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Zack and Miri Make a Porno , a review by Dragonfire

Zack and Miri Make a Porno



Get ready for the wild comedy that goes where no movie has dared go before! Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express) and Elizabeth Banks (Role Models) star as two cash-strapped roommates who try to get out of debt by making an adult film. Once the cameras start rolling, things quickly get complicated...and hilarious! Writer/Director Kevin Smith is at his funniest, backed by a motley cast, including Craig Robinson ("The Office"), Jason Mewes (Clerks films), Justin Long (Live Free or Die Hard), and Brandon Routh (Superman Returns). Critics promise, "If you liked The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Superbad, you'll love Zack and Miri" (Shawn Edwards, Fox-TV).

My Thoughts

This is another one that won't appeal to some people because of the subject.  This isn't an actual porn movie..it is just a movie about some people who decide to make a porn.  There aren't a lot of sex scenes, though one of them is a bit more explicit.  It makes sense for that sort of scene, along with nudity, to be in the movie given what the plot is.  One other sex scene that is more important ends up without any nudity, which does seem slightly odd given that the characters are supposed to be making a porn movie to make money.  I don't know a lot about porn, but nudity seems to be a bit selling point.  Anyway, the sexual content isn't really that extreme and there is less nudity and fewer sex scenes than I expected considering what is going on.

There are a lot of funny moments throughout the movie.  Some of the humor is sexual in nature and other stuff is more crude or even gross.  The humor works well for the most part, though a few things were probably intended to be funny that weren't.  There is one really, really gross moment at one point that I could have done without seeing, though it is sort of funny in a very twisted way.  A lot of the humor is silly, which might disappoint some people.

The plot is fairly simple and straight forward.  A lot of people have money problems, especially lately in this country, so I think it makes sense that Zack and Miri would be willing to go to extreme measures in an attempt to pay their bills.  Time is taken to set up the problem and show how bad it is once their water and electric are turned off.  Miri does need to be convinced, but it isn't long before they start planning to make their movie.  Just about everything that happens is predictable, though there are a few minor surprises.  Even though the plot isn't that complicated, it is still interesting and entertaining.

The characters are nice enough, though they do have some issues.  Seth Rogen is fine as Zack, though the character does seem to be a lot like other characters he's played.  Miri is nice and likable and she does seem to be a bit more responsible than Zack.  Elizabeth Banks does well with the part. Stacy, Lester, Bubbles, and Barry are people hired to act in the movie and they all add something to it.  There isn't a lot of development for them, but they are interesting characters.

The two disc DVD has all sorts of extras.  There are at least an hour of deleted scenes - I lost track when watching them.  Some are slightly different versions of the ones in the movie.  Some of them didn't add a lot to the movie, so I can see why they were cut.  I do think the parts having Zack fight with the car door are really funny though.  The featurette on the making of the movie is really well done and interesting.  It is one of the more detailed making of featurettes that I've seen.  The webisodes are also entertaining and worth watching.  The extras are really interesting and entertaining and worth watching.

I really enjoyed this one overall.  Yes it is raunchy and crude at times, but it works as an entertaining movie.  I liked this one more than Knocked Up.  I'm getting a bit tired of Apatow's movies.  While they are some similarities in this one, something about it makes it better overall I think.



I did get a review posted on Epinions if anyone wants to take a look.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

(From Dragonfire88's Alphabet Marathon on August 1st, 2010)

Lifeboat, a review by Jon

Lifeboat (1943)
5 out of 5



After their ship is torpedoed, a mixed group of shipwrecked survivors are brought together in one lifeboat. Perhaps more than physically, their beliefs and morals are tested while they hold out for rescue.

After Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock must have felt like a challenge! Working from a short story written for him by John Steinbeck, he seems to back himself into a corner (of a small boat) just to see if he can get out again.

Released in 1943, there is no escaping an air of propaganda in a story about survivors of a German attack, who go on to rescue one of the U-boat crew, but that doesn’t stop it being audacious, balanced and challenging. It’s a morality tale, a deconstruction of humanity. The survivors have one of the enemy in their midst, but he’s also a human being and the most able and experienced seaman who could get them organised to survive the ordeal, but is he plotting against them and can they afford to question his motives?

And they certainly need organising! In what would now be a cliché, the group is of mixed backgrounds, class and beliefs that force them apart. I’m not sure if Hitch created the cliché as I said before in The Lady Vanishes, but he probably created the template of the disaster movie here. Yet don’t dismiss this as over familiar, because it’s anything but. Hitchcock is a genius in how he choreographs and meshes the characters together beautifully.

It’s never boring, which it easily could have been, in fact it’s sometimes laugh out loud funny and there’s a rather grimy scene toward the end, part horror, part farce that may make your jaw drop! There’s little action apart from the last moments where the rickety craft is caught right in the middle of another attack, but I was always engrossed and loved the atmosphere he created of a small boat in a big sea. A parable for the war, maybe, but Cast Away touched on that same mood.

All the cast are excellent, especially Tallulah Bankhead as the over-privileged one who likes a bit of rough (John Hodiak in particular) and has managed to rescue all her luxuries, which she will steadily lose to hilarious effect! It really is an outstanding performance. Bit Bette Davis. Nice to see Heather Angel (the maid in Suspicion) making the most of a small role in a devastating performance as a grieving mother, and Hume Cronyn in his second Hitchcock picture, despite a dodgy accent. Walter Slezak is perfect as Willy, the German, and such a key part.

My favourite moment though belongs to Joe (Canada Lee), a reformed thief, when he eloquently recites the Lord’s Prayer. It’s a perfect example of the composition I spoke of earlier, and the switch between moods.

Highly recommended. It’s a successful experiment that uses its limitations as strengths. Perhaps if all directors imagined they were trapped in a much smaller set, we’d have much higher standards. I think I see a lot of Spielberg’s style in here actually; the very close camera work and smooth movement between characters, talking over one another, but still with an impeccable sense of detail.

It’s nteresting that I considered describing the Connie character as “all fur coat and no knickers”. I wonder if that expression was inspired by this character, because apparently, Tallulah did in fact have no underwear on! Filthy mare. Hitchcock said, "I don't know if this is a matter for the costume department, makeup, or hairdressing."

 


(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on June 4th, 2009)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: SG-11 mines an ore called Trinium. This ore is especially hard and SGC wants to use it for armor plates and other things. One week SG-11 doesn't call in as planned and SG-1 goes to the planet. There they meet a tribe that descends from native americans and their "spirits" who protect the tribe.

My Opinion: What I like most about Jack are his high moral standards. He has no problem with confronting his superiors when he thinks that something is morally wrong. In this episode he draws parallels to the colonization of the american continent, especially the dealings with the indians.

Synopsis: SG-1 returns to a planet where they wish to examine a wheather control system. But it was stolen and thiefs seem to have come from the SGC (Stargate Command). As it soon turns out, these people didn't come through the gate in Cheyenne Mountain.

My Opinion: This was an indirect continuation of the previous episode. Was the device stolen by someone under the order of SGC? The peek into Area 51 was also very interesting. But in general this episode was an average one.

Synopsis: Sg-10 didn't make it back through the Stargate. When a connection from Earth is opened it can't be closed anymore. One of the two suns of that system has recently collapsed and was transformed into a black hole. Through the open wormhole SGC and Earth are also effected by it.

My Opinion: Whether or not this episode made sense from an astronomical POV doesn't matter to me. It was very exciting, especially with the several lapses of time within the base and beyond. I liked it a lot.

Synopsis: On a remote planet the Stargate seems to be enclosed in a room with no exit. But there is a ring of text written in the same language that was found on Ernest's planet (The Torment of Tantalus). Jack accidentally activates a machine that downloads all the knowledge of the Ancients - one of the four old races - into Jack's brain. And that has unexpected side effects.

My Opinion: I love episodes where the actors are condemned to silence because their character has lost the ability express himself/herself. It's funny to see the desperation on their faces.
The scene at the end where the Asgard and O'Neill shake hands strongly reminded me of E.T. with Jack obviously being Elliot.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on March 7th, 2008)