In Solitary Man, Michael Douglas plays Ben Kalmen, a (former) car salesman in NYC with a heart condition who is divorced from his wife and sleeping with many young women (he's nearing 60), and his family doesn't approve. He used to have multiple dealerships on the east coast, but lost them all through bad business tactics. He's working on opening one via his current girlfriend's father's connections. He blows his opportunity to get in on the new car dealership, which was the only thing he had going in his favor. Without that he has no job, no income, no wife, and no life. Ben slowly ruins every kind of relationship in his life, personal and professional. He's an aging man living with the consequences of his actions and choices that have isolated him and dissolved his once successful business, a marriage, and most recent relationship. He has nothing left to lose. His only friend left is Danny Devito's character, who gives him a job at his diner to help him through the hard time. Being an aging man with a bad heart whose life is in tatters, Ben struggles to accept that he is a shadow of his former self, and he tries to feel young again by having relations with lots of girls much younger than him and half-heartedly working on his business by scamming his girlfriend. As it would be for anyone, it's hard for him to accept that he is responsible for the current state of his life and his mistakes spell the end for him.
The problem with this movie is that you don't feel sorry for Michael Douglas' character. The film lacks emotion and depth, and while it's watchable, slow but not boring, it didn't leave me with much. Its not a very memorable or special film, but worth watching on a slow night with not much else to do.
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I did not have high hopes for this film. Mostow directed Terminator 3, and for that I can never really forgive him. Bruce Willis is a great actor- The Fifth Element! Die Hard! Sixth Sense! Look Who's Talking! - but he occasionally does some pretty dumb stuff (Cop Out? Ugh...) and this looked like it might've been for him what Battlefield Earth was for John Travolta. Thankfully, everyone involved (except Travolta in Battlefield Earth) did a good job.
Surrogates is centered around Tom Greer, who lives his life as a police detective and unhappily married man largely through the eyes of his robot self. Nearly the entire world is sitting in a “stim chair” all day while their “surrogates” live their lives, making the crime and infectious disease rates plummet. The real people are basically experiencing everything their robot personae do, except they can disconnect any time. Then somehow, a group of anti-surrogate renegades get their hands on a device that kill both the robot and the user at home. Well, poop. Willis and Radha Mitchell have great chemistry as the long-married couple who can barely look at each other after the death of their young son in a car accident before surrogates were as widely used. There's a great back story on how surrogates became what they are, and a lot of politics got 98% of the population using them- just like what I guess would happen if we had them. The action is pretty standard, but the dramatic parts and character development are what really kept me watching. This movie is good sci fi. All in all, I'd put this at a solid 7 out of 10- not the greatest movie of all time, but thoroughly entertaining fare with a few good warning points about staring at the computer playing WoW all day. Get ready to ride “low and slow” through La Mission. La Mission takes place in the Mission District of San Francisco, CA. The story follows Che (Benjamin Bratt) and his son, Jesse. Che discovers Jesse's homosexuality by finding some pictures in his son's room of him and his boyfriend at a gay club in the Castro, and struggles to deal with this part of his life. Che and his neighbor Lena, a young black student, also have a strange relationship that starts off a little hostile, as Che resents Lena for what she represents. Che is a good person, but he has a tempter and he struggles with accepting differences between people and their cultures. Che is a bus driver for MUNI and his real passion is low rider classic cars. He is an artist, a painter, and a restorer of classic automobiles. He is also a proud Latino man, and his family, community, cultural history, and his legacy are very important to him. His traditional values make it hard for him to accept his son, and although he is very proud of Jesse, his homosexuality is more than he can immediately handle. Jesse represents a new generation, one that is less macho and more open and honest, and while he appreciates his culture and his family's history, it isn't very relative to him as he lives his life his way and works towards leaving The Mission for UCLA. This film is beautiful on multiple levels. The film is full of bright and colorful imagery, and the soundtrack is great. The acting is very good, and on an unparalleled level for Bratt. I definitely recommend La Mission to anyone looking for something moving, or anyone ready to deal with some heavy topics. Get ready to ride “low and slow” through La Mission. On a side note, while not required, it is recommended that the viewer watch Blood In, Blood Out before watching La Mission- just to see Benjamin Bratt's career go full circle. Youth In Revolt, based on the epistolary novel by C D Payne, is the story of Nick Twisp and all of the crazy things he'll do for love.
I was pretty jazzed about this movie, since I loved the book when it came out. Of course, the movie's plot only barely follow's that of the book, and there are more than a few changes to each character as well. However, I think the feeling of the book was captured well here, and that was what I enjoyed the most. Michael Cera is pretty much Michael Cera here, but he's more Arrested Development-era Cera (heh) than Extreme Movie Cera, thank all that is holy. Zach Galifianakis is boring as usual- he never seems sure if he should be the straight man or over the top, and instead he teeters in the middle and fails to create characters. His slack is picked up by Ray Liotta, of all people, and Portia Doubleday and her Saunders family members are hilarious and leave you wanting more after each of their scenes. Fred Willard, in a rare performance, lays low in most of the film, but steals scenes even from Cera when he speaks up. As far as events are concerned, this movie is rated R for multiple reasons. Nick's Fight Club-esq alter ego Francois is into blowing ish up, and he does it really well. Nick, on the other hand, is pretty much just good at being awkward, masturbating, and trying to get Sheeni to do it for him. Justin Long's character brings the drug content full force. Overall, there are enough WTF moments to make me think there should be a "Don't Try This At Home" warning on both sides of the film, and I would never recommend this as a movie for kids, or as a movie for parents to watch with their offspring of any age. Do watch it though, and glory in your lost youth as I did. Date Night was SO funny I could not believe it. Very rarely do I pay to see a movie in theaters. I must admit; the sole reason I went to see this is because I absolutely LOVE Tina Fey. Everything she does is gold. Steve Carell is funny but he's got a schtick. A lot of what he does feels the same. However, Fey & Carell's chemistry in Date Night is tangible. I, as an average American female, can believe that there is a couple somewhere in the world just like Fey & Carell. The film begins with Phil & Claire Foster as a suburban New Jersey family with two kids and a mortgage. The Fosters' only escape from their monotonous life in their weekly date night. We see one of their dates nights in which they visit the same restaurant and order the same thing every time. One particularly funny scene is when they're sitting at the dinner table and they're making up stories for the people around them. I can honestly say this is something I've done before with my girlfriend. It's quite entertaining when Fey & Carell do it. The next date night Phil decides that he needs to spice up their date night once in a while so he takes them to Manhattan to the new seafood restaurant, Claw. When the snooty host declines them because they don't have a reservation, Phil then takes someone else's reservations. When two men approach the "Tripplehorns" Phil & Claire think that they work for the restaurant so they follow them into an alley. When the two men pull guns on them, they soon realize that they are not waiters. The thugs ask the Fosters for a flashdrive but since they aren't the Tripplehorns, they don't know what the men are talking about. A case of mistaken identity ensues and Phil and Claire try to escape from the men who turn out to be crooked NYPD cops. With the help of one of Claire's ex-clients and some smarts between the two of them, Claire and Phil have a date night that they will never forget.
The movie is hilarious overall. Their chemistry is great, the jokes are funny, and there's a scene that involves the term "sex robots." How can it go wrong? Even though it didn't break box-office records it's the best movie I've seen in a while. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys a good laugh. Even the bloopers are fantastic. Couples Retreat is not what I expected. I expected a lame movie about a few couples going on vacation. Wait--it's exactly what I expected!!! It starts out with Dave (Vince Vaughn) living his mundane life with his wife and two kids. When his best friends Jason and Cynthia announce their possible divorce, they are offered a luxury vacation at a resort called "Eden." Jason and Cynthia show their friends a PowerPoint presentation about Eden and try to get them to go on vacation in hopes that all of their marriages will be saved. Once they arrive on the resort the four couples discover that their 'vacation' includes 6 AM couples' therapy, yoga, and Jean Reno in a speedo. It's not exactly what they think. The movie has a few laugh out loud moments but overall is tense and awkward. More often than not I found myself annoyed with Jason's stick-in-the-mud, fuddy-duddy attitude and Dave's asshole-ness. Overall it wasn't a great movie. Nothing was really memorable and nothing exciting stuck with me. The best part of the movie was Kristen Davis in lingerie. The movie's ending is predictable but sweet. It did not make me like Vince Vaughn. I have never liked Vince Vaughn. If you don't like Vince Vaughn, don't see the movie.
And don't even get me STARTED on the fact that the movie poster omitted the fourth couple of the movie, who just happen to be African American. I really wanted to like this movie. I went into it with, what I felt were moderate, but excited expectations. The trailers made it look like Clash had everything I love about movies: action, excitement, crazy monsters, hot men in skirts, swords and Liam Neeson. Sadly, while the ingredients for greatness were all there, this movie quickly disintegrated into a hot mess of cheesy mediocrity. The action sequences are slow in coming. The script takes far too long in setting up the premise. Blah, blah, Gods, blah, blah Man. Blah, Blah. KILL something already! And then there is the problem of Sam Worthington. He is far too modern of an actor to be in a period movie like this. Also, while he does well with this action, you can tell he's sleepwalking through his lines for the paycheck at the end. The editing is a mess -- with great boring lulls of uninteresting and worthless plot between action. And what action there is... well, it's too little too late. The cinematraphy makes the whole of Ancient Greece look muddy and bleak. While Neeson and Fiennes do well to put some dignity in the proceedings they cannot save this Greek Tragedy. If you're looking for an awesome action flick, save your money and see How to Train You Dragon instead. I wanted to see this movie because of my combined love for the actors: Gerard Butler, Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson and America Ferrara. What I discovered was a truly fun, delightful, heartfelt action movie for both kids and adults. I was a bit skeptical about the animation because of what I saw from the commercials. However, one look at Stoick's (Gerard Butler's) beard and I was won over - it's a very emotive beard. Jay Baruchel plays Hiccup, possibly the worst Viking ever, who really just wants to fit in with the rest of his tribe. In order to gain acceptance, he has to kill a dragon. What follows is just plain AWESOME. The action is breathtaking. The characters are charming, believable and very human. I'm not gonna say too much more 'cause I don't want to play it up too much or give anything away but if you want a movie with a good story and a good heart -- Dragon's a safe bet. First of all: I love Meryl Streep, so I'm a bit biased towards this movie. Second of all: I know nothing about Julia Childs so Mrs. Streep's depiction of her could be right on the nose or nowhere near the real thing. Considering it's Meryl Streep I'm going to say she did an awesome job.
The movie is essentially a dual biopic (biographic movie of two people, for those of you who don't understand film jargon.) The first biography is, of course, the story of how famed chef (cheftress? chefette?) Julia Childs got her start cooking. She and her husband move to France for his job, which even though I watched the movie twice I still didn't catch and don't really care about. Basically it's not very important. Julia decides that while her husband is working she's going to cook to keep herself busy. What better place to learn to cook than Le Cordon Bleu? (Again, for those of you who don't know Le Cordon Bleu is one of the most intense culinary schools in the world. Period.) Fast forward 40ish years and we meet Julie Powell; a kind of pathetic, cubicle-dwelling albeit adorable, 30 year old wannabe-author. Call me harsh, but that's how the character comes across. Amy Adams, however, is one of the cutest girls on the planet. Julie has an unabashed love for Julia Childs, so when one of her snarky businesswoman friends publishes an article and beings a blog, Julie decides that even she can write one. Her boyfriend proposes that she blog about something she loves, which is where Julie's and Julia's worlds collide. Over the movie is heart-warming and super cute. I loved it enough to watch it twice. The love stories between Julia and her husband and Julie and her boyfriend are not major plot devices but they are romantic yet predictable. It makes you all fuzzy inside. The cinematography is good. There aren't any points that lag so you don't feel disinterested at any point. It's not a great masterpiece like Gone with the Wind or whatever but it is a movie that is good for all ages. Bon appetite! There is no tagline for this title, and no background on the front cover of the DVD case. The back cover reveals a very bare-bones version of the plot. Nobody even bothered to showcase a line from a newspaper/internet article about the actual movie.
Basically, the box fails to tell you that this movie is EFFING AWESOME. Clint Eastwood says this will be his last role as an actor, and if you watch the movie, you will understand why: how could he possibly top this? The film is also very well directed by the same Mr Eastwood. The script is flawless- though parents must be warned that not a single 5 minute clip is appropriate for children- and the Hmong actors, most of whom have never been in a movie, did a great job adlibbing and switching between Hmong and English. In short, I was more than impressed by this film, and by everyone involved. If you've been avoiding this one because it looks like a western, do not fret; this is everything you've been looking for in a drama. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a film that is never cheesy and often gritty, but also not a downer, or to anyone who occasionally thinks racism is just plain funny. |
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January 2015
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