Shorts (2009)

Touches You

Good movie but grossly overrated

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Shorts (2009): Dir: Robert Rodriguez / Cast: Jimmy Bennett, James Spader, William H. Macy, Leslie Mann, Kat Dennings: Candy coated crap about the prevail of smaller factors. If one of those smaller factors was the screenwriter then perhaps the screenplay would be above juvenile level. It regards a rainbow coloured stone that ends up in the possession of several people who use it to make wishes into reality. This is never explained and although director Robert Rodriguez showcases his imagination, he never tops his Spy Kids. Perhaps if the screenwriter had gotten his hands on that rock then the screenplay would be Oscar calibre. Jimmy Bennett plays the bullied kid who narrates the film. If he isn't bullied after the release of this film then it is safe to say that he possesses the stone. What is truly sad is the talent that is greatly reduced in this garbage. James Spader plays an evil tycoon in what amounts to one of his worst roles. William H. Macy plays a germ fearing scientist. Perhaps he should be more concerned with dense scripts such as this. Leslie Mann plays Bennett's mother in a role that may make her want to revive her 40 Year Old Virgin role. Speaking of which, another actress from that film that makes a wasted appearance here is Kat Dennings as Bennett's older sister. None of these performances are terribly ambitious, and like the screenplay and special effects it comes up short on magic. Score: 2 / 10

This is actually a pretty enjoyable movie, for kids and older viewers. It's very creative, some odd but funny aspects, and quirky with the filming style and the mixed-up way of story telling. Like I said, it's not for everyone, but if you're okay with not everything making 100% sense, it's pretty fun.In, sort of a Pulp Fiction style, it tells the story in mixed around shorts, it's really easy to connect them and figure out what order they go in, and it's pretty obvious it's a gimmick ​or gimmick's ​​sake, but it's still fun, and I don't give it any hate for that.For ages 5-10, I'd give it a 9For ages 11-14, I'd give it a 7 or 8For ages 15-20, I'd give it a 6 or 7For ages 21+, I'd give it a 4 or 5But I, 16, found it very enjoyable, and give it a 6.5

The suburban town of Black Falls is a company town that makes the Blackbox that does almost everything. The Thompsons (Leslie Mann, Jon Cryer) are tasked to beat the competition by Mr. Black (James Spader) or else they'll suffer the consequences. Then the magic wishing stone falls to earth.This is another kids movie from writer/director Robert Rodriguez. The concept of telling the story in a series of out of order shorts is just too gimmicky. The wacky pause and fast forward edits are too annoying. It is the movie equivalent of ADD. It is a kids movie for the short attention span generation.This movie suffers from the fact that the story doesn't follow just one main character. The wishing gets very repetitive and random. There seems to be no rules to the wishing. The kids are annoying as usually the case in these kinds of movies. It's definitely not a movie for adults.

I did not see this willingly. I had to with my summer camp. It was our only choice. What a great way to end my last year at that camp. The acting, writing, cinematography, EVERYTHING was horrible. Nobody was laughing in the theater I was in. And poor Kat Dennings, she has so much potential and she just had to land a role in this god awful movie. And not to mention the painstakingly unfunny lines. "I wish for telephonesis!" "Telekenisis you dummy!" Was I supposed to laugh? Because I was not laughing. Another thing that made me want to jump a cliff was:"Helvetica! Helvetica!" HEL-F*CKING-VETICA! MY GOD! This is by far the worst movie I have ever seen! And families, DO NOT take your kids to this one. For the sake of your kids. Please.