So the other night, my wife and I went to check out the Academy Award nominated American Hustle.
It has a terrific premise....a look back at the Abscam scandal from the late 70's, an amazing cast and the promise of a really good soundtrack. The first thing I thought it might compare to was Boogie Nights, which had a lot of the same qualities. Couple of things right out of the box. I'm not sure the Abscam scandal was so well known that it made an interesting subject for a film. I thought the plot was a little convoluted. It had an interesting finish.....one of those "aha" moments where everything comes together.....but it takes a long time to get there. The cast is really impressive. Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence & Jeremy Renner....among others. Bale & Lawrence really stood out to me, although I can't say that anyone doesn't do a good job. The soundtrack is good....but not Boogie Nights good. But the film does have a couple of terrific sequences where the songs seems to go perfectly with what is happening on the screen. Look for Steely Dan's "Dirty Work" and the Bee Gees "How Do You Mend a Broken Heart" for the sequences I'm talking about. But ultimately, I came away feeling that the film does not equal the sum of all its parts. IMDB gave it a 7.6. I would've maybe gone just a little bit lower. And finally, watch out for the opening scene of the film with Christian Bale prepping his hair for the day to come. The movie might be worth watching just for the scene. Its hilariously pathetic.
I also finally had a chance to see the recent Tom Cruise sci-fi movie "Oblivion" the other night. Cruise has always struck me as an either or proposition. You either like his movies....or you don't. Some people can't separate Tom Cruise the slightly strange guy from his movies. I'm not a big fan of the strange guy.....but damn if he doesn't make some good movies. Let me get it out of the way. I like Oblivion. I had someone tell me "it was no big deal". I disagree. Some mind blowing special effects a really trippy mind screw plot.
Cruise is a drone repairman assigned to the now crippled planet Earth in the year 2070. He lives with his crew member Andrea Riseborough and spends his days going out into what is now mostly barren wasteland to find crippled drones that have sent out distress signals. A side trip to rescue a downed space craft sets into motion a series of events that will have him rethinking what he knows....or thinks he knows.
This is another movie where you have to follow the minute details of the plot....which will come into play at the end. IMDB gives it a 7.0, and I might have gone a little higher.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
In the Valley of Elah....& Manhunter
I've seen a couple of movies in the last few days....both of them definite recommendations. The first one is from 2007 and is called In the Valley of Elah (don't worry, the title is explained during the movie) and stars Tommy Lee Jones & Charlize Theron. Really solid supporting cast, including Susan Sarandon, Josh Brolin, Jason Patric (?!--where has he been), Frances Fisher (great character actress) & James Franco. The story revolves around the son of Jones & Sarandon returning to the U.S. from a combat area and suddenly going missing. Jones is a former military police officer and attempts to enlist the aid of local police detective Theron in locating his son. Lots of plot twists in this one and several particularly gripping scenes. Jones was rightly nominated for an Oscar in this one. Film got a 7.2 on IMDB, and I might have gone a little bit higher.
Some people have complained about the way the movie portrays our military, but I think that portraying some of the emotional troubles that a soldier in a combat zone suffers from upon return were dealt with fairly enough. Nice underrated film worth seeking out.
1986 brought us Manhunter by director Michael Mann. The film came out right in the middle of Mann's televison success with Miami Vice and the similarities are pretty apparent. Lots of pastels and synthesizers.
Detective Will Graham, played with a lot of angst and internal grief by William J Peterson, is going in search of a serial killer that has the FBI stumped. To do this, he seeks out convicted killer Hannibal Lector, who has his own history with Graham. The movie features the terrific character actor Brian Cox as Lector, in the role that would, of course, be immortalized by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. This is a fine film, although some of the technics used by director Mann that I described already makes the movie seem very, um...80's. Which is too bad, because there are some really fine performances here. Cox makes a compelling Lector and is very good, just seemingly forgotten because of Hopkins performances. Also doing fine work here are the likes of Dennis Farina and a very young Joan Allen. But the guy who really stands out in my opinion, is Tom Noonan as the extremely creepy Francis Dollarhyde. I actually liked his performance quite a bit more than the brooding Peterson. Despite the dated aspect of some of the music and clothes, this is still a very good crime thriller, and worth checking out. IMDB gives it a 7.2, and I would've given it a slightly lower grade...but not a lot lower. Still worth checking it out.
Some people have complained about the way the movie portrays our military, but I think that portraying some of the emotional troubles that a soldier in a combat zone suffers from upon return were dealt with fairly enough. Nice underrated film worth seeking out.
1986 brought us Manhunter by director Michael Mann. The film came out right in the middle of Mann's televison success with Miami Vice and the similarities are pretty apparent. Lots of pastels and synthesizers.
Detective Will Graham, played with a lot of angst and internal grief by William J Peterson, is going in search of a serial killer that has the FBI stumped. To do this, he seeks out convicted killer Hannibal Lector, who has his own history with Graham. The movie features the terrific character actor Brian Cox as Lector, in the role that would, of course, be immortalized by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. This is a fine film, although some of the technics used by director Mann that I described already makes the movie seem very, um...80's. Which is too bad, because there are some really fine performances here. Cox makes a compelling Lector and is very good, just seemingly forgotten because of Hopkins performances. Also doing fine work here are the likes of Dennis Farina and a very young Joan Allen. But the guy who really stands out in my opinion, is Tom Noonan as the extremely creepy Francis Dollarhyde. I actually liked his performance quite a bit more than the brooding Peterson. Despite the dated aspect of some of the music and clothes, this is still a very good crime thriller, and worth checking out. IMDB gives it a 7.2, and I would've given it a slightly lower grade...but not a lot lower. Still worth checking it out.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Post #3....our top 25 continues
After a couple of days off, I'm back to continue on with my personal top 25 films of all time. Today we are at #24 and its the Coen Bros epic film about a guy who just.....abides. The Big Lebowski is the story of Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, who wears a mean bathrobe when he's not down at the bowling alley with his buddies Walter & Donnie. The plot, what there is of it, involves a case of mistaken identity between The Dude and....well, The Big Lebowski of the movie's title. There are many great things about this movie, which for the record scored an 8.2 on the IMDB site....which is pretty much right on the nose. Funny, silly, bizarre....this movie really is all of those things. There are dream sequences that are positively Alice in Wonderland-esque. There are wonderful supporting performances by John Goodman, in his unquestioned greatest role ever....Julianne Moore, Tara Reid, David Huddleston, Steve Buscemi, the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman & John Turturro, as Jesus the bowler (no, really). But bringing it all together, the way a nice carpet brings a room together....is Jeff Bridges as "The Dude". How, truly in God's name, he was not nominated for this career defining role....is a mystery. He defines what your parents used to describe as "a bum", but he's happy in his own skin a man that enjoys a good beverage. You will walk away from this movie quoting the seemingly millions of great lines in this film. This is a roller coaster ride thru some very weird and wonderful people. Buckle yourself in and enjoy the ride. Just don't spill the beverage man!
Monday, February 3, 2014
Post #2....and the top 25 countdown begins!
So you'll understand my taste in movie--definitely eclectic---I thought I'd give you my own personal top 25.
Now mind you, this is my choice for the 25 greatest movies ever made. Go pick up one of Roger Ebert's books if you want that. This is MY personal top 25. Agree....disagree? Think I'm an idiot? (always a possibility).....drop me a note and tell me what you think.
#25: JFK--Oliver Stone's epic telling of the assassination of President Kennedy and the events before, during and after the historical event, including the only attempt to prosecute an individual for his role in the murder of an American president. Kevin Costner was in the middle of his fantastic Bull Durham//Field of Dreams//Dances with Wolves run that ended up crashing and burning with Waterworld. But suffice to say, he was excellent in his role as prosecutor Jim Garrison, who attempted to prosecute a wealthy New Orleans area businessman for his suspected role for what occurred that fateful day in Dallas in November of 1963.
Terrific cast, with lots of acting heavyweights doing a solid day's work, including Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones, Jack Lemmon, Ed Asner, Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon and Joe Pesci, in a portrayal of a guy who
"could've been a priest if it hadn't been for one problem". All the performances are top notch, although Pesci's is a wee bit odd--to stay the least. But its a great history lesson---well, its a great history lesson that is essentially Oliver Stone's version of history. But its a great film that was unfairly denied some of the Academy Awards it probably deserved. Stick around and watch prosecutor Garrison's closing argument.
Its the apex of a film that IMDB gave a 8.0 rating. Well deserved.
Now mind you, this is my choice for the 25 greatest movies ever made. Go pick up one of Roger Ebert's books if you want that. This is MY personal top 25. Agree....disagree? Think I'm an idiot? (always a possibility).....drop me a note and tell me what you think.
#25: JFK--Oliver Stone's epic telling of the assassination of President Kennedy and the events before, during and after the historical event, including the only attempt to prosecute an individual for his role in the murder of an American president. Kevin Costner was in the middle of his fantastic Bull Durham//Field of Dreams//Dances with Wolves run that ended up crashing and burning with Waterworld. But suffice to say, he was excellent in his role as prosecutor Jim Garrison, who attempted to prosecute a wealthy New Orleans area businessman for his suspected role for what occurred that fateful day in Dallas in November of 1963.
Terrific cast, with lots of acting heavyweights doing a solid day's work, including Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones, Jack Lemmon, Ed Asner, Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon and Joe Pesci, in a portrayal of a guy who
"could've been a priest if it hadn't been for one problem". All the performances are top notch, although Pesci's is a wee bit odd--to stay the least. But its a great history lesson---well, its a great history lesson that is essentially Oliver Stone's version of history. But its a great film that was unfairly denied some of the Academy Awards it probably deserved. Stick around and watch prosecutor Garrison's closing argument.
Its the apex of a film that IMDB gave a 8.0 rating. Well deserved.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Welcome to my 2nd effort at a blog. I wish to thank those of you who told me that I should write something about my interest in movies....and those of you who recently remarked that it was nice to see writing again.
Believe it or not, it really meant a lot to me. And also my daughter is taking a class in Film this semester.
I hope it only furthers her love of movies and has the impact that a similar class had with me over 30 years ago.
I think my love for film and movies (different, in case you didn't know) began when my father was in the US Navy and stationed in Guantanamo, Cuba. All the movies were shown outside and on a weekly loop.
My friends and I would go every weekend to see the "latest" movie (very loose interpretation as most of the movies we saw were maybe a year or so old) being shown at the theatre nearest to where we lived.
I remember that was my introduction to movies like Kelly's Heroes and a relatively obscure horror film called
The Dunwich Horror (look it up--stayed with me for YEARS). But it was really during my college years when I took a course called Film as Literature to get a stupid elective course that my love for movies expanded. I was introduced to foreign films like The 400 Blows & The Bicycle Thief and the works of a master like Akira Kurosawa. I learned that you can watch a movie with subtitles and not be bored or distracted because of it. I also learned that you can enjoy a movie thts a lousy movie---because its lousy.
So as we procede, I'll give you some of my movie lists. My top 20 movies of alltime. My list. Not the critics. Mine. I'll give you a top 10 bad movies that are fun to watch. And, at long last, I will provide what a friend has asked for seemingly forever as I will reveal a list of my top 10 WORST films. I mean movies that are bad that you should hate. My movies will come in no particular order. Sometimes I'll recommend a movie I just happened to catch on t.v. one afternoon. Today for example, I watched Back to the Future.
What a great movie! How great was Michael J Fox back in those days? I mean everything the guy touched turned to gold! Geez, even Teen Wolf was a pretty good movie for God's sake! And then I watched Bowfinger, which is a really underrated Steve Martin & Eddie Murphy movie that absolutely skewers the movie industry. Terrific movie. My go to site for all things movies is IMDB.com, which in case you've never been there stands for the International Movie DataBase. I will tell you what they give each film I mention and will tell you if I think that rating is too high, too low or spot on. They rank their films on a scale of 1-10. As an example, Back to the Future got 8.5 out of 10 in their ratings--which I think is pretty spot on. And Bowfinger got a 6.4, which I think is a little low.
Here's my first review, and keep in mind....I'm not looking to write War & Peace in my review. I want to tell you if a movie is any good, and whether you should see it. I figure you have a long way to go, and a short time to get there (thank you Jerry Reed). So the first movie I'm going to look at is Martin Scorcese's Casino. First of all, anytime you start off with Scorcese & DeNiro....you're pretty much good to go right there. You add in Joe Pesci playing a crazy mob guy, and its all gravy after that. Throw in a career best performance from Sharon Stone and less I forgot....Don Rickles as DeNiro's casino manager. DeNiro plays Sam "Ace" Rothstein, who is a gambling savant and is given a casino to run by the mob. He excels at one thing and that is making money. His weakness is that he falls for the worst woman possible. Also features James Woods, Alan King, Frank Vincent (is it required in a mob film to have Frank Vincent in a supporting role?) and in my favorite casting....John Bloom. In case you were not aware, John Bloom is also known as Joe Bob Briggs, advocate of all things drive in movies and a really funny writer. This is an awesome movie with terrific performances all around. My only complaint about the film, and its a really minor one....is that by this point Joe Pesci was starting to look a bit long in the tooth for his role. Oh, and be aware. There is more than one scene that will have you squirming from the violence. It got a 8.2 and I see no problem with that.
Sharon Stone got nominated for an Academy Award for her performance....and the film probably should've gotten more nominations. Great film.
Believe it or not, it really meant a lot to me. And also my daughter is taking a class in Film this semester.
I hope it only furthers her love of movies and has the impact that a similar class had with me over 30 years ago.
I think my love for film and movies (different, in case you didn't know) began when my father was in the US Navy and stationed in Guantanamo, Cuba. All the movies were shown outside and on a weekly loop.
My friends and I would go every weekend to see the "latest" movie (very loose interpretation as most of the movies we saw were maybe a year or so old) being shown at the theatre nearest to where we lived.
I remember that was my introduction to movies like Kelly's Heroes and a relatively obscure horror film called
The Dunwich Horror (look it up--stayed with me for YEARS). But it was really during my college years when I took a course called Film as Literature to get a stupid elective course that my love for movies expanded. I was introduced to foreign films like The 400 Blows & The Bicycle Thief and the works of a master like Akira Kurosawa. I learned that you can watch a movie with subtitles and not be bored or distracted because of it. I also learned that you can enjoy a movie thts a lousy movie---because its lousy.
So as we procede, I'll give you some of my movie lists. My top 20 movies of alltime. My list. Not the critics. Mine. I'll give you a top 10 bad movies that are fun to watch. And, at long last, I will provide what a friend has asked for seemingly forever as I will reveal a list of my top 10 WORST films. I mean movies that are bad that you should hate. My movies will come in no particular order. Sometimes I'll recommend a movie I just happened to catch on t.v. one afternoon. Today for example, I watched Back to the Future.
What a great movie! How great was Michael J Fox back in those days? I mean everything the guy touched turned to gold! Geez, even Teen Wolf was a pretty good movie for God's sake! And then I watched Bowfinger, which is a really underrated Steve Martin & Eddie Murphy movie that absolutely skewers the movie industry. Terrific movie. My go to site for all things movies is IMDB.com, which in case you've never been there stands for the International Movie DataBase. I will tell you what they give each film I mention and will tell you if I think that rating is too high, too low or spot on. They rank their films on a scale of 1-10. As an example, Back to the Future got 8.5 out of 10 in their ratings--which I think is pretty spot on. And Bowfinger got a 6.4, which I think is a little low.
Here's my first review, and keep in mind....I'm not looking to write War & Peace in my review. I want to tell you if a movie is any good, and whether you should see it. I figure you have a long way to go, and a short time to get there (thank you Jerry Reed). So the first movie I'm going to look at is Martin Scorcese's Casino. First of all, anytime you start off with Scorcese & DeNiro....you're pretty much good to go right there. You add in Joe Pesci playing a crazy mob guy, and its all gravy after that. Throw in a career best performance from Sharon Stone and less I forgot....Don Rickles as DeNiro's casino manager. DeNiro plays Sam "Ace" Rothstein, who is a gambling savant and is given a casino to run by the mob. He excels at one thing and that is making money. His weakness is that he falls for the worst woman possible. Also features James Woods, Alan King, Frank Vincent (is it required in a mob film to have Frank Vincent in a supporting role?) and in my favorite casting....John Bloom. In case you were not aware, John Bloom is also known as Joe Bob Briggs, advocate of all things drive in movies and a really funny writer. This is an awesome movie with terrific performances all around. My only complaint about the film, and its a really minor one....is that by this point Joe Pesci was starting to look a bit long in the tooth for his role. Oh, and be aware. There is more than one scene that will have you squirming from the violence. It got a 8.2 and I see no problem with that.
Sharon Stone got nominated for an Academy Award for her performance....and the film probably should've gotten more nominations. Great film.
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