YEAR ONE NOW AVAILABLE

Here is a review for the movie Year One from dvdtalk

Wow, that was embarrassing. Finally, David Cross has a movie to be more ashamed of than Alvin & the Chipmunks.

Year One should have been called Year Zero or even Year None, because that's how many stars I'm going to give it and that's how many laughs it got out of me. If there is a worse movie this year, I don't want to see it, as this is as low as I care to go. Criticizing what is wrong with a movie as awful as this is a difficult task, because there is very little to hang it on. It's just not funny, plain and simple. Not at all.

The idea here was that Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day) and his pair of writers would shamelessly revisit the sketch-comedy concept of Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part I, but limiting the material to the first book of the Bible. The fact that by no one's count this would actually be "Year One" shows you how little thought was put into the script. Excepting Adam and Eve, wouldn't the oldest person, then, be less than a year old? I'm just throwing it out there, because, you know, it's not even a good title, so I can't see why someone would have ever fought for it. I also realize it's not important, but I had to think about something to keep my mind occupied during this utterly dull piece of dreck.

Jack Black and Michael Cera star as the barely-upright-on-the-evolutionary-ladder versions of Jack Black and Michael Cera, Zed and Oh. Oh is presumably named Oh so that people could be surprised when they see him and say, "Oh!" As the first comedy duo, with Black as the funny fat guy and Cera as the hapless straight man, the two prove once and for all how old their schtick really is. You thought you were sick of Jack Black after just a few years, imagine what it would be like if you had been watching him dance and bug out his eyes since the dawn of time. Personally, I'd accept another worldwide flood if it meant not having to see him in a movie again, but with my luck, some meathead studio exec would market test him as Noah and put him on the Ark. Of course, that would mean we'd suddenly have one jackass two many, but I digress....

The long and short of it is that Zed eats from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, as apparently he has lived in the old Garden of Eden all this time and not known it. This gets him banished from his village, and Oh follows him as he explores the world, running into Biblical characters like Cain and Abel (David Cross and Paul Rudd), Abraham (Hank Azaria), and the full population of Sodom, the original Las Vegas as the film not so subtly reminds us. It was pretty clear in the first ten minutes, all the stuff at the village, that Year One was going to be awful, but I held out hope that the oncoming cameos--other pop-ins include Bill Hader, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Matt Besser, Paul Scheer, and Oliver Platt--would give us the occasional diversion and keep Year One from being a total waste. I mean, seriously, I thought it was impossible to have a bad Paul Rudd cameo, but Harold Ramis is a can-do guy when it comes to pushing quality into the middle of the road--or, in this case, off the road and into a ditch.

I am sure Judd Apatow, who produced this movie (as well as flicks like Walk Hard and Forgetting Sarah Marshall), has great affection for Harold Ramis, but letting him run wild with Year One is not the kind of tough love this filmmaker needs. The failure of this movie rests almost entirely with him. The direction is clumsy and half-hearted. There is no continuity in the editing, close-ups are poorly framed and poorly used, and the film's sense of comic timing is all out of whack. Most of the scenes are slowly paced, and rather than figure out how to get from one skit to the next, Ramis just cuts away, often before any real punch line, quite regularly making it seem like huge chunks of the story are missing. Early in the movie, Michael Cera is attacked by first a snake and then a cougar, and each time, we don't even see him get out of it. It's just, "Oh, look, a cougar," and then cut to, "Gee, that kind of hurt." Even the last scene, which keeps getting longer and longer, another bit getting tacked on just when you think it's over at last, fizzles out instead of delivering a gag. Unsure of what to do, Oh and Zed just walk away. Which makes way for the blooper reel, full of flubs and on-set cut-ups so you can see for yourself just how little anyone cared about this production.

A film with as broad a concept as Year One requires a go-for-broke attitude. This film should have been manic, silly, over-the-top, and raunchy, but instead it's reserved, timid, and narcoleptic. Most of the actors look like they are trapped and are dying to do their day of shooting and just get out, and I have to say, by the end of this, I know how they felt.

By the way, Gene Stupnitsk and Lee Eisenberg, the team who wrote this flop with Harold Ramis, are also writing Ghostbusters III. You may not be afraid of no ghosts, but you should be afraid of that.

Here is the direct download for the movie Year One.

YONKERS JOE NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Yonkers Joe from imdb

Family life gets in the way of a con man's search for the perfect scam.

Here is a review for the movie Yonkers Joe from dvdtalk

The Movie:

Robert Celestino's Yonkers Joe has enough material for two movies, and that's the problem: one of them is fascinating and one of them isn't, and the bad one keeps muscling the good one out of screen time. The good movie is about Chazz Palminteri's titular character, a card and dice "mechanic" (a slick operator who uses quick moves and magician-style sleight of hand) working backroom games with a crew of fellow cardsharps, dreaming of taking the house in Vegas or Atlantic City. The bad movie is about his tentative relationship with his son, who has Down Syndrome and, approaching 21, is about to be released from his care facility.

The story of Joe and his crew (which also includes Linus Roache, the always-valuable Michael Lerner, and a terrific Christine Lahti) has the same kind of gritty, compelling verve as some of David Mamet's pictures (particularly House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner). Celestino has a nice ear for dialogue--the characters speak in a jargon-heavy shorthand and are artful and inventive in their profanity. There's a real thrill in the sequences where we watch them work a room or devise a cheat; it functions on the enjoyable, "here's how this is done" level of a good heist film. An early scene in which Joe uses a card-cutting trick to take a hot-headed mark (played by Michael Rispoli, a familiar face from the great poker movie Rounders) at a poker game is beautifully executed; when that same mark turns up at a dice game they're trying to work, Celestino's writing and cutting generate real suspense.

But the business with his son, Joe Jr. (Tom Guiry) simply doesn't play, and there's no getting around it. Everything else in the movie feels written from the inside-out; in the special features, Celestino explains how he became attracted to this scene, how he's watched these guys work and hung out with them, and it is clearly a life that he understands and can write about honestly. The stuff with the kid has none of that honesty; it feels like a warmed-up leftover from countless other movies, and if you think it'd be too obviously derivative of Rain Man to have the kid end up helping his dad at the tables, you'd be wrong (we even get a shot of him coming down the casino escalators in his favorite suit).

Palminteri does the best he can in these scenes. He's getting older, his face growing wearier and more drawn, and he uses it well in this role, conveying his emotions with a look or a exasperated reaction more successfully than in the sometimes hackneyed dialogue. He's always done the sensitive brute well, from his breakthrough role in A Bronx Tale forward; it's a shame that so much of his recent work has been one-dimensional tough guys. A scene late in the film, in which he tells Lahti how he honestly feels about the kid ("He's my punishment") is awfully over-written, but there's some fine acting happening there--from both of them. She's an actress we've come to take for granted over the last few years (most of her recent work has been on TV) and that's a shame; here, she skillfully inhabits the role of a woman who has grown tired of chasing the big score.

In spite of the aforementioned predictable artifice, the climax, at a Vegas craps table, is tense and well-crafted. But the big resolution that follows is something of a disaster; the ongoing drama over Joe Jr.'s living situation is handled conveniently off-screen, and the final conversation between the father and son plays some pretty easy notes without much subtlety. It's affecting, sure, but it's manipulative as hell, and we can still be superficially moved while getting worked over by a shallow, obvious scene.

The DVD

Video:

Yonkers Joe is clearly going for a naturalistic look, but the anamorphic 1.85:1 image is frequently more grimy than gritty. The grain is heavy, often heavier than you might like, with quite a bit of noise in a rather soft overall image. It's atmospheric, sure, but sometimes borders on ugly.

Audio:

The 5.1 mix is front-heavy, which is not unexpected for a film this talky and (mostly) low-key. Dialogue is clear and well-modulated ,with no audibility issues. However, the occasional use of the surround channels is somewhat underwhelming; in rich aural environments like racetracks, casinos, and Vegas streets, there's not much happening in the rear speakers. It certainly doesn't distract, but it feels like a missed opportunity.

A 2.0 stereo track is also available, as are Spanish subtitles.

Extras:

The Yonkers Joe disc offers up a respectable selection of bonus featurettes. The "Behind the Scenes Featurette" (14:49) is interview-heavy and, frankly, a little dry. However, "The Moves" (6:29) is simply fascinating; in it, writer/director Celestino demonstrates a number of the card and dice moves seen in the film. He does these demonstrations himself, and the result is a lot of fun. "Meet Fast Jack" (8:59) is also enjoyable; it features a sit-down interview with technical consultant John "Fast Jack" Farrell, an old-school mechanic who dubs himself "The Last of the Mohicans." "The Look" (5:37) is a fairly standard examination of the visual style of the film, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Celestino and director of photography Michael Fimognari. The final segment, "Yonkers Joe Premiere," (7:12) is a well-paced montage of interviews and footage from the film's premiere.

Final Thoughts:

When Yonkers Joe works, it works so well that you want to forgive its flaws. But the secondary storyline is so tone-deaf and warmed-over that it tries the viewer's patience; it goes so far off-track in those scenes that it takes considerable time to pull us back in to its more engrossing narrative. There are enough good scenes and interesting performances to warrant a rental, but little more.

Here is the direct download for the movie Yonkers Joe.

YES MAN NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Yes Man from imdb

A guy challenges himself to say "yes" to everything for an entire year.

Here is a review for the movie Yes Man from dvdtalk

Once upon a time Jim Carrey couldn't tell a lie. Now he can't stop saying yes to every opportunity that comes his way. Reshuffling a comedy concept a little to the left, "Yes Man" has Carrey trying to reclaim his bygone slapstick glory days, scraping the gunk off his comic timing and sprinting toward low-calorie bellylaughs. The effort is appreciated; however, the film still leaves much to be desired.

A man who has never indulged in a personal adventure, banker Carl (Jim Carrey) prefers to keep to himself, ignoring friends (including Bradley Cooper and Danny Masterson) and co-workers (Rhys Darby, "Flight of the Conchords") who request his company. When an old acquaintance (John Michael Higgins) urges Carl to take in a seminar on the power of saying yes, the host (Terence Stamp) convinces Carl to change his life. Suddenly agreeing to do anything that comes his way, Carl find his existence transformed, leading him into the arms of Allison (Zooey Deschanel), a bohemian singer/photographer who takes a shine to Carl's newfound spontaneity.

With the wild days of Ace Ventura and "Dumb and Dumber" long behind him, Jim Carrey has struggled to retain his spark over the last decade, weaving through dramatic endeavors for legitimacy and toplining halfhearted comedies that all tend to fizzle out in the third act. "Yes Man" continues along the same route of middling results for Carrey, only now the concept hits too close to home, with the actor repeating himself to maintain the shine on his box office gold medal.

Directed by Peyton Reed (the likeable "The Break-Up," the rancid "Down with Love"), "Yes Man" suffers from a severe case of mediocrity, and Carrey fidgets frantically to kick-start the proceedings beyond the heavy chains of formula. The picture actually starts off promisingly by introducing Carl as not a depressed loser, but a gentleman who genuinely doesn't enjoy the constraints of a social life. It's an inventive twist on the routine, and Carrey plays around with the anti-social behavior with traditional amusement, keeping Carl something of a jerk, though a kindly jerk. "Yes Man" has a lot of fun with Carl's public misery, building to the titular moment of universal agreement in pleasingly broad fashion, punctuated by a hilarious supporting role from Stamp as the guru who encourages total submission from the withdrawn man.

Once Carl swallows his negativity, "Yes Man" switches into slapstick overdrive, observing Carl taking on new challenges in language, musicianship, and suicide prevention, not to mention accepting wholly unwanted sexual favors from senior citizens, culminating in a routine gums-only oral sex gag that keeps this film from its rightful home as an ideal family night out at the movies. A shame. The film also makes plenty of space for Carl to woo Allison, taking the hipster on the ride of her life as Reed nudges the material toward a romantic comedy destination. Even with 18 years separating the actors, Carrey and Deschanel share flavorful chemistry, making proper use of the screenplay's insistence on musical numbers and easily telegraphed eccentricity.

The movie's midpoint features Carl and Allison heading to Nebraska on a traveling whim, taking in sights such as a telephone museum and a slaughterhouse killing floor (Carl quickly passes out), which takes the film to a wonderful plateau of gentle farce that deepens the central relationship without the need to apply the brakes. Then the brakes are applied, when Carl and Allison return home to find they've been mistaken for terrorists. Reed promptly punts the laughs away and "Yes Man" goes from chuckles to stasis as the screenplay lazily hunts for a way to introduce hand-holding meaning to all the laughs. In short: the filmmakers have decided to "Bruce Almighty" the bejesus out of the picture.

Dealing with Carl's conscience and a tiresome screenwriting formula which specifies romantic entanglements must be dissolved for maximum third-act redemption (preferably with an 80's rock anthem scoring the moment), "Yes Man" is left devoid of a needed personality. Carrey's gusto helps to squeeze some pleasure out of the familiarity of it all, but the film hardly satisfies that special need to be slapped around by a comedy. Considering Carrey already mined this material in the aggravating-yet-side-splitting "Liar Liar," it's strange to watch the actor fail to achieve funny-bone velocity. Instead, "Yes Man" plays it safe, failing to heed its own message of taking chances.

Here is the direct download for the movie Yes Man.