A brief note on the new schedule and new rating system...
I am going to try to add some well needed consistency to this blog. It has been pointed out to me that the “successful” blogs come out with posts on specific days of the week and not when as I have been doing it... whenever the hell I want to sit down and write one. So I am setting a schedule. Monday/Tuesday mornings will be my full length blog on a movie I’ve seen recently, a movie for the Hall of Fame, or a movie I feel the need to warn you away from. Thursday/Friday morning (since I seem to be doing the bulk of my writing in the middle of the night) will be the quick hits night. Quick hits will be new movies in theaters now, new DVD releases or movies you should Netflix or Netflix Instant Watch. Not to mention the occasional “because I feel like it” post about anything that strikes my fancy in the movie going world.
I’ve also had one of those moments that comes along once in a blue moon that makes total sense that I mentally bash myself in the testicles for not thinking of it sooner. When I began my journey on movie loving, I was working at the movie theater and while there I began making little unhappy faces. On the back of these little bits of paper and staples I would write little demented notes from the mysterious Mr. Unhappy. Since I have now taken up the mantle of Mr. Unhappy, I am proud to say that I will now finish the reviews with a little one liner proclaiming either to see this movie or not, in my own sad demented way. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.
Currently in Theaters
Rango
The voice of Johnny Depp comes from the lizard named Rango who attempts to save the small animal town of dirt from water thieves. This movie is another in a long line of movies getting eerily closer to created an animated human who looks like a human. That they use lizards, turtles and rats in this one makes it slightly creepier. I’ve been very pleased lately with the trend of animated movies to appeal to not only children but parents as well. I mean no offense to Dora the Explorer but as a non pot smoking man, I am not going to watch this show or see a Dora movie if she’s constantly talking down to me. Rango engages the viewer and treats the kids and the adults equally, accepting that children are not stupid and allowing the adults to enjoy the story with their children. Animated films can take a hint from Rango, Toy Story, and movies like them. Great filmmaking is universal and Rango takes a step in the right direction.
Red Riding Hood
I went into this movie and I was reasonably sure that there was a wolf somewhere a hiding in this movie. Made by Catherine Hardwicke (of “Twilight” fame) Red Riding Hood attempts to retell the story for a new teen audience who need a love triangle or else what’s the points. Amanda Seyfried keeps the movie balance by taking material that is not polished and making a good story out of it. Overall the movie creates the creepy mood that has made the story of red riding hood a classic but seems to miss the whole point of the story. A wolf is prominent in the telling of the story but as I rack my brains I cannot recall once when they spoke of the girl in the red riding cloak any mention of a huge iron elephant that they lock people in to torture them. That seems like the type of grim detail that the Brothers Grimm would have enjoyed putting into the story. The actors are game for this movie and overall I can see what they attempted to do but in the end the movie is more of a period piece about a superstitious town rather than a retelling of a classic fairy tale. Where some great creativity could have gone into the movie, they lose track of the story they are telling. And when the advertise it as "From the Director of Twilight" , maybe they know they did too.
Mr. Unhappy Sez: I've been to grandma’s house and I don’t know that I need to come back. Grandma seems fine.
The Lincoln Lawyer
I feel a bit sad that I never read the novel “The Lincoln Lawyer” by Michael Connelly for the simple reason that after seeing the movie, I want more of their world. Good thing the book is still out there to fill in the blanks the movie for time reasons probably had to eliminate. Matthew McConaughey channels his inner lawyer and makes a character where he is in control even as his life spins out of control. Ryan Phillippe is an excellent adversary for the calm McConaugheyMcConaughey practices law from the backseat of a Lincoln. I know what is important to the character and the story the characters unfold in front of me. The first time in a long time that I did not find myself wondering what I would’ve done with the story and instead was entertained by it. This is one of the rare occasions when the movie makes me want to read the book.
Mr. Unhappy Sez: Do you need to see this movie? No but it would be a lot cooler if you did. AhHuhHuhHey...I can’t do a good McConaughey but you should see this movie.
Limitless
A struggling writer played with Nicholas Cage in Adaptation like zeal by the face man of Hollywood Bradley Cooper is given a pill that gives him the ability to control 100 percent of his mind. I always though that if that happened we could see the future or move things with our mind. Apparently it allows us to play the stock market and write novels in 4 days. Well that is what Bradley Cooper does with it, making his transformation from schlub to sexy super genius quickly. I liked the idea of the movie and would have enjoyed more scenes of Robert DeNiro’s powerful businessman and the supercharged Bradley Cooper facing off as he shares the screen with the superstar with ease. I’ve not seen many actors who cannot come across as a genuine opponent for DeNiro. He is that great an actor and most of the time they come off as Ben Stiller’s Greg Focker. Trying to earn the approval of the big dog. Cooper plays with DeNiro and makes himself a adversary. The movie does have a back story of where the drug seemed to come from but they never really carry through on any of the story lines. It creates a satisfying movie that I enjoyed but one that left me with more questions than answers. If one could have control of 100 percent of the brain’s ability, I wonder what kind of control the man could have on the world. This story gives us one answer and a truly disturbing scene that made the movie.
Mr. Unhappy Sez: Go for the abs, stay for the story and watch for the gory.
Battle: LA
I was reminded briefly of a great scene from the movie The Way of The Gun in which James Caan is talking to two up and coming kids in the same job as him and he tells them that “The only thing you can tell about a broken down old man in this business is that he is a survivor.” The same can be said of Aaron Eckhart’s Michael Nantz. He is a marine that has served his purpose and is on the way to retirement when aliens attack all the major coastal cities in the world. Los Angeles is one of the few still being held by humanity. The old marine is called into service to the chagrin of his fellow young marines but he is a survivor. I enjoyed this movie and to be honest the alien threat seems like a secondary story than that of the marines and civilians that they are trying to save from the destroyed and abandoned Santa Monica. There are great battle scenes in this movie and the special effects work with the story rather than trying to enhance a sub par story with flashy explosions. There are plenty of explosions and the marines are whittled down from 15 to 5, even though they acquire a Air Force officer played by Michelle Rodriguez with her typical bad ass charm. I used to not enjoy her but here she fits and I’m beginning to see why people become infatuated with her. She has all the beauty and more bad ass than most guys could handle. I can’t say I’d want to be in a argument with her. Battle: LA is a movie in the vain of Independence Day where the aliens come to Earth and find not a easily destroyed people but a group of survivors who are willing to fight and die as long as they take a few of the aliens with them. As the popular battle cry of the film, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here.” I felt the same.
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Paul
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