Movie Review: Hot Tub Time Machine

Yesterday my wife and I went to see the movie Hot Tub Time Machine, and you know what - it was a lot of fun. The premise of the film (for those of you who haven't seen the trailer), is pretty simple; four friends accidentally travel through time while in a hot tub, back to the year 1986. They appear as their 16-year-old selves to everyone there (except for one of them who hadn't been born in 1986 - he simply looks like himself), and believing that if they change time it may cause some sort of butterfly effect, they attempt to relive the weekend in the same way they did originally. Think of it as a sort of cross between Quantum Leap and Back to the Future.

Without going into spoilers, I'll try to focus on the things I really liked about this movie: 1) The cast is freaking hilarious, like a lot of comedies since There's Something About Mary, there is a lot of gross out humour, but also like that film, the story invests you in the characters, so you can empathize with them throughout. The real stand out for my was Rob Corddry - as the most obnoxious of the four, his character was either going to be loved or hated - no middle ground. I loved him. 2) The story is internally consistent, this is really a key point for me in Time Travel movies - in fact that's one of the reasons I love the Back to the Future trilogy, they made the internal logic consistent. As a genre fan I'm willing to buy any outrageous concept, but you have to play by the rules if you want the story to work.

In the end, would I recommend this to friends - absolutely (the film is definitely worth it's 18A rating - so no kids), would I watch it again - yes, but on DVD, and finally would I buy my own copy on DVD? Absolutely.

Bookmonkey's top 5 Genre Films to see before Summer 2010

Knowing that I'll be seeing a lot of films this summer (starting with Iron Man 2 in May), I decided that I should try to cut back on the number of genre films I'll see between now and April. The problem is, there are a lot of films I'd like to see in the next couple of months.

Luckily, as a parent, I'll likely end up taking my kids to see Alice in Wonderland as well as Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, so those two can kind of be considered family outings.

5. The Lovely Bones

This one is pretty simple: a) I loved the book, and b) Peter Jackson is directing. The visuals for this movie look pretty amazing and the novel really got to me, so yeah, I'll be seeing this one.

4. The Book of Eli

As anyone who reads my blog is aware, I'm a big lover of post-apocalyptic films. Add to that the fact that it is an original screenplay, and its brought to us by the guys who directed From Hell, and I am definitely on board.

3. Clash of the Titans

All right, I'll admit it. A big part of why I want to see this is the funky trailer which appears to have used a modified version of the song The Bird and the Worm, by the Used as background music. I loved the original version of this film, and am basically looking forward to a fun Saturday afternoon popcorn movie.

2. Hot Tub Time Machine

A comedic Science Fiction film wherein four guys travel back to the '80s in a Hot Tub time machine. This will either be extremely awesome, or extremely stupid. The presence of John Cusack definitely raises the bar for me, and the fact that it's being made by the director of Grosse Point Blank and High Fidelity also deserves notice.

1. The Wolfman

About five years ago my youngest daughter went through a classic monster movie phase, and one of the stand out titles for me was The Wolf Man. A man who is in effect both the good guy and the bad guy in the film seemed very cool to me at the time. In an age where virtually every film is being remade, I can say that I am actually really looking forward to this one.