A few quick flicks...I found it interesting that as my week went on, it was swapping an O for an E that got me from Goon to Gone...
GOON
Yes, Seann William Scott has two n's in his name AND he has seemingly forsaken Kevin Smith. Yes, he passed on Smith's Hit Somebody in lieu of doing this hockey flick instead. While I think that Smith's effort will in fact be genius, perhaps more in the dramedy genre, Goon holds its own as a solid hockey comedy.
This movie was certainly accentuated by the fact that I caught it at home on Time Warner On-Demand, viewing it with The Kid in the Helmet and Papa Schmer. Now, Papa was far less entertained than The Kid, but having at least one cohort who got some great belly laughs at all the right moments helped out a great deal in this viewing.
Goon follows Doug Glatt (Scott), a loser who is depressed because he seemingly has nothing in his life that makes him standout. Doug is down in the dumps and his friend Ryan (Jay Baruchel) takes him to see their local hockey team play. It is something of medieval times as the games are more about the fights than the hockey. When Ryan gets a little too mouthy with one of the players going at it, the player hops the wall and heads up into the stands. Doug quickly finds a talent...in beating the hell out of that player. He is quickly recruited by the team, and takes on the hallowed mantle of "Goon."
Add in a little Alison Pill as a love interest and Liev Schrieber as Ross Rhea, the resident Goon who is currently serving a suspension for breaking the only rule of hockey fights...you never fight with your stick.
Written by Baruchel and Evan Goldberg, the ying to Seth Rogen's writing yang, the dialogue is crude at times, but biting and funny.
Papa withstanding, we laughed...a lot.
I don't know if Goon will get a theatrical release, but check it out when you get a chance. If you can, watch it with friends. It is readily worthy of a 3.5 of 5 Horn high stick salute! It's short enough to get in and get out before it wears out its welcome. Also, Alison Pill is quite stellar. She was the red-haired drummer from Sex Bomb-Omb in Scott Pilgrim, she was Zelda Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris, and she was Anne Kronenberg in Milk....she is a beautiful chameleon! Also, on a downer note, Eugene Levy is here, but its only a down note because his character is quite the straight man to his normal jokey dad role.
Gone
This film is not nearly as bad as they say it is. Amanda Seyfried is quite convincing as the empowered damsel in distress. Jennifer Carpenter has something of a cameo and for a few moments, she manages to channel Deb Morgan from Dexter, but otherwise she is just a character.
Seyfried is Jill, one year out from narrowly escaping from a serial killer, or so she says, but no one believes her. Around the one year anniversary, she comes home from the night shift at an all-night diner, and her sister Molly is Gone. She was studying for an exam, and has seemingly vanished without a trace. Dash in a history of alcoholism and drug abuse, and Molly's disappearance is potentially just a bender, so the coppers just don't buy it.
What follows is an enjoyable detective-flick where the former victim Jill is the detective, weaving tales to the people who may have clues to where her sister is, with her prime theory that her former kidnapper mistakenly took her sister in her place, to finish the job from when she escaped.
Given that the police don't believe there is a serial killer in the first place, they are a little less than helpful in her search for her sister.
The ending is a little fast in its delivery and while things are resolved to an acceptable level, the speed with which it delivers, almost makes you feel unrequited. I forgive the ending for the enjoyable ride this film takes you on. It's not a super movie, its just a solid thriller.
If you've read the bad reviews, look past them and consider giving this a chance. 3.5 of 5 Horns for Gone.
Project X
Check out the trailer for this, and you have seen all you need to see about whether or not you will like it. It is geared towards the 15 to 25 year old range, but for the likes of old men like me, there is a draw.
You see, this movie exactly depicts how I recall through drunken eyes, some of the greatest nights of my college life.
It is produced by Todd Phillips and it is presented to some extent as a found footage film, but they really don't work hard to keep up the facade that it clearly is a studio film.
I will say as this thing rounds home, I sat with my jaw dropped for the last 10 minutes of this rager.
4 of 5 Horns for stupid drunken fun from a life long past. Granted this film is set in the high school realm, it gets a little ridiculous to consider that a residential neighborhood could contain this kind of madness. It was much more clearly the type of debauchery that made the stuff of dreams along Route 1 in College Park, MD. Go Terps, baby, Go Terps.
That's all for now...until later, here's looking towards some brighter days filled with loads of worthy flicks!
Reel Rhino
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