The Escapist
I enjoyed this film. It doesn’t break any new ground but it does provide a neat prison break. What I appreciate is The Escapist was directed by a first timer named Rupert Wyatt. Wyatt shows a lot of maturity and creates a neat atmosphere on a budget. It is no wonder he was chosen to direct Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
The movie centers around Brian Cox planning a prison break. He gathers an eclectic group of inmates and they plan the escape. The movie alternates between flash backs and the break out. I liked this aspect a lot. The alternating time frames kept the film moving while completely avoiding the dudes in prison clichés.
The Escapist is a decent flick that provides a lesson about filmmaking on a budget.
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Bad Movie Tuesday: The Next Three Days
In 2005 Russell Crowe got mad and threw a cell phone. The cell phone hit a man in the face. One year later Crowe starred in A Good Year. The film tried to rehab Crowe’s image and reestablish him as an ordinary man. A Good Year made only seven million dollars and scored an abysmal 25% score on Rotten Tomatoes. His next two headlining films American Gangster and 3:10 to Yuma compiled a 86% score and collected 185 million. What was the difference?
When Russell Crowe plays a genius, captain, gladiator, cowboy or boxer his movies collected 800 million (in the USA). However, when he plays a regular reporter, small town hockey player, husband, businessman or fat CIA guy the movies only made 124 million. That is a difference of 676 million dollars. Here is a great example. Robin Hood had a %43 score and State of Play collected a 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, Robin Hood made $68 million more. People like Crowe with weapons.
Another interesting tidbit is that Critics tend to dislike Crowe as a normal guy. When Crowe plays a badass the average Rotten Tomatoes score is 75.8%. When Crowe plays a milquetoast man the ranking drops down to 50.2%. The 50.2 was helped by State of Play’s 83%
Sidenote: I’ve left out LA Confidential, Virtuosity and The Quick and the Dead because he was part of an ensemble and not the lead.
The weird thing is that Crowe’s regular guy films were directed by Ridley Scott, Paul Haggis, Kevin Macdonald and Jay Roach. These directors have made aliens, Scottish kings, swinging spies and crashes believable. However, they couldn’t make Russell Crowe a successful regular guy. I wager that it would be easier for all the king’s men to put Humpty Dumpty back together than make Crowe an everyday dude.
One thing I noticed about Crowe in The Next Three Days is that he has one facial expression the entire film. It seems like he is acting whereas in action films he becomes the character. Take a look at these pictures he doesn’t know what to do with himself.
Look at this picture from Gladiator and you can tell Crowe is more at ease in an action setting.
The Next Three Days should have been tense. However, the movie doesn’t work with Crowe as the lead. The movie should have been rewritten as opposed to having Russell try to make the character work. Matthew Broderick or Jay Baruchel should have been the lead. The same thing happened to the remake of Straw Dogs. Dustin Hoffman was the lead in the original. However, James Marsden was cast as the nerd in the remake. Marsden played a superhero in X-Men and should never have been cast as a weakling.
Crowe perfectly embodied Maximus the gladiator. You never once noticed that it was Crowe playing a role. You only saw the dude fighting tigers. However, in The Next Three Days you only see him trying to play a normal guy. Crowe is more believable fighting his way around the world than being a domesticated man. I’m hoping that he can recover the toughness and resume his fighting ways.
Leave a commment and let me know what you think.
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The Descendants
The Descendants is an intelligent, natural and fun film focusing on a man dealing with his wife’s coma and infidelity. The movie tackles family and life realistically and doesn’t pander to melodramatics or stereotypes. The film moves at a slow pace that allows the viewer to become invested in the location, characters and story. I really loved the core family in the story. They have their problems but you can actually envision them in the real world as opposed to movie land.
Alexander Payne is one of my favorite directors. Election, About Schmidt and Sideways are all original and beautiful films. They involve three-dimensional characters and stories that people can relate to. Payne always manages to get great performances out of his actors. I love that he brought Matthew Lillard back to the mainstream.
Watch this film. The Descendants will immerse you in its rich characters, original dialogue and beautiful vistas.
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Anonymous (2011)
MY CALL: With a commanding performance by Rhys Ifans, this story depicts a greater tragedy than Shakespeare himself had ever penned. The least tragic element in this film is that Shakespeare is a fraud. This film left me wowed. [B+] IF YOU LIKE THIS, WATCH: Shakespeare lovers looking for a change of pace may turn to Shakespeare in Love. FUN FACT: The two actresses who play Queen Elizabeth are mother and daughter.
I was getting far too comfortable seeing Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, Pirate Radio, The Replacements) playing shaggy, directionless buffoons. FINALLY he has received a strong lead playing the Earl of Oxford. In this compelling period piece it is he, and not the otherwise famed name, who actually penned the works of William Shakespeare. Growing up in a noble household in which poetry and theater are analogous with sin, he finds himself the recipient of voices, rich with prosaic observations of life, which plague him until they are inked to parchment. The products of which are the works of Shakespeare.
This comes to pass as the Earl bribes a mediocre playwright (Ben Johnson, played by Sebation Armesto) to claim his plays as his own. However, when the time comes to assume credit before his invigorated audience, Johnson hesitates. Opportunistically, William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall), a desperate actor in the play privy to Johnson’s secret deal, steps forward and assumes the role. What ensues is a web of political deception and betrayal, littered with twists which culminate in a tale more tragic than “Shakespeare” himself ever penned. While I’d love to explain how, I’m NO SPOILER.
Online reviews of Anonymous vary wildly in ratings from “amazing” to “boring.” While I advocate that my opinion is unique to any other and we all have our preferences, I have difficulty understanding how anyone but an ill-educated child could possibly find this “boring” unless we’re confusing “boring” with “I didn’t like it.” In defense of other aspects of this film, the set design and cinematography (occasionally CGI-enhanced) didn’t quite receive the budget it deserved. At first, this was disappointing. However, as I watched on, I appreciated how the budget was used and enjoyed shots of poverty-stricken cityscapes and aerial views of gross architecture. I get it—these sets are expensive. It is also worth mentioning that I did not enjoy the characters of William Shakespeare and Ben Johnson. These characters do little more than serve humbly as the spoon delivering the castor oil that is the “truth” of the plot. I won’t rule out that they could have been written considerably better, but this movie is more about the Earl of Oxford, political subterfuge, and his secret. It’s not about the over-the-top, illiterate William Shakespeare. In fact, the least tragic element of this movie was Shakespeare’s fraud.
My defense of these flaws clearly identifies my stance on the movie. I liked it a lot—really, I loved it. Rhys Ifans has never failed to entertain me, but has never entertained me like this. The Earl is strong yet desperate, vulnerable with respect to his work yet callous to his wife and civic responsibilities, and deeply methodical yet inconsiderate of consequence. The Earl is the object of political and romantic turns which drive the story forward, and he is well-complemented by the Queen (played young and old by Joely Richardson of Nip/Tuck and Vanessa Redgrave, respectively) and the manipulative Cecils (played by David Thewlis and Edward Hogg).
By the way, the ending…very heavy, very touching, very real.
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The Change-Up (2011) [a more positive second opinion]
MY CALL: This movie is loaded with slapstick hilarity and still brings some “real” content. Lots of laughs and some touching moments make this one is a winner in my book. For sheer, often vulgar and sophomoric, entertainment value I give this an “A”. IF YOU LIKE THIS, WATCH: For the slapstick side I’d go with Buying the Cow if you’re in your 30’s-40’s, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell if you’re in your 20’s-30’s, and Van Wilder if you’re in your teens-20’s. It’s like the same writers teamed up for all of these movies leading up to the The Change-Up—but wrote I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell after they were all going through a woman-hating phase. For the more uplifting experience, try The Family Man, The Switch, The Wedding Crashers, and The Hangover. FYI: Mark reviewed this for one of his Bad Movie Tuesday reviews. I disagree with calling this a “bad movie” unless you consider the movies mentioned above to also be bad.
After some empty-envy commentary about what a great life the other has is exchanged, two friends take a leak in a public fountain and say at the same time “I wish I had your life”—jinx. The next morning they wake up having switched bodies. What ensues is a hilarious combination of outlandish quotables and awkward situations.
http://silverscreening.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/sneak-peek-the-change-up/
As Mitch, Ryan Reynolds wastes no time before cluster-bombing common decency with locker room, frat house rhetoric. Mitch is the kind of guy who has something to offend everyone. His charming insights on women, work and father-son relationships inform us that this is on par with Ryan’s earlier work in Buying the Cow and Van Wilder. As Dave, Jason Bateman plays his polar-opposite best bud since high school who has drifted considerably since getting married and having three kids. If ever they had similar personalities you’d never know it as he is repulsed by the things Ryan says to his wife and small children. I’d love to throw some quotes at you, but NONE of them are appropriate for general, family-filterless readership.
http://reviewsfromtheabyss.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/the-change-up-surprisingly-heartwarming/
“Crap!”
This movie was a lot of fun, but I have one serious negative criticism. After the two characters switch bodies, they say all the things we expect them to say and it’s meant to be ironic that it’s being spoken from the other character, right? But the actors, as much as I love both of them, failed to mimic each others’ speech patterns and tone. In Face/Off, after the switch Nic Cage didn’t just say the things we expected from John Travolta’s character. He said them such that they “sounded” like they came from Travolta—but with a different his own voice. Bateman and Reynolds really just read the lines as if they were the same characters forced into awkward situations. Reynolds has a very distinctive, funny, pause-rich speech pattern, and he uses it both before and after the switch. Bateman, likewise, never adopts it after the switch. Despite this shortcoming, my enjoyment of the movie was not reduced at all.
The writers managed to deliver some sincere moments interspersed among the garrison of sex jokes and colorfully metaphored profanity. I’ll be quoting this movie for a while. I adored the scenes where they “train” each other how to be a responsible adult-parent-employee-husband and a less-lame, exciting, dating single man. Reynolds has a great montage. Leslie Mann and Olivia Wilde both added to my thorough enjoyment of this movie.
http://reviewsfromtheabyss.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/the-change-up-surprisingly-heartwarming/
Olivia Wilde, need I say more?
Although the ending was a bit forced, it didn’t take up too much time. I enjoyed this movie a LOT.
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Bad Movie Tuesday: Breaking Dawn Part 1
By: Sweet Sugar (Mark’s brother)
To put this review in context, a masculine adult male reviewing Breaking Dawn is like a sorority girl reviewing The Expendables or any Dolph Lundgren movie. So of course, the Movies Films & Flix crew is giving Breaking “Yawn” a Bad Movie Tuesday nod, which seems like too easy of a target, but this is THE bad movie of the moment.
There’s no glory in slamming this movie along with the tidal wave of other bad reviews. It’s not like its stopping fully-invested Twilight fans from watching two hours’ worth of talking about feelings. The movie has a 28 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but still cashed in $138 million in its opening weekend. It’s like the more the series is slammed, the more it grows, just like the Evil in The Fifth Element.
Reading about the Twilight movies with the endless use of the word “psychosexual” has been much more interesting than actually watching the movie. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from film critics …
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“So: Sex with a vampire. Finally. For three films now, the ‘Twilight’ narrative has practically goaded the audience into having intercourse on behalf of the characters.” – Michael Phillips, Chicago Times
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“Yes, the most eagerly awaited deflowering in recent movie history takes place entirely off-screen.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
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“As much as I despise these movies, that is a parade I am not willing to rain on, no matter how much Stewart’s unrelenting sourness makes me regret my career choice. So party on Twi-hards, you have no apologies to make for your love of this pulpy, romantic saga; just don’t take it personally when the rest of us decide to party elsewhere.” – Matthew DeKinder, St. Louis Today
So yeah, it was a really bad movie, and thankfully I wasn’t the only guy in the theater sucking it up for the wifey. The way that Kristen Stewart rubbed her baby bump unceasingly made me think about a pregnant Natalie Portman aimlessly brushing her hair while staring off into space in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. The wolf pack reminded me of the gang in West Side Story getting ready to “rumble.” And I was surprised that the only opportunity for actual multi-dimensional acting was given to none other than Taylor Lautner.
The Movies Films & Flix suggestion to salvage the final movie: Switch Anna Kendrick with Kristen Stewart and pretend like nothing’s amiss. Some witty banter and more sex appeal would do wonders for the movie. Anna committed scene larceny in her bits and pieces throughout the series, and just imagine what she could do with a demon child, sassing the Volturi, and ordering around an over-sensitive Vampire hubby.
Movies about pregnancies to watch instead: Nine Months (1995) starring Hugh Grant, Julianne Moore, Tom Arnold, Joan Cusack, and a preppy non-scientific Jeff Goldblum, or Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) with Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci and Chris Rock at his best.
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Good Neighbors
The best thing I can say about this film is that it is unpredictable.
The best advice I can give is to not watch the trailer, or look at the pictures on Rotten Tomatoes. I love RT but was bummed that the pics gave away the major plot twists of the film. This is not a great film and won’t make any top ten lists but it does provide a welcome dose of uncertainty. I also dug how it looks good on a budget. The locations are used well and the set design is solid. This film provides a decent lesson of how to maximize every dollar.
The movie focuses on three people living in an apartment in Montreal. Not only do they have to survive a Canadian winter they have a serial killer to deal with. jay Baruchel, Scott Speedman and Emily Hampshire all provide solid work as the not-so-normal tenants. I wouldn’t say you ever become engaged in the characters but they don’t annoy you. They do just enough to keep you around until the end.
If you are in the mood for a dark indie or just curious to see how well Jay Baruchel fits in a drama check this film out.
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Trailer Talk: Goon
I really like Seann William Scott as an actor. Role Models, Evolution, The Rundown, American Pie and The Promotion are flicks I enjoy. I’m glad he is finally getting a chance to headline a film that highlights all his strengths.
In this film Scott is a nice/tough/dumb hockey enforcer who beats up a whole lot of people. Sounds great. Can’t wait to watch him fight a moustached Liev Schreiber. Also, Jay Baruchel and Alison Pill are a welcome addition to any cast. Watch the preview.
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A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
I dug the first Harold and Kumar flick. It was funny, simple, extreme and fresh. The second H & K flick hurt my soul. It was tired and lazy. I am happy so say that the third installment is a decent time. It breaks no new ground but manages to provide a solid dose of heart amidst the raunch. What makes this film work is the friendship of the main characters. You like the guys and want to see them become pals again.
The biggest problem with this film is that the majority of it was shown in the previews. The funniest scenes were given away. The best part of the H & K films are the surprising situations they find themselves in. It is not as much fun when you know what will eventually happen.
The movie takes place several years after the second installment. Harold looks like this:
Kumar looks like this:
Harold has to please his wife’s overbearing family by planning the perfect Christmas:
Harold and Kumar reunite and Danny Trejo’s prized tree goes up in flames:
The two go on a journey and things go wrong. They end up looking like this:
They get drugged and claymation occurs….No Yeti though:
They run into the immortal NPH:
A song and dance number occurs:
They get their mojo back:
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Bad Movie Tuesday: The Change Up
I feel the need to break down this film without being too Negative. Saying that a film is bad is too easy. I am going to look at the science of why it is bad as opposed to just saying The Change-Up sucks. Like it or not there is a formula to gross out comedies. If you do it right the film will makes millions. If you do it wrong it becomes The Change-Up.
Here is what I think happened. The director David Dobkin is a known commodity (Wedding Crashers) and the writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore are responsible forThe Hangover. This team is reliable and they managed to cast Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman and Leslie Mann in the leads. From what I hear the original script was great but somewhere along the way things got murky. The people got cocky and ditched the plot and decided to put the actors in funny seemingly funny situations.
The problem is that putting actors in situations and expecting them to be funny rarely works. They need to build a funny/creative situation and the hilarity will follow. You cannot force funny. I call it the Chevy Chase effect.
Chevy Chase was once considered one of the funniest men alive because he could
underplay just about anything. He could be funny without knowing he was funny. However, when people starting putting him in ridiculous situations it didn’t work. Chase was trying to be funny. Years ago he got laughs by simply talking to his kid while in the middle of the desert. However, Vegas Vacation had him climbing the Hoover Dam. This is a trend that happens all the time. Look at the Fonz “jumping the shark” or Indiana Jones “nuking the fridge.”
This film jumps the shark when in the first minute a CGI baby butt shoots poops all over Bateman’s face. A critic from the Houston Chronicle sums up the movie perfectly when she said movie abounds with “Pee-pee humor. There’s also a lot of poo-poo humor. And ta-ta humor.”
There are naked pregnant women, ball shaving, vomit, poop, masturbation, 345 F bombs, guys peeing in front of children, horrible advice, thumbs in butts and more poop. None of it is funny because none of it movies the story forward. It becomes juvenile. The director must have thought people would laugh because Jason Bateman is doing something gross to Ryan Reynolds.
The majority of these gross things have been done much better in other films. Dumb and Dumber, Brides Maids, Kingpin, Hot Tub Time Machine, Clerks, Mall Rats, She’s Out of my League and American Pie. These movies have featured incredibly gross things yet they have been successful. The reason for this is they move the plot forward.
A perfect example of a hilarious scene is in the Farrelly brother classic There’s Something About Mary. Do you remember the Franks and beans shot? Not only is it hilarious but it sets up Ben Stiller losing Mary. He doesn’t randomly get his nuggets zipped. This scene is a tactical plot point that intelligently deals with gross. Ben Stiller is not rude, crude or dumb. He is nervous and likable.
I like Hot Tub Time Machine a lot. It has tons of raunch and profanity but when it comes down to it the guys are friends and would do anything for each other…..They are jerks and self-absorbed but you like them. That is why the movie works.
In The Change Up you have no reason to like the characters. They are rude, angry and non intelligent. Bateman is dissatisfied with his life and Reynolds is the lazy slacker who can only be found in movies. There is no reason to like them and their bodies switch so quickly that you never really know who the other is.
The Change-Up could have been a solid flick but they messed up the equation. Next time hopefully they stick to the formula.
Movies, Films & Flix 