Category: Movie

Gravity

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

Gravity is a visually stunning movie with great special effects.  The movie very effectively used 3D and I’d definitely recommend to see it this way.

Anyone who has seen the trailer knows the basic plot: George Clooney and Sandra Bullock are involved in an accident during a space walk and are struggling to survive.  The director effectively switches the viewpoint of the action – sometimes being third person and sometimes being Clooney or Bullock including the view from inside their masks.  Bullock has the bigger role and gives a very effective performance.

I won’t give away what happens.  The plot isn’t as strong (or complicated) as the special effects  but the tension is strong throughout and this is definitely worth seeing.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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In a World…

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

For all those looking for a good feminist movie, In a World… is the top choice this weekend. For others that are looking for a good romantic comedy, this is also a very good choice.

Lake Bell writes, directs and stars in her directorial debut. Lake, who majored in speech and drama in college in London, plays a vocal coach trying to break into the male-dominated voice-over business for movies and commercials. The business is dominated by a few men, including her father played by Fred Malamed who discourages her at every opportunity. Bell and Malamed do some great voice-over work and Bell does some very funny voice bits while coaching others. The title is from the signature line of ‘The voice of God’, Don Lafontaine who was the voice-over king until his death in 2008. Bell ends up competing for voice-over work that will resurrect the ‘In a World ‘ intro. The voice-over scenes include a very funny fake trailer of a Hunger Games-type movie.

Besides her career aspirations, the movie intertwines three couples (those of Lake Bell, her father, and her sister) working through their various issues. In addition to good performances by Bell and Malamed, there is good supporting work from Rob Corddry, Alexander Holden, Demetri Martin, and Ken Marino (as another voice-over star).

I was at a screening with Lake Bell in attendance, and she was as down-to-earth as her character in the movie. This film is definitely worth seeing.

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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.

The Act of Killing

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

In 1965 Indonesia was overthrown by the military and death squads killed over a million communists, native Chinese and intellectuals with the knowledge/approval of the military.  None of these people have ever been brought to justice and are still treated as heroes and with respect in Indonesia.

The Act of Killing is a fascinating and disturbing documentary focusing on some of these murderers.  They have no remorse and this film puts a human face on these people who have performed inhuman acts.  They recreate some of these acts for the film because they think it is necessary to resent their side for history.   At the end of the recreations you see the impact of these acts of horror on the people acting in the scenes even if, for the most part, the original perpetrators still don’t.

Some of this movie is tough to watch.  other parts are actually funny (as when one person decides to run for elected office).  Before the film stated there was a short intro by the director.  He said he didn’t really expect people to enjoy the film but hoped they would find it interesting and thought provoking.  This film isn’t for everyone but it is definitely achieves the directors goals.

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Elysium

Bill C’s Review – 2.5 out of 5

I had high expectations for Elysium after watching coming attractions for this movie all summer. It has Matt Damon, who has been great in action movies with the Bourne series, and is directed by Neil Blomkamp who made the highly entertaining District 9. This movie was ok, but did not live up to my expectations.

The 1% have now left earth to live in a utopia orbiting earth with machines that can cure any medical problem, while the downtrodden 99% struggle to live on a polluted, decimated earth. Elysium is protected by ‘Homeland Security’ run by Jodie Foster. I usually like Jodie Foster. While she successfully comes across as evil, she has a really weird accent and overall I didn’t like her performance at all.

Matt Damon’s character has had a tough life and is trying to get his life together. But due to circumstances beyond his control, he needs to join up with the resistance to try to reach Elysium and save the 99%. Damon, as usual is good. I also liked many of the action scenes. The first half was better than the second half, and I didn’t really like the ending.  SPOILER ALERT ON  This also had one of my pet peeves on movies with computers being key parts of the plot: when computer screens have random numbers and characters scrolling on and off the screen faster than any human being can read them, it is not possible for the person who has never been exposed to that program to figure out what the program does, how it does it, and to immediately provide his desired input to the program in seconds to save mankind. SPOILER ALERT OFF

This movie joins my growing list of this summer’s films that have robots! This movie is ok…but if you haven’t seen it, stay home and watch District 9 instead.

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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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