Sorry about the delay, guys. It’s been insane at work the last couple weeks, so the reviews are coming more slowly than I’d like. However, you have reviews of:

The Informant!

A Serious Man

Where the Wild Things Are

This Is It

…that will be arriving on Friday. In the meantime, you can become a fan of The Password Is Swordfish on Facebook! Thanks for reading, and on Friday, I’ll have a bunch of good reviews for you. And as a sneak preview for what my reviews will say? Let’s just say all of the four will be receiving at least three kernels.

Many of you have commented that I need some sort of star system, a quick and easy way to rank exactly how good/bad I think the films are. I had many ideas, but the winning one came from Ms. Julia K. Kraus of Durham, NC. I proudly present… The Kernel System. The explanation is inside—take a look. Also, everyone please note that I will be going back to my old reviews and putting kernel ratings on all films I’ve covered in the past. PLUS, I will be putting four new pages on the side: 1. The Kernel System, in case you forget. 2. An easy-to-access list of every movie currently in theaters. 3. A full list of my reviews, categorized by their kernel rating. 4. A full list of my reviews in alphabetical order.

4 Kernels: Brilliance. A must see film. Stop what you’re doing and go check it out.

3.5 Kernels: Just a hair shy of extraordinary. Absolutely worth admission.

3 Kernels: A very good film. It doesn’t quite transcend into greatness, but it gets a solid thumbs up.

2.5 Kernels: A good movie that will please those who are interested, but it won’t convert the skeptic. Alternately, a film with chunks of brilliance mixed in with unfathomably poor ingredients, leaving it worthy of recommendation but should be taken with a grain of salt.

2 Kernels: While it has good elements, overall it’s a disappointing effort. You should probably wait for the DVD.

1.5 Kernels: Some quality performances or a few successful sequences keep this movie from being a complete waste of time.

1 Kernel: Poorly made, poorly executed, poorly acted—whatever the reason, the film is poor, period.

Half a Kernel: It’s taken the next step past poor and has moved beyond. It’s boring, it’s appalling, and it sucks.

Unpopped: One of the worst films I’ve ever seen. In no way should professionals have made a film so bad.

http://www.examiner.com/x-15321-Jacksonville-Film-Examiner

Yes, this is my first paying gig writing movie reviews/articles. That does mean several of my reviews will likely be posted there first and then re-posted here with a link attached, since this gig pays on how many hits I can generate for their site. The Examiner makes it a point to emphasize that it’s a news media outlet, NOT a blog, so any bloggish entries will all come here exclusively. Still, I’ll be posting links to The Examiner here, and if you’d do me a solid and click on them often, I’d appreciate it. The more clicks I get, the more money I get, the better I can support myself, and the more reviews I can write. So bookmark the above site, people. I’m gonna start posting any movie tidbit I can get my hot little hands on.

Ben Stiller. Robin Williams. Owen Wilson. Amy Adams. Ricky Gervais. Christopher Guest. Eugene Levy. Hank Azaria. Steve Coogan. Bill Hader. Jay Baruchel. THREE cast members of The Office (Ed Helms, Mindy Kaling, Craig Robinson). Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. There are a LOT of funny people in this movie—so many that the film couldn’t possibly live up to the humor potential provided by the cast. Yet despite the workman-like directing and the typical shortcomings of the manic live-action PG-rated kiddie film, this sequel is a fun improvement over the first and even dabbles in being (gasp!) really clever at times.

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is no longer the night guard at the Museum of Natural History—he’s the CEO of Daley Devices, fully living out his dream of being an inventor. He goes back for a trip down memory lane to the old stomping ground to discover his friends are all (conveniently for the plot) being shipped away to be stored in the Federal Archives in D.C., never to come to life again. He gets a phone call the next day from miniature cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson), who said the monkey stole the magic tablet that brings them to life, and a pharaoh in the Federal Archives has come to life and is threatening them all. Don’t think about questions like, “There’s a phone inside a storage bin in the Federal Archives?” and “How did that little man know Larry’s home phone number, much less lift the receiver and dial the buttons?” Jedediah even says something along the lines of, “Don’t worry about that, there’s no time to explain,” which serves as the mantra of the film’s logic.

The villain is Kahmunrah, played by Hank Azaria with a lisping Boris Karloff voice and appropriate levels of scenery-chewing. He needs the tablet to bring his army back from the underworld… or something. He recruits villainous figures such as Napoleon, Al Capone, and Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest, who delivers his limited lines with trademark dryness). Meanwhile, Daley is assisted by Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), who cracks wise like the heroine of a 1930s screwball comedy. Everyone from the previous film makes an appearance, including my girlfriend’s favorite, the Easter Island head with the voice of Brad Garrett– an inspired choice. All of the casting is inspired, really, including the welcome addition of the always-hilarious Bill Hader as General Custer.

Shawn Levy directs this film with the mentality of “We’ll throw as much as we can at the screen and see what sticks.” When the bits are inspired, they actually verge on being admirably clever, such as when Stiller and Adams are being chased by Kahmunrah’s lackeys and they avoid capture by jumping into the famous WWII photo of the sailor kiss. Many other paintings are glimpsed for a second, and I wish we could have used more of those gags. Also, Stiller is great at allowing the other actors to do extended riffs with him, being the good sport straight man to Azaria’s Kahmunrah and Jonah Hill’s Smithsonian guard in two of the funniest scenes in the film. Finally, the take the film has on Amelia Earhart is delightful, giving Stiller a good counterpart to play off of throughout the film– the last film suffered because it was all Stiller’s straight man, all the time. Here, Amy Adams uses her trademark sunniness to great effect, spitting out dialogue directing out of the Hepburn-Tracy era, leaving Stiller befuddled and taken aback by her, to use her character’s word, moxie.

Yet Levy lets some of his bits go way too far. Three cherubs noting that Stiller had his hand on Adams’ shoulder singing “More Than A Woman” is funny. When the cherubs go on to sing a hip-hop version of the song, looking conspicuously like the Jonas Brothers, and Stiller tells them to shut up for thirty seconds, it’s not funny. Same goes for the Einstein bobbleheads (voiced by Eugene Levy), who says, “That’s the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it,” and you pray they don’t all begin singing the song, but of course they do. (Sidenote: Why is it the anachronisms of this film are illogical without bothering me, but listening to Einstein sing KC and the Sunshine Band just seems WRONG?) Also, if the first film’s lack of caring about tying up loose ends bothers you, just wait until the end of this film, which couldn’t make less sense or be more unresolved– not in sense of the characters, who all get their issues settled, but in terms of the mayhem and mess they’ve created, which is ignored and never discussed. How D.C. would deal with the total destruction of several of its museums could be funny, if handled with the intelligence that this film only wants to exercise in spurts.

In the end, this movie is fine, with many laughs and plenty of diversion for kids who enjoyed the first– indeed, it’s definitely better the first. Amy Adams’ presence alone ensures that. I could see this series becoming the new Cannonball Run. We’ve already seen that every comedian working is willing to get in on the fun, and certainly they must be fun films to shoot, since everyone seems to be having a great time. Night at the Museum: Return to the Archives could be a lot of fun. Look, Steve Martin as George Washington! Jim Carrey as Bismarck! Look at all the comedians playing historical figures! Sure, watching all of the names mentioned in the first paragraph eating dinner together and chatting would almost definitely be much funnier than this film was at the end of the day. However, until someone shoots that dinner and puts it on screen, this series will have to do. Hopefully the third film can focus more on the wit and ease up on the mania.

So within the last two weeks, I’ve had to deal with both the opening and closing of the production of David Mamet’s Oleanna I directed at Duke, the auditions and casting of the production of Footloose I am directing, and the death of my beloved pet guinea pig, Obediah. Needless to say, I haven’t had time to write much. However, this week, I will return with many reviews, including reviews I’ve been needing to write of Valkyrie and Waltz With Bashir. I’ll also comment on Oscar nominations and make the list of nominees if I had been the one doing the choosing. Finally, I’ll get up to speed with current movies, including the recent Kevin James hit Paul Blart: Mall Cop and the upcoming Henry Selick 3-D stop motion flick, Coraline. 

Thanks everyone, and keep checking in for regular updates!

Russell

Here are the things that you’ll (hopefully) notice on The Password Is Swordfish in the year 2009.

1. More frequent updates. I can’t expect you, the faithful reader, to come to the site on a regular basis unless I provide something frequently for you to read. 

2. More special articles. I’m going to pursue a couple of ambitious endeavors this year. Here are some articles I have planned:

     a. “Watching Ebert”: I’ve just finished reading “Roger Ebert’s 4 Star Reviews” and I’m planning on seeing as many of those films as I can in a timely manner, and sharing my opinions. They’re all films post-1967, but contemporary film is my specialty anyhow. 

     b. “Overrated”: I’m sure you have felt while watching a critically acclaimed film that you were betrayed by the critics you trusted, and the film you’re watching is subpar at best and a load of pretentious tripe at worst. I’m going to bite the bullet and watch (or rewatch) some of these overrated films and break down why they suck and theorize why the critics dove in headfirst.

     c. “Catching Up With the Classics”: As a young film critic who didn’t major in film or go to graduate school in film (theater and theater history, respectively), this will give me a chance to watch some of the older films that the average joe might have forgotten about. If you’re someone who hates the idea of a black and white film, be sure to read these… you may be surprised that the old flicks are just as good (often better) than the new.

     d. “Netflix Recommendation”: This is for those films that aren’t old classics or Ebert 4-star specials, yet I feel deserve some mention. 

3. More essays/commentaries on news pertaining to film. I always keep up with what’s going on in the world of film, and if I’m not blogging what I think about it, then what good is keeping up?

4. More interaction with those who comment! I encourage those of you who read the site to please leave your opinions, or just chat movies with me… I’m more than open to get into it with anyone willing to take the time to talk film with a fellow nerd.

 From my Hawaiian vacation, I bid you a fond Haoli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year), and be on the lookout for my year-end lists and my Oscar predictions.

Russell

Congratulations to America. May we all look forward without cynicism, and may those who hate Obama let go of fear and embrace the hope for a positive change in this country.

After a short hiatus due to the stresses of finding a new job and moving into a new apartment, I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be returning to regular updates immediately. I’ll try and write on everything I’ve seen in the interim, before then attempting to stay regular with the new releases.

Thanks, and be sure to keep checking in!

Russell