Movie Monday: The Truman Show

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with a classic. It’s The Truman Show!

Plot: The plot is pretty deep, which may surprise some people who are expecting a comedy since Jim Carrey is the star of the movie. The basic premise is that a kid named Truman is the star of a TV show, except he doesn’t know that. Everything and everyone in his life is an actor and his entire “world” is a TV set. A very advanced TV set, but still fake. It’s honestly a pretty cool premise, if not a little creepy. The fact that there is a mental disorder named after this movie is highly telling.

Casting: Jim Carrey does an amazing job as Truman, honestly I think this is one of his most serious films in terms of tone and he pulls it off amazingly. The rest of the cast is just as good.

Cinematography: The special effects are amazing, and that’s all that need be said for a non Fantasy/Sci-Fi film.

Music: The music is pretty great as well.

Overall: A very interesting and thought provoking movie, and a must see.

For those who like: Thinking Hard, Drama.

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the above.

Movie Monday: Liar Liar

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with another comedy film. It’s Liar Liar!

Plot: The plot is okay, but keeps in line with the tone of other movies of Carrey’s that were released around the same time like Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber.  Frankly it’s not that great as a story, with a very thin plot premise about not being able to lie at all, but it does well because of the cast.

Casting: The lead is of course Jim Carrey who plays Fletcher Reede, a lawyer and divorced father. Maura Tierney plays Audrey his ex. The cast is pretty good, but frankly Carrey carries, and pun sort of intended there, the movie with his exuberance and physicality that draws in the viewer more than almost any other character.

Cinematography: There isn’t any special effects worth noting really, but it wasn’t vomit inducing to watch so it doesn’t fail in terms of cinematography.

Music: The music fits the movie, which is all that needs be said. It’s not memorable, but it’s not something that made me want to bash my head against a wall to forget.

Overall: A fun movie, but somewhat forgettable.

For those who like: Comedy, Drama, Jim Carrey.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

 

Movie Monday: Ace Ventura

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with another classic comedy film. It’s Ace Ventura: Pet Detective!

Plot: The plot is ridiculously silly, but when you consider that the lead star is Jim Carrey that’s par for the course. It’s an okay family movie, but it will be a bit grating for the older members.

Casting: The cast of course includes Jim Carrey as Ace, but also has Dan Marino as himself and Courtney Cox as Melissa Robinson with Tone Loc as Officer Emilio and Sean Young as Einhorn. Despite the plot being pretty terrible the acting itself is fairly good, with Carrey being his normal outrageously expressive self. Fun fact: Alan Rickman (who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter Films) was once pitched as Ace Ventura.

Cinematography: The film really didn’t have much special effects to speak of so it’s fairly lackluster in that area.

Music: The music fit the film and that’s really all that can be said of it.

Overall: A silly movie that most kids will enjoy, but older family members will cringe quite often.

For those who like: Jim Carrey, Pets, “Mysteries”, Ridiculous Plots.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Movie Monday: The Mask

This week for Movie Monday I’m covering a Super Hero Movie. It’s The Mask!

Plot: The plot is okay, it’s nothing all that amazing to be honest, and frankly it’s pretty mediocre to me. That being said I remember it was somewhat funny to me as a child. I’ll admit I never knew until recently that this movie was based off a comic series published by Dark Horse, and that the comics were much darker in tone than the movie ever was. That’s probably a good thing, because honestly from what I’ve read about the comics in a quick perusal they sounded incredibly dark just to be dark.

Characters: The lead character is Stanley Ipkiss who is played by Jim Carrey and he does a fairly good job with it. That being said the cast isn’t good enough to make up for the mediocre plot.

Cinematography: The special effects were fairly good for their day, but they weren’t amazing either along the lines you might expect from a high quality Sci-Fi movie. That being said those effects have aged poorly, but that’s to be expected after nearly 25 years.

Music: I honestly don’t remember much of it, except that it was very fitting for the zany tone of the movie.

Overall: A fun, but not amazing movie. If you’ve never seen it, it might be worth your time to watch if you are really bored and can’t find a better movie.

For those who like: Comedy, Super Heroes, Jim Carrey.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.