KNOWING

I have a dirty little secret I'd like to admit.  I like Nicolas Cage.  I think he's the king of the crappy but thoroughly entertaining movie.  He always gives 100% into the role, even if it means it comes out as 100% pure unintentional comedy.  He's at his Nicolas Cage best in this movie, playing an MIT professor of Astrophysics (of all things), living as a widowed father of a 10 year old boy in a very big, very creepy house in Lexington, Massachusetts. 

50 years ago, the local elementary school placed a time capsule in the ground outside the school.  Within the capsule, most students drew pictures of the future, except for one girl, who scribbled seemingly nonsensical numbers onto a piece of paper, that of course, turn out to make perfect sense, and ends up in the hands of one brilliant professor at MIT.  Nic Cage to the rescue!!

I won't ruin the surprise of what the numbers mean, but suffice to say, it's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel surprisingly ok..... Up to now, I'm actually with the story, for the most part.  I enjoy the conspiracy theories in movies and I like it when you need to figure out what's going to happen next.  That's when, for me, it completely falls apart. 

The big twist at the end of the film is absurd.  I felt like it belonged in a different movie.  It was a total non-sequitor to the lead-up to that point, and I hated it.  Ruined the entire movie for me.  Having said that, I liked the first 90 or so minutes, but highly disliked the last half hour.  I'll go 2.5 out of 5, and get what I deserve for buying into Professor Extraordinaire, Nicolas Cage.  Not recommended for you viewing pleasure.

PUSH

I understand that this wasn't the most popular movie to come out over the last few years, and many of you (both of you?) probably never heard of it.  The overall plot centers around a bunch of folks who have powers, like from the TV show 'Heroes'.  Some people can see the future, some can move things with their minds, others can put thoughts into others heads, even others can heal with a touch, etc...etc...  The only difference is that 'Heroes' was actually good for a little while.  This movie wasn't.

The live among us and try to avoid getting captured by 'Division', a branch of the government set out to capture those with abilities in an attempt to build a 'superhuman' of sorts.  Dakota Fanning is a 'Watcher', or someone who can see the future.  She meets up with Chris Evans who's a 'Mover' (he can move things with his mind - I know, stay with me.....).  They apparently need to find some other girl that has a suitcase worth $6 million while avoiding Division and some other crazy Japanese gang that's after the same thing. 

Why?  Well, glad you asked.  Apparently it's because Chris Evans has a dice throwing/gambling habit and is into some gangsters for about $6K.  I probably could have figured out more but the split second delay between the video and audio made me feel like I was watching an old Kung-Fu movie.  Sound editor - fired.

In the end, I never cared who won or lost or how the movie ended, I just wanted it to end.  Convoluted plot twist and 30 minutes later, I had my wish.  1.5 out of 5 stars, and grossly disappointed again........

GET HIM TO THE GREEK

I'm going to take a slightly different route on these next few reviews, mostly due to the absolute crappiness and general dismay I felt after watching each of these movies, so bear with me....

I think Russell Brand is hysterical.  Same with Jonah Hill.  Judd Apatow? Good stuff.  This movie was NOT good.  I had really, REALLY high hopes and even hung onto it from Netflix for about a month hoping to get a time for the wife and I to watch it.  That never happened, so I threw it in one afternoon I had nothing to do.  I feel like Netflix stole $14 from me. 

Bottom line is that it had 2 or 3 moments of true comedy, most notably the scene in the strip club after Hill takes a hit off the 'Jeffrey'.  Stroking the furry wall was great. I thought Diddy was awful too.  You'd think he'd come across more naturally in a movie being an artist, but I thought he was stiff and totally unbelievable as a record exec. 

In the end, I thought it had potential, but was generally truly unfunny for roughly 90 of the 110 or so minutes, and I was grossly disappointed.  2 out of 5 stars.  Stay away, not worth the rental at all.

THE GHOSTWRITER

I had read some pretty good reviews about this film from one of the movie websites I frequent (www.firstshowing.net), and I had nothing else in the Netflix queue that I really wanted to see, so I figured I'd give this one a whirl.  I also love Ewan McGregor and mystery movies, so I guess it was really a no-brainer that I'd eventually see this. 

In one of the my favorite details of the film, Ewan McGregor plays a writer who we only know as The Ghost.  He doesn't have a name, but it's his job to help ghostwrite former British Prime Minister Adam Lang's (Pierce Brosnan) memoirs.  Lang's prior ghostwriter washed ashore dead after working on the book, so McGregor is brought in to finish the job.  Unfortunately for McGregor, before he even makes it to Lang's house, Lang is brought under fire by the media for possible war crimes, giving the entire ordeal the feel of a three-ring circus, all the while making McGregor's difficult job nearly impossible.

Of course, McGregor unearths more than he bargained for, and ends up fearing for his own life, and in the middle of a possible far reaching conspiracy.  The movie ends with a few tricks up it's sleeve, causing me to actually say, out loud, 'Whoa!' at one point near the end (Did NOT see that one coming). 

McGregor is again very good, but Kim Cattrall seems miscast to me here, and although Pierce Brosnan is the subject of the memoirs, he doesn't have nearly as much screen time as one would expect.  One interesting note is that Roman Polanski, who directed the film, actually finished the movie while in a Swiss prison, serving time for a decades-old sex with a minor charge.

This was pretty good.  I understand it's not for everyone, as it contains very little action, and is filled with red herrings and misinformation.  I'll stop short of recommending it, but I don't feel like I wasted my time.  3 out of 5 stars. 

DATE NIGHT

Steve Carell? Love him.  Can't get enough Michael Scott.  Tina Fey?  Love her.  30 Rock is my favorite show on TV and SNL is relevant again thanks to her.  Steve Carell and Tina Fey together in a preposterous movie that feels like a long, inside joke between friends?  Truly, truly terrible.........

This felt like about a half of a step up from one of those SNL skits that becomes an actual movie (It's Pat, Ladies Man, Superstar, etc....).  The movie is packed, PACKED with random cameos that are undoubtedly just friends of Carell and Fey and got stuck into the movie (James Franco, Mila Kunis, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wigg, Leighton Meester, Common, Olivia Munn, Will-I-Am).  Only Mark Wahlberg has an extended role, looking his Marky-Mark and the Funky Bunch best sans shirt the entire time. 

The whole movie feels contrived, stale, and just plain stupid.  The series of events that lead Carell and Fey to the climax of the movie make horror movie bimbo's look smart in comparison.  I have no problem buying into a ridiculous movie if the leads are supposed to be utterly stupid (Dumb and Dumber), but a grown, married couple who are parents of 2 children and live in a nice suburb, cannot POSSIBLY be this stupid. 

I know I may be in the minority in feeling so, especially as the film has made nearly $150MM worldwide to date, but I really disliked this movie.  This is a movie that caters to the lowest common denominator.  In fact, my DVD stopped working with about 30 minutes left, and I nearly didn't care enough to try it in a different DVD player to make it the ending.  I did, and I watched, and felt stupider for doing so.  1 out of 5 stars.

GREEN ZONE

Green Zone is an Iraqi War movie starring Matt Damon. Damon plays Roy Miller, a Chief Warrant Officer and head of a group of soldiers who are sent on WMD-finding missions through Iraq.  Basically, Damon's crew comes up empty at spot after spot, finding no WMD's anywhere, leading to Miller to question whether there are any WMD's to found at all.  Brendan Gleeson (the big guy from In Bruges) and Greg Kinnear also star in the movie, along with Amy Ryan, who I couldn't get out of my head as Michael Scott's girlfriend Holly from The Office.

This is far more of a political movie, rather than a 'war' movie.  If you believe that we were lead into this war under the false assumption, or flat out lie, that there were WMD's in Iraq, then this is the movie for you.  Personally, I could care less what some movie that's so heavy-handed is trying to tell me.

Long story short, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't very good either.  In an earlier post, I described how I appreciate when a movie can make you 'feel' something - anything.  This was the opposite of that kind of movie.  I basically just didn't care.  It was ok, but if you lived your whole life without ever seeing this film, trust me, no big deal....  2.5 out of 5 stars.

THE TOWN

There are many scenes in 'The Town' that make you want to yell out to the screen, warn the characters of what's to come, knowing that you know something that they don't, that allow you to get sucked into the movie and the outcome of the characters.  Whether what we're feeling is fear, anger, joy...whatever - is inconsequential.  We're forced to feel something, which to me, is all you can really ask from a good movie.  To actually care about what happens on the screen.  We can thank Jeremy Renner for most of those feelings in 'The Town'.

Being Charlestown born and raised, I of course couldn't wait to see this movie.  I was intrigued to see how 2nd time director (Gone Baby Gone) and Cambridge born Ben Affleck would handle the intricacies and uniqueness that is Charlestown, and what his vision of real Townies would look like and act like.  Doug MacRay (Affleck) and Jimmy 'Jem' Coughlin (Renner) have the look and mannerisms down.  Totally casual, Bruins t-shirts, Townie sweatshirts, Red Sox jackets - the only thing missing were the Girbaud jeans.  Surprisingly, Affleck's accent seems forced though, but Renner's, while slightly over the top, actually comes across as fairly legit. 

The story itself is about MacRay, Coughlin, and two of their other buddies who rob banks and armored cars, and all hail from Charlestown.  MacRay's the brains, Coughlin's the brawn, and FBI Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is the foil.  Frawley's onto them, but doesn't have enough hard evidence to pick them up or put them away.  MacRay ends up falling for Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), a bank manager that Coughlin took hostage during one of their hits, and the movie unfolds with Doug trying to keep his identity to Keesey a secret while hiding the relationship from Coughlin.

Unfortunately for me, I read Chuck Hogan's book 'The Prince of Thieves' (the book on which the movie is based) right before seeing the movie, so I couldn't help but do the whole "That's not what happens in the book!" dance the entire time.  I really wish I hadn't read it first, if only because, and I hate to be 'that guy', but the book was infinitely better than the movie.  Don't get me wrong, I can only imagine the difficulty in transforming 360 pages into a 2 hour movie while trying to capture the essence of the characters, but there was so much that got left out, the excellent human interest story that was book got lost in a hail of machine gun fire in the movie. 

Affleck went full on Hollywood here, going for car chases and gun battles rather than showing some restraint and allowing the Affleck / Hall story to unfold more slowly, letting us really feel the struggle that MacRay feels in trying to please his buddies while looking to move on with his life.  Looking past the simple question of 'why' MacRay would ever even try to develop a relationship with the one person that could point him out to the authorities, the story is interesting in and of itself. Additionally, it allows us to see MacRay (the bad guy trying to become a good guy) as the protagonist in the film, with is best friend, Coughlin, as the clear antagonist.  Keeps your friends close, and your enemies closer.....

As Jem, Renner is even better here than he was in The Hurt Locker.  He's unpredictable, vulgar, rude, and an all around jerk.  You can't help but feel genuinely uncomfortable every time he's on the screen.  In one of my favorite scenes in the movie, Affleck's MacRay tells Renner's Coughlin, "I need to ask you a favor, but I can't tell you why and you can never ask me about it.  But we're gonna go hurt somebody".  Coughlin's answer? "Who's car are we taking?".  Perfect.  My hope is that Renner will be considered for a Best Supporting Actor award here.  Pete Postlethewaite is also great as an old time 'Town guy who gets kicks backs on the jobs that Affleck and his crew pull off.

Ok, so overall....what did I think?  I liked it.  I really liked it for what it was, which is a shoot 'em up heist movie, set in Boston.  It was absolutely a kick to see so many shots of Charlestown, some of it's residents (hey, that's Jack Schievink!), and get the feeling that I was able to pick up on things that the other 300 people in the theater didn't pick up on.  If the movie was set in Portland and everyone was trying to pull off whatever accent people in Oregon might have - I undoubtedly wouldn't have cared half as much.  That being said - I'm from Charlestown, and this is as close to a 'Charlestown movie' as we're probably going to see.

Affleck did put it in a nice dedication at the beginning of the credits to the good people of Charlestown, telling the world that despite the material and bad name that a film like this could give to such a small town, that Charlestown was full of some of the best and hardest working folks around.  Good people.  Real people.  In fact, anyone who sees this movie will get several bird's eye views of Charlestown and Boston, as Affleck grossly overuses the 'panaromic helicopter view of the city' shot. 

I wanted to...REALLY wanted to love this movie.  I highly enjoyed the book, and would have loved to have seen a movie that followed the book to a tee.  Having said that, it's a fun movie, it's a funny movie (way more laughs that I would have ever thought, the best one coming from MacRay's dad in prison, when talking about how things were going at MCI Walpole - "It's not like it used to be Dougie. F'n Southie punks are trying to take everything over" - even in the movies, Southie comes in 2nd to Charlestown..), and it's a great popcorn movie.  As long as you don't go in expecting the 2nd coming of The Departed, you'll be fine.  I'll go 4 out of 5 stars due to the location, but I'd be surprised if anyone outside of Greater Boston would go above 3.5.  If you're from around here, you should definitely go see it. 

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

Many months ago, when this movie was out in the theaters, a friend of mine told me she was going to see it with her boyfriend.  Big stars, previews looked funny...I was eagerly anticipating her thoughts on the film the next day.  Her exact words - "That sucked".  Well.....OK then.....  So it's taken me about 6 months to finally get to see it, and I have to say that while I don't totally agree with her assessment, the movie is definitely not for everyone.

'The Men Who Stare At Goats' stars George Clooney and Ewan McGregor, with help from Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey, and is not, in effect, really about goats at all.  Bob Wilton (McGregor) is a down on his luck journalist looking for one big story to get him back into the good graces of his estranged wife, basically to prove his worth as a man.  As a result, he goes into Iraq to cover the war, where he meets Lyn Cassidy (Clooney).  Clooney is an ex-army soldier, who was trained in 'New Earth Army' by his superior officer Bill Django (Bridges).  Through a series of flashbacks, we get to see that The New Earth Army that Django teaches focuses on mind warfare as opposed to physical strength.  The men are being trained to be Jedi's (which is really funny as a running joke in the film, especially as McGregor played Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars films).

The men have been trained to 'remote view' other locations to find missing soldiers, see and walk through walls, become invisible, etc...etc....  Wilton believes none of this, and after getting into misadventure after misadventure with Cassidy, has plenty of reason for doubt.  Wilton and Clooney eventually find Django and Hooper (Spacey) working on the same techniques in the remote desert. 

The problem, I think, with the movie is that it fluctuates between being a straight comedy, to a satire, to somewhat of a drama, back to a comedy, and back to a satire.  The movie doesn't culminate as much as crawl to a conclusion. I did find it pretty funny at times, and I suppose it could be categorized as a sort of dark satire.  Oh yeah, and there is some staring at goats, so we got that going for us...which is nice.

Like I said, I didn't hate it, but I can definitely see why someone paying money to see it in a movie theater would be grossly disappointed.  It's a very odd movie, that never really lets you get comfortable with any style of film.  You keep waiting for something to happen that will let you ease into the movie...but it never comes.  I'd give it a 2.5 out of 5, realizing that this isn't for everyone.

OUR FAMILY WEDDING

A few weeks ago when I rented Hot Tub Time Machine, one of the previews before the movie was for Our Family Wedding.  To me, it looked like a straight to DVD comedy that I'd of had no interest in seeing, but my wife laughed, and laughed and laughed at the trailer.....and asked me to get the movie from Netflix.  Absolutely no way.  There was no way I was renting this low budget crappy comedy that I'd never heard of, based on one 'seen it all' slapstick trailer.  No way..

So, we watched the film the other night....of course we did.  And.....there's nothing new here.  Guy and girl fall in love.  Guy is black, girl is Latino.  Latino family can't believe she's going to marry a black guy.  Black guy's family can't believe he's marrying into a crazy Latino family.  And around and around we go...... This movie had more stereotype jokes than Blazing Saddles.

Lance Gross plays the lead role opposite America Ferrera (Ugly Betty).  Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia play the equally crazed fathers, who after a bit of a run-in early in the movie, cannot stand each other.  Whitaker and Mencia end up being the focus of the movie, each getting small sub-plots (both romantically based) that show their shortcomings, but allowing them both to atone and make reparations in the end.

Aside from the 'been there done that' plot of the film, the main problem I have with the movie is in the editing.  It was brutal.  I'm not sure that the filmmakers had ever heard of the word 'segway' or 'lead up' to and from a scene.  You went from a scene in a bakery, straight to a garage, back to the house, over to the other house, once more in the garage.....  No segway or flow whatsoever.  The film really misses the mark in this sense, and makes for a generally unfunny and cliche movie.

Did I laugh a few times?  Sure.  Did I hate myself for it?  Absolutely.  2 out of 5 stars.  I'm sorry, I simply can't recommend this one at all.

GOTHIKA

Yeah...I know this movie came out like 7 years ago, but I had never seen it and it was on HBO this morning so I figured I'd waste an hour and a half and check it out.  I like these type of psychological thrillers, so I was hoping this would be pretty good.  While it was pretty suspenseful at times, the first half of the movie drags on and on, and the 2nd half unfolds with utter confusion and little makes sense.

Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) is a psychiatrist at a mental hospital/prison that has some major, major electrical problems (the prison that is, not Halle).  She leaves work one night, in a driving rainstorm of course, sees a girl in the middle of the road, and drives her car off the road into a ditch.  Next thing you know, she wakes up as a patient in the same hospital, with little memory of what happened.  She's told that her husband is dead, butchered even, and the bad news is that she's the only suspect.

Grey is intent on proving her innocence, which gets increasingly difficult with each ghost sighting and apparition she encounters.  Penelope Cruz co-stars as a fellow patient seeing and feeling the same hallucinations as well.  This is where the plot comes completely undone and the movie unravels.  Grey manages to escape from the prison, realizes the horror of what she's done, and uncovers a shocking secret of her former husband.

The problem I have with the film is that while the first half of the movie bores,  the second half the movie makes no sense.  How she uncovers what transpired is ridiculous and is very confusing.  Furthermore, Robert Downey Jr.'s  talent and character (fellow Dr. Pete Graham) are wasted in the film.

I found some of the shock and scare tactics a bit heavy handed, but I'll admit that there were times I felt genuinely uncomfortable.  I just wish the movie made more sense.  Not highly recommended for this one.  2.5 out of 5 stars...

THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD

'The Great Buck Howard' is a movie that showcases the life and times of an aging, over the hill mentalist/magician named Buck Howard (John Malkovich).  Buck was once the star of late night TV, appearing 61 times on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but now plays to the senior citizen crowd in rundown theaters in podunk towns (Hello Wahoo, Nebraska!).

While Buck's days are long past him, Troy Gable's (Colin Hanks) best days are ahead of him.  Fed up and disillusioned with the possibility as a career as a lawyer, Troy drops out of college and law school, and answers a classified ad in the newspaper to become Buck's new road manager.  Troy has no choice but to learn quickly, and proceeds to travel the country as Buck's right hand man.  Playing small town after small town, we come to see Buck's many idiosyncrasies and oddities. 

Buck's got a heck of a handshake, a penchant for spring water (not distilled!) and a love for every town he visits.  The movie's comedy comes in Buck's quirkiness, and Malkovich does a great job of making you both laugh at him and feel for him at the same time.  Emily Blunt shows up half way through the movie as a publicist and becomes Troy's love interest, albeit for no apparent reason. 

When Buck declares that he'll perform his greatest trick ever, he finally gets some press and everyone shows up for his big show.  Buck gets the press he hoped for, even if it's not as he expected it to happen.  Suddenly, the once run down, past his prime Buck Howard is hip again, running the late night circuit, appearing on Regis and Kelly, Martha Stewart and MTV.   Buck's return to prominence is short lived however, allowing us to see the fall, resurgence, and re-fall of the Great Buck Howard.

While I liked the movie enough, it almost came across as a vehicle to let John Malkovich act eccentric for 90 minutes.  I did enjoy Buck's complete apathy for anything that's happened after 1970 though, clearly living in the past, where he truly was, The Great Buck Howard.  Even Tom Hanks seemed disinterested in his 2 cameo's however, and he produced the film! 

There's very little substance here, and you certainly don't come away from this movie having learned anything whatsoever.  Having said that, it's a pretty good comedy that won't make you feel like you wasted your time, but you won't be raving about it afterwards either.  3 out of 5 stars.

DELIVERANCE

That's right....we're going old school for today's movie review.  I had never seen Deliverance before, but knew that it was a classic, and I got a chance to catch a late night Cinemax viewing yesterday evening.

Deliverance is the story of 4 Atlanta businessmen who decide to take a 'boys weekend', and go rafting down the fictional Cahulawassee River in northern Georgia.  The 4 men (Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty and Ron Cox) are clearly out of their element.  The locals appear to be, and are portrayed as, inbred, 2 teeth, overall wearing, banjo playing hillbillies. 

In the beginning of the movie, the four men stop for gas and Drew (Ron Cox) plays his guitar, to which a local boy playing a banjo joins in, and we get a rousing rendition of the classic 'dueling banjos'.  In fact, the song was nominated for an Academy Award in 1972, and the music serves as an undertone for the entire movie, being heard througout the film.

As you can imagine, not all goes as smoothly as the four men would have hoped.  The river is far more dangerous than they could have imagined.  Fast rapids, sharp rocks, and local mountain men with the worst of intentions.  The famous scene involving the mountain men and Bobby (Ned Beatty in his film debut) and Ed (Jon Voight - the star of the movie) is both cringe inducing and horror movie worthy.  It flows into a perfect what-would-you-do-if-it-happened-to-you scene where the 4 men argue the pros and cons of the situation, finally reaching a necessary, albeit nearly damning conclusion.

Things don't get any better for the foursome, as one bad thing leads to another, ending with the final scenes back on dry land, trying to convince the local sheriff (James Dickey, the author of the book in a cameo role here) that all is well, and they just want to go home. 

While there are long stretches of the movie where absolutely nothing happens, the amount of fear that you can't help but feel for the men is overwhelming - surely coming from the fact that it's a classic 'this could happen to me' movie.  The tension builds and builds, and slowly releases as the situations evolve, not giving you the quick payoff, but rather allowing you to ease into the moment.  The film is overwhelmingly anti-Appalachian, and undoubtedly ceased any vacation thoughts of visiting the area in the early 1970's. 

I found myself glued to the screen, and had absolutely no idea how it would end.  Nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in 1972 (eventually losing to The Godfather), you don't need me to tell you this was a good film, but I did enjoy it.  I stopped short of loving the movie, whether due to Burt Reynolds atrocious acting (he does have the laying down and moaning down pact though), or the long stretches of simply drifing down river, but it was a good movie.  I'm going with 3.5 out of 5 stars for this one, just short of 4.

2012

2012 is one of many 'end of the world' movies that have come out over the last few years.  At over 150 minutes long, it takes a shot at being an epic film, and while it misses badly at doing so, it certainly does enough to entertain and makes for a pretty good movie watching experience.

The overwhelming plot is of course is the total meltdown of the earth's core, causing massive earthquakes and tsunami's, leading to the eventual collapse and destruction of the earth.  In fact, the movie uses nearly 2 hours to show exactly that.  We see the White House destroyed, Vatican City collapse, the Statue of Christ in Rio De Janeiro crumble, and so on and so forth. 

Where the movie succeeds is in the fantastic chase scenes, where John Cusack and his family outrun, well, mother nature I guess......... and in the overwhelming sense of dread as you watch the 5 of them narrowly escape certain death after certain death.  Even though most of this is cliche, it's actually done surprisingly well.  The film consistently feeds off of our emotions, and nothing strikes fear into your heart more than children in peril (which is a constant theme throughout the movie).

Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Amanda Peet and Oliver Platt all play important, albeit relatively minor roles in the film.  Chiwetel Ejiofor gets a major role as the geophysicist who predicts the impending disaster, and despite making mistake after mistake - is consistently the only one in the room who seems to know what's going on. 

Perhaps one thing I'd nitpick on is how quickly the destruction escalated.  One minute, we're having minor tremors and semi-strong earthquakes in California - the next minute, the entire San Andreas Fault is collapsing and the entire State is on fire.  Things haven't escalated this quickly since Ron Burgandy and the NewCenter 5 team got into a street brawl.

As I mentioned, 2 and half hours is a long time to invest in a movie, but I thought the filmmakers did a pretty good job overall.  The CGI effects are obvious, but I couldn't help but wonder what worldwide landmark was going to go down in flames next.  Most of it was, literally, unbelievable (I mean, who doesn't drive sports cars out of the back of crashing airplanes, right?), but it was also a mindless fun.  3.5 out of 5 stars.  Absolutely rentable.

KICK-ASS

I've never been a 'comic book' kind of guy, it's just never been something that's ever interested me.  Having said that, I've been putting off seeing Kick-Ass ever since I read that the movie was a comic book adaptation.  Big mistake on my part.

What comes across in the posters and previews as a type of schlock superhero movie, turns out to be a legit, big budget, full-on action movie.  The premise is such that Dave (Aaron Johnson) wonders aloud why nobody has attempted to be a real superhero, and decides to go into the crime-fighting business on his own, clad in scuba gear and calling himself Kick-Ass.  His first encounter as Kick-Ass goes quickly south, but he manages to survive and fight another day, and eventually winds up being a viral sensation on Youtube.

Taking his cue, we're introduced to Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz).  This is where the real fun starts.  Hit Girl is the star of the movie.  The 11 year old, four and a half foot, foul mouthed, knife wielding aficionado and her father, Big Daddy, are top notch killing machines.  A particular scene where we first see Hit Girl in action really jump starts the film, and lets the viewer know that this isn't your daddy's superhero movie.

Blood.  Guts.  Severed limbs.  All in a day's work for this band of superheroes.  There are many cringe inducing scenes that feel brutal at the time, but quickly subside as you can't help but admire Hit Girl's athleticism and total control of any situation she's put into.

I thoroughly enjoyed how the movie tied up loose ends and pulled many of the minor scenes together in order to make a very coherent and cohesive film.  At 1 hour and 56 minutes long, it surely could have been shortened a bit, but I'm not complaining. 

Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin from Superbad) seemed a bit miscast, and his characters motives swung more than once or twice, not sure of what he was supposed portray to the audience.  I did however enjoy Clark Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine, Sex Drive) in a minor role as one of Dave's buddies, who comes across as the perfect high-school geek that everybody likes anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the movie, and it certainly peaked my interest in the new Scott Pilgrim vs. The World movie coming out next week (also a comic book adaptation).  I definitely say it's worth renting - just be prepared to hear a 11 year old say words only a truck driver could get away with....  4 out of 5 stars.

COP OUT

On the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, Tracy Morgan's character has a slew of faux movie posters on the wall of his dressing room, mimicking low-budget 'paycheck' movies that he's made.  If you see a Cop Out poster on the wall in next season's episodes, don't be surprised. 

I've enjoyed Kevin Smith's movies in the past.  Clerks, Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Dogma - all fine examples of Smith's writing and directing ability.  It's always been his smart, witty dialogue and ability to mix pop culture references and observational humor into a humorous, 100 minute package.  Unfortunately, Smith didn't write this film, and can only take blame credit for the directing portion.  Et tu Kevin Smith? Et tu....


Cop Out is a buddy cop movie in the Beverly Hills Cop / Lethal Weapon framework.  Tracy Morgan is 'the black guy', and Bruce Willis is 'the white guy'.  The problem with the movie, is that I couldn't tell what kind of movie Smith was trying to make.  On the surface, you'd think it'd be straight comedy, until you get to the multiple brutal killings that seem so far out of bounds for this type of film, you can't help but feel like you missed the joke somewhere. 

The plot is loosely based around a stolen baseball card, and Willis and Morgan's attempt to get it back from a drug dealer (Juan Carlos Hernandez from Half-Baked).  Throw in a maybe she is / maybe she isn't cheating Rashida Jones (The Office, Parks & Recreation), 2 straight and narrow cops (one played by Kevin Pollak), a Mexican beauty who doesn't speak any English, a parkour burglar (Sean William Scott), a stuck up jerk of a 2nd husband to Willis' ex-wife (Jason Lee) and Willis' attempt to pay a $48,000 wedding bill for his daughter, and you've got 3 too many side plots that start and end up as complete nonsense. 

In the end, I was most disappointed in the lack of originality in the film.  I felt like the movie was about 20 minutes too long, and I honestly just wanted it to be over.  The synthesizer music was a nice homage to the Beverly Hills Cops franchise, but the rest of the soundtrack was scattered and felt disjointed as well. 

I feel bad not liking this more as much as I've enjoyed Kevin Smith's other films, but to me, it just felt like a 'cop out' on his part.  2 out of 5 stars.

SALT

Another Tuesday, another $5 matinee.  This weeks pick was the new Angelina Jolie flick, Salt.  Typically, this is not the type of movie I'd go out of my way to see.  I feel like if you've seen one of these cookie-cutter action movies, you've seen them all.  It's usually cliche, predictable, and I find it pretty boring.  Salt was cliche, perhaps predictable...but boring it was not.

I found myself pleasantly surprised in the flow of the movie, and the many twists and turns that it took us on for just over an hour and a half.  Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, who aside from being as resourceful as MacGyver and good looking as, well, Angelina Jolie....is also a top notch CIA officer and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  At least it felt that way.  She's basically a superhero without the cape.  Jolie is able to jump from truck roof to truck roof, to moving car, from window to window and down elevator shafts without so much as a twisted knee.  I broke my ankle stepping in a divot.  Needless to say, I'm envious.

The plot is basically inconsequential.  I don't know that there's anything you need to know except that Salt is on the run, half the CIA is trying to catch her, and there's going to be some broken glass along the way.  The plot has holes big enough to drive a truck through (with Angelina Jolie riding on top of it).  Doesn't matter, you're in this for the action, and the movie delivers, all the way down to the sequel enticing ending.

Two things I'd nitpick about:  1. Angelina Jolie doesn't run like a superhero/trained badass.  I can't explain it, except that when she's running for her life, she reminds me of someone keeping a steady 5.0 on the treadmill at the gym.  For example, Matt Damon, in the Bourne movies, RUNS like someone being chased, and looks natural doing it.  2. For about 60% of the movie, Jolie is in some god-awful blond wig that makes her look like a hippy housewife from the 70's.  There's simply no way for anyone watching the movie to ever believe that was her natural hair, and I thought it looked awful.

Those couple of things aside, I can say that I enjoyed the movie.  I don't think it's necessary to run out and see it in the theater, I'd recommend waiting until hit the DVD circuit in a few months - but it's worth a rental for sure.  3.5 out of 5.  For what it was, it was done well.

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE

Early in the movie, once the 4 main characters have come the realization that they've travelled back in time to 1986, Craig Robinson's (Darrell, from The Office) character looks directly into the camera and says, "It's like it's some kind of....Hot Tub Time Machine".  It's clearly meant to be tongue-in-cheek, and very clearly tells the audience - "Do not take this seriously.  We are not taking this seriously".

Complete with leg warmers, Miami Vice t-shirts, neon colors, and a Poison concert, the film plants us back firmly into the mid 80's (or at least Hollywood's version of the '80's).  Thanks to a faulty (wait for it......... Hot Tub), all 4 guys are thrown back 25 years.  Why?  Well, it's presumed so they can right all the wrongs that have gone wrong in their lives, except that they're told by a magic repairman (Chevy Chase, in a brutal, unfunny, unnecessary role), that they must replicate their decisions and actions from 25 years ago, and not change anything..... It's ok, it's not supposed to make sense.

What happens isn't important, but just know that it involves an illegal Russian energy drink, cocaine, a fork to the eye, and John Cusack walking around with a "I'm getting paid in cash for this, right?" look on his face the whole time.

The best gag in the movie involves a one armed Crispin Glover (Marty McFly from Back to the Future) and our waiting to see just how he became the one-armed man.  A slew of great 80's songs make up the soundtrack and work very well.

The movie stops short of being a direct parody of Back to the Future, though not by much.  The dials on the hot tub look like the Flux Capacitor, we hear a song from the future at a dance, the 'Biff' character is in place, and some future sports betting even takes place.  Crispin Glover is the icing on the cake.  Thanks guys, we get it.  It's like Back to the Future....yeah, we GET IT!

The movie is rude, crude, and quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever seen.  Having said that, I must have laughed out loud at least a dozen times.  Sure it's stupid, but it lived up down to my expectations and was what I thought it was. 

If you think it looks stupid in the previews, just wait until you actually see it......... 2.5 out of 5 stars.

THE TOWN - Trailer

http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/07/15/must-watch-first-official-trailer-for-ben-afflecks-the-town/

This isn't exactly breaking news, but you need to check out the trailer for the new Ben Affleck movie 'The Town'. Looks fantastic - I'm totally pumped to see this movie.  Just hearing the word "Charlestown" in the trailer gives me goosebumps.  Can't wait.  Click the link above to check out the trailer.

THE COVE

Typically, my Netflix queue isn't exactly teeming with documentaries.  Hot Tub Time Machine is at the top of my queue right now - if that tells you anything......

Over the past couple of years, I've read articles, snippets, and other reviews about The Cove.  It won for Best Documentary at the Oscars in 2009. I heard so many good things, I finally bumped it to the top, and had to check it out.

While this is a documentary, it really doesn't come across as one.  Many people think documentary = boring.  Not true.  Especially not here.  This movie is a Flipper/Bourne Identity piece of work, focusing on the entrapment and sale of dolphins for marine water parks throughout the world (Sea World, Swimming with Dolphins programs, etc...).

The majority of The Cove is filmed in a very small town in Japan, and centers around Ric O'Barry, the creator of the television series Flipper.  As O'Barry says in the movie, "I spent 10 years building up this business and now I've spent the last 30 years trying to tear it down".
O'Barry and his crew are not welcome in the area due to their opposing views of the fishermen, and every effort is put forth by the Japanese harbor men, police and government to move the crew out and disallow them from filming the goings-on in any way.

The under-the-cover-of-darkness, night-vision-goggle, mission-impossible trek that O'Barry and his team embark to plant underwater cameras, mountain cameras and sound devices is the best part of the movie.  They're chased by cops, hide behind trees, run into vans to escape security...all in the name of getting some footage of what goes on at The Cove.

The dirty secret of course isn't that the dolphins are captured and sold - but rather that the dolphins not sold or wanted, are corralled into a separate part of the cove, and killed.  Mercilessly.  Graphically.  Yes, it's horrific. 

The film does an excellent job showing us the secrecy of the Japanese surrounding the operation, and the final reveal of what they're doing with the dolphins that aren't sold, and the impending massacre, is a worth while payoff for the viewer. 

I couldn't help but think of comedian Denis Leary's take that, "we only care about the cute animals - oh look, a dolphin, you're so cute!  What are you?  I'm a cow.  Get in the truck! You're a baseball glove!".  Coarse?  Sure, of course it is.  But that's what makes it true.  Cows, chickens, pigs are slaughtered everyday in what are surely horrible manners as well.  Dolphins are cute - nobody wants to see a cute dolphin slaughtered.
This still doesn't take away from the impact of the movie.  It's moving, it's touching.  It's a very well made documentary that will have you disappointed in mankind, and angry that this sort of thing is allowed to go on on the other side of the world, and nobody even knows about it.........
4 out of 5 stars.

INCEPTION

So now that I just told you how I don't have time to go the movies, here I am reviewing a movie that's been out for about a week.  The lesson as always..... I'm an idiot...

I was able to catch a Tuesday afternoon matinee by myself this week, and boy am I glad that I did. I don't know that I have the capability to explain the utter joy I experienced watching this movie.  I'm no expert on movie making or cinematography (I know, refrain from gasping), but Inception was so visually spectacular, so utterly magnificent, that I left the theater feeling like I should have paid more to see something that transcended any movie I've ever seen.

You know the feeling you had after the first time you saw The Matrix?  That you just couldn't help but think, "I've never seen anything like that before"?  I had the same feeling after seeing this movie.  I quite simply, haven't seen anything like that before.  (I am in NO way comparing the 2 movies, I've just been struggling for 3 days to put what I saw into words). 

The movie ended, and I just sat in my seat, watching the ending credits roll, with an enormous smile on my face.  Utter joy in the movie-going experience.  If there were more than 10 of us in the theater, I think a standing ovation would have been appropriate.

In a very small nutshell, the movie is about the ability to enter another persons dreams (or subconscious), and implant an idea.  In the words of Cobb (DiCaprio), "An idea is the most resilient thing that can enter the body.  It's stronger than any parasite.  Once an idea enters your mind, you can't get rid of it".
The problem for Cobb is that as he enters someone else's subconscious, he can't stop his own experiences and memories from entering as well.  This produces the underlying subplot of the film, and the only piece that I thought could have been played up even more.

Cobb leads a team consisting of Joseph Gordon Levitt (500 Days of Summer), Ellen Page (Juno), and a couple of other guys I didn't know before this movie.  Tom Hardy, who plays Eames, is sure to get a launch in films from this role.  Cillian Murphy (Scarecrow from Batman Begins) is the target, with Ken Watanabe playing a major role as well.  Tom Berenger shows up half way through the movie looking like the guy who ate Tom Berenger... Jake Taylor is long gone folks....

I'm not going to go too in depth with what happens, since I don't want to give anything away that might ruin your experience in viewing the film for the first time.  The movie goes into depth on how a group of people can manipulate someone elses mind, and even delves into dreams within dreams, within dreams (I think we got 4 levels deep towards the end). It forces you to pay attention, question everything you see on the screen, follow the action.  It does NOT cater to the lowest common denominator.  Having said that, I had absolutely no problem following what was going on.  Sure, it gets a little confusing (especially in the last 45 minutes or so), but it's worth the journey to get to the destination at the end of the road.  The ending?  Goodness.....the last 10 seconds of the film will have you talking for hours after you leave the theater.  For me? I think there's no question of what happens, but I understand how many can and will take the opposing view. (My vote would be for what would be considered the 'happy ending').

 It is again, one of the most visual amazing things I've ever seen.  I thought that what Christopher Nolan did with The Dark Knight, in taking a superhero movie and making it worthy of a Best Picture consideration, was amazing.  I'd be absolutely shocked if this picture isn't nominated itself. 

I know it just sounds like 5 paragraphs of gushing, but I was utterly impressed by this movie. This was a blockbuster movie in the strongest sense of the term.  Fantastic.  See this film at your earliest convenience.
I know for a fact that I'll be going back for a 2nd viewing sometime very soon.  5 out of 5 stars.  No question.

THE BOOK OF ELI

The Book of Eli has been in my queue for quite some time now, getting moved up and down as newer movies came out that I wanted to see.  I finally got a chance to watch this yesterday.  While I enjoyed it overall, it wasn't all that I hoped it would be.  It also has constant religious overtones, that may put off some viewers...

The story centers around Eli (Denzel Washington) and his quest to walk west across a barren, post-apocalyptic earth (Go west young man!).  Broken down cars line the sides of partially demolished roadways, and chaos, thieves, and murder reign supreme.  Eli is a loner.  He wields a machete, guns, a backpack, and is most definitely a badass.

Early in the movie, he comes across a gang that demands that he hand over his belongings, or die.  Such is life in this type of civilization.  Perhaps the best shot in the movie occurs at this point, as an almost comic-book like fight ensues.  The camera is panned back about 50 yards, and the whole scene is shot almost in black and white, all shadows, and is very well done.

As the movie progresses, we encounter Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who's an avid reader and leader (tyrant?) of a small town that looks like something directly out of the wild, wild west.  As we find out, Carnegie is a bad man that wants only to find a very specific book (guess who has said book?), that he insists will change the world.  Here, Oldman (who we last saw as Commissioner Gordon in The Dark Knight) takes a great turn as a villain and does a fine job.

Without giving away too much of the movie, 2 things jumped out at me that I can't shake. First, what was the deal with showing everyone your hands?  "Are you one of them?"  One of who?  Never explained.  And second, how did Eli become a one man wrecking machine? He's like a Bruce Lee/Stallone/Eastwood hybrid.  Apparently, he was just born with this gift.  And 30 years??  30 YEARS!??  That's a long time to be walking around aimlessly.....

Regardless, the movie does have a great surprise/twist ending, that despite constant clues throughout the movie, I never saw coming.  There's also no color until the last 10 minutes or so.  It's not that it's shot in black and white, it's just that everything is dusty, and shades of gray, black and brown.  It's awfully depressing....

 I think that in order to really enjoy a movie, you need to be totally invested in the characters and 'care' about what happens to them.  I really didn't.  Mila Kunis seemed miscast in the movie as well, but did well with what she had to do.

In the end, I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either.  3 out of 5 stars.

Welcome

 After some gentle prodding, I'm going to take a shot at starting my own blog.  I have many thoughts.  Many are impure at best.  Having some extra time on my hands, I've had the ability to catch up on some movie watching.  I enjoy reading other peoples thoughts about movies they've seen, and I think I may have something to offer in my own right.  As a result, I'm going to spew my thoughts, reactions, feelings and feedback on any new movie that I see.  Now, many of my 'new' movies are going to be months, often years old.  Maybe you've already seen them, maybe you haven't.  Either way, feel free to leave your own comments concerning my posts, and I hope you enjoy what I have to offer.