What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Paul Zombie]

that sounds like something i would like to see Demdike. and i like Kat dennings very much.

[WowBobWow]

My eleven year old daughter absolutely loves The House Bunny, she watches it at least twice a month. It’s not normally my sort of thing, but it has a great cast and is just an easy watch.

[Paul Zombie]

i enjoy watching these type of films a lot, because i do like a bit of variation from rape and murder every now and again
just annoys me that they get classed as chick flicks when i am not a chick but a man who likes a good comedy.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I haven't seen it since I reviewed the BD prior to release in 2009, when I noted the mixed messages in the narrative and, with prescient insight, that Emma Stone showed "talent which would stand her in good stead for the future projects"!

If you want to read it, this is my full review of the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-ray release:

The House Bunny (2008)

Despite appearing in serious roles in the Oscar-winning films Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain, Anna Faris is predominantly known as a comedic actress thanks to her appearances in the Scary Movie films, Just Friends and My Super Ex-Girlfriend. The House Bunny sees her in familiar territory – it is, after all, a Happy Madison Production.

Faris plays Shelley, a popular ‘bunny’ who lives at the Playboy Mansion and dreams of being a centrefold. Waking up after the big party to celebrate her 27th birthday, she is shocked and saddened to find a letter on her breakfast tray telling her that she is too old and has two hours to move out. Unable to function in the outside world, Shelley stumbles into the Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority house where she is knocked out by one of the unwieldy letters above the door and is invited in. Becoming house mother to the nerdy and outcast students who need new pledgers to avoid the house being sold, she sets about transforming them from socially inept geeks into attractive young women with the most hip house on campus.

Meanwhile, Shelley undergoes a journey of her own, falling in love with Oliver (Colin Hanks), a volunteer at a nursing home and is desperate not to be seen as a clueless bimbo so the girls help out whilst, at the Playboy Mansion, Hef is depressed at Shelley’s decision to move out.

The House Bunny seems confused about what message it wants to send out. On one hand it’s making a ‘beauty is on the inside, so be yourself’ positive point but this is cancelled out by the omnipresent Playboy lifestyle with its superficial outlook on femininity (and this is coming from a subscriber of ten years). As they are mutually exclusive, you can't have both messages and the film would have worked a lot better had it stuck with Shelley moving out of the Playboy Mansion because of her age and finding, much to her surprise, beauty isn't all about how you look in the mirror (or in the pages of Playboy), then taking that message back to Hugh Hefner. However, as this is clearly indebted to Playboy, it needs to straddle the two stools – a challenge in itself – but falls awkwardly in between, tackling neither with any success.

The film began as an idea of Anna Faris’ and was in production as “Untitled Anna Faris Project” – the chairs have UAFP printed on them – and I got the idea that it was a comedy film that wasn’t really sure of itself. The idea of outcasts on a college campus eventually achieving acceptance was done years ago in Revenge of the Nerds and has been done plenty of times since – this follows the well-trod formula but with girls seeking acceptance by changing their appearance and becoming more confident.

Anna Faris is really the only reason to see the film – the other girls are OK, with Emma Stone reasonably impressive, showing talent which will stand her in good stead for future projects – but without the current star power and comedic talent of Faris, the whole thing would just collapse. There are appearances by three Playmates, basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, NFL quarterback Matt Leinart, Playboy Editor-In-Chief Hugh Hefner and his girlfriends, are barely adequate playing themselves! Hefner doesn’t even seem comfortable playing Hugh Hefner and is very different from the man you see in The Girls Next Door TV show, seemingly going through the motions and not really putting any effort into his performance. Faris, however, is perfectly at ease playing a girl so vapid and dim-witted that she thinks the word ‘vapid‘ is a complement and says such things like “who’d have thought that steam would be hot” and the obvious reference to Forrest Gump is probably a comment on Shelley’s IQ.

Another problem is the audience as, rated 12, it can’t be an American Pie style sex comedy, nor innocent enough to make it a family comedy making its ‘be yourself’ life lesson accessible to younger girls, something which would improve the film no end.

The Picture
As you’d expect from a new film on BD, the disc has a very good transfer, with superb presentation of the bright colours, from the pool of the Playboy Mansion to the bright outfits of Shelley and the girls and the newly redecorated sorority house. The skin tones look great, which is a good thing as there is plenty on show, and the picture, whilst not reference quality, is vibrant and sharp.

The Sound
A crisp Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack with clear dialogue, suitably poppy music and a decent, though not outstanding, array of subtitle and audio options. It’s not the sort of film to show off your system, making little use of the surrounds, but there is a nice soundstage and all the nuances come across well.

Extra Features
The extras package is a little light, containing 12 featurettes totalling just over 40 minutes, covering most aspects of the production, though after a while they become a little ‘samey’, repeating some material. There are several deleted scenes that were omitted for good reason and the forgettable music video for Katharine McPhee’s ‘I Know What Boys Like’.

For a film only three months out of the cinema and with plenty of big names associated with the project, this selection of bonus material is paltry.

Final Thoughts
This is a film that really didn't need to be made, has an extremely uncomfortable message and is one where every comedic moment falls flat. Anna Faris does her best to really keep this film, her own pet project, from sinking under its own sense of self worth and in the end it is neither funny enough, nor romantic enough to work as a romantic comedy and in the end just feels a little bit creepy.

[Paul Zombie]

i think i will still definately give it a go though. i like similar films like Clueless and Legally blonde a lot, and reviews are very good as well on amazon.


The enforcer.

another outing for Clint eastwood as inpector Harry callahen, this time trying to stop a bunch of hippy terrorists blowing up the city.
and this time getting a female partner that at first makes him very cross indead as he thinks that women arent up to the job.

this is very entertaining and although not quite as good as the first Dirty harry it is still very good. and has hilarious dialogues like when Harry gets transferred to personal for using to much force,
and he attracts the wrath of po faced Miss gray, by asking Tyne daly a new recruit, what law would be broken besides cruelty to animals, if miss gray asked him home and put on a display with a
shetland pony. that makes me laugh so much.
and when Cap mckay suspends him and asks for his star and he says heres a seven point supposidtory, stick it in yer ass

yes, i like this film very much and give 92.5 out of 100.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The fact that people still watch and like The House Bunny a decade on suggests it's probably better than Nos' review suggests.

[Rik]

It’s my guilty pleasure film, think we discussed it before in the early days of the Sirens thread

[Demoncrat]

I will stick with Bunny And The Bull

The Old Dark House (James Whale)

Ideal film to watch at the moment, as there is a howling gale and it's pissing it down for nearly the entire feature .
A married couple (and a hanger on) are forced to camp (cough) down with an unusual family. If your idea of fun is Scary Movie .... then piss right off . Every time I watch this, I see something new and appalling. HIGHEST RECOMMEND POSSIBLE.

[trebor8273]

Will Wheaton has to fight his family who slowly go insane and mutate after a meteor crashes infecting the drinking water.
6/10



Watch naked space vampires and Patrick Stewart snog a man and explode all over some other men! 9/10



Sinister government agency the shop are after a farther and more importantly his daughter (Drew Barrymore) who is a powerful pyrokinetic ( if I remember right invented by King) . Enjoyable with a great cast, George C Scott gives a chilling and disturbing performance. 7/10



An enjoyable and gory cop buddy/horror , two cops become suspicious after its nearly impossible to kill the two felons in a shoot out, while investigating what s going on one of them is killed but is brought back by a strange machine , and they set out to find out what s going on. Even with being a comedy it doesn't have a happy Hollywood ending as loved ones die and the two cops are doomed to melting into a pile of goo. 7/10

Now watching JD revenge.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The fact that people still watch and like The House Bunny a decade on suggests it's probably better than Nos' review suggests.

That is entirely possible. I just found the message of style over substance it appeared was sending to viewers confusing and a little troubling, though it wasn't as grotesquely offensive as The Hottie and the Nottie in its subtext. Legally Blonde, by the same writers, is a much smarter and interesting film.