What You Should Have Seen #24

Horrible Bosses

There is so much to like about this movie. The performances from all the principle players are all stellar, but Charlie Day really steals the show. He’s great on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” probably the best on the show, and with all the big names in this movie he’s probably lowest on the totem pole, but he really brings it. He and the Jasons Bateman and Sudekis are me and my friends. Thirty somethings who are pretty happy with their lives except for one small detail: their bosses are manipulative, evil dicks.

These dicks are greatly portrayed by Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, and Jennifer Aniston. Kevin and Colin are great actors. They do their dick roles justice. I don’t need to talk about them. I’d like to talk about Ms. Aniston. She gets a lot of shit thrown her way on the various blogs I read, but you know what, screw it. She’s not a great actress, but she’s not bad. She’s vanilla: plain but thoroughly enjoyable. You know what you’re going to get when you watch her.

In this movie, she’s incredibly sexy and delightfully dirty. She’s an awful, rapey dentist, but damn she looks good. She’s got a mouth on her that almost made me blush a time or two, but she’s got enough of a moral compass to keep all her goodie bits covered.

I was surprised by the number of cameos. There were quite a few actors (and an actress) who had bit parts but really stepped up and gave it their all. Julie Bowen, Ron White, Donald Sutherland, Ioan Gruffudd, Isaiah Mustafa, Wendell Pierce, and Bob Newhart. Bob fucking Newhart!

Also, the end of the movie has outtakes. I love outtakes. When a movie (or even a TV show) has a cast that is obviously having fun together, it shows in the outtakes.

So, do you like funny shit? Can you stomach crude and raunchy humor? Go watch this movie, then. I watched half of it at home via HBO On Demand, and the last half I watched online on HBOGo via U-verse. I’m going to miss HBO the most if I get rid of cable.

What You Should Have Seen #23

Cabin in the Woods

By the time this gets posted, this movie will either be already out of theaters or won’t have much time left. Sorry. I’m writing a lot of these early posts during my off time in order to have some material banked away so I’ll be able to post consistently.

I wanted to see this movie for one reason: Joss Whedon. I became a fan with Buffy and stayed around for Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible. And Astonishing X-Men. And the new Buffy and Angel comic books. I will be there for everything he has a hand in. I mean, the Avengers? Seriously you guys, the Avengers! Gah, the freakin' AVENGERS!!!

On its surface, Cabin in the Woods is a generic kids-in-the-woods slasher flick. Joss, however, does a great job at letting us know right from the get-go that that isn’t the case. I don’t want to spoil anything in case you haven’t seen it yet, in case you’re just waiting for it to come out on DVD.

There was a feel to this movie. I really want to compare it to Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, but it would be a very narrow comparison, and I don’t know how fair it would be to compare the two. I mean, I really liked J&SB, but for a much different reason. It was juvenile and over the top. It was one big inside joke, and I was in on it. I got that inside joke vibe from Cabin in the Woods, but there is one big difference between these two movies. J&SB was an inside joke that was extremely overt and really excluded people who weren’t cool enough to get it. I can’t imagine that anybody who hadn’t seen the other View Askewniverse movies laughed as much as I did. Joss, though, was a bit more subtle. You don’t have to be a Whedonite to enjoy the movie. It helps on a few layers, but it’s not necessary. It’s accessible.

The movie felt like a conglomeration of past Joss works, but not as a weak rehashing. I got Buffy vibes (horror, monsters, a better version of The Initiative). I got Angel vibes (monsters, season five end-of-the-world, Wolfram & Hart senior partners). I got Dollhouse vibes (manipulation). I didn’t get any Firefly vibes, but I read that if you look close enough you’ll see a Reaver or two. The interplay between the main characters was spot-on Whedon. His scripting ability is one of the things I enjoy the most about his writing. It’s quick, it’s sharp, it’s witty, and more often than not it’s hilarious.

If you know anything about Joss, you know that he likes to reuse actors he’s worked with before. Here we get Amy Acker (Fred from Angel and Whiskey from Dollhouse), Fran Kranz (Topher from Dollhouse and the up-coming Much Ado About Nothing), Tom Lenk (Andrew from Buffy), and now Chris Hemsworth (Marvel’s The Avengers). This last one is kind of backwards. The movie was finished a few years ago, before Hemsworth was Thor. It’s just a coincidence that he was in CitW and now he’s in a franchise movie directed and co-written by Whedon (Have you seen the Avengers or read my write-up on it? You HAVEN'T?!?! What the hell is wrong with you? Go read my write-up then watch the movie. They're both worth the price of admission.).

The best surprise, at least to me, was the inclusion of Bradley Whitford. I love him. I loved him when Aaron Sorkin was putting words in his mouth, and he made the almost-unwatchable “The Good Guys,” well, watchable. Now I get to hear him say word that Joss is putting in his mouth? Awesome. And he didn’t disappoint.

I loved this movie. I loved everything about it, and I was glad to let NCG Cinemas swipe my debit card and remove money from my checking account. And you know what? I’m going spend even more money on this movie when it comes out on DVD. I will own it. It was that good. You know what else I might get? This. THAT’S how much I liked the movie.

So if you haven’t seen the movie yet and it’s still in theaters, go. Go now. If it’s already gone, write yourself a note and buy it (screw Redbox) when it comes out on DVD.

The Dark Knight Rises - Official Trailer #3 [HD]

Between this, The Avengers, and Amazing Spider-Man, this is going to be an incredibly awesome summer of movies for comic book fans. I've already got my tickets for an IMAX 3D showing of the Avengers on Friday. Yay! And as much of a Spider-Man fan as I am (c'mon, I named my first kid after him), I'm more excited about The Dark Knight Rises than ASM. When I watch the trailers for this movie, I get the feeling that I HAVE to see the movie. With Spider-Man, I just really WANT to see it.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation Exclusive Theatrical Trailer #2 [HD]

This doesn't look good enough to get me to the theater to see, but it looks TONS better than the first movie. Plus, it's got Bruce Willis and Adrianne Palicki in it, so that's better than Dennis Quaid and Sienna Miller. I'll miss Rachel Nichols, though. IMDB has it listed that Ray Park is back as Snake Eyes, so that's good, and it looks like Walton Goggins has himself a small part, and that's awesome.

Mansome Trailer

Okay ladies, chime in. Thoughts on what makes a man a MAN? Ron Swanson, Tom Haverford, or somewhere in between?