Hot Tub Time Machine - 3 stars
Funny as hell, but drags a bit in the last act.
How to Train Your Dragon - 3 stars
Good story, bits of humor, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I saw it in 2-D, but I'll bet it looks incredible in 3-D.
Chloe - 3 1/2 stars
Amanda Seyfried is sexy as hell. I thought the story was really good, and it kept me guessing. I figured not everything was as it seemed (or as Chloe was describing), but I didn't know where the story would go. I really felt for Julianne Moore's character. Whether her husband is cheating or not, theirs isn't a happy marriage anymore.
Greenberg - didn't see
Art of the Steal - didn't see
House - didn't see
And from last week:
The Bounty Hunter - 2 stars
Not funny. It could have been funny, if say Jennifer Aniston was a bitch, and the movie made us hate her and identify with Gerard Butler. If it was a horrible divorce and she was treating him like crap and taking him for everything he was worth, then we would feel his joy when he gets to arrest his ex.
But the movie does none of that. We figure out that neither party was to blame, or both were to blame equally. As he mistreats her, we start to feel bad for her and start to not like him. The movie just doesn't work.
Repo Men - 1 1/2 stars
Even worse. Jude Law murders people and takes their organs back. He doesn't feel conflicted about this in the slightest, until he gets a heart transplant. Then, because he can suddenly identify with the other people who's organs are being repossessed, he suddenly develops a conscience. No, doesn't work. The movie is too ridiculous. I couldn't buy into its premise. Plus, it was boring. Although I started to like it a bit more halfway thru when I figured out that it was a comedy.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid - 3 stars
A good movie for kids. It did a good job of reminding me of things from when I was in school. But a complain I have is that the kid is too much of a jerk to his best friend, and he is too cocky. I think most kids are less sure of themselves. Everyone wants to be popular in school, but not many kids expect to be popular. At least that's what I think.
Red Riding Trilogy - 2 1/2 stars
Three movies, three different directors, one writer, many of the same characters. I love this in principal, but it wasn't executed very well. It could have been shortened. I was confused. There are so many characters and storylines to keep track of. Plus the northern English accents were so hard to follow it made it even more difficult to understand the movie. I look forward to watching it with subtitles when it comes out on DVD. I may like it better then.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
3/12/10
The Green Zone - 3 1/2 stars
The movie begins right after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Officer Miller (Matt Damon) is leading a team of soldiers looking for WMDs. They go to location after location, and they keep coming up empty. Miller starts to wonder if the intel is good, because they are suffering casualties. He asks his superiors about the source of the intel, and they just tell him to not question and follow orders.
When an Iraqi gives Miller a tip about a meeting between some important looking Iraqi generals, Miller takes his team to bust up the meeting. They find that Al Rawi is at the meeting. He is one of Hussein's generals, and he is the Jack of Clubs on that deck of cards the Bush administration was using.
It's a really good action movie, and it also does a good job of summing up a lot of what went wrong with the Iraq invasion. Rather than keep the Iraqi army in place and use them to help keep Iraq under control, we disbanded them, which led to thousands of well-trained, armed soldiers with nothing to do but join the insurgency. The movie shows how Bush's people living in the Green Zone were so out of touch with the reality of what things were really like in Iraq.
The movie is partially based on, or inspired by, the book Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. The book is an actual account of things in the Green Zone and all the things that went wrong. The movie changes the names in some cases, in other cases it completely invents characters. There wasn't really a soldier named Miller who was responsible for exposing all this stuff. In the movie, the U.S. Administrator of Iraq is Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear). In real life it was L. Paul Bremmer.
Some people have criticized the movie for not sticking more to the book and calling people by their actual names. I think it was a wise move. First of all, if we want to learn all the facts, we can watch a documentary (I recommend No End In Sight) or read books, including Chandrasekaran's book (which I plan to do). More importantly for the filmmakers, they need to get butts in seats. If they sell it as a Bourne-type action movie, people will go. If people think they are just going to get lectured on what we did wrong in Iraq, not as many people will go. Besides, you know watching it that Poundstone represents Bremmer. You can connect the dots yourself. And Freddy, Miller's Iraqi interpreter, gets to say some important things to Miller which really represent what the Iraqi people probably want to tell us.
Remember Me - 3 stars
Here is another movie that is creating a lot of arguments. I'll try not to spoil too much, but it's hard to discuss this movie without bringing it up (Ebert does a great job using a refrigerator to talk about it without talking about it).
If you pay attention to the date the film is set in, you will see where it is heading. Some people are hating the movie because they say it is exploiting a tragedy. I don't think it is. I think if the movie was a lighthearted comedy and then at the end they tried to wring tears out of the audience with this tragedy, I think they would have a point. But the movie is a serious drama. It's not a chick flick with Jennifer Aniston or Katherine Heigel or Matthew McConaughey. The movie is about real characters and I was fully invested in them and really cared about what happened to them.
I thought I would hate the movie, and I did hate the first half hour or so. It started out real boring. Robert Pattinson plays Tyler Hawkins. Tyler's brother committed suicide, his kid sister is kind of a weird artist type and is picked on by her classmates, his parents are divorced, and his dad (Pierce Brosnan) is horribly neglectful. Tyler meets Ally Craig (Emilie de Ravin). When Ally was young, her mother was shot and killed right in front of her. Her father (Chris Cooper) is a cop, and is very protective of her. He also has a temper, and if she pushes him too much, he just might smack her.
Tyler and Ally have good chemistry together, and I was interested in their romance. I also really liked Tyler's relationship with his younger sister. The movie really worked for me, and while the end was a bummer (somebody dies, but I won't say who), I thought it was a good story. I also think it's ok to use the events at the end of the movie, because kids learn about history in an objective way. Stories like this can help put a human face on a disaster, and I don't think it dishonors the victims at all.
She's Out of My League -
Our Family Wedding - didn't see, don't plan to (heard it sucks)
Fish Tank - 3 stars
This is about a 15 year old girl who lives with her mom and younger sister. They argue and fight all the time. They never speak to each other without calling each other a 4 letter word. The movie is set in England and the accents a bit thick. If you aren't used to hearing it, you may have a hard time understanding what they are saying to each other.
This is one of those movies that doesn't have much of a plot to speak of. We are just spending time with these characters. The girl is always fighting or arguing with people. When her mom brings a new boyfriend home, she sometimes hates him and other times acts like she has a crush on him.
Some people will find this movie boring. I liked it, because I got involved with the characters. Plus I liked some of the insults. I always say Europeans swear so much better than we do.
North Face -
Until the Light Takes Us -
The movie begins right after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Officer Miller (Matt Damon) is leading a team of soldiers looking for WMDs. They go to location after location, and they keep coming up empty. Miller starts to wonder if the intel is good, because they are suffering casualties. He asks his superiors about the source of the intel, and they just tell him to not question and follow orders.
When an Iraqi gives Miller a tip about a meeting between some important looking Iraqi generals, Miller takes his team to bust up the meeting. They find that Al Rawi is at the meeting. He is one of Hussein's generals, and he is the Jack of Clubs on that deck of cards the Bush administration was using.
It's a really good action movie, and it also does a good job of summing up a lot of what went wrong with the Iraq invasion. Rather than keep the Iraqi army in place and use them to help keep Iraq under control, we disbanded them, which led to thousands of well-trained, armed soldiers with nothing to do but join the insurgency. The movie shows how Bush's people living in the Green Zone were so out of touch with the reality of what things were really like in Iraq.
The movie is partially based on, or inspired by, the book Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. The book is an actual account of things in the Green Zone and all the things that went wrong. The movie changes the names in some cases, in other cases it completely invents characters. There wasn't really a soldier named Miller who was responsible for exposing all this stuff. In the movie, the U.S. Administrator of Iraq is Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear). In real life it was L. Paul Bremmer.
Some people have criticized the movie for not sticking more to the book and calling people by their actual names. I think it was a wise move. First of all, if we want to learn all the facts, we can watch a documentary (I recommend No End In Sight) or read books, including Chandrasekaran's book (which I plan to do). More importantly for the filmmakers, they need to get butts in seats. If they sell it as a Bourne-type action movie, people will go. If people think they are just going to get lectured on what we did wrong in Iraq, not as many people will go. Besides, you know watching it that Poundstone represents Bremmer. You can connect the dots yourself. And Freddy, Miller's Iraqi interpreter, gets to say some important things to Miller which really represent what the Iraqi people probably want to tell us.
Remember Me - 3 stars
Here is another movie that is creating a lot of arguments. I'll try not to spoil too much, but it's hard to discuss this movie without bringing it up (Ebert does a great job using a refrigerator to talk about it without talking about it).
If you pay attention to the date the film is set in, you will see where it is heading. Some people are hating the movie because they say it is exploiting a tragedy. I don't think it is. I think if the movie was a lighthearted comedy and then at the end they tried to wring tears out of the audience with this tragedy, I think they would have a point. But the movie is a serious drama. It's not a chick flick with Jennifer Aniston or Katherine Heigel or Matthew McConaughey. The movie is about real characters and I was fully invested in them and really cared about what happened to them.
I thought I would hate the movie, and I did hate the first half hour or so. It started out real boring. Robert Pattinson plays Tyler Hawkins. Tyler's brother committed suicide, his kid sister is kind of a weird artist type and is picked on by her classmates, his parents are divorced, and his dad (Pierce Brosnan) is horribly neglectful. Tyler meets Ally Craig (Emilie de Ravin). When Ally was young, her mother was shot and killed right in front of her. Her father (Chris Cooper) is a cop, and is very protective of her. He also has a temper, and if she pushes him too much, he just might smack her.
Tyler and Ally have good chemistry together, and I was interested in their romance. I also really liked Tyler's relationship with his younger sister. The movie really worked for me, and while the end was a bummer (somebody dies, but I won't say who), I thought it was a good story. I also think it's ok to use the events at the end of the movie, because kids learn about history in an objective way. Stories like this can help put a human face on a disaster, and I don't think it dishonors the victims at all.
She's Out of My League -
Our Family Wedding - didn't see, don't plan to (heard it sucks)
Fish Tank - 3 stars
This is about a 15 year old girl who lives with her mom and younger sister. They argue and fight all the time. They never speak to each other without calling each other a 4 letter word. The movie is set in England and the accents a bit thick. If you aren't used to hearing it, you may have a hard time understanding what they are saying to each other.
This is one of those movies that doesn't have much of a plot to speak of. We are just spending time with these characters. The girl is always fighting or arguing with people. When her mom brings a new boyfriend home, she sometimes hates him and other times acts like she has a crush on him.
Some people will find this movie boring. I liked it, because I got involved with the characters. Plus I liked some of the insults. I always say Europeans swear so much better than we do.
North Face -
Until the Light Takes Us -
Friday, March 5, 2010
3/5/10 and 2/26/10
Alice in Wonderland - 2 stars
I thought it was boring. And it shouldn't be called Alice in Wonderland. It's not an adaptation of the book, or a live-action remake of the 1951 Disney cartoon. It's a sequel. So it should be called Return to Wonderland, or something like that. Imagine if the 1985 movie starring Fairuza Balk was called The Wizard of Oz instead of Return to Oz. People would have been pissed.
I don't think I have ever been annoyed by Johnny Depp like this before. Sometimes he uses a horrible lisp that reminds me of John Leguizamo from Moulin Rouge! and other times he uses a Scottish accent.
The big battle at the end was like something out of a Narnia movie. I don't think Lewis Carroll ever imagined Alice fighting a dragon with a sword while wearing a suit of armor.
Ghost Writer - 3 stars
This was a very good thriller. Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor are always interesting to watch. This movie has a great look to it. My only problem was the ending was a little bit of a letdown. We learn what has been going on, someone is confronted, and it's over. I wanted a little bit more resolution, and maybe a little more explanation.
Late in the movie, just when it needs a little bit of excitement, Tom Wilkinson shows up. That was a nice surprise.
Brooklyn's Finest - not screened for critics
Blood Into Wine - didn't see
And now, for movies that came out last week:
Cop Out - 1 1/2 stars
Kevin Smith has always written and directed his scripts, but everybody knows his real strength is writing. Why would they hire him to direct someone else's bad script? The first time we see Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, they have this look on their faces like "What the hell have we gotten ourselves into? This is gonna suck."
The movie isn't funny. Tracy Morgan tries really hard to get laughs out of each scene, but the stuff he does just gets worse and worse. I was embarrassed for him. The funny thing is the story isn't terrible. A better director might have made a decent movie out of it. Maybe if they had cast Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as the cops, it might have worked.
The Crazies - didn't see
White Ribbon - didn't see
I thought it was boring. And it shouldn't be called Alice in Wonderland. It's not an adaptation of the book, or a live-action remake of the 1951 Disney cartoon. It's a sequel. So it should be called Return to Wonderland, or something like that. Imagine if the 1985 movie starring Fairuza Balk was called The Wizard of Oz instead of Return to Oz. People would have been pissed.
I don't think I have ever been annoyed by Johnny Depp like this before. Sometimes he uses a horrible lisp that reminds me of John Leguizamo from Moulin Rouge! and other times he uses a Scottish accent.
The big battle at the end was like something out of a Narnia movie. I don't think Lewis Carroll ever imagined Alice fighting a dragon with a sword while wearing a suit of armor.
Ghost Writer - 3 stars
This was a very good thriller. Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor are always interesting to watch. This movie has a great look to it. My only problem was the ending was a little bit of a letdown. We learn what has been going on, someone is confronted, and it's over. I wanted a little bit more resolution, and maybe a little more explanation.
Late in the movie, just when it needs a little bit of excitement, Tom Wilkinson shows up. That was a nice surprise.
Brooklyn's Finest - not screened for critics
Blood Into Wine - didn't see
And now, for movies that came out last week:
Cop Out - 1 1/2 stars
Kevin Smith has always written and directed his scripts, but everybody knows his real strength is writing. Why would they hire him to direct someone else's bad script? The first time we see Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, they have this look on their faces like "What the hell have we gotten ourselves into? This is gonna suck."
The movie isn't funny. Tracy Morgan tries really hard to get laughs out of each scene, but the stuff he does just gets worse and worse. I was embarrassed for him. The funny thing is the story isn't terrible. A better director might have made a decent movie out of it. Maybe if they had cast Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as the cops, it might have worked.
The Crazies - didn't see
White Ribbon - didn't see
Friday, February 19, 2010
Friday, 2/19/10
Finally, some good movies.
Shutter Island - 3 1/2 stars
I really enjoyed this. The movie looks incredible, and the performances are great. Within the first 10 minutes, I was loving it. Sometimes you can just tell when you are watching a movie directed by a master filmmaker. It looked like Scorsese was trying to make the movie look like it was filmed back in the 50s (except it was in color). The score was over the top dramatic, which in the hands of a lesser director would have been lame. But Scorsese knows exactly what he's doing. You know some bad stuff is going to happen on this island.
I only have a few complaints. One is that the great Max von Sydow was not in it enough. I wish he had like 10 more scenes. The other is the movie is too long. Its 2 hours and 20 minutes, and it could have easily lost a half hour. There are a lot of dream sequences and flashbacks, and those should have been shortened.
Some people will not like the ending. I had no problem with it. It's the type of movie that you have to see twice, because the second time you will see a different movie. I can't wait to see it again.
The Last Station - 3 stars
Christopher Plummer plays Leo Tolstoy and Helen Mirren plays his wife. They are both nominated for Academy Awards for their performances. Tolstoy is close to death and wants to give the copyrights for his books away. He says his work belongs to all of Russia, and his wife is scared to death of that. She thinks that if that happens, she and their children will starve to death after he is gone. Paul Giamatti plays Vladimir Chertkov, the leader of Tolstoy's philosophical / religious movement, and the one trying to persuade Tolstoy to give his copyrights away.
James McAvoy plays Valentin Bulgakov, a naive young man who goes to serve as Tolstoy's secretary / personal assistant. He is a huge follower of Tolstoy's teachings, which include sexual abstinence. Which means that not only is he a virgin, but as the movie progresses he will fall in love and lose his innocence. Throughout the movie Bulgakov is torn in two directions. Chertkov warns him to beware of Mrs. Tolstoy, and Mrs. Tolstoy is trying to convince him that Chertkov is an evil man who just wants Tolstoy's fortunes for himself.
I liked the movie, and it made me want to learn more about Tolstoy. I knew he was a great author, but I had no idea that he created a movement with many followers, or that his philosophies would influence Gandhi.
Oscar Shorts
I have only seen a couple of the shorts. I liked Instead of Abracadabra, a Swedish movie about a Napolean Dynamite - like guy who wants to be a magician. He puts his mom in a box, plunges a sword into the box, and what happens is pretty much every magician's worst nightmare. Kavi is about a boy born into slavery in India, and it was also very good.
Shutter Island - 3 1/2 stars
I really enjoyed this. The movie looks incredible, and the performances are great. Within the first 10 minutes, I was loving it. Sometimes you can just tell when you are watching a movie directed by a master filmmaker. It looked like Scorsese was trying to make the movie look like it was filmed back in the 50s (except it was in color). The score was over the top dramatic, which in the hands of a lesser director would have been lame. But Scorsese knows exactly what he's doing. You know some bad stuff is going to happen on this island.
I only have a few complaints. One is that the great Max von Sydow was not in it enough. I wish he had like 10 more scenes. The other is the movie is too long. Its 2 hours and 20 minutes, and it could have easily lost a half hour. There are a lot of dream sequences and flashbacks, and those should have been shortened.
Some people will not like the ending. I had no problem with it. It's the type of movie that you have to see twice, because the second time you will see a different movie. I can't wait to see it again.
The Last Station - 3 stars
Christopher Plummer plays Leo Tolstoy and Helen Mirren plays his wife. They are both nominated for Academy Awards for their performances. Tolstoy is close to death and wants to give the copyrights for his books away. He says his work belongs to all of Russia, and his wife is scared to death of that. She thinks that if that happens, she and their children will starve to death after he is gone. Paul Giamatti plays Vladimir Chertkov, the leader of Tolstoy's philosophical / religious movement, and the one trying to persuade Tolstoy to give his copyrights away.
James McAvoy plays Valentin Bulgakov, a naive young man who goes to serve as Tolstoy's secretary / personal assistant. He is a huge follower of Tolstoy's teachings, which include sexual abstinence. Which means that not only is he a virgin, but as the movie progresses he will fall in love and lose his innocence. Throughout the movie Bulgakov is torn in two directions. Chertkov warns him to beware of Mrs. Tolstoy, and Mrs. Tolstoy is trying to convince him that Chertkov is an evil man who just wants Tolstoy's fortunes for himself.
I liked the movie, and it made me want to learn more about Tolstoy. I knew he was a great author, but I had no idea that he created a movement with many followers, or that his philosophies would influence Gandhi.
Oscar Shorts
I have only seen a couple of the shorts. I liked Instead of Abracadabra, a Swedish movie about a Napolean Dynamite - like guy who wants to be a magician. He puts his mom in a box, plunges a sword into the box, and what happens is pretty much every magician's worst nightmare. Kavi is about a boy born into slavery in India, and it was also very good.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Friday, 2/12/10
A lot of bad movies today.
Police, Adjective - didn't see
The Wolfman - 2 stars
I had high hopes for this, and it let me down. Benicio Del Toro is usually a good actor, but he doesn't really do much emoting in this movie. His performance rubbed off on Anthony Hopkins because he looks bored the entire time.
The movie will make you jump, but that's easy. Any movie can do that. There are many scenes of a character walking, and the music stops and it gets all quiet, you know something is going to jump out any second now, and ... bam! The wolf comes out of nowhere, slashes with his claws, and a head or an arm goes flying. This happens a lot. There is even one of those dream sequences where something happens, then he wakes up, but he isn't really awake yet, he is still dreaming.
The movie really didn't make me care about any of the characters. Once Del Toro knows he is a werewolf, I didn't really feel sorry for him. The movie didn't scare me, and it didn't make me laugh either. When the wolf isn't on screen, I was bored. There is nothing memorable in this movie. It's unnecessary and forgettable.
Then only good thing about it was Hugo Weaving. I love listening to the way he draws out his words and speaks so precisely. It made me want to go watch The Matrix again.
Valentine's Day - 1 1/2 stars
This movie has about 20 different storylines going on at the same time. Every part is played by a big movie star, and that's a good thing because its the only way we can keep track of who is who. I think I laughed 3 or 4 times, and the rest of the time I was smacking my head in disbelief.
One thing I hated was Anne Hathaway's storyline. I can believe her character would take a job as a phone sex operator, but I don't believe she would be 'on call' 24 hours a day. She takes a call in the morning, right after leaving Topher Grace's apartment. She takes a call in the middle of the day while she is at her day job (she even takes a call on her office phone). She also gets a call while she is out on a date. I have to believe that phone sex workers are scheduled, so they don't have to be on call like a heart surgeon. How does she expect to hold down her day job if she is getting these calls every hour?
By far the worst thing about the movie is Taylor Swift's performance. She can't act to save her life. She should never act in a movie ever again.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - 1 star
This movie was just idiotic. I wanted to walk out so bad in the first 20 minutes. Its like it was written by a 7th grader. Everything about this movie sucks. The book series its based on might be a decent fantasy book, but if its anything like the movie, it should only be read by elementary school students. There are so many good fantasy series out there but they keep making movies out of these horrible books. Or at least they make horrible movies out of these books. We should feel really lucky we got good movies out of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.
Police, Adjective - didn't see
The Wolfman - 2 stars
I had high hopes for this, and it let me down. Benicio Del Toro is usually a good actor, but he doesn't really do much emoting in this movie. His performance rubbed off on Anthony Hopkins because he looks bored the entire time.
The movie will make you jump, but that's easy. Any movie can do that. There are many scenes of a character walking, and the music stops and it gets all quiet, you know something is going to jump out any second now, and ... bam! The wolf comes out of nowhere, slashes with his claws, and a head or an arm goes flying. This happens a lot. There is even one of those dream sequences where something happens, then he wakes up, but he isn't really awake yet, he is still dreaming.
The movie really didn't make me care about any of the characters. Once Del Toro knows he is a werewolf, I didn't really feel sorry for him. The movie didn't scare me, and it didn't make me laugh either. When the wolf isn't on screen, I was bored. There is nothing memorable in this movie. It's unnecessary and forgettable.
Then only good thing about it was Hugo Weaving. I love listening to the way he draws out his words and speaks so precisely. It made me want to go watch The Matrix again.
Valentine's Day - 1 1/2 stars
This movie has about 20 different storylines going on at the same time. Every part is played by a big movie star, and that's a good thing because its the only way we can keep track of who is who. I think I laughed 3 or 4 times, and the rest of the time I was smacking my head in disbelief.
One thing I hated was Anne Hathaway's storyline. I can believe her character would take a job as a phone sex operator, but I don't believe she would be 'on call' 24 hours a day. She takes a call in the morning, right after leaving Topher Grace's apartment. She takes a call in the middle of the day while she is at her day job (she even takes a call on her office phone). She also gets a call while she is out on a date. I have to believe that phone sex workers are scheduled, so they don't have to be on call like a heart surgeon. How does she expect to hold down her day job if she is getting these calls every hour?
By far the worst thing about the movie is Taylor Swift's performance. She can't act to save her life. She should never act in a movie ever again.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - 1 star
This movie was just idiotic. I wanted to walk out so bad in the first 20 minutes. Its like it was written by a 7th grader. Everything about this movie sucks. The book series its based on might be a decent fantasy book, but if its anything like the movie, it should only be read by elementary school students. There are so many good fantasy series out there but they keep making movies out of these horrible books. Or at least they make horrible movies out of these books. We should feel really lucky we got good movies out of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Frozen good, Paris bad
Frozen - 3 stars
Simple enough setup: 3 college kids get stuck on a ski lift. They are halfway up the mountain, the staff turns off the lift, turns out the lights and goes home. To make matters worse, it's Sunday night and the resort doesn't open again until Saturday. Of course they don't have their cell phones. If they wait it out, they will freeze to death.
This was a very effective thriller. I will definitely think about it next time I am taking a ski lift up the mountain.
From Paris With Love - 1 star
Lame and boring. John Travolta shows up 20 minutes in and he injects some life into the movie for 5 or 10 minutes. Then everything he is doing gets old and tired. The movie didn't make any sense, and the fight scenes were edited so badly that you couldn't tell what was happening. There is no reason to see this movie.
Simple enough setup: 3 college kids get stuck on a ski lift. They are halfway up the mountain, the staff turns off the lift, turns out the lights and goes home. To make matters worse, it's Sunday night and the resort doesn't open again until Saturday. Of course they don't have their cell phones. If they wait it out, they will freeze to death.
This was a very effective thriller. I will definitely think about it next time I am taking a ski lift up the mountain.
From Paris With Love - 1 star
Lame and boring. John Travolta shows up 20 minutes in and he injects some life into the movie for 5 or 10 minutes. Then everything he is doing gets old and tired. The movie didn't make any sense, and the fight scenes were edited so badly that you couldn't tell what was happening. There is no reason to see this movie.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Friday, 2/4/10
Crazy Heart - 3 stars
Jeff Bridges is always good. I don't think this is his best performances, but if it's the one that gets him an Oscar, that's fine with me. He plays a has-been country singer named Bad Blake, who is also an alcoholic. As the movie opens, we see him pull into a bowling alley where he is performing that night. But his star has fallen so low that they don't even give him a bar tab. I wonder what his guarantee is.
He was once a successful singer, and he still has fans, but they like him 20 years ago. Just like a lot of hair metal bands from the 80s that once played stadiums, he is now playing bars and bowling alleys, performing to people who loved his songs when they were younger. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a reporter who falls in love with him way too quickly. That was my biggest complaint about the movie. I didn't believe that a girl like that would suddenly fall for an alcoholic who is old enough to be her grandfather. But she does, and their relationship is a big part of the movie.
Another story concerns Bad's former protege, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell). Tommy learned everything from Bad, and now Tommy is the one playing stadiums. You might expect Tommy to be some kind of a jerk and the antagonist of the movie, but he is actually very appreciative of what Bad Blake did for his career. One of the best parts of the movie is when Blake gets a chance to open for Tommy.
I liked the movie, I liked the performances (Robert Duvall is great in this too), and I liked the music. Recommended.
Frozen - didn't see
Broken Embraces - didn't see
Dear John - 3 stars
It's a common myth that guys don't like chick flicks. Well, what I don't like is a chick flick that has badly drawn characters and a predictable story. But I do like a movie that has the opposite. And in this movie, the characters are good and I didn't know where the story was going. It has a few minor twists. Not Sixth Sense twists, just small surprises in the story that I didn't see coming and appreciated.
John (the very bland Channing Tatum) is a soldier. He meets Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) in the summer of 2001 while he is on leave. They fall in love, but he has to go back and finish his tour. His tour will be over sometime in the fall, and then they will be together. Unless of course some big national tragedy happens or something ...
John's father is played by the great Richard Jenkins. At first we think his father is just shy, but Savannah figures out that his father has autism. I loved Jenkins in The Visitor, but I think this performance may be a better one. Some of the scenes between John and his father are really touching.
I liked this movie a lot more than I thought they would. The story was engaging and the performances were good. Even Channing Tatum. He may be a good actor, but he is very boring.
From Paris With Love - review to come
Jeff Bridges is always good. I don't think this is his best performances, but if it's the one that gets him an Oscar, that's fine with me. He plays a has-been country singer named Bad Blake, who is also an alcoholic. As the movie opens, we see him pull into a bowling alley where he is performing that night. But his star has fallen so low that they don't even give him a bar tab. I wonder what his guarantee is.
He was once a successful singer, and he still has fans, but they like him 20 years ago. Just like a lot of hair metal bands from the 80s that once played stadiums, he is now playing bars and bowling alleys, performing to people who loved his songs when they were younger. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a reporter who falls in love with him way too quickly. That was my biggest complaint about the movie. I didn't believe that a girl like that would suddenly fall for an alcoholic who is old enough to be her grandfather. But she does, and their relationship is a big part of the movie.
Another story concerns Bad's former protege, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell). Tommy learned everything from Bad, and now Tommy is the one playing stadiums. You might expect Tommy to be some kind of a jerk and the antagonist of the movie, but he is actually very appreciative of what Bad Blake did for his career. One of the best parts of the movie is when Blake gets a chance to open for Tommy.
I liked the movie, I liked the performances (Robert Duvall is great in this too), and I liked the music. Recommended.
Frozen - didn't see
Broken Embraces - didn't see
Dear John - 3 stars
It's a common myth that guys don't like chick flicks. Well, what I don't like is a chick flick that has badly drawn characters and a predictable story. But I do like a movie that has the opposite. And in this movie, the characters are good and I didn't know where the story was going. It has a few minor twists. Not Sixth Sense twists, just small surprises in the story that I didn't see coming and appreciated.
John (the very bland Channing Tatum) is a soldier. He meets Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) in the summer of 2001 while he is on leave. They fall in love, but he has to go back and finish his tour. His tour will be over sometime in the fall, and then they will be together. Unless of course some big national tragedy happens or something ...
John's father is played by the great Richard Jenkins. At first we think his father is just shy, but Savannah figures out that his father has autism. I loved Jenkins in The Visitor, but I think this performance may be a better one. Some of the scenes between John and his father are really touching.
I liked this movie a lot more than I thought they would. The story was engaging and the performances were good. Even Channing Tatum. He may be a good actor, but he is very boring.
From Paris With Love - review to come
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