"My Q-Bertese Is A Little Rusty."

WRECK-IT RALPH (2012)

It's been a while since I've laughed this much in a movie theatre. And not just the "haha, everyone around me is laughing so I guess I'll snicker" laugh. A genuine, unflattering bark of a laugh. In a place a least expected it: a child's animated movie. To be fair, something tells me Wreck-It Ralph isn't exactly targeting kids. It's a movie about video-games for video-game lovers, a nostalgic parody of those old school games we once loved. The plot runs like this: Wreck-It Ralph, a video game villain, wants more out of life and starts jumping games to try to win a medal and come back a hero. 

And if you didn't spent the better half of your childhood with a gameboy in hand, don't sweat it--neither did I. Yet I still managed to get most of the references and understood the humor. At the end of the day, it's just a well written, solid script, which seems to be a rarity these days. The characters were great, lovable; the writing was interesting and didn't talk down to its audience; and it was just straight-up fun. Of course, I have to namedrop: we've got a lot of great voice actors in this one. John C. Reilly is Wreck-It Ralph, Sarah Siliverman is the not-so-sweet Vanellope, Jack McBrayer is hilarious as Felix, Jane Lynch is flawless as Calhoun, and Alan Tudyk--yes, Alan Tudyk--makes an appearance as King Candy, though it's near impossible to recognize his voice. In short, I know it's easy to chalk this one up as a "maybe I'll see it, maybe not," but I'm here to tell you the answer is yes. You want to check this one out, if only for nostalgic value. 

"Armed With A Stick."

CARNAGE (2011)

Roman Polanski. Christoph Waltz. Jodie Foster. Kate Winslet. John C. Reilly. Sounds great, right? And then you see the plot. Two sets of parents meet to discuss their two sons who have gotten into a fight. Question mark? It's an eighty minute parent conference. It shouldn't be as much fun as it is. But between the great writing and the stellar acting, it's hard not to look away from what, in any other situation, would be a snooze-fest. 

To be honest, since I do love Roman Polanski, I had hoped the script would be a little better than it was. Which isn't to say that it was bad. It was a well done script. But there were bits and pieces--mainly, the fact that it relied too much occasionally on the men vs. women dynamic and a little-too-hard-to-watch vomit scene (there's cringy-but-epic hard to watch, then there's I-need-to-go-home-and-splash-holy-water-on-my-eyes hard to watch. This was the latter). But to be fair, Polanski had a hard act to follow with the likes of similar small-group-of-people-stuck-together movies like Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966), and it's been a while since anyone's been bold enough to take something like that on. 

Still, the main draw of this movie was the acting. Hands down. I've always been a big Christoph Waltz fan, and he definitely delivers as the aloof business man who can't get off his cellphone. His wife is played by Kate Winslet and with her quiet intensity, they make a fantastic power couple. Jodie Foster also gives a brilliant, emotional, hysterical performance, and if I have any complaint about her it's that she didn't get enough time playing off Christoph Waltz as they were both the strongest players in the film. John C. Reilly, ever underrated, appears to be something of the "odd man out" at first glance, but he holds his own and gives a solid performance. All in all, it's a great movie simply to watch fantastic actors play off each other, and it's an easy 80 minutes so it never overstays its welcome.