It's Not What You Know, But Who..."The Company You Keep"

Wait, they still have newspapers?

The Story:

Back in the 70s, several Weather Underground activists robbed a bank and killed a security guard.  They disappeared and went into hiding. Over 30 years later, the first (Susan Sarandon) has attempted to come forward to clear her conscious.  A reporter (Shia LaBeouf) tackles her story and begins to peel back the layers and discovers that a local lawyer (Robert Redford) is one of her accomplices.  The dominoes begin to fall as the lawyer begins to run...

But is he running because of guilt, or innocence?

I wasn't sure what to expect when I got this one.  It's got a great cast from leads to bit parts.

Who haven't I mentioned yet?

Nick Nolte. Chris Cooper. Terrence Howard. Stanley Tucci. Richard Jenkins. Sam Elliott and many more.

Granted, the movie falls squarely on the shoulders of Redford and LaBeouf as the two carry out their two stories that weave together throughout the movie.

It was a solid action/drama/thriller.

I won't discuss much more because I don't want to ruin any of the twists and turns for anyone who hasn't  seen it and would like to.

I will say that Redford, much like Eastwood, has developed into a really great director in the latter half of his career.

The main difference, Redford doesn't get the critical acclaim like Eastwood does.

Either way, this was a pretty entertaining movie.

Feel free to give it a spin, I think you'll be pleased with your choice.

Final Grade: Solid B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Not quite as fun as Redford's Sneakers, but not bad.  I could watch it again.

You Don't Bring Ryan Gosling to a Sean Connery Fight! "Gangster Squad"

To keep the City of Angels clean... someone's going to have to get dirty.

Dude, that's actually a pretty good tagline...


The Story:

Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) is a former boxer turned gangster.  Instead of being part of the eastern syndicate, he's setting up shop in LA, and running out any competition and keeping Chicago at bay.  So, his operations means that back in 1949, he had cops and judges on his payroll, and this irritates the Chief (Nick Nolte) so he asks a no-nonsense homicide detective (Josh Brolin) to form a badge-less group of cops (Ryan Gosling, Robert Patrick and Giovanni Ribisi to name a few), to make Cohen's operations start to fall apart.  He recruits his squad, and they go after Cohen...

But not everyone is going to walk out of this unscathed on either side.

I couldn't tell you why this one didn't do that great at the box office.  It's a little long, and slow.  Actually, I would use methodical.

Everything builds, slowly, surely, until the final confrontation.

I was engrossed in the story for the most part.

Recreating Los Angeles circa 1949, it is a beautiful movie to watch.  The clothes, the cars, the set pieces... all wonderful to see and very well done.

There isn't nearly as much squad interaction as there should be... or for that matter, much of the squad's mucking up of Cohen's operations gets glossed over very quickly.

Perhaps they could have trimmed some of the exposition and early scenes that don't really do much except to reinforce what we have already gathered.

Plus, while eventually she is important to the story, the love interest (Emma Stone) can be some of the cause for the slow factor as well.  Love stories in action films are often unnecessary, but added I think solely to increase female interest in a guy's movie.

It's no Untouchables, but it's not Unwatchable, either.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could watch it again if it was on, but nothing screams for me to run out and buy this one.

Too Rainy For the Real Thing...Watch "The Zookeeper" Instead

They say it's all happening at the zoo...

The Story:

Griffin (Kevin James) is a zookeeper.  He has been moping over his girlfriend (Leslie Bibb) turning his marriage proposal down for the last 5 years.  Suddenly she is back in his life, and that's when the animals at the zoo decide they've had enough, and decide to help Griffin win his lady love.  So naturally they start talking to Griffin and giving him pointers.  Will they succeed in reuniting the pair, or will love work in mysterious ways and Griffin realize that the woman (Rosario Dawson) he really deserves is right under his nose?

Should I start off by saying that I thought this movie was funny?

Did I disappoint too  many people?

:)

Well too bad, because I did, and it is.

I am always a fan of movies that I can watch with all of my kids, and this is one of them.

Sure, talking animals can get old, but the voice work from the movie is really good, and the animatronics and CGI aren't too far-fetched or annoying to watch.  You've got Adam Sandler, Cher, Sylvester Stallone and Nick Nolte as the main vocal talents who work to teach Griffin to be a better man to win the love of his lady.

The antics that James puts himself through are great, especially for a guy of his size.  He's the next version of Belushi or Farley as a bigger comedian  who enjoys physical comedy.  However, thankfully, he's also not burning himself out on drugs, so hopefully we can enjoy a much longer career from him.

So yes, add this to Paul Blart and Here Comes the Boom and you have a winning Kevin James film marathon to enjoy.

Final Grade: B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: High on both counts, as I already own it and it's been seen several times at my house already.