Review: ‘Nebraska’

Nebraska_Poster

“Nebraska” is yet another funny yet sad entry in the filmography of Alexander Payne, one filled with lonely people struggling to find and hold on to the small things that make them happy in lives that are otherwise kind of miserable.

Take for instance Woody Grant (Bruce Dern). See, old Woody is just that…old. He’s a half-deaf Korean War veteran who likely saw something that changed him forever, and he seems to be going just a little senile as well, and he also seems to be a bit of an alcoholic on top of all that. He got a notice in the mail that he MIGHT have won a $1 million, but everyone knows that this notice is just a scam in order to get him to subscribe to some magazines. But Woody either doesn’t know this or just doesn’t want to know and has decided he is going to hand deliver the “winning” letter to the prize office in Nebraska, even if that means walking all the way from his home in Billings, Montana.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Her’

Her_MoviePoster

“Her” is one of the most complete and satisfying movies released in theaters in this country in who knows how long. Equal parts rom-com and relationship drama, with a little futuristic sci-fi thrown in for good measure, this is a very emotional movie about relationships and how they evolve, whether they include romantic entanglements or not, and for good measure, it is also a movie about how humans relate to each other in the face of ever-changing technology. And it’s all done in a very sweet, melancholy, smart and funny way, which pretty much makes this whole movie a revelation, as one of the more thrilling things in this world is when a beautifully realized artwork like this is unveiled in all of its beauty.

“Her” is set in an unspecific not-too-distant future, one that is very recognizable to us but also features technological advancements that we can easily imagine. When the movie starts we are with our lead character Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), whose unfortunate moniker is pretty much the worse thing about this whole film, and he is in the midst of his job, which is to write beautiful handwritten letters (of course not really handwritten but faked to appear handwritten) on behalf of paying customers, which means he has to pour all of these heavy emotions, whether they be love, or grief, or regret or whatever, out of himself and into these letters for people whom he has never met and really doesn’t know. He then leaves his job and heads to home, where is super lonely and loves to listening to sad music to match his mood, as his world is falling apart around him due to the dissolution of his marriage to his wife (Rooney Mara). And in case we don’t get that he misses her and he is lonely, we get to see him lay in bed thinking of idyllic flashbacks of his soon to be ex-wife, whom he is very hesitant to officially let go.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’

inside-llewyn-davis-poster-405x600

“Inside Llewyn Davis” may be the Coen Brothers most character-driven and intimate movie yet, and that says quite a bit coming from the fellas that brought us “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “Barton Fink” and “A Serious Man.” Taking inspiration from a memoir by a 1960’s folk singer, “Inside Llewyn Davis” shows us one week in the life of a folk singer struggling to make it while simultaneously painting a portrait of the 60’s New York City folk scene, all centered on one guy who is pretty talented but also kind of an ass. Ahh the Coens.

Llewyn Davis (Oscar Issac) is indeed talented and throughout the movie we get a few glimpses of that talent when he performs, and during these moments we can see an idealized Llewyn Davis, using his skills to try to reach his full potential, and he’s actually bringing joy and pleasure to those around him through his folk singing and guitar playing.

This all stands in stark contrast to the rest of his waking life, in which he goes around couch surfing on different friends’ sofas night after night, he curses in front of his sister’s kid and insults her and their own father when he suggests that a life working a “normal job” would be merely “existing,” he constantly judges the musical output of others (obviously seeing himself as superior to everyone around him), he gets drunk and becomes loud and belligerent, and he’s also a bit of a sourpuss, which makes him even less pleasant to be around.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Drew: The Man Behind the Poster’

drewstruzanartcollage

“Drew: The Man Behind the Poster” is a documentary about artist Drew Struzan, the man responsible for many of the most iconic movie posters and images of the last thirty years. Many people would be shocked to see how many different posters they have seen that have all been made by the same guy, and this documentary gives everyone a chance to apprecaite the work of Drew Struzan through the years and hopefully will even help more people learn this guy’s name and appreciate his contributions to cinema and to art in general.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Grudge Match’

grudge-match-poster

It’s “Rocky Balboa” meets old “Raging Bull.” Surely that was the entire pitch to whoever decided to green light this movie because this is pretty much what we got here. Two retired boxers get together for one last fight, and everyone laughs at them until they see the fight itself and realize these guys are for real. Meanwhile both old men recapture some of their lost youths while also finally moving their stalled out lives forward, and everyone lives happily ever after. The end.

No, really, that’s about it. Rocky Balboa himself Sylvester Stallone plays retired Pittsburgh-area boxer Henry “Razor” Sharp, and Robert De Niro plays his old rival Billy “The Kid” McDonnen, and there is a little mystery about why Razor retired early from boxing, robbing The Kid and the boxing world of the rubber match that everyone wanted to see, but that gets cleared up halfway through. Otherwise, we have a typical movie about older men being both nostalgic for a bygone era and also regretting past mistakes while still being very slow to actually learn from them.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’

secret_life_of_walter_mitty_ver4

Gotta say, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is kind of a confusing picture, thematically speaking anyway. Sure most, if not all of the movie, is actually quite simple minded, and really rather pleasant overall in its apparent zest for life and praising of the general human spirit. Our protagonist makes a pretty big and satisfying change from the beginning of the movie to the end of it, there are some good jokes, some nice cinematography, so interesting casting choices, and in the end, it’s all kind of pleasant. So what the hell is confusing about?

Well first, you should know the basic story set up first. You see, this Walter Mitty guy (Ben Stiller, who also directed), he works in the bowels of LIFE magazine, and he is meek and put upon and spends an inordinate amount of time daydreaming about being someone different and doing exciting things, because you know his life sucks so much. He’s not even good at using eHarmony, which is an actual plot point of this story. But when he is faced with a mystery that requires solving, he breaks out of his shell to actually go solve it, following a handful of clues around the world.

And of course this is all grand and good and all that. Walter Mitty finally goes out and LIVES LIFE and good for him, right? He gets to see Iceland and Greenland and an active volcano and a shark and now he has all of these sweet stories to tell at parties and shit, so good for him, that’s what this movie is about, right?Continue Reading …

Review: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’

TheWolfOfWallStreet_poster

Welcome to the wonderful world of 1990’s stock trading, a world juiced to the gills with money, sex and drugs, a world in which the strong are made stronger thanks to their unbridled greed and ambition, a world in which even the righteous are envious of the spoils of the wicked, a world in which money can pretty much buy just about anything, a world in which a stockbroker rewards his loyal staff with airplane sex orgies, a world directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and named “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

“The Wolf of Wall Street” is a movie based on a memoir by a stock broker turned convicted felon turned motivational surprise (shock!), so to say that the world portrayed in this film is actually several steps away from reality would be an understatement. But of course, this IS a movie, and should we be expecting reality in any way? Nope. Even though some things portrayed in this film did happen and still do happen in the real world, it’s still a compendium of made up shit, meant to paint a bigger picture. Facts are not necessary to convey universal truths. So what “truths” are in “The Wolf of Wall Street?”Continue Reading …

Review: ‘American Hustle’

americanhustlecharacter2

So now David O. Russell has gone three-for-three in terms of putting out movies that are both crowd-pleasing and critically praised, no small feat for a guy who had his Jessica Biel political sex comedy taken away from him by an insurance company due to production troubles, leaving Russell with no movie and no prospects at the time.

After recovering nicely with the well made “The Fighter” and then following that up with the award-winning “Silver Linings Playbook,” here we have his version of a rollicking 1990’s Martin Scorsese movie, as “American Hustle” is filled with knowing voice overs, astute period details, great performances from an array of great actors, great musical choices blasting on the soundtrack, and features a fantastic juggling act of different characters and storylines that all come together so nicely.

Loosely based on the Abscam FBI stings of the 1970s and 1980s, “American Hustle” is about a pair of con artists (Christian Bale, Amy Adams) avoiding federal prison time by agreeing to work with an FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) to take down a series of people on federal charges, starting with a well meaning New Jersey mayor (Jeremy Renner) and working outwards from there. But really it is not so much about the actual sting operations than it is about the characters and people involved in this whole thing. And of course just about all the character names have been changed, allowing for more creative license so they can have these characters say and do whatever they need them to say and do in order to tell their story, without having to worry about the real life people getting upset at the perceived misrepresentations of this fictional retelling of a real story.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’

anchorman-2-the-legend-continues-poster-baxter

Look, we all know that comedy sequels are never as good as the original. It is the rare genre in which the original is never topped, and more than not we actually get some horrible retreads like “Caddyshack 2” and “Blues Brothers 2000” or cynical cash-ins like “The Hangover” and “Clerks” sequels or worst of all, simply disappointing and uninspired follow ups like “Airplane II: The Sequel” and “Wayne’s World 2,” just to pick on a few. So where does “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” fall on this spectrum of comedy sequels?

(okay, I will make concessions to animated movies, with the “Toy Story” sequels coming to mind, and stuff mixing in other genres like action or horror have more leeway to be different, but the comedy sequels mentioned here are just that…straight up comedies).

“Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” is actually a little better than all those previously mentioned films, in that it was pretty amusing throughout, with some good genuine laughs here and there, and a couple of surprise cameos that worked pretty great (but also with a couple of cameos that flopped pretty hard). If you did not like “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” then you will not like this, and you may even hate it because it is a lot of the same jokes and character dynamics just turned all the way up to eleven. If you DID like the first film, my gut reaction is that most people will feel the same way when they watch this movie, in that a lot of people will generally like this one but it won’t be surpassing anyone’s expectations, nor will it likely become another slow-burning cult classic like the original, finding it’s real legs when it hit home video. Basically, as far as comedy sequels go, this isn’t an abomination or stain on the first film at all, but it’s not as good as the first film either.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’

TheHobbit_poster

Here we go again, yet another nearly three-hour journey through the world of Middle Earth, as filtered through the sensibilities of Peter Jackson, filled with swords and monsters and walks over mountains and sorcery and all that other good stuff. This time we got “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” and what can we say about this movie that has not been said already in one way or another in one of the four previous Hobbit-Lord of the Rings related movies?

I can say this: enough already! And I did not say that before about the original trilogy based on The Lord of The Rings, because those movies were interesting and compelling and filled with danger and excitement and newness, and now all of these years later I just don’t give a shit about a bunch of dwarves and their quest to reclaim their homeland because we already saw a huge battle of good versus evil for the entirety of Middle Earth. I didn’t care about these dwarves a year ago, I don’t care about them now and I won’t care about them a year from now when the final (thank GOD!) Hobbit movie is released.

Yet here we are, we sat through another one of these things, despite the fact that the magic is gone. Splitting a 300-page book into three separate three-hour movies seemed like a bad idea when it was first announced, and now that we are two-thirds of the way through these movies…it still does not seem like the best idea ever. Really, if need be, the story of Thorin and his dwarf buddies could have been told over two movies, that would have been acceptable, but goodness gracious this was so not necessary. For example, there’s a ten to fifteen minute sequence in the movie in which the dwarves are captures by elves and we get to see Legolas again and his father whines and complains about something and refuses to help Thorin and just acts like a dick. And it is so boring!Continue Reading …