I really enjoyed
Knocked Up, the second film from writer/director Judd Apatow ("40 Year Old Virgin"). The rapport between star Seth Rogan ("You, Me and Dupree") and his guy friends was excellent. The married life of Paul Rudd ("Night at the Museum") and Leslie Mann ("The 40 Year Old Virgin") were hysterical and sometimes sad. When the movie decided to get serious, it felt real. I thought almost all of it was good. One of my main problems, however, was that Rogan is this kind of loser guy who gets this hot girl (Katherine Heigl, TV's "Grey's Anatomy") pregnant during a one night stand. Then he has to spend the rest of the movie convincing her that he's good enough for her. But she never has to convince him. Yes, she's beautiful. And she has a job. But she doesn't even know what the DeLorean is. Come on. Still, a fun and, in the end, uplifting pro-life movie.
Gun Crazy (Deadly is the Female on
imdb) is another film in the
filmspotting film noir marathon. Made in 1949, it's said to be a direct influence on Bonnie and Clyde. The story follows gun obsessed Bart (John Dall, "Spartacus") as he meets sharpshooter Annie (Peggy Cummins, "In the Doghouse") at a traveling show. He joins the show to be close to her and then they set off on their own and embark on a crime spree. This film felt very different to me than the others in this marathon. There's no real twists to the plot. No detective. The shots are more close-ups and the editing is much faster paced. But the woman is still bad. I did not enjoy this film as much as the others, but it is still very interesting. And Dall and Cummins have great chemistry.
RoboCop is one of those "classic" 80s action movies I've always meant to see. Paul Verhoeven ("Black Book") directs this story of a futuristic America where corporations run everything, including the police. The corporation is trying to clean up Detroit buy turning a terminally wounded cop into a cyborg. Only he starts remembering who he was. And his desire to find his killers leads him to uncover corruption in the corporation. The effects don't hold up extremely well and though the violence may have been shocking when the film was released, it's just not so much now. The fake commercials were cool. Overall, an entertaining and sometimes thought-provoking film.