The Movie Mind

Movie Mind Says:  Wait for PPV

If You Like This You Should Watch:  Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Better Than:  The Hot Chick
Worse Than:  Anchorman, Blades of Glory

Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly

The Will Ferrell Era has ended. The days of scene-stealing roles like in Zoolander and Wedding Crashers are merely a fading memory. Even more the case, the cult classic comedies such as Elf and Anchorman delivered with ease under a PG and PG-13 label are a distant image in the rearview mirror. The new Will Ferrell has arrived. Unfortunately, that means the old one will live only in our minds. After this film, The Movie Mind had to hark back to the days of old.

I guess Ferrell gave up on what made his style of comedy so appealing. Instead of relying on his comedic timing, absurd delivery, and over the top characters, he decided to jump into the fray with the brand of comedies that are being delivered today: crude, anything-goes, in your face, and delivered by a bunch of obnoxious young punks. Sometimes those ones actually work. The only problem is Ferrell is a 40-year old man. So he said to hell with it. I’ll just play a character who is a grown-up but acts like he is one of those young punks. That’s about as lazy an excuse as you can get.

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Movie Mind Says:  Buy It

If You Like This You Should Watch:  Batman Begins, Iron Man
Better Than:  Spiderman, Superman, X-Men, Blade, Indiana Jones…
Worse Than:  No movie from 2008

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine

It’s been a very long time since The Movie Mind has left a movie theater giddy like a little kid and grinning ear to ear. It has been even longer since I left a theater and wanted to go right back in and watch the movie again. That is exactly how I felt after happily playing a part in making The Dark Knight the fastest movie ever to gross over $300 million (10 days, to be exact). This was one of the best films I have seen in a long, long time, and should be a shoe-in for Best Picture at the Oscars. I simply can’t imagine what a better film would look like, and how it could possibly surpass what The Dark Knight was able to accomplish.

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Movie Mind Says:  Rent It

If You Like This You Should Watch:  Get Carter
Better Than:  Collateral
Worse Than:  Trainspotting, Snatch

Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes

You probably asked the same thing as The Movie Mind when you saw this title…where the hell is Bruges? That is exactly the question you are supposed to ask since part of the allure of this film relies on the anonymity of Bruges. In fact, I still don’t think I know what country it is in. It’s probably a safe bet to just assume it’s somewhere over the “pond” anyway. If I could only understand half the things they were saying I’m sure it would have been that much more entertaining. Nonetheless, it was a nice surprise for someone who doesn’t usually get British wit or anything with Colin Farrell (aka the king of the flop).

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