Andy Gapin

I’m a huge Simon Pegg and Nick Frost fan so a movie that’s finally written by the two of them was something I’ve wanted for a while. Include that with the rest of the list of people involved in making Paul and it’s easy to set your hopes a bit too high. Though, having read some interviews with Pegg and Frost regarding the film, I had a good idea of what to expect.

Paul delivered on those expectations in every way that I could have hoped for and was everything I wanted it to be. There were nerdy jokes and just the right amount of cheese. There was a decent amount of stuff hidden in the movie for nerds, even some stuff that I didn’t pick up on at first. Paul proves that while Pegg and Frost work amazingly well with Edgar Wright, the two of them can survive on their own without him. In fact, the main reason Paul actually happened was because Wright was off working on Scott Pilgram vs the World and Pegg and Frost had some downtime to actually write the script for an idea they collectively had for a while.

Paul kind of reminds me of what I would expect ToeJam and Earl (remember those guys?) to be like if they had become assimilated into American culture and pair with a couple of British dudes. Friendly, a bit rude, and totally hilarious.

Surprisingly, one of the best parts of the film turned out to be an ongoing joke of random profanity that brought back memories of seeing Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for the first time. Now, random cursing sounds like it could kill the quality of a movie real quickly, but it fits and it’s creativity actually adds to the quality of Paul.

Paul is simultaneously a sci-fi movie, a road trip movie, and a buddy comedy, but it is not at all a parody, instead it kind of tips its hat to these genres and stands squarely on its own two feet.

Paul is highly recommended as a see-it-right-now movie. Don’t wait.

Rating: A-

Cloudy With a Chance Of Meatballs is completely outrageous and seriously hilarious! I definitely wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did, but it was pretty much perfect. There are a lot of really good laughs to be had from this flick. They’re mostly cheesy and cliché, but they work every time. At the same time, the movie keeps a nice pace with some action spread around and nothing getting too slow for too long. And I’d say that the animation for this one is slightly above average for a non-Pixar CGI flick. It’s very good and definitely included a super cute and nerdy animated chick that I may or may not have a crush on now.

As with a lot of these CGI movies lately, the voice cast is pretty damn stacked. You’ve got Bill Hader, Anna Farris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce friggn’ Campbell, Mr. T (yup), Bobb’e J. Thompson (that kid from Role Models. I love this kid), NPH, Al Roker, and Will Forte. That’s a lot of great names right there! Loved it!

One of the best things about this movie is the disaster movie parody aspect of it. There were some very clear influences from and references to real disaster movies like Twister, Armageddon, Dante’s Peak, and The Day After Tomorrow. But the it’s done very well and not at all like what I’m sure Disaster Movie, which I haven’t actually seen, was. Instead of just throwing things in just for the sake of being funny, they use a collection of parodies that work together to create the “perfect food storm” which I promise you looked as delicious as it sounds.

Something that I got out of this movie that I didn’t expect though was the realization that I definitely prefer for movies that are based on books, even children’s books, to keep things very different. With a few exceptions, I prefer when movies take the basic idea of a book and then do something different with it. There isn’t much of a point to following the book exactly or even trying to get real close to it. A film will never be exactly the same as the book and when you try to get close, it’s those little differences that tend to take away from the film rather than add to it. And besides, if it’s exactly the same, what’s the point? To reach out to people who are too lazy to read? But if you just take that basic idea and sort of re-imagine it or simply use it as your inspiration, you have many more possibilities. You get to do something different and run less of a risk of completely ruining the book. You get to pay homage while still maintaining your own creativity.

Rating: A