Promised Land

Gus Van Sant's latest film, Promised Land is a very good film. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a timely film about a serious issue that a lot of small town Americans are currently dealing with. Promised Land is about a natural gas company trying to lease the land of a small town in Pennsylvania and it's a very compelling movie, until the end, and it's because of that weak ass ending that I bestow only two buckets of Killer Korn to Land.




For those of you who aren't all that familiar with Gus Van Sant, understand the man is a phenomenal director. One of the very best! He did a film back in 2003, Elephant that still disturbs me to this day (and I highly recommend it, it will blow your mind). He was also the director of the amazing Good Will Hunting, Milk, and My Own Private Idaho, so Gus has been responsible for some great movie making. Sadly, there's always a flip side to that coin though. He was also responsible for Finding Forrester, Psycho, and To Die For, all of which were hardly decent, let alone good. In a way, he's a lot like Ang Lee, when he's on there's very few that are any better, when he's off, he's WAY off. Much as Lee's Life of Pi, Gus' Promised Land is neither amazingly good or god awful, it's just a good, solid film (with a weak ending).

Starring Matt Damon as Steve Butler, the point man for Global, a natural gas company that wants to lease the land of the farmers, Promised Land starts off really well. Steve's partner is the truly talented Frances McDormand who plays Sue Thomason, a devoted mother and true team player. Together the two of them set out to get the farmers and land owners to sign over the rights to the land that will allow Global to drill and frack for natural gas. Steve pitches for Global but crusty old Frank Yates, played by Hal Holbrook throws a monkey wrench into the whole program. He convinces those that came to hear if the town's council will allow natural gas into the town, to vote on it, something Steve and Global do their best to avoid.

As if that weren't bad enough, Dustin Noble, played by the charming John Krasinski waltzes into town as a member of Athena, an environmental organization determined to stop Steve and Global. To say he makes life way more complicated than it should be for Steve and Sue, is an understatement. He even makes a play for Steve's romantic interest, Alice, played by Rosemarie DeWitt. Dustin out thinks, out-maneuvers, and out hustles Steve at almost every turn, which of course, drives Steve up a wall. My one problem with this film, other than the cornball ending, is how Steve continually states that he is "a good man". It really gets tired after awhile, and you begin to wish how he would just shut it up with that already.

I won't give away the ending, all I'll say about it is that I thought it was weak and silly. If you pay close attention to the beginning of the film, you'll understand why I feel the way I do about the ending. You can't build one thing up only to have it so completely fail at the end. Promised L:and was written by the two main actors, Damon and Krasinski and it's a job well done. But they really should have, in my opinion, rethought the ending. The score was a nice light touch by the usually heavy handed Danny Elfman, which surprised me. The music is almost like a wisp of air, blowing past your ear unheard, which is perfect for this film, since you don't want anything distracting you from what's taking place on the screen. I would recommend Promised Land only if A, you're curious about small town life and B, you want to really know what fracking is (this kind of fracking, not the Battlestar Galactica kind of fracking). Take a look, maybe you'll like the ending, and if you do then the movie is definitely worth the price of admission. And if you go, then I'll see you at the theater.   

Zero Dark Thirty

I know Zero Dark Thirty is the must see this holiday season. The follow up film by award winning director Kathryn Bigelow has been heavily anticipated since she walked off the stage, Oscar in hand, and ex-hubby sitting in the audience, defeated (James Cameron). ZDT is a quality movie and if you're truly curious how the hunt for Osama bin Laden went down then this is the movie for you. I, however, can only give it two buckets of Killer Korn.




I can't say that I was overly impressed with Zero Dark Thirty, but I wasn't underwhelmed either. This movie is like walking that fine line of "if they had just done this..." or, "if they had just said that..." then the movie would have been an exhilarating experience. As it stands, Zero Dark Thirty, in that regard, is an utter failure. Before you lose your mind, understand this, ZDT is a technically proficient film. Kathryn Bigelow's budget is readily apparent on the screen (a far larger budget than her Hurt Locker film). The cooperation she received from the military to make this film could almost make you wonder if there was some money handed under the table (that wasn't my original line, but I didn't want anyone calling me sexist). The explosions are loud, the blood is plentiful, and the fear is palpable. Kathryn makes a great statement in this film about terrorism, it can strike anywhere at anytime. Unfortunately that's the only thing this film exceeds in saying.

The story line is WEAK! Wait, that's me being to kind. The story line is virtually NON-EXISTENT! That's better. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know what you're going to say, "Mark, the story line is all about the pursuit and murder of the one man that ordered the murder of 3000+ Americans on 9/11" which is correct, but tell me this, who DOESN'T know that? This film brings you nothing new except all the behind the scenes shenanigans and posturing of the CIA and the United Sates Government during that hunt and honestly, that's just not an interesting story, mainly because there is no story. Written by Mark Boal, this story is about a ghost, no not bin Laden who was a ghost, it's about the ghost that chased him down. Her name is Maya, played wonderfully by Jessica Chastain (a star is rising). Maya comes out of nowhere and thrown into the fray after 9/11 to help fight terrorism. Her first assignment, before even getting to her desk is to watch the "interrogation of a detainee" (torture). The man doing the interrogation is Dan, played ruthlessly by Jason Clarke (who worked alongside Jessica in Lawless).

From there, Maya is all in. Late nights and early mornings, Maya is on the job at her desk. Who she is and where she comes from is never told. How she got the assignment or why is again, never told. Who she knows or what she knows is yep, you guessed it, never told. This super spy from the CIA is a ghost. She has no friends, no boyfriend or fiance back home, and no sexual inclinations of any kind. She's a robot and that does little to endear her to the viewing audience. She shows one moment of emotion and vulnerability, wait, my mistake, she actually shows two moments. One when she's almost assassinated by two guys with AK-47's who shoot at her car and at the end of the film. And speaking about the film, it's all over the place. Now, I don't know if this is Mark the writer's fault or Kathryn the director's fault, but this movie's timeline is as loose as baby poo. YES, that's me being kind, again.

You hardly know what year it is and since no one visibly ages on screen, you as the viewer just has to guess. What you do know is that it all takes place after 9/11  and bin Laden's death on May 2, 2011. Everything between those two monumental moments, in this film, is a crap shoot. The cast is great, outstanding performances by Kyle Chandler as Joseph Bradley, Jennifer Ehle as Jessica, Harold Perrineau as Jack, Mark Strong (one of my favorites) as George, Edgar Ramirez as Larry, and James Gandolfini as the CIA Director. It's too bad the storyline couldn't match the talent of the cast. The intensity does get ratcheted up towards the end of the film with the raid on Osama's compound but that whole thing was longer than it needed to be. In my opinion, it was done so for those guys (and girls) that are Call of Duty gamers. You know the ones, those people that wait outside of a video game store for hours when the new first shooter game hits the shelves, yeah the final ten minutes is for them.

I really wanted to like this film and a part of me really did, but my reaction to it mirrored the audiences when the credits rolled. There was a smattering of applause but the air was teeming with indifference. Go see it, judge for yourself, is this a movie worthy of a best picture of the year nomination, or is it a film you'll get on DVD...eventually? I say nay but let me know what you think, and I'll see you at the theater!

Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher is, in my opinion, worth the price of admission. It has everything you would and could want in a movie and then some. It's a well made, taut film with nothing lacking, for that I give Jack Reacher three buckets of Killer Korn.



Now whether you love him or hate him (and I know a lot of you hate him), you should definitely check out Tom Cruise's new film, Jack Reacher. I know, I know, a lot of you out there are probably under the impression that this movie sucks but trust me, it is far better than you think it is and far better than what you've read about (so far anyway). Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who brought you the immensely entertaining Way of the Gun starring Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro, now brings to the screen one of fictions most popular characters, Jack Reacher. Now when the man who would being playing the 6'5" Reacher was announced, pretty much the whole world groaned, including yours truly. We all thought "Not HIM! Anybody but HIM!", am I right? Seriously Tom Cruise is about 5'7" on a good day while wearing lifts but I have to tell you, where he falls short in the physicality department, he more than makes up in the embodiment of the character.

For those of you that have never read one of the sixteen Reacher novels written by Lee Child, Jack Reacher is a retired MP who never stops until he's gotten to the truth. He's a relentless investigator and in this movie he is summoned by James Barr, played by Joseph Sikora, a man Jack investigated before, a man who has been arrested for mass murder. The DA, played by Richard Jenkins and detective Emerson, played by David Oyelowo are discussing Reacher and just how hard he is to find. He's a ghost, no known address, no p.o. box and gets his pension wired to him to points unknown, basically, he's off the grid. Just was the two men pretty much chalk it up to never finding Reacher, he walks in on their meeting. The lawyer defending Barr is Helen Rodin played by owl eyed Rosamund Pike who has some very interesting encounters with Reacher.

Initially Reacher believes Barr is guilty and has come to Pittsburgh to make sure he gets thrown into the deepest darkest cell in Pennsylvania. However, the more Reacher and Helen dig the more Reacher thinks his earlier feelings were wrong. In the midst of coming to that train of thought, there are car chases, fist fights, threats, betrayal, and murder and not necessarily in that order. In the middle of all that chaos is Reacher, the one constant beacon of truth and forward movement. The man never sleeps, hardly eats but he's like a shark, always moving, never stopping. While moving and digging, he happens to come upon a very dangerous individual named Charlie who is played charmingly by Jai Courtney. That's when Reacher enlists the aid of Cash played with grace and humor by Robert Duvall. Reacher and Cash take on Charlie and his henchmen in a well thought out battle.

I have not read the Reacher novel this movie is adapted from, entitled One Shot, and probably won't since I am not a fan of Lee Child's writing. I am a fan however of this movie. Like I stated earlier, it has everything you could possibly want in a movie these days except sex which is a good thing. Sex would just muddy the waters and since Reacher conducts himself almost like a monk when working a case, the lack of sex makes sense. McQuarrie does an outstanding job in both directing and writing this film. His dialogue is witty and humorous and the action sequences are never lacking and his choice of Joe Kraemer to score the movie was perfect. Joe delivers a tense, heavy score that compliments this movie on every level and he gives Reacher an almost heroic theme, even though Reacher wants you to believe that he's not a hero. If you want to see something worth the price of admission then forget who is playing Jack Reacher and see Jack Reacher because honestly, you will thank me and I will see you at the theater.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit is quite simply brilliant. Nothing more needs to be said. I highly recommend it and give it four big buckets of Killer Korn.



The Hobbit is quite simply, one amazing roller coaster ride. When the last Lord of the Rings movie hit the theaters there was talk about The Hobbit and who would direct it. The studio claimed it did NOT want Peter Jackson at the helm at ALL. Peter's fight was for what I think was money, I'm not quite sure, you can look that up but basically the two sides were at war with one another. It was all folly because who was the studio going to get to direct The Hobbit other than the mad New Zealander who brought the fantastic LOTR trilogy to the screen? NO one. Sure, there was talk of Guillermo Del Toro, the very talented director who gave us Hell Boy I and II, Pans Labyrinth, and the soon to be released sci-fi epic Pacific Rim but it would have paled in comparison to Jackson's movie. I'm certain of it, though in all fairness Guillermo does get a writers credit on The Hobbit so he was in some way responsible for what's seen on the screen. And what's seen on the screen will literally take your breath away.

The movie starts off right where the first LOTR movie starts and yes there is a cameo of Elijah Wood reprising his role as Frodo. It starts off with Frodo wanting to meet Gandalf, played again by Ian McKellen, as he approaches the shire with his wagon of fireworks for Bilbo's Party. Then the movie transports you 60 years into the past and we see a young Bilbo, played charmingly by Martin Freeman smoking his pipe as Gandalf appears. He wants Bilbo to join him on an adventure and of course the comfortable and frightened of his own shadow Bilbo declines. Gandalf seems to leave him alone until the dwarfs come knocking and once they are in Bilbo's house, all hell breaks loose. These dwarfs aren't you ordinary dwarfs however, one of them happens to be heir to the throne of Erebor, the great dwarf kingdom the resided in the lonely mountain, that was until the all powerful dragon Smaug took the kingdom and all it's gold for himself. That heir is Thorin, played with such passion and conviction by Richard Armitage that it seems like he could convince you to pick up arms and fight with him.

The other 13 dwarfs are for too numerous to name but they are quite the lot and they will follow their rightful King anywhere. Gandalf was tasked to find the 14th member of their group and he's chosen Bilbo. At first his reasoning is because hobbits have the ability to go unseen if they choose and the group needs a burglar but later on it's revealed why Gandalf really chose Bilbo and it's a heartfelt moment between him and Cate Blanchett who reprises her role as Galadriel from the LOTR trilogy. The dwarfs, Bilbo, and Gandalf set out to recapture Erebor from Smog and return Thorin to the throne as King but before they can do that, they must do battle with armies of Orcs, trolls, their own insecurities, and Bilbo's self doubt which is pretty significant. It's not until Bilbo finds something that allows his confidence to grow and allows him to truly become part of the team...and I think you know what that thing is.

The Hobbit is a visual spectacle and the software created by Peter Jackson's Weta Digital put in some serious overtime. The visual effects were dizzying, the 3D was amazing, and the shots of New Zealand that once again play the part of Middle Earth were breathtaking. I beg of you, if you are going to see this movie, do your best to see it in IMAX 3D and if you can't, at least see it in 3D, you will NOT be sorry. The wonderful thing about this film though as opposed to a few prior "visual feasts for the eyes"films I've blogged about, this one brings you that emotional impact those others lacked. You feel for Thorin and his band and when he stands up and walks towards his nemesis in slow motion, it's a thing of emotional beauty. And the wondrous score by the award winning Howard Shore also helps with that. Howard's score is perfect, simply pitch perfect in every way. If you were waiting for a 3D movie that is well worth the price of admission then this is it. I can't wait for part two, I wish it came out tomorrow. Get a ticket, get in line, and you just might see me on that line and if not, I'll definitely see you at the theater.

Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina, the new film from Joe Wright, the director of Atonement, Pride & Prejudice, and the god awful The Soloist is an absolute amazing film...to watch. If you are seeking something new and inventive storyline wise, save your money or read Tolstoy's novel of the same name. The movie is long and pretentious and it will bore you after awhile. Not worth the price of admission in my opinion and I give it one bucket of Killer Korn.




I saw this film based on the Joe Wrights previously amazing film Atonement, a movie I did not like after my initial watching of it. In fact, I hate Atonement when I first saw it and thought it was rubbish, well upon further review I have come to absolutely love that film. It is an amazing thing to watch and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. It was Atonement that had me buy a ticket to see Anna Karenina, hoping to see something akin to the brilliance of Joe's Atonement. I knew it wouldn't, couldn't be another Atonement but I was hoping for something close. This was a massive swing and a miss by Joe Wright. He is a very competent and talented director and though he has that Martin Scorsese affliction of using the same people in all of his films, you can overlook that by what he puts on the screen, usually.

This time out he uses the talents of Keira Knightley to play Anna, she was in both Pride & Prejudice and Atonement. There's also hold over Matthew Mcfadyen who plays her brother, Jude Law who plays her husband Karenin, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson who was in Savages as the wife stealing Vronsky. The rest of the cast is comprised of other character actors who you may or may not recognize from other movies, they are just satellite characters in this movie. As for the performances of the actors, there's a lot of standing around and posing,  it was hard to see any real "acting" going on but they were all dressed exquisitely. If you are no fan of Kiera Knightley then pass this movie right on by because she is practically in every scene. Her shooting schedule must have looked ridiculous. If you are a fan and find her fetching then you may want to see this movie twice (and buy the DVD when it becomes available).

Now when I said this movie was amazing to watch, I meant it and this is where Joe Wright gets major credit. The majority of the movie is filmed in a theater, which can lend to that feeling of claustrophobia but was expertly done. One second the actor is in an office and, with some deft camera work is in a restaurant the next. Your eyes continue to be played with throughout this film until you're almost dizzy but I suppose it was all done out of necessity since they story line has been told a million times before. Wife of a boring husband falls in love with an exciting and younger good looking man and falls in love. Woman is then ostracized from her friends and the circles in which she previously ran in with ease. She's degraded, called names, embarrassed, and ashamed to the point that she cannot take it anymore and does the unthinkable. Yawn...

This movie is obvious award bait and it reeked of pretension. The costumes were amazing though and costume designer Jacqueline Durran should be up for an award or two for her work as well as Sarah Greenwood for her production design. It wouldn't surprise me if cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, who has worked on previous Wright films and is doing the cinematography on the Godzilla reboot isn't up for some award himself. As will another holdover from the Joe Wright collection, composer and Oscar award winner Dario Marianelli. His score is lush, powerful, mournful, and moving. It rivals his award winning score to Atonement in my opinion though should it be nominated, I doubt it would win but it is masterful. Once you get past the costumes, the scenery, and the music though there really isn't much to this movie so like I stated earlier, unless you're a Keira Knightley fan, see something else and I'll see you at the theater.

Dragon

I just caught Dragon hoping to see a good kung fu movie. It had been awhile since I saw one and I was hoping this would sate me. After seeing this movie, I don't know what to make of it. It's a martial arts film sorta, a criminal investigation movie kinda, and a police procedural all in one. It's like CSI meets Law and Order meets Shoa-Lin Temple. It's an interesting mash up of genres but I am still trying to figure out of it's a good one. I give it a one and a half buckets of Killer Korn.




There's really not much to say about Dragon. It's a story that has been told before a million times over. You know the one, where a drifter comes across a town where no one knows about him or his checkered past. Where he meets a town girl, marries her, settles down and becomes a valued member of the community only to eventually and inevitably have his past catch up to him after he does a good deed. Yep, that's the story here except it takes place in this movie in 1917 China (you can see that same story played out in today's world in A History of Violence with Viggo Mortenson). Basically two big bad guys come into a butchers shop where the paper mill guy is repairing the paper coverings on the windows. The bad guys demand money from the elderly shop keeper and proceed to beat him silly. When the paper mill guy (who is cowering in a darkened corner by the way) can't take it anymore, he jumps in and seemingly gets his butt kicked. At least it appears that way at first.

He gets flung around the shop while hanging on for dear life to the main bad guys waist and refuses to let go. The fight, if you can call it that rages on and you feel bad for this paper mill guy after awhile. The second bad guy takes himself out and a lucky punch by the paper mill guy takes out the main bad guy. This man is lauded as a hero by the towns folk and he and his family are given great honors. It all begins to fall apart slowly though when the a cop comes to investigate the death of two men (this is the CSI part). He re-enacts the fight in his head and where you saw a bumbling man in over his head, the cop sees a martial arts master who easily dispatched the two bad guys with simple ease.

As the movie gets further along you come to find out that the cop was right, this paper mill guy IS a master and was at one time second in command to the most ruthless gang in China, the 72 Demons. He was running from the gang and it's leader when he happened to stumble onto that small village, met the towns girl, married her and had a kid. Breaking away from the gang wasn't easy, especially when the paper mill guys father was the leader of the 72 Demons. Needless to say father and son go at it in the end as they deal with some serious family issues. Papermill guy is played by Donnie Yen, his father is played menacingly by Yu Wang, the damaged wife is played by Tang Wei, and the detective is played by the talented Takeshi Kaneshiro. The performances were great and the story telling was inventive but when it was all said and done it's a story you've seen a million times before. And before you go in expecting this to be one of those Saturday afternoon king fu movies, STOP! There really isn't that much martial arts in this film. Three fight scenes, that's all you get so make em count!

The movies seemed choppy at times and wanted to take itself too seriously most of the time. It should have embraced the wackiness of the characters but it didn't. That would have made for a much more interesting film. I would skip it and wait for the DVD but if you do decide to see the movie then I'll see you at the theater!

Silver Linings Playbook

Quick Read: Silver Linings Playbook, the latest movie from director David O. Russell is a peculiar but entertaining story. It will definitely make you laugh and make you think. Something a good movie should make you do. Is it a must see? No, not really. Will you be upset if you missed this movie? Probably not but if you have some time on your hands and you want to see an entertaining movie, give Silver Linings Playbook a look see. I give it two and a half buckets of Killer Korn.




If you aren't a fan of Bradley Cooper then skip this movie because his face is all over this puppy. Silver Linings Playbook stars Bradley who plays Pat who suffers with bi-polar. He had a serious incident which landed him in an mental institution in Baltimore. He is a manic man who seems to be unwilling to deal with the break up of his marriage. There's an orders of protection out for Pat who lives with his parents Robert DeNiro who plays Pat Sr. and Jacki Weaver who plays Dolores. Pat so desperately wants to get his life back together and have things go back to the way they were before his "episode" that he is willing to do practically anything. He really wants to reconnect with his estranged wife Nikki played by Brea Bee, who has that orders of protection out against Pat. The other is a restraining order for the school Pat used to work at as a high school history teacher. His encounter with a member of the faculty is hilarious.

The rest of the talented cast includes Chris Tucker (who is finally in a movie without Jackie Chan) who plays Pat's good friend from the mental institution named Danny, Julia Stiles playing Veronica, John Ortiz who plays Ronnie, and the lovely Jennifer Lawrence (who I may now have a small crush on) as Tiffany. Ronnie and Veronica are unhappily married and Tiffany is Veronica's sister who is either sanely crazy or crazily sane, I'm still not sure. She does though have some of the best lines and moments in this movie and it shows her abilities as an actor in a way The Hunger Games has failed to, so far. Most of the lines are in the trailer but she has a few other great ones that make Pat rethink things. She opens up a door Pat has padlocked since his episode. Especially when she agrees to break the law for Pat.

Tiffany agrees to help Pat do something he shouldn't do but she wants something in return, she wants him to dance with her. She wants to dance in a dance competition and her deceased husband never would when he was alive. The deal is struck and Pat and Tiffany begin to practice and throughout their practicing does Pat finally see the bigger picture about him and his life. This movie to me, while choppy and hard to follow at times is all about love. The love of family, friends, and the Philadelphia Eagles (which as a Cowboys fan offends me to my core but whatever). It's about the sacrifices you make for those you love and how they sacrifice for you no matter what.

If you don't mind a movie that deals with mental illness at its forefront, a movie that kind of indicates that maybe those with mental illnesses actually live better lives than those without, because they live life without hiding behind walls then see Playbook. There is no visual feast for the eyes (again unless you like Bradley Cooper) but the performances are top notch. And while it's given a lukewarm score by Danny Elfman, one you will definitely forget, there are songs that you will remember and want on your ipod. Silver Linings Playbook is worth the money and be careful because it just may make you look at life (and the mentally ill) in a completely different way. I'll see you at the theater!   

Life of Pi

Okay, I went into this film thinking it was going to be great, amazing even. Life of Pi falls sadly way short of those marks. It's a good film, heavy on great visual effects, really light on story. If story doesn't mean all that much to you then you should enjoy this film. If story is all that matters, skip Life of Pi. I give it one bucket of Killer Korn.




Up front I want to say, I think Ang Lee is an amazing director at times. There are also times when you wonder if the man has any idea what he is doing. His Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain, Eat Drink Man Woman, and one of my personal favorites Ride With the Devil are all phenomenal. His Incredible Hulk and The Ice Storm, not so much. In my opinion, Life of Pi fits squarely in-between those two extremes. If you want a movie that is a visual feast for the eyes then Life of Pi better be the next film you go to see. The 3D is so amazing it's sometimes hard to believe your eyes and you really can only tell one time throughout the film where the real Bengal tiger ends and where the CG tiger begins. Amazing!!! Sadly though, where the movie excels in visual goodies, it severely lacks in any real emotional depth. It doesn't build those emotional bridges I thought were necessary to make this film one for the ages.

Starring Suraj Sharma as the younger Piscine Molitor Patel, Pi for short, it's a movie based on his time at sea on a lifeboat with a ferocious Bengal tiger. It's a tale told to an author who has just scuttled his second novel played by Rafe Spall. He was told to go visit Pi by Pi's uncle if the author wanted to hear the greatest tale ever told and the author does. The author goes to visit adult Pi played by the very talented Irrfan Khan. Adult Pi told the author that through his story, he found God which is what the author is hoping to find himself. Adult Pi begins to tell the author where his name comes from, The Piscine Molitor Hotel's swimming pool that Pi's uncle absolutely loved. His uncle loved it so much that Pi's father chose to name his youngest son after said pool. That's when I started scratching my head.

The scratching went on when before the coming shipwreck, Pi seems to have no loving, profound moments with his mother, father, or brother. Younger Pi falls in love with a dancer but there's nothing about their romance at all except how adult Pi remembers how he never said goodbye. So when his family perishes in the shipwreck, there are no pulling at the heart strings at ALL! I wouldn't say I didn't care that they passed but I can't say that I was all that broken up about it either. What goes on in the lifeboat however is thrilling stuff thanks to a zebra with a broken leg, an orangutan, a drugged up hyena, and a even more drugged up tiger. Sadly though the movie descends into Cast Away mode. Think Tom Hanks on the open sea but instead of talking to a volleyball, he has a Bengal tiger to keep him company. And while out there on the open sea, Pi barely sheds a tear for his dead family and instead does all he can to keep the tiger alive. As you can guess, there was more scratching of the head going on.

Like I said, visually the movie was amazing and if it should be ignored come the movie award season, that would be a crime. I'm sure the movie looked breathtaking not in 3D but in 3D it was jaw dropping. Scored with heartbreaking fragility by the incredible Mychael Danna, the score is often the only thing that has any emotion during the movie. Now if I've made Pi out to sound like a movie not worth seeing, my apologies. You may see it and get a completely different feel from the movie that I did and you may actually find it at the very least redeeming if don't actually find God. If you see it, I hope you enjoy it more than I did...and I'll see you at the theater.

Red Dawn

Red Dawn (the remake) wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Pulled from the dirt heap of old movies begging for a new life, Red Dawn surprisingly still has legs. This is one 80's movie that while being iconic, the remake doesn't diminish its original predecessor. If you're looking for an escape and you want to cheer that good old American "fight to the death" spirit, then check out Dawn. I give it two buckets of killer korn.





Going in, I honestly thought this movie was going to suck. Why is that, you ask? Two reasons in particular. One, if you remember back, the original 1984 movie really wasn't all that good. Yeah I know, we THOUGHT it was but truth be told, it was borderline bad, even with Patrick Swayze. The premise was sooo far out there, Russians landing troops in your backyard, that it almost made you scratch your head. But in the time of Reagan and Mother Russia being the big evil of the day, why not capitalize on that fear for a few dollars. Number two, this remake was pulled together by first time director Dan Bradley. Usually the words "first time director" makes me save my money or see something else. Dan, in his previous career was nothing more than a stunt man, and at one point in his career played Jason Vorhees for a day while shooting Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI back in 86. Basically, he spent all his time in front of the camera being pulled, pushed, and landing on matts with fake glass flying all around him, which if you see Red Dawn, is pretty much all that's on the screen. Dan spent no time behind the camera but he didn't do such a bad job.

Red Dawn deals with some serious sibling rivalry between Chris Hemsworth's Jed Eckert and Josh Peck's Matt Eckert. Matt's a cowboy who never thinks about the team, only his own glory and Jed is a Marine whose only concern is for the team and not himself, ever. Their father is the sheriff of Spokane, WA. Tom Eckert played by Brett Cullen and all three men have had to learn to adjust to each other when the matriarch of the family passed away years ago. Matt never forgave Jed for joining the Marines and leaving him when their mother died and Jed never realized how wrong he was for doing so until the North Koreans started dropping troops into tiny, sleepy Spokane. At least you're supposed to believe they're North Koreans (HEY, JUST GO ALONG WITH IT, OKAY?). Jed and Matt race to get out of town and in the process of doing so while dodging troops with automatic weapons, pick up Josh Hutcherson who plays Robert Kitner and Conner Cruise (son of Tom Cruise, yes THAT Tome Cruise) who plays Daryl Jenkins.

The rest of the cast includes Adrianne Palicki, Isabel Lucas, Edwin Hodge, Alyssa Diaz, Julian Alcaraz, Jeffery Dean Morgan, and the evil Will Yun Lee and Capt. Cho, the North Korean prefect of the greater Spokane area. After watching their father take a bullet in the head, and with a rag tag bunch of teens, Jed decides they need to stay and fight. Seems like a radical idea, especially when NONE of the group has so much as ever touched a gun outside of himself before. All of a sudden though, after a few short training exercises these kids take to combat like fish out of water. They're jumping, shooting, creating diversions, and planting explosives like Black Op soldiers. They call themselves The Wolverines after the towns football team and they don't really have a mission, just maim and kill until the ammo and the C-4 runs out. That is until Jeffery Dean Morgan's character Tanner and his two other "unretired" Marines show up looking for those Wolverines. They are seeking assistance in trying to acquire the North Koreans radio.

More shooting, jumping, and running ensues as The Wolverines and the unretired Marines storm the stronghold of the Koreans. This is where the movie takes a huge leap into WTF Land! But if you can suspend reality and all common sense then you just may enjoy that sequence. Bottom line questions are, is Red Dawn an entertaining film? Yes it is. Did it have potential to be even better? Absolutely. Is it worth the price of admission? That depends. If you are going to see it to watch young white suburban kids kick North Koreans asses then you will get your moneys worth. If you are going for some other reason, like say you liked the original and you wanted to see the updated version, I would wait for DVD. Remember, the original 1986 movie really wasn't all that good, just sayin'. BUT (and that's a big but) if you could see yourself picking up arms and risking life and limb to fight a foreign invader, if that idea excites you and gives you good bumps then Red Dawn is your movie.

The cinematography was amateurish at best. At its best, it looked like it was shot by kids in high school, at its worse it made you want to puke. I am a HUGE fan of the stedi-cam, the handheld camera, not so much. I understand Dan wanted to make you feel like you were right there, in the middle of the mad scramble, right in the middle of all that action but there were moments where I felt like I was going to puke. The handheld thing was truly annoying and was thankfully moved away from as the movie went on. The score by Ramin Djawadi was ignorable. It didn't stand out in ANY way, it didn't deliver any heroic themes and it was only cued up during the time when you aren't looking for any music, during the action sequences. As a stand alone score, it's good but in the movie, you won't remember it. If you do go see Red Dawn remember, I warned you! I'll see you at the the theater!

Lincoln

Lincoln, Steven Spielberg's latest opus is a fascinating movie if you care to learn about how the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. If you don't know what the 13th Amendment is, it's the abolishment of slavery. If you don't really care that much then you might find it boring but Spielberg never makes, okay rarely makes a bad film and Lincoln isn't at all a bad film. That's why it gets three buckets of Killer Korn.



If Abraham Lincoln was anything like Daniel Day-Lweis' portrayal of him, I would have loved to have met him. I have never wanted to meet any president, never cared to meet the figure head of the Republic, the leader of the free world. Just wasn't my thing but that being said, if Lincoln was as graceful, even handed, gracious, magnanimous, and intelligent as he was in this movie, then his hand would have been one I would have liked to shake. I don't know if this will win Day-Lewis another Oscar but I do know it will win him a brand new legion of fans for he is fantastic as the 16th President. Sally Field's portrayal as Lincoln's tortured wife Molly Lincoln was every bit as good as Day-Lewis'. All of the performances were stellar and to me stand out was James Spader.

Yes you read that right, James Spader. He has finally found a roll that he fits into perfectly as W.N. Bilbo, a political operative who was hired by Lincoln and his Secretary of State William Seward played by David Strathairn to get in anyway he and his cohorts could, votes by key Democrats to vote for the 13th Amendment. I have rarely been impressed by anything Spader has done throughout his career, I was impressed by him in Lincoln. This movie also starred Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (what a year this kid is having), Jared Harris (Prof. Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes; Game of Shadows), and Gloria Reuben are just a few of the outstanding actors in this extensive cast. And I'm quite certain whoever Spielberg wanted, he didn't get a "no".

This movie, amazingly is startlingly timed. It coincides almost poignantly with the re-election of the 44th President Barack Obama. It shows just how far we as a people and a nation has come. This movie, like I have indicated is light on Civil War action and very heavy on trying to get the Constitution amended trying to kill slavery. When you walk out of the theater, you live in a world where the President is a Black man. That realization is powerful to me and that's a testament to Spielberg, for creating and crafting a movie that seemingly transports you back in time to that moment when back alley deals are made, backs are stabbed, the votes are counted, and slavery is killed in this country.

Inspired by the book by Dolores Kearns Goodwin entitled Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Spielberg's movie puts you inside the offices and almost inside the heads and the hearts of the Republicans that wanted to abolish slavery and the Democrats that looked to keep it going. The only complaint I have it the ending, I think Speilberg overdid it on the ending and went for the grandiose instead of the more emotional. Outside of that, the sets, the costumes, the makeup were all seemingly perfect. The score, composed by the masterful maestro himself, John Williams was uplifting, poignant, humorous, and solemn when it needed to be. It's a great score to a great movie and one I definitely recommend. It is well worth the price of admission so see it, and I'll see you at the theater.

Skyfall

Skyfall, the twenty third installment in the James Bond franchise is definitely one of the better Bond films in it's history. Therefore it gets three big buckets of Killer Korn. It brings you a part of James' life that you never knew, and may have never wanted to know. If you like keeping Bond at arms length then don't see this movie. However, if you've always been curious where Bond comes from and what his back story is, Skyfall answers all those questions.


The most accomplished director of a James Bond film ever is the man responsible for Skyfall. He is the Oscar Award winner Sam Mendes and he does a marvelous job with one of the weakest story lines for a Bond film (remember The World Is Not Enough and Goldeneye? Exactly). That being said, it's also one of the more original (if that's possible) Bond films as well and shows a true love for London. Usually Bond films have our hero traipsing all around the globe, and seldom if ever coming home. When he does, he's only there to get some new toys and then he's off again. Skyfall has James running through the London Underground tube system at rush hour, something never before seen. It's a magnificent foot race between Bond and his worthy (and often times funny) nemesis Silva played the freakishly talented Javier Bardem.

Starring alongside those two men is Dame Judy Dench reprising her role as M and that's it as far as recognizable faces go in relation to the latest Bond films. Unless of course you count Rory Kinnear who plays M's chief asst. Tanner, he was in the previous two films. This time around we get the lovely Naomi Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Berenice Marloh, and fresh off his turn in Cloud Atlas, Ben Whishaw as the new Q. It's a strong cast and only one real performance is wasted but I won't divulge that here. The story revolves around a list that's been stolen of every British agent currently undercover in terrorist organizations around the globe, putting countless agents at risk. If that sounds familiar, just think back to the first Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie, it's the same premise.

Now, much like it's predecessor, Skyfall starts off with one hell of a chase sequence. Bond is after the man who killed fellow agents, ripped out the hard drive that contained said list and fled into the streets of Turkey (note to filmmakers, time to find a new locale, Turkey no longer impresses). They chase by car, then motorcycle across rooftops (that actually did impress me), and then to the train where Bond and the bad guy fight on top of. Naomi Harris' character, a fellow agent is in hot pursuit and when ordered to "take the bloody shot", hits James sending him plunging into the river below. From then on, MI6 is blown up and relocated underground, Bond comes back from the dead and they realize they have a new enemy, Javier Bardem's Silva.

Silva is a vicious and violent man and has every right to hate the ground M walks upon and he is her primary target in this movie. Bond is moved into the role of protector and he plays it well, just not well enough. This movie has everything you want a Bond film to have, including the names of James' parents. Yes, we learn so much more about Bond in this film than we ever knew before. It's entertaining, breathtaking, exhilarating, and predictable. HEY, it's James Bond, after twenty three movies you're bound to get predictable. Mendes does a fine job though of putting Skyfall together, it is shot beautifully, especially if you love silhouettes because there are more than a few of those here, I'm guessing for dramatic effect. It's scored blandly by James Newton Howard until the Aston Martin shows up, Then you perk up and pay attention and actually smile. Like I stated at the top, if you've always felt comfortable keeping secret super agent 007 at arms length then don't see Skyfall, if you've always wanted to know a little more then Skyfall is the movie for you and I'll see you at the theater!

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is not for everyone though I found it absolutely breathtaking and a work of genius. I give it only two and a half buckets of killer kiorn though because it's a convoluted storyline and it can be confusing. If you go in like I was told to go in, suspending all belief and just ride the wave, you will get swept up in this movie just like I did.



You ever go in to see a movie and then come out completely changed? You ever then, look at the world and the people around you with a completely different eye than you had just two ours before? That's what I felt like after seeing Cloud Atlas. Now I will be completely honest with you, I had no desire to see this movie whatsoever, thankfully a dear friend recommended it and since I trust her taste, I told her I would go give it a look see. She told me not to get caught up in the story line because it will make the movie worse, to just sit back and enjoy the ride and that is just what I did. No better advice was ever given. Directed by the brother and sister duo that brought you the Matrix Trilogy along with Tom Tykwer who directed The International, Cloud Atlas is a film that spans time and even space in a way never before seen.

Adapted from the novel written by David Mitchell that was published in 2004 (which I am now curious about reading), and written somehow for the screen by Lana and brother Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, Atlas deals with multiple lives that are separated by years if not hundreds and even thousands of years. Its extensive cast includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Keith David, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, and Doona Bae as the principles. I can't even begin to list their characters names because each person plays more than one character. I also can't really get into the story except to say this tale was a tale of the abolishment of slavery, rebellion, betrayal, music, and love.

This is not a movie for the average movie goer. The average movie goer will more than likely get up and walk out. In fact, this was probably the biggest waste of money by the producers of a film other than Ishtar (remember Ishtar?). That's not good news for any of the fourteen producers of the movie (and three of the fourteen were the directors of the film) but something made them fork over the money and I am going to have to go with, it was their love of the novel. The novel, whose very own author told those directors that even HE didn't think his novel would make a good movie but the project went on regardless. If this book inspired that kind of fanaticism then it sounds like something worth looking into because this movie WILL lose money. That being said, I can honestly say that I feel like one of the lucky ones that did see it. I feel like one of the fortunate few and I feel sympathy for those that either saw it and didn't get it or will never get the chance to see it.

It was a visual feast for the eyes AND the ears. The name of the movie, according to the movie comes from a piece of classical music entitled The Cloud Atlas Sextet. If you've seen the trailer then you've heard the melody and if you've been living under one of those big rocks out there and missed the trailer, don't worry because I'll include it and you can hear it there. The score was created by Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, and Tom Tykwer and it was beautiful, graceful, dramatic, sorrowful, and inspirational throughout the film. It was more than a job well done, it was Oscar worthy. I recommend it but I do so with a caveat, if you don't go in with an open mind and an open heart, this film will go right over your heads. If you go in though, with no preconceived notions or ideas, if you go in just prepared to enjoy the ride then you will love this movie as much as I do, I swear it. Go see it and I'll see you at the theater!

Flight

Flight gets 3 out of 4 buckets of killer korn. It is a very well done film and all the performances were exemplary. I highly recommend it.


"Let me tell you a story about an addict" is what the tag line should be for this movie because Flight, directed by Robert Zemeckis is littered with them. Well not so much as littered with them than about one main one. His name is Captain Whip Whitaker played by Denzel Washington and he is a straight screw up. The man has no redeeming qualities you can see and is a hopeless addict. Hapless however, he is not. In fact, Whip is a man sent from God to save the lives of those on board his plane that suffers a "catastrophic failure" about 30 minutes into it's flight from Orlando to Atlanta. Now I am not the biggest Denzel Washington fan, that's right I said it, to me he's much like Clive Owen, the same guy in every film he's in. There seems to be very little acting done, that being said though I feel this is one of his finer performances to date, right behind his Det. Alonzo Harris from Training Day, his portrayal of Malcolm X, and his Pvt. Trip from Glory. Two of those won him Oscars and the one that didn't, should have. 

Denzel shines in the role of the unrepentant Whitaker and when he swills booze from the bottle and sniffs up lines of coke, it's Denzel like you have never seen him. Playing alongside Denzel is a very very talented cast which includes the likes of Don Cheadle who plays Whips lawyer Hugh Lang. I think this is the first time those two men shared the screen together since Don played Mouse and Denzel played Easy in one of my favorite movies, Devil In A Blue Dress. Whips pusher is the charismatic and potentially dangerous Harling Mays played hilariously by John Goodman, yes...THAT John Goodman. There's also Bruce Greenwood, the lovely Tamara Tunie, the Oscar award winning Melissa Leo, and a great turn by Kelly Reilly from Sherlock Holmes fame as Watson's wife who plays the addict Nicole. It's a great cast and a superb movie.

The most magical and riveting moment is when the plane basically falls apart and takes a nose dive for the earth. Now if you've ever been on a plane at one time in your life like I have, I am sure you wondered walking into the plane if you would ever walk off that plane, like I have. That's what makes the sequence of the plane going down so riveting. I don't know how much training Denzel did in flight school or how much he hung out with pilots to get the vernacular down but he was incredible. His performance was so convincing that it almost made you feel, well made me feel that he was a pilot for his day job and did this "acting" thing on the side. It was that good. The secondary story line seemed to be thrown in but it was tied up together brilliantly at the end.

I have always enjoyed Robert Zemeckis' films, he is a very competent and solid director. A bit boring at times but I'll take competent and boring over stupid but exciting any day of the week, especially with how much ticket prices are these days. The look of the film was nothing special except for the crash sequence but it was scored absolutely beautifully by Alan Silvestri. I hated his score for the tepid Avengers movie but he more than makes up for it here. It couldn't have been a finer score written for this movie than the one he penned. All in all I highly recommend Flight, it's absolutely worth the price of admission and I will see you at the theater. 

Argo

Argo the movie vs. Ben Affleck's acting. Argo, 4 buckets of killer korn. Ben's acting, zero.

This is a must see movie, honestly. It's well worth the price of admission. It's tense, well acted, and it makes me think how in the world they got it done! Go see it NOW!


Ben Affleck has turned into one of my favorite directors. He's right up there with Spielberg, Fincher, Scorsese, and Lee as far as I'm concerned. I thoroughly enjoyed his first to forays into directing, Gone Baby Gone impressed me and The Town was brilliant. I held off on adding him to my favorite directors list though because those two movies were both based in Boston and were well within his comfort zone. I wanted to see him tackle a project that had nothing to do with Bean town and it's people before I made him an official member. Argo firmly plants him prominently on that list.

Argo is the very real story of a plot to rescue six U.S. Embassy workers who escaped the embassy out the back when the Iranians barged through the front. The protesters wanted the U.S. to return the Shah of Iran back to them so they could try him in court and then kill him. The Shah , offered asylum by President Jimmy Carter had come to America dying of cancer but the people he left behind wanted him dead and they figured the best way to make that happen was to storm the U.S embassy and take Americans hostage. Somehow six escaped in the melee and swiftly headed to the Canadian Ambassadors house. How they knew to go there is never explained in the movie (big unexplained hole in the story but whatever) but you're happy he allowed them in.

Ben Affleck plays Tony Mendez, one of the CIA's top guys known for going into hostile territory and getting people out safely. Bryan Cranston plays his boss Jack O'Donnell. Jack calls Tony in 60+ days into for his opinion on how to get the six escaped Americans out of the house of the ambassador and out of the country without being publicly executed. Over a phone call with his son he comes up with a way to get the six out of Iran and it's an ingenious idea. Now Ben Affleck as a director is impressive, as an actor, not so much. He's droll and has the emotional range of a tree. Wait, that's not fair to the trees of the world. How about, he has all the emotional range of wet cement? That's more apropos. I think he should just stick to directing from now on and leave the acting to those that know how to do it. Outside of the big gaping hole in the story and Ben's horrible acting though this movie is flawless.

This movie must have been a nightmare for the production designer because the sets and the cars were right out of the early eighties. From the Star Wars poster and action figures in Tony's sons room to the cars, the clothes, even the phones, they got everything right. The budget for those things alone must have been considerable. Ben also used a nice mixture of dolly shots along with hand held cameras whenever he wanted to ramp up the tension, the music helped with that as well. Scored perfectly by the talented Alexandre Desplat the music wasn't overpowering but nor was it forgetful. It played it's position perfectly, either adding to the tension or defusing it and letting you know it was alright to breathe again. I highly recommend Argo and I'll see you at the theater.

Looper

I am now going to institute a rating system and a "quick read" to my blog. For those that don't have the attention span god gave a grasshopper I will summarize my opinion of a movie up at the top along with my "bucket of korn" rating system. One bucket, don't bother, two buckets, you might want to wait for the DVD, three buckets, worth the price of admission, and four buckets, get your ass down to the theater RIGHT NOW!

That being said, Looper gets three buckets of korn. While I feel there are some serious unanswered questions and some serious holes in the story, it was still a very entertaining movie. go see it. (That was the quick read, read on if you want my fully fleshed out opinion).

Remember in my review of Premium Rush I said that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is officially a star now? Looper, his new vehicle does nothing to diminish or tarnish that star. All it really says is that he looks NOTHING like Bruce Willis no matter how many hours he spends in makeup. That being said, Looper is one lovely mind screw and if you love mind screws then this is the movie for you. That doesn't it's not without it's holes and flaws like why the movie takes place where it does is beyond me. And why the lovely Emily Blunt is cast as Sara, a midwesterner and forced to hide her wonderful English accent I feel is a crime. The movie, written and directed by Rian Johnson, the man behind the great Brick which also starred Gordon-Levitt takes place in the future where apparently paper money no longer carries any weight(which makes me wonder why people are still playing with quaters). Gordon-Levitt plays the looper Joe, he's a hitman in the past which is the present and he kills guys the mob from the future wants dead. So they send back these loose ends and the looper erases the target.


Joe is also a drug addict but he's a drug addict with an eye on the future, like that ever happens. He works for Abe who is played bt Jeff Daniels. Abe was sent back from the future to run Joe and the other loopers, to make sure they stay in line. Abe owns a nightclub/strip joint (cliche's abound) which is his headquaters. He's got a good team of young men who get little bars of silver upon killing the target from the future. Joe is saving his for a day when he can retire but there's a few problems. Firstly there is no real retiring and secondly, all the loops are being closed. Meaning loopers are basically loose ends and the mob doesn't like loose ends so they send back the future looper to the past who get's taken out by his present self. Still with me? Good. Upon killing yourself you are out of the game, blessed with a huge payday (bars of gold strapped to your future self), and you get to party until you die.


That's called "closing the loop" and it rarely ever happens but suddenly it's happening to all the loopers on the orders of the new boss of the mob. He's known as the Rainmaker and he wants all loopers killed. Joe himself gets sent back but present Joe can't kill future Joe, played by Bruce Willis because future Joe is too slick for present Joe and he get's away. Future Joe didn't come back without a plan and once he gets away from himself he intends on making that happen. I'll leave it there for now, don't want to give everything away but Looper could have been better at many points along the way. It could have been a less convoluted story line as well but hey, someone thought it would make a good movie. I know it had the potential to be a better one than it is but that doesn't mean it's not entertaining. See you at the theater!

End of Watch

Okay, I'm just going to put it out there from the get go, I am no fan of the police. There, I said it. That being said, if there were more cops like Jake Gyllenhaal's Brian Taylor and Micheal Pena's Mike Zavala then maybe I'd like cops more. Hands down, End of Watch, directed and written by David Ayer is the best buddy cop film...EVER! David Ayer creates two characters that seemingly genuinely love each other like brothers and they love their job. They aren't gung ho cowboys out to solve every crime but they are in it to win it when they get "in" it. This movie is also filmed in a way that allows you to see how Brian and Mike interact on a daily basis. Brian is taking a film class and chooses to document his days in a squad car for his final exam which is a brilliant way to get the behind the scenes look at cops with their guard down.

David Ayers wrote Training Day which won Denzel Washing his second Oscar. There won't be any Oscar winning going on here but you will laugh and quite possibly cry while watching this film. I doubt you'd walk out of the theater feeling indifferent about Watch. The story is told over about two years and throughout that time Mike takes off his badge and his gun and has a fist fight in the house of a gang member, they play practical jokes on each other and their fellow cops, discover stash houses, roust house parties, and get in really bad with the Sinaloa Cartel out of Mexico. They get in so deep on the cartels shit list that a price is put on their heads.

Also during this time, Mike and his beautiful wife Gabby played by Natalie Martinez have a child and Brian meets and eventually marries Janet played by the Oscar nominated Anna Kendrick. It all gets tripped up when Brian wants to check out a house in their precinct. Mike wants no parts of it but Brian convinces and off they go. They walk right into a hornets nest of trouble, not just from the Cartel but from one of those three lettered agencies. You know the ones, C.I.A., DEA, FBI...those guys. They get warned about the price on their heads by the feds and that gang member Mike had the fight with, as a common courtesy and for "keeping it gangsta".

The movie is fast paced and hilarious as it is brutal at times (I still feel badly for that rookie cop). My only problem with this movie was the ending. It was perfect up until the ending in my opinion but I won't divulge my issues here. The cinematography had that Blair Witch feel since there was a lot of hand held camera work. However they did the coolest thing where Brain and Mike wore cameras so you still got that up close and intimate feel without all the camera shaking. The music by David Sardy was intense and taut. It mirrored the images on the screen pitch perfectly. This movie is worth the price of admission, it's just THAT good (except the ending, of course). See it and I'll see you at the theater.  

The Master

DON'T DO IT!!! I DON'T CARE WHAT THOSE OTHER MOVIE REVIEWERS SAID ABOUT THIS FILM, DON'T DO IT!!! And basically what I mean by that is DON'T spend your money on a ticket. DON'T spend any money on popcorn or soda or candy. DON'T find a comfortable seat in the theater (you know the ones, right in the middle of the theater). And do NOT, for the love of whatever, do NOT waste two hours and seventeen minutes of your life wathing The Master. This go nowhere, do nothing movie does just that, it goes nowhere and does nothing and because of that, those two hours and seventeen PRECIOUS minutes of your life are minutes you will NEVER get back.

Performances were steller. If you like Joaquin Phoenix then you will like him in this movie (though I don't think he's doing any real "acting", I think he's just being himself). If you love Phillip Seymour Hoffman then you will love him in this drivel because he's the best thing on the screen. He's magnetic, as are all of the performances really. The biggest problem with this film in my humble opinion is the story. The reason being there isn't one. In movies like these, where there are two strong characters where one supposedly has it all together and the other is falling apart at the seams there is usually an arc for that tragic character. He usually goes from bad to good or from fragile to steadfast. You see it unfold right there in front of your very eyes on the screen. The Master has those two characters in spades. There is no wondering or guessing who's who and who's doing what. Granted, Hoffman's Lancaster Dodd isn't without his flaws but he holds the facade together so perfectly that anyone who takes a mere glance at the man would see perfection, contentment, and the confidence of one that has it all together. Joaquin Phoenix' Freddie Quell is his absolute opposite.

Freddie is a lush, and the worse possible kind. You know, those guys that drink paint thinner or rubbing alcohol just to get to the alcohol, that's Freddie. For some reason these two men feel like that need each other. Dodd see's Freddie as a free spirit and you get the distinct impression that he's envious of Freddie's freedom to come and go as he wishes, to answer to no one. Freddie sees Dodd as someone he wishes he were, someone smart, unafraid, and unabashedly loved and amired anywhere he goes. While you enjoy the dynamic between these two men and the satellite cast, Amy Adams is frightening as Lancaster's wife Peggy Dodd, you soon realize that there really is NO STORY! There is no plot to this movie and it all seems like an excercise in the art form of film by a director with an oversized ego. That guy would be Paul Thomas Anderson who IS talented (see Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood) but here he swings for the fences and misses wildly.

I read somewhere where a critic said you have to watch this movie twice in order to really get it. I feel the only reason you should watch a movie twice is if you like it, not to "get" it. That told me all I needed to know about this movie, I just wish I read that remark before I saw this movie and not afterwards. Skip it and see something else and i'll see you at the theater.  

Dredd

Okay, right off the bat the good news is, this is a better version of Dredd than Sylvester Stallone's take on Judge Dredd. The bad news is making a better version of a Sly Stallone's Judge Dredd wouldn't be something you'd consider daunting. That being said, if you saw the wonderful film Raid: The Redemption (which I blogged about) then you've seen Dredd, except without all the amazing martial arts. It's basically the same story line as Raid, in fact if I were a producer of Raid, I'd think of suing...seriously! I was sitting there, watching this movie and waiting to see something I had never seen before aaaaand nope, it never came.

What I don't understand is if some studio head hands you his check book and says, "Go ahead and make that film you've always wanted to make" and then you go out and make something like this, I would think you should be working in Home Depot or something (in the garden gnome section no less). Directed by Pete Travis, this movie lacked ANYTHING original, I mean NOTHING at all. Not to mention it's utter nonsense like it's the future and people are still taking pictures with their cell phones? REALLY? There is supposedly a 94% unemployment rate and yet people are still shopping at the malls and (wait for it....) THERE ARE STILL MALLS???? Are you kidding me? This is Pete Travis' third movie and one of the three was the absolute atrocious Vantage Point so I should have known this would suck (but hey, at least my popcorn was good).

Mega City One stretches from Boston to DC and the rest of America is a nuclear wasteland. There are these megatowers known as blocks that rise into the sky and all the people that survived the war now live within Mega City One and in these "blocks". The only thing keeping anarchy from running wild are the Judges from The Hall of Justice. The most infamous of all the judges is Dredd and what's his assignment on this given day, train a rookie recruit. But wait, you know she just can't be ANY ordinary rookie recruit, she has to be special if Dredd gets saddled with her. Lo and behold, the rookie is a psychic (the producers pulled NO punches when it came to originality). Dredd, played by the talented Karl Urban takes rookie Anderson, played by Olivia Thirlby out into the madness of Mega City for her pass/fail evaluation. Yawn!

They soon find themselves in Peach Trees block with the responsibility of solving a multiple homicide. They are there accidentally (chasing down guys driving erratically and under the influence of narcotics) but wouldn't you know it, Peach Trees is the sole processing plant and distribution hub of the new drug on the street, the same one the drives were "high" on or "slow" on known as "slo-mo". Slo-Mo basically slows everything down but what you aren't told is why anyone would take the stuff. You aren't told if the drug makes you feel good, tastes good, makes good experiences more intense or not, you're just told that shit just lasts longer. So why anyone in their right mind would want to take a drug that slows shit down while your living in a hellish time makes NOOOO sense to me but I digress. Now that the cops are there, the slo-mo Queenpin Ma Ma wants Peach Trees locked down and the Judges eliminated because one of her top soldiers gets arrested in connection with the multiple homicide. Now the dim lit chase throughout the block ensues.

The surprise towards the end that involves more judges just screams even MORE lack of originality. On second thought, if I was one of the producers on Raid: The Redemption, I wouldn't sue. I wouldn't anyone thinking my movie and this Dredd crap had anything in common. The music by Paul Leonard-Morgan was the only redeemable thing about this film but if you don't like hip-hop beats and serious distortion in your movie scores, you might want to pass. All in all I say watch Raid: The Redemption. It's a much better movie and far more entertaining and just know that once you've seen that movie, you've seen this one. And as for us Judge Dredd fans, we'll just have to keep waiting for that GOOD Dredd movie because right now, we're 0 for 2. I'll see you at the theater!

Raiders of the Lost Ark in IMAX

I saw this movie when it first came out, back in 1981. I was twelve years old and I was blown away. Raiders of the Lost Ark solidified my love for the movies (Empire Strikes Back which came out a year before was my first love) and made me a die hard Spielberg fan. When I heard this movie was being re-released in IMAX, the twelve year old inside me told me simply "WE ARE GOING!".

I sat in my seat, popcorn in my lap, soda in my hand and suddenly when the movie started I was twelve years old again. My feet hung off the seat because my legs were too short to reach the floor. The bucket of popcorn in my lap was huge as was the tub of soda, and I had a box of Lemonheads in my pocket (I always had Lemonheads when I went to the movies back then).

I was throwing every punch, reciting every word, humming along with John Williams' masterful score, and having the time of my life watching Indy chase down the Ark against his rival Belloq. All to keep it out of Nazi Germany's hands. I don't know who is responsible for re-releasing one of my all time favorite movies (in IMAX no less) and I don't know how long it's playing but if you can catch it, catch it. I HIGHLY recommend it because I bet you're feet won't touch the floor either.

Arbitage

Okay, so I'll admit I am not the biggest Richard Gere fan. I know, shocker right? It's for the same reasons I don't particularly care for Clive Owen, there's no acting going on. They are the same guy in every movie and it gets annoying. However, again I'll admit (big time confessions) that Richard Gere BEING Richard Gere actually works in his latest film Arbitage. Written and directed nicely by first time feature film director Nicholas Jarecki, Arbitage tells the story of hedge fund manager Robert Miller and all that encompasses his world from high finance to the art world to fruad, and a crime so serious it threatens to destroy him.

Susan Sarandon (in what could be considered a come back year) plays wife Ellen Miller, a seemingly vapid wife of a billionaire. That is until all the cards are laid on the table. Brit Marling plays Robert's daughter Brooke Miller. Brooke works at her fathers firm and much like her mother has her head in the sand until she starts sniffing around the books. Robert is in talks to sell his firm to Standard Banking and Trust and his books are doctored so the deal can go through. If that happens he can then pay every one of his investors back their money without seeing any jail time. While trying to negotiate the sale he's also cheating on his wife with artist Julie Cote, played by Laetitia Casta. She is a french artist supported almost entirely by Robert and she's foolishly waiting for Robert to leave his wife.

Robert is involved in a serious crime one night and calls the only person he can think of to help him, Jimmy Grant who is played by Nate Parker. In comes Tim Roth playing Detective Michael Bryer (and seemingly reprising his role from his TV show, Lie To Me). Bryer is one of those angry, bitter cops that can't stand the wealthy and powerful and he runs this crime down like a man possessed because he knows, in his gut he knows that Robert Miller is guilty. As they say in court though, it's not what you know, it's what you can prove and Bryer is out to prove it any way he can. He harasses Jimmy almost non stop to get him to crack and talk, convinces the DA to issue a warrant to convene a Grand Jury against Jimmy, and even comes up with a piece of evidence that would send Jimmy to jail for at least ten years for something he didn't even do.

All this is going on while Robert is trying to hold everything together and sell his company. He feels that once he sells then everything will be alright because to him, money is the cure-all for every problem. He tells you that much in the beginning of the film. Being interviewed by Maria Bartiromo from CNBC he tells her of a lesson he learned in fifth grade. Everything in this world revolves around five things, M O N E Y! Now I won't give the ending away because I recommend you see it. I don't think you'll be disappointed at all by the film. The score by Cliff Martinez is a slow burning, taut one that haunts. It's subtle and perfect for the story line because the music rides the waves of Roberts emotional lows and lowers. Check out Arbitage and I'll see you at the theater.

Lawless

When I saw the trailer for Lawless, I thought this was in my wheel house. I have always had a peculiar interest in outlaw moonshiners (family being from the south and all). Also being a fan of Nascar, which got it start thanks to those white lightning runners in the first place. Yes the first superstars of Nascar way back when were lawbreaking moonshiners, anyway I digress. As I was saying, I found the subject matter intriguing and then the cast pulled me right in. For those of you who don't know by now (those living under a big rock or something), Tom Hardy is the man. He was the man as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and he keeps that going here in Lawless as Forrest Bondurant, the elder brother of the Bondurant family. Once I learned that this movie was based on true events, and those Bondurant boys actually lived, well then I couldn't wait to see it.

Starring alongside the man is Shia LeBeouf as the youngest of the Bondurant boys, all bark and no bite Jake Bondurant. He's impetuous, enterprising, and the soul of the family. Where Forrest is the ice and Jason Clarke who plays Howard Bondurant is the fire, Jake is the heart and soul, he is the soft underbelly of the Bondurants, the one that needs to be protected. And with Forrest and especially the hot headed Howard, Jake had all the protection he needed. He works for his brothers in their restaurant/garage doing the grunt work, sweeping the floors and the like but what he really wants to do is get into the shine business. A business in which his brothers are very successful at. Jake feels that he along with his best friend and "business partner" Cricket Pate who also works for the Bondurants, played by Dane DeHaan there's no way he can fail. Howard's fine with letting Jake in but Forrest knows better. He knows Jake is tender and while he may have all the ambition in the world, he doesn't have near enough heart. When Jake and Cricket strike out on their own and make a deal with the notorious Chicago gangster Floyd Banner played with a quiet ferocity by Gary Oldman, Forrest relents.

Everything is fine until Special Deputy Charlie Rakes, played by Guy Pearce comes into town from Chicago. He's there to make all the moonshiners toe the line and make their payments to his boss or he's there to kill them and shut down their operations. All of the shiners in the county go along, all except for those Bondurant boys (but you knew that, didn't you?). Standing up against Rakes brings to mind that old Japanese proverb, "the nail that sticks out gets hammered hardest". Rakes goes after the Bondurant boys in every way he can, both legally and illegally. It doesn't matter to him how he gets them, as long as he does and even if that means inciting Forrest and Howard by almost beating Jake to death, so be it. Even if that meant terrorizing Forrest's girlfriend Maggie Beauford, played by the lovely Jessica Chastain, then so be it.

Directed by John Hillcoat, who did the bleak The Road back in 2009 and based on the book The Wettest County In The World by Matt Bondurant (no, that is not a coincidence), Lawless is a movie with no real centerpiece. You find yourself rooting for Forrest in the beginning only to end up cheering for Jake in the end. The movie see-saws and I always considered that flawed filmaking, but this movie has such powerful performances that you don't mind that. This movie is also about transformation. You watch Forrest transform from the menacing presence to a loving and gentle man, same for Howard. The starkest transformation though belongs to Jake. Where he was once that soft underbelly, Rakes turns him into someone scarier than Forrest and it's mesmerising to watch.

My biggest problem with this movie is the music. Supposedly the score was done by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, the men behind the music of The Road and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The music was sort of avant garde or to be blunt, it was different. Nothing compelling and it didn't help the films along, same goes with this film. Such powerful performance's deserved a powerful score and instead you get disappointing and forgettable accompaniment. Other than that, Lawless is a should see. You will NOT be wasting your money, I assure you and I'll see you at the theater.

Little White Lies

When this movie hits the DVD shelf, I WILL OWN IT! There, I said it and I make that bold proclamation because this little French film (which by French film standards wasn't little at all) is worthy of a spot in my collection. Les petits mouchoirs or Little White Lies (as it's known here in the US) was originally released in 2010 in France and it has just graced our shores and I'm glad it did. It's basically France's version of The Big Chill, that classic 1983 film where a bunch of old college friends reunite after the funeral of one of their friends. Little White Lies follows much of the same gameplan and it's done exceptionally well right down to the soundtrack of hits by The Isley Brothers, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Ben Harper, and David Bowie.

Directed by Guillame Canet, this movie starts off with the camera trailing and following a man in a club, he's waving high, goodbye, kissing women, hugging men and looks like he's having a great time. His name is Ludo played by the Oscar aware winner from The Artist (though this movie was filmed before The Artist), Jean Dujardin. After a tragic accident lands him in the hospital we meet all his closest friends who are devastated. There's the "leader" of the group, the recognizable Francois Cluzet from The Intouchables, the insecure Marie played by Marion Cotillard, fresh off her Dark Knight Rises performance. The rest of the cast, unless you know French film and it's cadre of actors is a collection of talented but unknown actors and actresses. Benoit Magimel plays the steady but frustrated Vincent, Gilles Lellouche plays the man whore Eric, Valerie Bonneton plays Max's wife Veronique, and Pascale Arbillot plays Vincent's wife Isabelle, and Laurent Laffite playing the maddeningly insecure Antione. There is also the sage Jean-Louis (my favorite character) played by Joel Dupuch.

Every years these friends go on a two week vacation on wealthy Max's dime, he's a restaurateur but this year they wonder if they should go due to Ludo's accident. After much debate they decide to go but not before Max is confronted by his best friend and chiropractor Vincent who tells Max something that shakes him to his core and threatens their friendship. You can see Max doesn't know how to handle the news and it effects everything about him during his vacation. From that one paradigm shifting truth are a bunch of little lies underneath. If it's not Eric lying about his relationship, it's Antione lying about the secrecy of texts he's still getting from his ex girlfriend. If it's not Vincent's wife lying to her husband about wanting to be a wanton slut, it's Marie lying to herself about her NOT being a wanton slut and what she really wants. Then there's Max, lying to everyone that everything is fine and that there's nothing wrong between he and Vincent. That is until Max says something off color which makes Vincent try to take Max's head off for it.

Jean-Louis sees through all of this but says nothing, he just smiles and accepts these people for who they are. He's like a second father to Max who used to put Max to work for him digging clams when he was a child so he knows Max pretty well and knows not all is well with this group. Now I'll admit, there are times where this movie could have ended many times and would have been okay. After awhile you may get that "let's wrap this puppy up" feeling more than a few times, I know I did. Don't worry and don't be impatient because the end of this film (when it does finally come) is so emotionally beautiful that it makes me want to own it the second it's on disc. Maybe if you see, which I suggest you do maybe you'll want to own it too and I'll see you at the theater.