From 2007 comes this quirky comedy starring Aaron Eckhart as a banker with a restless soul and Elizabeth Smart as his clueless, silver-spoon wife. A charming turn by Logan Lerman really makes the flick.
Okay, enough with that. I rented this based on some Netflix recommendations or something. I like Eckhart and I like Lerman, although I didn't even realize that this kid was this kid until I saw the film. The story is cute, if not a little shallow. Eckhart plays a guy that basically hates his life. He's been cast aside by his wife, his in-laws, and his brother, and hasn't lived up to his potential. He works in the family bank doing a made up job that doesn't suit him. He dreams of owning his own business, away from the shackles of the inherited family.
Along comes Lerman. He's a high school kid who knows it all already and takes on Eckhart's character as his mentor. Really, Lerman is mentoring Eckhart. Eckhart finds himself, realizes he'd rather have happiness than money (or his wife) and does that.
The story is fine. The characters could be deeper. I found myself identifying with and liking Echart's character, getting a little crush on Lerman's character, but nothing too deep or involved. There is little in the way of development of mst of the characters. There are flashes of what could have been. A gay brother. A Snickers habit. A competitive swimming past. A kid that needs some love and acceptance. But we never get the backstory.
And some of the scenes seem very film school. Situations that are contrived instead of develop out of the situation. Filming that seems amateurish.
That said, it's a charming film worth a watch on DVD. The acting is generally good, there are some pretty funny portions, and overall, not bad.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Update
See below - I've added a few old reviews that were sitting around in draft form. I can't figure out how to redate them without the ol' cut and paste so...you can see how long they have been in the queue.
Enjoy! Perhaps you will find a holiday rental option!
Happy New Year!
Enjoy! Perhaps you will find a holiday rental option!
Happy New Year!
On DVD - The Station Agent
I had heard of this film, but I had no idea what it was about until I pulled that little sleeve out of the Netflix envelope. Had I known what was to come, I would not have waited a month to watch it.
Fin, a dwarf, inherits a station. The kind where a train station agent would live, or at least work, when the station was active. He moves into it. The movie never really explains why, but it does not really seem important. I understood him to want to get away from people; maybe he's grieving. Regardless, the station is out in the middle of nowhere, or at least that is the way it looks.
Throw in one Latin coffee vendor (out of a truck, parked next to the station, again, not explained, and thus, funny) who cannot stop talking and one lonely, bruised woman and you have got an interesting "people piece." I call it that because nothing really happens in the movie - well, of course things happen, but nothing really happens. There is no real mystery to figure out (even though things unfold), no one dies (except the throw-away character at the beginning), there is no real love story...it's just about how these three (and a few other) people interact, how the dwarf experiences life with his differences, and how he and the others realize that maybe, just maybe, having some other people around is not all that bad. Eventually they find family in each other.
It's a cute, funny, sad, and ultimately very optimistic movie with some GREAT performances.
This is a solid ****.
Fin, a dwarf, inherits a station. The kind where a train station agent would live, or at least work, when the station was active. He moves into it. The movie never really explains why, but it does not really seem important. I understood him to want to get away from people; maybe he's grieving. Regardless, the station is out in the middle of nowhere, or at least that is the way it looks.
Throw in one Latin coffee vendor (out of a truck, parked next to the station, again, not explained, and thus, funny) who cannot stop talking and one lonely, bruised woman and you have got an interesting "people piece." I call it that because nothing really happens in the movie - well, of course things happen, but nothing really happens. There is no real mystery to figure out (even though things unfold), no one dies (except the throw-away character at the beginning), there is no real love story...it's just about how these three (and a few other) people interact, how the dwarf experiences life with his differences, and how he and the others realize that maybe, just maybe, having some other people around is not all that bad. Eventually they find family in each other.
It's a cute, funny, sad, and ultimately very optimistic movie with some GREAT performances.
This is a solid ****.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
In Theater - Zack and Miri Make a Porno
They really do. They make a porno.
I kind of thought it was a metaphor - or just the backstory - but the porno-making is really front and center. Full-frontal?
It's a charming film nonetheless. A classic love story. With Kevin Smith twists.
The main leads are decent actors; the supporting cast? Not so much. And as he is prone to do, he turns nothing scenes into little bouts of hilarity all the while making you think that the whole thing was shot by hand in a mini-mart. Wait, wrong movie. But you do get the same feeling as with Clerks -- only if Clerks had had a bigger budget.
It's not like the story is a big mystery at this point (another review sitting in draft...). Zack and Miri have been friends forever, and they now live together in Pittsburgh, which Smith makes look as depressing as it might actually be (hey, I grew up in Cleveland). It's the middle of winter and they are going to their high school reunion. Neither has a great job and they have no money - what they do have Zack spends on crap he can't afford and then can't pay his rent or the bills. Eventually, the electricity is turned off, and they are freezing and practically homeless. What to do?
During a fairly hilarious conversation with the "Mac guy" at the HS reunion, Zack learns that Mac guy makes and distributes gay porn on his own in LA. After making a joke about Miri becoming a prostitute, Zack mentions that if Mac guy makes porn, why couldn't they do it and make some money? His big idea is to use the HS reunion contact list for sales because "if you heard somebody from HS was in a porno, wouldn't you want to see it?"
So they embark. They cast a porno. Nudity ensues. Boobs. Full frontal. They get ready to film and ... the set is destroyed. But they find a new set in a mini-mart...I mean coffee shop and we see more boobs, nudity, sex, back door sex, nudity, fighting, love, and...
The porno gets done. Zack realized he loves Miri after she leaves because of his boneheadedness (that really isn't). Eventually Zack hunts her down, and they have REAL sex (not porno sex). It's love. The end.
So, even with the less than stellar acting (which you get used to, I guess) and mild predictability, the film is fun and entertaining. Worth watching - but you could probably wait for the DVD. I say this after a few (weeks) months - the day after I saw it I was ALL about how funny it was. So after a second screening, I may change my mind again.
***
I kind of thought it was a metaphor - or just the backstory - but the porno-making is really front and center. Full-frontal?
It's a charming film nonetheless. A classic love story. With Kevin Smith twists.
The main leads are decent actors; the supporting cast? Not so much. And as he is prone to do, he turns nothing scenes into little bouts of hilarity all the while making you think that the whole thing was shot by hand in a mini-mart. Wait, wrong movie. But you do get the same feeling as with Clerks -- only if Clerks had had a bigger budget.
It's not like the story is a big mystery at this point (another review sitting in draft...). Zack and Miri have been friends forever, and they now live together in Pittsburgh, which Smith makes look as depressing as it might actually be (hey, I grew up in Cleveland). It's the middle of winter and they are going to their high school reunion. Neither has a great job and they have no money - what they do have Zack spends on crap he can't afford and then can't pay his rent or the bills. Eventually, the electricity is turned off, and they are freezing and practically homeless. What to do?
During a fairly hilarious conversation with the "Mac guy" at the HS reunion, Zack learns that Mac guy makes and distributes gay porn on his own in LA. After making a joke about Miri becoming a prostitute, Zack mentions that if Mac guy makes porn, why couldn't they do it and make some money? His big idea is to use the HS reunion contact list for sales because "if you heard somebody from HS was in a porno, wouldn't you want to see it?"
So they embark. They cast a porno. Nudity ensues. Boobs. Full frontal. They get ready to film and ... the set is destroyed. But they find a new set in a mini-mart...I mean coffee shop and we see more boobs, nudity, sex, back door sex, nudity, fighting, love, and...
The porno gets done. Zack realized he loves Miri after she leaves because of his boneheadedness (that really isn't). Eventually Zack hunts her down, and they have REAL sex (not porno sex). It's love. The end.
So, even with the less than stellar acting (which you get used to, I guess) and mild predictability, the film is fun and entertaining. Worth watching - but you could probably wait for the DVD. I say this after a few (weeks) months - the day after I saw it I was ALL about how funny it was. So after a second screening, I may change my mind again.
***
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Hellboy II
No secret: I love del Toro. I loved Pan's Labyrinth. I loved Hellboy. And now ... I really liked Hellboy II.
You can only expect so much from a comic-to-movie where the main character is a huge, weird, funny red guy with horns. That said, del Toro's imagination takes you right along with him. You really start to believe that Hellboy and Abe and Liz could exist in our world. Which is the magic of the movies.
It's been a few (weeks) months since I've seen it (I never got around to finishing this review!), so I'll just go with what I can remember. The plot is pretty straightforward. Long ago the elves and humans were tearing each other to shreds fighting over Earth. The elves, in their will to win, created an indestructible army (with the help of the trolls/goblins, of course) that caused so much death that King Elf couldn't take it, and he made a deal with the humans where the elves got the forests - where they would stay - and the humans got the cities - where they would stay. The backstory is all laid out in the opening scene flashback with boy-Hellboy and Papa Professor. It's a pretty cute scene.
Flash forward and the Elf Prince thinks living in the forest sucks, and he's decided to take back the Earth by unleashing the wrath of the indestructible army his father forged way back when. Of course, before he can do that he needs three pieces of a the crown that activates the army (a safety device, if you will).
Who can stop him? Why, Hellboy, that's who. And Abe. And Liz.
Here's what happens: chasing; humor, including a drunk Abe and Hellboy; a fight in a weird otherworldly (del Toro-ish) underground market; sword fighting; Liz having second thoughts about having Hellboy as her lover; Prince Elf getting the crown; army activated; Hellboy saves everyone.
It's funnier than the first one. There is one weird scene where some of the message of the movie is simply spoon-fed to the audience - the Prince Elf at one point unleashes a giant tree on the city and Hellboy must kill it to save everyone in its path from destruction. Prince Elf plays on Hellboy's outcast status (which the film has kindly highlighted for the viewer) to make Hellboy hesitate, think he might be more like Prince Elf and less like the humans he is saving. He wonders about his place in the world - being from Hell and all, this is to be expected - all the while balancing a baby (a metaphor?) in one hand and killing the tree thing with the other. The dead tree aftermath scene is a classic del Toro visual - everything the tree touched during the fight is now blanketed in this beautiful green grass and tree stuff is floating down from the sky like snow. If you review Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth you will see that both of them have a "snowy" scene that I find to be beautiful cinema; they are beautifully framed and shot.
It's still a comic book movie with a predictable plot line, but it's funny and entertaining and Hellboy is gruff but sweet. Liz is hot and Abe is lovable. I think the ending was a little better managed in this one as compared to the first one.
Rating: *** and a half.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
In Theater - I Am Legend
I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't really know much about the story - although now I know more and I know they did change some aspects of the story for the new adaptation - except that something killed most everyone on Earth and the rest were turned into zombies, except a few, like Will ... I mean Dr. whatever-his-name-is-in-the-movie.
This movie has grown on me. I liked it - but as I think about it, I like it more and more. Will is great, although I think maybe...no, I'll just leave it at that. To act with a dog and CGI for most of the movie is quite the feat. He really translates how one might feel if (when?) contact with other humans was lost. In the scene with the dog (I won't say more) you feel his crazy and his anguish. It was moving - except to the lady that walked out during that scene.
The effects are great. The zombie/vampires are pretty creepy and at least a little scary. The use of flashback (as dreams) was effective. Like I said, Will's acting was good, and he was in great shape, even skinny, for this. The story gives you lots to think about, even if it might be a little less than airtight (what movie doesn't have holes? I can only think of Seven and all the holes I can poke in that movie - which I did not like).
Because it's mostly just him, surviving and researching a cure, there isn't much to say about the plot, but I was fascinated with the daily routine. I think that's really most of what this movie is about - what would happen to you if this occurred? And what if the zombies were ... smart?? It's a psychological movie as much as a zombie flick.
It was suspenseful, funny, scary, hopeful - and not too long - all you want in a movie!
Rate: right out of my seat *** and a half ; today ****
This movie has grown on me. I liked it - but as I think about it, I like it more and more. Will is great, although I think maybe...no, I'll just leave it at that. To act with a dog and CGI for most of the movie is quite the feat. He really translates how one might feel if (when?) contact with other humans was lost. In the scene with the dog (I won't say more) you feel his crazy and his anguish. It was moving - except to the lady that walked out during that scene.
The effects are great. The zombie/vampires are pretty creepy and at least a little scary. The use of flashback (as dreams) was effective. Like I said, Will's acting was good, and he was in great shape, even skinny, for this. The story gives you lots to think about, even if it might be a little less than airtight (what movie doesn't have holes? I can only think of Seven and all the holes I can poke in that movie - which I did not like).
Because it's mostly just him, surviving and researching a cure, there isn't much to say about the plot, but I was fascinated with the daily routine. I think that's really most of what this movie is about - what would happen to you if this occurred? And what if the zombies were ... smart?? It's a psychological movie as much as a zombie flick.
It was suspenseful, funny, scary, hopeful - and not too long - all you want in a movie!
Rate: right out of my seat *** and a half ; today ****
Sunday, July 1, 2007
In Theater - Once
I was told by a friend that this was a nice little movie. A snapshot of a new relationship between two musicians, described as a musical.
Loving the description, I was excited to see it. I was not disappointed. Once is an Irish film about a Hoover-fixing aspiring musician that meets a girl, also a musician but due to life circumstances not using her musical talents, and together they blossom and make some beautiful music. I'm not going to go through the plot of each movie, unless I feel it's necessary. This plot is more about character, interaction, emotion, and situation, so it makes no sense to explain the plot.
Neither of the actors that play the lead characters (in the credits called only "Boy" and "Girl") is a trained actor - they are musicians and wrote all the original music in the film. At times you can tell, but really it's a nicely acted -- one might say it's innocently acted -- film with an independent feel (which was at least partly on purpose - a tidbit I got from the wikipedia entry on the film - which also gives a longer plot summary). The film probably wouldn't have worked any other way. It really makes it feel very intimate, but the direction and interaction between the characters also adds to the intimate feel.
As I said above, it's a modern musical. The music is weaved into the story. For example, after she tells him that she plays piano, he asks to hear her play, and she leads him to a music store where she has gotten to know the owner so she can practice because she cannot afford a piano. (After this song, my movie partner said "That's one of the best songs I have heard in a while.") Or where he asks her to have a go at some lyrics for one of his melodies, and she practices the lyrics while walking, in her pajamas, from the convenient store, where she had to get batteries for her CD player. The film is full of little things that are funny and heart-warming like her walking the night in her PJ's. These are the elements that draw you into the story and the characters.
We both commented after the movie that non-American films seem to be so much better at capturing life - with all the interesting characters, interactions, and just regular life that's been pointed and captured on film -- in the same amount of time that Bruce Willis hides from the bad guys and saves the world. And it's not boring or slow, it is intriguing. This is, of course, a generalization. But it seems something to consider as a broader question. Do American audiences need more stimulation -- or are they uninterested in the subtleties of life and characters? And if so, why?
Anyway, aside from all my other observations, Once is wonderful and quite a delightful film. Definitely worth seeing, if only for the music.
Rated: ****
Loving the description, I was excited to see it. I was not disappointed. Once is an Irish film about a Hoover-fixing aspiring musician that meets a girl, also a musician but due to life circumstances not using her musical talents, and together they blossom and make some beautiful music. I'm not going to go through the plot of each movie, unless I feel it's necessary. This plot is more about character, interaction, emotion, and situation, so it makes no sense to explain the plot.
Neither of the actors that play the lead characters (in the credits called only "Boy" and "Girl") is a trained actor - they are musicians and wrote all the original music in the film. At times you can tell, but really it's a nicely acted -- one might say it's innocently acted -- film with an independent feel (which was at least partly on purpose - a tidbit I got from the wikipedia entry on the film - which also gives a longer plot summary). The film probably wouldn't have worked any other way. It really makes it feel very intimate, but the direction and interaction between the characters also adds to the intimate feel.
As I said above, it's a modern musical. The music is weaved into the story. For example, after she tells him that she plays piano, he asks to hear her play, and she leads him to a music store where she has gotten to know the owner so she can practice because she cannot afford a piano. (After this song, my movie partner said "That's one of the best songs I have heard in a while.") Or where he asks her to have a go at some lyrics for one of his melodies, and she practices the lyrics while walking, in her pajamas, from the convenient store, where she had to get batteries for her CD player. The film is full of little things that are funny and heart-warming like her walking the night in her PJ's. These are the elements that draw you into the story and the characters.
We both commented after the movie that non-American films seem to be so much better at capturing life - with all the interesting characters, interactions, and just regular life that's been pointed and captured on film -- in the same amount of time that Bruce Willis hides from the bad guys and saves the world. And it's not boring or slow, it is intriguing. This is, of course, a generalization. But it seems something to consider as a broader question. Do American audiences need more stimulation -- or are they uninterested in the subtleties of life and characters? And if so, why?
Anyway, aside from all my other observations, Once is wonderful and quite a delightful film. Definitely worth seeing, if only for the music.
Rated: ****
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