Dumb and Dumber To Review part 1
I’ll give it a B- for effort but an A+ for marketing.
It seems to me a middle ground has to be struck between the producers of a film and the producers of the advertizing trailers as to how much should the trailer give away. Some movies give hardly anything away leaving you with (a) the fact that a movie was made, (b) the title of the movie, and (c) someone who may or may not appear in the film 
(let us not forget how Bryan Cranston was all over every trailer for Godzilla possible only to vanish after about 20 minutes of film leaving us with a cast of characters I couldn’t give less of a damn about. Image courtesy of the horror movie t shirt category). Some trailers suck every ounce of nourishment from the movie like a starving vampire and leave the actual film lying on the screen like a dedicated corpse. And of course the optimal trailer hits that sweet spot right in the middle with just enough to peak your interest but not enough to make you feel like you just saw the whole film in 60 seconds.
Dumb and Dumber To unfortunately falls into the second camp. There were three really good jokes in the film but unfortunately I had seen them about 30 times each thanks to trailers and when they came up in the film I could almost speak the lines myself. The rest of the jokes were meh-tastic so I guess someone in marketing knows what he or she is doing.
I think I have come up with a perfect analogy to describe most of the jokes in this film. Imagine you have graduated high school and moved on with your life with nary a look behind you. You attend the 20 year reunion and at that reunion you end up sitting at a table with the party guy of your class who is desperate to recapture a moment of how cool he was back then before a lifetime of working at a local surf shop and he keeps telling stories that all begin with “Remember the time when…”. “Remember the time when Eric puked into Gary’s tuba?” You smile and nod with the vague sense of nostalgia normally reserved for finding a half cup of leftover mac n cheese in the refrigerator. It’s amusing in a “technically funny” way but the timing is grossly out of whack and at no time do you feel the need to burst out into belly busting guffaws of laughter like when you first saw Gary blow into a vomit filled tuba.
(continued)
Next
Dumb and Dumber To Review part 2
That’s pretty much the humor of this film in a nutshell. The jokes are there and they are all technically funny but for the most part it’s all pointing to jokes that were done way better back in 1994 with better timing and more pizzazz. Most of the best new humor came from the new straight man Travis (Rob Riggle). There were a few funny moments but for the most part you sit there acknowledging the humor rather than laughing at it.
That’s not to say it wasn’t funny or worthwhile. If you loved the first Dumb and Dumber odds are you will enjoy a lot of the call backs. If fart humor makes you laugh there are a couple moments that are really great (I admit I have a certain penchant to laugh hysterically at a good fart joke. So I’m lowbrow. Sue me. In college my best friend had a maneuver he used to call crop dusting. I’ll just say it was hilarious and high end outdoor restaurants were his favorite target). However I just felt it was a lot of the same Lloyd and Harry bumbling around the screen without being surprising or amazing like last time.
I’ll also say too much of the comic relief. What made the first movie really work was the fact that Lloyd and Harry were so stupid dealing with people of at least normal intelligence. What does not add to that humor is the addition of another character just as stupid but who also happens to be a super hot chick in her underwear. Floyd and Harry were dumb, looked dumb, and had dumb haircuts. 
Rachel Melvin is super hot and in spite of what guys seem to want there is something really off putting about super hot super dumb girls (on the other hand she starred in something called Zombeavers this year so that makes her my favorite new breakout star. Image from one of the zombie t-shirts in my personal collection).
(continued)
Next
Previous
Dumb and Dumber To Review part 3
The story. It’s now 20 years after the last film and Lloyd (Jim Carrey) has been in a comatose state for the entire time. Harry (Jeff Daniels) has been visiting him and helping change his diaper but then finds out that it has all been a long practical joke (no spoiler there. That is one of the three really good jokes that were played in the trailers). Harry needs a kidney and when they find out he has an illegitimate daughter they go seeking her. Some roundabout circumstances lead them to her adopted parents who send them on a cross country trip in an amusing vehicle to deliver a mysterious sealed object to a girl. If that script sounds a lot like the story of the first Dumb and Dumber then I acknowledge your pattern recognition ability.
Other stuff happens too. Rob Riggle goes along with them for some reason and they end up at a science conference but really just rewind the first Dumb and Dumber on the movie screen in your mind and you have seen this film.
2 of 5 Meh.
So worth seeing? Well, normally no but thanks to the giant wrecking ball known as Mockingjay there is literally zilcho coming out lately so sure. Any port in a storm I guess. If you were a fan of the the first one you will probably enjoy it but if not the 109 minutes will drag on with glacier slowness. The good news is this film does not really require a lot of higher brain function so if you are looking for a film to get really stoned and/or drunk before seeing you have found your muse. Personally I think Nightcrawler is both better and in a weird way funnier. Date movie? Not unless she likes excrement jokes. Bathroom break? Nothing really stands out as “must see” for this film. Maybe the scene where Harry and Lloyd are trying to get into the science con but don’t dawdle as the scene with Stephen Hawking is one of the funnier ones. 2 out of 5 phasers.
the Infamous Dave Inman
PS I just heard that they hired to do the new Wonder Woman move Michelle MacLaren. She did a bunch of work on Breaking Bad and Walking Dead so that’s pretty cool news. I don’t know why I just put that in here. I guess it’s kind of exciting plus a chance to show off this great Wonder Woman t shirt.
Previous
Star Trek Retrospective: Episode 10 the Corbomite Maneuver
This was a great episode in that it was the first one to feature DeForrest Kelly as Dr. McCoy. Also it was great in that it had one of my favorite aliens in it, the Balok (or Commander Balok). I was really disappointed when it turned out to be a little person and the cool alien face just a dummy.
I actually disapprove of turning the big bad alien into a cute little guy. One of the best Sci Fi movies of the last 20 years, District 9, featured aliens that looked like 8 foot tall bipedal potato bugs yet somehow managed to make them sympathetic. When they did Avatar they caved in and made the Na’vi look like super sexy cat people. I see that as the easy route. People like to say don’t judge a book by it’s cover but they do it all the time. 
I guess I’m just bothered by that sort of thing as I look like a bouncer, tow truck driver, or Bond villains henchman but am in truth a sensitive and caring creative artistic soul (I’m not kidding, although you would have to know me for years to really see it. Image of a misunderstood villain from our Hulk t shirt collection). I just think this episode would have been cooler if they met the Balok and it turns out that his race is super scary but all have amazing singing voices or something.
the Infamous Dave Inman
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Review part 1
It could have been worse in so many ways.
Back in 2008 Hollywood conducted a mad science experiment and created the first film based on a crappy teenie bopper pseudo science or fantasy fiction book. Twilight stumbled around the local countryside wreaking up the place, terrorizing the local population, and infesting the world with sizzle chested man/boys, bland emotionless manikins masquerading as lead actresses, dialog that could be considered a crime against the spoken language, and glow-in-the-light vampires. Most thinking humans recoiled in horror at the abomination the film industry had created, but unfortunately a lot of really young, inexperienced, lonely, and/or just plain dumb girls with loads of disposable income fell in love with the creature and gave it money to make continuing the experiment worthwhile.
So the experiments continued in hopes of creating another perfectly horrible/lovable lab creature. Most failed miserably (cough cough the Host, Mortal Instruments cough cough) and ended up as a random slurry of bio-hazardous waste at the bottom of a noxious oubliette. A few proved relatively viable (Divergent) and stumbled around bumping into things and vomiting like the first cloned sheep after six hours in the Tilt-a-Whirl. It was inevitable that eventually Hollywood would come up with a creature stable, easy on the eyes, and capable of not only functioning in society but actually entertaining people who aren’t still wearing braces and that creature is the Hunger Games.
I can’t honestly say I am a fan of the Hunger Games. I appreciate what it is and where it fits in the landscape of the film experience and find the characters engaging and interesting, thus resulting in me caring about the action. Acting is good and the story doesn’t make me want to punch the writer. Production values very high and camera and editing spot on. However if Hollywood were suddenly sucked into a giant sarlacc (fingers crossed) and Part 2 were never made I don’t think I would lose a lot of sleep over it. Based on the fan base and their probably expectations I can use my magnificent brain to figure out how this series is likely to end even without having read the book. No one ever takes a chance in main stream film these days so unless I wake up in Bizarro world tomorrow I fully expect President Snow to have a date with the business end of one of Katniss’s arrows soon.
(As a side note, I know I’m not a teenage girl or even a little into men (all man here baby) but can anyone look at that Twilight poster from the movie t shirt collection and honestly say they don’t want to put their fist into that dudes face? Heck I almost want to punch out the girl just for showing up on the same poster. I think Mother Theresa would (and probably could) happily kick Edwards ass.)
(continued)
Next
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Review part 2
So this film is the top of that heap but being the best of the worst is not always the same as being good. This film has it’s issues and compared to what I consider a good movie it is at best trivial and mediocre. Unless you have something invested in the film (like, say, you read the books over and over again and dream of yourself as Katniss (or boy Katniss)) you will be reasonably entertained for 123 minutes and go home vaguely pissed that they stretched this last film into two movies while going about the rest of your life. It is good solid entertainment but it won’t blow your mind the way A Clockwork Orange did to me at 17.
I guess the issue I take with this film is up until now the series has been relatively smart. Stuff made sense and I didn’t feel let down by the characters doing stupid things. However once they raised the scope of the film from a Battle Royale reality show and your concern for the individual characters you care about into a country wide revolution the individuals have to get a whole lot stupider to keep the plot going. 
I spotted about 8 different ways President Snow could have ended the revolution (most of them rhyming with “puclear” or “bustained sombardment”) but he wants to play head games while his white armored Stormtroopers seem to have forgotten which end of their assault rifle the pew pew comes out of when shooting at guys climbing trees 20 feet away. Meanwhile the revolutionaries get equally as stupid in order to properly fall into obvious traps.
Also while I enjoyed this film in general the padding was pretty blatant. How many times do we need to see a wrecked field of human corpses in order to establish that President Snow is evil? Also what is the deal with him being so evil? A little character development on President Snow would be nice. Did he start out evil and just take joy in killing innocent children or did he have to work up to it? Does he really think he is doing something good? It’s rare that someone wakes up and says “Today I will be a total bastard”. Most people think they are doing the best they can but he was so evil that he turned into a caricature and thus lowered the actual impact of the movie. He felt a lot like Dr. Evil and therefore turned Katniss and her crew into Austin Powers.
(continued)
Next
Previous
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Review part 3
Actually now that I think about it another issue was the lack of character development for some of the secondary characters. It’s only been a year since the last film but I was really struggling to remember who Finnick was or why I should even care. He had something going on but honestly faded back into the morass of good looking young white guys who infest these films lik hipsters are infesting my home town. I would be hard pressed to tell him apart from Gale. There were two other tributes besides Peeta but put a gun to my head and I still couldn’t pick them out from any one of the 100,000 jumpsuited Caucasians. The only characters that stood out were the ones that had something distinctive about them (Boggs was the black guy, Effie looked like she was going through chemotherapy, Haymitch was the only male who didn’t look like he escaped from Abercrombie & Fitch island, President Coin had long hair, and Plutarch was of course Phillip Seymore Hoffman).
The action was fun but clearly shot with 14 year old girls in mind. If unarmed humans charging trained troops armed with automatic weapons had been a viable strategy WWI would have ended in about a week. Also I know it was important to show Katniss as this super hero but shooting down jet bombers with a bow and arrow is pretty laughable even with explosive arrows. While I was having fun watching this film I could feel might thumb twitching hoping to find the fast forward button. Pacing was sluggish and they could have dropped about 40 minutes of Primrose in my opinion (book fans don’t hate on me please).
But in the Valley of the Blind the one eye man is king and this film is the pick of the litter. It might even have two eyes. While most of the factions got stupider at least the overriding story isn’t lame and all the actors can and do act. 
You buy Jennifer Lawrence as a girl caught up in events beyond her control and while the nature of her actual feelings for Peetah (or boy toy Gale) remains as mysterious as the joys of a womans body does for me at least you get the feeling she actually does have them (this line from one of our funny t shirts I think I have heard in my head about once a week for my entire life).
(continued)
Next
Previous
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Review part 4
The story. It pretty much picks up with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) in the hands of revolutionaries while Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) is being held in the capital. The rebels are led by President Coin (Julianne Moore) and Plutarch Heavensbee (Phillip Seymore Hoffman) with help from security heavy Boggs 
(Mahershala Ali. He was in the 4400. I thought he looked familiar. The image I pulled from one of our novelty t shirts). They want her to be their spokesperson but Katniss wants nothing to do with it until she sees Peeta on the TV pitching how great President Snow is or something (Snow is Donald Sutherland and is great). She agrees to help them as long as they rescue Peeta. She goes out into battle and gets filmed bitching about how evil the Capital is (no argument here) while up to her knees in the burnt corpses of her former friends and neighbors. Show proves how evil he is by bombing a hospital and then the revolutionary base. A team is sent in to rescue Peeta and when he gets back they find the bad guys messed with his mind.
You know when you add it up that’s not a lot of events for 123 minutes. They really were stretching this out into two epics. At least they aren’t calling it the Hunger Games Saga. So do I recommend you see it? If you saw the first two (or read the books) absolutely. If you didn’t you will be lost without a paddle. Very little will make sense starting with who is this chick and why is she cool with going into battle against modern soldiers armed with a bow and arrow. This film does not stand alone well. Honestly my recommendation means very little for movies like this because either you are inclined to go or not. There is no middle ground for someone who saw the first two films but is on the fence for this one. I will say if you are dating someone who is into the Hunger Games it is well worth your time. She will love it and if you watch the first two on streaming (or just skim the Wikipedia story synapses) you will probably develop a connection or something like that with her. Let me know what that is like. Bathroom break? Go when Haymitch is telling Katniss about the Peeta rescue. That’s when I went.
Thanks for reading. I have Dumb and Dumber To to do tomorrow. Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook (and in real life please. I have serious self esteem issues), etc. Talk to you soon.
The Infamous Dave Inman
Previous
Real Life Hoverboards!!!
It is well known that most everything cool in this world was first shown in a science fiction movie or TV show. In fact most of our coolest stuff now was first in Star Trek (cell phones, tablets, self aware computers, green dancing slave girls). I used to do some writing for another blog that specialized in technology that comes from science fiction (got shut down unfortunately).
One of the cooler inventions from science fiction (for me) was always the hoverboard from Back to the Future, which ironically in the movie was readily available in the far off year of 2015 (this image is from a novelty t shirt in our Back to the Future collection). Talk about an awesome way to get around. Of course really without direction control the vectors will have you on your ass every time (statics was one class I actually aced. I am the vector king). However I always wanted to have one.
Now a company right here in the Bay Area has officially invented a working Hoverboard! I couldn’t be more excited. It works on magnets and needs a metal floor but still a lot of half pipes are metal these days. Check out this amazing article about Tony Hawk riding a real hoverboard! Awesome!
From what I understand the board was more invented to help move ocean containers and the like but still the possibilities are huge. It’s only a matter of time before kids are shattering bones with these things.
Now all we need is for some company to get working on my real Back to the Future dream flying cars. Enough with all this traffic not to mention bridge tolls. I’d like to see someone look into that time machine thing too but as a fan of the Butterfly Effect I don’t think it’s a good idea. Also it’s impossible because inertia is a bitch. Think about it.
the Infamous Dave Inman
A Question from the Six Million Dollar Man
So I have been taking a lot of yoga lately and it’s supposed to clear your mind and lead you to a spiritual nirvana or something. I must be doing it wrong because my mind is always wandering all over throughout the course of the class. For some reason I seem to always be thinking about either obscure zones I used to visit in World of Warcraft (why do I need to think about the Wetlands? I played Horde) or old TV shows from my childhood.
(Actually that gives me something else to think about. In 30 years will I be thinking about Breaking Bad or SOA? Image courtesy of the Breaking Bad t shirts collection).
Anyway, today I was thinking about the Bionic Man and this occurred to me: one of Steve Austin’s weaknesses was always cold temperature. If he got really cold his arm, legs, and eye would shut down. However the electric blanket was invented in 1912 and the thermostat in 1883. It seems like sticking a heating element into the bionics would be easy peasy. Heck, you could put warming elements into a regular prosthetic limb if you really wanted to. Also if his eye were totally destroyed wouldn’t Steve Austin have massive scarring on his face? Yes this is what I was thinking about tonight while in Child’s Pose.
the Infamous Dave Inman
