Archive for June, 2008
Zohan is an Israeli counterterrorist soldier and darn good at his job (as well as pleasing the ladies), but has a dream of becoming a hairstylist in New York, even working at the Paul Mitchell Salon. Faking his own death, he sneaks into America and finds out that materializing his dream job is a little more difficult than beating up terrorists.
You don’t mess with the Zohan was a pretty good movie. It induced a copious amount of laughter from my friend and I, as well as the other viewers in the theater. It’s not necessarily a must-see movie, but if you’re wanting to watch a movie out, I’d recommend it.
Most of the comedy range from dumb humor (for example, that slo-mo flying kick you see in the trailer) to sexual jokes (things like hidden nudity scenes akin to Austin Powers), but no matter as most are appreciably funny. And of course, there are some jewels that come out from left field and cause an uproar of laughter. “Teh funneh” is in no short supply.
It’s amusing to note that there are real life people that Adam Sandler took inspiration from for his role. Three brothers (Nezi, Shaoul and Shalom Arbib) are former Israeli soldiers and have become hairstylists in California.
If you can appreciate the humor, there really isn’t any drawbacks to the movie. However, if you’re looking for intelligent comedy, you won’t find much of it in You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.
If I had to sum up The Incredible Hulk in one word, it would have to be “action.” There seemed to be nonstop conflict in the movie, whether it was from locals in Brazil hating on Bruce Banner or armed forces trying to take down the Hulk. I don’t recall there ever being a dull moment where I was left thinking, “What’s next?” However, it wasn’t on-the-edge action, it was just palpable; stuff you’d expect to see in any superhero movie.
The CG was impressive, much like the previous Hulk. What I enjoyed about this “reset” though was the fact they didn’t blow the mutation out of proportion. They kept it as real as you could expect from such a concept. And honestly, it seemed that the CG and action was what really kept this movie together, with the acting being a bit on the lower threshold.
Edward Norton did a good job as Bruce Banner, but I think Eric Bana did better. Edward Norton’s physique in the movie really accentuated the colossal difference in relation to the Hulk and he did pass of as a nerdy scientist, but it just didn’t feel right. Liv Tyler, as much as I think she’s hot, just didn’t fit as Betty Ross. I kept thinking, “Arwen.” Of course, the previous Betty was Jennifer Connelly and she’s my all time favorite actress, so perhaps I’m just being biased. The actor, William Hurt, playing General Ross did very well coming off as a jerk and Tim Roth did a great job as the main antagonist, Blonksy. But I’m thinking, take this movie’s CG and storyline and the previous movie’s actors and you’ll get something superior.
I also appreciated some of the comedy elements in the movie, particularly a scene at the tail end. All in all, I’d say The Incredible Hulk was a 6 or 7. It’s worthy of a rental and I’d even bump it up to matinee level, just because any action film is best seen on a huge screen with loud speakers.
This is pretty easy and I don’t know why I never thought about it before, but I just added Twitter and Brightkite SMS numbers (40404 and 80289 respectively) to my contacts on my iPhone so whenever a new message comes in, it’ll label as the name and not the number. I never really thought about doing that until I had a momentary lapse in recognizing Brightkite’s SMS number.
Losing myself in Metal Gear Solid 4. Going through my second playthrough. More info to come later as I’d hate to spoil things for people who have yet to beat or buy the game.
A few days ago, I was at the conbini near work to get a bottle of Hawaiian Punch and succumbed to an impulse buy of a pack of 5 gum. I’m not usually a gum chewer as I rather prefer hard candy to crunch on. However, I figured I’d give this snazzy packaged pieces of chewable rubber a try. The flavor I picked up? Cobalt (spearmint). Mainly because it was blue, but anyway! So, I liked it; reminded me of Wrigley’s Double Mint gum and of course, the gum is manufactured by them. This is about as close to fashion consumables as I’ll probably ever get. Unlike those across the pond.
