The Place Beyong the Pines (2013)

Wow.  Holy wow!  I realize that I am totally susceptible to movies affecting my mood.  I mean, why shouldn't they?  I get goofed on football games as my wife and kids will attest to and so being affected by movies is only a natural extension.  This was a killer film.

The film was long but it was fully loaded with an incredible cast: Liotta, Cooper, Gosling, and Mendes (the best of the Alba Diaz trio of actresses).  Gosling is something...he has this brooding deal that he capitalizes on in just about every movie he is in, but you never tire of it.  Michael Cera uses the same deal, but his quirkiness gets way old way fast.  Gosling's roles always have this nuke inside that is just below the surface and you are always waiting for it to come out.  Losing 2 tires from his role in Drive (2011) (which kicked a$$), he replays his cold but compassionate self....all good.  Liotta jams in the dude you know is wrong but have to go along with.  Cooper, good deal dude.  He pulls off a killer deal with this role and shows a really good span and range.  Good call by his agent to get him in this one.  Man, it is a dark deal but really intriguing and good.

Acting ROCKED, cinematography ROCKED, script ROCKED, directing ROCKED and SPECIAL KUDOS to the soundtrack.  You noticed it because it just didn't seem to fit or it seemed off, but unlike other films in which you ask, "who wrote the music for this...the director's kid?" this soundtrack fit beautifully.

Journey to the West: 2013

Holy Wow!  This was pretty bizarre but man, it became pretty darn funny and was so good that I had to watch it again with the kids.  It was all subtitles and I believe that there were some liberties taken but they were well done.  This was a funny movie and it even got my wife to sit and watch.  Good deal. 

The acting was over the top but consistent so therefore it was good. The directing was consistent and did a good job of capturing some funny moments and enhancing them.  Scenes of the rookie demon hunter and his teacher running from a shop keeper becuase they stole a goose leg from her stand were straight out of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - 1966.  Buster Keaton all over that one.

Cinematography was good, music was good, directing, acting, and script...well, can 't really comment on the script but this is/was a good one!

The Way Way Back

Man!  This was a rare and most awesome find.  This was indeed a movie that I remebered during the day and looked forward to watching again.  Good actors can really make a subtle story just pop far more than lousy actors in a full on explosive laden film....this is an example.

I have never seen Liam James before but his on par with early Michael Cera but just great.  Steve Carell nails it, Toni Collette is full on awesome (she has been great in everything I have ever seen her in beginning with "Muriel's Wedding" - 1994) and I have to say that Sam Rockwell has definitely become one of my favorite actors.  Rockwell is just an excellent performer and from roles in "The Green Mile"- 1999 to "Moon"- 2009 and here, the range is there but way freakin' awesome.  Just an awesome film.

Music, hell, I don't remember it so it must have fit the film perfectly, acting...awesome, script....great, cinematography....great. 

SEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

Nice!  It is so rare that a film sequel matches the original and this one did.  Ladies, yes there is a ton of blood but a ton of eye candy for you.  Dudes, the previous point will make this something you can watch with that special lady....just don't tell your wives or you will end up like one of the Persians.

I saw this movie right after watching "3 Days to Kill" and seeing Amber Heard trying to portray a bad a$$, stone cold killer.  Man, if only the casting director of '3 Days' had waited till he met Eva Green.  She played Artemisia and kicked.  Brutal, cold, and good acting.

The directing of this was awesome and the cinematorgraphy just great.  It was dark and moody but not so dark that you couldn't see everything.  The action scenes and all were just awesome.  Good times.

Music was good and acting was above average so this was a good old popcorn chomping good time.

3 Days to Kill - (2014)

Kevin Costner seems to get movies where his acting is good, then not so good, then good, etc.  This was a GOOD job.  He played a mix of Bull Durham and whatever his character's name was in Waterworld (1995).

Overall this was a good film, the action, cinematography, music and all, but what was a REAL DRAG were the costars....most notably Amber Heard.  Who is she, where did she come from and how did she get this role...or others I have seen her in.  Her acting was really bad.  Her character could have been a really cool one had it been played by an Angelina Jolie or Kate Beckinsale.  Perhaps the only good part about her acting is that it possibly caused a short run of this film in the theaters and therefore sped its delivery into my hands.

Script and story were good, cinematography was good and the soundtrack okay.  I give the soundtrack the okay because I don't remember it.  To me that means that it neither added nor detracted from the film.  Costner, Hailee Steinfeld (daughter), and Connie Nielsen (estranged wife) were fine in the acting....Heard I have mentioned.  Directing and all was dandy too.

It is not a bad film to see but if there are other pressing ones, see them first.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

I really looked forward to this based on the comments and all that folks had given and that I had heard on the radio and so on.....I couldn't finish it.  One of the ways I judge a movie is by how much I passively think of it (when I am not watching it) during the 2 to 3 days/evenings it takes me to finish it.  Further, I only remembered what I was watching when M. Gustav played by Ralph Fiennes appeared upon my hitting 'Play' on my personal DVD player.

Watching it became a chore and I have enough chores during the day.  I quit and have accepted my lack of hipness.

Mechanically, the film was sound.  The characters remained their quirky weird selves, the sound track, directing, cinematography, and writing remained constant and quirky throughout as well and never swayed.  That was impressive; however, no matter how well prepared and delivered to me a plate of haggis might be, I still ain't eating it and would send it back too.

Closed Circuit

 2013: Fairly recent but, eh, nothing really to write home about.  Have you ever noticed that some things (just because of what they are) are automatically accepted as being superior and therefore overrated like blonds having more fun than the rest of us, Dutch, Swiss or German Chocolate is far superior to chocolate from anywhere else, French cheese is the best, Italian and British cars are superior (wait, that's a lie) and in this case....British Acting?

Really, I am not sure if the acting was superior to anything else but the British accent I guess adds that flair.  Okay, so the movie was...it was okay but there are so many more I could have seen.  I guess the thing that was bizarre and made the film a bit hard to follow was the court system in England....you get a defender and then a special advocate and the 2 are not to talk about the case....not sure.  Okay, so I did not get that and that led to some mysticism on my behalf.  One other thing that just made me turn away and investigate the lint content of my navel was that a 210lb 6'2" trained killer from MI6 couldn't sneak up on and take out a 115lb 5'3" waif of a woman.

When it was all said and done, what was distinct to me and very memorable is the standard plot line about how governments will do unsavory things "TO PROTECT US" and it is better, even if it may be unjust, that you just accept it and go along with it.  I don't know if I am getting older and more conservative or just burning out on that tired old plot line, but my goodness, give it a rest would you?

Okay so for the standard review:
Writing/Directing: Okay, no real whoop.
Music....didn't really remember it being an add or detractor from the film
Acting: it was British!  It was AWESOME!
Cinematography: Good

Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

Avoid at all costs.  Within 1 minute I was annoyed and then within 5 I was straight up angry that I had been duped into renting this.  What a freakin' waste.  I had seen previews and thought, "Hmmmm, maybe."  However, those previews were like a beautiful kernel of corn that is just so enticing until you zoom out and see that it is embedded in a terd....that is this movie.

The Front Line

Whoa!  SEE THIS.  This is one of the few movies that are able to mix, perhaps, a bit of fiction regarding interpersonal relationships and present them within genuine historical events.  It is great in that it really brings to life what life was/might have been during a specific historical event as opposed to reading one or two lines within a history book.

A movie like this is something that would do really well in a history class because it brings to life the strangeness of institutions and their effect on the people who put them in power and then have to suffer under them.  One of the very first movies I reviewed on this blog was 'Tae Guk Gi' and this would have been an awesome sequel!  You must see this.

The acting was really good, the directing was awesome, the script rocked, and the cinematography was just amazing.  Too, the music was key.  It neither got in the way and one song that was sung, played, etc. frequently only strengthened the movie's message.

Lockout

No.  The acting was good, but the script was too "I'm a badass" over the top stuff.  Too cliched, to far fetched, and too many..."what?, why? etc."  The only reallly good shot was Joseph Gilgun; his role and acting as a psychotic were awesome...but alas, not enough to save this.

Bad Ass

As much as I dig Danny Trejo's roles, I couldn't finish it.  Trejo's bit parts that involve little dialogue rock.  This was ambitious...too ambitious.  The supporting cast and the canned plots (bad cops, crooked white politicians, etc) forced me to shut the thing off about 1/2 of the way through.

The Hunter

SEE THIS!  This was one of the best films I have seen in a long time.  In places it is incredibly sad and then uplifting.  3 days later and I still toss the plot and all in my mind and think about it.  Simply put, this is an awesome film.

Thank God Willem Dafoe did this.  The last I thought I have of him is that of a green ghoul in the Spiderman series.  No way here.  This hearkens back to his acting days of Platoon.  Awesomely done.  Sam Neill of Jurassic Park and Red October kicks!  His role as a jealous suitor who plot goes horribly awry is just insane.

Everything; the acting, the directing, the script, the score, and the cinematography are just incredible.  I would watch this one again if I did not have to re watch some of the scenes toward the end of the movie...not gory or anything but just heart wrenching.  Awesome film....just awesome!!

A Beginner's Guide to Endings

Have you ever gone to the Indian reservations to get a big stinking box of fireworks, picked out the ultra loaded box that is filled with some high powered pyrotechnics, raced home, lit them, and been totally let down?  Did you enjoy that?

If you did, see this movie.  Everything about it just seems like it will just totally rock but it doesn't.  The script, the acting, the directing, the music, and the cinemtograhy are great, but there is just something missing.  It is like great smelling cookies that get you all excited until you bite into them and find they were made without sugar.

Harvey Keitel is a loser gambling dad with 5 boys; 3 of whom are going to die soon because of a medical test he enrolled them in earlier.  The experimental drug they took (so Keitel could get paid) turns out to be a lethal littel ditty.  Knowing they have little time left on the mortal coil, they start doing crazy and extreme things.  Sounds great?  IT DOES!!!!  But so what, you will be let down.

Freakonomics

It was a bit difficult to watch this film because I use films as sort of an escape in the evenings and on weekends.  This was not fiction or anything but an analysis of trends in society explored through the eyes and thoughts of economists.  Because of what I had heard about it, I felt compelled to watch it because I felt it was a sort of 'required' education unit.

It was good and really interesting.  Freakonomics is a series of vignettes that explore a lot of societal trends, the relationships between cause and effects, where misconceptions in wide-ranging assumptions lie, etc.  It is a must watch dealio.

Acting...none, writing...awesome, directing...great, cinematography...great, music...amazingly well suited!

The Guard

Oh Man!  See this!  Don Cheadle proves again that a well known actor's best work often comes from a pretty unknown film.  This film rocked and it rocked not only because of Cheadle, but mostly because of the film's star: Brendan Gleeson.  In short, a large shipment of drugs is to come onshore somewhere on the Irish Coast.  To intercept it, the US sends in an FBI agent (Cheadle) to educate the local cops...Gleeson. 

Just some of the stuff in here was too funny and it was a good pop in an otherwise pretty serious crime drama.  The acting was great, the directing was awesome, the script was killer, the cinematography was really cool (and makes Ireland a place I have to go), and the music; well, it had to be good as I didn't even notice it.  This means that it neither took away nor went over the top.

SEE THIS

The Last Circus

God help me.  Spain is just shooting missiles of twisted stuff across its borders and into my red envelope queue.  What the heck.  The last Spanish movie I saw (which I saw right before this) was "The Skin I Live In," and wow, this one was just as macabre.

It took several nights to watch, yet I did keep watching and finished it.  Really, I don't know how or where to start in reviewing this other than the basics: script was good, directing was good, cinematography was good, acting was great, and music was, well, I don't remember it too much which means it did not get in the way.  Okay, dude whose father was a clown becomes a clown and is paired with a sadistic clown who abuses the s#$t out of his girlfriend.  New clown falls for the girlfriend and she falls for him and sadistic clown catches wind of it and then a whole circus of s%*t hits the fan.  New clown then unleashes the 5 gallon Sparklets bottle of unreleased rage he has been filling throughout his life in the span of a week or two.

Gory, crazy, and actually reminded me of Hammurabi settling a dispute of 2 women; both claiming to have birthed an infant and both wanting possession of the child.  It will be hard for this film to find a home as the cover intimates standard B movie crap with cleavage and gore, but the level of acting will be far beyond what purveyors of that genre expect and there won't be enough gore for them either.  On the other hand, the acting and plot are of a level that is more A+ stuff, yet the gore is enough that the purveyors of this will be turned off.

The Skin I Live In

Holy crap.  This is one of the most twisted weird disturbing movies that I have seen in a very long time.  This thing was like a dog pooping.  It is disturbing but you still watch.  Thank goodness it ended and other little red envelopes of love have shown up.  Frankenstein meets the cast of Jerry Springer.

Banderas is great as are all the actors in this film.  The directing, script, music, and cinematography were all great, but man, this was such a twisted film.  If you are ready for just some weird weirdness, this is it.

I am torn on recommending this as it was so well done and I also consider a good movie as one that will hang in your mind for a long time, but man, this was bizarre!

Ong Bak 3

Awesome!  1 was okay, 2 was much better, and 3, wow.  It was really good.  1 was not really the first in the series of these flicks, but 2 and 3 were a series and 3 was one of those rare dealios in which the second in a series kicks over the first.  The writing, the directing, the acting, the cinematography, etc. were awesome.  The only goofer was the soundtrack.  On a few occasions, it was music that was so off that you said, "What the hell is that" and it pulled you away from the on screen acting.  When a soundtrack does that, you have a bad one.

The fighting style of Tony Jaa (leader of the film) is really different and something else.  There was Shakespeare's Hamlet, a series of subplots, Rocky etc. all twisted in here.  It was a total experience and introduction to a culture/time that was way foreign and really intriguing.  Petchtai Wongkamlao who was in the first Ong Bak (2003) was in this one too and played a really good role as a crazy dude.  Funny as...well, funny.

Ong Bak 2

Okay, I don't know Thai, but I do know from deduction that "Ong Bak" translated into English means, "No concept of time or chronology."  This is the second in the series and is called "The Beginning" but seriously, "Ong Bak (1 I guess)" 2003 was in 21st century and 2 is in, heck, 18th maybe?  Weird, so it is the beginning and if it is, who the hell is this dude...Methuselah?

Whatever, timing, chronology, laws of medicine and possible blood loss (and ability to remain conscious) aside, not bad.  In fact, this was better than the first.  The fighting style is insane and Tony Jaa is something.  The style is pretty different from the Jett Li, Bruce Lee, and Jackie Chan stuff and may even be more cooler.  Bad gig for the hero is that, "man, can't this guy catch a break?"  Okay, directing good, acting good, music good, cinematagraphy good, and the script...make sure you go subtittles and not dubbed....good.

I would recommend it!

Ong-Bak

Wow, although the standard "righteous out of place dude is and takes down bad established dudes and converts those on the fence" plot, this was okay...okay enough to get me to order the next 2.  What is knarliest about this is the fighting.  I am always into a good Kung Fu/Karate movie but after awhile, they get a bit tedious...especially within one fight, either dude is beaten about the head, face, and neck with chains, 2x4's, feet, shins, etc. over and over and keeps going.

There was a bit of that stuff here, but the fighting style was wild!  It is Muay Thai and definitely different.  Tony Jaa also tosses in some parkour to keep it interesting as well.  This is not something to really go out of the way for, but it was pretty good.  Acting was all good, directing is fine, music...well, it didn't get in the way, script was subtitles and not bad and cinematography was good in that there were no dark spots or anything.  The only annoying part was the girl's voice.  God, that was annoying.