Tooth Fairy (2010)

No, Thomas Harris hasn't written a barrel-scrapping origin story of another of his human-recycling serial killers, the only one scrapping barrels is me. And The Rock. And Steve Merchant. And Julie-look everyone involved was probably well-recompensated except me.
What horrified me most was that it wasn't as offensive as i thought it would be...
I don't know why action stars do this sort of family-movie type tut. They're ostrisizing the exact people that made them -males, 18-30. I guess they might insinuate that, they're trying to broaden their acting 'range' but if that was the case, do tv. It'll be a pay cut but at least it'll be well written. Don't get me wrong, I like Dwayne Johnson; i think he's a great comedy actor with a strong sense of self-awareness but why Rock, why!?  That peaked my curiosity as well as the inclusion of Stephen Merchant. They must have offered him so much money he had to accept or enough money to think it had to be worth going for. Same with Julie Andrews.
The story is identikit to most of its predecessors; grumpy dink has to change his ways via a silly fantasy macguffin or he'll lose his family and he learns life lessons along the way and right at the end, he has to make a choice between money and running to a school to see some cute kid do something pertaining to aforementioned cuteness.
BUT as i say amazing this film wasn't the disproportionate abortionate confection I suspected it might be. It's no Citizen Kane but no Martin Lawrence movie either. The Rock is good at some of the comedy stuff, not so hot on the mandatory melancholic /heart-warming moments though his part is wholly forgettable, which is serves both him and the audience. Merchant is obviously solid on the comedy and equally good at acting the melancholic moments, which is an unexpected surprise and he and Johnson make for a good double act. But Julie Andrews should know better. It's seriously disconcerting to see someone of her stature peeing her credibility away but then she's Julie freakin Andrews- she's got more credibility stored then she could ever spend. Billy Crystal pops in for a few also. I didn't realise Billy Crystal was the sort of comedic elder statesman who could just walk in and out of films willie-nillie like he was Steve Martin or Cleese. Billy Crystal, i respect you but what have you done for me lately? Ashley Judd comes thru to play 'age-appropriate love interest'. There was a time (late 90's), where she was neo-Con totty, like an M&S by which i mean, S&M Sandra Bullock but now she looks pregnant constipated all the time. She looks like she stumbled on the wrong set from a NCIS guest spot, in a Milupa stupor.
I shouldn't be doing movies like this on the blog but i haven't watched a movie just to pick on for ages and it's fun!
This movie is the equivalent of bad white wine- I'll politely drink and then be bemoaning it cos I'm drunk but wasn't that the point in the first place?

I watched Tooth Fairy (2010) on the missus's swanky Sky Movies Premiere.
My 2011 in Movies will return with On Tour (2010)...

Fast Five or Fast and Furious -Rio Heist or The Rock's Goatee Rocks (2011)

So the score so far with this series is the first was crap (though it improves with repeat viewings), the 2nd one was worse - the 3rd one, I missed and the last one was pretty good. I could have referred to them by their given names but the filmmakers masochistically have given all the films the same name (except the 2nd one, that was just masochistically shit...) I've basically only liked one of the previous 4films, so why have I been looking forward to seeing this for months?
Well one major reason is it had a trailer that i never tired of seeing and I saw it a lot because of... *points around the room at all the previous posts* all this.  Mainly the part where they go over the cliff and listening to what people say always made me smile but then these are very unpretentious films.
Well...  they are and they aren't. A lot of the writing is so wooden and pulpy, that you could chop carrots on it and things generally blow up, smash or... explode? and then, sometimes we just like sequels not necessarily because we like the characters but because we know the deal and what to expect and it's comfortable. I think a lot of filmmakers forget that with a sequel comes a lot of freedom to build on whats come before; you can make something with less exposition and more time to spend on character and story. The most beloved sequel (probably) is The Godfather Part 2, a film that practically makes very reference to the film before and explores and builds exponentially on it. And I'm not even a Godfather fan but that's the way to do it. The best thing about the last movie was that it was wall-to-wall action because it didn't have to set anything up; we knew all the characters and it was a better version of the first one as far as I could tell.
This one, the 5th, is not as good as the last one. It's has a great 1st 30mins, it jerks around for an hour and then makes a triumphant victory lap on the last 30mins. I will say that whoever's idea it was to throw The Rock into the mix, for this one-Great ballsy idea. Dwayne 'the wrestler formerly known as The Rock' Johnson is probably my favorite modern action star. He's got the physical thing but he's also got a delightful acting range where he does light comedy and the tougher action too. I don't think he should be doing Disney movies but i don't think he should do morose violent shit like Faster (not part of this series, but the way...) but he fits in like a glove here and he's great at playing surley, which i don't think he's done since he left being The Rock. He gets the most cliché wrought lines to say and delivers them like butter wouldn't melt. More stuff like this, pally. And I dig that they bring back most of the secondary characters from the other films, like 'the gangs all here'.
Given the choice- I'd suggest watching yesterday's TT3D, this weekend if you can but Fast Five is honourable 2nd place...

I watched Fast And Furious 5 (2011) at the cinema.
My 2011 in Movies will return with Arthur (2011)...

Faster (2010)

For what it is and it ain't much, Faster has some wierd ideas about redemption. Dwayne Johnson (still The Rock to you and I) plays a wronged man fresh out of the pen out for revenge on the various people responsible for killing his brother. So far so good right? Not the most original idea I know but I'm fine with that- violent revenge stories are normally urban Westerns and will be around even after cockroaches depart their mortal coil.
My beef with Faster is that it is so dour, it's no fun to watch. Revenge stories are best when they are communicating a cathartic thrill. Faster is fully prepared to use exploitative content like drug-use, severe violence and what a film ratings board might call 'themes of child rape and... snuff tapes' but at no point does it feel justified; it all just seems like cynical posturing to get the 'R' rating. Like for example, the guy is a getaway driver and finegles a sweet ride but there is only one car chase.  He's also dangerous prison fighter but all the killing is so blunt- usually by point-blank gunshot to people who don't really defend themselves; it's actually quite pornographic. Now these are bad people who are killed- snuff-filming statutory rapists and telemarketers but still it seems excessive. If I may digress- Faster had the same 15 rating that Easy A, the light vaugely-raunchy teen film, has and i usually think the BBFC get it right but you can't hold these films in the same age-suitablity range.
As for the acting- a mixed bag. The Rock does hurt and sullen between the aforementioned murders which is 'meh'-not bad, not great. Billy Bob Thornton is pretty good, actually a return to the Thornton of the 90's - goofy and swaggerless. Carla Cugino turns up and good like she usually is but the script lets her down.  Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje turns up at the end and I've loved that guy since HBO's Oz. He does alright here with the little help has to work with.
As you may have gathered this film is too light on action (shooting people in the face notwithstanding) to get away with a light script but for all the covoluted non-linear storytelling, the script is pretty featherweight; the big reveal at the end was telegraphed by the halfway point and there's the character of an assassin that's... urgh... i can't even bring myself to say what's going on with that guy but it's superfluous-he added nothing to the film and in fact, detracts from the thing because you hate him out of confusion.
I really expected better from George Tillman Jr at least. He made the Biggie biopic, Notorious and I thought that was pretty good- a servicable biopic which could have gone wrong a hundred ways but turned out fine. Here he fudges the pooch with a simple revenge story. I've seen better Dominic Sena movies. Faster is like a rip-off of a Dominic Sena movie, which is the most sussinct indictment I can think of.

I watched Faster (2010) at the cinema.
My 2011 in Movies will return with This Sporting Life (1963)...