‘I Love You, Beth Cooper’ Download and Reviews

December 14, 2009 by Paul Wall  
Filed under Comedy

“I Love You, Beth Cooper” Movie Details

I Love You, Beth Cooper tagline: Five Little Words Can Change Your Life
I Love You, Beth Cooper - DVD Cover

I Love You, Beth Cooper DVD Cover

Actors:
Brandon Barton Poolside Flirt
Jack Carpenter Rich Munsch
Josh Emerson Greg Saloga
Pat Finn Coach Raupp
John J. Gulayets Pool Side Flirt #2
Jared Keeso Dustin
Samm Levine Clerk
Brendan Penny Sean
Darien Provost Young Rich
Shawn Roberts Kevin
Charlie Robson Party Member
Alan Ruck Mr. Cooverman
Paul Rust Denis Cooverman
Marie Avgeropoulos Valli
Karyn Michelle Baltzer Drive By Bully
Directors: Chris Columbus
IMDB Rating: 5.2/10 out of 5,720 votes

“I Love You, Beth Cooper” Movie Review

“I Love You, Beth Cooper” Plot Summary

A nerdy valedictorian proclaims his love for the hottest and most popular girl in school Beth Cooper during his graduation speech. Much to his surprise, Beth shows up at his door that very night and decides to show him the best night of his life.

A Nice Twist on the Coming of Age Genre

One of the main characters spends the ENTIRE movie quoting lines from other movies — why then should it come as a surprise that the movie itself operates as a pastiche of the coming-of-age/teen rite-of-passage film? And yet, I Love You Beth Cooper provides a neatly drawn, dark commentary on its predecessors, while maintaining its own quirky lightheartedness

I was particularly pleasantly surprised by Hayden Panettiere’s performance (I am not a fan of Heros) and felt she conveyed the ultimate sadness of her character beautifully, with just the right touch of cynicism and self-awareness to make the character work. I felt she easily transcended the actress and became the title character, providing what might have been a fluff piece with dramatic substance

Paul Rust as the nerdy hero was fun to watch and even believable – I gradually came to accept the possibility that this geek and his self-deprecating manner could indeed win the beauty. The supporting players were also quite excellent, lending interesting subtexts and character depth to the film. The director made the good choice to allow the supporting cast to step up and take over the action at times, providing a living backdrop for the looming choices and growing awareness of Rust’s and Panettiere’s performances. Both allowed me to care about what happened to their characters

A special mention goes to Shawn Roberts for his superb job as the villain. While the villain’s ultimate comeuppance was a bit of letdown (because the film too abruptly dropped that storyline), Roberts provided a convincing performance for what is, after all, the stereotypical villain role

A lot of what this movie, and this type of movie, is about is wish-fulfillment. The ‘transformation’ of the bully rang especially true — who among us has not wished the same for their own childhood bullies? And in that sense, I Love You Beth Cooper delivers strongly on this promise, allowing us to join the characters in the universe of the film and cheer them on

I tend to judge a film like this one in terms of whether or not I enjoy being in its universe for the duration. It’s not often that during a film that I regret the passage of time– that is, that I know the film will end soon and wish it wouldn’t. And that I begin to wonder how the story might continue. I would have happily remained in the world of I Love You Beth Cooper for a little while longer. And yes, I’d like to know what happens at the characters’ reunion

A few of the director’s choices confused me -especially the rather protracted memory sequences, when the characters relive parts of their childhood. The film’s rather brisk pacing abruptly shifts into slow motion during these scenes, some of which are just a wee bit long. But I gradually became used to this–and came to see them as a sort of counterpoint to the otherwise frenetic plot

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. However, my rating – 9/10 – reflects ONLY how I feel the movie holds up within its category and genre, and NOT its place in the history of film. It’s just a teen comedy–but a really good one

A caveat: I watched this at home, not in a theater. Whether or not the movie translates well to the big screen (and the price of admission) is a subject I cannot comment on.

I Love You, Beth Cooper - Movie Still 1 I Love You, Beth Cooper Movie Still 2 I Love You, Beth Cooper Movie Image 3 I Love You, Beth Cooper Screen Image
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‘Tropic Thunder’ Download and Reviews

September 26, 2009 by Paul Wall  
Filed under Action, Adventure, Comedy

“Tropic Thunder” Movie Details

Tropic Thunder tagline: The movie they think they’re making… isn’t a movie anymore.
Tropic Thunder - DVD Cover

Tropic Thunder DVD Cover

Actors:
Ben Stiller Speedman
Jack Black Jeff ‘Fats’ Portnoy
Robert Downey Jr. Kirk Lazarus
Brandon T. Jackson Alpa Chino
Jay Baruchel Kevin Sandusky
Danny R. McBride Cody
Steve Coogan Damien
Bill Hader Rob Slolom
Nick Nolte
Brandon Soo Hoo Tran
Reggie Lee Byong
Jason Collett Academy Award audience member
Tom Cruise
Eric Feliciano
Tri Le Cyclo Driver
Directors: Ben Stiller
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10 out of 95,405 votes

“Tropic Thunder” Movie Review

“Tropic Thunder” Plot Summary

Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.

The next level

This is a brilliant piece of work. A comedy/parody that actually emulates at the level of its source material. Ben Stiller has clearly done his homework and here recreates many epic battle scenes. The photography is stunning and the direction is nothing less than awesome, for the first twenty minutes or so. Although the movie loses direction a little in the second and third acts it has enough great script and sheer momentum that it never falls below excellent. This really is a stunning piece of work. Look at what else is out there. This is constantly funny but also technically brilliant and very artistic. There are no ‘longeurs’ and every scene moves the action forward. The performances are spectacularly good. Tom cruise still looks slightly too ‘Tom Cruise’ but his lines are almost perfect. As a whole his part is 1000 times better than in that defecant Magnolia. Robert Downey Jr is almost embarrassingly good. He plays Bill Cosby playing an actor in a movie, but then he slips into a stereotype of all ‘our favorite’ Black actors. He is challenged by the one real Black guy and this scene serves to show that he is an actor, playing an Australian actor who is trying to play a Black American. Ther are too many other outstanding features to mention, such as the child general and Jack Black’s best work in years. All in all, this is not a mainstream movie. It is Something Else.

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