Kick-Ass (2010)

Start with a goofy tale about an awkward, comics-obsessed teenager deciding to run out in brightly colored tights with a mission to save the world, toss in a mob plot, and a foulmouthed father/daughter crime-fighting duo. Stick it in a blender for two hours and out comes this weirdly lovable ultra-violent mess of a movie. Almost nothing here is by the numbers—the combat is bloody, the language extra salty, and the heroes aren't really that heroic. Unlike other comic adaptations, there isn't any overarching message, or a direct source to be ripping on, this is just a straight up violent popcorn-muncher. Largely this works. The momentum and build-up are spot on, the twists mostly obvious and fun, and the drama is light and breezy with just a slight edge to keep you invested. This isn't a grand filmmaking, merely some good, dirty amusement.

8 out of 10.

Knowing (2009)

You get these sometimes: movies that start out pretty good, get about half way in, then start to fall apart. By the time you get to the last fifteen minutes of this film you'll want a refund on your time. In the early going, as the catastrophic numerology starts to pull things together, it feels pretty good—there's palpable tension as the disparate threads introduce themselves, the characters have interesting tweaks on familiar dynamics, and Nicolas Cage manages not to make a mess of himself. Then things swing into the second act. The more everything starts to make sense, the less interesting it becomes. There's a lot of potential carelessly discarded by the time the credits roll. The few effects sequences are still pretty decent, and the first act holds up well, but if you need a sci-fi thriller fix, you can do much better.

4 out of 10.

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

With all due respect, Dreamworks is simply not known for delivering on the same level as Pixar. They always output very competent films, but the writing always feels more spastic, the storytelling more forced and less meaningful. Then along comes Kung Fu Panda, a movie that takes the studio's trademarked shallowness and turns it into an asset, delivering a light and breezy martial arts fable with just enough characterization, just enough action, and just the right kind of wit. It's a bout of perfectly pure entertainment, funny and exciting throughout. It is absolutely gorgeous too, telling its story of a goofy panda's quest to become a martial arts master with a sense of artistic flair steeped deep in Chinese iconography. For some solid laughs, a bit of time with fun characters, and some beautiful visuals, this is an excellent way to put a smile on.

8 out of 10.

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Also known as Majo no takkyûbin.
Even when legendary director Hayao Miyazaki is at his least effective, his style is still quite enchanting. Here he tells the coming of age story of a young witch off on her own for the first time, learning the ropes of life's triumphs and failures. Nothing, and yet everything is charming. The most fantastic parts of its mildly supernatural plot are told without any effort, and the result is a feeling of everyday magic, of a normal grounded in the incredible. It's all framed in a summertime kind of beautiful, with lush greens, and deep ocean blues—the art here is exceptional. It does lose a bit of ground, however, as it moves into the third act. What little conflict there is feels appropriate, but the resolutions feel forced and cheap. Interesting characters are well developed, but under-used. But somehow it barely matters. Somehow it's just a few wrinkles in on a lovely package. It may not be perfect, but it is very satisfying.

8 out of 10.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)

What makes reviewing a film like this difficult is how subjective humor is. Suffice it to say that if you find “stupid” humor to be funny, along the lines of Kentucky Fried Movie or Harold and Kumar, then there's a very good chance that this film will make you laugh your way into a coma. Fans of Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? may also want to check this out. Likewise, if you are a fan of illegal substances, boy have I got a film for you! Yet on the other hand, if humor has to make sense to illicit a laugh from you, if amusement only comes from broad setups and well-timed punchlines, if films have to actually be good in order to be funny, then you're more likely to turn this film off 10 minutes in and wonder about the mental state of anyone caught with this in their DVD collection. This is a stupid movie. A very, very stupid movie. But if you're in tune with its offerings of poor re-edits and re-dubs of an bad kung-fu flick from the 70s, you'll be hard pressed not to laugh yourself sore.

8 out of 10.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Murder and mayhem go toe-to-toe with the fastest mouth in Orange County in Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black's directorial debut. There's a surprising verve and hilarious amount of chaos swirling around in this film, most of it thanks to legendary motormouth and leading man Robert Downey Jr. Simply put, every time the troubled actor opens his trap, comic gold spills out. Helping to keep the energy up is some great chemistry with costars Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan. The story itself is a mish-mash of largely-standard film-noir tropes centering on a few folks in and around the movie business trying to solve a mysterious murder. For the most part the plot is fairly blasé, but smart writing and the self-knowing wit of everyone involved let it slowly become a smart deconstruction of other films in the genre. To say much more would be to say too much, but it's a fairly safe bet that anyone who likes their humor dark with a side of dirty will have a ball with this.

9 out of 10.

Kiss My Snake (2007)

guest review by Phineas Gopher

Before you jump to conclusions about its title, this is a documentary about cobra boxing in a small Thailand village featuring old men who make a living going head-to-head with some of the deadliest snakes on earth. The film examines their way of life, how they survive without antivenin when the inevitable bites occur, and how difficult it is to maintain interest in the art of snake boxing among the latest generation (kids these days! They can’t just stay home and put king cobras in their mouths like their father and his father. Have to go get all educated in the city). A fair amount of information is covered at a nice, brisk pace, but the film is never better than when it is showing the titillating ring-matches themselves. To misquote Jerry Maguire, “You had me at ‘Cobra Boxing.’”

8 out of 10.

The Kite Runner (2007)

At the points where this film soars, it is a poignant and touching story of childhood innocence ruined, and adult responsibility redeemed. There are a lot of exceptional moments, too: a fun kite flying competition over the streets of Kabul, a father and son's perilous flight from their home, and a tender, but rightfully brief, romantic plot. And seeing Afganistan turn from a piece of rustic desert beauty in the late 1970s into a land razed by Communist forces, then decimated by the Taliban's oppression by 2000 is quite dramatic. But the scope of events is never taken on, and the moments are islands in a sea of unexceptional events. The human drama is more than enough to get you from scene to scene, but the great parts of this film only serve to underline the bits where interest wanes. I liked this movie, and I liked what it had to say. But I wanted to like it more.

7 out of 10.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

guest review by Phineas Gopher

One of the funnest documentaries of the year, the film demonstrates that the world of competitive video gaming isn't so different from athletics; it just involves a different (and less widely respected) set of skills. Basically, it takes a look at what happens when the world record holder for the original Donkey Kong arcade game (an arrogant, wealthy hot sauce mogul) has his score challenged by an unknown contender (an average American family man). While it sometimes seems ridiculous how seriously everybody is taking themselves, the film does a good job showing that this is in fact human nature, not to be looked down on by anyone lest they be guilty of the very thing they're judging. You don't need to be an avid gamer to enjoy this battle of the thumbs, but it will have a special meaning to anyone who's ever left their initials on the screen of an arcade console.

8 out of 10.

The Kingdom (2007)

I am honestly not sure if Chris Cooper can play anything but a government agent, but here he is again. This time he teams up with Ray, Alias, and Arrested Development to try to solve terrorism in the Middle East. What you wind up sitting through is an inconsistent, drastically over-produced, disingenuous piece of knotted storytelling that still somehow manages to be entertaining, but only barely. The culprit is ambition. It's a story about culture clash between the Mid East and ourselves set in the framework (and with the overall depth) of a 2 hour long episode of CSI. It wants to be about the similarities between Western and Muslim society, about what it will take to reconcile our differences, but at the same time be as idiot proof and consumer friendly as possible. It's got the visceral thrill and the witty banter to keep your attention, but subject matter like this has higher demands than watching things go boom. Sure the faces are familiar and likable, sure the subject is topical and important, and sure the editing keeps to a gallop, but it never manages to rally itself into the galvanizing force it aspires to be, despite a very poignant moral.

6 out of 10.

Knocked Up (2007)

For being a comedy from the writer/director of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, one of the funniest films of recent years, this is a remarkably good drama, and a damn fine comedy too. To be fair, it's not hard to be dramatic in a film about accidental pregnancy, but putting together such a heartfelt, believable, and quirky romance alongside such gloriously foul humor takes some serious know-how. The blame for such sterling results rests with its exceptional cast, including Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd. But it's really Katherine Heigl's film, and every bit of her in this film is a brilliant bit of radiance. While Rogan and Rudd (and a good number of others) provide the laughs, Heigl provides the emotional heart with a frank and sometimes embarrassing honesty unusual in a genre that thrives on dick-and-fart jokes. Actually—and it's almost a flaw—the film works better as a drama than it does as a comedy. While the laughs are hearty, the emotional evolution and journey is the more interesting and developed side of the film. It can cause a problem of expectation clashing with reality throughout its entire length, but the serious business of childbirth is given enough of a smile to make it a complete package. It's a foulmouthed wheelbarrow full of cleverly low-brow humor, with an honest love story at its core.

9 out of 10.

King Kong (2005)

It's Adventure with a big, box letter ! and some stunning special effects. Peter Jackson's followup to his superlative Lord of the Rings films may not have the same emotional depth or spectacular world-building, but it still has a lot of heart and a lot of fun. It's just a shame that it's so damn long. Do we really need a full ninety minutes of build-up to whet our appetites for some extremely big game hunting? As soon as the group gets to the island it's good, classic fun. But getting there is both half the battle and half the movie. Beyond that, there are some amazing effects, a bunch of heart-pounding chase sequences, and Jack Black doing a surprisingly good job at acting. Definitely worth seeing.

8 out of 10.

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