Fired Up! (also Blu-ray). Despite the utterly generic plot, the movie is still worth checking out. If you are in the mood for some funny one-liners, surprisingly decent comic timing, and a tale that won't tax your brain, this is the flick for you. Fired Up! takes some cues from Judd Apatow's raunch-with-a-heart comedies, yet tempers them with something a bit safer for a wide audience. They filmmakers get pretty close, but forget the key ingredient that would have helped push it towards being truly worthy of your time: heart. This movie has none.
Nobel Son (also Blu-ray). This crime caper sees the son of a Nobel prize winner kidnapped with the goal of extorting money from the good doctor. However, there is an ulterior motive revealed as the plot progresses. The plot plays out sort of like a low-rent Quentin Tarantino caper. There were stretches of whizzing and zipping cuts and sounds where I was just bored. I had no reason to care about any of these people, and the ones I wanted to learn more about did not get the time. Alan Rickman and Eliza Dushku were the two I wanted more time with. Rickman is incredible as the self-absorbed chemist; you truly want to despise him, yet also want to spend more time with him, see what makes him tick. As for Eliza Dushku, well it's Eliza Dushku... that and her character is a little odd, a little weird, and completely compelling. In the end, I just don't care. Co-writer/directer Randall Miller and writer Jody Savin deliver a story that wants to be flashy and hip, but ends up being limp and dull. Oh well.
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