I saw three movies last week, folks. Three! They were all movies that I might not have picked out on my own, but was invited to see with friends. I wound up having a pretty good time at all of them. Here are my thoughts:
The Lucky One
Zac Efron plays a Marine named Logan. While in battle, he finds a picture of a young woman sticking out of the rubble; he will later describe this experience as "like finding an angel in the middle of hell." He keeps this picture with him, and after he goes home, finding it difficult to adjust to life with his sister and her family in Colorado, he sets off to find the woman in the picture. There is a lighthouse in the background of her picture, and he finds out where that lighthouse is and takes off for Louisiana. Finding her isn't difficult, but when he does, he can't find the words to tell her why he's there. Fortunately, she runs a dog training/boarding facility with her grandmother, and she thinks that he has come to respond to a Help Wanted ad. Although she is actually a little creeped out by him-- particularly by the fact that he tells her that he has walked there from Colorado-- her grandmother hires him, and needless to say, she eventually warms up to him. Complications arise in the form of her young son, or more specifically, his father, who is constantly showing up to act menacing and threaten to take full custody if she (Beth) messes up. His family is a Big Deal in their Louisiana town, and he says he can make it happen. And of course, lurking around the edges of the film is the fact that Logan still hasn't told her why he's really there, though we begin to realize, as the story moves forward, why the picture was there for Logan to find.
It really isn't a bad little movie, you guys. I've read a few Nicholas Sparks books (though not this one) and seen the movies adapted from them, and they're usually fairly solid-- though someone usually dies, and I therefore spent most of this movie whispering stuff to my friends like, "Do you think Beth's ex-husband is going to murder Zac Efron?," and, "Do you think the kid is going to die in the water?" (Actually, we were the only four people in the theater, so I really didn't even have to whisper these things.) I don't think this movie will develop the following that The Notebook had, or anything (true story: a few years back when I asked my students to write a movie review about literally any movie in the world they wanted, roughly 20% of them chose The Notebook. A fairly even mix of girls and guys. I'm serious), but it was fairly enjoyable. I liked Blythe Danner as Beth's grandmother, and Zac Efron pretty much always does a solid job; like, even in those High School Musical movies (High School Musical 3 isn't bad, by the way), you can tell he's pretty game for anything, and giving it his all. I'll respect that. Anyway, I won't say this movie is for everyone, but if you like Nicholas Sparks and/or Zac Efron, give it a whirl.
21 Jump Street
This is probably my favorite of the movies I saw last week, you guys. Like, I never really watched the original TV series 21 Jump Street; when it was on, I was too young for it, I think. I was aware that it existed, but didn't watch it more than once or twice. However, I am fairly sure that it was not an R-rated comedy, or a comedy at all. The movie works as an R-rated comedy.
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum play guys who went to the same high school, but weren't friends back then. Channing Tatum was a popular "dumb jock," while Jonah Hill was a nerdy kid who dyed his hair like Eminem; when he asks a girl to prom, she literally laughs in his face (high school kids are so mean in the movies. In real life, would that girl go to prom with him? No. Would she laugh in his face? Probably also no). As adults, they both go through police training together, and become friends when Channing Tatum needs help passing his exams. They later become bike cops, but mess up their first major bust because Channing Tatum can't remember the Miranda rights. They are then assigned to go undercover at a high school, where they are suprised to find that things have changed. Channing Tatum (whose name is Jenko in this movie, apparently, though he spends most of his time undercover, so I'll just keep referring to him as Channing Tatum) assumes that he'll be popular again, but now all of the popular kids are "all into going green and being tolerant and stuff." They like Jonah Hill, though, who gets the lead in Peter Pan and "sabotages" a school track meet.
It's funny, everyone. I laughed out loud throughout. I don't have a ton to say about it, but I had a good time.
Cabin in the Woods
I don't think I can even write about this without giving stuff away. All I can really say is that it starts with a group of college kids who appear to be the typical "types" from your average teen horror movie (the "slut," the virgin, the jock, etc.) heading off for a weekend in a creepy cabin, but right from the beginning, there are twists. It is simultaneously very aware of, and willing to poke fun at, horror movie conventions while still employing many of them. One friend (hi, Amy!) described it as "like Scream, but with monsters," and I guess that's pretty accurate, though I like the Scream movies better because there *isn't* anything supernatural in them, and because they include lots of actors from TV shows that I like. Anyway, I thought it was okay. Many of the people who I went with were big horror movie fans, and they loved it; I appreciated that it was sort of clever, and I enjoyed that Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford were in it, but it wasn't my favorite thing ever.
I maybe shouldn't have tried to review three movies at once. I feel like I kind of ran out of steam with that one. Oh, well.
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