Oh well.
The movie picks lately have been dreadful. Here are some that we've watched recently that are worthy of mention:
The Losers
The first of the three "men-on-their-own" movies that were out this year (the other two being "The A-Team" [which I have not seen yet-waiting for DVD] and "The Expendables" [see prior post about it].) This one was based on a DC comics "adult" comic book ("Vertigo" is the name of DC's adult line). The Pocket Ferengei liked it a lot more than I did (I lost interest in it half-way through). The movie is rated PG-13 (that should have been my first (and only) warning). The Losers are 5 soldiers sent to South America to take-out a drug lord when [dunh dunh dunh] they get screwed over. Everyone who knows them thinks that they are dead. A female agent finds them and offers them a deal to get back to their lives (by getting back at the person who screwed them over). Of course, nothing is as it seems to be, and nothing really gets resolved at the end. I don't recommend renting this movie. Wait for cable. [Is it like the comic book? I have no clue, since I never read the book. But with a PG-13 rating, I highly doubt it. The writer (Andy Diggle) of the book has a credit for the characters; so I don't think they had any say with this movie.]
Cop Out
My first mistake: forgetting that Kevin Smith wrote and directed this movie. My second mistake: watching this movie. I am not a fan of Kevin Smith (although I did love his movie "Dogma"). I think he's an obnoxious twit. This movie stars Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as cops who have been partners for 12 years (or so--so it's Smith's take on the 1980's 'buddy-cop' movies). They get themselves suspended from the force; which doesn't help Willis' character (because he wants to pay for his daughter's $40,000.00 wedding -- even though Jason Lee (who plays the step-father) offers to pay for it himself). Willis has a baseball card worth $80,000.00, which (of course) gets stolen. Tracy Morgan is annoying (he does the same schtick over in each movie I see him in). Seann William Scott ('Stifler' from the American Pie movies--he will never ever live that part (or name) down) plays the obnoxious crook. Yet another movie that lost my interest. Wait for cable on this one too.
Ghost Writer
[He's what I qualify as 'yummy']
[Ditto (for Pierce)] Yes, it is a Roman Polanski movie. If you can get over that fact, you will have watched a pretty enjoyable movie. Based on a book by Robert Harris (which I never read), this movie had multiple things going for it (the most important being that it kept my interest). This stars Ewan McGregor (as the Ghost, he's not given a name); Pierce Brosnan (ex-prime minister); Kim Cattral as the ex-prime minister's secretary (surprisingly, I never knew that she was British (she is)); Olivia Williams as the wife of the British Prime Minister (in "The Sixth Sense" she played Bruce Willis' wife); and Timothy Hutton and James Belushi have bit-parts (with James Belushi not looking like himself). The Prime Minister's first ghost writer dies mysteriously (is this what you would call 'irony'?). Ewan gets hired to be a replacement. Thinking he has two months to finish rewriting the book, he finds he only has two weeks to finish. Ewan finds some things in the previous ghost's notes and he gets caught up in it. (I'm not gonna ruin this one either. Let me know what you thought of the ending.)
And this is what passes as Martha's Vineyard {since Mr. Polanski can't come here--unless he wants to go to jail}
After.Life
I wasn't sure about this one. This is one of those movies where the preview looked really good--and I was surprised that the movie didn't disappoint me.
It stars Christina Ricci, with Justin Long as her boyfriend. Christina's character is a melancholy woman. She's a grade school teacher, and she's dating Justin Long (a lawyer who just got news that he's been offered a job far from where they are living). But those aren't what make her sad. Her character just goes through the motions of living--not really living. She finds out that her music teacher from when she was younger has passed away. So she goes to the funeral (where Liam Neeson is the funeral director). Afterwards, she meets Justin for dinner, but before he could ask her to marry him and move with him to his new job (he's nervous about the 'asking her to marry him' bit--and he screws it up); she misinterprets his words to mean he's breaking up with her, she makes a scene then storms out of the restaurant. On her way home she gets into a car accident. Then the story gets interesting. Is she dead? Is she alive? That's, I believe, the point of the movie. (Christina was good; Justin was "meh"; but Liam was VERY good in this one…it's a role I don't believe he's ever played before (and this movie was filmed around the time of his wife's premature death)). Then there's the kid (picture above). I'm not gonna spoil it for you--watch the movie and let me know what you think. Most definitely worth a look.
Hot Tub Time Machine
John Cusack. 1985. Enough said? Nope.
The title of this movie is just horrible, but the movie is fun (and very crass). Cusack's friend gets picked-up for 'attempted suicide' (he said he wasn't really attempting to kill himself, it was just an accident). So Cusack and friends are told by the doctor at the hospital to watch him for the next 48 hours or so (so that he doesn't do it again). They (reluctantly) agree and they decide to visit an old ski lodge that they hadn't been to in years. And that's where they find the "hot tub time machine". You have to watch it to enjoy the experience (it brings back those fond, fuzzy memories of the mid-1980's). Definitely a movie worth a look.
So that's the story morning glory.
An aside: Looking back on my post about "Inception"...hehe...here I am complaining about Hollywood being out of new ideas; and I bash this movie. Well let me explain: yes, I will congratulate it for being a new idea. But you bet your butt I will still bash it, because it was executed poorly. A lot of people liked it because it's a "thinking" movie. That's fine and dandy. I'm all for thinking movies (see The Ghost Writer and After.Life, above)...but it just seems to me that the writer/director (who had nine years to get it finished. He's stated that he gave Warner Brothers a rough outline for the movie nine years ago and they said go ahead and write it. Nine years later, this is what we get). [I will go as far as taking back what I have said about it being a follow-up to a horrible movie called "Dark City" (that movie was from 1990's), this was not like that movie at all.]
Well, off to lunch. More later...Booboo
I thought the Ghost Writer was disappointing. The ending was awful - or the near-ending, I mean. Why didn't he just end up in court, rather than well... you know. I haven't held back on telling the ending at my review, if you are not concerned about spoiling. I have NO regard for the writer - Robert Harris - who worked closely with Tony Blair, as a trusted employee before he was Prime Minister. And we all know that it's all about the "war criminal", don't we? Getting his just desserts and all that.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't care about spoilers, go and see what I thought of it, and of Harris and Polanski at my blog:
http://keeptonyblairforpm.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/the-ghost-writer-review-by-blair-supporter/
I really don't like to hear the ending of movies that I would like to see. So my thought (in writing my blog) is just that...tell enough about the movie to make the people see it (or if I truly hated the movie, not see it). In my comments section: people be warned that we will be talking about the ending of movies (hence my suggestion). It's just a common courtesy I'd like to offer to people. Now if the movie is from pre-1999--all bets are off and endings will be talked about (because it's probably had it's "world premier" on TBS by this time).
ReplyDeleteSo, since this is my comments section here goes: Yes the ending was stupid. He knew that they were CIA agents--and actively working CIA agents who have people kill for them (or they actively kill themselves)--and for him to do the school kid note "I know what you are" was just a completely duh move. He should have gone into hiding (if he cared about his life), and get help getting at them some other way. But like I said he's a deedeedee. Polanski has done endings way better in his other movies and he could've done a better ending than having the guy "supposedly" get run over off camera.
To each his own. Thanks for taking the time to write.