Paul: A close encounter of the hilarious kind!

Graeme and Clive are two sci-fi fanatics that are on a quest to find out what is really going on in Area 51. But on their way to investigate they run into an actual visitor from another planet named Paul, who is on the run from the authorities. Together they hatch a scheme to get Paul back to his mother ship and back home.

Paul was essentially a buddy road trip film that happened to have an alien and some other screwball shenanigans added in to make it atypical for the genre. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were hilarious as Graeme and Clive respectively, showing the same kind of comic talent and timing that made the other flims which they have starred in together (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) memorable comedic fare. There were plenty of sight gags, thinly veiled references to other classic sci-fi films (the audience was finally shown who truly inspired Stephen Spielberg to create E.T.) and just enough dry "British" humor to cause the audience to geniuely chuckle throughout. But the best (and perhaps most unexpected) part of the film was the fact that title character (voice by Seth Rogen) was so entertaining, effective and believable. Usually when one thinks of a character that is completely CGI unfortunate mistakes like Jar Jar Binks pop into their heads, but Paul was different. He was different in that he did not act like one would expect a visitor from another world to. He wasn't screaming, "take me to your leader" or threatening passers-by with death rays, he just seemed like a regular person. He smoked, cursed and acted crude at points but there was a heart to him which made him endearing. Director Greg Mottola was wise to seize upon this and accenutate those moments where Paul, Graeme and Clive were just hanging out having a good time because those were the moments where the audience could gravitate toward the guys and the quest they were on.

This film was one of those rare comedies that was actually funny, and it is definitely worth a look.

Grade: B

Smokin Aces: All style, no substance

When a one million dollar hit is put out on Las Vegas illusionist and wannabe Mafioso Buddy “Aces” Israel, a number of unsavory figures track him down to his penthouse suite in Lake Tahoe and raise hell trying to collect the bounty.

Smokin Aces certainly had its share of memorable characters which livened up the screen, including the sadistic Tremor Brothers, a pair of female assassins (one of which was R&B singer Alicia Keys) and Ryan Reynolds who earned some action chops as a somewhat straight laced FBI agent. Once the attack on Buddy’s penthouse started, its hyperkinetic pace and stylized nature kept action fans contented until the credits rolled.

But it failed to capitalize upon the obvious visual storytelling talents of its director Joe Carnahan. Unfortunately, he has no one to blame but himself because he wrote the script, and the story spent so much time ineffectively setting up most of the players in the hunt for Buddy that by the time the violence did start, the audience was indifferent as to who got killed or even if anyone got Buddy. Also, there were two specific story points that seemed to be totally unnecessary and succeeded only in slowing it to a halt. One was the Matthew Fox (Dr. Jack in Lost) cameo which only went on for as long as it did because he was in the menial part and the other was the run-in Hollis had with an ADD suffering kid that rivaled Jar Jar Binks in annoyance. Carnahan tried to go Tarantino and make Smokin Aces the kind of film people would easily and readily quote lines from (a permanent part of pop culture) but it was nothing more than a good looking wannabe.

Grade: C