Film review of Hangover 1 (a Todd Phillips movie)- by Jogwheel

Full text transcript of film review of Hangover 1:

So you got hung over and killed a whole bunch of Nazis who hasn’t done that in Vegas? Oh, get ready for my four hundredth video. This is movie night. Hi, my name is Jonathan. Welcome to Movie Night, the only show on YouTube that’s talking about Hitler on Christmas Eve. Our first movie tonight is The Hangover. At least on June 5th, 2009, The Hangover can best be described as a comedy mystery film. The plot follows the escapades of four best friends who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. After an apparently amazing night out on the town, they wake up after a roofie induced hangover with the inability to remember anything of what happened the night before. And they also can’t remember what happened to the groom. The comedy then unfolds over the course of the one hundred minute movie as friends Phil Stoo and Alan, played by Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis respectively, try to find Doug, played by Justin Bartha, who is sadly reduced to a very small role in this movie, even though he is one of the central characters taking cues from all the great R rated comedies in the past few years. Director Todd Phillips goes for the home run in this movie, really combining every type of effective comedy that there is, whether it’s a fart joke, a gross out moment, a surprise cameo, unexpected plot twists, situational miscommunication or just flat out clever writing. The Hangover really delivers the laugh consistency throughout the entire film. Now, maybe it’s because I’ve watched something like 20 movies in my life and years worth of television, but I’ve kind of become jaded to the comedy genre.

I don’t laugh out loud as much as a lot of people, but with The Hangover, there were some scenes where I was legitimately unable to hear the dialogue. I was laughing so hard. This is a funny movie. Of course, all of this would be for naught if the plot and characters didn’t work well together. Luckily, the cast mesh very well, truly exhibiting what appears to be a strong, lifelong relationship right from the very first scene in the movie, all the way to the ending credits sequence that is easily one of this year’s best. The Hangover is a terrific film with a heart of gold. Very funny. And some of the most memorable and funny scenes you’ll see this year. I mean, it’s no wonder that Warner Brothers is already slated to make a sequel slated for release Memorial Day of 2011. Anyway, let’s take a look at your YouTube comments on The Hangover. Lulu stories wrote, When I first went to see The Hangover, I expected the traditional crazy party movie, but it was fantastic. It was like a drunken scavenger hunt, God wrote. Hangover was an immense movie. The narrative viewpoint of the three guys slowly piecing together the night before was extremely funny to watch. Great film. This year wasn’t great for comedy movies, but it seems The Hangover beat the trend big time. Nine out of ten Don’t Be Killer wrote.

I like The Hangover. It was pretty witty and had its funny moments, but I can’t say I loved it. It threw too much random crap in me, like the naked Asian guy hopping out of a trunk. Nonetheless, I give it a seven out of ten. I think it’s safe to say the response for this movie was overwhelmingly positive. But let’s fire up the dual chamber rate of Mattick and see how the hangover did. Very impressive. You guys scored this a ten, an amazing film. I had to give it an eight for a great while. It was a very, very great movie. It is a comedy and I don’t know that I can quite give it that nine or ten had to hold off on the top scores for this one. It’s not quite high art for me, but very enjoyable. One of the better comedies to come out in the last few years moving forward. Now, let’s take a look at our next film. Quentin Tarantino’s newest film, Inglourious Basterds, was released on August 21st, 2009, to immediate critical acclaim and for good reason. Once again, the iconic director has really lived up to high expectations that the public has for him, and his work told at a very slow developing pace. Bastards is split up into five chapters, any of which could easily stand on their own as a short twenty five minute film, all with their own beginning, middle and end. As the plot progresses, however, we start to see the different narratives convergence.

One final plot. This is nothing new for Tarantino. It’s a storytelling method he has used with great success in many of his past films. In short, Inglourious Basterds is the story of a group of Jewish American guerrilla soldiers led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine, played by Brad Pitt. They are hell bent on killing Nazis during the German occupied France at the end of the Second World War. Simultaneously, the movie is also the story of a Jewish girl, Shoshana, played by Melanie Laurent, who survived the SS attack on her family by the hands of Colonel Hans Landa, known affectionately throughout France as the Jew hunter. Christopher Wallace’s portrayal of Colonel Lunda absolutely steals the show, and every scene he is in is charming, deceptive, cunning and, dare I say, adorable in his portrayal of a man known as the Jew Hunter. And while Pitt, Lawrence and a decent entry from Diane Kruger effectively nail their supporting characters, top accolades for this film absolutely have to be bestowed to Tarantino here. Without question, he is the de facto master of dialogue. Writing the dialogue in this film just oozes off the screen with nearly every line spoken, which is critical to the success of the film. As nearly two hours of the one hundred and fifty two minute runtime is mostly just a few people on screen talking back and forth to each other. I did, however, find some of the more nuanced scenes tended to drag on just a bit. However, this is a smart and defiant film, not afraid to pull any punches, including some rather big punches in the area of historical accuracy.

All the. While staying grounded in a very gripping, immensely suspenseful and realistic reality we haven’t seen from Tarantino in a while, from the captivating and interwoven storylines that command your attention from the first frame to the impeccable performances from the entire cast. Inglourious Basterds is an amazing film, but let’s see what you had to say about it. In the YouTube comments, our diva thirty six wrote Inglourious Basterds was a fantastic movie. I saw it on a whim, not hoping for much, but the plot was engrossing. And I really love Brad Pitt in this movie. It was long though, and halfway I got a bit bored. But overall, a good movie and very funny. Green Count four to three wrote Inglourious Basterds. It was pretty damn good at first glance, but looking back at it just felt way too self-indulgent. Love the European actors, but Brad Pitt, i.e. the draw for American audiences, really wasn’t up to his standard, but he was still pretty darn funny. I’d give it a seven 10 overall in Bush Fella Shammar wrote Inglourious Basterds great movie, especially for the Tarantino fans out there. As a German, I was especially pleased with Christopher Waltz’s acting performance. Some minor letdowns made me give it a nine out of ten. There you have it. Mixed reviews, but mostly accurate and positive reactions from the viewers. And now it’s time to fire up the right of and see how Inglourious Basterds did a double awesome.

While many of the nearly 400 people that voted in the poll felt this is a perfect 10, enough of you also voted slightly lower than that. And that pulled the score down to a nine. I happen to agree myself really close to a perfect movie, just just shy of that 10 score, though, looking at this week’s newest releases, let’s read some tweet critiques. No one panicked and tweeted Avatar was OK. You know, if you like masterpieces, she tweeted Ninja Assassin, amazing, gratuitous, hot, sexy Asian and blood. A bit cheesy, but lovely all the way. I definitely like more of him. Reannounced F with another tweet on Avatar. Great visuals, OK story. Adequate characters, great acting, superb direction. Avatar is in my top five of 2009. I’d give it a nine out of ten. So I guess the general consensus is that you should go out and see Avatar this holiday weekend. Well, that does it for this week’s episode of Movie Night. Now let’s take a look at the films we’ll be reviewing for next episode. District nine is brand new on DVD this week, and it just wouldn’t be Christmas without John McClane and Die Hard. So I hope you get a chance to watch both of these films for next episode. Once again, my name is Jonathan Pollard. Thank you so much for joining me. Have a very wonderful Christmas and I’ll see you next time. Good night.