Movie Review: Blades of Glory – Starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder
Released: March 30th, 2007
Runtime: 1 hr. 33 min.
Ticket Price: $7.00 Matinee
Refreshments: Rolos
Starring: Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler and Jenna Fischer
Director: Will Speck
Rating: Worth a Matinee
Synopsis: Way back in 2002, two of the best figure skaters in the world get stripped of their medals after a fight on the ice. Yet now, they have found a loophole in the rulebook that will let them compete as a pair. Can they put aside their differences and go for the gold once again?
Review: Blades of Glory may be a bit crude, a tad distasteful, a touch over-the-top, but it was actually funny. That is right, a comedy where laughter could actually be heard in the theater. I am not talking about that one weird guy up front, who could be heard over the hush of the rest of the crowd, laughing at all that was Norbit. It was actually the crowd that was enjoying the movie.
Will Ferrell (Talladega Nights, Anchorman) and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) play well off of each other. Ferrell is Chazz Michael Michaels, the bad boy of men’s figure skating. Heder is Jimmy MacElroy, the technically efficient robotic like skater who was raised to do nothing but win the gold. After finishing at an event in a tie, they get in a fight on the podium while accepting their gold medals. For this debacle they get suspended for life from their sport of figure skating.
When Jimmy’s stalker points out that he was only banned from men’s singles and he could still compete as a pair, he tries to get his old coach back, played by Craig T. Nelson (TV’s The District and Coach), who turns him down.
Later, while Jimmy is searching for a skating partner, he runs into Chazz and they once again get into it and cameras are there to capture it all. Jimmy’s old coach’s trained eye sees more in the moves used during the fight when it gets broadcast on the news. He gets the idea that they should make history and compete together as a team.
Now a team, their biggest competition comes from the American skating pairs champions played by Will Arnett (TV’s Arrested Development) and Amy Poehler (TV’s Saturday Night Live). They play the brother and sister team of the Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenburg. Arnett and Poehler are part of the two most distasteful scenes in the movie. One at the end of the movie is a bit less, knowing that the two are actually married in real-life and that you knew it was coming at some point. The other, their performing as JFK and Marilyn Monroe during a skating routine, made the woman behind me groan in disgust. The scene was quite uncomfortable and less than funny. I think you will see what I mean when, or if, you see Blades of Glory.
The funniest part of the movie, as with Music and Lyrics, is the opening and how they introduce the main characters to you. In this case, with a video biographical profile narrated by sportscaster Jim Lampley. A faster paced version of something you might see about an athlete during coverage of the Winter Olympics. These are very well done and let you in on what type of comedy you are about to set through for the duration of the movie.
Also, the skating community seems to have a great sense of humor regarding their sport. Whether it was Scott Hamilton as a TV analyst with Lampley calling the action or the various cameos by skaters like Nancy Kerrigan, Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming and Brian Boitano as Skating Federation Judges and Sasha Cohen cheering the guys on to victory, they sure came out to participate in this send-up of all that is figure skating. In fact, Hamilton and Lampley are great, as they have some of the best lines in the movie. They play it pretty straight, just like they were actually announcing these events for TV.
Blades of Glory is worth skating down to your local theater for a matinee. Overall, it might be worthy of a Silver medal, but given what has come thus far, comedy wise, out of Hollywood this year, it takes the Gold. Don’t worry though, as plenty of the year is left for something else to come along and knock it from atop the comedy podium.
How would your review Blades of Glory starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder?
On The Lookout for Blades of Glory
That is right; Blades of Glory with Will Ferrell and Jon Heder will be this Friday’s pick. None of the movies opening this weekend would normally get me to a theater to see them. These types of movies usually don’t get watched until that little red envelope from Netflix arrives or about this time next year when they hit HBO or one of the other premium cable movie channels.
Something had to be picked for the last Friday in March and a comedy, especially one with Will Ferrell, looks like the best option. I will wait for The Lookout and Peaceful Warrior to hit DVD before I see them and Meet the Robinsons has a good shot of never being seen at all.
So, tomorrow I will head out to the theater with my funny bone intact and hope for the best. As I heard someone say today, “I hope it isn’t one of those comedies where after seeing the trailer and then the movie, I leave the theater feeling like I have seen it twice.” That is never a good thing. You can come back Friday and find out what New Movie Friday thinks of Will Ferrell’s latest effort, or if any effort was made at all. Is it funny and worth hitting the theater for? Stay tuned.
What New Movies Come Out Friday, March 30th?
There are 10 movies coming out around the country on Friday, March 30th. Only two are in wide release, Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons. The other eight are in limited release and may or may not be in a theater near you. So, what are these new movies that hit theaters this week?
Nationwide Movie Releases for March 30th:
Movie: Blades of Glory (PG-13) (Read Review)
Starring: Well Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler
Genre: Comedy
Synopsis: Way back in 2002, two of the best figure skaters in the world get stripped of their medals after a fight on the ice. Yet now, they have found a loophole in the rulebook that will let them compete as a pair. Can they put aside their differences and go for the gold once again?
First Thoughts: Will Ferrell is usually pretty funny. He was one of my favorite Saturday Night Liver cast members. Him as an Olympic level skater does sound funny, but will it go for the gold like Anchorman
Movie: Meet the Robinsons (G)
Starring: Angela Bassett, Laurie Metcalf, Tom Selleck and Harland Williams
Genre: Family Animated Adventure
Synopsis: An orphan named Lewis has always wanted to be part of a family. While looking for his, he takes an unexpected journey. A strange man named Wilbur Robinson takes him into the future where everything seems to be possible. While there he meets some wacky characters and a family that he could have never imagined himself, The Robinsons. They help him along this funny new adventure with genuine results. The movie is based on the book, A Day with Wilbur Robinson
First Thoughts: Animated features are not my first choice for big screen viewing, although I did like The Incredibles
New Movies in Limited Release:
Movie: The Lookout (R)
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels and Carla Gugino
Genre: Drama Suspense
Synopsis: A young man who once had it all. He was a promising athlete in high school with many avenues about to be open for him when everything changes. He is involved in a tragic accident that turns his normal life upside-down. Now the best he can do is take a job sweeping the floors of the local bank because of his faulty memory after the accident. After meeting an old high school classmate, he ends up in the middle of a plan to rob the bank.
First Thoughts: Sounds interesting and it has Carla Gugino in it, which is always a good thing.
Movie: Peaceful Warrior (PG-13)
Starring: Scott Mechlowicz, Nick Nolte and Amy Smart
Genre: Drama
Synopsis: A gifted athlete wants to succeed so badly that it is the driving force behind everything he sets out to do. One night he meets a mysterious man at a convenience store and his eyes are opened to a new way of looking at things. While following the teaching of this mysterious fellow, his life starts to unravel and he must learn and continue to sacrifice to truly understand and get back to where he wants to be. Based on the book by Dan Millman
First Thoughts: It is another interesting sounding movie with another athlete and another accident that changes things.
Other limited releases coming out this week:
- After the Wedding – A drama about a man with a dilemma and what he does while trying to save the orphanage he works at in India.
- G.I. Jesus – Is the story of an illegal who joins the U.S. military and when he comes home finds that the family he left has been changed by the consumer culture of the U.S.
- Live Free or Die – No this is not the next Die Hard movie, although similar title. It is a comedy about a clueless criminal and an unstable cop.
- Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience – In this documentary, actors such as Robert Duvall, Beau Bridges and Blair Underwood do dramatic readings of letters, poetry and other writing from soldiers in Iraq.
- Race You to the Bottom – The romance story of a couple who confront the realities of their dual relationships while visiting wine country.
- Rescue Dawn – Christian Bale and Steve Zahn as POWs in the Vietnam War and their struggle while trying to escape.
This week, according to Fandango, New Movie Friday has four movies to choose from at a theater near me. They are Blades of Glory, Meet the Robinsons, The Lookout and Peaceful Warrior. What movie should be seen? Do any of these movies interest you? Which movies opening this Friday will get you out to the theater this weekend?
Movie Review: Shooter – Starring Mark Wahlberg, Michael Pena, Kate Mara and Danny Glover
Released: March 23rd, 2007
Runtime: 2 hr. 4 min.
Ticket Price: $5.00 Early Matinee
Refreshments: Swedish Fish
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Michael Pena, Kate Mara and Danny Glover
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Rating: Worth a Matinee
Synopsis: A marksmen and former military sniper leaves the military after a mission goes badly. Three years later, he gets called back into duty to help stave off a potential assassination attempt on the president. This is all a setup to use him as the patsy for the real assassination. He ends up on the run from a nationwide manhunt by authorities and the people who set him up. He sets out to find who is behind all this and clear his name while trying to stay alive in the process.
Review: Shooter doesn’t quite hit the mark. It’s a fun ride though and Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, The Italian Job) does make a pretty good action hero, but overall, the story left a little to be desired. Shooter is based on the book, Point of Impact
A Colonel Johnson, played by Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), talks Bob Lee Swagger (Wahlberg) back into service for his country. He is to help bring down a potential assassination of the president by scouting the sites and figuring out where he would take the shot. Swagger lets them know where he thinks the best vantage points are and where the best place to attempt this would be. The Colonel asks him to be there on the day of the presidential visit to help be his eyes, since he knows best what to look for.
When the assassination actually takes place, they try to kill him, but the inept cop they hired to do the job got him twice, but didn’t finish him off before Swagger could escape. Now on the run and injured, he must do what he can to survive. This includes heading for the only person he thinks he might be able to trust, the wife, played by Kate Mara (We Are Marshall), of his dead friend who was killed during his last mission, three years ago.
This is where the movie really takes off, jumping from location to location, each with there own action packed gun battles and big explosions and all quite picturesque. Many of these scenes are great and are what you go to a big action movie for, the adrenaline rush, the good guy taking it to the bad guys and so forth. As long as you don’t worry about how the most wanted man in America can get around to all these places and get his hands on plenty of sniper equipment to boot, you will probably enjoy this film. He must keep one large wad of cash in his sock.
Where I had the biggest problem with Shooter is how they wrap up the story. The ending, while displaying Swaggers cleverness at one point, seems to come too fast. Not to mention, you can see it coming from 1760 yards away. After the almost two hours you have set through to that point, you want more of a confrontation with the bad guys in what turns out to be an anti-climatic finale.
Hey, maybe even a few words uttered by our hero at the end of the move would have been good. There is no “yippe-ki-yay mother…” at any point in the movie to remember it by, but the final scenes would have been the perfect place to insert one. Once you’ve seen the movie, one initially comes to mind. I mean they set it up a couple of times towards the end of the movie, but never pay it off. Sometimes, even a cliché is better than nothing at all.
It just didn’t seem like there was enough of a resolution to the events. The why this all happened and for what purpose all gets lost amongst all the exploding helicopters and bullets flying all over the place. The explanations are about as shadowy as the organization that is trying to cover them up. Sitting here as I type this, I can’t even recall what they might have been other than, the generic, money and power.
The story does leave open the possibility of Bob Lee Swagger coming back to the big screen to shoot again. Since the Bob Lee character does appear in two more of Hunter’s novels, Black Light
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