The Art of Self Defense blew me away. These are my favorite moments in the RunPee Universe. When RunPee Dan asked me to do this movie, I thought to myself, “Great; he’s punishing me for something.” Well ha ha, jokes on you, big brother. Little sister loved it.
The story itself was so well told that I never got bored, and was seriously surprised on a few of the scenes. I didn’t see that coming; it hits like a freight train right to the throat. Or like a punch from the foot. I’m dying right now. When you see the movie, you’ll get how funny it felt.
Back to the Art of Self Defense review:
The story has a terrific message. It’s something I feel every man, woman or child should see that’s ever been subjected to bullying. (Not like a small child though, because there is full frontal nudity of the male type.)
The World's Most Indispensable Movie App
The RunPee app tells you the best times to run & pee during a movie so you don't miss the best scenes.
Read more about the RunPee app.
There is hope in all situations — it comes down to how you you see things and react to them. Do you roll over and take it, or do you stand up and foot-punch the world? In every one of us there is the power to achieve what needs to be achieved.
There is a particular line from the movie that Jessie’s character says, it goes a little something like this…
“I want to be what intimidates me.”
Pause, let it sink in. Wow, that’s a powerful line. It stopped me in my tracks; I wrote it down to ponder later. He spoke that line in such a way that the impact is still felt. It’s forever embedded into my brain — way to go, Eisenberg.
Jessie Eisenberg was a perfect choice for this role. I can’t think of one other actor that could have done it better. His timing and delivery was magical. Alessandro Nivola, who plays the Sensei, was evenly matched with Jessie. Those two worked together like peanut butter and jelly. Their chemistry was simply delicious.
So in summary for The Art of Self Defense:
This dark and somewhat creepy movie ends up being one of the feel-good movies of the year in my book. I loved it and would love to recommend it to you.
Please leave me some comments; I’m super curious to see what other people think of it.
Just to kind of back my love for this film, I watched it with two other movie reviewers. These guys were hard-core, who write for major publications. They both back it too. So you have three reviewers from different walks of life saying the same thing. See it — you won’t walk out disappointed. Thanks for reading, folks.
Grade: A+
About The Peetimes: I recommend the 1st Peetime; there was humor that you’ll miss, but it was easy to summarize. The 2nd Peetime is great, but beware of running over the time on that one. A big reveal happens directly following that Peetime.
There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of The Art of Self-Defense. (What we mean by Anything Extra.)
Rated (R) for violence, sexual content, graphic nudity and language
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Don’t miss your favorite movie moments because you have to pee or need a snack. Use the RunPee app (Androidor iPhone) when you go to the movies. We have Peetimes for all wide release films every week, including Godzilla: Minus One, Napoleon, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and coming soon Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and many others. We have literally thousands of Peetimes—from classic movies through today's blockbusters. You can also keep up with movie news and reviews on our blog, or by following us on Twitter @RunPee. If there's a new film out there, we've got your bladder covered.
RunPee.com owes RunPee Sis a huge debt of gratitude. She sees any movie needed with no complaints and has done so for ten years (even basing Thanksgiving and Christmas family festivities around the seeing films). In 2015 Sis ran the entire RunPee enterprise herself, while RunPee Dan, Jilly and Mom went traipsing off to Europe. Sis is the spider in the web holding the RunPee family together — besides being a funny, well rounded person, and a joyous pleasure to be around. Her favorite films start and end with horror (which thank goodness she’s happy to see, since most of us don’t have the stomach for it) — but also likes silly comedies, sad dramas, and musicals of all types. If you’ve used a Peetime for a scary film, you probably have RunPee Sis to thank for it.
Favorite movie genre: Horror, horror, and more horror. The more disturbing, the better. Period.
SK
I loved it as well! The story hooked you from the beginning and I felt real meaning in it.
Christene Johnson (RunPee Sis) Editor
Fantastic. I’m super happy that you enjoyed it too. I was sad when it ended, I was so engrossed in the movie that time had lost meaning. Thanks for the reply, they mean alot.
Tom
I went to see the movie on your recommendation and was not disappointed. There were so many surprises, some of which I might have anticipated if I hadn’t been so engrossed in the experience. Your grade is wholly justified!
Christene Johnson (RunPee Sis) Editor
That’s awesome! I’m glad you enjoyed the movie and thank you so much for taking my recommendation. It was a very unique movie that certainly exceeded my expectations. It’s a win/win for us.
Jill Florio Administrator
We totally rely on RunPee Sis for recommendations on the movies she sees, since we all like different genres. It’s wonderful when a movie like this surprises you.
We don’t give out A+ scores willy-nilly. 😉
Movie Review - The Kitchen -
[…] Movie Review – The Art of Self-Defense […]