Last week I was home sick watching some movies on cable. What else am I suppose to do with my sick day? So as I’m scrolling through channels and I land on
Blue Streak starring Martin Lawrence and Luke Wilson. The movie also has a small role with a comedian by the name of Dave Chappelle. I realized that I forgot how funny Martin’s movies used to be. There are some real laugh-out-loud moments in that movie. This is film had a okay plot, but Martin’s antics carried the film turning this okay action/comedy into a decent movie.
This weekend I ventured out of my home to see Martin’s latest movie Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. Martin stars as Roscoe Jenkins, a talk show host who is going home for his parents 50th wedding anniversary. He’s bringing ex survivor contestant/fiancée Bianca (Joy Bryant) along for the trip.
Most of the film revolves around Roscoe’s relationship with his father Papa Jenkins (James Earl Jones) and his competition with cousin Clyde (Cedric The Entertainer) for the love of Lucinda (Nicole Ari Parker).
Most of the film just seemed dry. Some of the subplots are underdeveloped and leave you uninterested. There was a lot of physical humor, but if you aren’t into that you may want to sit this one out. I’m not a big fan of physical comedy. It doesn’t take much to make a face like I just smelled something nasty. It was the same old bits from the early 80’s. I just wasn’t amused. As funny as the comedians in the film are, Martin, Mike Epps, Mo’Nique, and Cedric The Entertainer, it felt like they were on a leash and couldn’t really be funny. I’ve seen them all be good in other movies so I wonder where all that funny went
The bright spot of the movie had to be Mike Epps as Roscoe’s cousin Reggie. Some of his one-liners were hilarious and he stole a few scene with just his facial expressions. The movie would have been much better if it had more that comedic freedom. You do get to see a glimpse of that freedom from the other comedians as closing credits roll. That by far was the funniest part of the movie and half of the theater had already left. The funniest moment of the night did not come from the a scene in the movie or the girl with the haircut from Mad Max that I saw at Applebee’s later that night. About halfway through the movie a baby starts crying and a man yells from across the theater, “Oh no! You got to take that out in the hallway”. Reason #184 I love going to the movies.
My suggestion: I’d wait to see it. It’s extremely predictable and doesn’t showcase anything that we haven’t already seen. This could have been a really clean family comedy or a really raunchy R rated comedy. Welcome Home seems to be stuck somewhere in between. With no real identity, this movie doesn’t flow well an may leave you wanting more or just wanting to leave.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
My Double-Feature Failure
This weekend I had a weekend double-feature. Disappointment starring Jessica Alba and Disappointing Remake starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig (I always wanted two first names. I think it would make me sound cooler). Okay so maybe that’s not what the movies were called, but the titles seem to really fit.
My first major disappointment came early Saturday afternoon. I convinced myself to see The Eye starring Jessica Alba and a few other folks who could easily be replaced. This film is a remake of the Hong Kong hit “Jian Gui”. In the movie Alba plays Sydney Wells, a blind violinist who has been without sight since the age of five. She undergoes an eye transplant that restores her vision and also allows her to see supernatural things. Of course nobody believes her. It was as if people thought “You mean to tell me you’ve been blind all these years and NOW you are suddenly and expert on what you see.” That line would have added some much needed comedy to this movie.
The low point of the film comes when Sydney goes to her psychiatrist Dr. Paul Faulkner played horribly by Allessandro Nivola. She says “I need to find out who’s eyes these are” and he replies “I can’t. I could lose my license.” Not only did I see this line coming from a mile away. It was at that exact point when my stomach started to hurt. I realized this movie wasn’t going to be any good, and there is an 85% chance it’s going to end with me throwing my $4.00 Cherry Coke at the screen.
The high point of the movie has to be Jessica Alba. Not because she’s the movies “eye candy” but she actually does a decent job as a lead in this film. I do worry about her career. She’s dropped two bricks with The Eye and Good Luck Chuck. Hopefully she can rebound from this debacle.
It was almost like the producers didn’t care about the movie. I could see them saying in post-production meetings, “It has Jessica Alba! Guys 15-30 will go see it. We’ll make a ton of money”. Sadly, not even her beautiful looks could save this sinking ship.
So after my disappointing morning I decided to watch The Invasion. Here’s the back-story: I love Invasion of the Body Snatchers. So what if it’s film as old as I am, it is still one of my all-time favorite movies. Mostly because I thought they ended the movie perfect. It really shook me up as a kid. I was afraid to go to sleep. I didn’t want any plants in my room under any circumstances. Seeing that I loved the original, like Kidman and have grown to like Daniel Craig, how could this movie suck? It’s easy. How about we butcher the original, give it some crappy updates and totally disrespect the original film by changing the ending. That should about do it.
The movie opens with a shuttle crash landing on its way back to earth. People in the DC area begin getting sick. The films main character Carroll Bennell (Nicole Kidman), a psychiatrist who discovers that people around her aren’t just getting sick, they are changing. She teams up with boyfriend/doctor Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig). The two of them attempt to save the world, and her son who is trapped with her alien ex husband.
For the remainder of the film Carroll and her boyfriend try to rescue her son as well as get to the “safe zone”. The problem is, with the exception of a few scenes, it just wasn’t entertaining. It was dry for most of the film. As I sat on my couch bored out of my mind, I thought I would still have the great ending as my payoff. That was until I realized during the anti-climatic climax that they had to change the ending. I would have much rather watched the original again.
My suggestion: Both films were pretty bad. I would recommend these movies if you’ve already cleaned your house, re-laced all of your shoes, mowed the lawn, washed the dishes, called all of your out-of-state friends or relatives, and there is absolutely nothing on TV. Maybe I’m being a little rough because I watched both of these Snorefest back-to-back. Save your time and money while you still can. I’m definitely going to be wary about seeing the next remake. Hollywood is running out of ideas so I’m sure that will be sometime next month.
My first major disappointment came early Saturday afternoon. I convinced myself to see The Eye starring Jessica Alba and a few other folks who could easily be replaced. This film is a remake of the Hong Kong hit “Jian Gui”. In the movie Alba plays Sydney Wells, a blind violinist who has been without sight since the age of five. She undergoes an eye transplant that restores her vision and also allows her to see supernatural things. Of course nobody believes her. It was as if people thought “You mean to tell me you’ve been blind all these years and NOW you are suddenly and expert on what you see.” That line would have added some much needed comedy to this movie.
The low point of the film comes when Sydney goes to her psychiatrist Dr. Paul Faulkner played horribly by Allessandro Nivola. She says “I need to find out who’s eyes these are” and he replies “I can’t. I could lose my license.” Not only did I see this line coming from a mile away. It was at that exact point when my stomach started to hurt. I realized this movie wasn’t going to be any good, and there is an 85% chance it’s going to end with me throwing my $4.00 Cherry Coke at the screen.
The high point of the movie has to be Jessica Alba. Not because she’s the movies “eye candy” but she actually does a decent job as a lead in this film. I do worry about her career. She’s dropped two bricks with The Eye and Good Luck Chuck. Hopefully she can rebound from this debacle.
It was almost like the producers didn’t care about the movie. I could see them saying in post-production meetings, “It has Jessica Alba! Guys 15-30 will go see it. We’ll make a ton of money”. Sadly, not even her beautiful looks could save this sinking ship.
So after my disappointing morning I decided to watch The Invasion. Here’s the back-story: I love Invasion of the Body Snatchers. So what if it’s film as old as I am, it is still one of my all-time favorite movies. Mostly because I thought they ended the movie perfect. It really shook me up as a kid. I was afraid to go to sleep. I didn’t want any plants in my room under any circumstances. Seeing that I loved the original, like Kidman and have grown to like Daniel Craig, how could this movie suck? It’s easy. How about we butcher the original, give it some crappy updates and totally disrespect the original film by changing the ending. That should about do it.
The movie opens with a shuttle crash landing on its way back to earth. People in the DC area begin getting sick. The films main character Carroll Bennell (Nicole Kidman), a psychiatrist who discovers that people around her aren’t just getting sick, they are changing. She teams up with boyfriend/doctor Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig). The two of them attempt to save the world, and her son who is trapped with her alien ex husband.
For the remainder of the film Carroll and her boyfriend try to rescue her son as well as get to the “safe zone”. The problem is, with the exception of a few scenes, it just wasn’t entertaining. It was dry for most of the film. As I sat on my couch bored out of my mind, I thought I would still have the great ending as my payoff. That was until I realized during the anti-climatic climax that they had to change the ending. I would have much rather watched the original again.
My suggestion: Both films were pretty bad. I would recommend these movies if you’ve already cleaned your house, re-laced all of your shoes, mowed the lawn, washed the dishes, called all of your out-of-state friends or relatives, and there is absolutely nothing on TV. Maybe I’m being a little rough because I watched both of these Snorefest back-to-back. Save your time and money while you still can. I’m definitely going to be wary about seeing the next remake. Hollywood is running out of ideas so I’m sure that will be sometime next month.
Friday, January 25, 2008
There Will Be Blood
There are plenty of things that I love about sports. One of the great things is that there are plenty of sports analogies to use when describing something. I usually only use them to help emphasis a point or get under someone’s skin.
When discussing There Will Be Blood with my co-worker, I was torn. Before I had a chance to see it I had everyone telling me how great the movie was. After watching it I wasn’t sure if it was a really good movie or just an okay movie with great acting. Often times, like sports, the line is blurred. The movie reminded me of one of the Chicago Bulls teams from the 90’s. Were they a really good team or just an okay team with a few great players. They really only needed a few people to play great and they had chance to win every night. With a few good players, There Will Be Blood has a chance to win big on Oscar night.
The film begins almost like a silent film. There is very little said in the first 15-20 minutes. The films first real dialogue is Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis who would be Michael Jordan) sort of giving the plot of the movie. He introduces himself as an “oil man” and H.W. Plainview (Dillon Freasier who would be John Paxson or Steve Kerr) as his son and business partner. He had to be about 8-10 years old which made that funny to me for some reason. He's the most serious 8 years old I've ever scene.
One night Plainview is paid a visit by a young man who tells him of a town that has oil coming out of the ground. He says that companies are buying up land all around it, but that town is where the oil is. Daniel and son H.W set off to this town to see if it is true or not. The bulk of the film takes place in a small town as Plainview and his colleagues extract oil, and with their shrewd business practices, try to scam the townspeople out of their money. Not that exciting of a plot right? That’s like not having a great team and then some how you land MJ and Pippen.
Daniel-Day Lewis delivers and MJ like performance in the film. He is very believable as Daniel Plainview. I left the film thinking that he was Plainview, a rude oil man who even go as far to say that he didn’t like people and found most of them to be ignorant. The character was so driven that he sacrificed his family, friends, often didn’t like or know the people he worked with. He had a focus kind of like Michael Jordan in some ways.
The other amazing performances comes from Paul Dano (who would be Scottie Pippen) who plays a young evangelical preacher, Eli Sunday. Eli is focused on getting some of the oil money for his family and his church. Dano is one of the great surprises of the movie. I think his performance may go overlooked because of the magnificent job that Daniel Day Lewis does in the film. We know Lewis is great because we’ve seen him in Gangs Of New York, and Last Of The Mohicans. I can’t recall seeing Dano in anything. I was shocked when I looked at the Academy Award nominations this week, and did not see his name on there for Best Supporting Actor. Much like Jordan and Pippen, the two of them together were phenomenal, and by far the best scenes in the movie.
So back to my analogy. The plot is so-so and the rest of the supporting cast is okay, but don’t really do anything to help carry the film. Much like those Bulls teams, two to three major players carry the film (The last 30-45 minutes are incredible). The very last scene is like a 2-on-1 fast break with Lewis and Dano. I’m not quite sure where the line is blurred. Is it really that good of a story? We all know that the actors can make or break a film. We know this is true for most films, but I think it stands to be even more true for There Will Be Blood. I’m not sure if you replace those actors what kind of film you have left. If you replace MJ and Scottie, what sort of team would you have left?
My suggestion: Great performances in this movie. I don’t care if it’s the movie that’s great or the acting. This is one of those must-see-movies of the year and the year just started. It may at some point be overhyped and shoved down our throats as the Academy Awards approach. Try not to let that discourage you. People got tired of hearing about how good the Bulls were, but you have to admit they were a good team.
When discussing There Will Be Blood with my co-worker, I was torn. Before I had a chance to see it I had everyone telling me how great the movie was. After watching it I wasn’t sure if it was a really good movie or just an okay movie with great acting. Often times, like sports, the line is blurred. The movie reminded me of one of the Chicago Bulls teams from the 90’s. Were they a really good team or just an okay team with a few great players. They really only needed a few people to play great and they had chance to win every night. With a few good players, There Will Be Blood has a chance to win big on Oscar night.
The film begins almost like a silent film. There is very little said in the first 15-20 minutes. The films first real dialogue is Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis who would be Michael Jordan) sort of giving the plot of the movie. He introduces himself as an “oil man” and H.W. Plainview (Dillon Freasier who would be John Paxson or Steve Kerr) as his son and business partner. He had to be about 8-10 years old which made that funny to me for some reason. He's the most serious 8 years old I've ever scene.
One night Plainview is paid a visit by a young man who tells him of a town that has oil coming out of the ground. He says that companies are buying up land all around it, but that town is where the oil is. Daniel and son H.W set off to this town to see if it is true or not. The bulk of the film takes place in a small town as Plainview and his colleagues extract oil, and with their shrewd business practices, try to scam the townspeople out of their money. Not that exciting of a plot right? That’s like not having a great team and then some how you land MJ and Pippen.
Daniel-Day Lewis delivers and MJ like performance in the film. He is very believable as Daniel Plainview. I left the film thinking that he was Plainview, a rude oil man who even go as far to say that he didn’t like people and found most of them to be ignorant. The character was so driven that he sacrificed his family, friends, often didn’t like or know the people he worked with. He had a focus kind of like Michael Jordan in some ways.
The other amazing performances comes from Paul Dano (who would be Scottie Pippen) who plays a young evangelical preacher, Eli Sunday. Eli is focused on getting some of the oil money for his family and his church. Dano is one of the great surprises of the movie. I think his performance may go overlooked because of the magnificent job that Daniel Day Lewis does in the film. We know Lewis is great because we’ve seen him in Gangs Of New York, and Last Of The Mohicans. I can’t recall seeing Dano in anything. I was shocked when I looked at the Academy Award nominations this week, and did not see his name on there for Best Supporting Actor. Much like Jordan and Pippen, the two of them together were phenomenal, and by far the best scenes in the movie.
So back to my analogy. The plot is so-so and the rest of the supporting cast is okay, but don’t really do anything to help carry the film. Much like those Bulls teams, two to three major players carry the film (The last 30-45 minutes are incredible). The very last scene is like a 2-on-1 fast break with Lewis and Dano. I’m not quite sure where the line is blurred. Is it really that good of a story? We all know that the actors can make or break a film. We know this is true for most films, but I think it stands to be even more true for There Will Be Blood. I’m not sure if you replace those actors what kind of film you have left. If you replace MJ and Scottie, what sort of team would you have left?
My suggestion: Great performances in this movie. I don’t care if it’s the movie that’s great or the acting. This is one of those must-see-movies of the year and the year just started. It may at some point be overhyped and shoved down our throats as the Academy Awards approach. Try not to let that discourage you. People got tired of hearing about how good the Bulls were, but you have to admit they were a good team.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Cloverfield
Last night I took the opportunity to round up a bunch of friends and go see the first big movie of 2008, Cloverfield. I remember seeing the trailer when I went to see Transformers thinking that the movie looked great, but somehow what/who the monster was would leak out by January. I’m glad I was wrong. Somehow they were able to keep this movie monster hush. I heard everything from them not showing the monster to the monster being some mutated version of Teddy Ruxpin. This mystery allowed for the Internet buzz to build as people speculated what the monster was or wasn’t. Still the movie had to be more than just Godzilla 2008. Not to mention we had a King Kong remake a few years ago and who wants to see that again. Cloverfield needed some substance if it was going to be a hit.
Cloverfield is shot entirely in first person point-of-view. You will either love how different it is or hate how different it is. Most people seemed to like it. I didn’t see anyone puking in the corner of the theater from motion sickness.
The movie starts as Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is leaving for Japan to start a new job as Vice President. His friends decided to throw him a party and decide to have people make video confessions to Rob so he can look at them when he’s in Japan (the reason for having the camera around). With the camera rolling we meet the other characters in the film, Beth (Odette Yustman), Jessica (Lily Ford), Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), Jason (Mike Vogel), and the narrator/camera man Hud (T.J Miller).
Once everyone is partying, there is a loud boom outside. Everyone rushes to the TV to see what happened assuming it’s another terrorist attack. The report says that there was a capsized ship by the Statue Of Liberty. All the partygoers rush to the roof to see if they can get a glimpse of whatever is happening. Suddenly there is a loud explosion and everyone rushes to the streets and that’s when the real mayhem ensues.
Why is the camera still rolling? This is their attempt to record whatever it is that’s happening to New York City. I guess I can buy that. I’m sure there would really be some idiot that would want to get that footage.
So this film needed more than a monster to keep people interested, and it is found in the relationship between Rob and Beth. Rob is in love with Beth and she calls saying that she’s trapped in her apartment. Now Rob feels compelled to save her and is willing to risk his life. Saving her means staying in NYC while this monster is destroying everything in sight. The other friends join along to help and Hud gets it all captured on film.
I think about my date life, and if I would be willing to risk my life. Not so sure about that. The phone conversation would go something like this.
Girl: Help! I’m stuck in my apartment
Me: Oh no! Are you okay?
Girl: No I can’t move
Me; Dang! Are you serious?That sucks. Is there anybody there to help you?
Girl: No! I'm hurt bad.
(Thinking the monster is right by her apartment)
Me: I’ll call 9-1-1.I love you but I gotta go now there is a monster running around eating people.
Of course some of the stuff in the movie was extremely unbelievable, but I got over it very quickly. I’ve never been in the middle of a monster attack so I’m not sure how things would really work out. I just remember thinking that more people should be dead by now. One of my concerns was that they were not going to show the monster. They do show the monster and more. A lot like The Mist, during some scenes you will just see parts of the monster and not the whole thing. Don’t worry there are plenty of chances to see the beast, and it doesn’t disappoint. I’m still not quite sure what it is.
My favorite character (Other than Jessica) was Hud. He was the comic relief in the film. He said and did some pretty inappropriate things and he reminded me a lot of people I know. You would definitely need someone there to lighten the mood in the middle of an attack. I wouldn’t want everyone around me freaking out.
My suggestion: Great start to 2008. I really enjoyed the flick and would recommend it. It’s something new and something different. A breathe of fresh air for Monster movies and for Hollywood as a whole. I’m glad J.J Abrams thinks outside of the box. I hope to see more of the same in the future. The movie may leave you with the “What if this happened in my city” question. Hopefully you’ll do what I would do and that’s leave.
Cloverfield is shot entirely in first person point-of-view. You will either love how different it is or hate how different it is. Most people seemed to like it. I didn’t see anyone puking in the corner of the theater from motion sickness.
The movie starts as Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is leaving for Japan to start a new job as Vice President. His friends decided to throw him a party and decide to have people make video confessions to Rob so he can look at them when he’s in Japan (the reason for having the camera around). With the camera rolling we meet the other characters in the film, Beth (Odette Yustman), Jessica (Lily Ford), Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), Jason (Mike Vogel), and the narrator/camera man Hud (T.J Miller).
Once everyone is partying, there is a loud boom outside. Everyone rushes to the TV to see what happened assuming it’s another terrorist attack. The report says that there was a capsized ship by the Statue Of Liberty. All the partygoers rush to the roof to see if they can get a glimpse of whatever is happening. Suddenly there is a loud explosion and everyone rushes to the streets and that’s when the real mayhem ensues.
Why is the camera still rolling? This is their attempt to record whatever it is that’s happening to New York City. I guess I can buy that. I’m sure there would really be some idiot that would want to get that footage.
So this film needed more than a monster to keep people interested, and it is found in the relationship between Rob and Beth. Rob is in love with Beth and she calls saying that she’s trapped in her apartment. Now Rob feels compelled to save her and is willing to risk his life. Saving her means staying in NYC while this monster is destroying everything in sight. The other friends join along to help and Hud gets it all captured on film.
I think about my date life, and if I would be willing to risk my life. Not so sure about that. The phone conversation would go something like this.
Girl: Help! I’m stuck in my apartment
Me: Oh no! Are you okay?
Girl: No I can’t move
Me; Dang! Are you serious?That sucks. Is there anybody there to help you?
Girl: No! I'm hurt bad.
(Thinking the monster is right by her apartment)
Me: I’ll call 9-1-1.I love you but I gotta go now there is a monster running around eating people.
Of course some of the stuff in the movie was extremely unbelievable, but I got over it very quickly. I’ve never been in the middle of a monster attack so I’m not sure how things would really work out. I just remember thinking that more people should be dead by now. One of my concerns was that they were not going to show the monster. They do show the monster and more. A lot like The Mist, during some scenes you will just see parts of the monster and not the whole thing. Don’t worry there are plenty of chances to see the beast, and it doesn’t disappoint. I’m still not quite sure what it is.
My favorite character (Other than Jessica) was Hud. He was the comic relief in the film. He said and did some pretty inappropriate things and he reminded me a lot of people I know. You would definitely need someone there to lighten the mood in the middle of an attack. I wouldn’t want everyone around me freaking out.
My suggestion: Great start to 2008. I really enjoyed the flick and would recommend it. It’s something new and something different. A breathe of fresh air for Monster movies and for Hollywood as a whole. I’m glad J.J Abrams thinks outside of the box. I hope to see more of the same in the future. The movie may leave you with the “What if this happened in my city” question. Hopefully you’ll do what I would do and that’s leave.
Friday, January 11, 2008
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