Summary: The story revolves around a group of friends from Charlestown who are a sophisticated bank robbing team and their heists. The main character, Doug MacRay, is played by Ben Affleck and struggles with his identity and his attempts at changes in his life while being reminded who he is by his opposite, but best friend, James Coughlin, played by Jeremy Renner. At the center of the struggle for change is an assistant bank-manager who happens to be traumatized by the first bank robbery in the movie, but as events unfolded, falls in love with one of the bank robbers who took her hostage, Doug MacRay.
Review: The cast was an all-star one with a lot of big names: Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, and Blake Lively. The performance of Jon Hamm was a bit disappointing however, but maybe the story was less about the MacRay vs. FBI agent as it was about MacRay leaving his past in the past. Blake Lively had a smaller role than the trailers indicated, but Rebecca Hall gave a great performance. The movie had plenty of playful moments while keeping the suspense in the air and I was captivated by the plot. The film really had an edge and the scenes were well shot and the dialogue was well written. The only negative is the fact that the movie was probably edited to fit a shorter time and a few scenes seemed to have been irrelevant or were trying too hard in the context of the movie. It was still an awesome film, and even in those "try-too-hard" moments, an enthralling film shone through.
Further Question/Philosophy/Theme: Can somebody really change his life without leaving the neighborhood he grew up in? What's it to be inside of love and have a woman change your life like it did for Doug MacRay or is that just a movie type idea.
Power Rating (Out of 5) and Comments: 4 This film was spectacular and one of the better suspense crime films that I've seen. I thought the movie would be a little cliche and the action scenes would make the film, but I was pleasantly surprised. Ben Affleck in this film with his Bostonian accent makes me forget how much better Matt Damon's career has been than his co-star in "Good Will Hunting."
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The Joneses
Summary: The Joneses is about a family that is perfect and how their move to an upper scale neighborhood forces all the other members of the community to keep up with the Joneses. The Joneses isn't a real family as they're perfect, but a "cell" that's designed to help its advertisers sell more, more and more.
Review: I'm starting to think that actors who play a certain role on screen don't necessarily "act," but find a part of themselves to draw upon. I had a science teacher who once met David Duchovny said his humor was really dry. I think he has been the same character in all his works if that real life encounter held true. Hank in Californication, Mulder from X-Files and Steve Jones all have the same persona. Demi Moore did give a decent performance in this movie, but the acting wasn't as strong from the two kids: Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth although their roles were minimized. The plot was strong, but it tried to do too much with all its different subplots. It could have dwelved deeper into several storylines instead of trying to have a bunch of subplots that weren't explored more deeply. Maybe the subplots were just there to prove that the family wasn't perfect, but they felt very rushed and didn't connect to the central message of the human nature to better those around them. Maybe I'm asking too much as the subplots could only be deepened with a tv series that extends beyond screen time.
Further Question/Philosophy/Theme: The movie poses many interesting points with consumerism and how it is destroying America. Whether or not it was intentional, it brought up many problems in American society with the consumer being told to buy what they can't afford and drowning in debt from their choices. It asks what's really important in life and the consequences of losing sight of that with attempts to please other people.
Power Rating (Out of 5) and Comments: 3 I think this movie was a fun watch and it tried to lighten the mood despite the dark plot. The sinister companies behind this are trivialized and made to seem to be too evil rather than it is what it is. The human elements in the movie were lacking a bit despite the great setups of the plot to make this a more dramatic movie. This movie could have been made into a great drama, but I guess with Duchovny at the helm, an attempt to turn it into something lighter was sucessful, but it could have been a drama with many funny moments.
Review: I'm starting to think that actors who play a certain role on screen don't necessarily "act," but find a part of themselves to draw upon. I had a science teacher who once met David Duchovny said his humor was really dry. I think he has been the same character in all his works if that real life encounter held true. Hank in Californication, Mulder from X-Files and Steve Jones all have the same persona. Demi Moore did give a decent performance in this movie, but the acting wasn't as strong from the two kids: Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth although their roles were minimized. The plot was strong, but it tried to do too much with all its different subplots. It could have dwelved deeper into several storylines instead of trying to have a bunch of subplots that weren't explored more deeply. Maybe the subplots were just there to prove that the family wasn't perfect, but they felt very rushed and didn't connect to the central message of the human nature to better those around them. Maybe I'm asking too much as the subplots could only be deepened with a tv series that extends beyond screen time.
Further Question/Philosophy/Theme: The movie poses many interesting points with consumerism and how it is destroying America. Whether or not it was intentional, it brought up many problems in American society with the consumer being told to buy what they can't afford and drowning in debt from their choices. It asks what's really important in life and the consequences of losing sight of that with attempts to please other people.
Power Rating (Out of 5) and Comments: 3 I think this movie was a fun watch and it tried to lighten the mood despite the dark plot. The sinister companies behind this are trivialized and made to seem to be too evil rather than it is what it is. The human elements in the movie were lacking a bit despite the great setups of the plot to make this a more dramatic movie. This movie could have been made into a great drama, but I guess with Duchovny at the helm, an attempt to turn it into something lighter was sucessful, but it could have been a drama with many funny moments.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
The Truth About Average Guys
Summary: The movie centers around a man who attempts to get with his hot co-worker by claiming he has a mentally challenged brother and he pays his friend to act as one because the hot co-worker has a mentally challenged sister.
Review: This movie was hilarious at times and had its moments, and it's amazing to consider that this film was made with a budget of 5k and filmed on the weekends. The cast wasn't bad, but it wasn't astoundingly special. The lead female character is a model, Erika Walter, and won some award at some film festival for best actress. It must be really easy to be a good-looking actress because I didn't think she was strong in the part at times, but merely adequate. (She was probably 25 at the time of the filming, but she did seem to play a role that was more in the 30's despite the directors correctly saying that the cast was in the 20's because only those 20 somethings could make this movie believable in an interview.) The friends in the cast were the strong link, especially Jason Schaver as the friend who acted as a mentally challenged kid. The main lead, Ken Gayton, didn't seem fit for the part because he just didn't have the average joe-schmuck feeling about him. He just seemed too charming and not nervous enough in his interactions. I realize that the directors played the characters themselves and casting was limited, and they did a wonderful job of casting the minor roles in the movie.
Power Rating (Out of 5) and Comments: 3 This film did its job in entertaining, despite the cliches in the storyline. It was tremendously funny and amazing that it was such a low-budget film and I'll be keeping an eye out for the next movie S.O.L by the directors as they really inspire me with their story of never going to film school, or anything formal, but simply just having an idea and going out there to make it happen.
Review: This movie was hilarious at times and had its moments, and it's amazing to consider that this film was made with a budget of 5k and filmed on the weekends. The cast wasn't bad, but it wasn't astoundingly special. The lead female character is a model, Erika Walter, and won some award at some film festival for best actress. It must be really easy to be a good-looking actress because I didn't think she was strong in the part at times, but merely adequate. (She was probably 25 at the time of the filming, but she did seem to play a role that was more in the 30's despite the directors correctly saying that the cast was in the 20's because only those 20 somethings could make this movie believable in an interview.) The friends in the cast were the strong link, especially Jason Schaver as the friend who acted as a mentally challenged kid. The main lead, Ken Gayton, didn't seem fit for the part because he just didn't have the average joe-schmuck feeling about him. He just seemed too charming and not nervous enough in his interactions. I realize that the directors played the characters themselves and casting was limited, and they did a wonderful job of casting the minor roles in the movie.
Power Rating (Out of 5) and Comments: 3 This film did its job in entertaining, despite the cliches in the storyline. It was tremendously funny and amazing that it was such a low-budget film and I'll be keeping an eye out for the next movie S.O.L by the directors as they really inspire me with their story of never going to film school, or anything formal, but simply just having an idea and going out there to make it happen.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Why Am I Doing This?
Summary: This is a film about two roommates who have turned 30 and their struggle to make it in LA. One is an Asian male struggling with his personal relationships and his failed expectations as an Asian son while trying to be an Asian actor. The other is an African American who has a "soft" comedy routine that he's trying to do to make it in the entertainment business. He is also struggling with being Black and what it means as his crush won't stay with him because of her racist Indian father.
Review: This movie was hilarious and entertained at the same time. For a low budget film, it really built the movie around the characters. The storyline was just normal day life of struggling actors in LA. It had many hilarious moments and was well worth the watch. Some of the acting by the director, Tom Huang, might have been on the weaker side, but the characters were captivating.
Further Question/Philosophy/Theme: This movie touched upon a lot of stereotypes, and it would be foolish to assume any truths to them at all. The movie was just a fun watch and just brings up the question is this a typical story of struggling actors in LA. They get random jobs as being "Spidey-guy" at spoiled kids' parties while dragging their emotionally drained selves through LA traffic to auditions.
Power Rating (Out of 5) and Comments: 4 It was well worth the watch, and was an entertaining movie that seemed real. It was well produced and worked as a film especially for minorities that could connect on a personal basis to some of the themes.
Review: This movie was hilarious and entertained at the same time. For a low budget film, it really built the movie around the characters. The storyline was just normal day life of struggling actors in LA. It had many hilarious moments and was well worth the watch. Some of the acting by the director, Tom Huang, might have been on the weaker side, but the characters were captivating.
Further Question/Philosophy/Theme: This movie touched upon a lot of stereotypes, and it would be foolish to assume any truths to them at all. The movie was just a fun watch and just brings up the question is this a typical story of struggling actors in LA. They get random jobs as being "Spidey-guy" at spoiled kids' parties while dragging their emotionally drained selves through LA traffic to auditions.
Power Rating (Out of 5) and Comments: 4 It was well worth the watch, and was an entertaining movie that seemed real. It was well produced and worked as a film especially for minorities that could connect on a personal basis to some of the themes.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The Book of Eli
Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world, a mysterious man makes his way in the world and we see the changes that have occured. He visits a town and it's revealed that he is in possession of a book that's highly sought out by the villain of the movie.
Review: The movie had great potential, but it tries to do too much and ends up being a terrible production. It was mysterious, but nothing of value is revealed as the movie progresses. The only positives are probably the strong performances of Denzel Washington as the lead male, and Jennifer Beals played a blind concubine to perfection. (It should be interesting to see how good she'll be in The Chicago Code which premiered this Monday.) Mila Kunis was in the movie as well, but I have to say that despite her looking gorgeous and transitioning from a tv show to movies, I have yet to see her actually "act." She's simply a good looking girl in every role, but that's probably her description, to look hot. She was not very good in her role. The storyline was intriguing at first, but I wish I never watched the movie.
Further Question/Philosophy/Theme: A lot of this movie is about faith and how it's blind. It's also assumed that the reason for the Apocalypse that was probably a nuclear winter was caused by overzealous religious folks.
Power Rating (Out of 5) and Comments: 1 This movie reminded me a lot of Babylon A.D., but that movie was simply done a lot better despite a lot of commonality. That movie didn't have Mila Kunis, but Melanie Thierry played a role similar to Kunis's role in this movie to a better performance. Vin Diesel and Denzel Washington both played the action hero convincingly and had some nice action sequences. This movie is a movie that I can't believe was released to theaters, but seemed like something that plays on an obscure cable station like SyFy on a Saturday night.
Review: The movie had great potential, but it tries to do too much and ends up being a terrible production. It was mysterious, but nothing of value is revealed as the movie progresses. The only positives are probably the strong performances of Denzel Washington as the lead male, and Jennifer Beals played a blind concubine to perfection. (It should be interesting to see how good she'll be in The Chicago Code which premiered this Monday.) Mila Kunis was in the movie as well, but I have to say that despite her looking gorgeous and transitioning from a tv show to movies, I have yet to see her actually "act." She's simply a good looking girl in every role, but that's probably her description, to look hot. She was not very good in her role. The storyline was intriguing at first, but I wish I never watched the movie.
Further Question/Philosophy/Theme: A lot of this movie is about faith and how it's blind. It's also assumed that the reason for the Apocalypse that was probably a nuclear winter was caused by overzealous religious folks.
Power Rating (Out of 5) and Comments: 1 This movie reminded me a lot of Babylon A.D., but that movie was simply done a lot better despite a lot of commonality. That movie didn't have Mila Kunis, but Melanie Thierry played a role similar to Kunis's role in this movie to a better performance. Vin Diesel and Denzel Washington both played the action hero convincingly and had some nice action sequences. This movie is a movie that I can't believe was released to theaters, but seemed like something that plays on an obscure cable station like SyFy on a Saturday night.
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