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.