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Interesting...I wasn't much of a fan of 127 Hours. Decent flick I suppose, but nothing I'd watch again.
Castaway did it better.
Castaway did it better.
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I don't know, maybe 127 hours was something I'd have to experience in a theater.
I watched a stream of it with a few guys in the Chatbox. Didn't really like it.Comment
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The Sandlot
Directed by David M. Evans.
1993. Rated PG, 101 minutes.
Cast:
Tom Guiry
Mike Vitar
Patrick Renna
Chauncey Leopardi
Marty York
Brandon Quintin Adams
Grant Gelt
Shane Obedzinski
Victor DiMattia
Denis Leary
Karen Allen
James Earl Jones
Marley Shelton
Scotty (Guiry) has just moved into the neighborhood. He’s a home-body and a geek, for lack of a better word. At his mom’s encouragement, he ventures out into his new stomping grounds. Shortly, he falls in with a local group of boys who spend every day of their summer vacation playing baseball at the sandlot. They are not so receptive to Scotty, at first. Not only does he not know how to play the game, he can’t even throw a ball ten feet. His lack of athleticism also hinders his bonding with Bill (Leary), his stepdad.
Soon enough, Scotty learns to play ball and becomes one of the guys. However, there are other issues to deal with. Bill still hasn’t really warmed up to him, there’s another group of boys who challenge Scotty and friends to a game and he still has to figure out who Babe Ruth is. More important than any of these things, our heroes will have to deal with The Beast, at some point. According to local legend, The Beast is a man-eating, baseball-devouring canine living in the yard just beyond the sandlot. Any homeruns the boys hit land on the dog’s turf, lost forever. They don’t even bother trying to retrieve the balls. They know that all the boys who have dared to venture into that yard have never been seen again.
What unfolds is a fun and funny coming of age story. We come to understand the friendship between the boys and its hierarchy. Within that, they have some hilarious interactions. Unknowingly, they make choices that will define the rest of their lives. We get to experience their best summer ever, along with them. It helps that it’s written in a manner we can relate to whether we’re sports fans, or not. Admittedly, those of us who are, or have been boys who spend most of their free time playing and/or talking sports with our buddies are the target audience. Still, those who don’t fit that profile won’t feel left out.
For all it’s charm and nostalgia, there are flaws. Scotty’s inability to play baseball suddenly disappears after one highlighted play. Stepdad Bill doesn’t seem to like anyone, let alone Scotty. Most problematic is that it often feels like a remake of Stand by Me. It just adds a few more boys and baseball while replacing the quest to see a dead body with a giant dog. Regardless, it is still a fun watch. However, if you’ve seen Stand by Me, you get a “been there, done that” feel.
MY SCORE: 7/10Comment
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Dell ... how are you just now getting to The Sandlot?The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept.
As he went, he said: "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom!
If only I had died instead of you
O Absalom, my son, my son!"Comment
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Interesting fact..I'm friends with Tom Guiry's brother Joe, used to work with him and we still talk every once in a while. He says Tom sends him a check every year to pay off his credit card debt...must be nice.
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Winter’s Bone
Directed by Debra Granik.
2010. Rated R, 100 minutes.
Cast:
Jennifer Lawrence
John Hawkes
Dale Dickey
Isaiah Stone
Ashlee Thompson
Valerie Richards
Shelley Waggener
Garret Dillahunt
Ronnie Hall
At age seventeen, the weight of the world is already on Ree’s (Lawrence) shoulders. She has to take care of her two younger siblings. Her mom is catatonic, having been driven mad by Jessup, her husband and the father to her children. He, of course, is nowhere to be found. He also happens to be a known cooker of crystal meth. The local lawman stops by the house and informs Ree that Jessup has a court date coming up next week. If he doesn’t show, Ree and the family will lose their home since it was put up as collateral for his bond. She then decides to try and find him in hopes of getting him in front of the judge on time. To do so she has to go all over town, including some scary places and ask questions of some very scary people.
The first place Ree goes is to her uncle Teardrop’s (Hawkes) house. How he got that name is never explained and frankly isn’t important. What is important is that we understand he probably didn’t get it by doing something nice. He’a a tough, grimy type with a reputation that suggests he’s not to be fooled with. When he speaks, you get the unmistakable sense he means what he says. For better or worse, his wife understands this. She promptly backs off her efforts to get him to help Ree after he tells her “I’ve told you to shut up once, with my mouth.” John Hawkes plays the role perfectly, with a quiet power and barely beneath the surface insanity that makes everyone else uncomfortable. He looks every bit like Sam Elliott, only somehow more frayed around the edges and without the smirk. Teardrop is all business.
The next person Ree encounters is perhaps even more frightening than Teardrop. She runs into Merab (Dickey). She’s the wife of Thump (Hall), the local crystal meth kingpin. He sends her out to deal with Ree. Merab tries to be friendly and reason with Ree that this issue should be dropped. When that doesn’t work, things turn ugly. They get uglier when Merab’s sisters are added to the mix. Dickey’s performance is award-worthy. There’s not a moment we don’t believe her. There are plenty of times when she’s unsettling. Part of it is because it seems no matter what the situation, she has no fear and is completely matter of fact about everything. We don’t like her. She’s too strong for us.
Ree has to work with and through these people and several others to complete her mission. Completion comes in a most strange way in a wonderfully horrific scene. To her credit, the young Jennifer Lawrence holds her own in the role, and then some, even against the two powerhouse performances described above. Her portrayal requires more emotional ups, downs and outbursts than anyone else in the film. She handles them all quite well. She appears to have a very bright future. Lawrence, and the rest of the cast is helped along by some brilliant dialogue. It is a terrific blend of colloquialisms and menacing statements that build all sorts of tension. The film is shot in a perfectly bleak manner reminiscent of The Road. This has a similar feel of hopelessness. That feeling also comes through the music. Mostly sang by Marideth Sisco, who appears in one scene, its sadness about the futility of the singer’s efforts mirrors Ree in a manner we can’t deny. We hear it. We feel it. This is an excellent movie experience that is as much about the language we hear and the music we feel as it is about what we see.
MY SCORE: 9/10Comment
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The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Directed by Michael Apted.
2010. Rated PG, 113 minutes.
Cast:
Georgie Henley
Skandar Keynes
Ben Barnes
Will Poulter
Tilda Swinton
Gary Sweet
Terry Norris
Bruce Spence
Bille Brown
Laura Brent
Edmund (Keynes) and Lucy (Henley) are back for a third adventure in Narnia. Even though I stopped caring about halfway through their second, so am I. What’d you say? There are two other kids that were involved in those first two tales? Apparently, they’re getting too old for talking lions and saving mythical worlds. As penance, they’ve been shipped off to where all of us unimaginative slobs go: America. If you miss them that much, we do get to see them from time to time, briefly. The older sister is even of minor consequence. Well, not her exactly but how she looks. Am I rambling? This movie does the same, giving it a very At World’s End kind of feel. That movie being from another franchise burdened with intolerably long titles: The Pirates of the Caribbean. Reminding one of that installment of the franchise isn’t a good thing. With that in mind, I’ll give it my best shot.
We find our two young heroes now living with an uncle who’s face we never see. That’s because the only shots of him are of him hiding behind the newspaper he’s reading. This is fitting because like all regular world adults in this series, he’s completely irrelevant. The important thing is that they can’t stand their cousin Eustace (Poulter) and the feeling is mutual. Lo and behold, during a gripe session between the three, the water in the painting on the wall starts moving, pours from the canvas, fills up an entire bedroom and miraculously drops the trio into the middle of an ocean on Narnia. Wouldn’t you know it? They’re right in the path of a giant ship helmed by none other than Prince Caspian (Barnes). Technically, he doesn’t helm the ship, there is a captain. However, that guy pretty much gets told to ‘shut up and know your role’ whenever he dares attempting to impart some of his wisdom. Well, not in those words. That’s just what it sounded like to me. Anyhoo, Caspian tells our heroes that world peace has been achieved on Narnia. Since they’re accustomed to being called upon only when there is trouble afoot, the kids have no idea why they’re here. Eventually, the find out that some neon green mist that must have escaped from an eighties hair band concert periodically shows up and snatches up small boats full of people. Somehow, it’s decided that the only way to stop this is to gather up the seven mostest specialest swords in all the land and arrange them all together in cute little design. Before we actually get to that point, lots of stuff happens.By stuff, I mean a barely coherent string of events that hope they’re exciting because so much is going on.
Lots of things come up and go unresolved in favor of an action scene and moving on to the next “thrilling” event. Like the aforementioned At World’s End, it keeps flinging things at the screen until it becomes convoluted. It also doesn’t always follow its own rules. For instance, a particular bracelet seems to have killed the person its found on, but does something far different to Eustace. Other things just keep happening. Even a light saber fight suddenly breaks out. It all gets to be a bit of a mess.
For all its lack of focus, this is never a boring movie. Nonsensical? Sure. Boring? No. It consistently gives us interesting visuals. Of course, there’s all that swashbuckling going on. And most of the characters are just dumb enough to keep things interesting. So, in the end you find time has gone by quickly. Thankfully. As for what exactly happened during that period, you might not be entirely sure.
MY SCORE: 5.5/10Comment
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X-Men: First Class
Directed by Matthew Vaughn.
2011. Rated PG-13, 132 minutes.
Cast:
James McAvoy
Michael Fassbender
Kevin Bacon
Jennifer Lawrence
Rose Byrne
Jason Flemyng
Zoë Kravitz
Oliver Platt
January Jones
Nicholas Hoult
Laurence Belcher
Bill Milner
Morgan Lily
Despite the fact there are very few people willing to admit they like either movie, both X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine made goo-gobs of money. Logically, this means the franchise can’t die. Instead, we get another prequel. This one explores the reasoning behind the paths chosen by Professor X (McAvoy) and Magneto (Fassbender).
Let’s take a quick moment to fill in the non-geeks and those who’ve never seen an “X-Men” movie. If you don’t fall into either category, skip the rest of this paragraph. In the world of Marvel Comics and, of course, this franchise of movies, mutants are people who’s genetic mutations give them superpowers such as flight, telepathy, shapeshifting, etc. Regular humans, particularly those in government, have a fear/hatred relationship with them. Our two heroes, as we know them from previous installments, are the leaders of two opposing factions of mutants. Both want fundamental changes in society and how it views and treats mutants, but have very different approaches. Professor X is a work within the system, Martin Luther King Jr. type while Magneto is a ‘by any means necessary,’ Malcolm X type. This is way over-simplifying, but you get the idea. This movie explains how that happened.
We pick things up in the midst of World War II, when our heroes were wee lads. The professor, then only known as Charles Xavier, is a poor little rich kid living in a huge mansion with absentee parents. He’s also a telepath. He can rather literally get inside your head and do all sorts of Jedi mind tricks. One day, he finds Raven, soon to be known as Mystique (Lawrence) in his kitchen. She’s a shapeshifter with nowhere to go, so he takes her in. Magneto, then Erik Lehnsherr has the misfortune of being a young Jew in a Nazi concentration camp. The German doctor Sebastian Shaw, played by a delightful Kevin Bacon, uses a little unfriendly persuasion to draw out the kid’s power which is Erik can control anything made of metal with just his thoughts.This is pretty much all you need to know. When they become adults, the boys finally meet and soon fid themselves working for the CIA. The Marvel Universe version of the Cuban Missile Crisis ensues.
As implied earlier, the last two films in the X-Men canon are failures. The Last Stand just keeps throwing things at you, all of them half-baked. It hopes the constant barrage of noisy, shiny objects is enough to distract you from the fact that the story is haphazardly slapped together. The Wolverine movie is better, but feels overblown and hokey. First Class, however, is comfortable enough in its own skin to let things, characters included, develop. It doesn’t feel the need to rush us along from one action scene to the next. There is action, of course. After all, this is a comic book movie. The point is, we get it when the movie is actually ready to give it to us, not every few minutes because the filmmaker has, or fears we have severe ADD. We get to know our three main characters pretty well and care about the decisions they make. This is key for Magneto. Throughout the other movies he is, without doubt, the villain. Here, he’s a sympathetic figure. The same goes for Mystique. We also get to know a few of the others. Perhaps because it is an origin movie, it has no choice but to do things this way. Still, it works.
Overall, First Class is a very enjoyable popcorn movie. Like the best of X-Men, it has slightly more on its mind than most films of its ilk. It’s also a bit subtle for a superhero flick. With that in mind, if you’re looking for wall-to-wall action don’t look here. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll find action, but it’s spread out and not really the focus. Die hard comic book fans may complain about liberties taken with the source material. However, it’s well done and translates nicely to the big screen.
MY SCORE: 7.5/10Comment
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Yup, I've seen it. Very good movie, enjoyed it a lot. It's been a while since I watched it last. Might have to check it out again.Originally posted by MVPete
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Little Fockers
Directed by Paul Weitz.
2010. Rated PG-13, 98 minutes.
Cast:
Ben Stiller
Robert De Niro
Teri Polo
Owen Wilson
Dustin Hoffman
Barbara Streisand
Jessica Alba
Blythe Danner
Laura Dern
Kevin Hart
Daisy Tahan
Colin Baiocchi
Thomas McCarthy
We all know someone like this. He’s normally a nice guy. You like him, well enough. One day, he tells a hilarious story. It’s literally a knee-slapper, might be the funniest thing you’ve ever heard. This is Meet the Parents. A few months go past and he tells the story again. This time he adds some details he left out the first time, giving it just enough twist to get you cracking up all over again. This is Meet the Fockers. After a few more months, he pulls out that story again. He tries switching it up a bit, but you quickly realize its just the same story and it is no longer funny. To make matters worse it’s now his “go to.” Anytime there’s a break in the conversation he starts up with it. That, my friends, is Little Fockers.
With the passage of time, our tale has a few inevitable wrinkles. Gaylord Focker, AKA Greg (Stiller) and his wife Pam (Polo) now have a set of twins about turn five years old. He’s now head nurse at the hospital. His mom Roz (Streisand) now hosts a talk show where she gives sex advice. His dad Bernie (Hoffman) is feeling neglected and is off in Spain learning to dance the Flamingo. Pam’s mom is feeling much the same way, sort of. She really just wants to get laid more often. That’s the job of Jack (De Niro), self-proclaimed protector of the Byrnes family name.
At first, things seem great with Greg firmly entrenched in the circle of trust. Shortly, Jack suspects Greg as having an affair and we’re back to square one. Jack mercilessly trying to find out the truth while Greg gets bent out of shape ensues. By that, I mean anything involving these two guys consists larely of recycling the jokes of the first two movies. By the way, the person Jack thinks Greg is sleeping with is pharmaceutical rep Andy Garcia played by sometimes “it” girl Jessica Alba. Immediately upon meeting her, we realize she is very purposely named after the male actor of the same name. We figure this out because they run that joke into the ground within about two minutes of her first showing up. Did he sign off on this?
Another recycled element is Kevin (Wilson) and his obsession with Pam. He’s actually planning to marry someone else. When that doesn’t work out, he pops by the Focker household to make Greg all sorts of uncomfortable, especially since Jack is rather fond of Kevin. Finally, we have the actual little Fockers. Despite the movie being named after them, they hardly figure in the proceedings. They are Samantha (Tahan) and Henry (Baiocchi). She refuses to talk to her dad because she’s just like Jack. Henry is basically a prop that constantly sees, hears or says things he shouldn’t.
The time when the movie focuses on something besides the infamous circle of trust, it is at its best. This is not nearly enough. Much more could’ve been done with the marriages of both sets of in-laws, including Jack’s health. More could also have been done with the children and their relationship with their grandparents. Instead, we heaping doses of Jack efforting to catch Greg in a lie, again, along with the prerequisite cheap body and/or sex humor. It’s just more and more of the same thing we’ve already had two helpings of, but it’s less than half as filling as it was before.
MY SCORE: 4/10Comment
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