Paramount Pictures | USA | 104 mins

Romantic comedies, of the R-rated raunchy varietal, are nearly a dime a dozen these days. The hero comes in with some handicap that increases the difficulty of capturing the eye of the heroine and we watch as the R-rated don’t-watch-this-with-your-grandmother jokes walk us hand in hand towards the inevitable outcome — the girl finally discovers “it” in the guy. While the underdog “she is too good for me” trope is unfortunately one of the few, and I mean few, possible plot scenarios for these types of films, She’s Out of My League takes the standard recipe and reverses it. The guy, who is clearly a “hard 5”, is being chased by the girl who is clearly a “hard 10.” The final product is what was advertised as a forgettable check-the-box romantic date movie bringing the audience consistent laughs, a sweet and unexpected sentimentality along with fresh new faces to break up the monotony of the increasingly stale raunch comedy genre.

The charm of the film is held single-handedly by leading role underachiever and underdog hero Kirk, played by Jay Baruchel (Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder) in what is more than likely his most gawky role to date. Kirk comes complete with the crew of friends consisting of all of the stereotypical male personalities to evenly round out the group. Kirk has come to terms with the constant deprecating jokes from his friends, his less than glamorous job as a TSA agent at the airport and his far from satisfying life. Acceptance is key in the reality of mediocrity and Kirk had no allusions of stepping outside of his caste. Until Molly, played by Alice Eve, stumbles into Kirk’s security line and finds herself going after the “safe bet.” Deciding to go after a guy “like Kirk,” that would be less likely to break her heart, she breaks Kirk out of the “no way can a 5 date a 10,” ramblings of his friends and bumps him up to the big league.

There are no names that will really stick out to the average movie-goer on the filmmaking team with a British director (Jim Field Smith) and the relatively unknown screenwriters of 2008’s Sex Drive and the upcoming Hot Tub Time Machine, Sean Anders and John Morris. The names may be relatively unknown, but are welcomed additions to the relatively shallow talent pool of successful male comedy filmmakers.

She’s Out of My League has some great laugh out loud moments and a really unexpected sweetness and heart to the story, but none of these positive remarks would have been possible without the charming awkwardness of Baruchel. His awkward mannerisms and convincing sentimentality along with the screenplay’s ability to allow him to usher the film along with genuine heartfelt moments in between the F-words and penis jokes easily sets this film above of its peers. Maybe not that classic R-rated romantic comedy that you will pop into the DVD player every time you get drunk, but still a hilarious and touching effort worth checking out.

8 out of 10

Did you check out She’s Out Of My League this weekend?

CJ Entertainment | South Korea | 128 mins

[reposted from Hawaii International Film Festival]

The mother is the origin of all life in this world. The single point of love, passion and life from which all things can be traced back to. Our gatekeepers, guardians and guides throughout life, the mother is there whether we want them to be or not. They stand by their children regardless of fallacy or folly ready to fight to the death for the sparks of life they ushered into this existence. Bong Joon-Ho paints the story of a widowed mother and her emotionally and intelligently inept child with vivacious fervor and visceral emotion that solidly displays the immutable bond of a mother and child. How far will a mother go for the protection of her child? What sins can be committed to guard her child from harm? Bong Joon-Ho pushes the audience to the edge of this question. Read the full story

Jon Favreau (@Jon_Favreau) and Paramount Pictures/Marvel Entertainment have finally premiered the second trailer to the wildly successful comic book franchise Iron Man 2 on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show after the Academy Awards tonight. The trailer shows extended versions of cuts already released including some great footage of Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

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Critically acclaimed prison drama A Prophet (Un Prophète) by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard swept the 35th annual César awards, France’s equivalent to the Academy Awards, this Saturday by taking home nine awards. Awards received included all the major categories including French film of the year, best director and best actor. Winning nine awards puts Prophet in position as the second most winning film in the history of The César awards behind tied for first place The Last Metro (1980) and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) with 10 wins each.

Prophet was nominated in 13 categories in The Césars and has won in addition to the nine César awards, the 2009 BAFTA award for foreign film, the Grand Prix at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival as well as many other smaller film and critic association awards worldwide. Prophet is nominated for The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as well. However, along side Prophet is Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon which beat out Prophet at The Cannes Film Festival for the Palme d’Or and won the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

While by the sheer number of awards Prophet has accumulated worldwide it may seem natural that it is a solid choice for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, traditionally The Academy does not strictly follow trends of the festival circuits and other national awards around the world in their decision on a winner for this category.

Prophet leading star and winner of Best Actor César and Best Newcomer César, Tahir Rahim said, “Long live French cinema,” during his acceptance speech for his second award. It is clear with truly great films like A Prophet that French cinema is alive and well and we can only hope that The Academy recognizes A Prophet as the incredible filmmaking achievement that it is as well as take note of the global recognition it has received when making their decision for a winner.

Source: THR

Universal Pictures is determined to blow your mind, as well as beat the Fast and Furious cash cow to death, with a fifth mistake installment of the Fast and Furious franchise. Brace yourself for the title: Fast Five.

All of the key players including Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are returning to get sweaty, drive fast cars and steal your theater money for a 5th time. This time our heroes being fugitives from the law — a real curve ball I know.

The previous chapter, Fast & Furious, was released in the first week of April in 2009 along side indie favorite Adventureland and it steam rolled the mainstream box office market ultimately returning $350 million worldwide for the film.

It will more than likely be moderately entertaining on a blockbuster quality level and will definitely rake in some cash for Universal, but doesn’t it seem like five films is a little much though? This is obviously a money based project decision, and those kind of decisions rarely turn out well.

Production will begin later in 2010 with a release slated for 2011.

Can you sit through another Fast and the Furious movie? Can you sit through Fast Five?

Source: Variety

When the first trailer was released online, She’s Out of My League seemed like your standard cheesy romantic comedy — hitting all of the too familiar notes we expect from this mass produced canned genre. However, Paramount has just released the red band trailer for the film and it is a far different, and much funnier, animal than its PG-13 predecessor.

Watch the trailer below: Read the full story

A large batch of new photos from the set of Nimród Antal’s Predators has been leaked this morning at the AVP Galaxy Forum. Predators has been filming in Hawaii and Austin, Texas, at Troublemaker Studios since October of 2009. Keep in mind the pictures were leaked and not officially released by Twentieth Century Fox so they could be pulled at any time. Check out the photos after the jump.

Predators will be hitting screens in the US on July 7th.

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Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic Kick-Ass will have its official premier at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival. The Lionsgate distributed film had a very good reception at a secret screening in December as part of the twenty-four hour line-up for Butt-num-a-thon.

Kick-Ass gives us a comic-book fanboy, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), who is tired of sitting on the sidelines and watching the crime get worse and worse. He decides to take his superhero obsession and transform himself into a crime fighting Kick-ass superhero — you don’t need super powers to kick someone’s ass. Along the way he meets other teenagers who were inspired by his example; forming an alliance to take care of the local mob boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong). They prove that sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands and as one poster for the film said, “I can’t fly, but I can kick your ass.”

Kick-Ass opens nationwide on April 16, 2010, and is guaranteed to be a major hit with the superhero genre crowd. Check out the trailer here.

The complete line-up for SXSW will be released in February, but the following films have been announced today in addition to the opening night film:

Cold Weather – SXSW Alum Aaron Katz directs this feature about a former forensic science major and avid reader of detective fiction, who, after making a mess of his life in Chicago, returns to his hometown of Portland, Oregon. There, he, his sister Gail, and new friend Carlos become embroiled in something unexpected.

Elektra Luxx – Following the successful world premiere of Women In Trouble at SXSW 2009, writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez returns with the world premiere of its hotly anticipated sequel. The film follows a hectic day in the life of former adult film superstar Elektra Luxx as she tries to survive in the straight world. The film stars Carla Gugino in the title role, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Timothy Olyphant, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Malin Akerman.

Hubble 3D – SXSW will present the first public screening of Hubble 3D at the Bob Bullock IMAX® Theater. Through the power of IMAX® 3D, Hubble 3D will enable movie-goers to journey through distant galaxies to explore the grandeur and mysteries of our celestial surroundings, and accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult and important tasks in NASA’s history. The film is directed and produced by Toni Myers.

Lemmy – A documentary from director Wes Orshoski, the film delves into the personal and public lives of heavy metal icon and Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. Nearly three years in the making, and featuring appearances by such friends/peers as Metallica, Dave Grohl, Billy Bob Thornton and pro wrestler Triple H, the film follows Kilmister from his Hollywood bedroom to the hockey arenas of Scandinavia and Russia.

SATURDAY NIGHT – Directed by actor James Franco, the documentary looks at what it takes to create an episode of the legendary comedy show, Saturday Night Live. Follow behind the scenes as the actors, writers and producers go through one frenetic week of trials and tribulations as each volley to get sketches on air.

Are you saving for a film badge for SXSW now?

After developing a list of thirty incredible films from 2009 that I enjoyed more than the rest, I was forced to choose only fifteen of those to call my “favorite films” of 2009. Like choosing fifteen orphans to take home and love and fifteen orphans to march off a cliff, I begrudgingly chose my fifteen favorite films of 2009. Staring at the list for what seemed like hours on end I ultimately decided to stop even trying to make a “final” decision and stick with my gut. Even if my gut immediately disagrees with my brain and vice-versa. As painful as it was to decide on these films and leave out so many other great ones, whether you agree with what is on my list or the order of my list is really not too important. What is important is that you see these films. 2009 was a great year for cinema. To only see the large films that had the budget to saturate your daily dose of advertising mania, no matter how great those films may be, would be a shame. 2009 proved the art of cinema is still alive and well, and we shouldn’t take it for granted. Don’t take my word for it — go see these films. You may not love them as much as I did, but joining in on the discussion, whether for or against, is all that really matters. So without further avoidance of the inevitable, This is my fifteen favorite films of 2009. I really enjoyed them and I hope you do too. Read the full story

Posters have a lot of influential power over the average movie-goer. They may seem like an auxiliary and irrelevant component of the film industry, but they are there to sell tickets and they have much more power than you may have ever thought about. While of course we all follow the film world closely and know what is good and what is not before we head to the theater, a large portion of the general public goes to the theater and chooses what movies they are going to see based on the posters themselves. A film with a great poster will definitely pull in more tickets than a film with a bad poster. Surely you’ve found yourself walking past a row of posters and one catches your eye and you just stop immediately and stare at it. These are the kind of posters that effectively draw in audiences.

A good poster designer will put subtle hints to the tone or theme of the movie in the poster. The kind of thing that will give audiences that ‘A-Ha!’ moment after they watch it instead of just an image of an actor and the title. 2009 was a really great year for posters and we’ve gathered what we think are the top 15 posters of the year. Let us know your favorites or your own picks in the comments!

Note: The posters are not ranked and are in no particular order. If we have a review for the film, clicking the title of the film will open the review in a new window.

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