27 Dresses / Knocked Up / Beowulf

27 Dresses - ***

A bit too long, but when you're staring at Katherine Heigl for 2 hours, that's not always a bad thing, unless Judy Greer (a fav of mine since 1999's "Jawbreaker") is on screen as she always is a scene-stealer. James Marsden shows promise as a romantic comedy lead and is much more charming here than as Cyclops in the "X-Men" films. The chemistry isn't as great between Heigl and Marsden as it is between her and Seth Rogan, but that's another film (see below). Still, sparks are present and Heigl is clearly the front-runner as the next Julia/Meg/Reese (Amy Adams being her biggest competition, and she's got 2 Oscar nods, but Heigl's Emmy win last fall shows she's not backing down by any means). This film is my first exposure to Heigl as an actress and, had I not heard of her before, I would say she's "one to watch" but everyone's been watching her for years. I guess I should have stuck with "Rosewell" way back when and now I actually have a reason for watching "Grey's Anatomy." Dammit!


Knocked Up - ***

Yes, a Katherine Heigl double-feature day and yes, I hadn't seen this film until yesterday. How is that possible?! I don't know so let's just say I didn't get a chance to see it, then I wanted to wait until the hype died down. The film lives up to my expectations as I found it genuinely funny, touching and well-balanced in humor and drama in it's approach to the subject, much like director Judd Apatow's "The 40 Year Old Virgin." I think a lot of credit needs to go to Seth Rogan for this film finding the success it did, as well as to Paul Rudd who, from what I've seen so far, has never had a bad performance. I will definitely be adding more of his work to my Netflix queue.

I wasn't quickly won over with Heigl on this film, but that may have been a script issue and not with her performance. The story is dependent on the fact that she's a beautiful woman on the verge of becoming a breakout correspondent on the E! network. On the eve of a big promotion she celebrates with a little too much "spirit" and winds up in bed with someone whom she probably would never give a second look. I didn't get any insight into whether she really liked Ben (Seth Rogan) or was only after a one night stand to accent her promotion celebration. Given her reaction the following morning and the fact that she doesn't contact him until she finds out she's pregnant, I would believe the latter. However, her agreeing to breakfast would lead me to believe she was willing to give him a real shot, which he blows big time, but not by being a pompous jerk, but by being nervous version of himself. So does she agree to "give it a real shot" (i.e., give him a second chance) because she's having his baby, or because everyone deserves a second chance? I saw no indication that, had she not gotten pregnant, she never would have called him again. I'll need another screening to be sure.


Beowulf - **1/2

Visually impressive but I found the story to be lackluster at best. Crispen Glover is fantastic as Grendel, yet I felt as if this film was intending to border on campy adventure yet it never gets there. Imagine if Monty Python had done "Braveheart" then maybe you'll understand what I mean. Still, I'm a fan of the motion capture process and hope that it continue's to be a genre of movie making, but I do prefer live actor's in front of a blue/green screen as compared to motion capture as animation has yet to make people look anything but creepy. Although the character of Beowulf did look more real than the others. Maybe because he had no correlation to his live-action actor?