Billed as a couples movie about Pete and Debbie (remember the adorably dysfunctional in-laws from Knocked Up?), this holiday gift is yet another Middle Aged Loser Movie. And it's no American Beauty.
On a bright side it's classic Apatow: unknown secondary comic characters riffing, pot smoking, F-Bombing, Jew joking and so on. Those are the best parts. The thin plot is about the so-called storm of 40: bad or no sex, teenagers, parents, and other somewhat predictable 40-something problems. While ostensibly a continuation of Knocked Up, it has much more in common with Funny People, which was somewhat underrated. Another Mid Life Crisis movie, but that one had some meat to it.
Ultimately this is a star vehicle for Apatow's family, his real-life wife and kids. But the icy twig and and the annoying kids can only travel so far without some supporting characters. In this case, the supporting characters are the highlight.
* * 1/2 of 4
Pitch Perfect
Mashup Glee and Bring It On in a college movie and what do you get? A Capella music, in a Superbad Goes to College way. Even McLovin is here.
Anna Kendrick stars as a college freshman who wants to go to LA to be a DJ. The only reason she's in college is that her father is a professor and it is free. But Dad, I hate this. Give it one year and join a club... if you don't like it you can go to LA.
So in the shopping mall of matriculation that is a familiar college scene, she comes across the Bellas, who are looking for new members after an unfortunate incident at last year's contest. The motley crew is assembled, looking very Bridesmaids like. But fortunately this movie has a Farrelly brother's heart and the humor is more manufactured but yet somewhat wry. A good combination.
The music sets the movie apart. Like other fine movies with original music and 80s theme, The Wedding Singer, I found my toes tapping and interested to see how it turns out.
* * * * of 4 (highest rating)
Anna Kendrick stars as a college freshman who wants to go to LA to be a DJ. The only reason she's in college is that her father is a professor and it is free. But Dad, I hate this. Give it one year and join a club... if you don't like it you can go to LA.
So in the shopping mall of matriculation that is a familiar college scene, she comes across the Bellas, who are looking for new members after an unfortunate incident at last year's contest. The motley crew is assembled, looking very Bridesmaids like. But fortunately this movie has a Farrelly brother's heart and the humor is more manufactured but yet somewhat wry. A good combination.
The music sets the movie apart. Like other fine movies with original music and 80s theme, The Wedding Singer, I found my toes tapping and interested to see how it turns out.
* * * * of 4 (highest rating)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure
When I was 12, I tried to read The Hobbit but I could not get interested in the first part of the book. As an adult I went back to read it: I still had to press through the beginning to get into the good part.
With the first of 3 planned Hobbit movies, director Peter Jackson has made a 2:50 movie out of... the first part of the book. 113 pages into its own movie. And to watch the movie, you'd be hard pressed to identify all the action that he discovered in the book.
Actually that's an exaggeration. The movie has a very Harry Potter feel about it. In fact the character that riddles with Bilbo is straight out of Harry Potter 2. That's not a bad thing. Lots of action. It was refreshing to not see lots of gun violence, but there was still swordplay and armies streaming off cliffs. More cartoonish at most.
Interesting, a theme of the Hobbit is the British pre-WW I isolationism and how going off to war changed a whole generation in England. In that vein, the desire/action of Bilbo Baggins to go on this unexpected journey makes him a bit more heroic.
Looking forward to part 2, the Desolation of Smaug.
By the way, the book turned out to be very good.
* * * of 4
With the first of 3 planned Hobbit movies, director Peter Jackson has made a 2:50 movie out of... the first part of the book. 113 pages into its own movie. And to watch the movie, you'd be hard pressed to identify all the action that he discovered in the book.
Actually that's an exaggeration. The movie has a very Harry Potter feel about it. In fact the character that riddles with Bilbo is straight out of Harry Potter 2. That's not a bad thing. Lots of action. It was refreshing to not see lots of gun violence, but there was still swordplay and armies streaming off cliffs. More cartoonish at most.
Interesting, a theme of the Hobbit is the British pre-WW I isolationism and how going off to war changed a whole generation in England. In that vein, the desire/action of Bilbo Baggins to go on this unexpected journey makes him a bit more heroic.
Looking forward to part 2, the Desolation of Smaug.
By the way, the book turned out to be very good.
* * * of 4
Blade Runner - Director's Cut
Before Minority Report and Total Recall I and Total Recall II, I had never heard of Phillip K. Dick. Now I find out he wrote the books on which all of these movies were made. Including their granddaddy, Blade Runner.
This was one that I remember as significant but could not remember why. The initial scene of the explosive city brought it all back. Turns out this was a movie that people watched a lot over the years, a cult classic. Why? Probably because it set the standard of the dark world so followed in Batman, Total Recall, Dark Knight and so on.
There's an interesting division between the world up top, flying over, and the street level thuggishness of the below. At one level its a detective story of the search for the Replicants in the shadows. On another level, there is lots of classical imagery (King Lear, Jesus Christ). Mixed against the commercialism of the future world. I liked the commercial backdrops, particularly the old style ones of TDK, Pan Am.
Screening a bit of the theatrical cut, the narration there is not part of the Director's cut. The narration helps to understand the story but it gives it an old style Sam Spade quality.
This was one that stood the test of time. The story line drags a bit with the Replicant love/hate. But the cinematography more than makes up for it.
* * *
There's an interesting division between the world up top, flying over, and the street level thuggishness of the below. At one level its a detective story of the search for the Replicants in the shadows. On another level, there is lots of classical imagery (King Lear, Jesus Christ). Mixed against the commercialism of the future world. I liked the commercial backdrops, particularly the old style ones of TDK, Pan Am.
Screening a bit of the theatrical cut, the narration there is not part of the Director's cut. The narration helps to understand the story but it gives it an old style Sam Spade quality.
This was one that stood the test of time. The story line drags a bit with the Replicant love/hate. But the cinematography more than makes up for it.
* * *
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Few things in life are as good or better the second time around. Seeing the original Tarantino on the big screen was as good or better than the first time 20 years ago.
The remastering of the print made for an even more powerful showing of sight and sound. The famous diner scene starts things off with the unlikely group of strangers planing a heist and then cuts to Mr. White and Mr. Orange in the car after the heist gone bad. They end up at the warehouse with Mr. Pink who starts the idea of the set-up. Why do I have to be Mr. Pink?
The best part of the movie is that it is like a play, all set in the warehouse. The characters wearing the same clothes make for more focus on the players. Plus the white shirts show off the blood better.
Even having seen the movie in recent times, I was still surprised at several of the scenes. My favorite scene of Mr. Orange and the drug story is one I think of often. A charming anecdote about a drug deal gone bad, as they say. Great dialogue!
* * * * (Top 100 for sure)
The remastering of the print made for an even more powerful showing of sight and sound. The famous diner scene starts things off with the unlikely group of strangers planing a heist and then cuts to Mr. White and Mr. Orange in the car after the heist gone bad. They end up at the warehouse with Mr. Pink who starts the idea of the set-up. Why do I have to be Mr. Pink?
The best part of the movie is that it is like a play, all set in the warehouse. The characters wearing the same clothes make for more focus on the players. Plus the white shirts show off the blood better.
Even having seen the movie in recent times, I was still surprised at several of the scenes. My favorite scene of Mr. Orange and the drug story is one I think of often. A charming anecdote about a drug deal gone bad, as they say. Great dialogue!
* * * * (Top 100 for sure)
Minority Report (2002)
Southland View is becoming the Six Degrees of Colin Farrell. No matter what movie I review, it comes back to him like Kevin Bacon. And to think I didn't like him much before.
Tom Cruise works for the Pre-Crime Unit in 2054, which relies on information gathered from their PreCogs (who appear not of this world) to find out information about crimes before they occur. The Pre-Crime Unit can then swoop in and stop the crime before it occurs. John Anderton has a special interest in it since he lost a son under mysterious circumstances.
Pre-Crime is set in Washington DC and is not above politics. Colin Farrell is sent in by the Justice Department to sniff around and Tom Cruise begins to suspect a rat. He seek to liberate the PreCog to solve the mystery of what appears to be an unsolved murder. This PreCog, Agatha, had a differert vision/version of the unsolved murder, thereby the vision was outnumbered by the other two and was called the minority report.
The vision of the future is remarkable accurate even just 10 years later: touchscreen computing, automated spider robots, retinal scans. There are many Speilberg touches here: the broken family, the space oddities, the washout lighting. Also homages to other films: particularly Clockwork Orange and of course Total Recall.
* * *
Fight Club (1999)
The seamy underside of an otherwise respectable world is the wheelhouse of director David Fincher. Having liked his recent work in The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I turned to an earlier work.
Edward Norton plays a drone worker who seeks out support groups to help him combat insomnia due to the boredom of this life. The excitement helps. He goes to so many of these groups that he begins to notice Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) who plays a thin, goth woman who is a threat/help to him as he seeks to make sense of his predicament. Notice any similarity to the other Fincher movies mentioned?
Edward (we're not sure if he is Cornelius or Rupert or Jack at this point) meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) who invites him to Fight Club, an underground roving fighting organization modern day dueling to establish manhood and throw off the shackles of the world). As Fight Club grows in size, so does the leadership of Tyler, much to the envy/dismay of Cornelius/Rupert/Jack. To make matters worse, Tyler and Marla are getting way to close for comfort.
Fight Club is the way that the men rebel against their surroundings in life. The rebel violence spills over into the real world. Can it be stopped? Should it be stopped?
The duality of the Office Space repression v. Clockwork Orange rebellion is supposed to be the bigger point but it gets lost in the forest through the trees.
SECOND REVIEW - Sept 10, 2015
Upon a second viewing, this Pre 9/11 film has a lot of themes that might be disturbing to modern sensibilities, and not just the fighting. The passive/aggressive aspect, the Up-In-The-Air, corporate stiffness, and the final "we're like terrorists" aspect complete with crumbling buildings makes this worth a second watch. Director David Fincher plays this one a little heavy, but it works.
* * * * of 5
Edward Norton plays a drone worker who seeks out support groups to help him combat insomnia due to the boredom of this life. The excitement helps. He goes to so many of these groups that he begins to notice Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) who plays a thin, goth woman who is a threat/help to him as he seeks to make sense of his predicament. Notice any similarity to the other Fincher movies mentioned?
Edward (we're not sure if he is Cornelius or Rupert or Jack at this point) meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) who invites him to Fight Club, an underground roving fighting organization modern day dueling to establish manhood and throw off the shackles of the world). As Fight Club grows in size, so does the leadership of Tyler, much to the envy/dismay of Cornelius/Rupert/Jack. To make matters worse, Tyler and Marla are getting way to close for comfort.
Fight Club is the way that the men rebel against their surroundings in life. The rebel violence spills over into the real world. Can it be stopped? Should it be stopped?
The duality of the Office Space repression v. Clockwork Orange rebellion is supposed to be the bigger point but it gets lost in the forest through the trees.
SECOND REVIEW - Sept 10, 2015
Upon a second viewing, this Pre 9/11 film has a lot of themes that might be disturbing to modern sensibilities, and not just the fighting. The passive/aggressive aspect, the Up-In-The-Air, corporate stiffness, and the final "we're like terrorists" aspect complete with crumbling buildings makes this worth a second watch. Director David Fincher plays this one a little heavy, but it works.
* * * * of 5
Lincoln
Let's be honest: What red-blooded American wouldn't like a Lincoln/ Speilberg combo? Even if one half starts to drag, the other half can pick up the ball and run with it.
Based (?) on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals, the short period of January to April 1865 is the setting for this historical story. The political struggle to pass the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery is mixed with the desire/other political struggle to end the Civil War. The amendment has passed in the Senate but must pass the House. Every vote counts.
Watching this history lesson with the soliloquies and speeches and story worthy of Shakespeare and Daniel Day-Lewis, it become hard to separate fact from fiction. Did these people really exist?: James Spader as the sleazy operative, Tommy Lee Jones as the noble lawman, Sally Field as the long-suffering wife, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the son forced to grow up and Tim Blake Nelson as the goofy sidekick. As the old saying goes, if they didn't, we'd have to invent them.
The answer is that it doesn't matter. The Speilberg magic keeps the movie moving along. For that, I'm glad because it makes a gripping story out of something that we all already know how it ends. We are Americans after all.
Based (?) on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals, the short period of January to April 1865 is the setting for this historical story. The political struggle to pass the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery is mixed with the desire/other political struggle to end the Civil War. The amendment has passed in the Senate but must pass the House. Every vote counts.
Watching this history lesson with the soliloquies and speeches and story worthy of Shakespeare and Daniel Day-Lewis, it become hard to separate fact from fiction. Did these people really exist?: James Spader as the sleazy operative, Tommy Lee Jones as the noble lawman, Sally Field as the long-suffering wife, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the son forced to grow up and Tim Blake Nelson as the goofy sidekick. As the old saying goes, if they didn't, we'd have to invent them.
The answer is that it doesn't matter. The Speilberg magic keeps the movie moving along. For that, I'm glad because it makes a gripping story out of something that we all already know how it ends. We are Americans after all.
Twilight Marathon
My special guest post is from one of my favorite website, Grantland.com.
Robert Mays did the honors of attending the marathon showing of all five Twilight films.
Here is his review.
Best line: I am now as familiar with all five movies as anyone can be in a day.
Robert Mays did the honors of attending the marathon showing of all five Twilight films.
Here is his review.
Best line: I am now as familiar with all five movies as anyone can be in a day.
Total Recall (1990)
I said I would see this after seeing the 2012 remake. As Arnold might say, I'll be back!
Arnold plays Quaid, who is awakened by a nightmare, with his wife Sharon Stone beside him. You know what that means! He wants to travel to Mars, but his wife trashes the idea. So instead, he goes to Rekall who will implant the memory of the trip for him. He requests a secret agent theme. Of course the transaction goes all wrong, and he starts on the run, discovering that he (and she) is not what it seemed.
To uncover the mystery, "Get your a-- to Mars!". The imagined future of 1990 is nearly true today: the Mars/space travel, the video conference phones, the automated taxis.
Surprisingly, the movie(s) this reminded me of the most was.... Star Wars. Yes, the storm troopers, the Darth Vader/Darth Maul, the mutants, the Luke/Leia dynamic, the colonization of Mars, the resistance.
This movie's time was fortuitous, being on the cusp of the 80s and 90s. As such it incorporates the best touches of both: from the 80s, the kitschy action scenes and good v. evil. From the 90s, the suspenseful interpersonal drama (Basic Instinct, Disclosure).
* * *
Arnold plays Quaid, who is awakened by a nightmare, with his wife Sharon Stone beside him. You know what that means! He wants to travel to Mars, but his wife trashes the idea. So instead, he goes to Rekall who will implant the memory of the trip for him. He requests a secret agent theme. Of course the transaction goes all wrong, and he starts on the run, discovering that he (and she) is not what it seemed.
To uncover the mystery, "Get your a-- to Mars!". The imagined future of 1990 is nearly true today: the Mars/space travel, the video conference phones, the automated taxis.
Surprisingly, the movie(s) this reminded me of the most was.... Star Wars. Yes, the storm troopers, the Darth Vader/Darth Maul, the mutants, the Luke/Leia dynamic, the colonization of Mars, the resistance.
This movie's time was fortuitous, being on the cusp of the 80s and 90s. As such it incorporates the best touches of both: from the 80s, the kitschy action scenes and good v. evil. From the 90s, the suspenseful interpersonal drama (Basic Instinct, Disclosure).
* * *
Speilberg Rankings
In honor of the new Lincoln film by Steven Speilberg, Vulture.com asked to send it your Speilberg ranking.
My list was:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Catch Me If You Can
The Terminal
The first two set the standard that seems to be copied regularly. The latter two were great character studies that really took you into their world.
Of course there are many other fine movies that the staggering box office number would suggest that are great in their own way. Hard to think of a movie he's done that's not been very successful. Like his cohort George Lucas, he has a way of finding a broad common denominator that is appealing to many people. That's a real gift.
Here's Vulture's full list. What yours?
My list was:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Catch Me If You Can
The Terminal
The first two set the standard that seems to be copied regularly. The latter two were great character studies that really took you into their world.
Of course there are many other fine movies that the staggering box office number would suggest that are great in their own way. Hard to think of a movie he's done that's not been very successful. Like his cohort George Lucas, he has a way of finding a broad common denominator that is appealing to many people. That's a real gift.
Here's Vulture's full list. What yours?
In Bruges (2008)
Since I liked Seven Psychopaths, I decided to have a look at In Bruges, Martin McDonagh's first.
"In Bruges" is sort of the tagline of this movie, which is kind of like a European version of Fargo, but instead of "in Brainard" we are "In Bruges" Like the snowy Northern Plains, the beautiful, medieval city of Bruges is really the biggest star of the show.
Colin Farrell is Ray and Brendan Gleeson is Ken, 2 hitmen who are send to Bruges to lay low after a botched job. The buddy movie starts as they are assigned one room in a quaint B&B. One wants to see the sights, the other wants to get back to London ASAP. But the London-bound meets a beautiful local girl and comes into contact with all sorts of wacky characters you might run across in a small town in Europe. All screeches to a halt when the hitman's boss, Ralph Fiennes decided to come to Bruges.
The moves dives into 80s excess of hookers and drugs but is grounded in good dialogue and the honor among thieves. Watch closely for the movie-within-a-movie cues that will reappear in Seven Psychopaths. And the dreaminess. In Fucking Bruges.
"In Bruges" is sort of the tagline of this movie, which is kind of like a European version of Fargo, but instead of "in Brainard" we are "In Bruges" Like the snowy Northern Plains, the beautiful, medieval city of Bruges is really the biggest star of the show.
Colin Farrell is Ray and Brendan Gleeson is Ken, 2 hitmen who are send to Bruges to lay low after a botched job. The buddy movie starts as they are assigned one room in a quaint B&B. One wants to see the sights, the other wants to get back to London ASAP. But the London-bound meets a beautiful local girl and comes into contact with all sorts of wacky characters you might run across in a small town in Europe. All screeches to a halt when the hitman's boss, Ralph Fiennes decided to come to Bruges.
The moves dives into 80s excess of hookers and drugs but is grounded in good dialogue and the honor among thieves. Watch closely for the movie-within-a-movie cues that will reappear in Seven Psychopaths. And the dreaminess. In Fucking Bruges.
Seven Psychopaths
The Colin Farrell film fest continues with an old stereotype of the writer's blocked writer (The Shining, Adaptation) struggling to put words on a yellow pad in this case. He reaches out to his friend played by Sam Rockwell who is only too happy to help: he not only gives a title but starts to tell stories that should be in the movie, complete with how they should relate. It prompts Colin Farrell to dictate the ending.
I won't give away the ending but suffice it to say the movie-within-a-movie concept (Argo) comes together well particularly with the story as an adaptable draft. Let's try this... no, change it to that... etc.)
The plot line revolves around two lovable losers of Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken who make their living stealing dogs and holding the dogs for reward.
"Why don't you give him back?
"But keeping him is the whole point of kidnapping!"
But when they dognap the big mobster's fluffy dog, bad craziness ensues, as Hunter S. Thompson might say. In fact, Duke himself might haved like this movie.
Ultimately, the movie is much more about how to weave a story together involving.... you guessed it, Seven Psychopaths, while not knowing the ending. In that way, it was similar to Cloud Atlas, where the audience is involved in trying to figure things out, while the movie acts like it is trying to figure it out at the same time.
Directed by Martin McDonagh. * * * 1/2
I have rented In Bruges and will review next
I won't give away the ending but suffice it to say the movie-within-a-movie concept (Argo) comes together well particularly with the story as an adaptable draft. Let's try this... no, change it to that... etc.)
The plot line revolves around two lovable losers of Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken who make their living stealing dogs and holding the dogs for reward.
"Why don't you give him back?
"But keeping him is the whole point of kidnapping!"
But when they dognap the big mobster's fluffy dog, bad craziness ensues, as Hunter S. Thompson might say. In fact, Duke himself might haved like this movie.
Ultimately, the movie is much more about how to weave a story together involving.... you guessed it, Seven Psychopaths, while not knowing the ending. In that way, it was similar to Cloud Atlas, where the audience is involved in trying to figure things out, while the movie acts like it is trying to figure it out at the same time.
Directed by Martin McDonagh. * * * 1/2
I have rented In Bruges and will review next
Cloud Atlas
Six movies and six major actors, all for the price of 1. Cloud Atlas is billed as a complex, sci-fi movie and it does not disappoint in that respect. The different stories, at different times, by different characters keep the audience on its toes to follow along.
This is a movie that begs to be watched twice. You'd think that such a story would drag but it keeps the pace throughout. The roles of the stars are so different they really work well against casting type.
Like the Matrix (also by the Wachowskis) or Inception, the movie works on different levels, but in this case different points in time. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry each play different characters during a span of many years. Halle Berry is excellent in her various roles.
I'd tell you more, but its hard to piece together a description without giving away part of the fun of trying to figure it out. See for yourself.
**** - highest rating
This is a movie that begs to be watched twice. You'd think that such a story would drag but it keeps the pace throughout. The roles of the stars are so different they really work well against casting type.
Like the Matrix (also by the Wachowskis) or Inception, the movie works on different levels, but in this case different points in time. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry each play different characters during a span of many years. Halle Berry is excellent in her various roles.
I'd tell you more, but its hard to piece together a description without giving away part of the fun of trying to figure it out. See for yourself.
**** - highest rating
Argo
With this political season comes a political thriller, harkening to the heyday of political movies, the 1970s. Argo is a movie based on a now-declassified story of the Iran Hostage Crisis. 6 embassy people made it out the back door before the embassy was overrun. Those 6 hid out with the Canadian Ambassador until the CIA hatched a plan to get this out.
The plan was to pretend to be making a movie and claim that the 6 were movie people who had come to Iran for a location scout and then were leaving. To provide cover, the CIA came up with a fake movie for legit background. The 6 were to take new identities to provide cover under which to leave.
The fake movie that needed to be real: like The Producers and Springtime for Hitler. That provide some well-done comedy. This was offset by the drama of if the plan would come off. Like 2 movies in 1.
The political thriller was reminiscent of All The President's Men and whether or not the secrecy would work. Like Deep Throat, the ruse becomes a big part of the movie.
* * * 1/2
The plan was to pretend to be making a movie and claim that the 6 were movie people who had come to Iran for a location scout and then were leaving. To provide cover, the CIA came up with a fake movie for legit background. The 6 were to take new identities to provide cover under which to leave.
The fake movie that needed to be real: like The Producers and Springtime for Hitler. That provide some well-done comedy. This was offset by the drama of if the plan would come off. Like 2 movies in 1.
The political thriller was reminiscent of All The President's Men and whether or not the secrecy would work. Like Deep Throat, the ruse becomes a big part of the movie.
* * * 1/2
Invictus (2009)
Having just read "Playing the Enemy" by John Carlin, I wanted to quickly follow it with the movie. Morgan Freeman plays Nelson Mandela is a role that anyone would jump for. After 27 years in prison, Mandela emerges as the likely new leader of South Africa. But no one is quite certain of how the Afrikaaner and the Native Black will work together.
One power symbol of the Afrikaaner culture is the green and gold jersey of the Springboks rugby team. The black populace saw that as a symbol of oppression and wanted to do away with the entire sport. But Mandela saw that the Afrikaaner would go along with any changes if they were allowed to hold on to something they held dear.
Mandela sets about to bring together these two sides through the rugby game. Using his powerful personality, he has the ability to charm and influence the opposition. The culmination comes at the Rugby World Championship of 1995, held in the home country of South Africa.
To take such a powerful story and book and turn it into a movie, required some interesting plot points. The monologue to explain an important theme, the presentation on a board to show a development, the journalist to serve as a narrator and an opposition point. In fact the yellow journalist was reminiscent of the character Freddy Lounds in Manhunter and its remake Red Dragon.
Matt Damon as Francois Pinnear does a nice job to show the earnest but politically dim rugby player. In the book, Francois has a more dramatic leadership role. But the real star of this movie is Morgan Freeman. As he should be playing the role of a lifetime.
One power symbol of the Afrikaaner culture is the green and gold jersey of the Springboks rugby team. The black populace saw that as a symbol of oppression and wanted to do away with the entire sport. But Mandela saw that the Afrikaaner would go along with any changes if they were allowed to hold on to something they held dear.
Mandela sets about to bring together these two sides through the rugby game. Using his powerful personality, he has the ability to charm and influence the opposition. The culmination comes at the Rugby World Championship of 1995, held in the home country of South Africa.
To take such a powerful story and book and turn it into a movie, required some interesting plot points. The monologue to explain an important theme, the presentation on a board to show a development, the journalist to serve as a narrator and an opposition point. In fact the yellow journalist was reminiscent of the character Freddy Lounds in Manhunter and its remake Red Dragon.
Matt Damon as Francois Pinnear does a nice job to show the earnest but politically dim rugby player. In the book, Francois has a more dramatic leadership role. But the real star of this movie is Morgan Freeman. As he should be playing the role of a lifetime.
The Hurt Locker
Academy Award for Best Picture in 2009, this movie obviously benefitted from post Bush Administration war weariness. And War is Hell, even in the 21st Century. The movie did a good job of showing the reality of war being fought inside a country where civilian life is going on right alongside. Now perhaps all wars have been like that, but the cell phone and the video camera and the DVD play a role in this new war.
The movie centers around a 3 man Explosive Ordnance Demolition team. To defuse the bombs, the IEDs, one member of the team puts on a bulky bomb suit and walks toward the bomb which has the ability to explode over a very large blast zone.
The suit does not make the wearer invincible. In the early part, the suit wearer Thompson is killed by a blast, and the two remaining members, Swanson and Eldridge, meet the replacement James, played by Jeremy Renner. I had not seen many movies with him until this year, but he has emerged as a new tough guy.
James is bold to the point of recklessness to his new teammates, who are both impressed and scared of this trait. The movie follows three major battles as the days to the end of the tour of duty count down. Each soldier expressed his good and bad sides during these missions. The theme of friendly fire and fragging is a strong one, as is the PTSD and detachment from regular society.
The setting plays a character as well as the Iraqi Desert and its towns and people are like a constant presence, sometimes threatening and sometimes now. But hard to tell when. A good reflection on the all -volunteer army of the USA today and its light/dark sides.
* * * 1/2 of 4 stars
The movie centers around a 3 man Explosive Ordnance Demolition team. To defuse the bombs, the IEDs, one member of the team puts on a bulky bomb suit and walks toward the bomb which has the ability to explode over a very large blast zone.
The suit does not make the wearer invincible. In the early part, the suit wearer Thompson is killed by a blast, and the two remaining members, Swanson and Eldridge, meet the replacement James, played by Jeremy Renner. I had not seen many movies with him until this year, but he has emerged as a new tough guy.
James is bold to the point of recklessness to his new teammates, who are both impressed and scared of this trait. The movie follows three major battles as the days to the end of the tour of duty count down. Each soldier expressed his good and bad sides during these missions. The theme of friendly fire and fragging is a strong one, as is the PTSD and detachment from regular society.
The setting plays a character as well as the Iraqi Desert and its towns and people are like a constant presence, sometimes threatening and sometimes now. But hard to tell when. A good reflection on the all -volunteer army of the USA today and its light/dark sides.
* * * 1/2 of 4 stars
Chinatown
In the Fathom Events classic series, Chinatown, listed as a top 10 movie was showing. The time conflicted with the Memorial v. San Benito football game, and I couldn't do both, so I decided on football and to watch on DVD. I even checked it out from the library for free.
I made the right decision to go to the football game. Memorial won 13-12. And Chinatown lost.
Made in 1974, it's hard to imagine the effect a 1930s neo-noir film starring a young Jack Nicholson as the Sam Spade of his day would have on the audience. It's also hard to a modern viewer as to what cop movie cliches might have been original ideas when this movie was made: the private investigator previously kicked off the police force, the interaction with his old police buddies, the love affair, the Law and Order "You could be arrested for [fill in the blank with your choice of offense] threats, the corruption at the highest levels, and so on.
Good points are the snappy dialogue and the light/dark cinematography which is very evocative of Southern California. Many of the scenes were set either in the morning or in the evening, giving it an extra sense of time passing.
The story involves P.I. Jake Gittes who is hired to investigate an affair by Hollis Mulwray by Mrs. Mulwray. He investigates and found what appears to be some hanky-panky. But then he finds out that the person who hired him is someone other than the real Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway). Rather than calling off the chase, he dives deeper to figure out who set him up and decides that he has uncovered a big scam involving the water rights affecting all of SoCal.
Much of the movie Gittes wears a ridiculous bandage on his nose after a famous scene of getting his nose cut by an assailant (cameo by Roman Polanski). Perhaps this is to humanize him or to remind the audience of what a great threat he is facing (no pun intended :)
Jack Nicholson reminded me of another actor who played a wise-cracking, funny tough guy who made a reliable but not great leading actor: Michael Keaton. In the end, that's the review of Chinatown: Good, not great.
I made the right decision to go to the football game. Memorial won 13-12. And Chinatown lost.
Made in 1974, it's hard to imagine the effect a 1930s neo-noir film starring a young Jack Nicholson as the Sam Spade of his day would have on the audience. It's also hard to a modern viewer as to what cop movie cliches might have been original ideas when this movie was made: the private investigator previously kicked off the police force, the interaction with his old police buddies, the love affair, the Law and Order "You could be arrested for [fill in the blank with your choice of offense] threats, the corruption at the highest levels, and so on.
Good points are the snappy dialogue and the light/dark cinematography which is very evocative of Southern California. Many of the scenes were set either in the morning or in the evening, giving it an extra sense of time passing.
The story involves P.I. Jake Gittes who is hired to investigate an affair by Hollis Mulwray by Mrs. Mulwray. He investigates and found what appears to be some hanky-panky. But then he finds out that the person who hired him is someone other than the real Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway). Rather than calling off the chase, he dives deeper to figure out who set him up and decides that he has uncovered a big scam involving the water rights affecting all of SoCal.
Much of the movie Gittes wears a ridiculous bandage on his nose after a famous scene of getting his nose cut by an assailant (cameo by Roman Polanski). Perhaps this is to humanize him or to remind the audience of what a great threat he is facing (no pun intended :)
Jack Nicholson reminded me of another actor who played a wise-cracking, funny tough guy who made a reliable but not great leading actor: Michael Keaton. In the end, that's the review of Chinatown: Good, not great.
Total Recall (2012)
Who would've thought that a Schwarzenegger "B" movie from the 90s would be ripe for a remake? Like the Amazing Spider Man, perhaps some rights were set to expire if no one took action. "B" movie remake? Colin Farrell to the rescue!
In Total Recall, Farrell plays a working schlub in The Colony who commutes through the center of the earth to his job in the United Federation of Britain. To escape his boring life, he heads to the local red light district not for drugs or sex, but to "Rekall" which promises his new memories, as long as the experience to be remembered is not true. Once he is strapped into the Rekall chair and lights starts flashing, the experiment starts to go horribly wrong. Wait, is this Spider Man again?
The Rekall stirs up the opposite reaction as promised. Instead of the schlub worker, he is transformed into a killing machine. Combine James Bond, Jason Bourne and Justin Bieber and this new JB cannot be touched by a hail of bullets or an army of storm troopers. His wife, played by the lovely Kate Beckinsale, turns on him, as she was just a ploy. His real love, for whom he has just been dreaming of, the also lovely Jessica Biel is his Bond girl, and together they outrun all the firepower that can be mustered against them.
The futuristic dark world, like in Blade Runner and Batman is the real star of the show. Also the Paul Verhoeven effect of the unsettling "reality" of the situation does make a nice transfer from the 90s to the 2010s.
* * 1/2 of 4 stars - worth a look
Hopefully I'll find a copy of the original and post a comparison review.
The Rekall stirs up the opposite reaction as promised. Instead of the schlub worker, he is transformed into a killing machine. Combine James Bond, Jason Bourne and Justin Bieber and this new JB cannot be touched by a hail of bullets or an army of storm troopers. His wife, played by the lovely Kate Beckinsale, turns on him, as she was just a ploy. His real love, for whom he has just been dreaming of, the also lovely Jessica Biel is his Bond girl, and together they outrun all the firepower that can be mustered against them.
The futuristic dark world, like in Blade Runner and Batman is the real star of the show. Also the Paul Verhoeven effect of the unsettling "reality" of the situation does make a nice transfer from the 90s to the 2010s.
* * 1/2 of 4 stars - worth a look
Hopefully I'll find a copy of the original and post a comparison review.
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