Movie Review: Real Steel

Sci-fi/Action, 127 Minutes, 2011: Real Steel on IMDB

This movie was completely – and I mean utterly – formulaic.  It was unabashedly and aggressively manipulative – I mean Michael Moore was taking notes during the screening.  The plot was full of holes a giant robot could dance through.  Seriously: if you’ve seen “Rocky” or “The Champ” or “Over the Top” then you’ve seen this movie already.

This movie was also FUCKING AWESOME!

Do you know what makes average things better?  GIANT ROBOTS.  Do you know what makes giant robots better?  MAKING THEM FIGHT.  This completely average movie has giant robots fighting.  This makes it, at the risk of repeating myself, FUCKING AWESOME.

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Movie Review: The Change-up

Comedy, 112 Minutes, 2011: The Change-up on IMDB

There’s no way to ignore the elephant in the room here: the premise of this movie is (to be as absolutely forgiving as possible) is as worn as the tissues your grandmother keeps stuffed up her sleeve.  On the ranking of archetypical stories it falls someplace at the bottom of the list along with low-rent standards like “dog that thinks it’s people” or “stripper fights crime.”

That said even the most tired of premises dredged from the dryest of wells can sometimes be temporarily elevated by the right circumstances.  For the “Body swapping” genre this is exemplified by the essential Farscape episode “Out of Their Minds” [IMDB] which tossed all the clichés out on their bony asses and created something truly special.

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