Sunday Short Reviews

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Every Sunday, Gill delves into his archive of over 800 movie reviews and randomly selects three for your enjoyment! Here are this week’s…

Adventureland
Those expecting the vulgar humour and slapstick comedy of Greg Mottola’s last movie Superbad may be disappointed, as Adventureland is far more bittersweet and heartfelt than Superbad. That’s not to say that Adventureland isn’t funny – it’s very funny, with a good number of laugh-out-loud moments – but the film is far more concerned with slice of life comedy than falling-on-your-ass comedy. Featuring a great 80s soundtrack and good performances from its stars young and old, Adventureland is a nice little piece of nostalgia, and reminded me of my high school summer excursions to the local fairgrounds, winning crappy prizes, eating terrible food, and having the time of my life.
4 out of 5

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The Wolverine movie is alright, although it suffers from George Lucas prequel-itis. In other words, you can tell that by the end of the film the writers were scrambling to make everything fit with the continuity of the other movies in the franchise. I’m sorry, but *SPOILER ALERT* an adamantium bullet erasing Wolverine’s memory just doesn’t make sense in my books. They also managed to ruin Deadpool, who’s getting his own movie anyway, apparently, and they turned the ragin’ Cajun named Gambit into a pimp. These complaints aside, Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber are great as always, and Dominic Monaghan puts in a good performance as a criminally underused character who, in my opinion, is the best part of the movie. If you like the other X-Men movies, you’ll probably find something to like about this one, but it’s a serious step down from the Bryan Singer entries in the franchise.
3 out of 5

The Fisher King
A strange and unusual film, as all Terry Gilliam movies are, The Fisher King is nowhere near Gilliam’s best work. It is, however, a sweet and sad story with a surprisingly upbeat ending. Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges are both excellent here, and there are some great trademark Gilliam moments (such as the red knight and the sudden waltzing scene in Grand Central Station). My only complaint is that there weren’t nearly enough of these quirky moments, and thus the movie never seems to realize its true potential.
3 out of 5

See you next Sunday for three more thrilling short reviews!

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