Posts tagged Nick Offerman
22 Jump Street “Lowbrow As It Gets”
Jun 24th
(“Lowbrow As It Gets”)
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
22 JUMP STREET is the sequel to the 2012 21 JUMP STREET, which in turn was a spoofy adaptation of the 1980 TV series, all of which just keeps on proving that Hollywood has run out of ideas.
Once again, Jonah Hill stars as Schmidt and Channing Tatum stars as Jenko, Schmidt’s partner as they go undercover yet again to bust up a drug ring.
“Wait a minute!” you say? “Didn’t they do that in the first movie?” you say?
Well, yes, but in the first movie they pretended to be high-school students, whereas in this movie they pretend to be college students, which makes the running joke of their looking too old to be students a little less jokey this time, especially the more often we hear it.
Also, their offices in an old Korean church at 21 Jump Street have changed, because the Koreans bought the church back, and so they were moved across the street into an old Vietnamese church at 22 Jump Street, which also leads to a mildly entertaining sequence at the end of the movie for the possibility of more sequels than you can shake a nightstick at.
The explanation that the partners receive is that they got lucky on 21 Jump street, and so the budget was increased and now they’re to do the same as last time and everyone will be happy, which leads Jenko to believe they have Cate Blanchett to do what they want.
They will have the same identity and the same assignment, except that they will be in college instead of high school.
So, Jenko, the more dim-witted of the two, says, “I’m the first person in my family to pretend to go to college.”
Well, in an attempt to blend in with their fellow college students, Jenko becomes friends with a fraternity leader and football star, and Schmidt becomes friends with an art-major coed.
Jenko’s buddy, Zook, says that they are like Batman and Robin, except that they are both Batman.
And Schmidt becomes so “friendly” with Maya, the art major, that it causes problems during parents weekend when Maya’s parents meet Schmidt.
The humor is so lowbrow that when Jenko suggests maybe they should start “investigating” other people, you might miss that he’s implying “seeing.”
22 JUMP STREET is as lowbrow as it gets.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
22 Jump Street – Movie Trailer
Jun 24th
After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) when they go deep undercover at a local college. But when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on the football team, and Schmidt infiltrates the bohemian art major scene, they begin to question their partnership. Now they don’t have to just crack the case – they have to figure out if they can have a mature relationship. If these two overgrown adolescents can grow from freshmen into real men, college might be the best thing that ever happened to them.
“In a World…” Is Too Amateurish
Sep 20th
“Too Amateurish”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
In a World… takes its title from the opening words made famous by legendary voiceover artist Don LaFontaine from the many promos and movie previews he recorded in Hollywood.
Lake Bell wrote, directed, and stars as Carol Solomon in this film about the voiceover industry in Hollywood, which we are told is sexist, in that very few women are used as voiceover artists.
Now, we know how Hollywood likes to make movies about itself, but if most of those self-absorbed movies are about as interesting as insiders inspecting their own belly buttons, this one about an aspect of Hollywood that is less known than making films themselves is, could be dismissed as being so self-absorbed and self-indulgent that it is as interesting as insiders inspecting their belly buttons and their toes for toe jam.
However, it does contain some subplots that are intended to make the film more interesting, such as the lousy way that Carol’s father treats her and her older sister, Danielle.
For example, at the beginning of the movie Carol is living at home with her widowed father, who comes home one day and tells Carol, “Jamie is going to be moving in, you’re going to have to find another place to live.”
Jamie is Sam’s girlfriend, and she is the stereotypical dumb blonde bimbo, a character included in movies written by lazy writers to get some cheap laughs.
So, Carol, who makes her living as a vocal coach, moves in with her sister, who works as a concierge at a fancy hotel.
However, Carol would like to break into the voiceover business, where Sam is well known and respected as a voiceover artist.
A search is on for a voiceover artist to record the promos for an upcoming series of films known as The Amazon Games, and Carol would like to get that gig, knowing that her father desperately wants that job himself.
Then there are other subplots involving Louis, an engineer at the recording studio where Carol works, who would like to go out with Carol, but he is too shy to ask, and a guest at the hotel where Danielle works is interested in Danielle, which causes problems in Danielle’s personal life.
The main plot and all the subplots are like belly buttons and toe jam.
In a World… is too amateurish.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
