Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston play a professional couple in New York. They both lose their jobs and their home and they are heading to Rudd's brother's house in Georgia to live with him. On they way, they come across a hippie commune. They think it's just a bed and breakfast and they stay the night. They quickly learn about the lifestyle, and they both decide to stay there a while and try it out.
It's a little hard to believe that they would be so open to this. The movie should have done a little more to establish how fed up they were with city life. The movie also doesn't go into too many details about life at the commune. Where does the money come from to keep the place going? Property taxes? Food? Supplies?
The house does not have any doors. They believe doors close people off. So they have to adjust to things like going to the bathroom and anyone just walking in at any time. They are also open about sexuality. They don't believe in monogamy. But this is only used as a device to cause conflict in Rudd and Aniston's marriage. We never see or hear about anyone else in the commune sleeping with anyone else. There seems to be only one other couple at the house, and we never hear anything about them sleeping with other people.
There is one guy who is a nudist. He supplies all of the nudity in this film. There is a skinnydipping scene, and I don't think I've ever seen a skinnydipping scene with less nudity. There is also a nude scene where Jennifer Aniston takes her top off. This was in the news months ago, but Aniston petitioned the filmmakers to cut that scene out. So now the scene is there, but the nudity is pixelated out - we see the scene shown later on the news.
There are some funny things in the movie and I laughed just enough to recommend it. But just barely. When it wasn't funny, I found I wasn't too involved in the story. I seemed too contrived and I didn't believe it. This is a very forgettable movie.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Act of Valor - 2 stars
The makers of Act of Valor want to make sure you know that the actors portraying Navy SEALs in this movie are all active duty SEALs in real life. The directors tell us before the movie starts that only people who have experienced the kind of stuff we see in the movie can accurately portray it. Um, no. I have seen more convincing performance by actors in other Hollywood movies.
The movie is about a Navy SEAL team that goes in to Costa Rica to rescue a kidnapped CIA Analyst. The first 20 minutes or so are excruciating. The writing is bad, the directing is bad, the editing is bad, and the acting is horrible. This is the most amaturish movie I have ever seen.
Then the team gets into the mission, and the movie suddenly gets good. I don't know how accurate it is, but there are things in this movie I have never seen before. Like the way a sniper takes out a guart. He waits until his partner is ready to catch the body so it doesn't fall into the water and make a splash. The gun boats that meet the team at the extraction point are very cool. The bad guys drive up in trucks and are torn to shreds by the guns on these boats.
The action is great. But they should have had the SEAL team act as advisors, and used actors to portray the team.
The movie is about a Navy SEAL team that goes in to Costa Rica to rescue a kidnapped CIA Analyst. The first 20 minutes or so are excruciating. The writing is bad, the directing is bad, the editing is bad, and the acting is horrible. This is the most amaturish movie I have ever seen.
Then the team gets into the mission, and the movie suddenly gets good. I don't know how accurate it is, but there are things in this movie I have never seen before. Like the way a sniper takes out a guart. He waits until his partner is ready to catch the body so it doesn't fall into the water and make a splash. The gun boats that meet the team at the extraction point are very cool. The bad guys drive up in trucks and are torn to shreds by the guns on these boats.
The action is great. But they should have had the SEAL team act as advisors, and used actors to portray the team.
This Means War - 1 1/2 stars
This movie is aweful. Chris Pine and Tom Hardy star as FDR Foster and Tuck, to CIA operatives. At the start of the movie, we are introduced to FDR and Tuck as they are trying to capture a European criminal (an arms dealer or something) at a party in Hong Kong. There is a lame shootout, and this scene does nothing but show us how bad this movie is going to be.
FDR and Tuck are demoted to desk jobs since they messed up the Hong Kong job. FDR is a ladies man, but Tuck hasn't dated anyone since his divorce. He has a young son that he sees once in a while. Oh, and apparently they can't tell anyone that they are CIA agents, so Tuck's ex-wife thinks he is travel agent who travels a lot.
Tuck decides to try online dating. He meets Lauren (Reese Witherspoon), they go out, and immediately hit it off. As Lauren is heading home from their date, she bumps in to FDR at a video store. She resists his advances at first, but he wants to hook up with her.
It might have been funny if FDR and Tuck had no idea they were persuing the same girl. But in this movie, they find out right away. Since they are friends, and FDR has no trouble getting women, in any rational universe he would step aside. But he has to say something stupid like "If I pursued her, you wouldn't have a chance. So I'll let you have her." So of course it becomes a competition to see who can win her.
Lauren starts dating both guys, and she can't decide between them. Her best friend (Chelsea Handler) encourages her to keep seeing both, and sleep with both before she makes up her mind.
This movie is not funny, and it is completely unbelievable. Tuck and FDR are able to put teams of CIA agents together to spy on each other, using whatever resources the CIA has, and they never get caught or questioned. This is a romantic comedy but there is a little bit of action regarding the European criminal. The action scenes are so bad that there is no sense of danger or excitement.
This movie is a failure on every level.
FDR and Tuck are demoted to desk jobs since they messed up the Hong Kong job. FDR is a ladies man, but Tuck hasn't dated anyone since his divorce. He has a young son that he sees once in a while. Oh, and apparently they can't tell anyone that they are CIA agents, so Tuck's ex-wife thinks he is travel agent who travels a lot.
Tuck decides to try online dating. He meets Lauren (Reese Witherspoon), they go out, and immediately hit it off. As Lauren is heading home from their date, she bumps in to FDR at a video store. She resists his advances at first, but he wants to hook up with her.
It might have been funny if FDR and Tuck had no idea they were persuing the same girl. But in this movie, they find out right away. Since they are friends, and FDR has no trouble getting women, in any rational universe he would step aside. But he has to say something stupid like "If I pursued her, you wouldn't have a chance. So I'll let you have her." So of course it becomes a competition to see who can win her.
Lauren starts dating both guys, and she can't decide between them. Her best friend (Chelsea Handler) encourages her to keep seeing both, and sleep with both before she makes up her mind.
This movie is not funny, and it is completely unbelievable. Tuck and FDR are able to put teams of CIA agents together to spy on each other, using whatever resources the CIA has, and they never get caught or questioned. This is a romantic comedy but there is a little bit of action regarding the European criminal. The action scenes are so bad that there is no sense of danger or excitement.
This movie is a failure on every level.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The Vow - 2 stars
Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams) have been married for about 4 years. They are very much in love, very happy, and are starting to try for a baby. One night they get rear ended by a truck and she ends up in a coma. When she wakes up, she doesn't remember the last 5 years, which means she doesn't remember her husband Leo.
This could be the setup for an interesting story. What if you waked up and couldn't remember the last 5 years? Think of all the questions you would have. Not only do you not recognize your life, but what current events have you missed? One of my first questions would be about movies - which movies won Oscars the last 5 years? What's happening with the Batman or Spider Man or Hobbit franchise? Who is the president?
There are so many possibilities for a story like this. Unfortunately this movie isn't interested in exploring what would really happen. This movie is very contrived. Instead of interesting dialogue, we get story beats that aren't fleshed out very well.
When Paige wakes up from her coma, her parents come to see her. We learn that Leo never told them that their daughter was almost killed. Interestingly they have never met Leo. She hasn't seen her parents in years. Did they even know she was married? Apparently Paige changed every possible aspect of her life 5 years ago. She left home and moved to the big city (a whopping half hour away from home). She dropped out of law school and became an artist. She became a vegitarian. She changed her hair style. It's hard to believe this setup. No wonder she has a hard time adjusting to this foreign life.
I would like to see a movie with a similar setup, but with well drawn characters and sharp dialogue. They never have much of a conversation. The movie tends to cut away right when a scene is about to get to something interesting.
They filmed their wedding. You would think Leo would show her the video right away. But no - she finds it on her own several days after coming home. You would think Leo would catch her up on events chronologically. This never happens either.
I don't think my expectations were too high for this movie, and it let me down. But it wasn't boring or painful to sit through, so I went with the 2 star rating. You could see worse movies (like Journey 2), but this is not a movie you should seek out.
This could be the setup for an interesting story. What if you waked up and couldn't remember the last 5 years? Think of all the questions you would have. Not only do you not recognize your life, but what current events have you missed? One of my first questions would be about movies - which movies won Oscars the last 5 years? What's happening with the Batman or Spider Man or Hobbit franchise? Who is the president?
There are so many possibilities for a story like this. Unfortunately this movie isn't interested in exploring what would really happen. This movie is very contrived. Instead of interesting dialogue, we get story beats that aren't fleshed out very well.
When Paige wakes up from her coma, her parents come to see her. We learn that Leo never told them that their daughter was almost killed. Interestingly they have never met Leo. She hasn't seen her parents in years. Did they even know she was married? Apparently Paige changed every possible aspect of her life 5 years ago. She left home and moved to the big city (a whopping half hour away from home). She dropped out of law school and became an artist. She became a vegitarian. She changed her hair style. It's hard to believe this setup. No wonder she has a hard time adjusting to this foreign life.
I would like to see a movie with a similar setup, but with well drawn characters and sharp dialogue. They never have much of a conversation. The movie tends to cut away right when a scene is about to get to something interesting.
They filmed their wedding. You would think Leo would show her the video right away. But no - she finds it on her own several days after coming home. You would think Leo would catch her up on events chronologically. This never happens either.
I don't think my expectations were too high for this movie, and it let me down. But it wasn't boring or painful to sit through, so I went with the 2 star rating. You could see worse movies (like Journey 2), but this is not a movie you should seek out.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - 1 star
This movie just pissed me off. The people who wrote it think that all kids are dumb. Movies don't have to be dumbed down to be for kids. Kids are smarter than that.
The only returning character is Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson). He is able to intercept a satellite message from his grandfather (Michael Caine). His grandfather is stuck on the mysterious island, and he sent the coded message in hopes his grandson would find it. Does he want Sean to find the island and visit him, or is he hoping for rescue? If he wants to be rescued, why does he code the message? If he just wants Sean to find the island, he is a crazy old man, because no ship or plane can land safely on the island. You have to pass through a crazy system of tornados.
Sean's stepfather (Dwayne Johnson) helps him decode the message, and has no problem buying them two tickets to the South Pacific to find the island. No discussion of how much last minute plane tickets like that would cost. The screenwriters not only think kids are dumb, they think everyone can afford to drop several thousand dollars at the drop of a hat.
Once they get to the South Pacific, they hire Luis Guzman and his daughter Vanessa Hudgens to fly them to the coordinates where the mysterious island is located. It takes them about 5 minutes to reach the location, which makes you wonder why others haven't discovered it. They go through a storm system and end up wrecked on the beach of the mysterious island. Of course they are ok, even though the helicopter is in pieces.
The rest of the movie consists of them meeting giant creatures, riding on the backs of bees (which are easier to tame than a horse), and finding the lost city of Atlantis and Captain Nemo's submarine from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
I didn't enjoy this movie. I tried to turn my brain off and just enjoy the adventure, but there is no sense of danger. At no time did the movie make me believe there was anything to worry about. Luis Guzman was not funny, Michael Caine turned in the worst performance I have ever seen from him, Caine and The Rock insult each other even thought the movie gives no reason for their animosity, and Sean acts like a spoiled brat. Avoid at all costs.
The only returning character is Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson). He is able to intercept a satellite message from his grandfather (Michael Caine). His grandfather is stuck on the mysterious island, and he sent the coded message in hopes his grandson would find it. Does he want Sean to find the island and visit him, or is he hoping for rescue? If he wants to be rescued, why does he code the message? If he just wants Sean to find the island, he is a crazy old man, because no ship or plane can land safely on the island. You have to pass through a crazy system of tornados.
Sean's stepfather (Dwayne Johnson) helps him decode the message, and has no problem buying them two tickets to the South Pacific to find the island. No discussion of how much last minute plane tickets like that would cost. The screenwriters not only think kids are dumb, they think everyone can afford to drop several thousand dollars at the drop of a hat.
Once they get to the South Pacific, they hire Luis Guzman and his daughter Vanessa Hudgens to fly them to the coordinates where the mysterious island is located. It takes them about 5 minutes to reach the location, which makes you wonder why others haven't discovered it. They go through a storm system and end up wrecked on the beach of the mysterious island. Of course they are ok, even though the helicopter is in pieces.
The rest of the movie consists of them meeting giant creatures, riding on the backs of bees (which are easier to tame than a horse), and finding the lost city of Atlantis and Captain Nemo's submarine from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
I didn't enjoy this movie. I tried to turn my brain off and just enjoy the adventure, but there is no sense of danger. At no time did the movie make me believe there was anything to worry about. Luis Guzman was not funny, Michael Caine turned in the worst performance I have ever seen from him, Caine and The Rock insult each other even thought the movie gives no reason for their animosity, and Sean acts like a spoiled brat. Avoid at all costs.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Safe House - 2 1/2 stars
Denzel Washington plays a CIA operative who has gone rogue. He has stolen something and is trying to sell it. He gets caught by the CIA while he is in South Africa, and he is taken to a safe house for interrogation. The safe house is run by Ryan Reynolds.
While he is being interrogated, a heavily armed team of terrorists / assassins / whatever breaks into the safe house to kidnap Denzel. They kill the CIA guys, and Reynolds escapes with Denzel. Most of the movie consists of Reynolds trying to keep Denzel in custody. Denzel's operative is a legend in the CIA, and this is Reynolds' first big mission. Which means Denzel is calm and not worried at all about this kid - he could basically escape any time he chooses.
We've seen this movie before. There is some decent action in the middle of the movie, but it is badly edited. I also didn't like the look of the movie. It looked like a bad imitation of a Tony Scott movie. The color scheme was just ugly.
It isn't giving much away to say that at least one person in the CIA is involved in this, and Denzel may not have gone rogue. Or he may not be the bad guy they claim he is. An hour after the movie I had forgotten all about it. This is a very forgettable movie.
While he is being interrogated, a heavily armed team of terrorists / assassins / whatever breaks into the safe house to kidnap Denzel. They kill the CIA guys, and Reynolds escapes with Denzel. Most of the movie consists of Reynolds trying to keep Denzel in custody. Denzel's operative is a legend in the CIA, and this is Reynolds' first big mission. Which means Denzel is calm and not worried at all about this kid - he could basically escape any time he chooses.
We've seen this movie before. There is some decent action in the middle of the movie, but it is badly edited. I also didn't like the look of the movie. It looked like a bad imitation of a Tony Scott movie. The color scheme was just ugly.
It isn't giving much away to say that at least one person in the CIA is involved in this, and Denzel may not have gone rogue. Or he may not be the bad guy they claim he is. An hour after the movie I had forgotten all about it. This is a very forgettable movie.
Sundance wrap-up
I saw 15 movies at Sundance this year. I was hoping to see more, but as always, there just aren't enough hours in the day. Here is a list of all the movies I saw in order of best to worst:
The Surrogate - A
The Raid - A-
Slavery by Another Name - A-
The Other Dream Team - B+
Excision - B+
Madrid, 1987 - B
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry - B
Escape Fire - The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare - B-
Compliance - B-
Yound & Wild - C+
Elena - C
Can - C-
Nobody Walks - C-
The Ambassador - D
The End of Love - F
The Surrogate - A
The Raid - A-
Slavery by Another Name - A-
The Other Dream Team - B+
Excision - B+
Madrid, 1987 - B
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry - B
Escape Fire - The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare - B-
Compliance - B-
Yound & Wild - C+
Elena - C
Can - C-
Nobody Walks - C-
The Ambassador - D
The End of Love - F
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
