I’m gonna do more frequent posts of Home Cinema with fewer movies but longer notes.:)
Eagle Eye (2008). Techno thriller starring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, and a whole bunch of military hardware, especially of the spy, surveillance and explosive sort. LaBeouf stars in the exact same role as he did in Transformers: bewildered, getting caught in big huge explosions, and chased around while yelling “no no no” LOL.
There are a couple of interesting sequences: including one where a guy gets electrified by a few zillion bolts and explodes into a red mist, a chase through a airport baggage system, and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle battle on the streets of Washington DC.
It sure is a habberdash of bits you’ve seen before elsewhere: guided instructions via Matrix and The Game, loud and pulsating music from the Bourne Trilogy, imminent terrorist attack on American soil from The Sum of All Fears. It feels a little chaotic, unbelievable, and when the main protagonist and the puppet master shows up, outright creepy. Still well worth a watch though. But leave all common sense at the door, as once Evil Doofus tells us what the real mission objective is, you’d be wondering what was the point of the 90 minute chase scenes running all before it!
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My Best Friend’s Girl (2008). I thought this romantic drama starring the always yummy-to-look-at Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs and Dane Cook had promise. The premise is at least interesting: strike a deal with your best friend to play the world’s biggest a***hole to your hesitant girlfriend so that she’ll run screaming back into your arms. It’s profanity-ridden but yet hilariously funny in a couple of spots.
Unfortunately, Cook as the jerk and Hudson as the confused girlfriend has no chemistry, (Where’s Matthew McConaughey when you need him…?) and Biggs can’t decide if he’s playing a sad desperate puppy or a scary stalker. Biggs is even more dislikable as El Desperado that you’d be rooting for Cook from the getgo. And the profanity is, well… let’s just say that even the most salty sailor would blush.:)
The movie’s at its best in the first half with Cook’s boyfriend-from-hell stint, but when the movie switches to the usual romantic trappings it falls flat. At least Alec Baldwin steals every scene he’s in as the a***hole’s father, and an even bigger horndog and womanizer than Cook’s character. Worth a rental for the first half, and when the movie switches to the chick romantic portions after midway, you can always stop watching.
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