Author: billc

2 Guns

Bill C’s Review – 3  out of 5

I didn’t have high expectations for this one but I was pleasantly surprised. The plot is ridiculous as is much of the action. This is a buddy-cop movie and what makes it entertaining are the performances. Denzel Washington is good in anything he does and the pairing with Mark Wahlberg works well. Their banter pretty much makes the movie. Bill Paxton is also good as the ove-the-top dirty CIA agent and Paula Patton as Washington’s love interest.

If you don’t like violence (especially against chickens), you might want to avoid this. It’s not the best movie of the summer, but you could do worse.

Bill I’s Review – 3  out of 5

Lot of fun, and yes, nutty unbelievable plot, but the repartee between Markie and Denzel is perfect, and the action never stops. The bad guys (mostly our government agents) are super bad, lots of bullets flying, point blank killing and things blowing up, but it somehow seems fresh, Tarantino-like, including the quips in the midst of the violence. I love watching Paula Patton but she seemed the least believable character. I had heard her real-life husband (Robin Thicke of recent Blurred Lines fame) describe how it was Paula’s idea to do the love scene with Denzel fully topless, and I have to say that was a good call. Perfect summer movie, no thinking needed.

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Pacific Rim

Bill C’s Review – 2.75 out of 5

This is another one of those movies where it doesn’t really matter what  I thought.  If you like movies like the Transformers movies or Japanese B movies from the 50s or 60s like Godzilla or action movies in general  you’ll probably like this.  If you don’t stay home or go see something else.

This is directed by Guillermo Del Toro and the movie is well made.   The special effects and action are high quality but depending on your point of view with these movies will either be great or totally ridiculous.   The same can be said for the plot and dialogue.  Some of the dialogue can also be thought of as superfluous as some of the characters mind melded for the battles.

The movie definitely moves right along (either because you’re totally into it or you’re noticing all the reasons you don’t like it).  If you like this type of movie definitely check it out.

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The Kings of Summer

Bill C’s Review 3.5 out of 5

The Kings of Summer is is another likable coming of age story.  This one is much quirkier than  The Way, Way Back.

The film focuses on three teenagers who run away from home one summer and build a home in the forest.  Two are best friends, one with a father who doesn’t know how to relate to his son after the death of his wife and the other whose parents are totally overbearing.  The third boy is just a strange hanger on.

The first half of the movie focuses on the three running away and building a place in the woods and settling in which makes for some good laughs.  In the second half conflicts ensue, lives are at risk, friendships + family ties are re-established.

The quirkiness, humor and upbeat/heart warming  ending make this an enjoyable movie.

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The Way Way Back

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

Unintentionally the last three movies I’ve seen have all been about kids dealing with parenting issues.  This  is one of the two that have been teenage boy coming of age stories. The other was about a 6 year old girl.  I’ve liked them all but this is my favorite.

The Way Way Back is a funny, touching movie about 14 year old Duncan.  He has to spend the summer with his mom (Toni Collette), her boyfriend (Steve, Carell) and his daughter at his summer home by the beach.  Duncan is quiet and sullen as he doesn’t get along with his mom’s boyfriend (or his daughter) and it looks like it will be a long summer.

Luckily he runs into Owen (Sam Rockwell) and a job at the  local water park.  Owen brings Duncan out of his shell and give him the opportunity to get comfortable in his own skin.

The acting is very good.  Sam Rockwell is great in this movie and very funny at the water park. Allison Janney is also very funny as the next door neighbor.  Collette is good as the stressed out mom trying to make the most of a not very good situation and Carrell is good in a rare non comedy role as the cruddy boyfriend/supposed father figure for Duncan.

Nat Faxon and Jim Rash wrote, directed and have small funny supporting roles as water park employees.  They were also 2 of the writers of The Descendatnts.

This is definitely worth seeing

Bill I’s Review – 4 out of 5

I agree with my buddy on this, excellent film. One of the best portrayals of adolescent angst/coming of age/frustration I’ve seen. The young actor is seething with being forced to accompany his mom and her slimy new boyfriend (an unlikeable Steve Carrell, a first) to summer cottage by the beach in Cape Cod, where the adults are just drinking and partying and getting frisky while their kids are doing who knows what. Nothing really original in the plot, but the characters are memorable and it’s cool to see how a caring adult (Sam Rockwell is an adult in age but a goofy kid on the surface) can make a huge positive difference in a teenager’s life. Without being creepy! I particularly liked the last scene, which I won’t describe, but it was very nicely done, with zero dialogue. Check it out.

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THE WAY, WAY BACK

The Lone Ranger

Bill C’s Review – 1.5 out of 5

I took one for the team and went to see the Lone Ranger this afternoon even though the reviews were awful.  The best thing I can say about it is that it got me out of the 100 degree heat for almost 3 hours (when you factor in 20 minutes of coming attractions).

At 2.5 hours this would have been too long if it was a good movie, which unfortunately it was not.  I have included a link that Billy I. posted of someone else’s review.  Unfortunately  I hadn’t read the whole thing at the time as it told me I could have saved 5 minutes by not staying for the scene with Tonto during the closing credits that I thought might have a point.  The linked review He provides a lot more detail on the movie than I do and it is an interesting read.

The plot is sort of crazy (as apparently is Tonto).  the movie tells the story of naive (really naive) John Reid being transformed from pacifist lawyer, teaming up with Tonto and becoming the Lone Ranger.  We also get Tonto’s backstory  as a heavily made up, old Tonto recalls the entire story.

The movie tries to throw in some humor some of which is ok but much falls flat.  As an action movie much of the action goes over the top and I am pretty sure that both Tonto and The Lone ranger would have been disabled or dead (although come to think of it (Spoiler Alert) according to Tonto The Lone Ranger can’t die (end spoiler alert)).

Bottom line is I wish I had gone to see Despicable Me II.

Review from someone else that Billy I posted

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A Band Called Death

A Band Called Death – 4 out of 5

I originally reviewed this movie back in March during SXSW but it is opening this coming weekend.  I think it’s also already available on Amazon and DVD as well.  The Alamo Drafthouse has a screening on 6/26 with the band in attendance and doing a Q and A.  The band also played last night at the Parish and put on a great show so if they tour they are worth checking out.

This documentary is the year’s ‘Searching for SugarMan‘! Three brothers from Detroit weren’t into the Motown scene and recorded some punk music in the mid-seventies.  35 years later they become overnight sensations!  They were probably a little ahead of their time with pre-Ramones punk and they weren’t helped by their name. Their journey is an emotional one and luckily they were rediscovered a couple of years ago after detouring unsuccessfully into reggae music.

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The Internship

Bill C’s Review 2.5 out of 5

The Internship is a re-teaming of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson from the very funny 2005 movie Wedding Crasher’s.   Vaughn and Wilson still have undeniable chemistry and this film has a lot of funny moments  but I was hoping for something that approached Wedding Crashers in quality.   They try, but fail to reach the comedic level or the emotive relationships between. the key characters of their earlier collaboration.  This movie is also a lot tamer than Wedding Crashers.

This movie stretched for a premise in having their characters be two middle aged, recently unemployed that convince the powers that be at Google to give them a shot in their intern program.  Google gets a lot of free publicity and  I guess the idea was to make Google look good.  Having interns compete in teams for jobs (only members of the winning team get jobs) by tasks such as a game of  Qidditch seemed stupid (and then Vaughn and  Wilson becoming computer whizzes able to compete with the best and the brightest seemed stupider).

I think if I didn’t have such high expectations due to Wedding Crashers  I might have liked this more.  If you’re a real fan of theirs you should still consider this.  It’s not bad, just not really good and overall I was disappointed.

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Paramount 2013 Summer Film Classic Series (Austin)

For those in Austin, a great way to escape the heat is at the Paramount Summer Film Classic Series. The movies play at both the Paramount and the State theater (right next door) downtown from Memorial Day through Labor Day. There are films from all eras and tastes—noir, comedies, musicals, foreign, silent. You name the genre, they’ll have it.

Here’s some of what I’m looking forward to from this year’s schedule:

  • Charlie Chaplin movies
  • Daniel Day-Lewis
  • Hitchcock week
  • Dirty Rats and Grand Dames
  • Frank Capra series

Last night, film critic Leonard Maltin was at the Paramount to screen one of his favorite movies, Frank Capra’s little-seen Lady for a Day. This 1934 film was very entertaining. Maltin was introduced by Austin Chronicle publisher and SXSW founder, Lewis Black, who has been lifelong friends with Maltin. Who knew?!

Tickets are cheap if you get a book of tickets.  Try to check it out.

Fast & Furious 6

 Bill C’s Review – 3 out of 5

Fast & Furious 6 is the first of this series that I have seen. Since the film got decent reviews and I had seen an interview with the director of this and 3 of the other movies that included some action clips from earlier films in the series, I decided to check it out.

The movie flew by as the action sequences, while utterly ridiculous, were very entertaining. Some scenes just included people or cars, but to spice things up, they brought in a tank, and then finally an airplane. Some of the human action included the addition of Gina Carano from one of last year’s favorites, Haywire, and a great wrestling move from Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

In addition to the action the movie had a lot of humor.  I missed a fair number of jokes that watching the first five movies would have clued me in on, but I felt I got the feel for the characters’ relationships pretty quickly. ‘Ludacris’ had the most one-liners and I enjoyed his performance.

I couldn’t decide if Vin Diesel can’t act or if he just goes with the totally deadpan, non-smiling persona (in which case he is a great actor).

The plot had a lot of holes, but you don’t go to this type of movie for the scintillating plot. The end of the movie sets things up for Fast & Furious 7. It will be interesting to see how they outdo themselves!

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