On Friday I wanted to go to the movies, so I called my friend to go with me. See, my friend and I both wanted to go to the movies. I am a huge Apatow fan so of course I wanted to see “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”. But My friend is a huge fan of Jackie Chan and Jet Li and “The Forbidden Kingdom” movie, to him, was the equivalent of an hour and a half long orgasm. And when that orgasm is done, the tip of his penis would be very very VERY sensitive. So we compromised: we would catch “The Forbidden Kingdom” at 7:15 pm, and then catch “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” at 9:45 pm. It turned out to be a hell of a night at the movies.
3.5 out of 5
Going into “The Forbidden Kingdom” I was a little skeptical at how much I would enjoy the film. Before going to the movie I checked Rotten Tomatoes and it had a 65%, which means if worst comes to worst it can still be more good than not. My experience with Jackie Chan is mostly from the “Rush Hour” movies. I can’t say I’ve seen or remember having seen any other of his movies. So going in to this movie it was safe to say that I was keeping an open mind, as I had not seen him in any movies of this type where he is really in his arena. The only Jet Li movie I have seen is Kiss of The Dragon and I guess I enjoyed that.
The movie starts off with an American teenager living in Boston. You start off finding out he is a big Kung-Fu fan by movie posters and his visit to a Chinese shop. The movie spends little time concentrating on this teenager in Boston and gets right to the point of where he gets sent back in time which I found to be a good thing. The mythology to the story was pretty cool, it included this warrior named The King Monkey and his staff and a prophecy of a traveler who would bring it back to him. When Jet Li and Jackie Chan first meet they have a cool fight scene. I am no kung-fu movie expert so I can’t get technical, but I can say that the moves were awesome and the way the scene, and all other fight scenes, were shot was great.
The biggest thing that stuck out to me was how much better I like Jackie Chan in this type of movie than any of his other types of roles such as Rush Hour or any other “Chinese guy in America” roles that get overused. He just fit so perfectly in this role as a drunken fighter from ancient China, and it was pretty refreshing to see him in that role.
The problems with the film were not as standout as the good things about the film. There was some cheesy dialogue here and there. The one part I disliked most was the group of kids that the American teenager had to face. That situation has been played out so many times that it was so predicable what would happen in the end within the first five minutes of the movie. And, of course, the end of the movie (not a spoiler) could not be complete without a Chinese man saying an American saying in his funny “ching chao cho” accent.
“The Forbidden Kingdom” was a very entertaining film overall. It is worth heading out to the big screen for a fun time at the movies.
After getting out of “The Forbidden Kingdom” my friend and I had about 45 minutes to spare. I ran to the snack stand and grabbed a pretzel and a soda and then waited for the movie to begin. This was REALLY the movie I came to see:
4.5 out of 5
There was no doubt that I was pumped for this flick. I mean it’s got Judd Apatow’s name attached to it so it’s bound to be comedy gold. Oh yeah, there was that one movie we shall not mention coughDrillbit Taylorcough, but other than that he’s put out some awesome stuff. I also loved Jason Segel in “Knocked Up” so I was looking forward to seeing how this guy did with writing his own flick. I was also prepared for disappointment for some reason, and now that I have seen “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” I want to kick my own ass for thinking such a thing.
Right from the start of this film when Segel’s character, Peter, shakes his wiener at his girlfriend Sarah and it makes the smacking noises as it hits his legs, I knew this movie was going to fucking rule the rest of my night. Then immediately after that came the full frontal nudity shot of Segel and that somehow kept me laughing. This film just kept going and going and didn’t stop. The first thing I thought about while watching this is, just like “Superbad”, this movie makes you laugh every thirty seconds.
I never thought I would get so much enjoyment out of a man being so sad. Segel did an amazing job at not getting too old with the sad thing, he was pretty much crying or frowning through 2/3rds of the flick. I believe this man should win an Oscar for such a performance and be the first man in comedy to win at the Oscars.
Another awesome character was the new British pop-star boyfriend of Sarah Marshall’s. He just had such a funny way of thinking, at times you mostly hated him but then there were parts where you loved the guy. His goal as he said was to just have sex with everyone and anyone he wanted, and the short sex scene with him and Kristen Bell(HOT!) was hilarious AND hot.
This movie made me laugh so much that, even if there were any, I can’t recall anything bad about the movie. I am not calling this a perfect movie, but there is no denying it is funny as fucking fuck. One of my favorite parts is the whole Dracula Rock Opera that Segel’s character was working on. When he performs that song it is the funniest thing I have ever heard. Not only is it hilarious, because he is singing it with a Dracula accent, but the words are actually GOOD. In context, and I believe he actually says that in the movie, it makes great sense. What’s even better is that Segel actually wrote those songs, including that of Marshall’s pop-star boyfriend “I Want to Be Inside You”.
There was also characters for most of the normal Apatow bunch that appear in his movies. Joe Rudd played a stoned out surfer who just was so burnt out. Jonah Hill was a host at a Hotel Restaurant and was funny as usual as the obsessed fan of Marshall’s pop-star boyfriend. Bill Hader, one of my favorite people, played Peter’s brother in law and his sort-of emotional guide. Mila Kunis was a new add to the bunch and her character was the overly tan love interest of Segel’s character.
There is no reason at ALL why you should not go see this movie. There is no doubt that you will laugh your ass off the whole time. Go…NOW!
