Seann William Scott is back in this funny movie. He is one of the few to do anything with their American Pie fame. None of the others have built anything of a career like him, accept that geeky guy with the large nose who walked away from Nadia like a fool.
Bobb'e J. Thompson plays a potty mouth adolescent. He is funny and when he slaps Scott before he exits the car, it is hilarious. I am not sure why needs a friend, he has friends and this is displayed in the middle of the movie. A character or person like him would not be suitable for any role model. This is said, others always walk away from him but it does not diminish his behavior or confidence proving a court appointed role model is unnessesary. But it is a movie and one should overlook this.
The movie is funny, but it is not Pineapple Express, not even close, nor Burn After Reading. The first half is better than the second, in terms of hilarity. Thompson mellows out towards the end which is why the movie was funny to begin with. Whoever wrote his lines decided to take his comedy out of the movie. Which correlates with less laughter.
Elizabeth Banks is decent, nothing special in this movie.
Superbad geek star plays a loser, his character loves middle age Europe, the time frame of sword fighting and shield yielding. Honor and glory is what he seeks in a mythical world. He meets with his friends in the park and practices. He probably does need a mentor since his parents are cruel to him and he practices this at school, on the roof, all alone. Now that is odd. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is his name and he does a pretty good job. I guess he can play the geek or loser forever, he is attempting to carve his niche.
Scott and his buddy are energy drink sponsors. They get into a squabble with tow truck driver and drive their large truck, company vehicle, on top of a high school statue in broad daylight. Pretty foolish but funny nevertheless. As a punishment, and not wanting to go to jail for a month, well one was considering it since he did not want to hang out with a high school kid who lives in his own fantasy land. They have to hang out with these kids for 150 hours, attempt to mentor them or atleast be their friend or act friendly toward them. I did not laugh that much in the last 35 minutes so that stole some of the thunder from this movie. The idea and beginning held potential though.
I allocate this movie two stars. **
Friday, November 14, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
City of Ember
Bill Murray plays in this odd movie, something that Tim Burton would direct but he did not. I did not pay too much attention to it. So I am not going to be able to dive too deep into the movie which means very little. This is not a movie for most people, I am eccentric but this is a movie made for different types of people.
Apparently, the world ended. When this occured, all of human being's knowledge was placed in a box. How does this occur? Does not matter and it only takes about 5 seconds to realize this movie is so far removed from reality, tidbits like this are not to be dwelled over. Like Matrix, how the world ends, is not really known. The Matrix was frustrating for not explaining this, this movie is already so fantastical it does not matter as much. Another theme from the Matrix, was a city that survives underneath our surface. But it is not called Zion. It is lighted by a generator that is losing steam. This city is not massive, it seems to be smaller than my home town Sacramento. Does the entire world live underneath the planet? Something like Demolition Man, we do not know, atleast I did not hear it explained.
Tim Robbins has a small part. He is the father of the boy who becomes a mechanic who then becomes the hero the movie. Regarding this mechanic, I was not able to simply locate his name nor the cute heroine in the movie. Bill Murray is the mayor of this town, which is rather decrepid. Apparently, Murray's character is stealing food but obviously not clothes since it seems he wears rags too. This town subsists on whatever they produce and make from their own surroundings. No outside trade, no contact with anyone but themselves. Not an exciting existence. If the beginning was not explained, one would not know this is the future, they would like think it being an alternate universe, not that dissimilar to Lord of the Rings. There is not even a lap top computer shown in the movie. There are some small and funny looking robots though.
Murray's character perishes at the end in a similiar fashion to Paul Reiser's character in the blockbuster and incredible 1986 science fiction classic-Aliens. This movie's directos has obviously seen that movie as well.
Fruit like pineapple and probably every other type of fruit are a high commodity. In fact, if someone is seen with a can of pineapple, they are under suspicion.
Ian McElhinney, is an old Irish actor who plays a long time veteran builder. The builders are the town's supposed heroes. I guess they built the generator that powers the city, something like that.
The cute girl and the intrepid young man rides a wooden craft through and on a flooded river. This river escorts them out, in an exciting manner and accompanied by some outstanding music to the surface, or the cave entrance. It is right before sunrise, so they think the rumors are true about the surface always being dark. Not sure who spread these rumors but what ever. The people in this city fell for the big lie. The two young adults and the small child who road with them, watch the sunrise. They then follow a funny looking bird who flies down into the cave hole, the top the ceiling in this huge cave the city resides in. They drop a rock down there, with a note attached informing whomever picks it up, that the surface is the place to be and light is there. Tim Robbin's character, the boys father, just happens to be the one who picks up the rock. The narrator acts like the rock is the key and if it does not make it all the way down, gets caught someone's roof, then there is not any more hope of informing the city or cave dwellers that their is light at the end of the tunnel. The boy or girl only needs to drop another rock with a note attached, not that difficult.
I allocate this movie two stars. ** The music was stimulating.
Apparently, the world ended. When this occured, all of human being's knowledge was placed in a box. How does this occur? Does not matter and it only takes about 5 seconds to realize this movie is so far removed from reality, tidbits like this are not to be dwelled over. Like Matrix, how the world ends, is not really known. The Matrix was frustrating for not explaining this, this movie is already so fantastical it does not matter as much. Another theme from the Matrix, was a city that survives underneath our surface. But it is not called Zion. It is lighted by a generator that is losing steam. This city is not massive, it seems to be smaller than my home town Sacramento. Does the entire world live underneath the planet? Something like Demolition Man, we do not know, atleast I did not hear it explained.
Tim Robbins has a small part. He is the father of the boy who becomes a mechanic who then becomes the hero the movie. Regarding this mechanic, I was not able to simply locate his name nor the cute heroine in the movie. Bill Murray is the mayor of this town, which is rather decrepid. Apparently, Murray's character is stealing food but obviously not clothes since it seems he wears rags too. This town subsists on whatever they produce and make from their own surroundings. No outside trade, no contact with anyone but themselves. Not an exciting existence. If the beginning was not explained, one would not know this is the future, they would like think it being an alternate universe, not that dissimilar to Lord of the Rings. There is not even a lap top computer shown in the movie. There are some small and funny looking robots though.
Murray's character perishes at the end in a similiar fashion to Paul Reiser's character in the blockbuster and incredible 1986 science fiction classic-Aliens. This movie's directos has obviously seen that movie as well.
Fruit like pineapple and probably every other type of fruit are a high commodity. In fact, if someone is seen with a can of pineapple, they are under suspicion.
Ian McElhinney, is an old Irish actor who plays a long time veteran builder. The builders are the town's supposed heroes. I guess they built the generator that powers the city, something like that.
The cute girl and the intrepid young man rides a wooden craft through and on a flooded river. This river escorts them out, in an exciting manner and accompanied by some outstanding music to the surface, or the cave entrance. It is right before sunrise, so they think the rumors are true about the surface always being dark. Not sure who spread these rumors but what ever. The people in this city fell for the big lie. The two young adults and the small child who road with them, watch the sunrise. They then follow a funny looking bird who flies down into the cave hole, the top the ceiling in this huge cave the city resides in. They drop a rock down there, with a note attached informing whomever picks it up, that the surface is the place to be and light is there. Tim Robbin's character, the boys father, just happens to be the one who picks up the rock. The narrator acts like the rock is the key and if it does not make it all the way down, gets caught someone's roof, then there is not any more hope of informing the city or cave dwellers that their is light at the end of the tunnel. The boy or girl only needs to drop another rock with a note attached, not that difficult.
I allocate this movie two stars. ** The music was stimulating.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Quantum of Solace
Daniel Craig returns as the best Bond of all time. Traditionalists will reject this notion but I disagree with Sean Connery as being the best. First off, he played a stationary Bond, one who was cool and still swooped the ladies up. But this Bond does that but jumps, runs, chases, and fights back with a vengeance. He is a mover and a shaker, the villians be dammed.
This was another thriller, with nothing to compete against this movie, it should make a decent buck. Pride and Glory is a solid competitor, but nothing like DeJaVu was that came out about the same time as Casino Royale did a couple of years ago. That was tremendous movie, totally original, a cinematic wonder.
Olga Kurylenko can not be considered a bond girl but her looks are stunning. Probably the top 1-3 Bond actresses in the entire series. She hit the screens big time last year in the action movie Hitman. Olga is just stunning.
This Bond movie takes us to London, Italy, Haiti, and Bolivia. The villians again are this sinister group of men probably bent on upsetting the status quo of the world. This time, it is Bolivia, to close up the water movement in this counry and charge the populous a fortune for this essential ingredient. Among other utility fees. This is a pretty large group of people in this organization, Bond takes as many pictures as he can at this grand opera. He interups the conversation to see which ones reveal themselves in this massive audience. They reveal themselves by getting up and walking away, Bond, is up in the rafters, he snaps some photos but there are so many and the length of time to take a picture of each one does not exist. But with this informaton, M, Bond, and M16 are making headway into this organization and to know that it exists.
This organization is fiction though, the real villians on this planet are the members of radical Islam. They are the true culprits and are not afraid of suicide for there fringe viewpoints and lunatic beliefs.
Jeffrey Wright returns as the noble CIA agent. But he is buttressed by an overweight CIA agent, his supevisor, who is sloppy in his work, is a little more apt to deal with unsavior characters, and seems to be pretty unsympathetic towards the planet inhabitants.
Judi Dench is outstanding as M. She knows Bond should not trust anyone but is concerned that his vengeance can be too bloody. That is why this is an exceptional Bond movie, it is not independent of the previous one. The ending of Casino Royale rolls into this one, something the Bourne movies have woven into the film lore with success. That is why I liked this one, it was not separate from Royale, they were connected. If one has not seen Royale, they will miss some of the subtleties of this movie and what is driving Bond's rage. That is the way it should me. I wish the Lethal Weapons were more like they this, they were a little, but not as much as I would have liked. A sequel should have some times to the previous one, if it does not, might as well change the title completly.
The action was relentless and the movie starts off with an intense car chase and displays Bond's car driving skills and use of an automatic weapon.
The table like computer which M16 uses in the middle of the movie is impressive. That is the way flip technology and touch screen adaptations are headed.
Bond never makes a move, well, not really, toward Olga. He probably would have if he did not have the previous girl on his mind. The girl from Casino Royale, the accountant who double crosses Bond but actually saves his life be making a deal with this silent group. Apparently this group took some years off or were just laying super low since Pierce Brosnans James Bond's never mentioned this group. The evildoers in those movies were of their own making and had their own interests.
Two main culprits in this Bond. A Bolivian general and a Russian who is followed by Bond from Haiti, to I believe Italy, and then to Bolivia. The ending of this movie takes place at a desert home in Bolivia which has offices and residential section. It is gorgeous and quite large. Too bad about half of it is destroyed.
Bond has a wonderful part in this movie in which he gets these guys off their boat. Wow, I will have to see that scene again. It occurs quickly. Bond is out gunned and out manned but, with the help of Olga, knocks this ridged hulled boat up in the air. Prior to this scene, he just knocks a guy off of his motorcycle rather rudely. But Bond is on a mission, he blames this group for taking the girl he loves. Almost out of control, perhaps why Bond never falls for a girl like this again in any other movie. That is a liability.
Bond saves the English taxpayer a considerable amount throughout the film. In almost every place he goes, he does not rent a car or charge the taxpayer for these costs. He steals cars it seems like all of the time, steals motorcycles, boats, and even trades gorgeous cars he does not own for an airplane that is ultimately destroyed. Ofcourse he did not ask to be attacked in midflight.
I am still unsure of what the title means. Olga was spectacular and she was a fighter, they do not have to make her look super hot, she just is. Bond drops this villian off in the middle of the desert with some oil to drink at the end of the movie, righteous.
The nasty faction in this movie hide behind an environmentalist theme. They dupe the media and host country, they have the capital and finances to cause coups and prop up puppet dictators they can control. Hugo Chavez is mentioned in this movie. This movie hints that the US is too hamstrung in the middle east to do anything about South America, not sure how true this is. We could eliminate Hugo Chavez but so far, his words are just that. But it would be nice for Chavez to disappear, either publically or privately.
This movie is allocated 4 stars out of five. **** Would be five, just some scenes and some music that are not there that eliminate this possibility. Nevertheless, the movie is a triumph and worth seeing again.
This was another thriller, with nothing to compete against this movie, it should make a decent buck. Pride and Glory is a solid competitor, but nothing like DeJaVu was that came out about the same time as Casino Royale did a couple of years ago. That was tremendous movie, totally original, a cinematic wonder.
Olga Kurylenko can not be considered a bond girl but her looks are stunning. Probably the top 1-3 Bond actresses in the entire series. She hit the screens big time last year in the action movie Hitman. Olga is just stunning.
This Bond movie takes us to London, Italy, Haiti, and Bolivia. The villians again are this sinister group of men probably bent on upsetting the status quo of the world. This time, it is Bolivia, to close up the water movement in this counry and charge the populous a fortune for this essential ingredient. Among other utility fees. This is a pretty large group of people in this organization, Bond takes as many pictures as he can at this grand opera. He interups the conversation to see which ones reveal themselves in this massive audience. They reveal themselves by getting up and walking away, Bond, is up in the rafters, he snaps some photos but there are so many and the length of time to take a picture of each one does not exist. But with this informaton, M, Bond, and M16 are making headway into this organization and to know that it exists.
This organization is fiction though, the real villians on this planet are the members of radical Islam. They are the true culprits and are not afraid of suicide for there fringe viewpoints and lunatic beliefs.
Jeffrey Wright returns as the noble CIA agent. But he is buttressed by an overweight CIA agent, his supevisor, who is sloppy in his work, is a little more apt to deal with unsavior characters, and seems to be pretty unsympathetic towards the planet inhabitants.
Judi Dench is outstanding as M. She knows Bond should not trust anyone but is concerned that his vengeance can be too bloody. That is why this is an exceptional Bond movie, it is not independent of the previous one. The ending of Casino Royale rolls into this one, something the Bourne movies have woven into the film lore with success. That is why I liked this one, it was not separate from Royale, they were connected. If one has not seen Royale, they will miss some of the subtleties of this movie and what is driving Bond's rage. That is the way it should me. I wish the Lethal Weapons were more like they this, they were a little, but not as much as I would have liked. A sequel should have some times to the previous one, if it does not, might as well change the title completly.
The action was relentless and the movie starts off with an intense car chase and displays Bond's car driving skills and use of an automatic weapon.
The table like computer which M16 uses in the middle of the movie is impressive. That is the way flip technology and touch screen adaptations are headed.
Bond never makes a move, well, not really, toward Olga. He probably would have if he did not have the previous girl on his mind. The girl from Casino Royale, the accountant who double crosses Bond but actually saves his life be making a deal with this silent group. Apparently this group took some years off or were just laying super low since Pierce Brosnans James Bond's never mentioned this group. The evildoers in those movies were of their own making and had their own interests.
Two main culprits in this Bond. A Bolivian general and a Russian who is followed by Bond from Haiti, to I believe Italy, and then to Bolivia. The ending of this movie takes place at a desert home in Bolivia which has offices and residential section. It is gorgeous and quite large. Too bad about half of it is destroyed.
Bond has a wonderful part in this movie in which he gets these guys off their boat. Wow, I will have to see that scene again. It occurs quickly. Bond is out gunned and out manned but, with the help of Olga, knocks this ridged hulled boat up in the air. Prior to this scene, he just knocks a guy off of his motorcycle rather rudely. But Bond is on a mission, he blames this group for taking the girl he loves. Almost out of control, perhaps why Bond never falls for a girl like this again in any other movie. That is a liability.
Bond saves the English taxpayer a considerable amount throughout the film. In almost every place he goes, he does not rent a car or charge the taxpayer for these costs. He steals cars it seems like all of the time, steals motorcycles, boats, and even trades gorgeous cars he does not own for an airplane that is ultimately destroyed. Ofcourse he did not ask to be attacked in midflight.
I am still unsure of what the title means. Olga was spectacular and she was a fighter, they do not have to make her look super hot, she just is. Bond drops this villian off in the middle of the desert with some oil to drink at the end of the movie, righteous.
The nasty faction in this movie hide behind an environmentalist theme. They dupe the media and host country, they have the capital and finances to cause coups and prop up puppet dictators they can control. Hugo Chavez is mentioned in this movie. This movie hints that the US is too hamstrung in the middle east to do anything about South America, not sure how true this is. We could eliminate Hugo Chavez but so far, his words are just that. But it would be nice for Chavez to disappear, either publically or privately.
This movie is allocated 4 stars out of five. **** Would be five, just some scenes and some music that are not there that eliminate this possibility. Nevertheless, the movie is a triumph and worth seeing again.
Friday, November 7, 2008
While She Was Out
Kim Basinger stars in this movie with an abusive husband. Not much of an acting job since she put up with that psycho Alec Baldwin for many years. Baldwin likes to leave nasty phone messages on his daughter's cell phone.
Basinger is still gorgeous but she plays in a similar movie in the cell phone thriller called Cellular in 2004. This time, in the beginning, the cell phone does not work when she is trying to call 911. She should have never gotten out of her car right in the beginning nor confronted these young hooligans.
I am surprised Hollywood does not get lambasted by the feminists for portraying woman as poor drivers. Basinger can not drive a car worth squat. She needs no help in crashing her car, she just does this all on her own. Why does she not drive home? Why does she not drive right back into the area of people outside the department stores that she just left 3 minutes prior to meeting these ruffians?
She kills or maims them one at a time. They call her terrible names on the way, derogatory names towards a female. They are complete losers who just make terrible decisions and their wayward ways are evident throughout this film.
Not only can Basinger not drive a car properly, she can not run without tripping and making allot of noise. Why she is running with a tool box in the woods is beyond me. She has ample time and opportunity to make her escape but she is too brain dead, delusional, or inept to make it happen.
None of the characters in this movie are worth mentioning besides Basinger. One would not know who they were if I did. How she kills this guy with a lug wrench is just total fantasy and this fools just walks right into it and allows it to occur. Pretty disgusting, something Michael Myers would do to an unsuspecting victim. The four barbaric souls are killed one at a time be her. She should be given a medal, and probably would, by society for getting rid of four leaches.
I would allocate this movie one star. * It was not as terrible as the X Files so called sequal of last summer.
Basinger takes out a 5th villian at the end. It is her abusive and despicable husband. She might as well clean house while she has the stomach for it.
Basinger is still gorgeous but she plays in a similar movie in the cell phone thriller called Cellular in 2004. This time, in the beginning, the cell phone does not work when she is trying to call 911. She should have never gotten out of her car right in the beginning nor confronted these young hooligans.
I am surprised Hollywood does not get lambasted by the feminists for portraying woman as poor drivers. Basinger can not drive a car worth squat. She needs no help in crashing her car, she just does this all on her own. Why does she not drive home? Why does she not drive right back into the area of people outside the department stores that she just left 3 minutes prior to meeting these ruffians?
She kills or maims them one at a time. They call her terrible names on the way, derogatory names towards a female. They are complete losers who just make terrible decisions and their wayward ways are evident throughout this film.
Not only can Basinger not drive a car properly, she can not run without tripping and making allot of noise. Why she is running with a tool box in the woods is beyond me. She has ample time and opportunity to make her escape but she is too brain dead, delusional, or inept to make it happen.
None of the characters in this movie are worth mentioning besides Basinger. One would not know who they were if I did. How she kills this guy with a lug wrench is just total fantasy and this fools just walks right into it and allows it to occur. Pretty disgusting, something Michael Myers would do to an unsuspecting victim. The four barbaric souls are killed one at a time be her. She should be given a medal, and probably would, by society for getting rid of four leaches.
I would allocate this movie one star. * It was not as terrible as the X Files so called sequal of last summer.
Basinger takes out a 5th villian at the end. It is her abusive and despicable husband. She might as well clean house while she has the stomach for it.
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
This has a funny, unknown Englishman who leads this funny movie. The first flaw in the movie was when I saw Kirsten Dunst, who is plain looking and who should have never been chosen for the Mary Jane role in Spiderman. How she stole that part is beyond human comprehension. Spiderman II and III were both terrible.
This movie has many characters that do not do much. The movie does have some funny scenes, the movie is actually pretty funny. It is not Pineapple Express but it is funny.
Gillian Anderson is in this movie and is stunning as usual. Good to see her do something since that X Files movie this year was the worst movie of the year for so many reasons it is just incomprehensible.
Simon Pegg is the crazed Englishman running all around in this movie. He is comical, he is outlandish. This movie celebrates Hollywood and how cool it is being a star, but this movie also points out that money can not buy happiness and certain stars are as dimwitted and moronic as any useless creature can be.
Besides Dunst, hard to believe she does not change her last name from genesis, this movie has many attractive females. There a couple of humorous scenes that occur when the female is not who we think she is, or he. This movie is not suitable for children which is kind of apparent.
Pegg and Dunst fall for each other, they flirt back and forth throughout this film. But Pegg has other girl friends and one appears in the scene and is spectacular. I would rather see this woman allot more than Dunst. The movie has some pretty good music.
I hope Megan Fox is in Transformers II. Fox playing Mother Theresa, now that must be fiction.
Pegg is treated petty badly by Fox towards the end of the movie. This destroys his fantastical ambitions to a girl either too good or bad for him depending on one's perspective. She orders him around in front of these other people, no guy or girl should submit themselves to someone so shallow. No guy should ever act like that, ever! And he gives Fox's character a special ring which he should have never done. He did not need to hang out with this character to know what type of person she is. I do not need to hang out with Paris Hilton to know she is as dumb as shit. What does someone this brain dead have to say? Nothing, that is her extensive vernacular extends to about 5 words. I love it last year when Letterman almost made her cry when asking her about her jail experience.
Dunst's character hurling inside the rental car is almost too much. Go out of window, Pegg's character should have though about that ahead of time and had the window down. The smell probably could have led to a maelstrom freeway experience.
The best scene in this movie is when Fox's ugly little dog is killed by a falling vase. Why people like chihuahuas, why people are fascinated with this disgusting little animal, is beyond me?
Jeff Bridges looks like a hippi with long hair. Not a compliment.
The movie takes place in NYC and LA, typical. It begins in London.
Burn After Reading was funnier and more original. That was a funny movie.
I allocate this movie two stars. **
This movie has many characters that do not do much. The movie does have some funny scenes, the movie is actually pretty funny. It is not Pineapple Express but it is funny.
Gillian Anderson is in this movie and is stunning as usual. Good to see her do something since that X Files movie this year was the worst movie of the year for so many reasons it is just incomprehensible.
Simon Pegg is the crazed Englishman running all around in this movie. He is comical, he is outlandish. This movie celebrates Hollywood and how cool it is being a star, but this movie also points out that money can not buy happiness and certain stars are as dimwitted and moronic as any useless creature can be.
Besides Dunst, hard to believe she does not change her last name from genesis, this movie has many attractive females. There a couple of humorous scenes that occur when the female is not who we think she is, or he. This movie is not suitable for children which is kind of apparent.
Pegg and Dunst fall for each other, they flirt back and forth throughout this film. But Pegg has other girl friends and one appears in the scene and is spectacular. I would rather see this woman allot more than Dunst. The movie has some pretty good music.
I hope Megan Fox is in Transformers II. Fox playing Mother Theresa, now that must be fiction.
Pegg is treated petty badly by Fox towards the end of the movie. This destroys his fantastical ambitions to a girl either too good or bad for him depending on one's perspective. She orders him around in front of these other people, no guy or girl should submit themselves to someone so shallow. No guy should ever act like that, ever! And he gives Fox's character a special ring which he should have never done. He did not need to hang out with this character to know what type of person she is. I do not need to hang out with Paris Hilton to know she is as dumb as shit. What does someone this brain dead have to say? Nothing, that is her extensive vernacular extends to about 5 words. I love it last year when Letterman almost made her cry when asking her about her jail experience.
Dunst's character hurling inside the rental car is almost too much. Go out of window, Pegg's character should have though about that ahead of time and had the window down. The smell probably could have led to a maelstrom freeway experience.
The best scene in this movie is when Fox's ugly little dog is killed by a falling vase. Why people like chihuahuas, why people are fascinated with this disgusting little animal, is beyond me?
Jeff Bridges looks like a hippi with long hair. Not a compliment.
The movie takes place in NYC and LA, typical. It begins in London.
Burn After Reading was funnier and more original. That was a funny movie.
I allocate this movie two stars. **
Pride and Glory
Colin Farrell and Edward Norton have been teamed by Hollywood in another police drama. We have seen police corruption before but this is outright horrendous. Police acting like common gangsters just holding up convienence stores and stealing their money and other miscellaneous store items. How they get away with this is pretty incredible. Finally, at the end, which tops off this mayhem, one store owner shoots the cop in the back. Which is risky on his part but it a suitable response to how he was treated and what the corrupt officer did to him by robbing him.
Norton is Ray and Farrell plays the out of control immoral officer Jimmy. They both know each other through family ties but professionally, they work in different sections of the department.
Jon Voight stars as Ray's father and he is a retired police captain who was an honest and proud officer who is ofcourse retired. He is devastated when accusations are pointing towards his own son, a professional actor which face is more recognizable than his name: Noah Emmerich. Noah plays Francis, Ray's brother and the family is almost to the point of breaking down through this madness. It all starts with several police officers being killed and then it turns out their target was tipped off by another police officer.
This movie is better than Copland which came out about ten years ago or more and explores the same subject. Is this movie better than Street Kings? I am not so sure, perhaps this movie had some better acting but Street King's acting was decent, had better music, and had a little more action. Neither are spectacular, but because of the music and excitement, I would give Street Kings the nod over this movie. For people who want a little more dialogue, Pride and Glory may be enjoyed by them a little more. I mean, the character development of Ray and his wife who he is about to divorce has been done so many times in movies, it is beyond old. I do not care, I am not sure who would. It does not have allot of bearing in the movie, I guess Ray's father, his attitude affected Ray's behavior and this may have contributed to the marriage downfall. OK, so there is not allot of wasted scenes in the movie.
The movie was sort of unique in that there was two police teams competing with each other, well, atleast one team was trying to beat the other team in finding this cop killer. This police team's reason were not really altruistic, they want to cover up their police misdeeds. They are led by Jimmy.
The movie takes place in NYC around Christmas time. I had no idea what this movie was going to be about, when it started out, I thought it was going to be a football, sports movie.
Jimmy gets his at the end. It blows up in their face. Being a police officer is really difficult. I am not sure, in this contempory world, the ACLU, liberals, the NAACP, why anyone would want to become a police officer. Why protect the people that will take your career with glee? But there is not any excuse to being police armed robber, that is bully behavior which can not be defended.
There is not any really attractive females in this movie, it was a solid drama though. The investigation scenes were entertaining and Norton playing the unsuspecting hero were impressive. He continues his outstanding career, Farrell adds to his as well. Ofcourse, Farrell is still in more of the building mode, Norton is established. Norton, his acting, in Primal Fear was just frighteningly good.
The other villians were gangster Mexicans in NYC. They were nasty, when people like that are killed, they are missed by only those of their own element.
I would allocate this movie 3 stars. ***
Norton is Ray and Farrell plays the out of control immoral officer Jimmy. They both know each other through family ties but professionally, they work in different sections of the department.
Jon Voight stars as Ray's father and he is a retired police captain who was an honest and proud officer who is ofcourse retired. He is devastated when accusations are pointing towards his own son, a professional actor which face is more recognizable than his name: Noah Emmerich. Noah plays Francis, Ray's brother and the family is almost to the point of breaking down through this madness. It all starts with several police officers being killed and then it turns out their target was tipped off by another police officer.
This movie is better than Copland which came out about ten years ago or more and explores the same subject. Is this movie better than Street Kings? I am not so sure, perhaps this movie had some better acting but Street King's acting was decent, had better music, and had a little more action. Neither are spectacular, but because of the music and excitement, I would give Street Kings the nod over this movie. For people who want a little more dialogue, Pride and Glory may be enjoyed by them a little more. I mean, the character development of Ray and his wife who he is about to divorce has been done so many times in movies, it is beyond old. I do not care, I am not sure who would. It does not have allot of bearing in the movie, I guess Ray's father, his attitude affected Ray's behavior and this may have contributed to the marriage downfall. OK, so there is not allot of wasted scenes in the movie.
The movie was sort of unique in that there was two police teams competing with each other, well, atleast one team was trying to beat the other team in finding this cop killer. This police team's reason were not really altruistic, they want to cover up their police misdeeds. They are led by Jimmy.
The movie takes place in NYC around Christmas time. I had no idea what this movie was going to be about, when it started out, I thought it was going to be a football, sports movie.
Jimmy gets his at the end. It blows up in their face. Being a police officer is really difficult. I am not sure, in this contempory world, the ACLU, liberals, the NAACP, why anyone would want to become a police officer. Why protect the people that will take your career with glee? But there is not any excuse to being police armed robber, that is bully behavior which can not be defended.
There is not any really attractive females in this movie, it was a solid drama though. The investigation scenes were entertaining and Norton playing the unsuspecting hero were impressive. He continues his outstanding career, Farrell adds to his as well. Ofcourse, Farrell is still in more of the building mode, Norton is established. Norton, his acting, in Primal Fear was just frighteningly good.
The other villians were gangster Mexicans in NYC. They were nasty, when people like that are killed, they are missed by only those of their own element.
I would allocate this movie 3 stars. ***
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Appaloosa
This is one of the few good westerns to make its way to the big screen in a quite a while. 3:10 to Yuma was not a particularly well made movie because it did not make any sense. Russel Crowe's character was killing people on the way to his hanging and his buddies were causing mayhem to free him on his travels to the train in Yuma. The men in charge of escorting this violent individual should have just shot him out in the open after realizing what dangerous and deadly mission they had on delivering someone who was set to die any how. Crowe's character may have been a little over done though, he was made to be superhuman with a gun, and how he killed those Indians was just too surreal for me, sneaking up on them from behind was too make believe.
Viggo Mortensen is teamed up again with Ed Harris after playing in the movie A History of Violence a couple of years ago. They make a good pair in this western. Jeremy Irons is the villian in this one, he performed outstanding over 10 years ago in the mega movie Die Hard III, With a Vengeance. Interesting seeing him in this movie, a western, as a killer living off of his relative's protection who just happens to be the president of the US, Chester A. Arthur.
It is good to see Lance Henriksen is still alive. Have not seen him since he made foolish decisions in the movie Aliens verse Predator several years ago. He appeared me advanced in age in that movie, that was in 2004 if I recall correctly.
Renée Zellweger is the love interest of Ed Harris's character throughout the movie. She is troublesome and takes advantage of Ed Harris in this movie. She also tries to come in between and destroy the long time friendship of Viggo and Ed, she should have been punished for this. She was punished psychologically when Ed Harris disregards her nasty ploy and her word and defends Viggo. Ed Harris seemed to be OK with taking violence on men but seems to give this woman chance after chance.
Ed and Viggo are peace makers and come across this small town in Arizona which is the title of this movie. The local politicians hire Ed and Viggo to enforce the town's laws since Ed and Viggo want this to be legal. The problem is that Jeremy Irons's character is killer and brute who is living off the town like a leach does another animal. Irons employs and attracts some violent killers and companions. Irons kills a sherriff and two of his deputies at the outset of this film.
When ranch hand steps forward as a material witness in this killing, Ed and Viggo are dutifully impressed. Iron's character is convicted and sentenced to hang. One of two flaws in this movie is about to occur, the other regarding Ed's pass on Zellwegers characterss indiscretions has already been mentioned. Irons plays Randall Bragg and while Bragg is being escorted via train to be hung with Viggo and Ed, and two other sherriffs from another area, they stop the train to seemingly get some fresh air. By this point, Ed and Zellweger were already an item. Why Ed does not think she would be vulnerable at this point is beyond me. Then he does the dumbest thing to me is just unforgiveable and put a slight black mark on this movie. Up to this point, the movie was flawless. Two of Bragg's men, one being Henriksen, hold Zellweger hostage underneath a bridge the train stops over. These two men are out gunned and have the lower ground. Four rifles are pointed at them and Harris's character submits to their demands. Which is not even a trade for Bragg for Zellweger, they have to hand over Bragg and then leave on the train and Bragg's men say then they will let her go. Ridiculous. Both of these men could have been shot before they harmed her. And it was not even Harris's character Virgil Cole's call, he was outside his jurisdiction. Pathetic.
The movie had some funny lines, it was well written, and Cole and Viggo's character get along just dandy, sharing their feelings and thoughts as their character's are developed. The town officials are as wimpy as ever, similiar to the mercurial standards and sides of the officials in the movie Tombstone. But Tombstone devastates this movie, Appaloosa does not approach Tombstone in stamina, action, characters, and even music. Appaloosa was pretty good though, Ed and Viggo are some of the best actors of this day and the villian played by the outstanding Irons is totally recognizable and charismatic. Iron's character should have obeyed the bylaws posted up by Cole and everything would have been just tranquil. But then we would have had a movie absent of drama and forgettable.
I allocate this movie three stars out of five. ***
Viggo Mortensen is teamed up again with Ed Harris after playing in the movie A History of Violence a couple of years ago. They make a good pair in this western. Jeremy Irons is the villian in this one, he performed outstanding over 10 years ago in the mega movie Die Hard III, With a Vengeance. Interesting seeing him in this movie, a western, as a killer living off of his relative's protection who just happens to be the president of the US, Chester A. Arthur.
It is good to see Lance Henriksen is still alive. Have not seen him since he made foolish decisions in the movie Aliens verse Predator several years ago. He appeared me advanced in age in that movie, that was in 2004 if I recall correctly.
Renée Zellweger is the love interest of Ed Harris's character throughout the movie. She is troublesome and takes advantage of Ed Harris in this movie. She also tries to come in between and destroy the long time friendship of Viggo and Ed, she should have been punished for this. She was punished psychologically when Ed Harris disregards her nasty ploy and her word and defends Viggo. Ed Harris seemed to be OK with taking violence on men but seems to give this woman chance after chance.
Ed and Viggo are peace makers and come across this small town in Arizona which is the title of this movie. The local politicians hire Ed and Viggo to enforce the town's laws since Ed and Viggo want this to be legal. The problem is that Jeremy Irons's character is killer and brute who is living off the town like a leach does another animal. Irons employs and attracts some violent killers and companions. Irons kills a sherriff and two of his deputies at the outset of this film.
When ranch hand steps forward as a material witness in this killing, Ed and Viggo are dutifully impressed. Iron's character is convicted and sentenced to hang. One of two flaws in this movie is about to occur, the other regarding Ed's pass on Zellwegers characterss indiscretions has already been mentioned. Irons plays Randall Bragg and while Bragg is being escorted via train to be hung with Viggo and Ed, and two other sherriffs from another area, they stop the train to seemingly get some fresh air. By this point, Ed and Zellweger were already an item. Why Ed does not think she would be vulnerable at this point is beyond me. Then he does the dumbest thing to me is just unforgiveable and put a slight black mark on this movie. Up to this point, the movie was flawless. Two of Bragg's men, one being Henriksen, hold Zellweger hostage underneath a bridge the train stops over. These two men are out gunned and have the lower ground. Four rifles are pointed at them and Harris's character submits to their demands. Which is not even a trade for Bragg for Zellweger, they have to hand over Bragg and then leave on the train and Bragg's men say then they will let her go. Ridiculous. Both of these men could have been shot before they harmed her. And it was not even Harris's character Virgil Cole's call, he was outside his jurisdiction. Pathetic.
The movie had some funny lines, it was well written, and Cole and Viggo's character get along just dandy, sharing their feelings and thoughts as their character's are developed. The town officials are as wimpy as ever, similiar to the mercurial standards and sides of the officials in the movie Tombstone. But Tombstone devastates this movie, Appaloosa does not approach Tombstone in stamina, action, characters, and even music. Appaloosa was pretty good though, Ed and Viggo are some of the best actors of this day and the villian played by the outstanding Irons is totally recognizable and charismatic. Iron's character should have obeyed the bylaws posted up by Cole and everything would have been just tranquil. But then we would have had a movie absent of drama and forgettable.
I allocate this movie three stars out of five. ***
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