17 Again Review

17 Again

Starring Matthew Perry, Zac Efron, Leslie Mann

New Line Cinema

Zac Efron returns to high school to shoot some hoops, hook up with some ladies (or just one), and maybe even dance. Yep, it's High School Musical once again, ladies and gentlemen.

Wait. This isn't it.

What I meant to say was that in Zac Efron's efforts to break out of his High School Musical persona, he picked a starring vehicle that lets him distance himself so people can take him seriously. Apparently, his recent movie 17 Again fits that criteria, and in this movie, he plays a basketball playing high-school heartthrob that can... dance...

Hmm...

Am I reading the wrong synopses?

Well, I guess not since this is exactly what his character Mike O' Donnell is capable of. During high school, he was a jock who knocked up a girl named Scarlett. He had to choose between a scholarship, and the baby. He chose the latter. 20 years later, Matthew Perry takes over the role for a while and the couple decides to have a divorce. A janitor from his old school, however, transforms him back into Zac Efron. Now, I leave you to fill in the gaps.

You've seen this movie before. The inverse of this is quite practically 13 Going On 30 and hey, it draws some inspiration (from what I see) from Freaky Friday as well. Now that you have an impression of what to expect, it's hard to make a review that doesn't state the obvious. Fortunately, the movie at least tries a bit to shake things up-- not that there isn't anything particularly unique regardless-- and the "twists" somewhat end up annoying. The Ned character is probably drawn from Superbad's McLovin' character-- basically, the nerd who gets lucky-- and while he does have some funny parts, his sub-plot doesn't do much to make the movie any more different. And how about that air of self-consciousness? It's actually not as funny as you'd expect, because it becomes annoying in the sense that you just know that they'd fall for the cliches anyway.

The biggest problem of all is that they try to attempt the way Judd Apatow does awkward scenes-- and for that matter, silences. When used correctly, they can become rather funny, but here, it's just plain awkward. Hell, there are probably other awkward scenes that weren't meant to be awkward at all! Just take my word when I say that seriously, there's a lot of incest here.

Despite my bitching, I can still say that 17 Again is still a pretty entertaining film, if not a bit cliche-ridden and fluffy as hell. The actors do a pretty good job, and the ladies are probably gonna watch this whether the guys like it or not because of Zac Efron's money-making machine (READ: repeated scenes of the his washboard abs). It's an ok film.

Rating: 6.5/10

Movies Opening This Week: 37 Going on 17 Edition

Before I get going with this, I just have to tell you this bit of news: Dragonball Evolution is already getting a sequel.

So now that you've become traumatized yet again, I don't think I'll even have the heart to spitefully put really bad movies here for now. That's why I'm starting out with:

Slumdog Millionaire

In America, it's ancient. But in the Philippines, it's just opening. I know there are already loads of people who have the pirated DVD (and it's "DVD Copy" to boot), but it's worth paying to see. Hell, I'd like to see it on the big screen. Want a review? Here it is.

17 Again

I know what you're thinking. I know it's Zac Efron in there, but I don't think he'll be that big of a distraction in this admittedly interesting movie. Like that other movie, it has a lot of comedic potential, especially when given the right direction, and more importantly, the right acting. Perhaps I'm giving too much/little credit to Zac Efron, but what the heck, I'll give this movie a shot.

The premise here is that Chandler, I mean, Mike, tries to save this suicidal old man and winds up a teen again. Yeah, he's 17 again, thus we get Zac Efron. He decides to go back to high school so he can sort of change the way he lived it. But since he has a wife and kids, he runs into several awkward situations (I'm betting my money on Zac's character's daughter becoming infatuated with him. Awkward...) and, well, there'll be a moral about satisfaction, I'm sure of it.

To be honest, the trailer has its funny parts and that's why I'm putting it here with a cautiously optimistic eye. Check back on Rotten Tomatoes or some other review outlet you trust to see how it fares with the critics. It's pretty high right now at 83% as I write this, with some critics saying that "it's actually good" and that "it's a piece of casting genius". Some have downplayed it for "being predictable" and having a "cheese factor that lets it down", though.

I actually have to agree with another review that says, "it borrows elements from Big and Back to the Future" and it's quite true. There's something about the trailer, that I feel, resembles the latter. I just don't know why... though I half-expected his car (by 0:35 in the trailer) to become the DeLorean! That'd be... awesome.

Crank: High Voltage

Like its predecessor, this journey is an adrenaline pumping one because this time, instead of poison, Chev Chellios (played by Jason Statham, yet again) has to keep the battery charge of his heart up by electrocuting himself constantly. Yeah, it's like this huge B-movie, complete with scantily-clad ladies, swears, and action. Although I guess it has its share of comedy.

Not really expecting this movie to be a masterpiece (and it doesn't need to), but it looks like a fairly decent popcorn movie.

State of Play

A journalist gets embroiled in a conspiracy that started out as a mere reporting gig that involves a girl who was shot by (purportedly?) a congressman. Not really sure who killed the girl but whatever.

All I know is that it might either end up as a mediocre thriller, or a pretty good one. Reminds me of Zodiac somewhat. To be honest, I'm only half interested in this movie because of the star power involved (although I think Russell Crowe hired Nicolas Cage's hairstylist).

Damned show's here....

And I thought only Fleur's dad bought an advanced bootleg copy.

It's a hellish, gory ride for a certain audience... but a fairy tale for children below 12 (or so they say). It's a bad B-movie that's practically so bad, it's good. No, it's not the B-movie parody Grindhouse (I want to watch that), it's High. School. Musical. 2.

It's not that my dad actually bought a copy, my brother rented it. But I'll sit through it anyway to give you a review as I promised. (The song "Fabulous" by Ashley Tisdale is hellish... sobra)

HSM2 Survival Guide
DISCLAIMER: Most of the stuff I'm going to mention here are gonna be found in Quiapo. Promise.

OK. So you've gone out of the room infuriated because the family wants to watch High School Musical 2. Well there are lots of other things you can do and here's some recommended stuff:
1.) Watch another movie! And if you want, make it horror. 1408 is a great watch, as well as Disturbia. Or if you want to complement the B-movie qualities of HSM2, maybe you better watch Grindhouse which consists of Planet Terror by Robert Rodriguez and Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino.

2.) Play a First Person Shooter! OK, let's say that you're not much of a fan of the so-called FPS games... If you've got Half-Life 2 or Bioshock just lying around, load it into your computer and imagine the heads of those monsters as, let's say, Ashley Tisdale singing Fabulous. You'll definitely be a hardcore addict after this!

3.) Create your own HSM2 cast in The Sims 2... and fry them because of their inferior cooking skills, drown them in the swimming pool and disable their free will in the process or just type a certain boolProp cheat to make them die!

4.) Photoshop. Ruin an image of Zac "FREAKIN" Efron and put it in your Photobucket gallery. Though it's kinda immature (as well as the Sims 2 and FPS parts), you are a HSM2 hater, right? So why not?

5.) Read a book or sumthin'! Suspense thrillers, fantasy, whatever you want! At this point, I guess you'd do anything to escape HSM2!

If you don't like the first five, I don't think you'd like this last one either:

6.) Look at the stock market and see if Disney's (Stock quote: DIS) stocks are lower. This one is just something you should do if you're an expert in staring at the computer and you've nothing to do at all.

PHOTO CREDIT: Disney Co., Gamespot.com, Yahoo! Finance
SEPTEMBER: Another month of movie reviewing fun
Now we've bought a lot of DVDs with yet-to-be-released-but-it's-already-DVD-quality movies, it's gonna be another heck of a movie month! I've got The Last Legion, 1408, and lots more. Plus, I'll get to finish Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy (via LimeWire downloads), Heroes and House. Stay tuned.

*If you're reading this in my Multiply page, I don't know why "Subscribe ka na. LOL." keeps appearing in every post. Sorry. Hindi ako ganun ka desperate na magkareader. For the real blog, eto ung URL: http://spillaglassofwater.blogspot.com