & Screaming. There have been some duds lately (Talladega Nights) and some surprises (Blades of Glory). Semi-Pro was the worst yet. It was horrible. There were funny parts as always but you probably saw them in the trailer. I sat there in the theater (by myself) and almost fell asleep. I would have walked out except I was killing time before a meeting and had nowhere else to go in the area. It was almost like they forgot about Will Ferrell half way through the movie and decided to try and make a “serious” story out of something that was supposed to be funny. Usually when this is done, there is still comedy involved and it’s borderline heart-warming. This was just painful as they tried to tie up the story and make it work. Painfully boring.