The
quickest way to explain to you why you should not
waste time going to see this movie is to tell
you: all of the best parts were in the movie
trailer. Since most movie trailers are 2 minutes
long, another hour and 58 minutes is a long time
to be either bored or not amused by bad acting and
bad writing.
The movie is based
on the book “The 5th Wave” by Rick
Yancey, a ‘young adult’ novel written about an
alien invasion that progresses through five
‘waves’ of events, killing off the human
population of Earth. First it starts with an
ElectroMagnetic Pulse (EMP), which fries all
electronics and communications (and causes 747
airliners to fall out of the sky, a dramatic scene
in the trailer). Next come massive earthquakes,
even in formerly stable locations, which also
cause massive flooding on the coasts and inland
waterways (the next impressive special effects
display). Then widespread disease, which
explains why many of these teenagers no longer
have parents to help them survive. The aliens
land on Earth, but we never see the aliens
themselves, only the flying bicycle helmets their
drones seem to resemble.
The only
explanation given for the waves of attacks is that
the aliens want to preserve as much of the planet
as they can, for their own use. EMP is
a good start, so that we can’t fightback too well.
But earthquakes and floods? Wouldn’t aliens
who could cause events like that have more than
enough power to crush any resistance? And
wouldn’t aliens who could create a flu strain that
can wipe out all but 1% of the human race…..come
up with airborne Ebola and take out the rest with
little effort? I mean…are there, like, only
15 aliens up in their spaceship?
There are so many
holes in the plot that it almost hides the bad
acting. The main character, a teenaged girl, has
only two expressions –shocked, and scared. Even
before the attack, when she was attending high
school. Even angry would have been nice to see.
The most convincing part for this actress was
greasy hair, after days on the run through the
woods from aliens in human bodies. Perhaps the
series “Walking Dead” has spoiled the apocalypse
for me; everything in that alternate reality of a
collapsed society is dirty, dusty, damaged, and
broken. In The 5th Wave, it’s mostly a
lot of trash left lying around, as if we had come
in the morning after a big rock concert.
This movie
obviously wants to be another “Hunger Games”
series of movies. It falls far short of that,
because the plot and story are so unbelievable.
Which should say a lot, since the Hunger Games
takes place in a dystopian future where greedy
leaders want to oppress the masses to exploit them
– which is not too unbelievable. Incompetent
aliens who have to rely on brainwashed teenagers
to do the final clean-up in aisle Earth are not.
Don’t see this
movie. Don’t encourage them to make another one.
Jeff's Featured Review 13 HOURS- The
Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Directed
by
Michael Bay
13
Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is an
action-adventure-war movie right from the first
three minutes - that's probably due to the
direction of Michael Bey. However, the story is
so well crafted and manages to make you care about
the characters (or loathe them) so quickly that it
doesn't need to rely on Bey's signature EXPLOSIONS
to move the story along.
Minutes into the
movie you quickly understand that Libya is a very
dangerous place, and only the realization that you
have another two hours of film to go make you
believe the characters we first meet will survive
past the first ten minutes. The Americans manage
to bluff their way it of a very bad situation,
which is prescient of the fact the Americans there
in Benghazi are on their own and without help for
the entire incident.
It really helps
that the actors in the movie are not well known,
and there no distraction in seeing a favorite
actor or actress "playing" the role of a special
operator security contractor. These actors are
very believable as hard and tough men. The
excellent screenplay comes into play again,
telling their stories and creating their
characters in a very minimal amount of screen
time.
Another completely
believable aspect of the movie is how reluctant
the CIA station chief in Benghazi and US military
officers outside of Libya were to be courageous
and do the Right Thing. Other people
have said that the CIA station chief who refused
to give permission for a timely rescue has been
treated harshly; the truth is many times
government officials are reluctant to jeopardize
their careers without higher orders.
It happened in Benghazi, it happened again during
the Mayaguez rescue operation, again during the
attack on the USS Liberty.....and it will happen
again in the future, when mistakes are made and no
one wants to take responsibility or do the Right
Thing.
The combat scenes
are very intense and bloody - not appropriate for
pre-teens or sensitive people. We get to see in
very close detail how tactical military decisions
are made to fight off overwhelming odds and save
the rest of the people in the CIA annex. The
tension builds and builds, and doesn't let up
until either the good guys or the bad guys are
dead. We never really learn anything a out the
bad guys, either who they are or why they
attacked, only they died in great numbers.
That's okay, because the story is really about the
heroism of the GRS contractors who fought against
hordes of Libyans.
The location
looks extremely authentic – it was filmed on the
island of Malta, just off the coast of Libya
itself. The narrow streets, the stone buildings,
all lend to the atmosphere of people being trapped
with no escape.
The movie should
be used as a teaching tool in the years to come.
From the very beginning of the movie, we are
forced to wonder why these Americans are here.
It's not even a real country, just angry mobs with
guns. A nation is needed before you can start
nation-building. Before we send more Americans
into harms way, we should ask a question that is
raised halfway through the movie - why are we in a
place we didn't need to be, in a battle we don't
understand.
I
have been off the grid for the last month or two.
My wife and I got it in our heads that we should
move. So…in about a two month span, we sold
our home in Coon Rapids, packed everything up and
moved to a log home in Clear Lake Minnesota.
It’s on the Brigg’s chain of lakes and is just 45
minutes from my office here in the Northern
Suburbs. We have all of our possessions
boxed up in the garage as we work on some
rehabbing projects that need to be completed
before we settle in for good. We have been
breathing drywall dust and listening to the sounds
of hammers pounding day and night…but we can
finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
With that said…Jr. and I decided it was time to
take a break and go see The Revenant.
Long
Story Short:(As provided by studio)
While
exploring the uncharted wilderness in 1823,
legendary frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo
DiCaprio) sustains injuries from a brutal bear
attack. When his hunting team leaves him for dead,
Glass must utilize his survival skills to find a
way back home to his beloved family.
Grief-stricken and fueled by vengeance, Glass
treks through the wintry terrain to track down
John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), the former confidant
who betrayed and abandoned him.
My
Take: I
will jump right in by saying, and I might be in
the minority here, that I felt that DiCaprio was
miscast. He just didn’t seem right for the part
of mountain man. Sure he had a beard and talked
with a growl…but just not buying it. That’s not
to say, I haven’t enjoyed his acting in tons of
other stuff…just not so much here. On the other
hand, Tom Hardy was incredible as his nemesis and
was totally believable. An earlier scalping by
Native Americans and a face so leathered it looked
like it was taken off an old catcher’s glove left
nothing to remind you that this guy is normally a
Hollywood pretty boy. In my opinion, it was also
the best acting performance I have seen to date
for him. He, not DiCaprio, deserves award
consideration. The movie also felt extremely
long. I can think of several scenes that just
seemed to go on forever! If a guy is crawling
through the snow to try and survive…do we really
need to watch him crawling for 20 minutes to get
the point? On the other hand, the cinematography
was stunning. The fantastic framing of the
landscape was jaw dropping. The epic scenery
shots were filmed in Canada, Montana and parts of
Argentina and were worth the price of admission.
I enjoyed the movie…just wish
a few things had been done a little different…but
what do I know?
Refresh
your memories and hold onto your hats, because
Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2 starts off fast and
right where it left off...a year ago. Make sure
you know who is who and what just happened because
things start to happen fast and not everything is
to the character's liking. The first conflict is
very close and personal, and psychologically
hurtful. It throws Katniss into such a deep
despair that even death seems a better choice to
her.
The books may have
been written for youth, but early in the movie the
characters are forced to make some real grown up
decisions about war and morals. Trying to win
against superior odds forces the Alliance to
choose actions which differ little from Snow in
the Capitol. Art imitates life as surrendering
refugees are given commands to "Get down on the
ground! Show your hands!" with such force and
fear that tension builds, and the viewer almost
expects someone to be unjustly shot dead.
This movie is less
about adventurous combat and more about the
effects of war on people. It's also how the
justification for doing evil in the name of good
seems reasonable and expedient....until the
perpetrators are finally held accountable.
Including holding yourself accountable.
There is enough
combat and action in the movie to make fans happy.
The level of violence and gore is manageable,
even for pre-teens. However, the battle in the
flooded tunnels is so intense that it might be
prudent to watch it through a screen of fingers
before the eyes. I doesn't help that a beloved
character and hero dies a gruesome death.
Katniss is not
motivated by strategic goals, or support for the
revolution....early on the movie, she is driven by
pure revenge and hate. And nearly everyone
around her suffers. At the climax of the movie,
she reclaims her pure, good intentions.....and
causes Snow to die a far more horrible death than
she had hoped to inflict on him by her own hand.
The end of the
movie treats us to a beautiful sunset and idyllic
countryside. Katniss' final words could easily
be said by any veteran that survived a protracted,
painful conflict. We should listen to all of
what they tell us.
Thanksgiving
was wonderful this year. Per usual, everyone
comes to our house to celebrate. This year we had
over the usual suspects of friends and family.
Everyone had a great time…even though I heard a
few grumblings because my Thanksgiving word
scramble contest was too hard. When the first
place prize includes a bag of Oreo cookies, you
want to make them work for it! My wife is a great
cook and along with everyone bringing something
for the table…this years spread was once again
amazing. I really do have a lot to be thankful
for and count my blessings everyday. I am
especially thankful for left-overs the next day!
My daughter is staying with us while she is in
between apartments so I dragged her along to see
that new Michael Keaton movie, "Birdman".
Long Story
Short: (As provided by studio) Riggan
Thomson's (Michael Keaton) blockbuster days
starring as the superhero "Birdman" are long
behind him, which is one of the reasons he's
making a grab for renewed relevance by directing
his Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver's What
We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Efforts are
complicated by the presence of his troubled
daughter Sam (Emma Stone) and his co-stars: famed
stage actor Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), Shiner's
insecure girlfriend, Lesley (Naomi Watts), and
Laura (Andrea Riseborough), whom Thomson also
happens to be sleeping with. And let's not forget
the voice of "Birdman" himself, constantly urging
Thomson to embrace his inner badass.
My Take:
Let me start right off by saying…BEST MOVIE OF
THE YEAR!!! I had heard whispers that it was a
good movie and it exceeded all expectations.
There are so many good things to say about
"Birdman". The film is mesmerizing and it all
starts with the cinematography. Emmanuel Lubezki
was the cinematographer for Gravity. A movie that
was mesmerizing in it own right. Now he lends his
incredible talents to this movie and along with
director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu (from here on
out AGI) the two created an entire movie that
appears to be done with one continuous take. The
result is an almost hypnotic flow that leaves you
feeling like you are on a magic carpet ride that
allows you to be right in the middle of every
scene. I have never experienced and entire movie
that offers this seamless, continuous motion. It
is a little hard to explain, so you just have to
go out and experience it for yourself. You won’t
be sorry. Next we have the cast. I know I am
bragging up this flick more than most but…..it was
also the perfect ensemble of players! Michael
Keaton gives a performance of a life time. His
character is flawed in some pretty big ways. He
has been unfaithful to his wife. He hears
voices. He is followed by an imaginary
superhero…the list goes on and on. But it’s those
flaws that make this movie so fun to watch. He is
the proverbial…accident waiting to happen. How
long can he go on before he self implodes? I
would also nominate Edward Norton for a best
supporting actor award. Other than Primal Fear, I
have not been a big fan of his movies. Not the
case in "Birdman". He plays the arrogant jerk
flawlessly. He does it so well and with such
witty banter that, despite your disdain for him,
you still find yourself in awe of his smoothness.
Emma Stone, as always, is so captivating. She
plays the daughter to Michael Keaton’s character.
She has a presence about her that allows her to
steal almost every scene she is in. The rest of
the cast is just icing on the cake. I can’t say
enough, how well this group of talented actors
worked together. The last ingredient to this
winning mix is the music by Antonio Sanchez. It’s
hip and it’s contagious. It has a jazzy vibe that
works perfectly for the story. The drum and
symbols, heard prominent throughout, give the
movie its edgy heart beat. For some reason this
movie is hard to find at local theaters, so you
might have to do a little digging for a screen,
but well worth the search. This movie is the
whole enchilada and if you really like going to
the movies, like I do, this one should not be
missed!!!
Doug's Monthly Featured Movie Review: The Judge Directed by David Dobkin
Reviewed by guest movie critic Doug Solem, Jr.
Doug is a Senior at St. Cloud State University,
majoring in Graphic Design with a minor in Film.
The Judge seemed to be a fitting
movie to see considering what has been going on in
my life right now. Unfortunately, I lost my Uncle
Bob this past week. He was not only a great man
but one of the people I have tried to model my
life after. He led his life with integrity and
respect and chose to put everyone before himself.
He was a great man and will be forever missed.
The Judge is the story of Hank
(Robert Downey Jr.) a big slick lawyer from
Chicago who heads back to his hometown after his
mother has passed away. He reunites with his two
brothers and while there he finds that his father
(Robert Duvall), the respected town judge, is
implicated as a murder suspect. Between the
broken relationship with his father, who is now
suffering from cancer and early stages of
dementia, to his current divorce proceedings with
his wife, Hank has more than enough on his plate,
to say the least….but it doesn’t stop there.
Let
me start off by saying, Robert Downey Jr. is by
far my favorite actor in Hollywood, so I was
already a little biased going into this movie.
With that said, RDJ once again delivered a
spectacular performance and, in my opinion, his
best dramatic role to date. I was especially
looking forward to this film because I wanted to
see if RDJ could separate his persona from that of
the Ironman franchise. At first, I was
worried because I noticed Hank had a similar
cockiness and wit to that of Iron Man. However,
as the storyline became more serious and intense
so did Downey’s character. At that point you
really got to see Downey’s acting chops and the
incredible amount of emotion he brought to this
role. However, as good as RDJ was in this movie,
Robert Duvall was just as good, if not better in
my opinion. I mean this guy is a legend and his
performance in this movie was straight up
awesome. He played a stubborn Judge who had given
up on his relationship with his son Hank (RDJ) and
was secretly battling cancer and dementia. When a
guy like Duvall is acting so good that you think
he must be like this in real life, you know you
are witnessing a command performance. Besides
having a dynamite cast, I thought the well written
script gave them a lot of opportunity to show
their skills. The director of this film, David
Dobkin, had directed lighter fare like Change
up, Wedding Crashers and Shanghai Knights,
so I really wasn’t sure if Dobkin could make the
leap to an emotional dramatic piece. Boy was I
wrong;
I don’t think I have connected with a film,
emotionally like this, since I saw Argo a couple
years back. Dobkin does a great job especially
with the court scenes by making them intense while
inserting well timed twists and turns. The film
also does a great job of keeping your attention
throughout with smaller side stories such as his
relationship with his high school sweetheart (Vera
Farmiga), and his brother (Vincent D’Onofrio)
who’s baseball career ended after a severe car
crash caused by Hank. The well inserted changes
in pace keep the movie interesting and adds a
needed dynamic that holds your attention every
step of the way. With that said, this is a very
touching movie that a lot of us can relate well to
with regard to dementia and cancer issues in many
of our own families. RDJ and Duvall are worthy of
Oscar nominations and if I get the chance I will
go see this movie again.
Just
found out I still have one last golf tournament to
play in tomorrow. They are predicting temps in
the low 40’s. To be honest, I am not one of those
diehards that has to play regardless of weather
conditions. I committed, so I am going. I will
just have to throw on the long johns and bring my
stocking cap. This weekend I will also begin
closing down the cabin. Hate the thought but it
gives me something to look forward to over the
winter.
Long Story
Short: (As provided by
studio) In the Equalizer, Denzel
Washington plays McCall, a former black ops
commando who has faked his death to live a quiet
life in Boston. When he comes out of his
self-imposed retirement to rescue a young girl,
Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz), he finds himself fact
to face with ultra-violent Russian gangsters. As
he serves vengeance against those who brutalize
the helpless, McCall’s desire for justice is
reawakened. If someone has a problem, the odds
are stacked against them and they have nowhere
else to turn, McCall will help. He is help. He
is the Equalizer.
My Take:
I am a
big Denzel Washington fan. I would go see any
movie he is in. My all time favorite was
Training Day. I have liked them all…Flight,
American Gangster, Man on Fire, blah blah
blah. His latest movie, The Equalizer,
will not be on the top of my list, but enjoyable
nonetheless. As anyone who reads my column is
aware, I’m a sucker for kick ass - action movies
and believe me there is a lot of ass kicking in
this flick…most of it dished out by Denzel. His
nemesis and the guy who you will love to hate is a
Russian named Nicolai (Marton Csokas). He’s the
one who is called in to clean up big messes for
other bad guys. The dude is mean to the bone and
psychotic to boot…a worthy adversary for Denzel.
Speaking of kick ass, if you go back to one of my
archived reviews, you’ll see one for the movie
Kick Ass. In that review I said that one of
its actors, Chloe Grace Moretz, would some day be
a big star. Well she is not quite as big as I
thought she would be by now but she is starting to
turn up more and more in other movies. In the
Equalizer, she is the reason Denzel comes out
of retirement. She plays a prostitute trying to
get out of harms way but her pimp has other
ideas. Another reviewer said this movie was as
good as Training Day. I don’t know what
movie he was watching but I can guarantee Denzel
will not receive another Oscar for this film. It
is a B movie at best. It just comes across as
kind of schlocky. The music, the lines, how it’s
filmed…all just have a cheesy feel to it. Bottom
line for me, it’s a so so movie that is enjoyable
because Denzel Washington is so damn good!!!
Doug's Monthly Featured Movie Review: Chef Directed by Jon Favreau
Wow…this
summer has been flying by the fastest ever. I
remember when I was a kid, it seemed like the
summer lasted forever. I’m not complaining
though…this summer was incredible. The weather
was the best I can remember. I actually was part
of a team that won a golf scramble and took second
in another. Whoo Hoo!!! Never got rained out for
Thursday night golf with the guys. Went to a ton
of Twins games with my daughter. What more could
a guy ask for??!!! Deb spent most of the summer
at the cabin and I would meet up with her on
weekends. She is forcing me to take her to the
Little Falls Craft Show this weekend. Last but
not least, I will be hosting the 25th
Annual DFS Invitational Golf Tournament at Bunker
Hills and Majestic Oaks a week from tomorrow…a
sure sign that summer has come to an end and time
to start watching more movies.
Long Story
Short: (As provided by
studio) When Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau)
suddenly quits his job at a prominent Los Angeles
restaurant after refusing to compromise his
creative integrity for its controlling owner
(Dustin Hoffman), he is left to figure out what’s
next. Finding himself in Miami, he teams up with
his ex-wife (Sofia Vergara), his friend (John
Leguizamo) and his son Percy (Emjay Anthony) to
launch a food truck. Taking to the road, Chef
Carl goes back to his roots to reignite his
passion for the kitchen and zest for life and
love.
My Take:
Jon
Favreau is probably best known for being the
director behind the hugely successful Iron Man
movies. He is also the guy who plays Iron Man’s
sidekick in the movie. Needless to say, he is a
very talented guy and surrounds himself with a lot
of very talented people. Chef is a much
smaller movie than his Iron Man franchise but it
still delivers big in many ways. The movie is a
throw back to the road trip movies of yesteryear.
As a result, the movie is filled with really nice
bonding moments between father and son, husband
and ex-wife, and between two best friends. Don’t
get me wrong, it is a good balance between heart
string pulling and great comedy. It never gets
too syrupy. The cast is stellar. A bunch of
really big stars (Dustin Hoffman, Scarlet
Johansson, Oliver Platt, and Robert Downey Jr.)
have smaller but still very fleshed out and key
roles. There are a few scenes that seem a little
too improvised and don’t quite work but overall it
is a really fun, uplifting film. If you’ve
reached your quota of bad news for the day,
Chef is the perfect “pick me up”!
Reviewed by guest movie critic Doug Solem, Jr.
Doug is a Senior at St. Cloud State University,
majoring in Graphic Design with a minor in Film.
The next addition to the marvel movie
franchise is here with Guardians of the Galaxy.
It’s the story of an alien abducted boy named
peter quill (Chris Pratt) who grows up to be one
of the Galaxy’s most infamous outlaws. But with
the world possibly coming to an end, it is up to
him and his newfound team of misfits to save the
world. A team which includes a smartass raccoon
(Bradley Cooper), a talking tree (Vin Diesel), a
sexy green alien (Zoe Saldina) and drax the
destroyer (Dave Bautista)
Guardians of the Galaxy was everything you
want in a summer block buster. It had music,
action and a great cast. I’m not going to lie, I
was surprised at how good the movie came out.
When I first heard that marvel was going to add
this movie into its franchise I was very
skeptical. I thought there would be no way this
movie would succeed if it had a talking raccoon
and walking tree as part of the cast. But I was
pleasantly proven wrong. Chris Pratt is now my
new favorite actor and his performance in the
movie was perfect. He has just the right mix of
comedy along with charisma which makes his
performance phenomenal. However the thing that
this movie has going for it most is Peter Quill’s
(Chris Pratt) music cassette player, which also
serves as the soundtrack of the movie. From the
start of the movie, as he puts his headsets on, we
as an audience are spoiled with hit after hit from
the 70s. The music really sets the tone for the
movie and gives it a fun and upbeat vibe. My dad
and I are still singing the opening song of the
movie, that kicks off the opening action sequence,
which is worth the price of admission all by
itself! The only problem, that I see with this
film, is that it can be confusing at times,
especially if you are new to the marvel
franchise. I wish they would have gone into more
detail about the origin of each character but
maybe that will be something they expand on in
upcoming projects. Also, there are many fictional
cosmic terms used in the movie to describe planets
and characters which can be a little overwhelming
at times. However, this movie is undoubtedly one
of the best flicks I’ve seen all year. I have now
come to the conclusion that Marvel knows the right
formula for creating successful blockbusters that
are perfect for all ages.
Go and see this movie and I personally
guarantee you will not be disappointed!
Doug's Monthly Featured Movie Review: 22 Jump Street directed by Phil Lord and Christopher
Miller
What
a great summer so far!!! We just got back from
the annual family vacation up north. So much
fun! I didn’t catch many fish but just being out
on the lake with friends and family made it all
worth while. The golf was great too. Got in two
rounds worth at the Breezy Point courses. The
courses were in incredible shape and the staff
couldn’t have been nicer. If you are ever looking
for something to do…you can’t go wrong if you
check out Breezy Point and all that they have to
offer. Never to busy for a movie…so here is the
latest.
Long Story
Short: (As provided by studio for 22 Jump
Street): After making their way through high
school (twice), big changes are in store for
officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing
Tatum) when they go deep undercover at a local
college. But when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on
the football team, and Schmidt infiltrates the
bohemian art major scene, they begin to question
their partnership. Now they don’t have to just
crack the case – they have to figure out if they
can have a mature relationship. If these two
overgrown adolescents can grow from freshmen into
real men, college might be the best thing that ever
happened to them.
My Take: I
know this is a silly movie. I know it is not very
believable. All I can say is it is movies like
this that keep me young…or at least feeling young.
It’s goofy and predictable. It’s the perfect
flick for the summer…breezy and care free. Our
two stars are perfectly suited for this sort of
“no mind needed” entertainment. I remember seeing
Johan Hill in one of his first movies “Superbad”.
I have to admit after seeing that one; I would
have never guessed he would turn into this huge
star that everybody, including Martin Scorsese,
wants in their movies. For that matter, I never
thought Channing Tatum would be any good in a
comedy. Boy was I wrong. These two just clicked
in their first pairing 21 Jump Street and they
don’t miss a beat in this sequel. There really
isn’t much to say about 22 Jump Street. It’s got
some action; it’s got some romance…a little bit of
this, a little bit of that. Aside from Tatum and
Hill, Ice Cube gets a little more screen time and
that’s O.K. by me. He brings energy to the film
that keeps things moving. There is also a prison
seen cameo from two of the guys that were in the
last movie, Dave Franco and Rob Riggle, that is
hilarious. If you want to be transported back to
those good old high school days…this movie is the
right vehicle to get you there.
We are getting ready to head off for our annual
summer vacation to Birch Lane Resort in Pine
River. I have been going on this yearly trek
since I was about 10 years old. Wow…that’s like
47 years. Always a great time. While in the
area, Dave Gravdahl at Breezy Point has set us up
with rounds of golf for his White Birch and
Deacon’s Lodge courses. We play there every year
and the courses are incredible. Family, friends,
fishing, golfing, grilling…I can hardly wait!!!
Although it is a busy week…I am never to busy for
the movies!
Long Story Short:
(As provided by the studio) Seth MacFarlane directs, produces, co-writes and plays the
role of the cowardly sheep farmer Albert Stark in
"A Million Ways to Die in the West." After Albert
backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend
leaves him for another man. When a mysterious and
beautiful woman rides into town, she helps him
find his courage and they begin to fall in love.
But when her husband, a notorious outlaw, arrives
seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound
courage to the test.
My Take:
I have to start off by admitting, and some of you
will quit reading my column for saying this, but I
am a Seth MacFarlane fan. “Family Guy” is
excellent! “Ted” was pretty good. I like a guy
who is not afraid to push the envelope. A guy who
could care less about being politically correct
all the time. His sense of humor, for better or
for worse, tickles my funny bone. Sure it can be
a little sophomoric at times…sure it drives the
censors crazy…sure some people would like to tar
and feather him…but I just don’t care. With that
said…this latest movie sucked….just kidding.
However, judging from all the other critics out
there…I am one of the few who liked him in his
first starring role on the big screen.
The movie is a mix between “Blazing Saddles” and
an old Bob Hope road show. Another critic
mentioned the Bob Hope similarity and I have to
admit that’s who he reminds me of in this movie.
Some of you probably don’t even know who Bob Hope
is and you will just have to google the name to
see what I am talking about.
What I like about this movie and MacFarlane’s
comedy in general, is he puts so much out there
that you are going to find something to laugh at.
A lot of it is hit or miss but when it hits it
usually is side splittingly funny…at least for
me. He is not much of an actor but you can’t help
but like him. That’s where the Bob Hope
comparison comes in to play. He left the acting
up to the rest of his cast.
Charlize Theron was his love interest. She is one
of my favorite actresses. It was nice and
refreshing to see her in a comedy. I think this
is the first one I have seen her in. She had good
comedic timing and is very easy on the eyes. Liam
Neeson was the villain. Again, I was pleasantly
surprised because usually he is the lead and
always the hero. His voice is mesmerizing. He is
one of those guys that could read from the
dictionary and you would listen to every word.
Neil Patrick Harris is hilarious as the town’s
rich guy that steals away Macfarlane’s first girl
friend in the movie. He owns a shop that sells
nothing but supplies for grooming your mustache.
It reminded me of an old SNL bit that had a shop
that sold nothing but scotch tape. Some of the
biggest laughs are the result of the humor we get
from
Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman. She is the
town whore and is engaged to Ribisi’s character.
However because they are both good Christians,
they will not have sex until they are married. It
starts there and just keeps going…funny, funny
stuff!
Like I say, the movie has a lot of near misses but
the one’s that land are worth the price of
admission. This might be a good “wait to see on
DVD” but I thought it played perfectly fine on the
big screen.
Doug's Monthly Featured Movie Review: Heaven Is For Real directed by Randall Wallace
I can’t believe in
May, we are still seeing signs of winter.
Yesterday was a mix of rain and snow. Who woulda
thunk? I was able to get the cabin open…but just
barely. Saturday was beautiful and it gave me
time to rake and clean up. Sunday was a wash
out…literally. The only salvation during these
dreary days is my love for seeing movies!
Long Story
Short: The movie “Heaven
is for Real” is based on the #1 best selling book
by the same name. It tells the story of a young
boy named Colton (Connor Corum) who claims to have
gone to Heaven and back during a near death
experience. What makes his story even more
amazing, he is able to recount details about
things that happened even before he was born.
While in Heaven he remembers meeting another
sister…the miscarried sister that he was never
told about. He remembers details about his great
grandfather, who also happened to have died 30
years before Colton was even born.
Todd Burpo (Greg
Kinnear) is Colton’s father. He is also the
pastor of a small town somewhere in Nebraska.
Much of the movie is spent with Todd and his wife
(Kelly Reilly), as well as the rest of the town,
trying to come to grips with all the publicity and
curiosity surrounding the boy’s revelations.
My Take:
I have
read quite a bit of negative press from religious
factions who do not think this movie should be
seen because it does not follow what the bible
says about Heaven. All I can say is, everyone is
entitled to their own beliefs. That’s the beauty
of the country we live in. However, I simply saw
the movie as a very family friendly film. It’s
nice to see a movie once in awhile that is not
laced with the “F” word and gratuitous sex scenes.
Greg
Kinnear is definitely the glue that holds this
picture together. Without him, I think the whole
thing would have been a little too corny. Props
also go out to newcomer Connor Corum. I haven’t
seen a kid this cute since the little dude in
Jerry Maguire. I thought Kelly Reilly, as
Kinnear’s wife, over acted just a bit..but what do
I know, she just landed her own new TV series.
Thomas Haden Church has a pretty significant role
in the film as Todd Burpo’s buddy. I’ve always
like his acting and although this movie didn’t
give him a lot to do, he is a good choice for this
role. (If you want to see Church at his best
check out a little film called “Sideways”.)
Much like real
life, the town’s people were having a hard time
with accepting that this little boy could really
have gone to Heaven. At one point they were ready
to dismiss Burpo as the pastor of the church if he
didn’t stop believing what his son was saying.
Again, I can’t quite wrap my head around what all
the fuss is about. A little boy says he went to
Heaven…if you want to believe him you can, if you
don’t…well that’s up to you too. As far as I am
concerned, if you want to take the entire family
out for a great night, you won’t go wrong by
adding this movie to your night’s itinerary.
Doug's Monthly Featured Movie Review: Bad
Words Directed by Jason Bateman
As
I am typing this review, I can’t believe there is
another winter storm brewing in April. I am mad
as hell and I just don’t want to take it anymore.
Fortunately, my wife and I slipped off for a much
needed vacation a couple of weeks ago. It was a
great cruise on the biggest ship ever. We visited
Grand Cayman, Jamaica and Cozumel. Life was good
for a while….now back to reality. When will it
end!!!????
Long Story
Short:
Bad Words stars, and is directed by, Jason
Bateman. His character, Guy Trilby, is a troubled
40 year old proofreader of warranties with a chip
on his shoulder. He never finished the 8th
grade and as a result, finds a loop hole that
allows him to compete in the Golden Quill National
Spelling Bee alongside a cast of over-achieving
middle schoolers. Guy is no pretender when it
comes to spelling. Coupled with his amazing
vocabulary and his devious methods of sabotaging
his younger challengers, he makes it all the way
to the Golden Quill finals. Along the way, he
forms an unlikely friendship with 10 year old
Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand). The young boy is
also in the spelling bee and together they raise a
little hell. Online journalist Jenny Widgeon
(Kathryn Hahn) is trying to find out why a grown
man would want to compete in a spelling bee for
children. A question that is answered at the end
of the movie.
My Take:
For a first time directing effort by Justin
Bateman, I thought the movie was a little above
average. The premise, although a bit far fetched,
was acceptable. The supporting cast, most notably
Rohan Chand and Kathryn Hahn, was entertaining.
I’ve always like Justin Bateman. His dry wit and
sense of humor were much appreciated. I guess, I
just didn’t think the parts where he was “bonding”
with the 10 year old kid was done right. I found
it distasteful that part of that “bonding”
included Bateman plying the 10 year old boy with
alcohol on a night out on the town. I thought it
was disturbing that part of that “bonding”
included purchasing a hooker to show the young boy
her boobs had nipples. The sort of “bonding”, now
days, that would get you locked up for long, long
time. I just think Bateman didn’t need to take it
that far to make the relationship or the movie
work. The ending was a little schlock too…but I
will leave that up to those of you that want to
see it. All and all, I would have to say this is
a movie I would not strongly recommend. Like I
always say though…that’s just my personal
opinion.
Well, believe it or not, I won the Oscar ballot
competition at our Annual Academy Award party last
night. I should probably mention there were only
three of us involved….my wife, my son and me. But
I don’t care…it’s the first time I ever won with
the most correct picks! The prize was a crisp $20
bill that I had put up as the prize in the first
place. Still not complaining! In case you missed
it…here is a recap of the winners:
Best Picture:12 Years a Slave
Best Actress:Cate
Blanchett,Blue
Jasmine
Best Actor:Matthew
McConaughey,Dallas
Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o,12
Years a Slave
Best Supporting Actor:Jared Leto,Dallas
Buyer's Club
Best Original Score:Gravity,Stephen
Price
Best Original Song:"Let It Go," Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez;
Frozen
Best Adapted Screenplay:John Ridley,12
Years a Slave
Best Original Screenplay:Spike Jonze,Her
Achievement in Directing:Alfonso
Cuarón,Gravity
Achievement in Costume Design:Catherine Martin,The
Great Gatsby
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling:Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews,Dallas
Buyers Club
Animated Short Film:Mr. Hublot
Animated Feature Film:Frozen
Achievement in Visual Effects:Gravity
Live Action Short Film:Helium
Best Documentary Short Subject:The
Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Documentary Feature:20 Feet From Stardom
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:The Great Beauty,Italy
Achievement in Sound Mixing:Gravity
Achievement in Sound Editing:Gravity
Achievement in Cinematography:Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki
One of my favorite
nights of the year is almost here. It will be
Academy Award night at the Solem’s this Sunday.
So if any of you out there were planning on
calling, texting, Skyping, instant messaging,
Facebooking, Instagraming, tweeting… forget about
it…because I will be glued to the TV. For those
of you who are also fans of Oscar night, click
here for your very own Oscar ballot.
Doug's Featured Movie Review: Inside Llewyn Davis directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Coldest winter
ever!!! Planning a getaway for March but I don’t
know if that will be soon enough. The cartoon
below pretty much sums it all up for me…
Long
Story Short:
The movie, Inside Llewyn Davis, takes us
through a week in the life of a young folk singer
in 1961. Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is struggling
to make it on the coffee house circuit of
Greenwich Village. It is a time when every earthy
café is featuring folk singer wannabes. The
backdrop is a winter that is as gloomy as the one
we have here in Minnesota. His home is the couch
of anyone who will take him in for the night,
friends or strangers. During the course of the
week we are privy to all his ups and
downs…actually just his downs. There are no ups
for Llewyn Davis.
My Take:
Anyone
who has ever read my reviews knows I love almost
everything the Coen Brothers have done. With
regard to their latest offering, I love certain parts
of the movie…just not the whole enchilada. The
cinematography was amazing and truly captured the
feel and mood of a depressing wintry 1961 in New
York. As in most Coen brother movies, the
characters are perfectly cast from top to bottom.
Oscar Gold is beyond reproach as our cynical
protagonist douche bag wallowing in self pity.
John Goodman provides good fun as an overweight,
sickly, blow hard that Llewyn Davis is forced to
share a ride with on a quick road trip to Chicago.
Justin Timberlake is bright eyed and bushy tailed
as an aspiring folksinger. Carey Mulligan is
married to Timberlake’s character but finds
herself pregnant from Llewyn Davis. Her character
helps to reinforce that Llewyn Davis is a
thoughtless, self centered jerk. Also the sound
track is great. Inside Llewyn Davis is not
a musical where people break out unnaturally into
song at any given moment but instead weaves an
incredible mix of folk songs sung by characters in
musical settings that make sense ( recording
studios, coffee house stages, etc.).
Here is what I
didn’t like about the movie. Many of the Coen
Brother’s films center around losers (Raising
Arizona, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art
Thou?, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading
to name a few). The thing is, they are likeable
losers. You actually want them to get over their
hump of problems and come out on top. You want to
root for them…you want to be in their corner. Not
the case with Inside Llewyn Davis. The guy
is totally unlikable. And I get it…that’s what
they were going for…but I don’t care! Just when
you would begin to think he might have some
redeeming quality, he would do something that made
sure you realized that ain’t gonna happen. As one
critic put it…and believe me, we seem to be in the
minority…but I couldn’t put it any better…”Llewyn
Davis is bleak, bloodless and soulless”. Again,
I get, and normally applaud, that they like
breaking the standard cinema mold. I love their
Homeric story lines. I just can’t get completely
behind a movie where the hero is totally
unlikeable...it’s just too depressing.
Doug's Featured Movie Review: Dallas Buyers Club Directed by Jean-Marr Vallee
I
waited until the last minute to start cleaning up
my yard. It felt like about 50 below but I pushed
through and got most of it done. Whoever came up
with the mulching idea on a lawn mower should get
one of those Nobel Prizes. I can literally chop
up what seems like a million leaves and can fit
them all into just one bag. My neighbors don’t do
any mulching and use about 400 bags. Is my life
boring or what?! Now this week it’s snowing and
even colder. Lucky I got the yard done when I
did. Not much to do in this kind of weather other
than go see a good movie…and let me tell you…this
was a good movie!
Long Story
Short:
In the movie Dallas Buyers Club, Ron Woodroof
(Matthew McConaughey) is a hard drinking, hard
living electrician and rodeo cowboy. Set in 1985,
Ron has a rude awakening, when he finds out his
wild partying has brought him more than a simple
hangover. After ending up in the hospital,
following one of his drug and sex fueled binges,
he is diagnosed as H.I.V. positive and is told he
has less than 30 days to live. Ron refuses to
accept his prognosis and sets out on a mission to
stay alive as long as he can. He quickly finds
out that there is little to offer in the way of
approved treatments and medications in the U.S..
He crosses the border and finds a doctor who lost
his license in the U.S. but is continuing his
fight against AIDS in Mexico. The doctor takes
Ron under his wing and nurses him back to health
through alternative treatments. Ron starts
smuggling the unapproved medications back to the
U.S. to help others. Initially a homophobic, Ron
forms an unlikely alliance with fellow AIDS
patient, Rayon (Jared Leto). Rayon is a
transsexual who is able to help Ron gain
acceptance within the gay community. Together
they establish a “buyers club” to avoid the strict
government regulations with regard to unapproved
drugs. The club sells memberships and then gives
away the drugs for free. This set-up allows them
to operate legally in the U.S….at least for
awhile.
My Take:
Bravo…Bravo…Bravo!!! This movie is a winner and
it will bring multiple Oscar nominations. Lets
start with Matthew McConaughey. His role is a
complete departure from the “pretty boy” parts he
usually portrays. The guy lost 47 pounds for the
role, which is amazing all by itself, considering
he wasn’t fat to begin with. You will believe
that he has the disease….skeletal and wasting
away. He embodies an AIDS victim both physically
and mentally. His transformation from gay hater
to champion of the infected is amazing. His line
delivery of “good ole boy” wit and sarcasm is
hilarious at one minute and strikingly poignant
the next. Jared Leto is every bit as good in his
role as a transsexual with AIDS who is just trying
to find her way. When the two first meet you
could not possibly fathom that the two would
eventually become both friends and partners. Leto
had taken 5 years off from acting and was thinking
about never performing again until this role was
offered. I am so glad he didn’t turn it down. He
conveys all the hurt and turmoil a transsexual
must live with everyday. Add in his physical
transformation as both a transsexual and an
another AIDS victim… and you have another Oscar
nomination. A smaller but equally impressive
supporting role by Jennifer Garner, as a Dr. with
a conscience, only adds additional kudos to this
wonderful and thought provoking movie.
Doug's Featured Movie Review: Jackass
Presents: Bad Grandpa
Directed by Jeff Tremaine
Not much to
report. Shut down the cabin last weekend. For
some reason the hot water heater took 5 hours to
empty. What’s that all about? Must have some
sediment or something clogging things up. Me
being the mechanical dweeb that I am, I will have
to hire somebody next year to figure it out. When
it comes to anything that’s plugged in to
electricity, about all I can handle is changing
light bulbs.
I will definitely
have more time for movies as I slowly ease into
winter hibernation mode. My son convinced me to
go to Bad Grandpa. Now that he is
finishing up his degree at St. Cloud State, I
don’t see him very often. So, against better
judgment, I gave in and spent some, less than
quality, time with him.
Long Story Short: 86 year old Irving Grisman (Johnny Knoxville) has recently become a
widow. His number one goal is to now enjoy the
life of a bachelor half his age. Unfortunately
his drug-addict daughter spoils that dream by
dumping her son on him, right at his wife’s
funeral. Unwillingly, he must now travel cross
country with his eight-year-old Grandson Billy
(Jackson Nicholl) to deliver him to his drunken,
drug dealing father. What follows will disgust
some and will have others laughing uncontrollably.
My Take:
I know I am going to make myself sound old and
stuffy…but I have I have never had the slightest
interest in going to see a “Jackass” movie. I
have accidentally stumbled across their TV shows
on occasion and have found them to be offensive
and totally disgusting. However, as much as I
hate saying it, I didn’t mind this “Jackass”
offering.
If you saw
Borat. you know this movie is set up very
similar. There is a weak story line that is
driven by real people who are unaware that they
are becoming part of a movie. The gags that catch
these people off guard were set up perfectly. I
found myself laughing harder than I have at any
other movie in a long time. The type of laugh
that makes your eyes water. Granted, there were
some gross out scenes that I could do with out and
a biker bar scene that didn’t quite sit right, but
overall, the pranks were harmless and funny. One
of the last scenes takes place at a beauty pageant
for little girls. Although it is a direct rip-off
from the movie Little Miss Sunshine, it
still had everybody in the audience falling out of
their chairs.
But the biggest
reason this movie works for me, is because of
Jackson Nicholl. He plays the grandson. He is
amazingly funny and completely believable. He
alone was worth the price of admission. He has
had a couple of smaller roles in movies…this one
should get him a lot more work. It’s hard to
believe someone could upstage Johnny Knoxville but
this kid does it effortlessly. I will go see this
movie again, just to watch this 8 year old work
his magic. With that said, I hope I don’t lose my
coveted critics license for letting everyone know
I enjoyed a “Jackass” movie.
Doug's Featured Movie Review: Prisoners
Directed by Denis
Villeneuve
It’s
been a great summer, a little hot but not
complaining by any means. Finished up last week
with the DFS Annual Golf Invitational and buddy
Craig Zumwinkle won the scratch trophy again for
something like the 100th time while
Luke Magdik took home the handicap championship.
So funny…I won the tournament the very first time
it was held 25 years ago and nothing since. Lucky
for me, there was only a couple of guys in the
tournament back then and I don’t think they had
ever golfed before. Had the big neighborhood cook
out at the cabin the other day and someone asked
me when we should take docks and boats out. Damn,
I hate hearing those words…cause that means an end
to another great summer. I did make time to take
in Prisoners at the newly remodeled Andover
Cinema. If you haven’t checked that theater out
lately, you won’t believe how cool that place is
now! Incredibly comfortable reclining new seats,
new screens, new sound system…yeah baby!
Long
Story Short:
In the movie Prisoners, Hugh Jackman plays
Kelly Dover, a family man and carpenter by trade
who is a survivalist to the extreme. He wants to
make sure he is prepared in the event all hell
breaks loose in this crazy world we live in. This
is personified by a glimpse into his basement,
that is set up with enough food rations,
ammunition and other survival odds and ends to
take a small army through the apocalypse. His
family heads over to the neighbors for a little
Christmas dinner. Their daughters go outside to
play and are abducted in broad daylight. An old
dilapidated RV was seen in the area the same time
the girls disappeared. A finger is quickly
pointed at the frightening Alex Jones (Paul Dano
looking his creepiest with greasy long hair
sporting a pair of super thick glasses). Jones is
quickly arrested by Detective Loki (Jake
Gyllenhaal) but then released for a lack of
evidence. This doesn’t sit well with Kelly and he
takes matters into his own hands by abducting Alex
and putting him through some pretty horrific
torture tactics that had me turning away from the
screen more than once.
My Take:
Not much I didn’t like about this one. The movie
kept me on the edge of my seat the entire
ride...and I mean ride. Both Jackman and
Gyllenhaal were award worthy for their respective
roles. Jackman as the, throw all caution to the
wind, dad who is going to do everything he can
possibly do with his survivalist skill set to
bring his daughter home. His rage and torment is
so believable, it’s almost like you are watching a
documentary. Gyllenhaal is equally up to the task
as a cop who also is not going to stop until he
brings the girls home…dead or alive. His many
tattoos and nervous twitches brings into focus a
lonely man and a troubled soul …obviously a result
of the profession he has chosen and the horrendous
cases he has to work on every day. I’ve
seen Paul Dano in a lot of other movies and he
never disappoints. I don’t think he had more than
six lines in this entire movie…but he was every
bit as creepy and scary as any character I can
ever remember. Terrence Howard, Viola Davis and
Melissa Leo round out this superb cast with
astounding performances.
Doug's Featured Movie Review: We’re the
Millers directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber
I’m
sure you have already heard everyone else saying
it but…hasn’t the summer flown right by! Already
looking at Ruttger’s next week for the final golf
scramble of the year. However, no complaints
here…it’s been a great summer filled with a lot of
the same old stuff I love doing….cabin, grilling,
golf, grilling, boating, grilling…did I mention
lots of grilling? My daughter finished college
and has entered the real world of 40+ hour work
weeks and living on her own. I just got my son
settled in to an apartment for his final two years
at St. Cloud State. I only see my wife on
weekends because she pretty much lives at the
cabin during the summer. As a matter of
fact…today is our 26th wedding anniversary. Now
that I am thinking of it, I better order some
flowers or there will be hell to pay.
Movies are not a
top priority during the summer months but I did
make it out to see "We’re the Millers". If you
like your movies raunchy…this is a must see!
Long Story
Short:
David Burke (Jason Sudeikis) is a small time drug
dealer who gets his stash ripped off and has to
pay back his dealer (Ed Helms) by going to Mexico
to pick up a load of weed. In order to not
appear so obvious, when he comes back into the
United States from Mexico through customs, he puts
together a fake family. He hires his misfit
neighbors to pose as the “Millers”. Rose
(Jennifer Aniston) is a cynical stripper who is
tapped to play the wife. Awkward Kenny (Will
Poulter) poses as the geeky son while Casey (Emma
Roberts) transforms from the overly tattooed and
pierced slacker into the darling daughter.
My Take:
Is it wrong of me to start right off by saying how
hot Jennifer Aniston looked in this
movie…especially seeing as it’s my wedding
anniversary today. I asked my wife first and she
said I could. Appropriately enough…or should I
say inappropriately enough…she plays a stripper
who quits her job because she is asked to do more
than just dance for her customers. Not much
acting chops required for her role…but what is
asked for she delivers in a big way. I’ve always
liked Jason Sudeikis in most everything I have
seen him in from SNL to his movies. This is his
biggest starring role to date and he handles it
quite nicely. His understated and deadpan sense
of humor fits well with the script. One of the
funniest characters in the movie is Will Poulter
who plays the son. He has one of those faces that
only his mother could love. Wait until you see
his eyebrows. Facial features aside, he is the
perfect goob. A scene where his fake mom and
sister are showing him how to kiss, so he won’t
disappoint his new girlfriend, is
hilarious…especially when the new girlfriend walks
in on them. The rest of the players…Ed Helms,
Emma Roberts and assorted other character actors
are well cast and all bring a few good hoots of
there own to the table. We’re the Millers is
raunchy, crude, predictable and surprisingly
funny!
Reviewed by guest movie critic, Joe
Taft
Joe is a Junior studying Film Production at
Central Washington University (CWU) for Screenwriting
Move Over, Iron Man: The Real Man of Steel Just Arrived
It's
been seven years since the last film adaptation of
the original superhero that started it all.
Superman is back in a revamp of the character and
his mythology. "Man of Steel" is the newest film
in the history of Superman. Zack Snyder (300,
Watchmen) is in the director's chair with
Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Trilogy)
producing and David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight
Trilogy) writing. Snyder is known for his visuals
and popcorn blockbuster projects. The cast is as
elite as the creative team behind the film.
Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon,
Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane, and Kevin Costner
star as the supporting cast. As for the American
icon, he is actually played by a Brit. British
actor, Henry Cavill (Immortals), is the first
non-American to don the red cape. The cast is
exceptional and makes this film what it is. Cavill
definitely makes an impact as Superman and will be
a familiar face in Hollywood after this newfound
success.
The plot of "Man of Steel" is very
traditional in the sense of the original Superman
films with Christopher Reeve. In those
adaptations, General Zod and Superman's Kryptonian
origin is told. In the newest film, the audience
is retold the story of how Jor-El (Crowe) and his
wife give up their newborn, Kal-El, in order to
save him. Jor-El is aware of his planet's doom.
General Zod (Shannon) tries to overthrow their
government, dissatisfied with the leaders of
Krypton. Zod and Jor-El have a mutual respect for
one another despite their differences. Jor-El
sends his baby off with the key to Krypton's
survival, called the "codex." Zod is temporarily
defeated and is bitter toward Jor-El, vowing to
find Kal-El and reclaim what's his in Krypton's
honor. As the 1978 film spends time to see Clark
grow up in Smallville, Man of Steel introduces us
to Clark as a full adult. Scruffy beard and all,
Clark Kent (Cavill) is a loner who seems to wander
city-to-city, job-to-job, in search of answers to
his true alien identity. I enjoyed the use of
parallel storytelling through the childhood
flashbacks. The character development is
established the same way; this is due to the
believability of Lane and Costner as the loving
Earth parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent. Events in
Clark's life and the wisdom of his family in
Kansas set the base for who he is and who becomes
once he puts on the blue suit with the "S" shield
on his chest. Clark is the best of both worlds. As
for Lois Lane (Adams), she's as feisty as ever.
The relationship between Lois and Clark/Superman
is interesting because like most of this film;
it's refreshing. There's a twist in this film that
no other adaptation has ever done in the origin
story of Superman in regards with Lois. She's in
search of discovering who the mystery man is that
saved her in crisis along with other similar
stories. Fishburne does a phenomenal job as Daily
Planet's Chief Editor, Perry White. I loved him as
this character. As Lois comes across answers about
Clark and his past, General Zod arrives to Earth
with an agenda to destroy the human race. It
forces Superman to choose a side, as he is the
only defense for Earth.
The action sequences are packed with by far
the most epic fight scenes you'll see in a film
this year; it's as good as The Avengers. The only
word to describe it is "epic." The fight scenes
and visuals really give the viewers the sense of
how big this film really is. The scale is enormous
and other worldly as Snyder captivates the
audience right from the beginning with the clash
between Jor-El and Zod on Krypton. Superman takes
on Zod and his army, destroying what seems like
every possible location. From the Kent farm, an
IHOP restaurant and Sears store in Smallville; to
the city scenery of Metropolis. Nowhere is off
limits in this film. The score of the film brings
these scenes to life. Hans Zimmer again lends his
brilliance and composes what I believe is some of
his best work since Inception (even though
anything Zimmer does is fantastic). The subtleness
Zimmer plays off of in tone during quiet moments
touches the heart, while in contrast, the loudness
he creates matches the intensity and chaos built
up in climatic fight scenes is genius. He is the
best at what he does and just adds to the ensemble
of creative minds that brought this film to life.
"Man of Steel" is an incredible thrill ride
of a story, filled with a lot of heart. It's the
definitive Superman story that needed to be told
in this decade. Fans finally have a Superman film
to be proud of. With amazing special effects and a
great story arc, Superman is back and looking
better than ever. There are quite a few hidden
Easter eggs to be found when watching this film in
regards to future sequels, as well as the
anticipation toward the Justice League film for DC
Comics. With that being said, just keep your eyes
open and be aware to details in the film. There's
a lot to be excited about after seeing this. I
look forward to seeing the next installment of
Superman as well as when we'll finally get to see
Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. stand to fight
side-by-side with Superman as we saw last summer
with Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, etc. in Marvel's The
Avengers. Kudos to Snyder and his team on making a
thrilling blockbuster. This is what summer films
should be.
I’m
always looking for something different to do…so
when I heard Crispin Glover was going to be at The
Heights Theater in Columbia Heights, I grabbed my
buddy Paul and moseyed on over. (Can’t remember
the last time I used the word moseyed…I remember
Grandpa Walton using that word a lot.)
Crispin Glover or
Crispin “Hellion” Glover as he prefers nowadays,
is probably best known as Marty McFly’s dad in the
Back to the Future movies. But, if you’ve
seen him in anything else, you probably noticed
the guy takes a shining to roles that cast him as
a pretty strange dude. Case in point…River’s
Edge or Willard. Well let me tell
you…you ain’t seen nothin yet…until you go see his
one man show that has been making the rounds for,
what I found out to be, about the last 15 years or
so.
I got to the
theater a little early to pick out a good seat.
However my buddy Paul slowed me down by insisting
on a chocolate dipped ice cream cone from the
Dairy Queen that is right next door to the Heights
Theater building. Once he finished the cone and
wiping off the ice cream from his nose, we went
inside. Lucky for him, we were still able to find
two seats perfectly situated just a few rows back
from the front. Only problem, the guy in the seat
in front of me had a head the size of a small
filing cabinet. My buddy Paul, despite me making
fun of the ice cream on his nose, moved down a
couple of seats and allowed me to move into his
old seat…problem solved. As I surveyed the crowd
that had come to watch this quirky thespian…I
noticed they all looked as if they had just come
from the carnival and had the night off from
performing in side shows or fleecing brainless
Neanderthals out of all their midway money. Not
that there is anything wrong with that look…it’s
just that I don’t see that counterculture style
very often at the local Andover Cinema I am used
to patronizing.
If you aren’t
familiar with the Heights Theater, you really
should go check it out. The place has been
totally rehabbed and is soooooo neat. It looks
like something right out of the old silent film
era, complete with beautiful chandeliers and a
massive Wurlitzer Pipe Organ that rises right up
out of the floor. After listening to a guy
impressively play this jaw dropping instrument for
a few minutes, the pipe organ went back down into
the floor and Crispin “Hellion” Glover was
announced and took center stage.
Looking
like a liberal arts college professor at some
university, complete with unkempt beard and a worn
out corduroy sport coat, he seemed a little
frazzled and disoriented. He kept the small talk
to a minimum and immediately jumped into his slide
show presentation. This is where things start to
get really weird. For the next hour he showed
slides from different pages of the books he sells
at the end of the night out in the lobby. The
books are old public domain books from the early
1900’s. So in other words, the books were written
by someone else. What Crispin has done, that
allows him to sell the books as his own, is he has
crossed out certain sentences and added some hand
written new sentences to give the books a
completely different meaning. All I can say is
the changes and additions he has implemented to
these books were so bizarre that they made little
or no sense to me. One whole chapter, of a book
he read, was simply repeating the phrase “This is
the egg farm” over and over while showing the
actual page from the book on the slide up on the
screen.
Next up, we were
shown the movie he directed in 2007 called "It
is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE! " The screen
play was written by Steven C. Stewart who also
stars in the movie. Stewart in real life has
severe cerebral palsy and for years was in a
nursing home where they thought he was mentally
challenged. The movie is basically his life as a
man in a nursing home with cerebral palsy who
fantasizes about making it with beautiful women
and then ends up strangling them because they want
to cut their hair and he can’t let that happen
because he has a fetish for long hair. According
to Glover, in one interview, “Stewart wanted to
show that handicapped people are human, sexual and
can be horrible.”
Unfortunately this is the only
trailer available for this movie - please note it
is for mature audience viewing only
Glover came out
after the movie and rambled on about how he made
the movie with his own money from the fee he was
paid for his role in the movie remake of
Charlie’s Angels. He went on to say that
corporate interests have total control over what
movies get distributed. As a result, he feels
movies like his that make an audience
uncomfortable will not get distributed.
The evening was
very interesting. I am glad that I went.
However, I guess I can honestly say I am a product
of that corporate mind set Glover is so against.
I like Iron Man 3 and don’t mind all the special
effects and product placements it brings to the
big screen. I don’t mind feeling uncomfortable
once in awhile but just not very often and
especially not when I am paying for the ticket.
Doug's Featured Movie Review: Iron Man 3
- Directed by Shane Black
Reviewed by guest movie
critic, Joe Taft
Joe is a Junior studying Film Production at
Central Washington University (CWU) for Screenwriting
If
it’s summer, it’s blockbuster season. Some could
say if it’s May, there’s a Marvel movie. Following
the past trend of Marvel inspired superhero film
releases, such as Iron Man, Thor, and last year’s
The Avengers; “Iron Man” once again
takes to the big screen. I was honored last year
to see The Avengers and write a review. A year
later, I find myself yet again at a theater to see
the next adventure of Tony Stark.
Familiar
faces Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man),
Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), and Don Cheadle
(James Rhodes aka “Rhodey”/War Machine) all return
to reprise their roles. New to the Iron Man family
is Rebecca Hall (The Town), Guy Pearce (Lawless),
and Ben Kingsley (Hugo). Jon Favreau (Iron Man 1 &
2) reprises his role as Happy Hogan, but didn’t
return in the director’s chair. Instead, Shane
Black steps in to direct. Black is most known for
writing Lethal Weapon.
“Iron Man 3” reunites Shane Black and RDJ
because they worked together on Black’s
directorial debut, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, in 2005.
RDJ plays the role of Tony Stark with such
effortless charm; it’s easy to see how much fun he
actually is having. The comedy and memorable
one-liners can be found again in Iron Man 3 as
they were in the previous installments. But things
have changed this time around since we last saw
Stark in The Avengers.
Black’s delivers with the spectacle and
action an Iron Man film should have,
especially the last fight sequence between
villains and many (emphasis on many) Iron Man
armored suits. But since this is the first film of
Marvel’s Phase 2, “Iron Man 3” attempts to
really focus on Stark’s “post-Avengers”
experience. We pick up after the events of New
York and the alien invasion. Stark isn’t coping
well. He’s suffering from PTSD (posttraumatic
stress disorder) and begins to worry strongly
about his relationship with Pepper Potts (Paltrow)
and how to ensure her safety from his enemies. At
the same time, The Mandarin (Kingsley) comes into
the picture. This film strongly gives a glimpse of
how past events in Stark’s life come back to haunt
him. Aldrich Killian (Pearce) is a bitter business
man who knew Stark and is determined on ruining
his life. Maya Hansen (Hall) also knew Stark in a
different time and is the founder of ‘Extremis,’
which is essentially a super soldier serum.
Killian builds an army of ‘Extremis’ soldiers that
can regenerate and seem invincible. They prove a
great challenge to Iron Man. At the same time,
there is a terrorist who’s threatening the United
States. The Mandarin is an Osama Bin Laden-esque
villain who attacks globally and threatens the
President. Kingsley’s performance is genius the
Oscar-winning actor continues to show what he’s
capable of. Rhodey (Cheadle) is upgraded from War
Machine to Iron Patriot. He now has an armor
decorated in red, white and blue. Rhodey is trying
to find the Mandarin to end his attacks while
Stark is busy fighting off henchmen of both the
Mandarin and Killian. There is a huge twist that I
guarantee nobody will see coming. This definitely
makes the events build up to a climatic ending.
As good as this film is; it still has flaws.
After being spoiled to the epic and well-written
Avengers film, “Iron Man 3”, although it
captures the essence of Stark, it just doesn’t
quite pack the punch that some would expect it to.
This, being the first installment of Phase 2,
doesn’t deliver the hype that Iron Man did back in
2008. I didn’t walk away with anything to talk
about from this film, it was just showy but I
didn’t feel any real character investment or
depth. I really enjoyed the first two films and I
did like this one, but as I said I think we’re all
still hung over from The Avengers and this
didn’t do it for me. I didn’t think it was as
creative as it could’ve been and the huge reveal
that Iron man 3 has just seemed absurd to me and
reminds me of the disappointment I had from
Spider-Man 3. Don’t be alarmed though, Stark
doesn’t go become emo and wear guy-liner as Tobey
Maguire did. Some may see the film, watch the
twist and not care; others will see it and, be
upset and wonder, “What were they thinking?” There
is an additional scene after the credits; there’s
a good laugh there so stay and see it.
There are a lot of mixed feelings from
“Iron Man 3”, RDJ is so charismatic, and that
alone is what makes people see these films. No
matter what the story is, good or bad, at least
RDJ brings his A-game and makes these films the
best they can be. The story is debatable but the
action and visuals are stunning and the cast
really brings these characters to life. If I had
to, I’d give this film 3 out of 5 stars. Overall,
Black did a fair job and now fans wait for the god
of thunder to strike again this November with
Thor 2: The Dark World.
Doug's Featured Movie Review:
Oblivion - Directed by Joseph Kosinski
I
am looking out my office window on a Tuesday
morning and there is still snow on the ground.
So depressing. As a matter of fact, last
night Old Man Winter dropped another few inches on
us. He just doesn’t care. The
weatherman says highs possibly reaching the 70 are
this weekend. Dare I believe him? He
has disappointed me so many times before. I
can only hope! It’s not bad enough that the
snow won’t stop…but I think I have only seen
sunshine twice in the last six months…ok that
might be an exaggeration…but not by much. I
will try to open my cabin up this weekend, weather
permitting. Last year, at this time, I had
about 12 rounds of golf under my belt…obviously
this year…not so much. Here’s where I would
normally segue into my movie review using some
clever and witty transition…but this snow has
sucked all of my creative juices right out of me…I
got nothin…so plain and simple, this weeks review
is on
"Oblivion" with Tom Cruise.
Long Story
Short: The year is 2077. 60 years
earlier the moon was blown up and broken into a
few big pieces by aliens called Scavs. The
effects of such a catastrophe allowed them to
mount an attack on the earth. After many
years of war, we eventually defeat the Scavs….only
problem is we used so many nuclear weapons that,
along with the broken moon debacle, the earth were
left almost uninhabitable. What’s left of the
human population moves to Titan, one of Saturn’s
Moons. Enter Jack Harper (Tom Cruise).
Remember the Jetson’s? Jack works in a home
that is very similar to theirs. It’s thousands of
feet above the earth’s surface and serves as his
work station, as well. It’s his job, along
with his communications officer and lover Victoria
(Andrea Riseborough) to make sure none of the
remaining Scavs interfere with the huge machines
that are extracting the remaining water resources
left on earth and then transporting it to the
Titan colony. With just a few weeks remaining on
their tour of duty, before they will be allowed to
join everyone else on Titan, a spaceship crashes
on the earth’s surface. The ship is carrying
a number of crew members that are in hibernating
pods. Only one survives, Julia
(Olga Kurylenko). Jack immediately
recognizes her as being the woman he always sees
in his dreams. From this point on all hell
begins to break loose.
My Take:
First off, the special effects are phenomenal.
The pad Jack lives on, above the earth’s surface,
is so cool. The structure is 100% glass
walls and ceilings. It comes complete with a
swimming pool and a landing dock for his
futuristic hover craft. The huge machines
that suck up all the sea water are amazing.
The ominous and pesky drones that help police the
earths surface are equipped with an arsenal of
weapons that could single handedly take on any
major army and inflict more than just a little
damage.
As anyone who
reads my column knows, I am a sucker for the
action movies. Throw in the sci-fi special
effects and I’m not going to miss opening weekend.
I’ve always liked Tom Cruise and he was good in
this movie too. Morgan Freeman doesn’t hurt
the movies credibility either. He plays the
leader of the Scavs and provides us with an
interesting twist to the stories plot. The
two female leads, Andrea Riseborough and Olga
Kurylenko, are perfectly cast.
Here’s the problem
with this movie…about three quarters of the way
through…the story line gets all screwed up and
very implausible. For me nothing made much
sense and I just thought it was one big overload.
Clones of our lead character. A sinister
mother ship Remember Slim Pickens riding the bomb
into oblivion in Dr. Strangelove? Remember
Hal in 2001 A Space Odyssey?….you’ll find pieces
of about 10 different sci-fi movies crammed into
the last part of the movie. Bottom
line…great special effects, good acting…the ending
storyline is a buzz kill.
Weather update:
It is now Friday and the sun is shining and there
is no snow left on the ground…life is good again!
I
got sick and tired of all this snow and decided to
get out of dodge. My first little getaway
was with some of my golfing buddies. We
headed to Hot Springs, Arkansas. My first
job in radio was as an assistant news director at
a small station in Arkansas called KURM, so it was
fun to go back and reminisce. The weather
was spectacular and although my golf game still
sucks…we had a great time. Since I got to go
on the golf trip with my buddies, my wife twisted
my arm to go on a cruise to Key West and Mexico.
She didn’t have to twist too hard and the next
thing I knew we were porting out of Miami last
week on a 5 day vacation. Once again, the
weather was unbelievable and the sites were
spectacular. We even visited the Mayan Ruins
of Tulum…a must see if you ever have the chance.
Now it’s back to reality and of course the only
diversion for me during these frigid temps is a
good movie. Steve Carell and Jim Carrey together
sounded like a good bet, so I headed over to
Andover Cinema for "The Incredible Burt
Wonderstone".
Long Story Short: Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) is picked on as a kid and finds an
escape outlet through learning magic tricks.
Anton (Steve Buscemi) is his childhood buddy.
Together the two become another Sigfried and Roy
on the Las Vegas strip, minus all the animals.
However, after years as the top attraction, the
act starts to get old and stale. Suddenly
there are a lot of empty seats in the theater.
Burt is totally oblivious to the impending demise
and has also become a womanizing, cynical jerk.
Enter Steve Gray (Jim Carrey). Think Chris
Angel but even more over the top. Suddenly
the new guy is giving the old guys a run for their
money. Burt and Anton try to pull off their
own spectacle stunt by hanging from atop a crane
in a clear windowed sweat box for one week.
Unfortunately, Burt didn’t do his homework and the
trick goes terribly wrong after just 45 minutes.
The two break up and Burt starts his downward
spiral.
My Take:
Steve Carell was hysterical and is the master at
being obtuse. His hair alone was worth the price
of admission. Jim Carrey was the icing on
the cake. His outlandish over the top
character was perfectly suited for his outlandish,
over the top comedy. His repertoire of
illusions, including holding his urine for 7 days,
lying on a bed of hot coals for 24 hours, finding
a card inside his cheek bone that he cuts open to
retrieve, shouldn’t be missed.
When Burt hits
rock bottom, he starts performing at nursing
homes. Now that’s funny stuff! It’s
here that he meets his retired mentor played by
Alan Arkin. I really enjoyed the scenes
Carell and Arkin had together. They were
funny and touching. Arkin’s character was
much needed to help bring out the likeable side of
Burt Wonderstone. Olivia Wilde plays the
token female interest for Carell whose character
is never quite fleshed out. Buscemi as the buddy
works for me. The scene where he leaves Burt
and becomes a philanthropist by traveling to poor
parts of the world and handing out boxes of magic
tricks instead of food and water, although not
politically correct, tickled my funny bone.
James Gandolfini makes an appearance at the dim
witted casino owner…nothing much more to say about
him.
I think I might be
the only guy alive who really liked this movie.
It bombed at the box office. None of my
friends or family really cared for it and every
other review, I have read, said it stinks.
Don’t care…still liked it!
The Oscars are always a big night for my family. Leading up
to the event, it seems like we've been talking
about who the winners would be for months. The
day of, we start out with appetizers while
watching all the red carpet pomp and circumstance
on our big screen. Nothing I like better
than knowing who made all those dresses. Then my
wife, Deb, lays out a main meal worthy of any
Oscar contender. Last night was no
exception, as she prepared her secret
recipe lasagna complete with bread sticks and
salad. In holding true to a time honored
tradition, each of my family members filled out
their own Oscar ballot and cast their predictions
of who the winners would be. For some
reason, I am always stuck putting up the prize
money...a crisp $20 bill. For something like the
10th year in a row, Deb won all the money and only
missed picking three of the winners. After
consuming a few cocktails for good measure, she
only did her "rub it in our face victory
dance" for what seemed like an hour.
Just in case you were on another planet last night or you were
watching a repeat of Seinfeld for the 3000th
time...Here's a list off all the big winners for
the 85th Annual Academy Awards.
2013 Oscar Winners
Best Picture:
"Argo"
Best Actress:
Jennifer Lawrence
Best
Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis
Best Supporting
Actor: Christoph Waltz
Best Supporting
Actress: Anne Hathaway
Directing: Ang
Lee
Animated Short
Film: "Paper Man"
Animated Feature
Film: "Brave"
Cinematography:
Claudio Miranda for "Life of Pi"
Visual Effects:
"Life of Pi"
Costume Design: "Anna
Karenina"
Makeup and
Hairstyling: "LesMiserables"
Live Action short
Film: "Curfew"
Documentary
Short Subject: "Innocente"
Documentary
Feature: "Searching for Sugar Man"
Foreign Language
Film: "Amour"
Sound Mixing:
"Les Miserables
Sound Editing: "Zero
Dark Thirty" and "Skyfall" (A tie)
Film Editing:
"Argo"
Production Design:
"Lincoln"
Original Score:
"Life of Pi"
Original Song:
"Skyfall"
Adapted
Screenplay: Chris Terrio for "Argo"
Original
Screenplay: Quentin Tarantion for "Django
Unchained"
Doug's Featured Movie Review: Promised Land Directed by
Gus Van Sant
Not
much to report on the personal side. The
holiday season was spectacular, as usual. My
wife is a big reason for that! She loves
Christmas time and makes sure our home reflects
that holiday festive feel. This year we even
had a special prize, at our annual gathering, that
was handed out to the person that could guess how
many Santa Claus figurines she had displayed
throughout the house…I think it was something
close to 30 or more. My Dad recently turned
80 and still looks better than I do…which isn’t
saying much. I held the annual poker
tournament and was the very first one out! I
wait all year for the big game and I’m out before
the first break….DAMN!!! After a grueling
battle with the other nine at the table, my good
friend Phil Littlefield went home with the coveted
trophy and most the loot to boot. Phil is
the same guy who has won the DFS Invitational Golf
Tournament on numerous occasions and even had a
hole in one just a couple years back, during the
event. Enough about Phil, let’s talk about
another winner… Matt Damon in "Promised Land"
(was that a lame transition or what?).
Long Story
Short: Steve
Butler (Matt Damon) and his partner Sue Thomason
(Frances McDormand) are a couple of sales people,
working for a huge natural gas company. Their job
is to travel to small towns in rural America to
soften up local politicians while convincing
farmers to allow shale gas drilling on their land.
In one of the opening scenes we find the two
arriving at their next small farming community
dressed in business suits. The two make a
quick pit stop to the town country store, Rob’s
Guns, Groceries, Guitars and Gas.
Immediately we realize this duo is pretty slick at
what they do as they proceed to purchase a new
wardrobe of jeans and flannel shirts. A ploy
that will allow them to better fit in with the
locals. Initially, because of the depressed
economy, it looks like it will be a slam dunk for
the two to get all the farmers signed up and on
board. However, at a town meeting, Frank
Yates (Hal Holbrook), one of the most respected
town elders, points out that his personal
research shows that the “fracking” the company
will be doing has poisoned the land and the water
supply in other towns. To make matters
worse, an environmentalist (John Krasinski)
suddenly shows up and starts rallying the town
against the $9 billion dollar energy company
Butler and Thomason represent.
My Take:
Matt
Damon is one of those guys who I would go see
anything he is in. Although this is not my
favorite movie with him, I still enjoyed the film.
Damon seems like he would be such a likeable guy
in real life and that’s exactly the way he comes
across in this movie. A great guy who just
happens to be pitching a questionable product.
As we get a little deeper into the storyline, we
can see that he also has a conscience that begins
to make its voice heard louder and louder.
Krasinski is perfect as the environmentalist who
shows up out of the blue to preach the negative
effects of digging for gas. Little do we
know that he might also have an ulterior motive
for being in this specific town at this particular
time? He certainly gives Damon a run for his
money when it comes to who can be a better “good
ole boy”. Frances McDormand is one of my
favorite female actresses. From big roles in
movies like Fargo and Burn After Reading to small
but memorable roles in movies like Moonrise
Kingdom or Something’s Gotta Give…she is truly one
of the best! This time around she knocks it
out of the park as Damon’s flawed partner.
When it comes to her character having a conscience
or good business ethics, they are nowhere to be
found. Hal Holbrook is wonderful as the old
man everybody in town looks up to and seeks out
for his sage advice. He is getting so old
but he is still so good!
I saw a
documentary on “fracking” and what it can do to
land and water supplies and believe me it looks
like some pretty scary stuff. They showed
entire towns who had to ship in their water from
somewhere else. They also showed people
turning on their water faucets and putting a match
to the liquid coming out and it would immediately
flare up and start on fire. Damon and
Krasinski wrote the movie and obviously are trying
to get the word out in a big way. I would say
this is one movie you do not necessarily need to
rush out and see on the big screen but would be a
perfect choice to fill some gaps on a winter
night, at home on blue-ray.
Doug's Featured Movie Review: Skyfall directed by Sam Medes
November
is a little slower month than most. Not much
cooking other than my turkey on Thanksgiving and
celebrating my Dad’s 80th birthday.
Appropriately enough, I think Dad actually came
over on the Mayflower. Anyway, happy
birthday pilgrim…you the man!!! November is
also the month for my annual poker tournament that
brings together nine highly skilled professionals
and me. Like I say, things are slowing down
this month, so what better time to see the new
Bond flick "Skyfall".
Long
Story Short:
The movie opens with Bond’s (Daniel Craig) latest
mission not quite going the way he planned.
As a result, a list of undercover agents are
exposed and there is an all out attack on the M16
headquarters in London. At the same time, M (Judy
Dench) is being hunted by a new psycho bad guy
named Silva (Javier Bardem). 007 is
her only chance to stay alive.
My
Take:
Don’t get me wrong, I really liked the movie but
it wasn’t my favorite of the 23 installments.
The opening chase scene was incredible. Just
when you think it would be hard for them to
surpass the high octane opening chase scene from
the last installment, they step up and deliver
another knock out. Breathtaking comes to
mind. When that scene finally wraps up they
bleed…literally…right into Adele’s theme song for
Skyfall. Holy Moly Rocky, she is incredible
and it’s now my favorite of all their theme songs.
That’s saying a lot when you consider it beats
out, in my book, Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It
Better”, Paul McCartney & Wings “Live and Let Die”
and Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger” or “Diamonds are
Forever. Wait a minute…I may have over
spoken…let me back up just a little and rephrase
that by saying Adele’s “Skyfall” is in my
top five of all time favorites. Those others
are pretty damn good too!!!
Getting
back to the movie, the cast is superb.
Daniel Craig as Bond and Judi Dench as M could not
be better. Anyone who has seen No Country
for Old Men knows you can’t go wrong with Javier
Bardem as the frightening criminal mastermind.
Naomie Harris and Bernice Marlohe are great eye
candy and Ralph Fiennes as the Chairman of the
Intelligence and Security Committee is flawless.
My problems with the movie would have to center on
the plot. Everything in this movie pretty much
revolves around Silva trying to kill M.
That’s it! I love Judy Dench and the M
character but the entire movie centering on her
does not peek my interest as much as a world
domination scenario or stopping the bad guy from
killing millions. Also Q (Ben Wishaw)
introduces just one new gadget and it’s not any
big deal. It’s a gun that will only shoot
only if Bond is holding it…whoop dee doo. I
love the cool weapons and gadgets that are usually
a big part of Bonds arsenal that he will need to
stay alive. I also didn’t like the fact that
Bond was showing some age in this installment.
I always like my Bond in superhero condition.
Pointing out that he has trouble doing a pull up
or needs extra fiber in his diet reminds me of a
commercial for AARP.
With
that said, I must be alone with most of my
disappointments because the movie has already
raked in close to a half billion dollars and
doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. And again,
I’m not saying I didn’t think the movie was really
good…I just didn’t think it was as good as
others….but what do I know, I thought Titanic
would be a bust.
Doug's Featured Movie Review:
“Alex Cross”
directed by Rob Cohen
Well,
I finally got out of dog house with my wife.
If you’ll recall, our official anniversary was
August 15th and I didn’t get her
anything but a card because I had made plans for a
romantic weekend getaway to come later.
Later was this past weekend as we celebrated our
25th wedding anniversary at Ruttger’s
Bay Lake Lodge. I had champagne and
chocolate dipped strawberries waiting for when we
arrived. We golfed everyday and had a great
time during their Octoberfest celebration.
She said I had redeemed myself and no longer has
to sleep in the spare bedroom.
I just looked out
my window, as I am writing this review, and it’s
actually started snowing already. That reminds me
that I, unfortunately, have to close up the cabin
tomorrow. On the bright side, I will be
looking forward to watching lots of good movies
throughout the cold spell. Speaking of
which, I finally had a chance to run over to
Andover Cinema….because I am a “movie critic” they
let me in for free…gotta love it! I was in
the mood for an action thriller (surprise,
surprise) so I sat down for “Alex Cross”
directed by Rob Cohen.
Long story
short: Alex
Cross (Tyler Perry) is a detective and forensic
psychologist for the Detroit Police Department.
His partner and best friend is Tommy Kane (Edward
Burns). The movie opens up with a fight
scene taking place in a make shift octagon housed
in a warehouse. Seedy looking spectators are
betting on the fights. It is here that we
get our first glimpse of our psychotic assassin
(Mathew Fox). He shows up to fight and
nearly kills his opponent. A wealthy woman
in the crowd picks him up and takes him home.
Little does she know that he was actually
targeting her from the very beginning. Once
she gets him into bed, we see first hand his modus
operandi. He likes to inject his victims with a
shot in the neck that renders them unable to move
but still totally awake. Unable to scream,
he then tortures them to death. Cross and
Kane pick up the case and we soon find out that
wealthy French financier Leon Mercier (Jean Reno)
is the assassin’s main target. Cross smells a rat
in Mercier. After a couple more brutal
killings of those closest to Cross, he gets really
pissed off and we know someone is going to get
their ass kicked!
My take:
I would imagine just about everyone is familiar
with Alex Cross. You have either read the
books by James Patterson or you have seen the
films with Morgan Freeman. The movies are
repeated all the time on TV…Kiss The Girls and
Along Came A Spider. This time around Alex
Cross is played by Tyler Perry. Most of us
know him from those Madea movies where he dons a
wig and dress to play that cranky, opinionated
family matriarch. A role that has made him a
media mogul. Almost all the other reviews I have
read have slammed Perry’s acting in this new
movie. I didn’t see it that way. I’m
not saying he was Oscar worthy but I had no
problem finding him a believable character.
I think he got the most out of the script he was
given. I had a bigger problem with the
writers…a lot of the lines were just a little too
corny for my taste. Edward Burns got all he
could out of his role as well. I love his
raspy voice and the guy is like Dick Clark…he
never seems to age. However, once again, his
character was never really fleshed out by the
writers. Case in point…when his girlfriend meets
an untimely end at the hands of thecrazed
maniac, he doesn’t give it a second thought and
it’s almost as if she never existed. It made
no sense.
The real star of
this movie was the cage-fighting serial killer
played by Mathew Fox. Remember him from Party of
Five and Lost…you won’t think he’s the same guy.
Let me tell you…his character in “Alex Cross” will
make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up
more than a few times throughout this feature.
Think Hannibal Lecter on steroids and you’ve got a
pretty good idea of just how messed up this dude
is. To prepare for this role Fox lost 46 pounds
through a diet of chicken breasts, steamed
broccoli, protein shakes and a grueling, intense
daily gym routine. I have often said that
just one scene from a movie or sometimes even one
line can be worth the price of admission.
Trust me when I say, Fox’s character alone is
worth the $10. If you miss this film at the
movie theater, it will definitely be a good Red
Box choice to heat up one of those cold winter
nights.
Doug's Movie Review End of Watch - Directed
by David Ayer
I know my summer fun is coming to
an end when we finish the season up with my DFS
Dual Course Invitational Golf Tournament.
This past weekend we celebrated the 23rd
annual by bringing together 36 golfers of all
skill levels. We play the first nine at
Bunker Hills and the second nine at Majestic Oaks.
I was a little worried because this year I pushed
the event out a little further on the calendar,
compared to years gone by. Sure enough, the
weatherman was predicting some pretty frigid
temps. Thankfully, the wind chill wasn’t
quite as bad as they said it would be and the sun
peaked its head out on a regular basis throughout
the day…so the weather became a non factor…thank
God!. Jeff Magdik and Craig Zumwinkle ended
up tied after regulation when Magdik missed a
short putt for the outright win. On the
playoff hole, Zumwinkle sunk a 12 foot putt from
the fringe to take home the traveling trophy for
an unprecedented 6th time. For
some reason, I can’t remember what my score was
but after I finished my round some smart ass asked
if this was my first time golfing?…that guy won’t
be getting an invitation next year.
Last night my wife had one of those home parties
where you sell stuff to your friends, so it was
the perfect opportunity to go catch "End of
Watch" at the local cinema.
Long Story Short:
Two LAPD cops, Brian Taylor (Jake Gylllenhaal) and
Mike Zavala (Michael Pena) are partners assigned
to one of the most dangerous, gang ridden
neighborhoods of Los Angeles. They end up
gaining some positive notoriety within the
precinct after they are involved in a car chase
and shooting that is recorded on their squad car
camera. The two are just this side of being
reckless and sometimes stick their noses where
they don’t always belong. An unauthorized
stakeout leads them to uncover that the Mexican
cartel is now working out of their jurisdiction.
The two are warned, by a special undercover drug
enforcement team, to stay away but Taylor
and Zavala don’t listen very well.
My
Take:
The director was David Ayer. He’s the same guy who did
Training Day. If you haven’t viewed that
movie, it’s a must see. Denzel Washington
won the academy award for Best Actor. This
movie, has the same gritty, in your face feel.
To document each of his days at work, Jake
Gyllenhaal’s character clips a mini camera on his
and his partners shirts so you get an almost hand
held camera perspective of all the events that
unfold. Gyllenhaal and Pena have no problem
convincing us that they are not just partners but
true friends in every sense of the word. A
lot of the movie is just the two of them talking
while driving the mean streets of LA.
You would think all this bantering in the patrol
car would slow the movie down, but au contraire.
Those scenes are so well scripted and delivered
that they are just shy of spellbinding. Of
course the glue that holds everything together is
the nerve-racking situations a cop in that part of
town is going to come up against. The
gangstas, the prostitutes, the seedy
neighborhoods…"End of Watch" is all
masterfully filmed and yet another winner by David
Ayer!
Just
celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary
this past weekend. My wife, Deb, gave me a
beautiful pocket watch with my initials inscribed
and a sentimental engraving from a line from
Elvis’s Love Me Tender that says “Till the end of
time”. I forgot it was our anniversary, so I
will pick something up for her next week….just
kidding….gave her a card and some cash…just
kidding…taking her to Ruttger’s for a little
weekend getaway…just the two of us. She
asked if she could invite other people…not sure
how to take that. As a prelude to our
romantic weekend, I took her to see "The Bourne
Legacy". Sorry honey, I didn’t realize
it was an action flick…thought it was a chick
flick…oh well next time you get to choose.
Long Story
Short:
Colonel Eric Byer (Edward Norton) is the leader of
Outcome. This is the CIA’s own internal top-secret
organization that oversees all of their assassin
programs. For those of you that have not
seen the other Bourne movies, Jason Bourne (Matt
Damon), has exposed this top secret assassin
program and left it vulnerable to not being so
secret anymore. As a result, Byer decides to
eliminate, as in kill, all personnel related to
the program. The only problem is, this time
they also fail to kill special agent Aaron Cross
(Jeremy Renner). Big mistake, because this
guy would give even Jason Bourne a run for his
money! (Special note: In this latest
movie, Matt Damon is only seen in one quick photo
that comes up during a short scene in the
film…otherwise it is all Jeremy Renner this time
around.)
My Take:
What’s not to like! Everyone was great! Lets start with the
director. Tony Gilroy was the screenwriter
for the first three Bourne movies that starred
Matt Damon. This time he is in the directors
chair and does a more than admirable job taking
this billion-dollar franchise and going in a
totally different direction with a brand spanking
new hero….you don’t see that very often.
Jeremy Renner is the new hero and he has quickly
become one of my favorite actors out there.
I first saw him in The Town with Ben Affleck.
If you look back at my review on that movie, in
the archives below, you’ll see I had this guy
nailed from the beginning. His assassin
character in "Bourne Legacy" is so cool.
The C.I.A. has made him dependent on a certain
drug, without it he will die. Through most of the
movie he is need of a fix. As a
result, his assassin character is played with a
conflicting mix of calm control and total
desperation. His love interest is Rachel
Weisz. She plays a doctor who unknowingly
keeps assassins in line by administering the
top-secret medication that they can’t live
without. (This is the only plot line in the
movie that I thought was a little weak…but what do
I know.) Her character was still very
believable and she wasn’t afraid to let us see her
warts and all. Edward Norton provides the
cerebral edge to the movie. A guy who would
never make it as an out in the field assassin but
is extremely good at using technology to hunt you
down from behind his desk. His character is
void of emotion and would have no problem throwing
even his own mother under the bus if she crossed
him. I don’t care what your movies have to
have to get you in the seat…this one has it
all…romance, suspense, action, great story, good
looking people, blah, blah, blah.
On a sad note…Tony
Scott apparently committed suicide a few days ago.
He produced and/or directed some of my favorite
movies…Top Gun, True Romance, Days of Thunder,
Domino, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State,
Unstoppable, and The Last Boy Scout. The
list goes on and on. He was so talented…he
will be missed!
Reviewed by Guest Critic,
Joe Taft
He is a college student at the University of
WI-Superior,
Majoring in Video Production
To
begin this review, I must first say how difficult
it is a task to review a movie that truly leaves
you speechless. As a kid, my grandmother made me a
black cape that I’d wear around the house; I
didn’t just watch Batman movies, I became Batman.
It felt more real than tying a towel around the
neck. If you asked me then what I wanted to be
when I grew up, I’d reply, “Batman!” This is a
character that stands the test of time and is a
pop-culture icon.
Batman has gone through both good and bad TV and films, but thank
goodness for the brilliant mind of director,
Christopher Nolan. If it wasn’t for him and his
crew, people wouldn’t be treated to films like
Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, and Inception
(just to name a few). In 2005, Nolan re-envisioned
Bruce Wayne’s origin story with Batman Begins. In
2008, he followed it with the more crime drama and
social ideology film, The Dark Knight,
which exceeded limits for a superhero genre film.
Seeing both films prior to The Dark Knight Rises
might help in comprehending the plot. It’s a true
full-circle film (keep that in mind) with
flashbacks and references from the previous two
movies. The tone and use of such a grounded hero
in reality is unparalleled to any other superhero
franchise. When success is reached in such a
highly acclaimed film as is TDK, it’s nearly
impossible to recreate that magic when moving on;
unless you’re Nolan.
Nola
returns in the director’s chair to finish Bruce
Wayne’s compelling story. Events of "The Dark
Knight Rises" take place eight years after the
conclusion of TDK. Wayne (Christian Bale) starts
off the film as an old recluse who seems to have
lost hope and has given up moving on with life.
When a new evil rises, Wayne must once again don
the cowl and fight crime. It’s a true comeback
story. This is more of a Bruce Wayne story as it
is Batman (if that makes sense) and Bale is at his
best in his performance. As Batman returns, an
underground army are preparing to take seize of
Gotham City with Bane (Tom Hardy) leading the
threat. Hardy is a brutal brawler with no rules.
Right away we know he’s an instant danger and
unique villain in the Batman rogue’s gallery.
Bane’s very much Batman’s equal both mentally and
physically. If anyone can break the bat, it’s
Bane. Some comparisons will be made to TDK, it’s
inevitable but one should look at each film as an
individual installment. I think it’s an unfair
comparison when the late great Heath Ledger
rewarded us with the best take on the Joker that
will be ever be seen, but TDKR is a worthy sequel.
Hardy delivers in the role, even with his face
hidden behind the intimidating mask. His piercing
eye gazes and body language is what sells the part
(which people might overlook). He really deserves
some credit for bringing this villain alive. Most
of the movie you can understand him; however,
there are some parts of his dialogue that get lost
with noise. Overall, it’s such a minor detail that
doesn’t take away from the film because it’s such
a gratifying thrill ride. The fight scenes between
Batman and Bane are rugged. It’s pure adrenaline
and rage with each punch they exchange. The viewer
will feel every hit as if they were taking the
hits. The tension built up is unbearable.
Returning supporting characters are Commissioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman),
Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and Alfred Pennyworth
(Michael Caine) as Batman’s inner circle. Anne
Hathaway dazzles the screen with her presence as
the cat-burglar, Selina Kyle aka Catwoman. She
attempts to steal the show every chance she gets
and demonstrates she can hang with the Batman and
Bane in this film. Also new to the cast are
philanthropist, Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard)
and cop, John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Both
are mysterious figures that are more than they
appear to be. Gordon-Levitt, in my opinion, is
another one that steals the spotlight. He’s the
soul of this movie as a good-hearted cop that
never gives up on believing in Batman. Every actor
shines. The action is intense and epic. It’s a
true spectacle and I recommend seeing it in IMAX
if you can. Don’t be alarmed when the auditorium
shakes, IMAX is a true experience that’ll leave
you breathless and you’ll walk away with
appreciation. The scenes of the Bane’s attack on
the city and a football stadium will leave you in
awe. Sequences with the bat-pod, tumbler and
Batman’s new toy (thanks to Mr. Fox) “The Bat” is
elevated due to IMAX. There’s a dogfight scene
that’s absolutely stunning. For some concerned
about the running time of 2 hours and 45 minutes,
the pace of the movie is brisk and nothing feels
dragged out. Clever editing in this film is what
distinguishes that notion.
As good as the action is the story is still the heart of this film as it
is always with Nolan. His grasp of the characters
and twists keeps you wanting more, even when it’s
over and the lights come on. Nolan’s ideologies of
terrorism, economic collapse, and revolution ring
through the entire film. This is what grounds this
film in reality, it’s scary to think how relevant
this story is in today’s society. The ending of
this film is the best to any I’ve seen in a long
time. People stood up from their seats and praised
the screen when the film didn’t even end yet. It
was remarkable and that’s when I realized this was
an event, not just another movie. Something that
this series has over The Avengers and Amazing
Spider-Man is the emotional investment. The last
seven minutes are a rollercoaster ride of
emotions. This is one of the best films this year
and end to greatest trilogy of the decade. TDK
trilogy will never be replicated and for that, I’m
sad. This is filmmaking at its best. From the
story developed by Chris and Jonathan Nolan with
David S. Goyer, the cinematography from Wally
Pfister, and the score by Hans Zimmer are all
inspiring. People don’t always take notice to the
components that make up a film, but TDKR is a true
spectacle. Focusing on this as a stand-alone film,
it’s a masterpiece of work. It brings closure to
the Nolan/Bale Batman story. There was no
deception in the tag-line: “The Epic Conclusion.”
That’s what it is. The legend does indeed end and
for those staying after the film waiting to catch
a glimpse of an additional scene; there is none.
This is Nolan/Bale’s curtain call of the caped
crusader. Fans must wait for the next film
adaptation of Batman, almost like waiting for the
sight of his signal to flash in the night sky.
I
am penning (typing) this column Wednesday morning
and can’t believe my eyes. I am looking out
my office window and it is actually raining.
Boy do we need it! I have been spending a
lot of time at the cabin but, even on the lake,
the overwhelming heat has been keeping us inside
next to the air conditioner. However, I am
getting quite a bit of use out of the jet-ski this
year. I can kick that baby up to about 30
mph. and it provides a refreshing break from those
high temps. Well, like I have always said,
it’s always comfortable at the cinemax. This
week was no exception as I found myself watching a
whimsical little movie called "Moonrise
Kingdom".
Long story
short:"Moonrise Kingdom" takes place on an island
off the coast of New England during the summer of
1965. It is a not-quite-coming-of- age story
about two twelve-year-olds, played by Jared Gilman
and Kara Hayward, who fall in love. The two
run off together because no one understands them.
The quirky little island community turns all of
its attention to finding the young couple.
Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward
Norton is the local scout troop leader and Bill
Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young
girl’s parents.
My take:
I have enjoyed everything Wes Anderson has ever
directed…The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore,
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou… "Moonrise
Kingdom" is now my favorite. Much like
the Coen brothers, all of his movies have a
certain look and feel that cannot be mistaken for
any other director.
"Moonrise Kingdom" is filled with dry humor
and flawed characters…a trademark of all Wes
Anderson movies. The cast was nothing short
of stellar. The two newcomers, Gilman and
Hayward, were wonderful in portraying two lost
souls who together are no longer lost. Bruce
Willis was perfect as the likeable yet inept town
sheriff. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand
are shown with all their warts as the parents of
the runaway daughter. Their eccentricities
are both laughable and sad. Being a former
boy scout myself, it was fun to see Edward Norton
as the overly zealous leader for a troop of very
capable little scouts. Add in cameos
from Harvey Keitel and Jason Schwartzman and you
have one great little movie. The film is in
limited release for some reason so you might have
to hunt around to find a theater near you….but I
guarantee it will be well worth the hunt!
Let me start right
off by telling you that I was hoodwinked by my
wife. We were up at the cabin, and since it
was so hot outside, my significant other suggested
we go to a movie. I asked her what
movie and she said “I will tell you when we get
there.” At the time, I couldn’t think of any
movie I would not want to see…so we headed to the
Parkwood Cinema in St. Cloud. The most
beautiful and comfortable theater in Minnesota.
They have an attached restaurant and bar with
seating that is better than first class on any
airplane. When we got to the theater, my
wife asked to be dropped off at the front door and
said she would get the tickets while I parked the
car. I thought that was a bit strange since
she had always walked with me in the past.
When I got inside the theater she directed me to
our individual screening theater. 18 movies
to choose from and she has me going to see
"MAGIC MIKE"….ARGGGGGGH! I walk in
only to find a packed theater of nothing but
women. That’s right, every single chair occupied
by what looked like one huge bachelorette party.
I felt violated…until one other guy walked in with
his wife also looking like a deer caught in the
headlights. Apparently his wife had kept it
a secret as well. Don’t ever let it be said
that Doug Solem is not a trooper… I bit the bullet
and watched the entire movie.
Long Story
Short:"Magic Mike" (Channing Tatum) is a roofing
contractor by day and a stripper by night.
His dream is to some day have his own customized
furniture company. He meets 19 year old
slacker Adam (Alex Pettyfer) on site at one of
their roofing jobs. Magic Mike takes Adam
under his wing and introduces him to the world of
snap on leather pants and pay days that come
in the form of one dollar bills. Adam has a
big sister Brooke (Cody Horn) who lets him stay at
her apartment because he is such a loser. Of
course she becomes the love interest for Magic
Mike. Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) is the
strip club owner who has his own dreams of opening
up a huge new strip club in Miami.
My Take:
I will admit, although I will deny it if anyone
asks, the movie was entertaining. Channing
Tatum is a likeable guy and very easy to watch on
screen and I am not talking about his body,
although my wife would. I have seen him in a
few other movies and he just sort of grows on
you…again I mean that in purely non-perverse way.
In real life, Tatum was a stripper a number of
years back. Obviously he was a natural for
this role. His dancing…and I am only talking
about his dancing mind you…was incredible.
The guy can move on stage. I thought his
scenes with love interest Cody Horn seemed a
little stiff…can I possibly get in any more puns?
I thought he was O.K. but Horn’s acting was hard
to watch. I said to my wife that she had to
know someone to have landed the role. Sure enough,
I found out later that her father is the head of
Warner Bros….no big surprise there! I
thought Alex Pettyfer was equally as bad as her
brother. He came across as a total bore
with absolutely no personality. Matthew
McConaughey, on the other hand, was a scene
stealer. His over the top performance as the
club owner was the highlight of the movie for me.
Everyone knows he likes to take his shirt off all
the time anyway, so this movie was perfect for
him. Although he is getting older the guy
has the body of a 20 year old….give me a
break…you couldn’t help but notice…he had his
shirt off through the entire movie. Steven
Soderbergh was the director, and like some of his
other movies, a lot of the scenes felt as if
they were unscripted and it often felt like
he may have just told the actors the premise for
the scene and then just had them adlib.
For some parts of the movie it worked and for
others…not so much.
I think most of
the women in the theater that day would say it was
a 10….not that I am jealous, but I would say it
was more like a 6….talking about our rating
for the movie of course! The only
disappointment my wife had was that the movie was
not in 3-D.
Last
week was one for the books. My son was
helping me move my daughter into her new
apartment. When we finished up, he thought it
would be quicker to slide down to the next floor
on the wooden railing instead of taking the steps.
In the process, he got a 9 inch wooden sliver, the
size of a railroad spike, lodged in the back
of his upper leg. When he showed me the
damage…I nearly passed out. I threw
him in the back of the 17 foot moving truck, I had
rented, and made like an ambulance across town to
the St. Cloud Hospital Emergency Entrance.
After taking a peek at the extent of his injury,
he was quickly moved to a private room and made
ready for surgery. They used an ultra sound
and had to slice him open in 4 different spots to
get everything out. After the meds wore off
a little, they quickly bandaged him up and showed
him the door (I was told if he had received a
heart transplant he could have spent the night).
So far, everything seems to be doing OK and he
even made time to go to a movie with me this week.
I wanted to see Battleship but his sources had
told him Men in Black 3 would be a safer bet.
So, because he is bigger than me, I obliged and we
headed off to Andover Cinema to see if Will
Smith’s return to the big screen would pay off.
Long
Story Short:
This is the third installment of MIB. This
time around our plot centers on Agent Jay (Will
Smith) traveling back in time to 1969 to meet up
with a younger Agent Kay (Josh Brolin) to try and
stop the evil villain Boris (Jemaine Clement) from
destroying the world in the future.
My
Take: I must
admit I was a little disappointed in "MIB 3".
However, I should probably temper this review
knowing that I am a bit biased from having just
seen the Avengers, as well. To me the
Avengers was the greatest action movie ever!
So to follow that up so quickly, with MIB 3, is
probably a little unfair…but who cares?
I have
always liked Will Smith and after taking a break
from the movies for a couple of years its nice to
have him back on the big screen. However, I
just thought his Agent Jay character, this time
around, was a little worn out and stale. I
don’t know that this was all his fault because I
thought the script was a little worn out and
stale. He has to work with what he is
given…but it still seemed like he just phoned in a
lot of his performance. Tommy Lee Jones had
a much smaller roll this time around as old Agent
Kay. Because it was such a small roll for
him, there really isn’t much to say other than I
have always enjoyed his work. As mentioned
earlier, Will Smith is transported back to 1969 to
try and change a little piece of history. If
he is not successful it will mean the end of
mankind in the future. It is after being
transported back to 1969 that he runs into a young
Agent Kay, played by Josh Brolin. Props to
Brolin for nailing every mannerism, nuisance, and
voice inflection of Tommy Lee Jones.
He even looks like what you would imagine Jones
looked like at that young age. In the first
two MIB movies Chief Agent Zed was played by Rip
Torn. Much like Tommy Lee Jones, I have
always loved watching Rip Torn in the movies.
Although never a leading man like Jones, his
character roles are always quite memorable.
A few too many cocktails in real life have caused
Torn some major embarrassments and probably his
recurring role in this movie franchise.
Casted in his place is the capable Emma Thompson
who plays Agent Oh. Once again, a waste of
such a good talent owed mainly to her poorly
written roll. Jemaine Clement, playing the
one armed villain Boris, was a real scene stealer.
His over the top appearance and performance were
and added pleasure to this otherwise ho-hum comic
book movie sequel.
Like I
say, if I hadn’t just seen The Avengers, I
probably would not have been this hard on MIB
3…but there’s nothing I can do about it now.
I don’t think I am the only one who feels this
way. Although its opening weekend numbers
totaled over $55 million dollars, it fell well
short of what industry insiders had predicted.
It faired better overseas taking in another $132
million but with a budget put somewhere around
$230 million and millions more spent on
marketing…it’s got a long ways to go if it’s going
to put up Avengers type money…now estimated at
over $1.3 billion!!!!!!!
This week Doug is on
vacation so we have a guest movie critic, Joe Taft.
He is a college student at the University of WI-Superior,
Majoring in Video Production
Featured Movie Review:
The Avengers -
directed by Joss Whedon
Review by Joe Taft
To
start with, let me say I am very honored with
being given the task of writing this review.
Twenty years ago I was born. By the age of three I
could remember watching superhero shows and tying
towels around my neck as capes. I also
began drawing these heroes nonstop. My love for
superheroes grew as they were adapted into films
and I was always adamant about seeing the newest
hero flick. It is now 2012; my love for these
characters is as strong as ever as I am very
invested into these stories. I even dressed as
Captain America for last Halloween. Back in 2008,
Iron Man hit the big screen and Marvel has since
planned out one of the most genius schemes ever in
this film genre: a team-up picture. What we get is
The Avengers. This is the start of this
year’s summer blockbusters.
"The
Avengers" is made up of Iron Man/Tony Stark
(Robert Downey Jr.), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark
Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black
Widow/Natasha Romanova (Scarlett Johansson),
Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), and Captain
America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). If that’s not
enough, Samuel Jackson plays S.H.I.E.L.D. agent
Nick Fury, the ringleader trying to get these
heroes to work together. Along with him is the
returning character of Agent Phil Coulson (Clark
Greggs) and new to the Marvel Avengers’ line-up is
Agent Maria Hill played by the delightful Cobie
Smulders from CBS’s How I Met Your Mother. The
villain of the film is Loki, who Tom Hiddleston
reprises his role and is just as brilliant as he
was in last year’s Thor. "The Avengers" is
brought to life by director, Joss Whedon.
This may be overwhelming, with so many big
named actors and character egos but let’s get to
the movie. I went to the midnight premiere and saw
the 3-D showing, but I’ll say right now: save your
money! There aren’t that many impressive scenes
worth the extra spending. And it dims the picture
which I wish someone would find a way to fix. On
the plus side, I did get a sweet pair of 3-D
glasses that were Captain America themed. Getting
into the story; having watched all the individual
films that lead up to "The Avengers" will
help to understand the plot. Loki, Thor’s
step-brother has returned to Earth and is back
with a vengeance. When he’s after the tesseract,
or cosmic cube, it’s up to Nick Fury to round up
all the heroes in order to defend Earth from Loki
and his alien army. What is most interesting about
the film are simply the interactions between the
superheroes. They isn't a team at first and it’s
their journey to become the Avengers that’s most
intriguing. As usual, Robert Downey Jr. is
brilliant as Tony Stark, but Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce
Banner is his intellectual equal; their scenes
together are a lot fun. Ruffalo is new to the cast
as he replaced Edward Norton but he makes the role
his own and does a good job in my opinion. As far
as the Hulk goes, he steals the show. Flat out the
best CGI for the character yet. As for the rest of
the Avengers, Evans’ Captain America and
Hemsworth’s Thor shine as well. Captain is
learning to cope with being in a new world and
Thor has come to stop his brother’s madness, where
there are great scenes that show the audience why
he’s the God of Thunder. There’s also a lot more
depth given to Johansson and Renner’s Black Widow
and Hawkeye as they never have been the main
characters in any previous films. Everyone gets
their deserved spotlight in this movie. Overall,
the script is well-written and in my opinion, Joss
Whedon is the best director yet for Marvel as he
brings his unique style to the source material.
All the elaborate shots and sequences he has set
up are incredible. The film is very funny. I was
surprised how funny it was and the jokes are so
perfect for the characters. The climactic fight
scene will blow your mind. Think of Michael Bay’s
Transformers franchise with iconic superheroes
instead (this is far better though, sorry Optimus).
It’s EPIC! There are so many scenes in the film
that will give you chills because it’s so iconic
to finally see these heroes share the big screen
together. It’s pure adventurous escapism at its
best.
As a fan, I am very pleased with this
adaptation of these characters and the future only
looks bright as there are more sequels on the way.
Also, stay after for the post-credits scene like
Marvel has trended with all the Avenger films
previously. You don’t want to miss out on what
Marvel and the Avengers have in stored next.
"The Avengers" is Marvel-lous, there’s my
cheesy critic line, sorry. But really, the film is
worth the time and you’ll love every minute. This
is not just a film, it’s become an event and you
don’t want to miss not being a part of it. Thanks
for reading this review.
I
took my wife to see Michael Jackson Cirque du
Soleil for her birthday at the Target Center.
It was incredible! It was both a rock
concert with a live band (many of whom actually
used to tour with Jackson before his death) and a
mind-boggling display of dancers and acrobatics
that only Cirque knows how to produce. My
only complaint would be that I paid about a year’s
salary for 5th row seats. You
would of thought a view that close would guarantee
the best sight lines. Au contraire my
friends…. in trying to appease the rest of the
audience, they had a main stage up front and then
a ramp that went out into the middle of the floor
with another stage. Through the entire first
half of the show we constantly had to stretch our
necks back and forth to try and see what was
happening on both stages. I felt like I was
at a tennis match. It really sucked…but
after the intermission we got permission to sit in
a couple empty chairs in the back row of the main
floor seating. Needless to say, the
second half was more relaxing and enjoyable than
the first. The next day I went to see
"The Hunger Games" to see if it was all it was
cracked up to be. I have not seen so much
hype since the first Twilight came out.
Long Story Short:
Based
on the best selling books by Suzanne Collins…the
film is set in the dystopian future of a nation
called Panem. The nation is divided into 12
districts, all surrounding the “Capitol.”
Each year 24 kids between the ages of 12 to 18 are
chosen to compete in the “Hunger Games.” A
death match where only one teen will walk out
alive. The reason for the barbaric
ritual is the result of an uprising years earlier.
There used to be 13 districts and they all joined
together to try and over throw the “Capitol”.
The rebellion was unsuccessful and the 13th
district was completely destroyed and wiped off
the map as a result. The “Capitol” holds the
event each year as a reminder to the districts of
who’s really in charge!
My Take:
First off, I was amazed at how violent the movie
was and still maintained a PG-13 rating. I
don’t know if I am just getting old or what… but I
saw so many moms and dads with their little 8 and
9 year olds going in to see this movie. I’m
not saying the kids will be traumatized for life
but it just seems a little inappropriate for such
a young audience.
With that said…as a mature adult (yeah right) …I
thought the movie was just ok. Yes, I
know I will probably be publicly flogged for
saying such a terrible thing. I find
it hard to believe that it made over $250 million
in only 10 days…the most ever for a nonsequel.
I just didn’t think it was worthy of those kind of
numbers. Of course, I thought the same
thing about the Twilight movies. Obviously,
I am not the target demo they are shooting for and
those best selling books certainly help to prime
the pump.
Jennifer Lawrence
and Josh Hutcherson do an admirable job as our two
heroes, Katness Everdeen and Peeta Mellark.
However, I don’t think either convinced me that
they truly cared about each other or that they
might have a growing connection for each other in
our next movie adventure. Their relationship
seemed a little shallow even after all they go
through together. Woody Harrelson was great
as a former winner of the games who has now become
a bitter drunk chosen to prepare the kids for
battle. Lenny Kravitz plays Cinna,
assigned to making Katniss and Peeta look good for
the viewing public and to gain the attention of
the all-important “sponsors”. It’s not
a huge role but when he is on screen he
effortlessly commands your attention. He is
a natural and I wouldn’t mind seeing him in his
own movie vehicles in the future. The visuals of
the movie were pretty good. However for a
movie that’s made a zillion dollars, I would have
thought a little more of a budget would have been
afforded for some bigger Harry Potter type effects
and eye-popping cinematography. A big
portion of the movie is simply filmed in the
forest with a single held camera…. and that gets a
little stale after awhile.
The bottom line…I
thought the movie was good…I just didn’t think it
lived up to all the hype. Since I have been
told that I am the only person in the world who
has not read all three books…maybe that has
something to do with it. Like I have always
said…it’s just my opinion and I’m stick’ in to
it!!!
Doug's Featured Movie Review:
21 Jump Street - Directed
by
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
It’s
hard to believe how nice it has been outside.
Last week, I got in my first round of golf at
Majestic Oaks in Ham Lake. They opened up
nine holes on their Crossroads course.
I have been bragging to everyone how I scored a 44
. That’s pretty darn good for me.
What I haven’t been telling them is the last two
holes were under construction and shortened by
about 400 yards. We’ll keep that our little
secret, if you don’t mind. Nice weather or
not…I always make time for the movies! I was
in the mood for a good laugh or two so I decided
to give "21 Jump Street" a chance to put a
smile on my face.
Long Story
Short:
As the movie opens we are transported back to a
high school circa 2005. Schmidt (Jonah
Hill), a nerdy senior, is awkwardly stumbling
through a conversation with the good-looking
popular girl. He has finally worked up
enough nerve to ask her to prom. The school jock,
Jenko (Channing Tatum) overhears the conversation
and embarrasses him to the point that Schmidt
retreats on his prom notions and goes back to
being everyone’s whipping boy.
Flash-forward to present day …we now find Schmidt
and Jenko have become unlikely buds who help each
other get through police academy training.
Upon graduation, the less than dynamic duo is
paired together on park patrol. After
totally screwing up their first big bust, the two
are reassigned to 21 Jump Street.
Enter Captain
Dickson (Ice Cube) their new boss who has them
going undercover at a local high school to try and
take down the supplier of a new synthetic drug
before it spreads to other schools. The two
donned their backpacks and head back to school.
What they find is a world that has turned totally
upside down from the way things used to be.
There is now a big role reversal in play…the
mindless jocks are now considered the dweebs and
the tech savvy geeks are now considered to be the
in crowd.
This movie is
filled with lots of well-crafted funny lines and
visuals. From the moment we see Tatum and
Hill on their first police assignment as park
police riding their little police bicycles…the
laughs just keep on rolling. Even at his
young age, Hill is already a comedy veteran with
brilliant comedic timing. He is also the
master of deadpan humor. I’ve only seen
Tatum in more macho roles so I didn’t know what to
expect. However, he had no problem keeping
up with Hill and the two played off of each other
like a modern day Martin and Lewis. (My son
will read that and ask why I am comparing them to
those two explorer guys.) Ice Cube nailed
his parody of the stereotypical no nonsense, hard
ass boss we used to always see on cop TV shows
back in the 70’s. Dave Franco played the
yuppie drug pusher at the high school. I predict
this guy is going places and not just because his
brother is James Franco. He is a
scene-stealer with tons of charisma.
For me, if a movie
has one or two great scenes…those moments will
often make the movie worth the price of admission…"21
Jump Street" has about a hundred. This
movie is a great value and you definitely will get
your money’s worth of big laughs even at today’s
crazy ticket prices! Next up, I will
be heading off this afternoon to see if The
Hunger Games is worth all the hype…. more
later!
Best
Cinematography:
Robert Richardson, "Hugo" Best Art
Direction: Dante Ferretti and
Francesca Lo Schavo, "Hugo" Best
Costume Design: Mark Bridges, "The
Artist" Best
Makeup: Mark Coulier and J. Roy
Helland, "The Iron Lady" Best
Foreign Language Film: "A
Separation" Best
Supporting Actress: Octavia
Spencer, "The Help" Best
Editing: Kirk Baxter and Angus
Wall, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" Best Sound
Editing: Phillip Stockton and
Eugene Gearty, "Hugo" Best Sound
Mixing: Tom Fleischman and John
Midgley, "Hugo" Best
Documentary: "Undefeated" Best
Animated Feature: "Rango" Best
Visual Effects: "Hugo" Best
Supporting Actor: Christopher
Plummer, "Beginners" Best
Original Score: Ludovic Bource,
"The Artist" Best
Original Song: Bret McKenzie, "Man
or Muppet" Best
Adapted Screenplay: Alexander
Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants" Best
Original Screenplay: Woody Allen,
"Midnight in Paris" Best Live
Action Short: "The Shore" Best
Documentary Short: "Saving Face" Best
Animated Short: "The Fantastic
Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore" Best
Director: Michel Hazanavicius,
"The Artist" Best Actor:
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist" Best
Actress: Meryl Streep, "The Iron
Lady" Best
Picture: "The Artist"
Doug's Featured Movie Review:
The Descendants directed
by Alexander Pain
With
the Oscars just around the corner…I thought I
better go see a few more of the contenders.
I’ve already seen The Help, Hugo, Moneyball,
The Tree of Life, War Horse and now "The
Descendants". Out of that lot, I would
give the statue to The Help, hands down!
That movie was amazing. Of course I have not
seen Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close or The
Artist so they might be able to change my mind.
I have heard some really good things about The
Artist and can’t wait to review it. Now it’s
not that the other movies aren’t good but to me
they shouldn’t even be up for the award…well maybe
War Horse. Best Movie of the year should be
an epic that moves you to the point of facebooking
all your friends to say “hurry go see this movie”.
The only one that did that for me was
The Help. With that said, I had the
opportunity to go see George Clooney the other day
in The Descendants.
Long Story Short:
Matt (George Clooney) by all appearances should be
one happy guy. Beautiful wife and kids,
great job, lots of money and, to top it all off,
he lives in Hawaii. But appearances, as we
all know, are not always what they seem. As
the movie opens, we see his wife water skiing and
enjoying the day. Next thing you know, we
are at a hospital. Turns out his wife is now
in a coma as a result of a terrible boating
accident that same day. Matt starts to see,
what he thought was his perfect world, start to
crumble. He has no parenting skills
whatsoever and is totally out of touch with his
two daughters. 17 year old Alexandra (Shailene
Woodley) and 10 year old Scottie (Amara Miller)
are not about to make his life any easier.
They show him no respect and proceed to make his
life so miserable that he probably wishes he was
the one in the coma. Matt and his relatives
are descendants of a Hawaiian royal
bloodline. He is the executor for the
family estate. He oversees an incredibly valuable
and vast piece of land that they have owned in
Hawaii since the 1860’s. Part of the family
wants to sell for millions while the others just
want to keep the land from developers. More
headaches for poor Matt. Can things
get any worse…you betcha… to top it all off Matt
finds out his wife has been cheating on him.
Once again, we find an actor who puts in a great
performance that takes him outside his usual
comfort zone. We are so use to seeing
Clooney as the good looking, always in control,
leading man. This time out he is about
ready to have a nervous break down as he comes
full circle in putting his life back together
again. The two girls that played his
daughters were exceptional and a driving force on
why the movie worked so well. I was a little
annoyed, at first, with a surfer dude type
character named Sid (Nick Krause) that was
introduced early on and then hung around for
almost every scene. I thought his character
was going to be a shallow unnecessary distraction
for the film. Turns out I was wrong and the
kid grew on you after awhile. The talented
Beau Bridges stops by for a smaller part as one of
the cousins who wants to get his moneys worth out
of the family estate.
I thought the movie was very good. Is it
worthy of best picture…I don’t think so. Is
Clooney’s performance worthy of an Oscar?…maybe.
When I look at the nominees, he probably has a
pretty good chance. To me it’s a pretty weak
field this year for all the categories. I
mean when Johah Hill is nominated for an Academy
award…something is not right. Now don’t get
me wrong, I like Jonah Hill but I also like Pee
Wee Herman. Go see the movies and you
decide for yourself. Fill out your own Oscar
ballot and let me know how you do. Here is a
link to this years nominee’s.
The Academy Awards
Some
of my fondest childhood memories, of times spent
with my Grandma Solem, would have to include
watching Vern Gagne’s AWA wrestling TV show.
She totally bought in to their shtick and if you
even hinted that you thought it was fake you would
never be asked back to her modest home in
northeast Minneapolis. I like, most of you,
could of cared less if it was real or fake…for a
kid back in those days, it was some of the best
entertainment you would find anywhere!
This past weekend my good buddy Scott and I got
wind that the Parkway Theater in south Minneapolis
was going to be having a special screening of
"The Wrestler". Many of you probably
associate that movie title with Mickey Rourke and
the huge sleeper hit that came out just a couple
years back. However, there was another movie
by the same name that opened right here in the
Twin Cities on February 19, 1974. Those
strolling up the red carpet that day were not your
typical Hollywood stars but instead the most
memorable cast of grizzled misfits the Twin Cities
has ever known. The Crusher, Dick the
Bruiser, Wahoo McDaniels, Dusty Rhodes, Marty
O’Neil, Nick Bockwinkel, Wally Karbo, Larry Hennig,
Dick Murdoch, Ric Flair and Superstar Billy Graham
were all making their big screen debut.
As the story goes…Gagne scraped together $450,000
of his own money to put the movie together.
He cast Ed Asner and Elaine Giftos as the only
bona fide Hollywood types to give the movie a
little more credibility. Everyone else,
appearing in the film, came from Gagne’s stable of
AWA cronies. Asner plays Frank Bass, a
wrestling promoter who is trying to put facilitate
the super bowl of wrestling. The idea is to
bring together all the champions from the
different associations to square off against each
other to see who will become the one supreme
grappler. Gagne, 47 years old at the time,
plays Mike Bullard, an over-the-hill champion of
one of the associations (talk about type casting).
Everybody thinks Bullard’s all washed up but we in
the audience know better. The movies climax
is a big match between Bullard and an up and comer
named Lord “Tally Ho” Blears. The movie was
good fun, if for no other reason than to see all
those wild and crazy wrestlers who you grew up
with as a kid.
Before
screening the movie, Greg Gagne (Verne’s son) got
up on stage and delighted the packed house with
some of the incredible stories that took place
behind the scenes back in the glory days of AWA
wrestling. The highlight of the night, for most I
am sure, is the fact that Verne Gagne himself, was
able to come and enjoy the event with the rest of
us. The crowd lined up and paid homage to
the one time champion of wrestling entertainment.
Now 85 and suffering from dementia, until
Saturday, he had not made a local public
appearance in 15 years. At least for this
particular Saturday, he showed no signs of that
terrible disease. He seemed, once again, in
his element… adored by the crowd…so appreciative
of all the fun memories he had helped to provide.
I
can’t believe I didn’t go golfing this week at
Majestic with my friends while I had the chance.
The weather on Tuesday was something like 50
degrees, sunny and no wind. It doesn’t get
much better in my book…especially considering it’s
the middle of January! As I’ve mentioned
before, I’m not big on ice fishing, snowmobiling,
skiing, ice skating, or any other activity that
requires standing out in the cold pretending you
are having a good time. Give me the winter we
have been having and I can at least keep from
crying. The only thing that sucks is all the
businesses and people who rely on that white stuff
for their livelihood. That’s the one nice
thing about going to the movies…it doesn’t matter
if there’s a foot of snow or 100-degree
temperatures…it’s always great weather conditions
inside the neighborhood multiplex. (I promise to
change up my feeble transitions next movie
review.)
Long Story
Short:"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is
Columbia Picture’s first of three films that was
put out as an adaptation of Steig Larsson’s The
Millennium Trilogy. This film is based on
the first novel of the trilogy that has sold over
50 million copies worldwide. The movie is
directed by David Fincher (The Social Club)
and stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.
Craig plays Mikaw Blomkvist, a once highly
respected but disheveled, alcohol indulging,
investigative journalist. He writes an
unflattering piece on billionaire industrialist
Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. As the movie opens, he is
found guilty of libel for the article.
Despite the verdict and the disgrace that comes
with it, another titan of industry and the head of
Sweden’s wealthiest family, Henrik Vanger, hires
Blomkvist because of his thorough investigative
skills. He is asked to find out what
happened to Vanger’s niece, who disappeared 40
years earlier. Vanger promises Blomkvist not
only to pay him a kings ransom if he finds out the
truth but will also give him the evidence he
needs to bring down Wennerstrom. Blomkvist
needs a little help for such a daunting
investigation. He ends up working with
a pierced, tattooed, gothic punk rocker named
Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). She also just
happens to be unbelievably brilliant with amazing
skills that are not taught at your local schools .
Let me just say
from the get go…I was totally bowled over by the
Rooney Mara performance. The Lisbeth
Salander character is one of a kind. In the
beginning she appears asocial, demure, fragile and
passive to a fault. But it doesn’t take us
long to realize this is one woman you don’t want
to mess with!!! Everyone had warned me about
the brutal rape scene in the movie. I admit
it was disturbing but found the movie was worth
the price of admission for how Salander exacts her
revenge on the assailant. Lisbeth Salander
is the glue that holds this complex, thought
provoking story line together.
I found Daniel
Craig’s performance to be quite refreshing.
I am so used to seeing him, in other movies, where
he is allowed to get by with just his good looks,
never a wrinkle tailored clothing and over the top
action skills. This time around he
looks and dresses like Colombo and relies on his
acting chops to carry the movie, instead of a
bunch of special effects. If you had
told me at the beginning of the movie that there
would eventually be some sort of hook up between
these two polar opposites, Blomkvist and Salander,
I would have thought you were crazy. But
when it happens, it works and works in a big way.
Serial killers,
corruption, incest… it’s a twisted,
cerebral, thriller of a movie…the likes of which I
have not experienced since Polanski’s
Chinatown came out in 1973. The movie
will have you on the edge of your seat more than
once. If you like movies where you are not
spoon fed and actually have to think for a change,
you’ve hit the jackpot with "The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo"!
Hope
all of you are enjoying the holiday season…despite
the lack of snow. To be completely up front,
if we saw a light dusting on Christmas day that is
all I would need to see for the entire winter.
Anyone that says they enjoy shoveling the driveway
or scraping the ice of the roof is either a liar
or should have their head examined, or both!
Give me that nasty looking brown stuff until
spring and I will do no complaining.
I, like most of
you, have been busy attending holiday dinners and
other seasonal celebrations involving lots of food
and merriment. I seriously have put on what
feels like 100 lbs. I am what they refer to
as calorie challenged. I blame it on people
like my dad…who makes this cheese ball every year,
for the big party my folks have, and it’s filled
with crumpled bleu cheese, cream cheese and other
artery clogging ingredients…but man is it good!!!
I’m thinking that I will make a promise not to eat
so much starting the first of the new year…I
wonder if anyone else has ever tried doing
that???? Oh well…tis the season. It’s
also a great time of year for some really big
movies to hit the big screen! This week’s
review is one of them.
Long story
short: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" is
round two for Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law
reprising their roles as Sherlock and Watson.
The movie opens with some pretty big explosions
that are a prelude to all the mayhem and insanity
that is yet to come. The villain this time
around is the infamous Professor Moriarity (Jared
Harris), a worthy nemesis, to say the least.
This guy is an evil genius who is plotting to get
World War I started early. The war will make
him millions because he has cornered the market on
the weapons both sides will need to purchase to
fight their enemy.
As most of you are
aware, one of my favorite actors is Robert Downey
Jr.…he never fails to deliver. He’s as old
as me but has the body of a 20 year old…and
believe me, he needs to be in shape for all the
trouble that is thrown at him in this movie.
He flexes his muscles convincingly as he escapes
multiple beat downs, gunshots, bombs and other
deadly devices. Of course his well knows abilities
to make almost psychic deductions are the
trademark of these movies and always fun to watch.
Jude Law’s role as Watson is much bigger this time
around and gives Downey a run for his money with
regard to who has more screen time. I’ve
never been a big Jude Law guy but he is pretty
darn good as Sherlock’s sidekick. Did I
mention one of the major characters from the last
movie makes her entrance in the opening minutes of
this movie and is quickly killed off…ala Alfred
Hitchcock getting rid of Janet Leigh in the early
part of Psycho. It normally just isn’t done
and messes with your head a little when it does.
But it gave the writers the perfect opportunity to
introduce the new femme fatale, a gypsy fortune
teller named Sim, played by Noomi Rapace.
I didn’t think they made real good use of her and
did not really draw the character out as much as I
would have liked. The movies look is also a big
winner in my eyes. It’s the early 1900’s and
the feel is dark, dank and dangerous. Award
winning cinematographer, Philippe Rousselot serves
up a dizzying visual masterpiece as we’re taken on
a ride that includes stunning stops in England,
France and Switzerland.
Bottom line…this
movie is fun and who doesn’t like to have
fun?…other than maybe that Scrooge guy. For
all those of you who enjoy my reviews, I hope you
have a great holiday season and a healthy
prosperous new year! To the rest of you all
I can say is “Bah, humbug!”
I’m
writing this review on the first Thursday that I
won’t be golfing since spring. For the last
20 years, as soon as the snow is off the ground
and the temp is above 45, I have golfed almost
every Thursday afternoon up at Bunker. It’s
been the same five-some since we started…Scott,
Duke, Craig, John and myself. 50 cents a
hole…one tie all tie. We laugh so hard
(usually at my score)…it is absolutely the
highlight of my work week. However, there is
a little snow flying outside my window today and
the high temp is projected to be just above 30.
Begrudgingly, I must put my clubs away for another
season. To try and put a positive spin on
such a downer…at least I will now have more time
to pen these fascinating movie reviews for you…and
as the movie "In Time" points out…extra
time is a very valuable commodity! (Was that
a great segue or what…)
Long story
short: The movie "In
Time" wants us to believe that in the not to
distant future, scientists have been able to
change the entire populations DNA so that everyone
stops aging at 25. Sounds like a stretch…of
course what do I know… I would never have guessed
my phone would become a multimedia center capable
of virtually delivering the world right to the
palm of my hand. Anyway, the only hitch with
never aging past 25 is it creates a bit of a
population explosion. To combat this
problem, after you hit 25 you are genetically
engineered to only live one more year unless you
can literally buy more time. So time becomes
the currency of trade instead of cash. It’s
how you pay for everything from your mortgage to
your life. Like any capitalistic society,
the rich have thousands of years in time banked to
do whatever they want…while the little guy like me
tries to earn enough minutes just to live another
day.
Justin Timberlake
plays Will Salas. Will comes from the poor
part of town. He stops at the neighborhood
bar one night and befriends a rich guy who ends up
giving him all of his time. It’s enough to
last for hundreds of years. The irony is, Will is
then able to transfer time to whoever he wants.
Little does he know that his mother is down to her
last few seconds and before he can reach her, to
make a transfer, her ticker goes to zero and she
dies. To make matters worse, the guy who
gave Will all his time commits suicide. A
corrupt police force called “time keepers” now
starts to hunt Will down to take his time..
Cillian Murphy as
Raymond Leon is perfectly cast as the evil
billionaire banker of time. Amanda Seyfried
plays Sylvia Weis who is equally as good
portraying his spoiled daughter. Will kidnaps
Sylvia and uses her as collateral to take down
Raymond and his evil empire. The pair of
course become lovers and the rest of the movie
becomes more or less a mix of Robin Hood meets
Bonnie and Clyde.
The problem I had
with this movie…is the whole “time as currency”
premise gets old pretty quick. The actors
were fine…it’s just that the script was a little
shallow and didn’t give them much to sink their
chops into. I’ve seen Justin Timberlake in a
few different movies as of late (see Friends with
Benefits review below) and I think this was his
weakest performance to date. If your time is
also a valuable commodity…you might want to wait
until this one comes out on dvd.
I
have not had much time for movies this month.
It’s October and that means time to start shutting
down the cabin. My official end of summer.
No more pontoon rides on the lake, no more golf,
no more cook-outs….very depressing. This
year instead of doing everything over one weekend,
I have been spreading the chores out over a few
weekends. I have now finished taking the
dock in, putting the pontoon and jet-ski into
storage, mulching and bagging leaves, blah, blah,
blah. Now all I have left is emptying out the
water heater and blowing out the lines. Is
this too much information? I did take
a break from all that fun last weekend and headed
over to Muller Family Theater in Monticello.
That place is great… incredibly comfortable seats
and monster screens. I had heard “Ides of
March” might be a good political thriller…so I
grabbed a bag of popcorn (light on the butter)
with a diet coke and made my way to one of those
cushy seats.
Long story short:
“Ides
of March” is an adaptation of Beau Willimons’s
play Farragut North. Ryan Gosling plays
Stephen Myers. Stephen is an up and coming, hot
shot, deputy presidential campaign manager.
George Clooney plays Governor Mike Morris, whom
Stephen idolizes and is trying to help get
nominated for the Democratic ticket. Paul
Giamatti is the opposing candidate’s campaign
manager. He meets with Stephen and tries to
hire him away from his current job.
Apparently meeting with the other side is a big NO
NO…and when Stephen’s boss (Philip Seymour
Hoffman) gets wind of the sit down…all hell breaks
loose. Just when you think things couldn’t
get any worse for Stephen, he uncovers another
huge secret that threatens to bring the Governor’s
campaign and his political career to an end.
This movie is jam
packed with star power. Clooney, Gosling,
Hoffman, Giamatti…and lets not forget former
academy award winner and really hot looking babe
in “The Wrestler” ….Marisa Tomei. She is
great as a ruthless news reporter who will do
anything to get the story. I should say,
however, that I was a bit disappointed that her
character was played with no sex appeal
whatsoever. She wore a pair of unflattering
specs and was dressed in about four layers of
clothing…..damn! I saw Gosling
in a movie a few weeks back called “Drive” and he
has a number of other films coming out over the
next year. As far as I am concerned…keep
them coming…he is the man! As Stephen Meyers
in “Ides of March” his character was slick,
confident, a little full of himself and very cool.
He starts out thinking he “knows it all” and by
the end of the movie he, like most of us, realizes
there is a lot more to this crazy world than he
could ever imagine.
While watching the
movie, I couldn’t help but think of another flick
that came out several years back called “Primary
Colors”. The plots are almost exactly
the same. “Primary Colors”starred
John Travolta, a mirror image of the Clooney
character in “Ides of March”….both well
spoken, with a seemingly genuine passion for
politics and helping the common man while at the
same time dealing with personal demons that could
destroy them. The other thing, that I found
interesting about “Ides of March”…it was
the first movie that I have ever been too where I
started out admiring all of the characters but by
the end of the movie I thought everyone of them
was despicable! Obviously that’s whatthey wanted you to
feel and it worked perfectly! It’s not my
favorite movie of the year…but I strongly
recommend you see it now or when it comes out on
DVD.
Brad
Pitt is one of the few actors who I will go see no
matter what movie he is in… and I am rarely
disappointed. He is one of those guys who
could just stand and read from the phone book and
I would listen to every name, address and phone
number until he finished with Sandy Zywiki.
When I saw he was starring in Moneyball, I
left work early and made sure I was in the front
of the line for the first showing. I know I
sound like a teenage girl with a high school crush
but who cares… it’s Brad Pitt for crying out
loud!!!
Long story short:"Moneyball" is based on the nonfiction
bestselling book that goes by the same name.
It takes a look back at Oakland A’s general
manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), who was able to
put together a winning combination of players in
2002, despite having the smallest working budget
in the league. How he manages to accomplish
this feat, with so little working capital, is the
impetus of our movie. Up until this point in
time, the players on a team were usually put
together based on gut instinct and intuition.
However, we are given to believe that Billy is the
first to implement a “sophisticated computer-based
analysis” to find just the right mix of low
budget, rag tag, underused players that he could
draft and still field a team that was competitive.
Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) is the computer geek and
Yale graduate that Billy relies on to provide him
with the statistical information he needs to find
the best players for the least dollars.
This movie offers no special effects, no
incredible car chases, not a single bullet
fired…but it’s still soooooo good! The
writing and dialogue delivered by the actors is
fun and clever. The pacing of the movie is
quick but not too quick. It never bogs down
and holds your attention effortlessly right up
until the credits start rolling and then some.
What’s surprising is Jonah Hill. Past roles
have portrayed him as the over weight, goofy,
smart-ass. This time around he delivers a
very solid performance in a much more understated
and intellectual role. Brad Pitt’s
Billy Beane is brilliant. His character is
layered with complexity. He is a man, who by
all appearances, is very charismatic and sure of
himself….driven and passionate. Outside the
clubhouse we see a very different side. He
is surprisingly very lonely while dealing in
solitude with a failed marriage and the thoughts
of not being there for the daughter that means
everything to him. Phillip Seymour Hoffman
is another one of my favorite actors. He has a
smaller but still memorable role as Art Howe, the
coach of the Oakland A’s team.
Sports fan or not…I think you will agree, this
movie hits it out of the park!!!
I
was never a big martial arts fan until my friends
Tim and Sue Howe invited me to go watch their son
Nate mix it up in an actual big fight that was held
in St. Paul. Tim incidentally is the
mayor of Coon Rapids…not that it’s important to my
story, but who would ever imagine that I hob knob
with royalty unless I told you. Back to the
fight…that night Nate was the underdog…but like a
strong, patient and methodical snake he eventually
wrapped up, the soon to be former champion, so tight
that all the guy could do was tap out. Right
then and there I gained a real appreciation for the
sport and for what guys like Nate must go through in
grueling hours of training to become champions. I
remembered Tim (did I mention he is the Mayor of
Coon Rapids) telling me that Nate was also a
jiu-jitsu instructor at a club that just happened to
be called Warriors Cove. So I took it as a
good sign that the movie, I couldn’t wait to see,
was also called "Warrior".
Long story short:"Warrior"
is directed by Gavin O’Connor. He’s the same
guy who directed "The Miracle". This time around
instead of a Cinderella story on ice, it’s a couple
of down and out modern day gladiators in for the
fight of their lives. Brendon Conlon (Joel
Edgerton) is a high school teacher who had to put
out a lot of money to pay off the bills for his
daughter’s expensive heart surgery. As a
result, his home is about to be foreclosed on and
life is really starting to suck. He happens to
be a former MMA fighter. In order to try and
make ends meet, he decides to climb back into the
ring and travel the circuit of skid row MMA fights
that are held at local strip clubs. Tommy
Conlon (Tom Hardy) is an Iraq war hero…or is he?
He is also an MMA fighter who, like a young Mike
Tyson, completely annihilates his competition.
The brothers have not seen each other since they
were little boys. Their parents got divorced when
they were children. One chose to stay with his
alcoholic and abusive dad while the other chose to
escape with mom. The only thing the two now
have in common is how much they hate their father
Paddy (Nick Nolte).
I don’t want to compare the movie to "The
Fighter"…but it’s hard not too. The story line
is very similar…two brothers going through a
strained relationship…an incredibly dysfunctional
family….one brother upset that a parent showed more
attention to his sibling….a big fight that could
change everything…blah, blah, blah. The only
problem is,
"Warrior" comes up a little short. The
characters are not as flushed out. As a result
you don’t care for them as much. I thought
every single actor in "The Fighter" deserved an
academy award…not so much for
Warrior. You’ve heard me say before that most
movies are just to darn long…however…and I can’t
believe I’m going to say this…I actually think
"Warrior" should have been a little longer just
to develop the characters a little more to make us
care. The one exception might be Nick Nolte.
He was brilliant as the recovering alcoholic dad
whose only wish is that his boys might someday
forgive him.
Don’t get me wrong…"Warrior" is worth the
price of admission just for the great fight
scenes…but I’m just a little bummed out because I
think it could have been a classic with just a
little tweaking….but what do I know?!
My
daughter, Katie, just flew in from Alaska where she
spent another summer working for a tourism company.
She is spending a few days with us before she heads
back to St. Cloud for her senior year of college.
I told her she could pick the movie this week.
I was in favor of something with a little more
action like “Cowboys and Aliens” or “Rise of the
Planet of the Apes”….but no, she had to choose
“The Help”…and boy was I glad she did.
When we first sat down, my buddy Mike was texting me
updates on the Twins – Yankee game. I was
thinking, at least I had that going for me if I have
to sit through some boring yarn about the Civil
Rights movement. It didn’t take to long before
I powered down the cell realizing I was in for one
hell of a movie.
“The Help” comes to us by
way of the hugely popular book by author Kathryn
Stockett. From what I understand Tate Taylor,
who directed the movie, is a friend of Ms. Stockett
and he was able to secure the rights to the movie
early on. “The Help” takes us back to the early
60’s during the height of the Civil Rights movement.
However, the movie takes place in Jackson,
Mississippi, a town that’s, to put it mildly, a
little slow in accepting the fact that “the help”
should be treated like anything other than slaves.
Ron Howard’s daughter Bryce Dallas Howard plays
Hilly Holbrook. She is brilliant at portraying
the town prude and head bigot. To give you an
idea of just how screwed up she is…throughout part
of the movie she is organizing a fund drive for the
starving children of Africa. At the same time
she is trying to get a bill passed that makes it
mandatory that no one allows their maids to use the
bathrooms in their homes…they must install a
separate bathroom for “the help” outside the home.
Angela Davis plays Aibeleen, one of the first maids
who is willing to help Skeeter (Emma Stone) write a
secret book chronicling their lives as these
glorified slaves. Octavia Spenser plays
Minnie, a former maid to Hilly, who provides a lot
of the limited, but effectively used, humor in this
not so funny time. Other notable performances
are turned in by Cisely Tyson, Allison Janney,
Sissy Spacek and Jessica Chastain.
This movie is a 10 and the best
movie I have seen this year. Everything
works…the acting, music, cinematography…it’s
perfect. What’s really hard to believe is this
is the first movie Tate Taylor has directed.
Although the Oscar’s are a long ways away…my
prediction is this movie and cast will all be big
winners. I don’t often say this but…if you
don’t go see this movie on the big screen you are
missing out on something pretty incredible!!!
Yes, believe it or not, I am
going to review a romantic comedy. I am giving in
to the weekly pressure I receive from all the
women (at last count at least 3) who email me each
week and tell me they want more "chick flick"
reviews. Apparently my appetite for extreme action
movies with lots of special effects is not a big
part of their viewing diet. So here you go...
Long story short..."Friends
With Benefits" was a fast paced and enjoyable
little movie that was well casted with Justin
Timberlake and Mila Kunis in the starring roles.
Dylan (Justin Timberlake) is the art director for
a small web based magazine. Jamie (Mila Kunis) is
the corporate headhunter who lures him to New York
to interview for the same job but with GQ
magazine. Before we get to this point, we have a
couple of opening scenes that let us know that
they each have problems staying in a relationship.
Once Dylan gets to New York and lands the coveted
GQ position, he hits it off with Jamie and they
decide to have a strictly "friends with benefits"
relationship. Kind of like on Seinfeld when Jerry
and Elaine tried the same thing...and if you know
the episode I am talking about you know how well
that turned out! Things don’t go much better for
Dylan and Jamie. Everything starts off great...it
always does...sex without commitment...gotta love
it...or do you?
The interaction between our two
leads was a little stiff to start out with...their
banter between each other seemed forced and a
little over acted. By the middle of the movie,
though, they were firing on all cylinders. Woody
Harrelson was great as Dylan’s gay buddy at the
office. Jenna Elfman was equally as good as
Dylan’s sister who watches over their dad who has
early signs of Alzheimer’s and likes to take his
pants off wherever he goes. We’ve seen Justin
Timberlake as a supporting role in a number of
movies. He didn’t seem to have much trouble
crossing over to leading man. I am not a huge fan
of Mila Kunis, but I really liked her this time
around. There are a lot of scenes where clothing
is optional...so if you like your movies where
one’s birthday suit is the primary costume...this
movie will not disappoint. "Friends With
Benefits" is perfect for date
night...predictable but charming...and oh so warm
and fuzzy. (Please don’t tell any of my macho
friends that I used the words "warm and fuzzy"!)
Everyone
knows I am a sucker for big action movies ladened
with special effects. So I took a few hours off
this week and snuck over to Andover Cinema to take
in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part
2". My good friend Allison Horita, one of the
funniest and wittiest people I know, was also
there with her son Jack. So my wife and I parked
in the seats right next to theirs and settled in
for the big event...the final Harry Potter movie.
I looked up the numbers and
they are staggering. The franchise has put out 8
movies amassing over 7 billion dollars. The latest
movie has only been out for a week and is already
pushing upwards of 600 million dollars worldwide.
Those are crazy numbers!!! J. K. Rowling, the mind
that started it all, is the epitome of the rags to
riches story. She was once on welfare and now with
book, movie, and product rights has become a
billionaire in her own right. Gotta love it!!!
Long story short...The final
chapter starts out a little slow...but who
cares...this is the last one...let’s make it last
forever!!! Everyone already knows the main
characters, so there isn’t much to add. Harry,
Ron, and Hermione are all grown up and a lot
bigger now...except for Harry who is no taller
than he was in the first movie...well maybe a
little. Most of this final epic revolves around
their hunt for the Horcruxes...objects that if
found and destroyed, will leave the evil Lord
Voldemort vulnerable. The movie delivers in every
way possible...set design, costume, special
effects, script, sound.....everything is top notch
and no expense was spared. I am sure you could
watch this movie a dozen times and would never be
able to totally grasp all this cinematic treasure
has to offer.
The only thing I might say, is
"Deathly Hallows Part" 2 is a little darker
than the rest of the Potter movies I have viewed.
I thought it was great but I am not exactly sure
if it is child friendly. A lot of people are
killed and mangled in the battle of battles that
makes up a big part of the movie...so just be
advised. If you do bring the kids...you might want
to have your hand ready to blindfold them a time
or two. Not to give away too much but....the movie
ends flashing forward a number of years later
where we find the children of Harry, Ron, and
Hermione preparing to step onto the train that
will take them to their own first year at
Hogwarts. It leaves you thinking that a younger
generation will be waiting in the wings in the
event J. K. Rowling says "OK" one more time. Lets
keep our fingers crossed!
Wow…it’s
July already and finally starting to feel like
summer! Since my last review, there’s not
much to report. A few more days spent at the
cabin…a few more rounds of golf. This weekend my
wife and her best girl friend are leaving for
Alaska to visit my daughter. I’d like to
say… “party at my house”…but sadly… my
days of wild poker games, endless shots of Jack
and waking up on the neighbors lawn with nothing
on but a pair of broken sun glasses…have
long since come and gone. However, I am
looking forward to the huge family reunion this
Saturday in Big Lake. Lots of catching up
with cousins I haven’t seen for years…burgers and
brats… and of course the crowd pleasing polish
horseshoe tournament…..ahhh life is good!!!
I remember the first really big
special effects movies I ever saw were Matrix in
1999 and Matrix Reloaded in 2003. These
movies were truly ground breaking with there use
of image-based computer generated backgrounds. To
this day, you would be hard pressed to find a more
jaw dropping car chase scene than the one in
Matrix Reloaded. It has so many incredible special
effects…it’s worth the price of renting just for
those few minutes of dizzying cinema magic.
Flash forward to today and we
find the Transformer sequel
"Dark of the Moon" directed by Michael Bay.
I could pretend that the acting and plot really
matters in this movie, but it doesn’t. Not
to say there are not some quality people on board.
Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro
all are back once again and are terrific
actors…but who cares! This movie is all
about Transformers, Autobots and those fantastic
special effects. A big chunk of the movie
takes place in Chicago and when the Decepticons
(bad robots) are finished, there isn’t too much
left standing. From the falling sky scrapers to
the constantly evolving monster robots… the
visuals are simply mind boggling! I’ve
seen a lot of movies since the first Matrix came
out and I can honestly say Dark of the Moon has
the greatest action special effects you will ever
see. If you’re into that kind of stuff…it’s
a must see.
John Malkovich, one of my
favorite actors, has been added to the cast and
provides some additional comic relief. Of
course most of you guys will notice that Megan Fox
is no longer part of the cast. One of my
sources told me, she bit the hand that was feeding
her and was replaced. She apparently told
reporters that director Michael Bay was a
nightmare to work with and next thing you know we
are being introduced to new love interest Rosie
Huntington–Whiteley. For my two cents
worth…purely speaking from an eye candy point of
view…give me Megan Fox on the big screen any
day!!!
Bottom line…if you like action
flicks with amazing special effects and lots of
computer wizardry (not sure if that’s a word, but
sounds good)…."Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
will have your head spinning and your eyes
popping!!!
I
know I have been running a little behind on my
reviews as of late…but I don’t think you can blame
me. My good friends, Mike and Patti, invited
my Wife and me to Hilton Head to hang out at their
vacation home to sit by the ocean and golf a few
rounds…it was a tough decision but I decided to
put my reviews on hold??? Then we had our
first Golf Scramble of the year in Redwing…and of
course that’s a high priority. The next
thing you know it was Memorial weekend with the
relatives at the cabin and before I knew it I was
about 5 movies behind. As a matter of
fact, I was up at the cabin last Sunday and I just
told myself, all of your loyal followers (both of
them) are probably in need of a quick movie review
fix …so hear you go Jack and Sharon Jentz.
I
thought the original "Hangover" was really funny.
It was one of those movies where it had so many
hilarious moments and each one was worth the price
of admission. To be honest…I judge a comedy
by how much I laugh. Isn’t that the way it
should be??!!! Unfortunately for the sequel,
"The Hangover Part II", I didn’t laugh as much
or as hard.
Long story short…This
is the same movie as the first one, except it
takes place in Thailand instead of Vegas and
instead of a tiger there is a little monkey (I
like monkey’s better). Stu (Ed Helm) is
getting married this time around and Phil (Bradley
Cooper), Doug (Justin Bartha) and of course Alan
(Zach Galfianakis) follow him to Bangkok to be
part of the wedding party. A couple nights
before the wedding the guys head down to the beach
to share a six pack and some marshmallows.
Next thing you know Stu, Phil and Alan find
themselves waking up in a sleazy hotel in
Thailand, without a clue as to what happened the
night before…sound familiar?
There are two comedy paths that are used in
"Hangover II" and both of them lead to a dead
end for me. First off, all of the hilarious
moments that were in the original Hangover are
repeated in the sequel…same joke - different
location. To me, if I’ve heard or seen a bit
once…it is never as funny the second time…unless
of course my good friend Scott McAdam is telling
the joke (the guy just cracks me up).
Secondly, the new comedy they added to the sequel
was just to dark for my taste. For instance,
Stu finds out one of the crazy things he did
during his black out was have sex with a man he
thought was a woman. I don’t care how messed
up you are…some things should be obvious.
Stu’s brother in-law to be, also part of the black
out party night, cuts off his finger on
purpose…should have made it an arm…always love
limb loss humor. Also, Allan’s character now
comes across, not as a misguided goof, but as a
demented nut job who seriously should be put away
in an insane asylum so he doesn’t murder anyone.
I
am not saying the movie didn’t make me laugh…it’s
just that parts of it also made me feel
uncomfortable….kind of like when I’m at my yearly
physical and the doctor starts to put on that
plastic glove.
I
must admit I have never been a really big fan of
“dinner theatre”. I have tried several and
have always been disappointed in both the dinner
and the theatre. However, when I visited the
Chanhassen Dinner Theatre for the first time
this past weekend, I realized that all those other
supposed “dinner theatres” were just pretenders
and that the Chanhassen is the real deal!
The mega complex opened in 1968
and is the largest professional dinner theatre in
the nation and the largest privately owned
restaurant in Minnesota. I am still trying
to figure out what took me so long to get there.
Although built over 40 years ago, it is still an
impressive venue that has tiered Las Vegas type
seating in a theatre that seems to have nothing
but great sight lines.
The recently
improved menu offered something for every
palate. My son and I played it safe and
stuck with the top sirloin and had no complaints.
My wife and daughter chose the Chicken Chanhassen
– a boneless chicken breast stuffed with Minnesota
wild rice dressing, and topped with a special
mushroom supreme sauce…and they are still talking
about how great it was! For dessert I would
strongly recommend the Baileys Irish Cream Cheese
Cake…it is a showstopper all by itself. I
could stop right there and the Chanhassen would
get my thumbs up, but wait there’s more…..
Andrew Lloyd Weber’s
Jesus Christ Superstar is currently showing on
their main stage (yes this place is so big, they
have more than one theatre). I remember watching
the movie back in the 70’s and thought that was
great but seeing it live at the Chanhassen is jaw
dropping. Directed locally by Michael
Brindisi, it is a must see! It was one of
the very first rock operas and is set in two acts.
The story centers on the final seven days in the
life of Jesus of Nazareth, his betrayal by Judas,
the trial by Pontius Pilate and of course the
ultimate crucifixion.
My wife (not a professional
critic, like myself) always has American Idol on
at our house and she thought the singing she heard
at the Chanhassen was better than any of this
years finalists. I was amazed at the quality of
acting and singing in this local production.
Jesus of Nazareth (Ben Bakken) and Judas Iscariot
(Jared Oxborough) were equally wonderful in the
lead roles. Mary Magdalene (Michelle Carter)
delivers in a big way with her soothing and almost
hypnotic vocal presence. King Herod (Jay
Albright) and his accompanying dancers perform a
show stopping ragtime ditty that was hilarious. I
would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the
fantastic orchestra that played that night…they
should put out there own CD. The only thing
I can’t figure out is no one applauded after any
of the songs that were performed. I wanted
to clap but thought maybe there was something in
the printed program that said wait until the show
is over…believe me…there should have been a
standing ovation after every scene.
The director indicated that he
approached this material with reverence, love and
hope and that it was his desire to share that will
all of us. Mr. Brindisi you succeeded in a
very big way!
Although
it’s not a big stretch to imagine that I could be
smarter than I am right now…it would be so cool if
I could take a pill and suddenly be able to out
think some of my clever friends. They would
probably appreciate some witty banter instead of
my canned response… “I know you are but what am
I”…. that I give for every question they ask that
requires an intelligent answer. I
would also use bigger words in my movie reviews,
just to impress those readers who always email me
to ask how old I am…thinking that a grade schooler
must be penning this column. When I saw the
movie "Limitless"
exploring the possibilities of a “smart
pill”….I turned off my favorite song “Duelling
Banjos” and headed over to
Andover Cinema.
Long
story short…Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is a
down and out writer who hasn’t written a single
word in over a year. His girlfriend (Abbie
Cornish) is leaving him because he’s a loser.
He can’t even make rent money for the one bedroom
garbage pit he calls home. As luck would
have it, he runs into his ex-brother in law on the
streets. He turns him on to a new synthetic drug
that he says will wake him up and help him see the
light.
Eddie
takes the pill and the next thing you know the guy
is like Einstein, Brad Pitt and Warren Buffet all
rolled into one. The “smart pill” affords
him the capability of using 100% of his mind.
Suddenly he is able to write a best seller in just
days and rise to the top of the financial world in
just weeks. (I gotta get me some of those pills)
The only problem is to stay on top, he needs more
of those pills. That’s when things start heating
up. Eddie has absconded with the only bag of
pills known to be in existence…and he’s not the
only one who wants to be smart. Suddenly
unsavory characters start trying to uncover the
whereabouts of Eddie’s stash, and once they do are
ready to put a permanent end to Eddie’s quest to
maintain smartness! To make matters worse,
Eddie discovers there’s some major side effects
that come with taking this drug.
Bradley
Cooper is enjoying some notoriety as of late.
He’s been around for awhile but after "Hangover"
came out his stock has gone through the roof!
I thought he got about as much out of this role as
he could. Before he takes the “smart pill”
he was totally believable as an unfocused, under
achieving, slacker. After a dose of the
designer pharmaceutical, he was equally
believable as a brilliant intellectual who has
bitten off a little more than he can chew.
Robert De Niro plays Carl Van Loon, a Wall Street
mogul who wants to use Eddie for his own personal
gain. De Niro is so good and his character
gives the movie an added layer of depth. He
is one of the few actors who has no problem making
the often uncomfortable transition from leading
man to supporting actor. Instead of fighting
it, he has embraced it.
My wife
and I both enjoyed the movie. However, if
the “smart pill” brings people even half the
headaches Eddie had to deal with…I guess me going
through life like Lloyd Christmas isn’t all that
bad.
"The
Adjustment Bureau" was written for the screen
and directed by George Nolfi...he’s the guy that
wrote Ocean’s Twelve and the Bourne
Ultimatum...not bad credentials. As far as I’m
concerned there hasn’t been a whole lot to choose
from at the box office lately. So when I saw Matt
Damon was also the star of this thriller, I made
my way over to Andover Cinema and settled in to
see if these guys could deliver the goods.
Long story short...David Norris
(Matt Damon) is an ambitious politician who has
just suffered a crushing election loss for a U.S.
Senate seat. While preparing his concession speech
in the bathroom of the hotel his campaign is
headquartered at.....he bumps into Elise Sellas
(Emily Blunt). She’s a contemporary ballet dancer
who is hiding out in one of the men’s stalls while
trying to evade security guards who are chasing
her for crashing a wedding that is taking place at
the same hotel. You can tell from the get-go that
these two are meant to be soul mates. The only
problem is "The Adjustment Bureau" has other plans
for our leading man. The men of The Adjustment
Bureau are a sort of God squad that are assigned
to watch over the human race to make sure that
everyone stays on a predetermined path with their
lives. David accidentally discovers the Bureau and
finds out he was never suppose to have met Elise
and fall in love. He now must choose between his
predetermined path that would have him become
President of the United States without her or defy
the laws of God and risk everything to be with
her.
Despite the lame plot, the
movie delivers with all sorts of "hold your
breath" thrills and chills. It’s a roller coaster
ride for sure as David and Elise try to stay one
step ahead of the Adjustment Bureau who are bound
and determined to keep these two from becoming an
item. The premise is a little weak and has plenty
of holes in it...but you just can’t go wrong with
Matt Damon. The guy could read the phone book for
two hours and I wouldn’t move from my seat.
I
seem to be in the mood for sophomoric humor as of
late. Perhaps a mid life crisis in the making.
Next thing you know, I will be scheduling a botox
touch up and riding around in a red corvette with
the top down. Of course, if I'm not mistaken,
those things take money....so not to worry...I
will just stick to the occasional movie fix of
fart jokes and mind numbing story lines. "Hall
Pass" certainly fills that bill!
Long story short.....Rick (Owen
Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are best buds
who have been happily married for years. Like most
men...not myself of course...they find themselves
fantasizing about being with other women and all
the ladies they could have if they weren’t
married. Their wives get wind of their
restlessness and decide to give them a "hall
pass"....one week off from their marriage allowing
them to do whatever they want, with no questions
asked. It’s a dream come true, or so they think.
These two guys are so out of touch with the whole
bar and pick up scene they make Steve Urkel look
smooth (not that I ever watched that show).
Like I say, this movie is
perfect if you want to use even less than the 10%
of your brain you actually use on your best day.
Owen Wilson is acceptable playing the faithful
husband who realizes he is a fish out of water and
quickly wishes he was back home with the wife and
family. His partner in crime, Jason Sudeikis (from
SNL fame) is a good ying to Wilson's yang... a
little more daring and ready to put his mouth
where it shouldn't be. I like Christina Applegate
as Sudeikis’s wife...I just wish someone would
give her a little meatier role... I think she
would be up for it. Most of us know Jenna Fischer
as the receptionist on "The Office." As Wilson's
wife, she is perfectly adequate for this non
demanding role. The movie delivered exactly what I
expected, a few really good laughs, some partially
clad females and the all important happy ending.
Going to this movie was like my own virtual "hall
pass" come true...while also sparing me the
embarrassment of being turned down by every gal I
would have tried picking up in real life!!!
One of my favorite action movies of 2010 was
"Taken" starring Liam Neeson. He played a highly
skilled and dangerous ex-CIA operative trying to
rescue his kidnapped daughter from a group who
deal in the slave trading of young women for sex.
The movie was a thrill a minute roller coaster
ride. So I had my expectations set pretty high for
Neeson's next movie
"Unknown".
Long story short...this time
around in "Unknown", Liam Neeson plays Dr.
Martin Harris. He and his wife (January Jones)
head to Berlin for a conference where he is
scheduled to be a guest speaker. When they arrive,
his wife goes to check them into the hotel.
Attending to the luggage, Dr. Harris realizes he
left a bag at the airport. Without telling his
wife, he quickly jumps in a cab and heads off to
retrieve his bag. The cab gets into an accident
and he is taken to the hospital. Upon awakening he
remembers he should be at the conference. He makes
a quick exit from the hospital and upon arriving
at the conference is shocked to discover that his
wife doesn’t recognize him and is even more
bewildered to find out that another man (Aidan
Quinn) has assumed his identity.
As one might expect, Dr. Harris
frantically tries to figure out why his world has
been turned upside down. The rest of the movie is
filled with car crashes, hotel bombings,
mysterious assassins and of course one really cute
gal (Diane Kruger) who befriends Dr. Harris. If
you remember it is just a movie...you can get by
some of the plot’s implausibility's. For instance,
why can’t he just call someone back in the states
to verify who he is to the authorities. If you’ve
lived 50 years or better, you would obviously have
lots of friends, family and other business
contacts that could come to your rescue.
Liam Neeson is just shy of 60
years of age in real life but has no trouble
carrying the movie as the leading man. His voice
alone is one of the most captivating you will ever
hear...it is so smooth and elegant...almost
hypnotic. I have always liked Aidan Quinn,
although his roles now days seem to be little more
than cameos. Diane Kruger (Inglorious Bastards,
National Treasure) has all the right ingredients.
She is sexy, smart and believable. Bottom
line...the movie was not as good as Taken
but is certainly worth a viewing, although waiting
until it comes out on Netflix or Redbox would
suffice.
No,
I was not drinking. No, I did not do any drugs or
hallucinogens. Yet, I still liked Adam Sandler's
latest movie - "Just Go With It". By
admitting this, I will probably be thrown out of
the American Film Critics Association.. As a
matter of fact, I think to get into the
Association I had to originally take an oath
saying I would never go see an Adam Sandler movie
during my lifetime. Boy have I screwed things up!
I won’t spend a lot of time on the review because
it is certainly not Oscar worthy...but as I have
always said, not everything has to be award
winning to be enjoyable. I took my wife and she
thought it was hilarious. I looked around the
theater and the audience was laughing through the
entire movie. I saw a note on my niece Kelsey’s
Facebook wall and she liked it also. I saw the
weekend box office report and it was number one
making over $30,000,000 dollars. That’s a lot of
people who like Adam Sandler. So I can’t be
completely crazy...can I? I am not trying to
pretend like I have this sophisticated palate that
only favors expensive wines and beluga caviar, but
I honestly have not been a big fan of Adam Sandler
movies...especially the one’s where he talks like
a dufus from start to finish.
This time around he plays
Danny, a plastic surgeon bachelor who wears a
wedding band and gets beautiful women to go to bed
with him by telling them stories about his
imaginary wives and how terrible they treat him.
Kind of a weak story line...maybe I didn’t like
this movie after all. He finally meets Palmer (Sports
Illustrated Swim Suit Model Brooklyn Decker)
who he wants to have an honest relationship
with but she sees his wedding ring and instead of
coming clean he tells her he’s married but getting
divorced. She wants to meet his wife and children
and that’s where Katherine (Jennifer Aniston)
enters the picture. She’s Sandler’s assistant who
is a divorced single parent of two kids. She
agrees to allow Sandler to borrow her and the kids
so he doesn’t look like the liar he is. They all
end up taking a trip to Hawaii together and the
laughs just keep on coming.
To be completely honest, the
movie is worth the price of admission for most
guys, including myself, just to see Brooklyn
Decker hanging out.....by the pool. Jennifer
Aniston is also quite engaging when she unwraps
her wraps. Perhaps the biggest surprise was how
good the two kids, Bailee Madison and Griffin
Gluck, were that played Aniston’s children. Nick
Swardson plays Sandler’s over the top cousin Eddie
and even he grew on me after a few scenes. If you
are looking for a nice escape, a movie that
doesn’t make you think to hard, some funny
moments, a guilty pleasure...Just Go With It!!!
Although
it’s been out for a while, I thought I’d better
review this movie because of all the Oscar buzz it
is receiving. The movie hasn’t made a lot at
the box office and I think the movie title might
have something to do with the empty seats.
It just sounds so boring... "The King’s Speech"...
it just doesn’t quite have the panache of say a
True Grit or The Green Hornet.
They should have punched it up a bit...maybe
something like... The Main Dude Speaks,
The Royal Ramble or Stutter Island...now those
names would have packed them in!
If you can get past that name
and just go buy a ticket, you will probably enjoy
this period piece...I know I did! The movie
opens in 1925 at the British Empire Exhibition.
Prince Albert (Colin Firth) is attempting to give
a major oration to the public. The only
problem is...and it’s a doozy...he’s a stutterer.
Not a really good impediment to have when you’re
supposed to be the voice of the people. As
he begins to speak at this major event, he not
only stutters but has huge pregnant pauses
in-between every word. Like the filmed
grimaced faces of the crowd in attendance, I too
found myself cringing for him and wishing for a
quick end to this humiliating depicted moment in
history. Obviously devastated by this
humbling experience, he and his wife Elizabeth
(Helena Bonham) begin calling on every supposed
"Speech Therapist" they can find. Back in
the day, these guys were mostly a bunch of
charlatans. They knew nothing about how to
stop stuttering and their treatments were
unorthodox, to say the least. These scenes
are some of the funniest in the movie. One
"therapist" prescribes a pack of cigarettes a day
to end the stuttering. Another has him put
as many marbles in his mouth as he can possibly
load up and then try to do tongue twisters.
Fortunately, they finally meet up with Lionel Loge
(Geoffrey Rush), an unconventional speech
therapist in his own right but one who actually
knows how to help the Prince. As the
movie unfolds, the two form an unlikely bond that
is filled with heartfelt ups and downs. When
the reigning King dies and his older brother
abdicates the throne, Prince Albert reluctantly
becomes King George VI. (I’m not quite sure
why they change their name when they become King,
maybe somebody can email me the answer.)
It’s around this time that Hitler starts to cause
some major problems and it's up to the new King to
make a huge speech to all the citizens of the
country to help unite everyone. Much of the
movie is then centered on the King and Lionel
getting ready for this big speech...thus the
boring movie title "The King’s Speech".
When you think of movies that
center on Kings and their grandiose lifestyles,
you envision great layers of complexity and huge
budgets required to capture that particular period
in history. This movie was made on a shoe
string but still does an incredible job of
creating that big feel. It gets away with
the small budget by lightly sprinkling in the big
buck cinematography while concentrating instead on
this unheard of friendship formed between a King
and a commoner. It is funny at times...much
of the on going humor revolves around the King's
demands for Lionel to treat him as royalty and
Lionel's total disregard for his "kiss my ring"
ways. It is gut wrenching at others... as we
feel the pain, anxiety, and anguish the King is
dealing with every hour of every day because of
his affliction. I would never have thought a
movie about stuttering could be so captivating.
Colin Firth has been nominated for the Academy
Award for his performance, and rightfully so, but
equally worthy would be Geoffrey Rush. He is
nominated for best supporting actor...but to me it
was a best actor performance for sure. If
you can get past that boring title and just make
the effort to get to the theater, you will be
pleasantly pleased with this wonderfully inspiring
little-big movie.
True Grit -
Written & Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
Is
it just me or is Jeff Bridges the coolest dude to
ever walk the face of this planet. I remember
seeing "The Fabulous Baker Boys" and thinking how
can one guy be that cool. If you haven’t seen that
flick make sure you do...not only a good movie but
Jeff Bridges is so cool. Now that I have worn out,
the already worn out, word "cool"....let me tell
you about his latest movie.
Directed by Joel and Ethan
Cool...I mean Coen... "True Grit" is a
remake of an older John Wayne vehicle by the same
name. I think everyone who, is not still in the
womb, has probably viewed the original that also
starred one of my favorite actors Glen
Campbell...(not really)....although I could listen
to "Rhinestone Cowboy" all day long...(not
really). As most of you regular readers are aware,
I will go see anything the Coen brothers put out
and to have Jeff Bridges starring is icing on the
cake. If you have ever been to a Coen brother
movie, you know you should always expect the
unexpected. This dynamic duo does not normally
think the same way most of us do. There are always
incredible plot twists and turns that are the
signatures of these two talented home-grown
Minnesota boys. For "True Grit," however, they
pretty much stay true to the original movie as
well as the Charles Portia novel, with no big
surprises or any new plot twists and
turns....which really shocked me.
So for the handful of you out
there who have never seen the original, let me
give you the skinny. Mattie Ross (Hailee Stienfeld)
plays a smart as a whip teenager whose father is
murdered by low life gunman Tom Chaney (Josh
Brolin). She hires Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges)
a take no crap, red nose drunk who also just
happens to be a U.S. Marshal, to track down and
bring to justice the evil Tom Chaney. Matt Damon
tags along as the inept Texas Ranger Leboeuf who
is chasing after Tom Chaney for another unrelated
murder.
Jeff Bridges, as we saw in his
Oscar winning performance in "Crazy Heart" as well
as his memorable role as "the Dude" in The Great
Labowski (another Coen brother movie) has turned
the art of being a drunk into a full time gig and
nobody does it better. Matt Damon, as the doofus
Texas Ranger, is hilarious and it was such a
pleasant surprise to see he was onboard for this
movie...who doesn’t like Matt Damon?...he’s
awesome! Another pleasant surprise was the
performance turned in by newcomer Hailee Stienfeld.
Her portrayal of Mattie, a straight laced, no
nonsense teenager who will not let anything get in
the way of avenging her fathers death is
remarkable. There is a scene in the movie where
she talks a savvy horse trader out of just about
everything he owns that is worth the price of
admission. She definitely holds her own with this
heavy weight cast and I can’t wait to see what she
does next.
If your goal is to see a
wonderfully filmed and acted western, you can’t go
wrong with "True Grit." Like I said from
the beginning, I am a huge Jeff Bridges fan. My
only wish would be that he does not get typecast
as a drunk in all of his "after 55" roles. It
would be a shame, for one of my favorite actors,
to become pigeonholed for roles that always
require him to have blurry, blood shot eyes and a
red nose.....but I still think he’s the coolest!
I hate to talk
badly about any movie. I know all the hard work
that goes into making one. Yes, I too was once in
a motion picture. As a matter of fact my wife and
I pulled it out last night, blew off the dust it
had been collecting and put it into our DVD
player. I honestly did not remember me being so
terrible in the movie. All of my friends who saw
it, said I was great....except for my buddy John
Horita, who told me the movie should have been
called Sewer not Sever....I guess he
was the only honest one of the bunch. Don’t bother
looking for the movie on Netflix. I don’t think it
was ever released because there was some sort of
legal dispute over another movie that was made
around the same time and they owned the rights to
the name Sever....probably a good thing for
our viewing public.I do have about five
DVD copies, so if any of you are a masochists and
want to inflict some real pain...just email me for
one and I will send it to you in a plain paper
bag....no one has to know!
Now back to the
"Green Hornet". For those of you not
familiar with the Green Hornet, it started
out as a comic and radio series back in the 30's.
Some of you may even recall the tv series that had
Bruce Lee as the side kick, Kato. Long story
short....Brit Reid (Seth Rogen) is a spoiled brat
newspaper magnate by day and an ass kicking
vigilante by night. Along with Kato (Jay Chou)
they seek out bad guys in the city and unleash
some high tech whoop ass. The two also battle for
the attention of Cameron Diaz who plays Lenore
Case.
From what I’ve heard through my contacts in the
movie industry (mainly the National Enquirer and
People magazine) the director of this film was
Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind, Be Kind Rewind) but the guy that was
really pushing the buttons and calling the shots
was Seth Rogen. Yes from the humble beginnings of
his first stoner movie "Pineapple Express", Seth
Rogen is now a Hollywood big shot. He was also the
writer of this movie and his fingerprints are
obviously all over what we see on the screen.
In my humble
opinion, aside from the cool customized gun toting
car and the slow motion fight scenes, the movie is
just one big mess. The acting sucks and I had all
I could do to keep from getting up and sneaking
into another movie. Seth Rogen was obviously
blowing a little weed when he put this story
together. It’s almost as if they threw out the
script and just improvised every scene. I expected
a lot more out of Rogen. Cameron Diaz looked out
of place and puffy. Jay Chou as Kato was the only
character worth watching. His kung fu fighting
scenes and hilarious butchering of the English
language were all that kept me in my seat. Perhaps
the most stupid scene I have ever viewed... had to
be the part where their car gets cut in half yet
they are still able to drive around. Then to add
insults to injury, they are able to drive it into
a public elevator and take it up 40 flights. It
then comes out on the top floor and they continue
to drive it around the hallways shooting at the
bad guys....are you kidding me??!! If you have to
see this stinker wait until it’s on the dollar
clearance rack at Wal-Mart....and even then you’re
spending a buck too much.
Before
I get into the review...a cute story. A few
years back I was looking for something to do for
date night and saw the end of an advertisement on
TV for tickets to a performance of Swan Lake at
the State Theater. So I ordered up a pair
and took my wife. We sat down in our seats
near the front row and settled in for a night of
ballet. It was around intermission
time...yes we are a little slow...that my wife
looked at me and I looked at her and we both said
almost at the same time, "did you notice there
aren’t any women in this show?" We looked
around at the rest of the audience and suddenly
noticed it was almost entirely men with other men.
Sure enough it was the "all male" production of
Swan Lake, which had totally escaped me when I
purchased the tickets online. We laughed so
hard at my little oversight that I thought we
would get thrown out! Luckily we didn’t and
we stayed for the entire show and it was
great...although needless to say, not quite what
we had expected!
"Black Swan" was not
quite what I expected either. Darren
Aronofsky directed "The Wrestler" and for a low
budget movie I was quite impressed with his end
result. So it didn’t take much persuading
for me to go see his latest feature film.
Natalie Portman plays Nina, a ballerina in a New
York City ballet company. As the movie
begins to unfold we see that she is obviously
driven to be the best darn little ballerina you
could ask for...she practices until her feet bleed
and purges on a regular basis. She lives
with her retired ballerina mother Erica (Barbara
Hershey) who is, to say the least, just a little
bit odd...she kind of reminded me of the mother in
the movie "Carrie." She is just as obsessed
with her daughter’s career as her daughter is.
To put it in the proverbial
nutshell...nut being the key word here...the
artistic director for the ballet company, Thomas
Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace the
prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder)
because she’s getting too old and wants to recast
a younger ballerina for the opening production of
their new season of Swan Lake. Nina is the
obvious pick, but Lily (Mila Kunis) is the new
girl in town and she also catches the eye of the
philandering ballet director. Swan Lake
requires the lead ballerina to play both the White
Swan with innocence and beauty as well as the
Black Swan that is sly and cunning. Nina
would be perfect as the White Swan, but Lily is
the embodiment of the Black Swan. Hence the
rivalry that is set up between the two. The
ballet director insists that if Nina is to be the
prima ballerina he is looking for, she must get in
touch with her dark side. This is where the
movie starts to get a little crazy.
The director toys with our
senses, as we are often left wondering if what we
are seeing is the real deal, or are we just privy
to Nina’s vivid imagination. Not to give away too
much of the movie, but Nina, we find out, has some
real issues. The kind where she needs to
take a few years off and go see a good shrink.
The scenes that followed were dark, unsettling,
bizarre, and made me grimace nonstop. Much
of the film is shot with a single hand held camera
to give you even more of a front row voyeuristic
view of the self mutilation that has become a big
part of Nina’s world.
One last funny note for a not
so funny movie...Natalie Portman said "Everyone
was so worried about who was going to want to see
this movie. How do you get guys to a ballet movie?
How do you get girls to a thriller? And the answer
is a lesbian scene, everyone wants to see that!"
Well not quite everyone. This was a well
made movie with great acting and thrills
abound...but I found it hard to watch, which I am
sure was what they were hoping for, but if I want
to see this much bizarre graphic dysfunction, I
will just go to my Netflix account and pull up the
movie "Sybil!"
I’m not going to beat around
the bush with this one. Let me start right
off by saying, it’s my absolute favorite movie of
the year! I went into the movie expecting
just a "Rocky" type remake...and don’t get me
wrong, I loved Rocky...but this movie is much more
in so many different ways.
When I heard that Mark Wahlberg
was one of the stars of this picture, I was a
little skeptical. Not that I don’t like Wahlberg,
but his movies are usually hit or miss...and
lately I have seen him in a lot more misfires than
straight shots that hit the target. But let
me tell you, he was great! Wahlberg plays
Micky Ward, a real life boxer from Lowell,
Massachusetts who has become little more than a
punching bag for better fighters on their way up.
Now if the movie just focused on Wahlberg’s
character it could have surely become just another
Rocky type movie, but it branches out to encompass
the entire Ward family and their friends...and
that’s what makes this movie a 10.
There’s Micky’s older brother Dicky Eklund, whose
only claim to fame was 14 years earlier, he fought
Sugar Ray Leonard and knocked him down...or did he
just slip? Christian Bale plays Dicky who
has now become a crack addict in the worst
possible way....not that there is a good crack
addict, but you know what I mean. Bale has
to win the best actor Academy Award or I will know
once and for all that the Oscars are fixed and
will never watch again. Jaw Dropping...are
the only two words I can use to describe his
performance...actually I guess there are a few
more, like incredible, mesmerizing, touching,
outrageous, beautiful, courageous, thought
provoking, manipulative, dynamic, blah blah
blah... HE IS THE MAN!!!
The last thing I saw actress
Amy Adams in was a Disney flick called "Enchanted"
and those "Night at the Museum" movies where she
was "oh so soft and delicate"...so I didn’t know
what to expect from her in this gritty movie.
However, like everyone else in the film, she
delivers her own knock out performance as a
college drop out - turned bartender who plays
Micky’s girlfriend Charlene Flemming. It is
Charlene who finally gets Micky to open his eyes
so he can realize his true potential and escape
the stranglehold his mother and brother have put
on him. She is a street smart gal who takes
crap from no one and can throw a punch almost as
good as Micky himself...as shown in one of the
funnier moments of the movie when she delivers a
beat down to one of Micky’s sisters.
Charlene is sexy and confident yet flawed and
fragile. Another jaw dropping performance, I
kid you not!
I would be remiss to not mention, in a big way,
the acting chops of Melissa Leo who plays Micky’s
jerk mother, Alice Ward. You despise her
because all she cares about is her crack addict
son, Dicky, and what he once was, while refusing
to see what he has now become. For some
reason she cannot allow herself to see Micky as
the son with all the real potential and deserving
of the love and affection she never shows him.
She has that hardened look that is only brought on
by years filled with straight shots of Jack and an
endless chain of Marlboro reds. She is a
survivor who will not let anyone get in her way of
manipulating her sons’ lives....that is until she
meets Charlene.
I could go on about every little character actor
in the movie and how great they were but you would
probably just get bored and not finish my review.
I would just add that for a movie to be great,
like this one, it has to have more than just great
actors...the other real winners of this movie
would have to be the script by Scott Silver, the
cinematography that so vividly captures the raw
and desolate feel of blue collar Lowell,
Massachusetts and finally the music
soundtrack...that if not being sold as a CD or on
ITunes...should be!
"The Fighter" is the story of life...its
highs and lows and everything in between...told
and shown in a way that makes this film an
absolute must see!!!
I
remember reading the first Harry Potter book to my
kids when they were in grade school back in 1997.
The book weighed as much as my son Dougie did back
then and I currently use it as a ladder during the
winter when I have to reach the very top of my roof
to remove ice dams.
Fast forward to 2010 and we find
it all starting to wrap up with Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows: Part 1. This time I didn’t
read the book because I wanted to squeeze in a few
other activities over the next 2 years....so much
like George Costanza...I just went straight to the
movie. Of course it’s your usual cast of
characters, except now instead of sucking their
thumbs they have all started shaving; either their
face or legs...some both. Yes, the gang has
grown up right before our eyes. Daniel
Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint reprise
their roles as Harry, Hermoine, and Ron.
As the movie opens we are
reminded that Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore
is dead and as a result things are getting a little
out of hand in the world of wizards. The evil
Voldemort has pretty much taken over the Ministry of
Magic and his number one goal is to terminate our
hero. Harry, however, is not about to stand
idly by and along with Ron and Hermoine they set out
to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes. In case you
don’t speak the Potter lingo...a horcruxe is an
object in which a person has concealed part of their
soul. If you can destroy Voldemort’s horcruxes you
can destroy Voldemort...if you can’t he will remain
immortal....and no one wants that, except maybe Kim
Jong iI..
A lot of the movie takes place in
a forest that serves as a safe place for the trio to
chill and reflect on the troubles that lie ahead.
The only problem is those scenes were so slow and
drawn out that all I wanted to do was slip out for
my free refills on pop and popcorn. The
special effects of course are the saving grace and
make it all worthwhile. From what I understand
there is one more blockbuster movie left and that’s
the one that is suppose to be nothing but action
packed...rest assured I will be in the front of that
line come opening day!!! Until then "may the force
be with you"......... sorry wrong movie.
My
friend Marge told me I should review more feature
films that women would be interested in. Not
that I am some sort of macho man, but I refer to
those as girly movies. Just kidding of
course, but I have to admit I do lean towards
reviewing the hard hitting, shoot’em up, blood and
guts guy movies.
My daughter, Katie agrees with
Marge and called me up the other day and convinced
me to go with her to see Morning Glory. She
currently attends St. Cloud State University, so
she was good enough to meet me halfway and we
ended up at the beautiful Meuller Cineplex in
Monticello. She sprang for the tickets and I
was in charge of beverages and popcorn...and we
were good to go!
Rachel McAdams stars as Becky
fuller a workaholic TV producer who is fired from
a local news station who then gets a new job as
producer for "Daybreak" (a "Good Morning America"
type national news show that is in last-place.)
She then tries to breathe new life into the
sinking morning show by bringing on board
legendary TV anchor Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford).
Pomeroy turns out to be the biggest pain in the
rear you could possibly ask for. He refuses
to do anything morning shows are known for
i.e.celebrity gossip, fashion, cooking etc.
He also clashes with his co-host, Colleen Peck
(Diane Keaton). Throw into the mix a budding
romance Becky is having with fellow producer Adam
Bennett (Patrick Wilson) and you have the makings
for a cute and humorous little movie. The
cast also includes Jeff Goldblum as Becky’s
disheveled boss who gives her six weeks to change
things around or the show will be canceled.
Morning Glory is what I would
call the perfect "date" movie. The cast was
delightful and the movie overall was very
charming. It’s warm and fuzzy and just makes
you feel good all over. No blood and
guts...just good clean fun. Begrudgingly, I must
confess, it was a nice change of pace from my
usual fare of bedazzling special effects and rapid
gun fire.
Those
of you who are regular readers of my reviews know
that I don’t miss anything that Robert Downey Jr.
is in...so it's not to hard to figure that I am
writing this review on Due Date. Downey is one of
my favorite actors and never fails to
disappoint....until now.
Peter Highman (Robert Downey
Jr.) is trying to get home from Atlanta to Los
Angeles so he can watch his wife Sarah (Michelle
Monaghan) give birth to their first child. Enter
Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) who proceeds to
not only get them thrown off the plane they are
on, but to make matters worse, they have now also
been put on a no-fly list. To add insult to
injury, Peter loses his wallet and has no choice
but to accept a ride with Ethan for the 2,000 mile
road trip home.
One of my favorite all time
comedies is Planes, Trains & Automobiles with
Steve Martin and John Candy...and judging from all
the trailers I saw for Due Date...I thought this
would quickly become another classic....not to be!
Don’t get me wrong...this movie has some really
funny moments...it’s just that there is a lot of
stuff that just made me cringe. In particular, a
masturbating scene that is just plain crude, a
brutal beating, a wasted cameo by Jamie Foxx, just
to name a few. I know a lot of people refer to
movies like this as dark comedies. To be
honest, I am just not a big fan of comedies that
don’t make me laugh, whether they are designed
that way or not. To repeat, the movie does deliver
some big laughs, it’s just that they are not
sustained and as a result the movie is just too
bumpy of a ride for my taste. And to be
fair...I guess I can’t really blame it all on
Downey or Galifianakis...they gave the best
performance they could considering the script they
were given.
My biggest complaint though is
why Zach Galifianakis ever chose that last name.
Galifianakis is so hard to spell and pronounce and
it takes me an hour just to type. It’s like he put
a bunch of letters from the alphabet into a jar
and the first 13 he drew out he would use for his
last name. Good thing the guy is an incredible
comedic actor or I would simply refer to him as
"the other guy".
Anything that Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon are
attached to, I am going to be the first in line
when the movie opens. That was exactly the
case for the movie Hereafter. Since I am not
quite at the point where the producers fly me out
for the red carpet openings or Fed-Ex me an
advance copy of their movie to review...believe it
or not, I stand in line just like you common folk.
Last Friday I headed up to the movie theater that
just happens to be a convenient 2 minutes from my
office, purchased my ticket with a box of popcorn
(lightly buttered) and a diet pepsi and was in my
seat before the previews even started. Am I
the only one who could watch 2 hours of just
previews? Some people complain there should
be no previews. I am all for adding another
15 minutes worth or maybe having a separate free
theater on the premise that shows nothing but
previews...that would be cool!
The Hereafter opens in a big
way with an incredibly filmed tsunami.
Although this is not a 3-D movie, you will feel
like you are right in the middle of this natural
disaster. It is truly breathtaking.
From this point on our story interweaves the lives
of three central characters -- Matt Damon plays
George, a psychic who is the real deal but does
not look upon his ability as a gift but a curse.
Cecile de France plays a French television
journalist named Marie who survives the tsunami
after nearly drowning and having a near death
experience. Frankie McLaren play Marcus, a
young English boy whose twin brother is killed in
a car accident.
As you can tell by the name of
the film, the movie is all about the hereafter.
Everybody has varying opinions on this
topic...some believe...some don’t. Clint, as
he likes me to call him, lays it all out in a
manner that I don’t think anyone would have a
problem with. (I don’t care that you’re not
suppose to use the word "with" at the end of a
sentence...I love dangling participles!) I
have no problem with the actors in this movie
either...they are all great. The McLaren
twins have very few lines but command your
attention whenever they are on screen. Matt Damon,
is like Tom Hanks, what’s not to like? The
guy is incredible in everything he stars in.
I don’t think I have ever seen Cecile de France in
anything else but I hope I see her in a lot more.
My only problem with Clint, and
his directing of this film, is a lot of directors
do not spend enough time on character development,
so you end up not really caring what happens to
them. Clint goes totally in the other direction
and spends way too much time on character
development... and I didn’t think that was
possible! As a result, the movie’s pace is
so slow at times that you almost find yourself
saying "enough already lets move along here"!
I really enjoyed the film but wish about 20 to 30
minutes had been left on the editing floor.
If you're like me, you have ever wondered about
the hereafter, I don’t think you will find a
better film to explore the possibilities. Remember
to ask your boss if you can get out of work early
next Tuesday to go vote and while you're at it you
might as well go see a good movie...you deserve
it!
I
always like going to a new movie on the Friday
afternoon that it is released. I am usually
one of the only ones in the theater and it feels
like I am having a private screening. Not
for RED’s.. I got into my seat just before noon
and was surprised to look around and see the seats
were about 3/4's full. It was obviously a
50+ crowd and I am sure that’s who the producers
were banking would show up. They got it
right and it brought in an impressive $22 million
dollars opening weekend!
As I understand it the original
story was a three issue comic book that had a much
darker tone that was void of any humor. For
the big screen adaptation they lightened things up
a lot and brought in an all star cast of "old but
still kicking" actors including Bruce Willis,
Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich,
Richard Dreyfuss and Ernest Borgnine.
RED stands for "Retired and
Extremely Dangerous". The movie centers on a
group of former government assassins who are now
the target of the CIA. A few unsavory
politicians think the retired team knows too much
and has put out their own hit squad to take them
out. Little do they know this over-the-hill
gang can still pack a punch. All of our
geriatric stars are up to the task of keeping us
well entertained for a couple of hours with some
great shoot ’em up fight scenes and some hilarious
dead pan humor. If your looking for
something that has deep meaning and will bring on
a cathartic moment or two you might want to pass
on this one...but if you just want to take a
couple hours off to smile and feel good, this
movie delivers in spades.
If you have
not heard of Facebook...you are either living on
another planet or you're my parents. There are
something like a billion people who use Facebook
everyday. They use it to let you know
everything from their marital status to what time
of day they are blowing their nose.
Facebook, the movie, takes us
back to 2003 where a little snot nose Harvard
undergrad and computer programming guru named Mark
Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) comes up with an idea
to rate the girls on campus if they are "hot" or
"not". Within hours, everyone at the school
is online filling out the tasteless poll and the
entire school mainframe is overloaded and crashes.
Gaining a little notoriety on campus from the
episode, a pair of well-to-do twin brothers (Arnie
Hammer and Josh Pence) attending the school,
approach Zuckerberg to develop an online social
network for all Harvard students. Zuckerberg
accepts the offer from the Winklevoss twins, but
then gives them the run around until he has enough
time to launch his own social network that would
of course go on to become known as Facebook.
Much of the movie plays out in
a high priced lawyer's office where Zuckerberg is
being sued by the Winklevoss twins for stealing
their idea. At the same time he is also
being sued by Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield).
Saverin is Zuckerberg’s former college friend who
was the first CFO of the company who put up all
the initial backing money to get the company off
the ground only to have Zuckerberg screw him out
of all his promised shares. Interspersed
throughout these proceedings are flashbacks that
show how it all started. This is where we
are also introduced to Napster founder Sean Parker
(Justin Timberlake). Zuckerberg thinks
Parker is an internet God and quickly invites him
to be part of his Facebook empire.
The acting is superb and I mean
top notch! Jesse Eisenberg has come a long
way from his original breakout acting role as the
buddy to Woody Harrelson in Zombieland. If
Zuckerberg is even a fraction of the jerk he is
portrayed as by Eisenberg...this guy deserves to
be tarred and feathered while being viewed online
by all Facebook users. The same holds true
for Justin Timberlake...he was spot on at
portraying the Napster founder as a clever,
manipulating playboy with a penchant for cocaine
and underage women. Obviously much of the credit
for the success of this movie is also owed to
director David Fincher (Fight Club) and
screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing).
Let's hope these two collaborate again real soon.
Get out and see this movie...it’s a lot of fun and
make sure you tell all your friends...post it on
Facebook!
I
thought the first Wall Street was incredible...it
was fast paced, exciting, intelligent, blah, blah,
blah!!! However, the sequel is just pretty
good... and "pretty good" is OK with me.
They can’t all be home runs...just ask the Twins!
This time around Jake Moore (Shia
LaBeouf) plays the Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) wannabe
character and Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) is
back as the guy who knows all too much about
greed. As a matter of fact, when we last saw
Gordon, he was heading to prison to do a stretch
in the big house for letting his greed get the
best of him. Flash forward to 2008 and Gekko
is out of prison pimping his new book
appropriately titled, "Is Greed Good?" Jake
is involved with Gekko’s daughter Winnie (Carey
Mulligan.) He also just happens to be
proprietary trader for a Lehman Brothers type firm
called Keller Zabel Investments headed by Louis
Zabel (Frank Langella, one of my favorite
character actors.) So knowing all that ahead
of time, it just makes good movie sense that Jake
would meet Gekko after he attends one of his book
signings, and despite his daughters warnings, gets
involved with the always greedy Gekko. Josh
Brolin plays the even greedier (is that a word?)
Bretton James, the head of another powerful
investment bank. Brolin’s character is so
despicable (I thought I was overusing the word
greedy) he makes Gekko look like Santa Claus...not
a very nice guy!
What’s fascinating about this
movie is it actually makes clear, in a movie sort
of way, what actually happened when our economy
almost collapsed. It feels like we are
voyeurs peeking in on our government as it tried
to make sense of what was going on and what it
felt it had to do to keep those greedy banks
afloat so our country would do the same.
Wall Street 2 is once again fast paced, exciting,
and all those other adjectives that Wall Street 1
was... it’s just that it comes up just a little
short on developing characters that we really care
about. You also question some of the story
line. For instance, you can’t quite believe
that such a sharp guy like Jake would even fall
prey to the evil Gekko. That said, I would
say go see the movie and don’t be greedy....share
your popcorn!
I have never been a big Ben Affleck fan... and NO
it's not because I am jealous of what a good
looking guy he is... and NO it's not because he
always gets all the good looking girls... and NO
it's not because he has all that money.... well,
maybe it has to do with some of that... but mainly
I have just found him to be a pretty boring actor
to watch on the big screen. However, I
thought Gone Baby Gone, his directorial debut a
couple of years back, was a pretty decent movie.
This time around he's doing double duty serving as
both the star and director of "The Town"...and
I’ll tell you right up front... Affleck is back on
my good side!!!
The Town is a well crafted
crime drama that takes place in Charlestown,
Boston. The movie opens to an aerial view of the
blue collar city and a graphic that dissolves in,
letting us know from the get-go that this town is
also "the bank robbery capital of America."
It quickly becomes evident that a prerequisite for
living in Charlestown is you must know your way
around a gun and someone in your family must be
serving time in the big house for a stick up gone
wrong.
I like a movie that grabs you
by the shirt collar right from the very beginning
and The Town does just that by giving us front row
seats to a bank robbery that is just starting to
unfold. The meticulous manner in which this crew
carries out the job lets us in on the fact that
these guys know their stuff. No detail is
overlooked and they are simply a smooth running
machine.
Here is the nuts and bolts on
this charismatic crew of crime...Doug MacRay
(Affleck) is the consummate professional; smooth,
calm, and the brains of the outfit. Jimmy
(Jeremy Renner) is the ex-con/trigger man who is
ready to blow you away if you so much as...well
come to think of it, you don’t have to do anything
and the guy will erase you from this world before
you have a chance to blink. Albert (Slaine)
is the wheel man and Desmond (Owen Burke) is the
technician who can shut down any alarm or
surveillance system at the drop of a dime.
These guys are good in all the bad ways!
Of course all movies,
especially ones with Ben Affleck, have to have a
love interest or two. Enter Claire (Rebecca Hall),
a bank manager who is taken hostage during the
opening bank robbery as insurance for a safe
getaway. Since the crew is wearing masks,
they release Claire after they are out of harm’s
way. But Jimmy, the hot head, finds out that
Claire lives in the neighborhood and thinks she
might cause problems down the road. Doug,
sensing that Jimmy might try turning Claire’s
lights out, says he will keep an eye on her
himself. He follows her to a laundromat and
makes her acquaintance and the two quickly fall in
love, complicating matters even further.
Adding to the crew’s problems
is a relentless FBI agent (Jon Hamm) and Jimmy’s
sister, Krista (Blake Lively). In my opinion
Hamm is a little too over-the-top, but Lively is
spectacular as Doug’s former girlfriend who now
lives her life out of a glass of booze and a
bottle of pills. Cameos from Chris Cooper as
Doug’s dad doing life behind bars and Pete
Postlethwaite as the head gangster in town give
the movie even more credibility.
Not to put Ben down, but my
favorite crook in the movie was actually the "hot
head" played by Renner....the guy is the crazy
glue that keeps the movie together and steals
every scene he is in. His honed acting
skills are worth the price of admission all by
itself. My favorite movie of this genre is
"Heat" starring Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer, and Al
Pacino. If you haven’t seen it, go out and
rent it and you will know what I am talking about.
It would be tough to knock that one off the
pedestal, but "The Town" comes in a distant
second, or maybe third....and that’s not all
bad!!!
Sylvester
Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture,
Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke.
The last time I saw this much testosterone in a
movie was when.............come to think of it, I
have never seen another movie with this much
muscle and swagger! You all know what a
sucker I am for the this genre of movie...and this
one is no exception.
The Expendables is an action
packed thriller that doesn’t give you a chance to
breathe until it’s all over. Sylvester
Stallone directs and stars in this fast paced
macho man movie. Barney Ross (Sylvester
Stallone) is the leader of an elite group of
misfit mercenaries who is a no frills kind of guy.
He fears nothing and trusts only his elite team of
combat ready professionals. The team
includes Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), a kick
ass-talk later sort of guy whose weapon of choice
is any size knife you want to put in front of him.
Yin Yang (Jet Li) provides much of the comic
relief and of course is a master at close-quarter
combat. Toll Road (Randy Couture) is a
demolitions expert. Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren)
is a giant of a man and also a bit psychotic to
say the least. His character this time
around is even more ominous (my big word for the
week) than his well portrayed Rocky 4 role as Ivan
Drago.
The team's mission...should
they decide to accept it...which they will, or I
would not be writing this review, is to topple a
South American country’s army and its evil regime.
You heard it right...Stallone thinks big...he’s
not happy with a plot that snuffs out just a
couple of guys, he wants us to believe that this
handful of mischievous mercenaries is capable of
annihilating an entire country....and guess what?
He made a believer out of me!!!
Once things get cooking, we
realize it’s a puppet regime that is being run by
rogue CIA operative James Monroe (Eric Roberts)
and his trusty henchman Paine (played by Stone
Cold Steve Austin.) Gotta love that name!
Roberts always plays a great bad guy and delivers
as a money grubbing, maniacal, sleaze who is up to
the task of making sure our band of modern day
warriors have their hands full 24/7. Sandra
(Giselle Itie) is Barney’s token love interest who
plays a freedom fighter who he just can’t leave
behind.
It’s a fun movie that brings
together some of our most remembered action movie
stars of the last 20 years. I hope there is
a sequel, but these guys aren’t getting any
younger, so they better do it soon. Mike A.
from Champlin sent me an email and thinks they’re
too old already and a good name for the next movie
would be "The Dependsables". I’m sure
Stallone has gotten used to those types of
comments over the years but probably forgets about
them as soon as he deposits those multi-million
dollar paychecks.
I
had the opportunity to spend a few days up at my
cabin in Clear Lake last weekend. Went
golfing with my wife, son, and nephew. When
we got done, it was so hot and steamy, we thought
the best way to cool off would be going to the
movies. Who am I to argue with that logic?
Love the movies!!! (Notice how I did not
mention my golf score?) My nephew, Logan
Gartin and I voted for Dinner For Schmucks and my
wife and son wanted to see The Sorcerer’s
Apprentice. Their movie started a little earlier
than ours so we just cooled off in the lobby until
Schmucks started. Just as the trailers ended
and Schmucks was about to start, we saw my wife
and son sneak into our movie...apparently The
Sorcerer’s Apprentice was lacking the movie magic
they had hoped for...good move on their part
because this movie was a laugh fest and just the
right stuff to help me forget about my earlier
golf score!!!
I knew we chose the right movie
as soon as I saw Jay Roach was the director...he
helmed the incredibly successful Meet the Fockers
and Austin Powers franchises. The movie is
an adaptation of the foreign film Le Diner de
Cons...a little tidbit for those of you that want
to bedazzle your friends with your incredible
knowledge of French cinema.
After seeing Inception a few
weeks ago...it was nice to now see a movie that
had a plot that didn’t make my head feel like it
was going to explode. Paul Rudd is a
businessman trying to get a promotion at a Wall
Street type investment firm. His boss is a
shady jerk who has a monthly dinner event at his
home known as the "dinner for idiots." Rudd
and other top guns from the company are invited to
the dinner and whoever brings the biggest idiot of
the night will get the top floor office.
Enter Steve Carell....prior to
the monthly event Rudd runs into Carell,
literally, and from that moment on we know who he
will be bringing to the "idiot" dinner. Carell is
perfect as one of the most insane characters you
will ever see in a movie. The guy does not
have a clue and no matter how hard he tries to do
the right thing...it’s just not going to happen.
I don’t know if I was just woozy from the heat
that day but I can’t remember laughing so hard in
quite some time. Slapstick and sight gags,
if not handled right, can be a real turn off...not
in this movie...almost every other scene has some
sort of prat fall or hilarious knock down that
works every time.
The supporting cast gets a
great big WOW from me! They were sooooo
good. Jemaine Clement plays Keiran, an artist
super star so self absorbed that every one of his
famous painting is of himself. Zach
Galifianakis, from The Hangover, plays an over the
top IRS agent who steals every scene he is in.
Lucy Punch plays the stalking ex-girlfriend of
Paul Rudd and puts a funny spin on a Glen
Close/Fatal Attraction type character.
This comedy is not for everyone
but when it was all over, my nephew Logan and I
were sure glad we passed on the Sorcerer’s
Apprentice!
Although
the movie’s been panned by just about every other
critic out there...I have to disagree...I thought
the movie Salt was a great time. Sure it’s
not going to win many academy awards but if you
like your movies fast and furious like I do and
don’t mind seeing the world's most gorgeous woman
on the big screen for a couple of hours...checking
out Salt should be a no brainer!!!
Granted, the script is a little
weak but remember Salt was originally written for
Tom Cruise so they had to unfortunately mess
around with some key plot elements to make it all
work for a female lead. Evelyn Salt
(Angelina Jolie) is a CIA agent who is accused by
a Russian defector of being a mole for the bad
guys. To her dismay, this allegation is made
while she is interrogating the defector in front
of her boss and all her other CIA cronies.
Salt, sensing that her peers believe that the rat
is telling the truth, tries to make a hasty exit.
The building is quickly put into lock down mode to
try and thwart her escape. Early on we see
that Salt is no ordinary CIA pencil pusher.
One opening scene, during the initial chase by her
CIA mates, has her trapped in an office where she
is quickly able to whip up a make shift rocket
launcher with just a couple cleaning products and
a few handy office items. We immediately are
put on notice that this babe is not just eye candy
but a well trained covert operative.
The script adds another
interesting plot twist having us believe that the
Russians have planted sleeper agents that have
just been hanging out for the last 20 years or so
waiting to go into action. Who would ever
believe that could happen in real life....oh yeah
it just did, didn’t it...duh!!! I should
mention that Liev Schrieber (Wolverine’s brother
in X Men) is great in this movie too. He was
Salt’s partner and appears to be the only one who
believes Salt is playing for the right team.
I don’t know of any other woman
in Hollywood who could have pulled off this action
flick. Rarely does Angelina Jolie not
deliver and Salt is no exception. Maybe not
the best spy movie ever, but.....great fight
scenes, car chases, explosions, and more twists
and turns than the Wild Thing coaster at Valley
Fair... the movie’s another thrill ride that
doesn’t stop until the lights come up!
I was anticipating a good movie
once I saw who was onboard. The director
Christopher Nolan scored big, in my book, with his
other thought provoking movies including Memento,
The Prestige, and Dark Knight. You can
hardly go wrong with Leonardo DiCaprio and I
immediately fell in love (cinematically speaking)
with Ellen Page the first time I saw her in Juno.
So from the very first trailer that came out...I
was psyched to say the least! With my wife
and son spending a week in Alaska visiting my
daughter...I had nothing holding me back opening
weekend that would keep me from reviewing Nolan’s
latest offering -- Inception.
WOW WHAT A MOVIE!!! Yes,
right from the get go I must tell you how
impressed I was with Inception! It’s got
everything I like in a film...great acting,
suspense, thrills, chills, and special effects
that will blow your mind. To be honest, not
since The Matrix have I seen a movie offering such
ground breaking movie magic.
Inception centers around a team
of highly trained individuals who literally get
into peoples heads for a living. Cobb
(Leonardo DiCaprio), known as an "extractor",
heads up the team and has accepted an incredibly
complicated mission that has absolutely no room
for error. In the proverbial nut
shell...they use a special intravenous-type
machine that has a line with syringes at the end
that injects into the veins of the teams' arms as
well as the individual whose dreams they are
trying to incept. For this caper, the team
is hired to enter their target's dreams to implant
an idea so that the target will later make a major
business decision that will benefit the guy that
hired the team. Believe me...it's much more
complicated than that and so much more fun to
watch it all evolve.
Each member of Cobb’s team is
highly specialized and brings to the table their
own specific set of skills. Ariadne (Ellen
Page) shines as the "architect" in the group and
is responsible for creating the elaborate
landscape and scenery that the target dreams.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (remember him, the little kid
on 3rd Rock from the Sun) I predict
will be a big star some day and plays Arthur,
Cobb’s sidekick. Tom Hardy is a scene
stealer and plays "the forger". His role is
to take on other peoples identities within the
dream to gain the target's trust. The list
goes on and on with every actor turning in great
performances.
The only thing that keeps this
movie from scoring a perfect 10 with me...is that
is too long. I think they could have edited,
even this cerebral movie, down by at least a half
hour and that would have worked just fine for me.
Even the incredible special effects start to grow
a little old after you have seen the same thing
over and over...it’s like a magician doing a great
trick and then just keeps repeating the trick.
It’s got all the right ingredients, it's just been
cooked a little bit too long.
I
have to admit there are very few sequels that I
have enjoyed more than the original. Case in
point, the mostly ridiculous and embarrassing
sequels for The Sting, Meatballs, Rambo, The
Godfather after 1 and 2, Dumb and Dumber, Blues
Brothers, Caddy Shack, Grease, and the list goes
on and on. Eclipse, however, the third in
the series of these Twilight movies is the best so
far. Not that I have been overly impressed by any
of them...at least each film has been better than
the last!
This time around we find a new
breed of blood sucking killer vampires that are
wreaking havoc on the good people of Seattle while
preparing to wage war on Edward, his family, and
Bella. Bella, played by Kristen Stewart,
also gets torn between her love for Edward (Robert
Pattinson) and what appears to be a more than
growing fondness for the always bare-chested Jacob
(Taylor Lautner.) This girl sure knows how to pick
‘em...vampire or werewolf...she should have stuck
with that geeky group she’s always shown eating
lunch with at her high school.
Owed to the success of the
first two movies, they sunk a few more bucks into
the special effects this time around and that
works for me. Some pretty cool fight scenes, I’m
sure, used up most of that budget. Visually, my
only complaint would be that every time they show
Bella and Edward together it's a close up
shot...and I mean close up...we can literally
count the pores on their faces. Some of
those shots are held for what feels like an
eternity...a few more creative angles during those
scenes would have been welcomed. Although I
am sure I am not the target audience for this teen
love story...I liked it for having just enough of
"this and that" to keep even an old dog...or
should I say wolf... like me sticking around until
the final credits started rolling.
If you like
movies that include non stop fart jokes, scantily
clad young women, adults acting like morons, and
lots of sophomoric pranks...then don’t stop to
have anyone pull your finger...just get to the
theater and see Grown Ups...because this goof-fest
was made for you!!! Now it’s not that I
don’t care for any of the items listed above, I
just think that they should be sprinkled in...not
just dumped on us for 2 hours straight.
Long story short...and the
shorter the better for this review...a group of
kids who were on a winning basketball team reunite
years later when their team coach dies. They
all meet up for his funeral and along with their
dysfunctional families spend a weekend together on
the lake. Think "The Big Chill" meets
"Meatballs"...and you’re almost there. I
like all the comics featured including Adam
Sandler, Kevin James, David Spade, Rob Schneider,
and Chris Rock....just not in this film.
There’s not much chemistry to speak of between
themselves or their family members. If I
didn’t know better...and I usually don’t...it’s
almost as if these five guys had a break in their
schedules and said "Hey Adam, get some of your
camera crew together and lets ad lib a movie this
weekend....it’ll make millions!" (and it did, over
$40 million opening weekend).
Grown Ups, like its main
characters, is a little sloppy and overweight.
There’s lots of fat that could have been trimmed
from this porker.
Wow
what a busy summer so far...just got back from our
annual trip to Birch Lane Resort in Pine River,
Minnesota. Went golfing at Breezy Point and
caught some monster fish on Horseshoe Lake.
But, now on to more important things....
I know that a lot of you have
never been able to get over the infamous Tom
Cruise meltdown on Oprah a few years back or the
fact that he dumped Nicole Kidman for no apparent
reason. But I think you will agree, after
watching his latest movie Knight and Day, the guy
still has "the stuff" when it comes to being a
great action movie hero.
The storyline revolves around a
young scientist played by Paul Dano, who develops
a battery that will never wear out. It goes
without saying, this is a game changer that our
government wants to make sure doesn't get into the
wrong hands. Tom Cruise is the covert agent
assigned to protecting the young scientist and his
battery from the bad guys. The roller
coaster ride takes off right from the beginning of
the movie as we find Cruise being chased down by
his own agency, who thinks he has gone rogue and
is trying to sell the battery secrets to the bad
guys. Cameron Diaz is the "up for anything"
type of woman who accidentally gets drawn into all
the intrigue.
The movie delivers exactly what
it has promoted through all of its marketing.
It’s fast paced and has some great action scenes
sprinkled with those incredible special effects we
have all come to expect and take for granted in
this type of movie. Cruise and Diaz work
well together and deliver the cleverly written
comedic dialogue flawlessly. For two actors
who have been around for such a long time, they
both have also been keeping themselves in tip top
shape. There is eye candy for the guys and
the girls...Cruise is often filmed showing off his
six pack and Diaz still looks pretty darn good in
a bikini.
Academy award bound...it’s
not...but it doesn’t try to be! It is what
it is...a good summer action/comedy flick that
provides us with good laughs and some well crafted
thrills and chills along the way...and who doesn’t
like that once in awhile?
Lately there just hasn’t been
much out there that’s caught my eye to review.
I did go to one movie and it was so bad I just
didn’t want to write a review on it because I
would've had nothing good to say....and nobody
needs that! Also had to help my daughter
move to Alaska...she was lucky enough to get a job
working for a tourism company and will be there
for the whole summer. My son just graduated
from Blaine High School and we just finished up
with the big "Open House" celebration. Blah, blah,
blah...long story short...been neglecting my
professional duties lately!
However, the other night I saw
the movie "High Fidelity" on TV. Now mind
you, I am normally your typical guy who switches
back and forth to a million different programs and
would never dream of keeping the same channel on
for the entire show...especially one I have
already seen before. I remembered the first
time I saw this movie I liked it a lot...and now
that I have seen it a second time...I know it’s
worthy of a review to hopefully get all of you,
who have not seen it, up off your kiesters to go
rent it or have your TIVO record it next time it's
on TV.
The movie came out in March of
2000 and came in a dismal 5th place
while bringing in only $6 million during its
opening weekend. With numbers like that, it
didn’t last too long in the theaters and a lot of
you may have missed it. It’s not a big
budget blockbuster layered with special effects or
incredible action scenes...it’s just a wonderful,
fun little movie that deserves a viewing, maybe
even two or three.
As far as I am concerned, this
is as near perfect a dramedy (part drama/part
comedy) as you will ever find. John Cusack
plays Rob, the owner of a shop that’s right out of
the early 70's that sells hard to find record
albums (remember those big round flat black
plastic things that you would put a needle on to
hear music?) His quirky hired help includes
Jack Black as Barry, who, in one of his first
roles in a movie, shows us all why he went on to
become known for his irrepressible comedic energy.
His coworker sidekick named Dick, played by Todd
Louiso, is a total opposite and together they play
the perfect ying and yang. A big part of the
fun in the movie comes from the shameless
arrogance these three have as a result of their
undeniable knowledge of all music past and
present. The banter between themselves and
their record buying customers is sharp witted and
funny for all the right reasons.
Fairly early on in the movie we discover that
Rob’s live in girlfriend Laura, played by Iben
Hijejle, is leaving Rob because she just doesn’t
think he is willing to make the sacrifices that it
takes for a long lasting relationship...and she’s
right! I should add that Iben Hijejle is an
incredible actress in this movie...she is charming
and sexy, in a Princess Diana sort of way, and
when you hear her sultry voice I guarantee your
pulse rate will go from 0-1000 in just seconds!
After she leaves Rob, a well deserved portion of
the movie is dedicated to Rob’s "Top 5 worst
breakups of all time". He tracks down, in
hilarious fashion, his past girlfriends to find
out why they dumped him. Three of his top 5
include actresses Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lili
Taylor, and Joelle Carter who all turn in great
performances. A pleasant little detour
includes a short term romance Rob has with singer
Marie DeSalle (Lisa Bonet) and another that Laura
has with Ian, the upstairs neighbor (Timothy
Robbins). It’s the perfect cast for this
perfect little movie! If you like music,
witty dialogue, fascinating characters, and
romance... and a happy ending to boot....this
movie is for you...guaranteed!!!
Guest
Critic: Tom Horita Tom is a resident of
Coon Rapids. He is an avid golfer and enjoys
attending ball games at the new Twins' Target
Field. He and his girlfriend, Laura, also
foster dogs who are in need of a new home. Doug's Note:
Since I am not able to review every movie that
comes out...on occasion I will draw from the many
emails I receive...and will post your comments for
the review.
Well,
it’s funny, about a year ago or so, Laura and I
were at the movie theater and saw the trailer for
Avatar. I hadn’t heard anything about it up
until then. Laura and I both said, “That’s gonna
be a bomb”. I guess we were a little wrong in that
prediction. Having said that, we watched it on Blu-Ray
a couple days ago and I thought it was awesome!
Granted, the storyline wasn’t the greatest
(basically identical to Dances with Wolves, The
Last Samurai, and probably dozens of other
movies), but for sheer entertainment, I loved it.
Obviously, most of that had to do with the
incredible special effects (by far the best I have
ever seen). I thought it was well casted,
particularly the hard-ass military guy. I am
glad they went with no names for most of the
characters. And, I am actually glad they
stayed with a simple, predictable storyline,
because then I could just sit back and enjoy the
movie for what it was and not worry about thinking
too much. Plus, the alien women were HOT!!!
Let
me tell you right from the get go...if you are
expecting the old version of Robin Hood where he
robs from the rich and gives to the poor...don’t
hold your breath. This film, directed by Ridley
Scott, chronicles the folk hero prior to his
"merry band of thieves" days.
We first encounter Robin Hood
(Russell Crowe) as a soldier fighting in the 10
year crusade of King Richard, The
Lionhearted (Danny Huston). After Richard is
killed in the war, Robin sets off on his own and
through a totally unlikely set of circumstances
ends up leading the entire English army against an
invasion by the French....who woulda thunk?
Throw into this epic wannabe, a little onscreen
romance between Robin and Maid Marian (Cate
Blanchett), and I mean little. Apparently
trying to be true to the times, the flirtations
are guarded and the courting seems hardly worth
all the work.
The action scenes in the movie
are well done and reminded me of the movie
Braveheart, but they don’t quite make up for all
the down time in between. The acting, the
directing, and the cinematography are all
superior, but everything moves along sooooooooooo
slow! Aside from the pace of the show, I
think the only other thing that upsets me was the
bait-and-switch they used to get me into the seat.
Just from the name of the movie itself and the
promo trailers viewed, I thought I was paying for
the old Robin Hood and the escapades that we would
be treated to while he robs from the rich and
gives to the poor. This movie could have
been called anything other than Robin Hood, but
they knew that name, all by itself would put
thousands of unsuspecting people like me right
where they wanted them...paying to watch the
movie! Doesn’t seem quite fair....but what
does??? I’m not saying the movie was
bad...I’m just saying I thought I was ordering a
cheeseburger but they served me a club sandwich.
(Why do I always make my analogies about food...no
wonder I am 20 pounds overweight!)
Iron
Man 2 was as much fun as you could possibly want
from an action packed sequel! So much
talent...Robert Downey Jr. is once again
incredible as Tony Stark/Iron Man. This time
around he is enjoying the life of a super hero who
is keeping the world safe, adored by millions of
fans. The only problem is he starts to
believe his own press clippings and becomes his
biggest fan....and we all know that can’t be a
good thing! Stark is called before a Senate
hearing because they think he has too much power
and that they should be the ones running the show.
Soon Stark is having major problems with both the
government and of course his major villain this
time around, Ivan Vanko a.k.a. Whiplash, played
wonderfully by Mickey Rourke. Vanko wreaks
terror on Stark and anyone who gets in his way and
if you’ve seen any of the movie trailers you’ll
know why they call him Whiplash! He carries
around a couple of whips that have enough voltage
in them to power the city of Minneapolis.
Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Tony’s assistant Pepper
Potts. She is smart, sexy, and once again,
we can feel the heat between these two every time
they are on the screen together. However, Tony has
promoted her to be his new CEO and the office
romance gets even more complicated. I don’t
know why Scarlett Johansson was thrown into the
mix, when you’ve already got Gwyneth Paltrow, but
who’s complaining? Her character Natalie
Rushman, a.k.a. Black Widow, is hired by Tony as
his new assistant after Pepper is promoted to run
the company. She is basically on the screen
serving as eye candy and is certainly up to the
task. She also just happens to be a secret agent
for an international espionage organization.
For this role she is required to wear an
incredibly tight leather outfit and has one big
special effects fight scene that rivals anything
you may have seen in the Matrix.
Sam Rockwell is a scene stealer and is exceptional
as Justin Hammer. Hammer is a seedy arms
dealer to the United States government, trying to
come up with something better than Iron Man has to
offer. He teams up with Whiplash and not
since Freddy teamed up with Michael in the movie
Halloween 20....or was that 21.....has there been
a more evil duo!
Don Cheadle is Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes and
plays a top ranking soldier who is buddies with
Stark and tries to help him out with the problems
he’s having with the government. What movie
would be complete unless Samuel L. Jackson was in
it? Yes, the guy has been in every movie
ever made...well almost! Jackson plays Nick
Fury, the leader of a mysterious crime fighting
organization who lends a much needed hand to help
out Tony Stark.
And finally hats off to Director Jon Favreau for
knowing how to use a mega budget to make a movie
that’s worth every penny. This blockbuster
is just one more reason why I love going to the
movies!!!
My 18 year
old son convinced me to go review Kick Ass
directed by Mathew Vaughn. From the previews
I thought I was in for a harmless, innocent,
sophomoric romp...in the same genre of Fast Times
at Ridgemont High or more recently Superbad.
Boy was I wrong! I find out after the fact
that the movie was adapted from Mark Millar’s
incredibly violent comic book by the same name.
The movie starts out sweet enough by following
around our lead character, a somewhat nerdy New
York high school kid named Dave Lizewski (Aaron
Johnson) who is also a super hero comic book geek.
Dave decides he wants to be a crime fighter and
orders up a super hero costume (actually a wet
suit) off the internet. Without any special
powers, or for that matter any crime fighting
skills whatsoever, Dave dons the suit and starts
to kick ass as best he can. It’s here that
our movie takes an unexpected twist as the fight
scenes become more than just a couple bloody noses
and a needed band aid or two. Without giving
away too much of the movie...just be prepared for
slicing and dicing that will make everyone, but
macho guys like me, wince.
A bystander catches Dave on
video during one of his fights and puts it up on
Youtube, making him an instant cult hero. It
also attracts other wannabe superhero types
including a father-daughter wrecking crew called
Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe
Moretz.) Remember the graphic fight scenes
in "Kill Bill"? Now multiply that times a
million for these two. I should note that
Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) steals the show. She
is incredible and worth the price of admission.
The only one I can compare her to is the first
time I saw Natalie Portman in "The
Professional"...she was just a little kid but you
knew she would be a movie star someday!
The plot revolves around the
wannabe superheroes trying to take down a mob
family played by your stereotypical gangsters.
The mob boss’s son, Chris (Christopher
Mintz-Plasse, the nerd from Superbad) puts on his
own pair of tights to become Red Mist and tricks
our hero into thinking he is another crime fighter
just out to help the cause. Little does Kick
Ass know that Red Mist is not on the right side of
the law and is out to stab him in the
back...literally! If you like over the top
violence, mixed in with a lot of slow motion and
cool shoot ’em up effects or if you want to see a
big star in the making (Chloe Moretz) -- go buy a
ticket or just walk in backwards when the earlier
showing lets out.
I
must admit, although I don’t watch much 30 Rock or
The Office on TV, I am still a pretty big fan of
Tina Fey and Steve Carell. So when I heard
awhile back they were starring in a movie
together, I was on-board to go see it the first
chance I could. I brought my wife because
she is a big Tina Fey fan and was, as far as I
know, the very first person in the world who
thought Tina Fey would be the perfect person to
spoof on Sarah Palin. Since it was date
night for us anyway, the movie "Date Night" seemed
like the perfect choice...dah!
The movie is directed by Shawn
Levy...he’s the guy that did those Night at the
Museum movies with Ben Stiller. This story
revolves around Claire (Fey) and Phil (Carell) who
are a married middle class couple living in New
York who, like many of us, have jobs and kids that
make their daily schedules quite hectic. The
only time they have for any sort of social life
together is their own date night once a week that
is pretty much relegated to the same restaurant,
with the same waiter playing the same game of
"what do you think the person at the other table
does for a living." Sounds like a
winner date to me, but what do I know? On
our last date night I took my wife to the car show
at the convention center...I had fun!
Anyway, Claire and Phil decide to spice things up
a bit and drive to Manhattan to an A list
restaurant they don’t even have reservations for.
Upon arrival they quickly realize they probably
should have made reservations, but even if they
had, they would not have gotten in for over a
month. They go sit in the bar to drink away
their sorrows when they hear a reservation being
called out for the Tripplehorns. With no one
responding, they decide to act like they’re the
Tripplehorns and take the reservation.
Innocent enough you would think. Before they
even have a chance to finish their meal, a couple
of thugs (Common and Jimmi Simpson) who believe
Claire and Phil are the Tripplehorns, escort them
from the restaurant and into a back alley.
This is where the movie starts to kick in to high
gear! The thugs are bad cops who are trying
to get a flash drive back from the real
Tripplehorns who are trying to blackmail a mob
boss played by Ray Liotta.
What ensues is one of the most
hilarious car chases you will ever see and other
sight gags that pretty much deliver what you are
looking for in an action packed comedy. I
would definitely go see Fey and Carell together in
any other movies they decide to combo up in.
Being a TV star doesn’t always guarantee you will
make it on the big screen, but thankfully that
doesn’t hold true for these two. Although
the script is a little weak, these two play off of
each other with the same great comedic timing you
saw in other movies with people like Steve Martin
and John Candy (Planes, Trains, and Automobiles)
or Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan (When Harry Met
Sally). Well, maybe Martin and Candy is
pushing it, but the other two for sure!
Overall I give it a thumbs up...can I do that, or
is that copyrighted? If it is, I would just
say go see it and you will be pleasantly pleased!
My daughter was home from
college for her Easter weekend with the parents,
so we decided to go to a movie together. The
pickings were pretty slim, so we settled on "Clash
of the Titans" and figured the special effects
would be enough to roller coaster us through the 2
hour ride.
For those of you who have not
seen the original that starred Harry Hamlin
(remember him from L.A. Law?) or for those of you
not familiar with the story line, let me lay it
out for you. It’s man (or should I say almost-man)
against the gods and these gods aren’t necessarily
the nicest guys in town. Our hero is Perseus (Sam
Worthington from Avatar fame,) the son of Zeus,
king of the gods. His mother was not a god and
this causes some of the friction that we see
throughout the movie. For some reason Perseus
thinks he should keep his god powers in check and
fight evil with only his mortal skills...yeah, I
know, it doesn’t make much sense to me either,
especially when you have to fight creatures that
are like a billion times bigger than you are.
Hades (Ralph Fiennes) is the evil god of the
underworld who is trying to take over the business
from his brother Zeus...which would also mean the
demise of Perseus and his family. Perseus
volunteers to lead a group of warriors in an
effort to defeat Hades before it’s too late! From
this point on comes the special effects I was
waiting for in the first place.
The movie doesn’t fail in
delivering some real eye popping movie mayhem that
Perseus has to deal with...starting with Acrisius
(Jason Flemyng) a former king who is now a
vengeful beast who wants Zeus out of power in the
worst way. Understandable, because it was
his wife that Zeus impregnated to produce Perseus.
Next up, some really big...for lack of a better
word....lobsters. Yeah, that’s right, they look
just like lobsters except they’re the size of
buildings, but still pretty cool to look at.
Medusa, the overly large head with a snakes body,
delivers as the evil creature that will turn you
to stone if your eyes meet her eyes. The biggest
effect is saved for the Kraken, bigger than the
IDS, it’s hard to imagine how Perseus can stop
this big guy!
If you accept the movie for what it is meant to
be...a couple hours of special effect
entertainment...you will probably have a good
time. If you're looking for some incredible
acting and some sort of cathartic moment or
two...try another movie. Sam Worthington
looks the part but his acting skills are a little
like watching paint dry, not much energy brought
to the table. I like the gods...at least their
acting capabilities...pretty fun to watch...but
Fiennes and Neeson usually deliver. Clash of the
Titans will keep you in your seats while you’re
there, but as soon as it’s over you will probably
just start thinking about where to go for dinner.
Capitalizing
on the success of last years raunchy comedy buddy
flick "The Hangover," now comes "Hot Tub Time
Machine," directed by Steve Pink. The buddies this
time around include a similar group of 3 needy
middle age guys and one pubescent twenty
something..., all experiencing some sort of major
life crisis at the same time. Adam, played by John
Cusack, has just found out his girlfriend left
him. Nick, played by Craig Robinson, has a
cheating wife and a dead end job. Lou, played by
Rob Corddry, is a habitual party animal who is way
past his prime, and Jacob, played by Clark Duke,
is the much younger nerdy computer geek who seems
quite content to stay in his basement playing
video games for the rest of his life.
The 3 take a road trip, along
with a reluctant Jacob, as they try to recapture
the great times they had at a ski resort they
partied at in the 80's. As the name of the movie
implies, upon arriving at the resort they jump
into a hot tub that transports them back to that
storied weekend they had in the 80's. Here they
have the opportunity to confront the mistakes they
made in the past in an effort to make for a better
future. Get ready for just about every sophomoric
prank and bit you could ask for! Most of them are
pretty hilarious, although I could do without the
inevitable puke and poop gags. Chevy Chase plays a
cameo role as the keeper of the hot tub and
Crispin Glover plays a one armed bell boy. I
particularly like Rob Corddry, as he easily
provided the movie with a believable energy that
kept the movie from slowing down and losing the
audience. All in all, I would recommend it if you
are looking for few good belly laughs and a happy
ending!
Saturday nights have for some
time now been called "Date Night" for my wife and
me. It's my responsibility to come up with
something fun to do. Last Saturday we
started the night out at a wonderful restaurant
called Stella’s Seafood Café in Minneapolis.
I could write my whole review on how incredible
the food was, especially their Oysters
Rockefeller, but instead I will focus on the play
we saw at the Guthrie.
It was
called Brief Encounter written by Noel
Coward, adapted and directed for the stage by Emma
Rice, and it was a real treat! Before the
show even opens, a quirky looking bunch of
characters strolls up and down the aisles dressed
in old time railroad garb singing Coward written
songs that put a satisfying smile on all those
seated.
Ah....but
this was just the appetizer! The main course
started off with two of the actors seated in the
audience, as if watching a movie on the stage.
They are our two star-crossed lovers, Laura (Naomi
Frederick) and Alec (Tristan Sturrock.) She
gets up to leave because she is married to another
and does not feel right being at the movie with
Alec. She jumps up on the stage that now has
a train pulling up on the big screen. She
walks through the screen as if getting on the
train and suddenly appears in the film looking out
of the train window waving goodbye to Alec.
This mix of film, music, singing, and live acting
on stage was intermixed and balanced perfectly
throughout the evening and made for an incredible
feast for the eyes and ears. Add a
sprinkling of multi-role talented character actors
and your play is almost complete. However,
to finish off the palate, dessert was literally
offered by the actors themselves as they stood
outside the theater doors! They offered us fresh
made cookies while playing Coward songs on a make
shift stage in the lobby. Mmmmm Mmmmm Good!
I
could hardly wait to get to the movie theater on
Friday. It had been a long week and I was ready
for a good laugh. Unfortunately I chose the wrong
movie and went to see The Bounty Hunter starring
Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. Dog The Bounty
Hunter, on TV, would have been a better choice and
probably more chuckles.
A
weak script with some really bad dialogue set this
one up for failure from the get-go. Milo
Boyd, played by Gerard Butler, is a former cop and
is now a down-and-out bounty hunter with a
gambling problem. Nicole, played by Jennifer
Aniston, is an investigative newspaper reporter
hot on the trail of a suicide that she thinks
could have been a murder. And, oh yeah....did I
forget to tell you that they used to be married to
each other? Believe it or not, we are supposed to
believe that Milo just happens to get a job to go
after a bail bond jumper who just happens to
be....you guessed it....Nicole! It’s
another weak story line that I won't even bother
to go into.
With absolutely no on-screen chemistry whatsoever,
the two are paired up for most of the movie as
they play cat and mouse, while at the same time
trying to solve the suicide/murder case together.
Why is it everything I see Jennifer Aniston in,
aside from reruns of Friends, is usually just one
big mess? She should fire her agent for even
showing her the script. Director Andy
Tennant was at the steering wheel of this car
wreck. The few good laughs that I was able
to pull out of this gobbledy-goop of a movie came
from the supporting actors played by Christine
Baranski and Siobhan Fallon. All and
all the movie had some great talent, but just too
little story…
Green
Zone director Paul Greengrass takes us to the
front lines at the very beginning of the Iraq War,
and the search for the "Weapons of Mass
Destruction". Adapted from Rajiv
Chandrasekarant's novel of the same name, the
movie Green Zone, lays out a very believable
scenario that questions whether certain people
working with our government, knew way before our
troops ever landed, that there were no such
weapons. Matt Damon stars as Chief Warrant
Officer Roy Miller, who has been sent into Baghdad
to find those so-called "Weapons of Mass
Destruction."
The only problem is, Chief Miller and his team
keep coming up empty handed. Chief Miller
knows something doesn't smell right and tries
raising some questions early on....but he is
quickly silenced by his own superiors.
A slimy government liaison and C.I.A. agent,
played to perfection by Greg Kinnear, is behind
the conspiracy and doesn't make life any easier
for Miller as he tries to figure out just what the
hell is going on. Throw in an investigating
female Wall Street Journal reporter and
another senior C.I.A. agent who really wants to
help Miller get to the truth, and you've got a
fairly decent suspenseful action packed movie!
Don't arrive late or you will find yourself out of
the loop!