Movie Review: Kick-Ass

I wasn't crazy about Kick-Ass the comic. In my mind it had all the right pieces to be totally amazing but they didn't work together for me. I imagine if I read it a few more times I might have a different opinion but the comic had more violence than I care to see again.


Still, I'd heard nothing but good things about it so I went in pretty optimistic. And it was pretty epic. Mark Millar always pitches Kick-Ass as "What if real people were super heroes?" and that's kinda what the comic is about but it's really what the movie was about. Maybe it was Aaron Johnson's jew-fro, maybe it was the writing, but I could connect with movie!Dave (the main character) when I couldn't with comic!Dave. I think the humor came across much better in the movie than the comic. Comics are weird in that they're somewhere in between books and movies. You still supply the emotion and much of the delivery but you're still given a visual starting point. In the movie you can just feel the crazy rolling off Nicholas Cage (Big Daddy) and the joy Hit Girl has in what she sees as the best game ever. I just couldn't project that onto the characters in the comic.

I mostly know Nicholas Cage from roles like the horribly over the top treasure hunter in National Treasure.



However, Cage was absolutely stunning as in Kick-Ass. When I got out of the movie, I told my friend how shocked I was at his preformance she turned and said "Nicolas Cage was in that?". If super heroes were real, this is who Batman would be. He is completely batshit insane.

The other star here is Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl). She's a fucking bad ass. And she's 11. There's something kind of awesome about that. In my mind she seems like a more lovable Damien. Born and raised to kill. It's also nice to see a female super hero who isn't sexualized. Obviously at 11 it'd be super creepy but I think it bears mentioning. I cannot think of any other female super (or even action) heroine who has avoided that. It was also nice that Kick-Ass didn't feature any "kidnap the girlfriend" bullshit.

The Bottom Line: A funny movie that just happens to have absurd amounts of comic book violence.

Movie Review: Date Night

I've been looking forward to this movie for quite a while. I figured that with Tina Fey and Steve Carell in the lead, even a worn romcom would be a treat. And to a certain extent I was right. I spent the entire movie thinking "Omigod, omigod, Tina Fey and Steve Carell are the best couple ever!". Seriously. Forget Bella/Edward, Fey and Carell were truly destined to be together. The cameo by James Franco and Mila Kunis (Jackie from That 70's Show) as the trashiest couple ever was absolutely amazing. As was Kristen Wiig's conversation with Tina Fey about her sexual asperations.

Unfortunately I found the rest of the movie rather dull. It was mildly amusing all the way through (which makes it better than Cop Out) but rarely made me 'lol'. I think that part of my problem may have been that I old know Tina Fey as Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. So I often found myself thinking "What? Liz would never do that! Oh wait it's not Liz it's...well I'm not sure who she is but she's not the woman I know and love." I doubt that not watching 30 Rock would've drastically changed my opinion but it certainly wouldn't have hurt.

Bottom Line: A mildly to moderately funny movie where Tina Fey and Steve Carrel play two people with no personality who have a night that is inappropriate for kids who aren't in middle or high school.