Chris - Cinema Crespodiso - Page 76 of 151

Review: ‘The Brothers Grimsby’

“The Brothers Grimsby” ended up being one of those movies that I did not like nearly as much as I wanted to like it going in. Sacha Baron Cohen is a comedy force unto himself, and he has a specific style of using idiocy to make some great points, to use jocularity to approach difficult subjects, but unfortunately there does seem to be something in the way of diminishing returns when it comes to his movies. And at the most recent and lowest end of this spectrum is his latest, an action comedy which would have fit right in with 2015’s glut of spy-related movies.

Cohen is Nobby Butcher, a welfare cheat and soccer hooligan living with nine children and his girlfriend (Rebel Wilson) in the small town of Grimsby, where he was born and raised. For 28 years, Nobby has been separated from his younger brother Sebastian due to the foster care system, but Nobby becomes reunited with his brother (Mark Strong), who now happens to be one of MI6’s top secret agents. Nobby immediately and predictably screws things up for Sebastian, and the two of them have to go on the run from MI6 in order to clear their names and also to save the world or something. You know, generic spy movie stuff.

Netflix pick for 3/14/16 – ‘No No: A Dockumentary’

As heard in episode 166 of Cinema Crespodiso.

Who is Dock Ellis? “No No: A Dockumentary” tells us everything we need to know about the fella known as the “Muhammad Ali of Baseball,” what he did that was so special and why he should be remembered as one of the more important figures of 20th Century American sports.

Pitching in the major leagues from 1968 through 1979, Dock Ellis is best known athletically for a no-hitter he threw in 1970, an already rare feat indeed, made even more rare by him being very candid and open about the fact that he pitched this particular game while tripping on LSD. While this is a shocking admission, it also should not come as any surprise to any baseball fans, who should know that all of their favorite players for DECADES have been performing their duties while under the influence of something. LSD is a little extreme, but ballplayers have been playing while hungover, if not outright drunk, since the sport was invented, this particular documentary about Dock Ellis gets into the “greenies” which were given out by doctors and trainers to everyone for years and years (they were nothing more than amphetamines), players hit the field ripped on cocaine throughout the 80s, and steroids caused a big scandal in the late 1990s and early 2000s but if you don’t think athletes were using ‘roids in the 70s and 80s when it was perfectly legal and not looked down upon at all, then I got an Asgardian bridge to sell you.

#166 – What Is The Pittsburger?

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In episode 166, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by returning guest, from SBK Live, Matty Ice aka Matt Was Cabin (www.twitter.com/mattiscabin).

Chris and Drew review 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Brothers Grimsby.

The Netflix Instant Pick of the Week is No No: A Documentary.

Billy D reviews The Last Winter.

Dr. Drew gives his two cents on reading more books.

The Crespodisco features the main theme from 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Bonus Episode – Rambling Man

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In this bonus episode, Chris Crespo does some more basic rambling, but this time guided by the music as well as the randomness of fate and “shuffle.”

Review: ’10 Cloverfield Lane’

According to producer JJ Abrams, “10 Cloverfield Lane” is not a direct sequel to the 2008 found footage monster movie called “Cloverfield,” but instead is hopefully the beginning of a series of movies that will fall under a Cloverfield-themed banner, essentially an anthology of genre movies that will be similar in spirit and tone to each other but will be different stories going in different directions. Like “The Twilight Zone” or “Tales From The Crypt,” the word Cloverfield will theoretically start to mean something more to people than just “giant monster.” And with “10 Cloverfield Lane,” it appears that they have started this journey of a thousand miles with the proper first steps.

The cool thing about “10 Cloverfield Lane” is how the story and plot are both quite small and contained to a single set and only a few characters, but the scope of the movie ends up being pretty epic. It’s actually a great example of how a movie can give an audience just enough so that they can make bigger leaps with their imaginations, wondering how the details provided actually continue to extend throughout this world logically. We don’t need to actually see the full picture, just give a few smartly chosen details and let the audience do the rest.

Review: ‘London Has Fallen’

“London Has Fallen” is one of the worst kind of action movies, which is that it is the kind of film that wants to mine real world politics in the name of action and suspense, and it does so without any nuance or actual thought being put into the situation they are exploiting, and as a result ends up being a gross reinforcement of outmoded stereotypes used to maintain a constant sense of general Fear and Loathing. What’s worse is that this particular movie pays a little bit of lip service to idea that maybe Western governments bring a lot of this violence on themselves, but that is all negated anyway with a couple awkward lines of dialogue and a specific character detail.

Basically this movie did start out with the balls to show an American drone strike at a wedding, something that does happen all the time in the Middle East, as drones are used to blow up all manner of gatherings of people as long as there is just a slight possibility of them killing an actual terrorist. And it would have been kind of amazing if the “bad guy” in the movie was indeed wrongly targeted, but they made sure to let us know the main baddie behind the whole crazy terrorist plan in the story is an arms dealer, providing weaponry for all sorts of armed conflicts around the world, making money on the backs of the dead. He does get to point out that this is the same thing the US government does, and they just don’t happen to like the people he sells weapons to, and this is a valid point after all, the ridiculous hypocrisy of selling weapons to some groups of people and labeling other groups as terrorists for doing the same thing. But just saying this isn’t enough, this guy is bad this movie tells us and despite the collateral damage killing him is a worthy cause.

Review: ‘Zootopia’

“Zootopia” is a pretty chill movie, mostly because its central message of acceptance and tolerance is most welcome in this divisive “us versus them” climate currently being stoked in the mainstream media and out on the streets. Fear Of The Other is a very real and palpable thing and there is no shortage of folks who make it their mission to use it to drive as many wedges as possible between communities via propaganda and campaigns of hate, which means now is a great time for a big commercial piece of art to come out and literally say out loud “hey, stop judging each other and start being cool because we’re all in this together and it is our differences which bring us together and complete us and allow us to function together brilliantly.” Is it a daring message? No. Is it important? Absolutely.

Netflix pick for 3/7/16 – ‘Lost In La Mancha’

As heard in episode 165 of Cinema Crespodiso.

From 2002, “Lost In La Mancha” started life as a making-of documentary for Terry Gilliam’s bizarre adaptation of the classic novel “Don Quixote,” which was to be titled “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” Starring Johnny Depp as a 21st-century fella who time travels to a time and a place in which Don Quixote is alive and real, this movie was a dream project for Terry Gilliam, and the beginning of this production was a moment for him to celebrate. This celebration was quickly cut short, as problems plagued the production immediately, to the point where this making-of documentary became its own film, and became an “unmaking-of” film, the story of a movie production that stalled out and then died, a tale of “what could have been.”

Why are documentaries about unfinished movies or disastrous movie productions so fascinating? Joining the ranks of great films like “Jodorowsky’s Dune” and “Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau,” this particular documentary shows us everything – we see the idea take shape, and the elements come in to place to get the production started, and we see cameras roll and we get an idea of what this movie was even going to look like and how Gilliam was going to pull off certain effects, and then we see the shit hit the fan one piece at a time, until the whole things gets mucked up to the point of no return. Thanks to the extreme level of access these filmmakers had to the production, they were there for it all and they captured it all, which then means we get to be the flies on the wall of this failed film, which is something many people don’t get to see.

#165 – Public Domain Mythology

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In episode 165, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by returning guest Cool Carl Verna the Video Burner (www.twitter.com/videoverna), who catches everyone up on what he’s been working on lately.

Chris and Drew review Zootopia and Chris reviews London Has Fallen.

Billy D reviews some Lovecraftian horror.

Dr. Drew gives his two cents on going with the flow.

The Netflix Instant Pick of the Week is Lost In La Mancha.

This week’s Crespodisco features a song from the soundtrack for Rushmore.