Monday, April 27, 2020

Paul Blart: Mall Cop Review










Paul Blart: Mall Cop


Release Date: 19th March 2009 - Australia


Production Companies
Columbia Pictures (presents)
Relativity Media (in association with)
Happy Madison Productions
Hey Eddie

Distribution
Sony Pictures Australia


Genre: Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 91 minutes


Budget: $26,000,000

Box Office Gross: $183,348,429 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
All his life, mild-mannered Paul Blart has dreamed of becoming a state trooper but is a security officer in a local mall in New Jersey. When a gang of crooks invaded the mall and took some hostages, it's up to Paul Blart to rescue them and defend the place from intruders, as he must go from being a mall cop to an actual cop!


Cast
Kevin James - Paul Blart
Keri O'Donnell - Veck Simms
Jayma Mays - Amy
Raini Rodriguez - Maya
Shirley Knight - Mom
Stephen Rannazzisi - Stuart
Peter Gerety - Chief Brooks
Bobby Cannavale - Cmdr. James Kent
Adam Ferrara - Sergeant Howard
Jamal Mixon - Leon
Adhir Kalyan - Pahud
Erick Avari - Vijay
Mike Vallely - Rudolph
Jason Ellis - Prancer
Jason Packham - Comet
Rick Thorne - Cupid
Victor Lopez - Donner
Natascha Hopkins - Vixen
Mookie Barker - Mr. Ferguson
Dylan Clark Marshall - Jason
Bernie McInerney - Old Man on Scooter
Gary Valentine - Karaoke Singer

Crew
Director - Steve Carr
Writer - Nick Bakay
Writer/Producer - Kevin James
Executive Producer - Jeff Sussman
Producers - Todd Garner,
Jack Giarraputo and Adam Sandler
Producer/2nd Unit Director - Barry Bernardi
Production Designer - Perry Andelin Blake
Art Director - Alan Au
Set Decorator - Tracey Doyle
Costume Designer - Ellen Lutter
Director of Photography - Russ T. Alsobrook
"A" Camera Operator - Casey Hotchkiss
Location Manager - Charles Harrington
Stunt Coordinator - Chris O'Hara
Special Effects Coordinator - Ray Bivins
Visual Effects Supervisor: Zoic Studios -
Patti Gannon
Editor - Jeff Freeman
1st Assistant Editor - Jason Gourson
Supervising Sound Editors -
Michael J. Benavente and Elmo Weber
Supervising Sound Mixers - Deb Adair
and William Freesh
Music - Waddy Wachtel
Music Supervisor - Michael Dilbeck


Review
In light of COVID-19, the pandemic is happening across the world. I was so disappointed that several new movies' release dates got postponed and all the cinemas were temporarily closed. This fear of a pandemic was so widespread that it caused everyone to stay home and begin social distancing. Fortunately, it didn't stop me from continuing to review movies. One of the films I did watch while being self-isolated was PAUL BLART: MALL COP.

I was supposed to review this comedy before 2020, but I started doing it anyway. The film has some great laughs, but the jokes are hit-or-miss, and the storyline is predictable. It feels like a stale, lighthearted parody of Die Hard that's missing the fun and gratuitous violence. I liked the moment when Paul got drunk and then made a fool out of himself. Kevin James was not a bad comedian, though he had a knack for playing overweight characters. James' acting was decent. It doesn't save the movie from its shortcomings.

PAUL BLART: MALL COP is not one of my favourite comedies. And it was an average movie at best. I was surprised that the film did have a sequel, which is improbable because there is no way it could prove better than the original.

Star rating: (5/10) Average

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Wednesday, April 1, 2020

In Memory of Andrew Jack (1944-2020)









Andrew Jack (1944-2020)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I regret to inform you that Star Wars actor and dialect coach Andrew Jack died from coronavirus on 31st March 2020. He was 76 years old.

Andrew had starred in "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi", playing Caluan Ematt, a major (now general) for the Resistance, as well as providing the voice of Moloch in "Solo: A Star Wars Story". He has worked with over 200 actors. Among them are Robert Downey, Jr., Pierce Brosnan and Chris Hemsworth.

Jack even worked as a supervising dialect coach in "The Lord of the Rings" series, where he taught the actors to speak in their Middle-Earth accents and Elvish and Black Speech. He also instructed the cast members to perform the Greek and Trojan accents he created for the movie "Troy".

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