The A-Team

Goolphipp Award: 4.3 (Worth 11 Bucks)

Goolsby:
I'm a huge Liam Neeson fan, so add in some classic action and A-Team corniness and you know I'm going to be there. I had a great time at this movie. You had a pretty easy and obvious plot, but who cares about that. The action scenes were great, and not over stylized like most current action movies. You had the classic team chemistry of the original A-Team. I don't claim to know much about the original series, but I have seen a handful of episodes. I think everyone did a great job bringing to life the characters. I'm really glad to see Neeson owning the older roles. He did a great job playing Hannibal Smith. Bradley Cooper seems like the perfect fit for Faceman. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson owned the role of B.A. Baracus. Last but not least Sharlto Copley did a stellar job playing Murdock. I loved all of them! They really did a great job together, and they made me want to be part of the A-Team. This movie is chock-full of humor, and a range of humor at that. Phipps and I felt like we were the only ones laughing in the whole theater. Hilarious. The movie embraced the corny and I enjoyed.

Goolsby overall: 4.25

I'm glad this movie was done so well, it brought the A-Team to a new generation.

Phipps:
I came out of this movie thinking, "I pity the fool!" and how I wanted to bring the phrase back into fashion. I was in my car saying, "Foo." While admitting that is rather embarrassing, it does show how much I liked it. I think the cast was perfect. I heard people complaining about the lack of Mr. T in the movie, but man, our Rampage owned it. It must have been tough to step into that role, but I thought he did a good job. Neeson totally brought a sexiness to the Colonel that I didn't expect. I'm also not a fan of the TV show, I've seen maybe one episode - it was on while I was still figuring out how to walk, so you can't blame me there. However, just from the pop-culture consciousness and the one episode I've seen in my adult life...I noted that all the classic lines were present and accounted for in this movie. Everything that the A-Team was known for is here. It's entertaining. The action sequences are sharp. Bradley Cooper is a too-tanned stud. Murdock...well, he's still crazy and brilliant. This movie embraced all of it's history and rocked it like a leather jacket. In other words, these guys got the heart of the show. Action without seeing dead bodies covered in blood. The cheesiness was like a breath of fresh air. It was just fun. See it. It's one of the best movies I've seen so far this year.

Phipps overall: 4.5
I just know I'm going to own it someday. I pity the fool! (See...I can't stop...)

Valentine's Day

Goolphipp Award: 3.1 (Worth 11 Bucks)

Phipps:
This movie was alright. I'm not a fan of vignette movies (not even Love Actually won me over), so if you like them, you will probably like this movie too. I have to say, I liked this movie better than Love Actually. I think this movie did a better job of connecting all the stories. Everybody and their brother (including both McDreamy and McSteamy!) was in this movie...all giving solid performances, except Taylor Swift. It was like the girl was on uppers. I did like where things landed at the end - spoiler alert! I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that the 18-year-olds did not have sex...and that it was okay to wait (for a bit at least). In this society, I was quite shocked by that (although, I really appreciated it)! I think my favorite moment was the Moorpark Blvd. discussion, being that I live fifteen minutes away from Moorpark, California, and where everyone seems to get that Moorpark spelled backwards is "kraproom." It was a local joke and I laughed very loudly! And I did appreciate Taylor Lautner's falls and jumps in the movie - I'm always impressed by how talented the kid is. Overall, this is a fun watch. Don't overthink it.

Phipps overall: 3.25
A fun, fluffy movie.

Goolsby:
I'm a huge fan of Love Actually, so this movie was right up my alley. In these types of movies you always like some stories more than the others. I really like Julia Robert's story and Ashton Kutcher's too. This movies gives you a wide range of the walks of love, and I liked being able to see all of them.

Here is a complaint, in Love Actually the story of father-son duo, (Daniel) Liam Neeson and (Sam) Thomas Sangster is the basic little boy in love plot. The girl that the little boy goes after is Indian. In Valentine's Day, we've got the same plot down to the Indian girl! If Hollywood if trying to be "diverse" then why not make her some other race? Goodness. So I was a little upset to see some all too similar plot lines when compared to Love Actually. I guess when a good formula works, you use it.

I like this movie, not as much as other similar types though. Oh... I had heard some stuff before seeing the movie about Taylor Swift's poor acting chops. I'm afraid everyone is right. I know she was supposed to be playing a ditz, but if we look to Anna Kendrick, who plays a ditsy teenager in Twilight, the comparison is easy to read. You can play a ditz but still act- Anna Kendrick wins that race any day.

Goolsby overall: 3
Good laughs.

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All About Steve

Goolphipp Award: 2 (See the Cheap Matinee)

Phipps:
All About Steve from the get-go reminded me of some other movie. Her red boots reminded me of Happy Go Lucky too much – crayon purple might have been a better choice. It was one of those movies where you had to grow to love the main character, and just when you wanted it all to work out – it simply doesn’t. At the end, you are left with your mouth hanging open in disbelief. It’s too bad, because you want this neurotically inclined, crossword-loving, smart girl to get the dude in the end. That being said, there were a lot of laughs along the way. I enjoyed the journey across the country with Mary. I did like the supporting cast. They were fun, and well cast. The details in this movie were stellar. Like I said, I would have loved this movie if Steve would have said, “When’s our second date?” at the end, but he didn’t. What’s a romance without a happy ever after? We need the kiss at the end. So, like Mary, we have to continue to search for a movie as normal as us.

Phipps overall: 2
Laughs kept it from being a total tanker.

Goolsby:
I agree with everything Phipps said. This movie marketed itself as a romantic comedy, not some coming of age movie. Therefore, I had expectations that were not met. Plain and simple. As you can tell from Phipps, the girl doesn't get the boy. The end was just sort of flat, not worthy of the character they build throughout the movie.

Want to hear the good things? We've got apple people carvings, a baby born with three legs, the classic scene of Mary falling down a mine hole, tornadoes, random outfits that don't match, and a crossword - all about Steve. All in all, that's not much. If I can't recall details that keep me laughing after the movie is said and done, it missed. I would say it had so much potential, but I would be lying. It had potential to be slightly more than average, but fell short because of the unsatisfying ending.

Goolsby overall: 2
Try again.

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The Hangover

Goolphipp Award: 4.3

Audience: College +

Goolsby: It’s a bachelor party set in Vegas, so nudity, drinking, drugs, gambling, and more is guaranteed. I think is more of a guy movie, but I loved it and I’m a girl.

Phipps: No one under 17. Parents, I don’t want to see your 12-year-old son in this movie! It’s not appropriate. For adults in the world, it was unexpectedly funny…and it wasn’t as raunchy as I thought it would be. In fact, the worse nudity/drinking/gambling (the general crazy Vegas behavior that offends) is featured as the credits roll, and you see images of what really happened the night before. Watch out for that if you’re a bit more conservative.

Storyline: Flashback treasure hunt
A bachelor party gone wrong– bachelor is missing. The storyline uses flashbacks to tell the story. Their ultimate goal the wedding.

Phipps: Inventive storyline, I thought. Simple, fresh, and totally ripe for hilarious happenings! Brings together all the strangeness of people getting a little too tossed in Vegas. This is one instance where you have to dredge up what happened in Vegas!

Where’s the Humor: Non-stop fast lane freeway

Phipps: The guy with the missing tooth, played by Ed Helms, stole my heart. It was reported that Ed Helms is actually missing a tooth, and had the fake, implant tooth removed for the filming. Yes, yes…it was really gone. Warms my heart. There was a good variety of humor over all, which surprised me. I expected it to be on the crass side the entire time, and was pleased that there was plenty of physical comedy and witty one-liners to balance.

Goolsby: I could not stop laughing the whole time. If it wasn’t one thing it was another. The character Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis, was ridiculously random. Alan is the weird brother in-law that sports a wolf print t-shirt and a man purse. Love it. There was plenty of physical comedy, as well as dry humor too. All the way to the end, including the credits, I was smirking or laughing about something. The story about the missing tooth is pure classic. And who steals a lion?!

Delivery: Sharp and quick

Goolsby: The character of Phil played by Bradley Cooper, is point on. He’s the arrogant jerk you just have to like. Not to mention he’s a looker, who looks cherry-up in a suit. Everyone did a really good job. They delivered their lines convincingly throughout. Everyone kept to their character personalities. I hope, hope, hope that there is a blooper reel on the DVD.

Phipps: Funny men committing to off-the-wall characters! I know this was a stretch for Bradley Cooper, who always pulls off the “jerk” role, but it was nice to see that he has some comedic timing too! Mr. Zach Galifianakis stole the show, hands down. It was a breakout performance for him.

Phipps overall: 4
Solid 4. I’m not partial to the comedies, especially those on the crass side, but this movie did win me over.

Goolsby overall: 4.75
As far as adult humor goes, this is up there with the best of em’. It will definitely be added to my collection when it comes out on DVD.

Goolphipp award: 4.3 (No peanuts chucked)

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