Law Abiding Citizen

Maybe its just the fact that I don’t love Jamie Foxx as much as everyone else but I found myself look for excuses to root for Gerard Butler’s character throughout, even though he was about as crazy as a movie character can be and Foxx played a man of justice. I’m pretty sure everyone starts off rooting for Butler…and then he goes and does something real crazy and mangles a couple guys. But because those guys had it coming, most people were still probably in Butler’s corner…and then he goes and kills some more people. But because these people were innocent, I’d be willing to bet this turned the majority of the audience against him. Not me. I found myself saying, “Ehh, sure this dude is bat-shit crazy but I probably would be too if I were in his shoes.” But then he kills some more defenseless people and I found it a lot tougher to make a case validating what he does. It’s predictable but still suspenseful, intensely violent but not too graphic, smart but not convoluted, and Gerard Butler gets back to what he’s good at- FSU (F***ing S*** Up), verdict: $$$$

Clash of the Titans

While it was as life altering a movie going experience as I had hoped, I still really liked Clash of the Titans. Seeing the movie in 3D added almost nothing to that experience. It didn’t detract from the movie too greatly other than it made me think, imagine how cool this could have been had the 3D not be a let down. Regardless, this is still definitely a theatre movie. I’ve heard complaints about how the writing is bad, the acting is flat and the action isn’t really that actiony. While I agree that none of these areas really stood out more than the rest, I felt that they were all quite solid. Worthington, who as you may recall from previous entries, is my boy. He won’t win an Oscar for this but its quite hard to imagine anyone else playing this part. The actress who played Io, Gemma Arterton, was perfectly cast. She and Worthington had a good deal of chemistry, and she more than held her in own in a movie with some fairly big names, plus she’s not bad to look at. Those minor roles were also cast very well. The band of misfit soldiers who accompany Perseus just seem to work as a group. I would have liked it if they could have found a way to focus more on the dynamic between Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes but I don’t see a way to do that without substantially dragging out the major story line. They also talk about the limited character development that occurs, and how Perseus goes from goofy fishermen to legendary warrior almost overnight. It’s a two hour movie; you can’t lay everything out in great detail. The director is giving the audience enough credit that they can figure out that when Perseus is thrust into this environment, his god-like instincts take over and he is able to rise to the challenge in front of him. The monsters looked great; they weren’t quite iconic but they were no way comedic in appearance. I would have liked to have seen them do more with either the battle between Perseus and the Kraken, or Perseus and Hades. However, they have set themselves up quite well for an intense sequel, as much less time would have to be devoted to back story. As somehow who is fascinated by Greek mythology (yes, I did have a girlfriend or two in high school) I really can’t wait to see more installments, as well as other myth-based movies, verdict: $$$$

She’s Out of My League

She’s Out of My League is simply out of its league when compared with the Hangover. This movie is fairly funny, providing modest chuckles, as well as a few legitimate belly laughs. However, it is so outrageously stupid, although the chick is outrageously hot (just felt obligated to meet my quota for references to hot actresses making movies more watchable), that it is hard to take it seriously enough to consider a successful comedy. If you watch this movie, you’ll be decently entertained for an hour and half but if I asked you about it a week later, you probably won’t be able to tell me what about it you found funny. Because if it is every bit as forgettable as it is funny, the verdict is: $$$

Trying to play ketchup...I mean catch-up

Due to a big snow storm which left me trapped in parent’s home for 11 days, I got really log jammed on reviews. Since I am so behind I am doing brief summaries of most of the movies I watched in order to catch back up.

The Proposition: The best word to describe this film may be: gritty. It’s both realistic and unrealistic at the same time. The setting seems real, the characters feel real, but at the same time it seems a bit outlandish which somehow makes you think its some unbelievable that it works. There’s great acting, great writing, it’s eventful and odds are it’s like no movie you’ve ever seen before. As I have mentioned before, I have a strange love affair with Guy Pearce as an actor. I cannot really explain it, so I don’t expect anyone to understand it, but whether you like him or not, you’ll appreciate his performance, verdict: $$$$

Zombieland: This movie is funny. I had low expectations to begin with and the start of this movie did not help that. In fact, in a move I rarely make, I almost turned it off after the first few minutes. In some misguided attempt to make it up to myself for quitting my baseball team in eighth grade, I try to finish what I start which can be a real pain when reading a bad book more so than a bad movie. But I digress; the beginning of this movie is a little bit more graphic than what I anticipated. From that point on however, the movie establishes a fair balance between gory, zombie movie and comedy. The cameo in this movie is great, mostly because I didn’t see it coming. Since no one ruined it for me beforehand, I won’t ruin it for you either, as it was a legitimate highlight of this movie for some reason I don’t fully understand. Woody Harrelson will forever be my boy because of his stunn ing role in White Men Can’t Jump, so for that reason (and the fact that it’s really funny, as I may have mentioned already) I think you should look into Netflixing this one, verdict: $$$$

Surrogates: Movies should take some advice from the military and be all that they can be, however this also means knowing their limitations. I often criticize movies for trying to do too much. That is clearly the case here. One would think, that Bruce Willis (the man rode a Harrier jet in one movie for F’s sake) + robots = ass kicking, edge of your seat, head butt your girlfriend cuz you “can’t believe Bruce just F’ing did that,” type of action. Wrong. This movie had the potential to be a lesser version of I, Robot but they squandered that opportunity by trying to introduce this terribly awkward subplot where Bruce battles his inner demons and tries to reconnect with emotionally distant wife. Borrriiinnnggg. I like Bruce Willis when he: A.) kicks bad guy’s asses B.) kicks slightly less ass but is funny about it or C.) is the bad guy and then kicks ass (I got wayyyy too much enjoyment from him blowing off Jack Black’s arm with a rifle that can only be described as a cannon). This movie should not have had an delusions about being an action/sci-fi/drama hybrid. Next time, cut out the misplaced mushiness and stick to your story’s strengths, verdict: $$$

The Machinist

I may have mentioned once, or maybe like 6 times, that I like Christian Bale. Based on that sound reasoning, I decided to Netflix some of his older movies. Hard to believe I don’t own them all already, right? I have always been trying to Netflix a lot of what I call “crazy movies,” that leave you with your jaw hanging to the floor or you scratching your head, or some combination of those two things. A crazy movie can either “wow” you with its intense action, suspense, plot twists, or totally dialed-in acting performances. The Machinist is a crazy movie. Not because of anyone of these elements, but because of a combination of them all. The action is limited, but is intense when it occurs. Yes, I have a decent vocabulary, but no other word but “intense” would do justice to this movie. This movie is very suspenseful, although semi-predictable. The same can be said of the plot twists. I honestly do not think it is bias at work here, but Bale’s performance was Oscar worthy. This isn’t the greatest movie, but his performance makes it very worthwhile to watch. The best word for it is “dedicated.” The dude lost extreme amounts of weight, even when he probably didn’t have to, just in the interest of truly embracing the character he was portraying. If you can stomach watching a fairly solid, but not amazing movie (with some strange elements) just to appreciate good acting, then definitely rent this. If you aren’t up for that, well, your loss because it’s still worth watching regardless, verdict for Bale’s performance: $$$$$, verdict for the remaining elements of the film: $$$, overall verdict: $$$$

The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker hurts so good (or hurts so well according to grammar check…but that just doesn’t sound right, or near as corny). Instead of me writing a ton about a movie that has been reviewed to death, I’m gonna keep it short and to the point. It’s pretty damn good. Its not Best Picture good, but it’s a very solid movie. Again, all the major reviews will in fact review the finer points of this film, so allow me to touch on a few things that I didn’t like. I like Guy Pearce as an actor for some very, very odd reason (I know I can’t really figure it out either). Nothing bothers me more in movies than strange cameos by name actors that would have been just as easily played by some no-name guy. Spoiler Alert!!! Guy Pearce is in this movie. Guy Pearce is killed off after 1 minute of screen time in this movie. This strange cameo, although, not as strange as an earlier cameo of his I mentioned (see The Road review), started the movie off on a sour point for me. I totally forgot about this movie making mistake (that’s called alliteration if you were wondering) pretty quickly considering he gets totally blown to shit and the movie only picks upsteam from here. The casting is perfect, even the dude who I’m pretty sure played Tupac in Notorious. No huge name actors in this one (Ralph Fiennes does play a small part), which ends up being a really good thing. Watching Tom Cruise defuse bombs for two hours, in place of Jeremy Renner (who should get some Oscar consideration), would have made this movie unwatchable. It works because they are recognizable enough actors that you know they are pretty solid but not so recognizable that they don’t seem totally believable in their roles. Like I said, its really good. Almost everyone who watches will really like it, or at the very least appreciate why other people really, really liked it, verdict: $$$$ {Really, really close to $$$$$, seriously, Netflix it already).

Next

I recently watched the movie Next on TV. Hey, don’t trash my taste in movies because of it, I was sick, and there was nothing else on, and I was putting off doing my homework, and did I mention I was sick, deliriously sick? Pretty much the only nice things I have to say about this movie involve Jessica Biel, so in order to prevent me getting carried away, let’s just leave that one alone. This movie is enough to justify either intense loathing or envy toward Nicholas Cage. He makes out with the hottest women on the planet (see Jessica Biel mention earlier), gets paid tons of cash to look goofy, AND puts out a lot of movies that fall somewhere on the spectrum between mediocre and trash, all why needing a haircut. Badly. I just can’t seem to hate on the guy too much for this, its not his fault movie execs are suckers and people still pay to see his 90 minute life distractions, verdict: $$$

{Disclaimer: No, I did not think this was a good movie (AT ALL), as I mentioned. Nor, would I recommend anyone go out of there way to watch it. But, as far as shitty movies on FX at 6pm on a Tuesday, you could do a lot worse- well, maybe not a whole lot worse. But that’s my reasoning as to why this movie received $$$...that and Jessica Biel, of course.}

Gamer

When I first heard about the movie Gamer, I was quite excited. I enjoy action/ sci-fi movies starring big name actors (I, Robot is one $$$$ example) who are looking to get back on track after a string of disappointing movies. Gerard Butler gets back to his ass kicking roots that he became famous for in 300. The problem with this movie is that it was a bit too ambitious. Someone greatly overestimated the potential of this premise. The key ingredients for a good movie are there, but not for a great movie. If they had stuck to the basic elements here and just focused on: Man gets falsely imprisoned, Man kicks tons of ass to get back to his family, Man wins his freedom and either gets back to his family or he avenges them; then this would have been a really enjoyable movie. What I’m saying is that if they had taken the plot from Gladiator and made it science fiction, then this movie probably would have kicked ass. By throwing in Michael C. Hall’s “evil genius tries to take of world but is thwarted by the good guy who’s willing to do bad things to get his family back” angle, the movie just gets too convoluted. They really tried to do too much here, which normally you can’t fault someone for, but in this case I am because they disappointed me, verdict: $$$

The Book of Eli

I was so excited to see The Book of Eli (as you can probably tell from my earlier post about movies I couldn’t wait to see). While it wasn’t a life changing cinematic experience, it was by no means disappointing. There were several solid acting performances in this but Mila Kunis did not deliver one of them. I couldn’t help but think I was watching her character from That '70’s Show if there was ever a nuclear fallout in Point Place, Wisconsin. She came off as rather annoying (to me at least) but still wasn’t a major detractor from the film. If anything, her squawking lightened the atmosphere a bit at times. The most realistic acting job in this movie was probably by Gary Oldman, as he was incredibly believable as the deranged villain. However, this movie is all about Denzel Washington. The action sequences early on are fantastic (they are over the top, but I think that is what I liked about them) and he seems very authentic when speaking about the importance of faith, even if it does seem a tad bit preachy at points. While the surprise ending to this film, isn’t that much of a surprise, it is not because anything in Washington’s performance gives it away. I see no legitimate way for them to make a sequel, or even prequel, to this movie which is probably for the best, although I could watch him reprise this role several more times and not be sick of it, verdict: $$$$

State of Play

I initially heard bad things about State of Play which is why it was so long before I got around to seeing it. Also, because I do not identify with journalists in anyway, even though I decided to choose it for a major, I do not go out of my way to see movies involving journalists, in fact I tend to avoid it. I have a noticeably smaller man-crush on Russell Crowe (Gladiator would’ve been good enough to carry a career but the dude just doesn’t stop making hits) which made me decide to see it. The plot seemed predictable but then they threw one plot twist at you. After that twist though, it was easy to predict the next twist they were about to unleash on the viewer. Still interesting though and while I don’t think a lot of Ben Affleck’s acting skill, he did a solid enough job compared to some movies he’s been in. Robin Wright Penn did an admirable job in a fairly small role and her story line, while unnecessary, does do a decent job to help mask the impending plot twists. And any movie producer smart enough to put Rachel McAdams in their movie, deserves a good rating. Overall, the movie is well cast, well acted, well directed, well written, and like I said, it has Rachel McAdams, verdict: $$$$

Inglourious Basterds

I did not find Inglourious Basterds to be as glorious as a lot of people did. However, I did enjoy it way more than I anticipated. I am not in any way a big Tarantino fan and I rarely ever love a movie Brad Pitt is in. Although, I think he’s a pretty solid actor who just picks movies that don’t appeal to my tastes (see, or rather don’t see Burn After Reading), aside from obvious choices like Fight Club, Snatch, Se7en and Troy (Seven Years in Tibet and Meet Joe Black are also solid). That being said, I could not resist seeing if this movie could live up to the hype- and it did for the most part. Pitt’s performance is so bad that its good and the casting is fairly solid overall (Christoph Waltz is spot-on and Diane Kruger is pretty). It wasn’t too predictable, the action/violence wasn’t too outrageous, and it had a uniqueness to it that I think is largely what makes it a good movie, verdict: $$$$

Public Enemies

Public Enemies was a no-brainer for me to see because of my previously mentioned man-crush on Christian Bale. I like him in everything basically and this movie was no different. He doesn’t play the lead role of John Dillinger but he still manages to steal (get it, steal, about a John Dillinger movie) the scenes he is in. He puts a lot of effort into making his performances as believable as possible and I think he did Melvin Pervis justice in this role. I am hot and cold on the film's lead actor, John Depp. I rarely like his choice of movies but he usually fits the roles he plays in them to the letter. Both actors are believable (although I’m not wild about the female lead, as I find her somewhat annoying) and everything seems to be right with this movie but I couldn’t escape the feeling that it was just one ingredient short (probably an attractive female character, just sayin) of being a great film instead of a really good one. That being said, there is nothing wrong with being a really good film and I would recommend this to just about anyone, verdict: $$$$

I Love You Man

If I were speaking to Paul Rudd, I would gladly say “I Love You Man,” in regards to his work obviously. I think he is one of the most understatedly funny people around. Whether he’s a main character like in Role Models or in a lesser role like in Knocked Up, the dude is just plain funny. And its realistic funny, like when he gets nervous talking to a man-date and invents words. That to me is a lot more likely to be something you’d find funny in everyday life than for example when Jim Carrey sings “Jumper” to a guy in Yes Man to prevent him from being, well, a jumper. Jason Segel is also quite funny here and one might even say, that this movie made me forget Sarah Marshall ("And the award for cheesiest one paragraph movie review goes to..."). Its not as funny as the Hangover but it’s light years better than All About Steve, verdict: $$$$

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a lot like the other X-Men movies. The action is solid, the casting is good, but the acting is typical of a comic book movie. It is hard to imagine anyone else besides Hugh Jackman (another man crush of mine, The Prestige is $$$$$) playing Wolverine but at times his performance is a bit chuckle worthy. I like the Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson selection, well, because I like Ryan Reynolds (I’m looking forward to a Deadpool spin-off starring Reynolds). I actually think the best casting job in the movie, aside from Jackman, was the one I was most confused by originally. I did not think Liev Schreiber made sense to play Sabertooth but he does an admirable job and now I can’t imagine anyone else playing that part, especially not this guy. The rest of the casting is good as whole, even Will.i.am wasn’t too bad. This is just the kind of movie where you enjoy it for its strength and try not to condemn it for its weaknesses; it is what it is, verdict: $$$

The Ugly Truth

The Ugly Truth is about what you’d expect. It’s a romantic comedy that tries to tell the same old story in an only slightly varied way. They’re total opposites, they attract, something almost breaks them apart, but in the end they fall in love in some quirky way. He’s a gruff man’s man. She’s a neurotic control freak. Somehow this leads to a small amount of chemistry. Plus it doesn’t hurt that Gerard Butler’s cool and Katherine Heigl is kinda hot. The ugly truth here is that this is a cute but predictable movie that relies an awful lot on the assets of the two main characters, verdict: $$$

3:10 to Yuma

3:10 to Yuma is a remake of a classic western by the same name. Having extensively studied this genre as a whole, not only is this one of the best westerns of recent times, it is one of the best as a whole. The actors are superb, although I find it mildly ironic that the two main characters (played by Christian Bale and Russell Crowe) are not Americans. The story is still just as dynamic as it was in the original. This movie has good casting (gotta love the Peter Fonda sighting, especially since his father made his name in westerns), good acting, good action, good choreography, good costume work (especially in making it appear Christian Bale has a prosthetic leg), good directing, and this all adds up to a great movie, verdict: $$$$$

Celtic Pride

Celtic Pride is bad but entertaining. It pokes fun at the fanatics that are Celtic fans and even though it takes their exploits to a new level, it still never seems that unbelievable, which adds to the comedy. It’s so absurd that it seems spot on in the way it portrays obsessive fans and the superstars they love, or in this case, love to hate. This, I believe, is a credit to the writing team of Colin Quinn and some guy you may have heard of since, Judd Apatow- I think he's made a few okay movies since this masterpiece. Overall, it has a few good laughs but mostly it is goofy, mindless entertainment. That being said, it has a Larry Bird cameo and it is about basketball, verdict: $$$

Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation is a movie I enjoyed more than most, and I can see why. I have seen it on both the big and small screen and liked it about the same both times. For most, it was a solid sci-fi/action film and nothing more. For Terminator nerds, it wasn’t T2 but at least it was better than T3. But for me, it had one of my favorite established actors, one of my favorite up and coming actors, and a really hot chick with a cool name. Seeing these people interact made a solid movie even more enjoyable for me. While I am not the biggest sci-fi fan alive, I do tend to love movies with giant robots blowing shit up. So what that parts of this movie weren’t perfect, like the CGI recreation of the Governator as a bulky terminator. It still has cool actors, cool special effects, and offers a cool new take on a popular franchise. Verdict: $$$$