Author: Irwin

Don Jon

Bill I’s Review – 3 out of 5

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been in a string of very fun movies, and this continues, as he portrays a young lothario, who is known for picking up a different girl (nothing less than an 8 he claims) every night at the club, until he meets his love match, played by Scarlett Johansson with an exaggerated New Jersey accent. One problem: Don is addicted to self-pleasure and Scarlett is insistent he must stop. In steps the wise, older lady, Julianne Moore, who shows Don the path to self-actualization by losing himself in loving a mature woman like herself. Cool solution, but will he lose the young hottie in the process? You need to see for yourself, I won’t tell. Oh by the way, it’s a comedy, just not super funny. And props to Tony Danza as Tony’s goomba dad. And parents, don’t worry about your teenagers seeing this film, they won’t be learning anything they don’t already know!

Bill C’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

I also like this movie (probably a little more than Bill).  Not only does Gordon-Leavitt do a good job portraying Jon,  this is also his feature film writing and directorial debut.  He does a good job of showing the rut (body, pad, family, boys, girls, church, porn) he is in and eventually tried to get out of.  While not hilarious I thought there were some funny parts (including his weekly confessions and dinners with his family).     Tony Danza was cast perfectly as Jon’s father.  Jon is clearly a lot like his father while not wanting to be him 25 years from now.  Brie Larson probably has only 3 lines as his sister but makes the most of it with her sullenness during the family dinners while texting away in oblivion.

If you don’t mind rude/crude this is worth seeing although there’s a lot of other good stuff out there right now)

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

Captain Phillips

Bill I’s Review – 4 out of 5

A gripping tale that builds to a high suspense after only about 10-15 minutes, and sustains it till the climactic end. A true story of Somali pirates capturing a cargo ship, it shows the intricate and thorough planning that is done by the well-trained pirates (NOT!) and how both prepared, and ill-equpped the merchant seaman are. They have no arms beyond water hoses, and the pirates have not much more than basic radar, radios, a long ladder, and of course, machine guns. Tom Hanks gives an incredible performance, as do a couple of the pirates. How could these dirt poor Somalies hold the US Navy at bay? You will see with this great movie.

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

This has been out a while but I finally got to see it.  This reminded me a bit of last year’s  Argo – a tension filled films as the government tries to free captive American(s) in another part of the world (although that was a more clandestine, less violent operation).  Just like Ago the tension is maintained despite knowing the outcome.

Tom Hanks is excellent (more on him in my next post) as are the Somali actors.  The Somali performances are more amazing as I believe they had no acting experience.

The film sticks to the boarding and rescue and doesn’t delve into the more controversial aspects of the incident (the ship should have been 600 miles off shore instead of 250.  It also provides a view from the pirates perspective and let’s them be viewed in a somewhat  sympathetic light

This is definitely work seeing.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

Blackfish

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

This documentary presents a compelling message that everyone needs to hear: killer whales, aka Orcas, should be left to roam the oceans in their families where the females live 100 years (males live 50 years!) and not perform tricks for human enjoyment while kept captive in concrete prisons/pools. These animals are incredibly evolved, with strong social skills and family ties. According to this (albeit one-sided, since Sea World refused to participate) film, there has never been a documented attack on humans by orcas in the wild; that only happens all too frequently in captivity, where their constraints and destroyed families seem to mess with them psychologically. It’s heart breaking to see young ones forcefully separated from their mothers. Anyone who watches this will not want to support this industry any further by patronizing these shows, and will support the movement to free all captive whales into their natural habitats. We can enjoy them fine from a boat.

 

The World’s End

Bill I’s Review – 4 out of 5

It starts out in one direction – 40-something never-was Gary decides to recreate the highlight of his life, at 17 when he and his 4 buddies went on a legendary pub crawl in his town (but never made it past the 6th of 12 pubs, so now he’s determined to make it all the way to the 12th pub, The World’s End) – then about when I was asking my wife why she picked this film it gets WEIRD, and my jaw dropped and the fun begins. Luckily I hadn’t read any reviews or seen any trailers so I will not give away any surprises here, and encourage you to see this movie pronto. Do not watch the trailer, do not read any reviews beyond this, and you will laugh your ass off. It’s just crazy, and the actors are terrific, especially Simon Pegg as Gary, the leader of the 5 Musketeers.

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

I agree with Bill that this is an excellent movie and is definitely worth seeing. This one is brought to you by the same people who did Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. All three have been written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, directed by Wright, and star Simon Pegg. They are all extremely funny and deal with friendship, but are not thematically related. If you liked those other films, you will also enjoy this one.

I will try not to give too much away either, except to say:

– This joins my list of this summer’s movies with robots.

– This would make a great summer of 2013 double-feature if paired with This is The End.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

The Butler

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

It’s a civil rights history lesson through the eyes of Cecil (excellent Forest Whitaker) from seeing his family brutalized in the cotton plantation in 1926, through his tutorship in how to be the perfect house negro and ultimately butler for four presidents. The story is fictional but inspired by a real person. Cecil displays his two faces (one toward the white folks) while witnessing the Selma riots, freedom riders, Martin Luther King, rise of the Black Panthers to the present day election of Barack Obama. Much of the drama is based on his relationship with his (along with his wife – a believable Oprah) oldest son, Louis, who is embarassed by his father’s servile ways.

I enjoyed the journey, which was neither overly dramatic nor too comedic. I didn’t learn much, except for the shock of seeing how blacks could be openly gunned down in 1926 south without fear of retribution. The most eloquent and insightful defense of the black service profession comes from Dr. King, in a couple of short sentences he directs toward Louis. The only false or contrived note is the juxtoposition of Cecil having short interactions with several presidents immediately followed by a change of heart and the president next seen pushing civil rights legislation. Ultimately it’s an inspiring film, and I recommend it.

Blue Jasmine

Bill I’s Review – 3 out of 5

I am going against the grain here, where Rotten Tomatoes rated it an 87, I was underwhelmed and left wondering where all the laughs are. Ultimately I see this as another typical latter-stage Woody plot centered on infidelity among the upper class, in this case embodied by Alec Baldwin as a Madoff-like financial manipulator and Cate Blanchett as the ultimate society climbing wife. Actually, Alec has has his comeuppance by the first scene, so his story is told in flashbacks, while Cate has to move in with her blue collar sister (a very watchable Sally Hawkins), who tends to gravitate toward “loser” boyfriends, played very well by Andrew Dice Clay (first husband) and Bobby Carnavale (current lover). The most fascinating aspect of the film is Cate Blanchett’s tour de force of this unstable, narcissistic character. The plot is unsurprising, the characters are mostly cliches (oh wow, Dice Clay and Canavale talk this “dis” and like simple things like watching football on TV with their beer drinking buddies). And the ultimate second husband material Cate finds, played by Peter Sarsgaard, is too good to be true: a diplomat with political aspirations, he’s single, super rich and needs a wife to move to Vienna with him. The most subversive scene that p-d me off is when Cate finally figures out that Alex has been cheating on him (for years). Like Woody must have been confronted by Mia over his Soon-yi affair ( remember “the heart wants what the heart wants”), Alec is confronted by Cate. She’s a hysterical mess, screaming, mascara running, while he’s super cool, calm and civilized, asking to talk it over and figure out how to divorce so they can move on with their lives. Oh really, Woody, is that how it was? Yuck! Anyway, if you want to see Cate Blanchett do her thing, have fun. But there’s not that much that’s actually funny to see.

Bill C’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

While I agree with much of what Bill says I liked this movie more than Bill did.  Possibly I was helped by Bill’s review and was not expecting a comedy and view this more as a drama.

I thought both Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins were great.   Cate is able to show an amazing variety of emotions in a single scene.  I also like the performances of Canavale, Louis CK and Dice Clay.  Clay was sort of playing the stereotypical version of himself but he was good at it.  I agree with Bill on Peter Saarsgard – he was ok but the character was too good to be true and too convenient for the the story.

I liked the way the story wasn’t told in a straight linear fashion and for me there were enough surprises in the plot for me to find this interesting.  I liked this and recommend it although there’s a lot of other interesting movies worth seeing right now as well.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

The Attack

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

I had no intention of seeing a film about the Israeli Arab conflict, focused on a terrorist attack. But I listened to one of Bill and Bill’s faithful readers (my mother!) and went to The Attack, and was very glad I did. It is centered on an Arabic surgeon (Amin) who’s living a fairly easy life in Tel Aviv, with a wife he loves (Siham) and the respect of his peers. In fact the film opens with Amin’s winning the local medical equivalent of an Academy Award, but pretty soon a suicide bomber blows up a restaurant and Amin’s in the OR pulling shrapnel out of the bodies of child victims. The gruesome scenes are held to a minimum, while the movie turns into a whodunit and why-done-it, with Amin at the center. We have his point of view as he navigates the multiple levels of secrecy and conspiracy in the various entities. The story walks successfully in a fine line, hearing perspectives from real people on each side of the conflict, and I never felt manipulated to one or the other side’s point of view. Amir’s journey is tortourous but necessary, and he angers both the Israeli’s and the Muslims equally. I don’t think this is a spoiler to tell you that ultimately Amir declines to help propogate the endless cycle of revenge-motivated violence. This is a terrific film, not a tear jerker at all, and I highly recommend it!

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

This is a really good movie on a couple of levels.

From a personal perspective, it’s the story of Amin whose seemingly perfect life – great career, great friends, loving wife –  is literally blown to bits when a terrorist commits a totally unfathomable act. He goes on a quest to Nablus and to understand how such a thing could happen and learns some truths about himself and what his life has in store for him.

This movie also does a really good job of showing both sides of the conflict and how a solution is nowhere in sight. You can see the total lack of trust and common ground.

This movie is definitely worth seeing.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

Fruitvale Station

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

It’s a pseudo documentary in that it’s based on real life events, but it’s scripted and performed by excellent actors, including an award-worthy performance by Michael B. Jordan as the young protagonist (Oscar) who is  struggling mightily to get on the straight and narrow and raise his young daughter and earn a living so he can marry his long-time girlfriend. Octavia Spencer and Melonie Diaz are outstanding as well as Oscar’s mom and lover respectively. The ending is shown first, so you know it’s ugly, and gives you a feeling of dread throughout the daily comings and goings of this family. You get to admire and hope for Oscar, knowing all the time that he’s doomed. The incident is reminiscent of many real-life cases of police shootings, and by the closing credits we learn how justice is meted out once again.

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

I also liked this movie a lot although this will be tough to watch for a lot of people.  This is a very timely movie with the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin story in the news recently.  While our society has made a lot of progress we still have a ways to go and this movie definitely makes you think about that.

The scene at the beginning that Bill talks about is actual video from a phone camera leading up to the shooting.  Michael B. Jordan is excellent (he played Wallace on The Wire) as are the others in the supporting cast.

This is a very powerful movie and is worth seeing.

NY Times article about director

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Rotten Tomatoes

Wolverine

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

I had almost no expectations that this would capture my attention the way it did. It must be due to Hugh Jackman, as the plot is fairly laughable, especially at the end. But it’s an exciting adventure with believable characters (except maybe the Japanese grandpa), and perfect for a summer night’s entertainment.

Bill C’s Review – 3 out of 5

Bill is right on with this one.  It was a decent action movie with a pretty ridiculous (and predictable) plot.  Jackman carries it with more to do than just his action scenes. I found the other Japanese woman more interesting than the granddaughter of the grandpa and they sort of set it up so she could come back in any sequels which would be good.  If this had been animated I would have recommended Mr. Burns from the Simpsons to play the grandpa.

This also seems like the summer with a lot of robots in movies – this one, Pacific Rim, Iron Man 3. Have I missed any?

I saw this in 3D and I didn’t think it added much.  If you see this stay for the closing credits.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

World War Z

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

I don’t normally go for zombie movies, or world war movies, much less a world war movie with zombies like this, but it’s a lot of (I was going to say “fun” but definitely not that) cool action and fantastic zombies. I always wondered why zombies would always move so slow, which they certainly do not here. These undead are super fast (but only when they are agitated!), crazy obsessed about attacking and biting humans, and seemingly super strong. There’s some incredible scenes, which I won’t give away here. Brad Pitt is excellent as the hero, and everyone else is a minor character (most of them turn into zombies, no surprise). This movie is not for the young teen age set, as it will likely cause nightmares. I saw a tweet from a Palestinian who saw this as Israeli propoganda, which I don’t agree with, although I could see how some might interpret racist undertones (e.g. during the initial attack Brad takes his family to Newark and everyone’s looting the stores, while a wino sits in the alley and pays no attention, then an African American cop shows up and…starts grabbing stuff off the shelves himself). But at least the zombies are multi-cultural.