50/50
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of my favorite actors. The guy has range. Whether it be Brick, Inception, 500 Days of Summer or 50/50 you know the guy will bring something unique to the screen.
What makes this film work are the personal details that writer Will Reiser includes. This is not a film about big moments. It is about the small details that lead you through the chemotherapy, emotional stages and eventual surgery. Reiser survived cancer and that is why the film feels honest. The emotions are not hokey and the humor is injected at all the right moments.
50/50 revolves around a healthy 27-year-old man who is diagnosed with spinal cancer and given a %50 chance of surviving.
Helping him get through the highs and lows is Seth Rogen. Rogen is loud in this film but not too loud. He provides a counter balance to Gordon-Levitt’s subdued character.
Anna Kendrick is reliably nice as an out of her league psychiatrist. I’ve never not liked Kendrick. She is able to be naive and intelligent at the same time.
Rounding out the cast is Angelica Huston as the worrying mom and Bryce Dallas Howard as his girlfriend/faux artist that will most certainly cheat on him later.
The only tiny issue I have with the film is that some of the scenes do not flow well into the other scenes. It has a bit of an episodic feel to it that jars but rarely hinders the flow.
Watch this movie. It handles cancer in a mature way yet is able to create a healthy dose of laughs.
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October Horror Movie Preview
Hello all. Mark here.
With Halloween approaching I wanted to preview all of the horror flicks coming out this month. The list includes a prequel, sequel, threequel and two indies. Enjoy. Let me know if you watch any of them.
The film I anticipate the most is The Thing. I like Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim) and Joel Edgerton (Warrior, Animal Kingdom). I also like that they are not remaking a classic. They are building a history around The Thing. However, prequels are rarely good. Remember The Phantom Menace. Also, when you try to build a history for a horror villain it can blow up in your face. The new Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street and Eat Pray Love are examples.
I remain optimistic about this film. I want to love it. I hope it doesn’t tarnish the good name of a horror classic and disappoint the immortal Kurt Russel.
Martha Marcy May Marlene was this years darling at Sundance. It is not a horror flick but since it is described as a psychological thriller I thought I’d include it on the list. I’m going to watch it. I’m always stoked for some indie unsettling internal horror flicks.
Retreat. Cillian Murphy and Thandie Newton live alone on an island. Jamie Bell washes ashore and terrorizes the couple. Eventually, they get involved in a crazy fight for survival. I like Murphy, Newton and Bell a lot. Can’t wait to watch.
Paranormal Activity 3. The reviews are solid so far and it will be fun to watch with an audience. However, the platform is starting to feel old. I respect the first film for the competent/economical handling of a unique idea. As much as I complain about these films I will watch them and probably jump out of my seat.
The Human Centipede 2 looks like the dirtiest film ever made. It will most likely be violent, gratuitous and horrible. I am going to stay as far away as possible. Please do not watch this. I can’t see any possible scenario that it will be enjoyable.
.
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John’s Horror Corner: Prom Night (2008)
Hello all. Mark here.
I fell asleep while watching this movie. I don’t remember a thing about it. That is why I’m glad John wrote a review.
I’ve actually fallen asleep during most of the recent remakes. I fell asleep in the theater during the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I passed out on my couch while watching Shutter, Black Christmas, Sorority Row and the new Nightmare on Elm Street.
SIDENOTE: If you fall asleep during a movie about being terrorized in your dreams it doesn’t say much about the film.
By John Leavengood
MY CALL: If this is a remake of the 1980 Jamie Lee Curtis flick, I can’t tell. The only similarity is the title. This is a slasher flick where slashes don’t seem to draw blood. You be the judge. Could anything really be good about this? Maybe an “F” is too harsh, yet a “D” seems generous. WHAT TO WATCH INSTEAD: Well, Sorority Row was way better than this. Not only better, but decently fun period.
Remember That Thing You Do? Wasn’t everyone great? Tom Hanks, Tom Everett Scott, Steve Zahn, Liv Tyler, and oh yeah, Jonathan Schaech (also from Quarantine, The Forsaken, Hush). What happened to him? Not much good since that movie.
Brittany Snow (the then 22-year-old star) plays a high school senior—who totally strikes me as someone who could get a full ride to Brown University, right—decides not to take her meds leading up to prom night. Why? So that everything would be clear. Why the drugs? Because she was crazy-stalked by Jonathan Schaech, who was imprisoned but escaped three days before prom night.
The preview suggested that this killer would be a terrifying mystery as promiscuous teens get picked off one by one. Not the case. We are informed way too early of Schaech’s character. Each kill is harbingered by blatant smoke signals far before any suspense could be cultivated and, not surprisingly, there are no frightfully jumpy surprises. There is no suspense, shock-value, blood (except for maybe one kill) or development whatsoever. If the director was trying to accomplish anything with this movie, I have no clue what it was.
This really bored me. Just look at Schaech (below)–uncompelling.
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Bad Movie Tuesday: Retrograde
Hello all. Mark here.
Instead of writing a traditional review I’ve decided to tell the story of Retrograde through the eyes of an unlucky scientist.
It is 2204 and you are sitting in the front yard of your post-apocalyptic research lab. You look up and you see a cardboard spaceship falling from the sky. The ship lands and you think you are about to meet intelligent aliens or an advanced race of blue Amazonian women. The spaceship door opens and smoke pours out. Something from inside moves and out walks Dolph Lundgren wearing the greatest leather jacket ever.
You begin to ponder several things. The world is a wasteland, how did Dolph find a sweet leather jacket? Also, you remember the film The God’s Must Be Crazy. In the film a Coke bottle falls from the sky and turns a tribal village upside down. You wish a bottle of Coke would have fallen from the sky.
Why would you rather have a delicious beverage? Because, whenever Dolph is in a direct to DVD film it always involves plagues, evil guys, violence, twenty year old women and more violence.
Dolph gets off the plane and mutters something about how his plane crashed and his crew became belligerent and committed mutiny. Also, he says that his plane was sent back in time to prevent a plague. He says that he and his crew are immune to the fungus but you might be in trouble.
A few minutes later you wonder where your twenty year old daughter is at.
It is too late to talk sense to your daughter because she is so impressed by the feathered hair Swedish guy wearing a sweet jacket.
A huge laser fight breaks out and wrecks all of your research. Eventually, Dolph defeats them all with front kicks, judo chops and bad dialogue. However, you did get shot in the arm. You look for your wife but she is nowhere to be found.
In the end your daughter, wife and sister-in-law run off with Dolph, the world is saved and your space bunker has been severely damaged by laser blasts.
The End!
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The King of Fighters (2010)
Hello all. Mark here.
The King of Fighters sounds really bad. However, after John’s review I want to watch it. I dig bad fighting movies based on video games. They always make me laugh.
By John Leavengood
MY CALL: It’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice meets a wannabe Mortal Kombat and Ray Parks goes all “precious”-craving Gollum. I’d skip it. [C] WHAT TO WATCH INSTEAD: I mention several other movies in this review. All of them, including Balls of Fury, have better action than this. IF YOU LIKE THIS, WATCH: If this did it for you then you’re probably younger and more interested in the girls’ outfits than the violence. So I’d direct you to something like DOA. Maybe check out Tekken, as well.
DISCLAIMER: This is based on a video game that I have never heard of. However, I love any seriously done tournament-style martial arts movie. Just forgive me if I ignore statements as to whether or not certain game characters were done justice.
So, as I was saying, this is about some non-lethal tournament in which the fighters get summoned—with all of the notice of a 911 page to a doctor on call—to an alternate dimension for battle. The fighters beam into this Matrix-y alternate dimension by way of some Bluetooth-like earpiece which is fueled by three ancient artifacts (owned by three different clans). Legend has it that if one man was to possess all three that he could be granted limitless power. So naturally they are displayed in the open air behind no protective barriers at some fund-raiser with minimal floor security and the first guy who comes along (Rugal, played by Ray Parks) succeeds in a kind of smash-and-grab job often delegated to dim-witted street thugs. Rugal then changes the tournament into a more deadly game to serve his dreams of tyranny…or something. His ambitions really aren’t clear.
The combat is nothing awesome, but serviceable and occasionally filmed decently enough such that the viewer can see what’s going on in the fight. There are even a few impressive acrobatic moments—but they by no means redeem this movie or make it rent-worthy. The set design of the combat dimension is not terribly innovative, which is a shame because that’s what gives a movie like this its flavor. But the overall production value is good, the acting is reduced by overly simplistic dialogue (no shock there), and I doubt I’ll regret watching this.
Ray Parks (The Phantom Menace, Ecks vs Sever) and the always lovely Maggie Q (Live Free of Die Hard, MI:III, Balls of Fury) are horribly underutilized. In fact, it’s a shame they didn’t do the action direction and choreography themselves. I imagine they were upset when they saw their fight scenes for the first time. The finale is some terrible mach-up of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and later installments of the Mortal Kombat movie franchise.
An Anime-haired Sean Faris (Never Back Down), a Maggie Q shower scene, a very PG lesbian locker room scene, and the women’s wardrobe suggests that this was made for teenagers who would sooner rent this on a Friday night rather than going out and actually talking to real live girls.
Here’s a trailer with some actor/director interview commentary.
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Submarine
This movie is a nice little bugger. It feels like a mixture of Wes Anderson, The Arctic Monkeys, Holden Cauflield and A Christmas Story.
Submarine focuses on a 15-16 year old who is entering the world of dating and dealing with his parents loveless marriage. You can’t really generalize this film. You can give people a basic idea but it would be like explaining Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and Royal Tennenbaums. A general synopsis would not do it justice.
I love movies like this. Characters are three-dimensional, the vision is unique, quirks are aplenty and it has a freshness that is missing in bigger budget films. This film has a look all its own. The 35mm camera captures a nice raw look that saturates the color and gives it the pretentiousness it needs. You’d expect this movie to come from this guy. Richard Ayoade (Mighty Boosh, IT Crowd).
Watch this film. Enjoy the freshness. Dig the Soundtrack.
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Trailer Talk: Ghost Rider 2
Nicolas Cage + motorcycles + flaming skulls + bad CGI = A happy Mark.
My only hope is that Cage continues the trend of acting bored whilst crazy things are happening around him. Season of the Witch and Next are examples of bored acting.
From what I gather about the trailer is Nic Cage hunting an evil that is more evil than the evil he defeated in the first film. It always seems that evil gets more evil after you destroy it. If I was an evil guy I would get defeated at least 30 times. Because, after that I’d be unstoppable. Nic Cage would need to recruit his characters from Con Air, The Rock, The Weatherman, Raising Arizona and Face-Off to even have a chance of putting a hurting on me.
The CGI seems better in this film and it has the benefit of not having Wes Bentley as the bad guy. Also, the day time car chase looks really cool. The one thing this movie seems to have going for it is that it will not be boring. In the preview Nic pukes fire and unnecessarily/creatively kills the bad guys. I love how this trailer tastefully answers the unnecessary question of whether or not a flaming man from hell can pee. The answer is yes……He pisses fire.
I’m going to watch this film. It will not be good but I’m not expecting Thor or Captain America. I’m hoping for a bored Nicolas Cage and a whole lot of explosions.
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Bad Movie Tuesday: Last Night
This film was originally entitled “Good looking people looking depressed and Cheating on Each Other.”
I’ve decided to tackle an issue that has not been explored on Bad Movie Tuesday. This issue is worse than bad acting, bad CGI and incoherent plots. The issue is unhappy good-looking rich people. These rich people have been plaguing our cinemas for too long under the guise of good cinema. People tend to think they are watching a good film when a somber score plays while pretty people pout. The populace’s eyes need to be opened!
When people made a big deal about the film Closer I wondered what all the praise was for. Sure the acting was good but when you break the film down it is about four rich bitter good-looking people who lie, cheat and lie? The people are miserable little punks who complain a lot. You are spending money to watch people be selfish.
Here is a breakdown of Last Night. An attractive/rich/skinny/well-groomed married couple flirts with adultery. The odd thing is that from the beginning they are fighting and distant. You never get a chance to like them. I don’t even remember their names. It is 90 minutes of nondescript people talking about how unhappy they are. Also, I think they broke the world record for most pouty looks in a film.
If Dolph Lundgren was in this movie it would involve him playing duel twin roles and sleeping with the two twenty year old wives and six mistresses while they rescued the world. There would be no pouting…Not because of the script, I’m certain Dolph can’t physically pout. If Stephen Baldwin was in this film it would feature funny and uncomfortable scenes of him being flirtatious.
I’m gonna compare the film Last Night to sunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds sound healthy but they are loaded with sodium. Thus, they are deceptively unhealthy. Plus, they can get stuck in the back of your mouth and annoy you. Last Night looks good but it is all empty annoying calories.
If they decide to be faithful do they get a medal? Should you cheer because they didn’t cheat? What is the over/under on Sam Worthington cheating? I’m thinking -350…However, Knightley’s French ex could be the wildcard.
The biggest thing I don’t understand is who was the target audience for this film? It is not a date flick. It is not a sci-fi flick, it isn’t foreign, it doesn’t start with adultery and end with giant robots.
Don’t get me wrong. I love movies focusing on relationship troubles. 500 Days of Summer, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, All the Real Girls, The Zoo Keeper and Deuce Bigelow Male Gigolo. However, watching two people be selfish for 90 minutes is not my idea of a fun night.
So, the next time you see an ad for a film like this. Stay away! Don’t be fooled.
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Drive
Lost in Translation, Once, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Royal Tennenbams and Layer Cake. After watching each of these films I bought their soundtracks. Whenever I love a movie I immediately buy the soundtracks. The music reminds me of the experience and motivates me to write. Drive and its Director made me remember the motivating effect that movies can have.
Nicolas Winding Refn has finally managed to mainstream his insanity. After The Pusher Trilogy, Bronson and Valhalla Rising Refn has succeeded in making a Hollywood movie in his own way.
An 80s sounding score, an anti-hero out of a noir film and a current day Los Angeles. Drive centers around the unnamed Gosling as he tries to protect Carrey Mulligan and her son. Violence and a great score follow.
The preview makes it look like any other film. This is not the case. The movie is unpredictable and beautiful to look at. Drive is a reflective piece with occasional ultra violence. The violence does go to unnecessary extremes but it wouldn’t be a Refn film without a fork getting stabbed in someone’s eye.
Gosling and Refn are teaming up for two more films (Logan’s Run and Only God Forgives) and I think this pairing is going to give us some great work. I’m hoping they become a crazier version of DiCaprio and Scorsese.
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Hanna #2
Hello all. Mark here.
John already reviewed this film if you want a really good synopsis of the film. I wanted to chime in now that it is on blu-ray.
1. Hanna is a beautiful looking action/fairy tale that features superb cinematography, action and music. The plot centers around a young girl on the hunt for a southern accented Cate Blanchett.
2. There is an amazing steady-cam shot featuring Eric Bana that is three minutes and six seconds of uninterrupted awesomeness. Director Joe Wright is known for his long shots (Atonement)
3. The score by The Chemical Brothers is badass. It stands side by side with Daft Punk’s score of Tron.
4. There is an amazing dolly shot featuring a dude dancing with fire, another guy flipping a pipe to the score and Cate Blanchett acting tough.
5. John disliked the ending. He said the director should be “kicked in the nuts.” I disagree I thought the ending was badass.
6. I dug this flick. I hope the mainstream will catch on to it.
Movies, Films & Flix 