Theater Review: Turbo

I am so far behind on my reviews again. I had to at least sit down and get this theater review out - especially since the film is dropping on DVD next week.

Anyway, I definitely was not expecting anything when I went to see Turbo. My parents came up to visit and took my son to see it - and I tagged along.

But, I really came away surprised - I really enjoyed it.

Turbo (Ryan Reynolds) is a snail that has the need for speed. He stays up at night watching videos of his favorite race car driver, Guy Gagne (Bill Hader) and dreaming of being a racer himself. For a snail, he might actually be one of the faster ones - but he is still a snail.

During the day, he works in a tomato garden with a lot of other snails, including his brother Chet (Paul Giamatti), who is sort of in charge of the garden crew. On his breaks, instead of eating, Turbo pretends to be fast - and it is beginning to wear on his brother, who wants him to grow up.

Turbo leaves the tomato garden for a walk one night and wishes on a 'star' to be fast, and he gets sucked up into a super charged car - and he gets soaked in nitrous oxide that gets sucked into his DNA. And, you guessed it - Turbo becomes super fast.

So, he goes to show off for the garden crew - and manages to crush most of the garden, which gets himself and his brother fired. As they fought, Chet is scooped up by a crow - and Turbo heads off to rescue him.

Both of them are soon picked up by Tito (Michael Pena) and taken back to a forgotten strip mall where he works with his brother Angelo (Luis Guzman) at a taco stand. Tito likes to race snails, and uses some souped up shells to make the snails faster - however, everyone is blown away but what Turbo can do.

Tito soon comes up with an idea to rescue the taco stand - and the strip mall. He decides to enter Turbo in a race with actual race cars - including racing against his ideal Gagne.

As I said, I went into this not really expecting much - but I found myself pretty entertained. No, it isn't the greatest animated film, heck it probably isn't even the best of the year. But, I was definitely entertained throughout, so it gets my vote of approval.

The interaction between the brothers, both Tito and Angelo, and Chet and Turbo is pretty good. The strip mall crew: Paz (Michelle Rodriguez), Bobby (Richard Jenkins) and Kim-Ly (Ken Jeong) were also pretty fun to watch. Then there were the other snails that get raced: Whiplash (Samuel L. Jackson), Burn (Maya Rudolph), Smoove Move (Snoop Dogg), Skidmark (Ben Schwartz) and White Shadow (Michael Bell) - a lot of laughs during their scenes.

Again, not breaking new ground here with this film - but for a film that I really didn't even think about seeing, I really enjoyed it.

Grade:

35/50x2: Machete

This was one of those films that the idea of it really had me interested, but I was a bit put off by the horrible violence that may be portrayed. Luckily, I got past that and decided to watch it anyway - and the violence was much more cartoony than horrible.

So, Machete was originally created as a fake trailer in front of the Grindhouse double feature. It was so popular that Robert Rodriguez decided to create a full-length film from it.

So, Machete (Danny Trejo) is a Federale. He is on his way to rescue a kidnapped girl when he is betrayed by his own chief and handed over to a drug-lord, Rogelio Torrez (Steven Seagal). Torrez kills Machete's wife and daughter in front of him and then leaves him for dead.

Years later, a man that looks like Machete shows up in Texas looking for odd jobs. He winds up being hired by Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey) to kill Senator McLaughlin (Robert De Niro), who is re-running for his senate position and is sending hundreds of illegal immigrants out of the country.

But, as Machete lines up the shot he realizes he is being setup, Booth works for McLaughlin and this was a way to gain sympathy votes and help McLaughlin's border campaign. Machete ends up being shot in the shoulder, but is able to escape.

Sartana Rivera (Jessica Alba) is an agent brought in to track down and bring in Machete. But, she along with Luz (Michelle Rodriguez) help Machete in taking revenge against both Booth and McLaughlin. Not to mention Machete's priest brother, Padre (Cheech Marin) and Booth's daughter out for revenge of her own, April (Lindsay Lohan).

I have to admit this was a pretty fun romp to watch. Sure, it was way over the top, but the filmmakers knew that and did it on purpose. Everyone working on this film was obviously in on this being so over the top - and it worked tremendously. It was really entertaining throughout.

Grade:

Double Dipping

This has never happened before.

This past weekend, my wife and I, saw two movies in the theater on the exact same day.

I know, I had to pinch myself.

After seeing a grand total of five movies in the theater last year, I am already at three for this year - and the rest of the year is looking rather promising as well.

On to the first flick.

My wife is a rather large Vin Diesel fan - and I don't mind looking at Jordana Brewster - so seeing Fast & Furious was a rather no brainer. This time around, the movie seemed to flow a lot easier with Diesel and Paul Walker back in lead roles - with no disrespect to Tyrese Gibson, but Diesel and Walker made this franchise.

I know absolutely nothing about cars, and I hate watching car racing - but something about these films really gets me going. I continually enjoy the pretty real situations that the characters find themselves in - although I am still at a loss at to where Dom (Diesel) gets his money for his cars. I mean I know he is stealing, but where is he hiding it.

Anyway, this time around Dom and Brian (Walker) find themselves looking for the same guy, Braga - and in order to get close to him they need to join his team of drug smuggling drivers. At first there is only one spot open and Dom and Brian, as well as two others, race to get selected. But another is soon opened up when another driver is caught with drugs.

Brian is out to bring Braga down for drug smuggling, while Dom is out for revenge. And the two end up helping each other along the way to get both done.

Returning from previous films are Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Brewster as Mia Toretto and Sung Kang as Hahn.

I am still not sure if this was better than the first film, although I am definitely sure it was better than the second and the Tokyo spinoff.

Grade:

The second feature we took in was a little close to our hearts, Adventureland.

This film was shot at Kennywood Amusement Park in Pittsburgh, PA. I was born there and also attended college there (as did my wife) and we had been to Kennywood on multiple occasions.

The movie is directed Greg Mottola, the same guy who directed Superbad. And although I feel Superbad was funnier, I actually felt this was a better movie as a whole.

James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) is looking forward to his college graduation present of heading off to Europe, but a career change for his father thwarts his plans and he is forced to get a job. The lone job he could find, thanks to the help of a former childhood friend who still hasn't grown up Tommy Frigo (Matt Bush), is at Adventureland. Hoping to get a job in the rides department, the parks bosses, Bobby (Bill Hader) and Paulette (Kristen Wiig) feel he is much better suited for games.

Here he meets a great friend in Joel (Martin Starr) who shows him the ropes, and a girl who he begins to form a major crush on Em (Kristen Stewart).

The movie is sort of a you never know what life will throw at you sort of movie. Brennan was crushed when he couldn't go to Europe, but because of it was forced to work at this park and met a great friend and possibly the love of his life.

It was also fun to see 1980's Pittsburgh. My wife and I (okay mostly me) were trying to find certain things in the backgrounds that are mostly only in Pittsburgh. Like drinking Iron City or the Stroh's neon sign - or even the Jack Lambert jersey on one of the park patrons.

All-in-all a great film. It had all the drama, with small bits of comedy thrown in. In Superbad I think it was more a comedy with the small pieces of drama thrown in.

Grade: