Movie Review: Man on a Ledge

 Despite it's stupid and obvious title that pretty much describes the whole plot,  Man on a Ledge is a pretty good movie. It certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel, you could even call it pedestrian, but it still manages to work. It takes a bit for to get going with a so-so first half while it sets up the story, Thankfully it picks up a lot in the second half. There is some unexpected, well-written twists that really spice the story up and keep the audience into it. The last half-hour is actually great once the multiple plots converge. The ensemble cast does a serviceable job with the standouts being Elizabeth Banks and Jamie Bell (who easily has the most fun with the material). Some of the characters were really underdeveloped (most importantly the villain played by Ed Harris) which prevented this from becoming a truly great thriller. It's not flawless, but Man on a Ledge is a solid, entertaining thriller.

3.5/5 Stars

Movie Review: 30 Minutes Or Less

30 Minutes Or Less was one of the very few films for the rest of 2011 that I was really excited to see. The trailers were quite amusing (the red-band trailers, in particular) and the cast was stacked from top to bottom with comedic talent. 30 Minutes Or Less lives up to the hype and provides a hilarious ride.

The concept is simple: Dwayne (Danny McBride) and his best friend Travis (Nick Swardson) need money to pay an assassin (Michael Pena)  to kill Dwayne's father and get his money. Their plan is to get someone they don't know to rob a bank to get the 100,000 dollars to pay the assassin. That person happens to pizza delivery boy Nick (Jesse Eisenberg). After being attacked delivering a pizza to Dwayne, Nick wakes up with a bomb strapped to his chest and he has ten hours to rob a bank or he will get blown up. Nick enlists the help of his best friend (Aziz Ansari) to help rob a bank and the duo begins their bank-robbing quest which may or may not be the last thing they ever do.

30 Minutes Or Less stars with the laughs early on and continues to bring them throughout the film. It really makes the most of it's 83-minute runtime. It packs a ton of high-quality jokes at a rapid pace in a very short period of time. The cast, as expected, does a  fantastic job. Aziz Ansari and Danny McBride are responsible for the biggest laughs. They are two of the finest comedic actors around and time and time again they prove that with their excellent comedic timing and skill for improv. Michael Pena also does a good job and provides a surprising number of laughs in his (first?) comic role. Despite being the lead role, Jesse Eisenberg isn't really given much to do comedically. It's not that he's bad in his role, it's just that the supporting cast really carries the weight of the laughs.

30 Minutes Or Less succeeds with it's solid tone, cast, and number of laughs. It's a short, relentless comedy loaded with laughs that is sharply scripted and paced. It's nice to see another great comedy out of 2011, for a while they were few and far between. 30 Minutes Or Less is a fun ride and it's easily one of the funniest films of 2011 so far.

4/5 Stars