For the Hand of Reese Witherspoon..."This Means War" !

All's fair...

The Story:

Two CIA operatives, FDR (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy) are pretty much the best at what they do.  While they are teamed up on a case, Tuck is trying to get back out on the dating scene since his divorce.  He dates a lovely girl, Lauren (Reese Witherspoon).  Ah, but FDR wanted to be a pal and provide backup to his partner just in case.  When he runs into Lauren later that same night, they hit it off, never realizing he's just made the move on his best friend's new girl.  So when two top operatives become rivals in love, neither one is going to be safe on any date!

This is one of my favorites from last year.

Not "great enough" to be a Top 10 movie of the year, but good enough to be an enjoyable "hey, let's watch this one again" movie.

I love those kinds of movies.  My library is full of them.

: )

The best part, it's a romantic comedy, buried underneath an action comedy.

So win-win for the guys on date night! :)

Reese Witherspoon of course plays the romantic comedy lead in her sleep.  She's the 2010s version of the 80s/90s Meg Ryan.

This is not to be seen as an insult either, I'm quite pleased with the comparison and have enjoyed many romantic comedies starring Ms. Witherspoon.

Chris Pine and Tom Hardy have an excellent rapport as best friends and bitter rivals, often within split seconds of each other.

All the while that they are trying to figure out who gets the girl, an angry villain who has vowed revenge from their last case is trying to kill the boys.

Saving the world, stopping the bad guy, and getting the girl.

CIA 101.

Naturally, you'll see which guy Lauren will pick a mile away.  They telegraph it in the story, but at least it provides the happiest ending all around.

Directed by the always underrated McG, the man makes slick, fun action films.

Final Grade: Solid B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I liked it so much, I bought it. :)

Today We Unveil A "Blast From the Past"

A lot has changed over the years...

The Story: 

Calvin and Helen Webber (Christopher Walken & Sissy Spacek) are expectant parents in the 1960s.  Of course Calvin being a true American, he's ready for the Commies and has built a marvelous bomb shelter under their home.  Fate steps in, and sure enough, the Webbers are forced to use it.  Sealed in for 35 years, they raise their son, Adam (Brendan Fraser) but the day has come when they must go to the surface for supplies.  Adam heads up to get the supplies, and the hope of finding a bride.  And that's when Adam meets Eve (Alicia Silverstone).

It's like destiny!

I proudly admit, I love this movie.

It's both sappy sweet, and funny.

Brendan Fraser gives one of his best performances as the literal thinking Adam who is shocked to see what the world has become compared to what he has grown up learning about it.  He's the wide-eyed boy with a heart of gold and not a cynical bone in his body.

His chance encounter with Eve of course is the perfect balancing act.  She's cynical to the very core, and yet there's something sweet about Adam that makes her unable to be as mean as she could be whenever he's around.

This is Silverstone's second best movie for me, behind Clueless.  Unless you count Batman and Robin.

And nobody I know counts Batman and Robin.

:)

Walken is genius, as always.  His manic persona works effortlessly in this movie, and he's wonderful every moment he's onscreen.

Spacek balances nicely as the loving, but tired of being underground wife.  Thankfully, she's packed almost enough alcohol  to keep her from going insane.

I would be remiss if I don't mention Dave Foley's performance as Eve's best friend.  He's hilarious in his admiration of Adam's lifestyle and helps bridge the gap between Eve and Adam and shows them the obvious clues in their relationship that they are missing.

It's a little charmer, and you can't help but root for Adam in all of his endeavors.

Plus there is the hope and wish that maybe, just maybe, life was as nice as he pictures it in his head.

Final Grade: B+... easy.  Probably A-/A range for me.

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I do own, and it used to get watched quite a bit, but hadn't seen the light of day in about 5 years.  It was a nice reminder of how fun the movie really is.

No Rest For the Weary..."R.I.P.D."

When there's something strange...

In your neighborhood...

Who ya gonna call?

The Story:

Nick (Ryan Reynolds) is a cop who gets killed by his partner (Kevin Bacon).  Suddenly he finds himself landing a new gig in the Rest in Peace Department.  He is teamed with Roy (Jeff Bridges), a wild west lawman who's been doing this for years, but hates having partners.  Too bad, so sad, because the boys are going to have to learn to work together, and fast, if they want to prevent the impending apocalypse!

So, why does everyone hate this movie?

I don't know.

The trailers made it look like Ghostbusters meets Men in Black.

Mission accomplished.

The premise is fun: the dead that refuse to leave this world are hunted by the spirit world's best cops. 

It's a supernatural buddy cop film!

The cops of course look different to us humans: Nick is a Chinese man (James Hong) and Roy is a woman (Marisa Miller).  The effect is used to amusing potential throughout the movie.

However, therein lies the problem with a film with so much promise to its premise.  There was a lot of great potential to this story to live up to Ghostbusters or Men in Black...

And it never quite makes it.

It's fun, but not FUN! It's good, but not GREAT!

When you aim to be an amalgam of two science fiction/comedy classics, you've got to pull out all of the stops and not just rely on upgraded special effects to wow the audiences.

That said, the leading men, especially Bridges though, seem to enjoy what they are doing and give a fun performance as lawmen from the other side of the pearly gates.  Reynolds is shoehorned into the straight man role, and maybe that's part of the problem.

His mouth and sarcastic wit are his selling points, and when you have him playing the straight man reacting to the new crazy world that he's thrust into, he doesn't get to react as cleverly as he should, or at least, as audiences expect him too.

While it's not the greatest movie of the year, it is nowhere near the worst movie ever to grace the multiplex as many people seemed to think this year.

It's a movie with unrealized potential that could have been much better, but the bar maybe was set too high going into it.

The trailer told us too much, and made the comparisons inevitable.

Sometimes less is more, that would have been good advice for the trailer.

Sometimes less is less.  That might just sum up the movie.

Final Grade: C+ish

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I picked it up from Blockbuster sight unseen, not having done that in ages.  Don't regret the purchase, just wish there had been more for me to like.

There's Got To Be A Faster Way To Go "Around the World in 80 Days"

We've got a long way to go...
And a short time to get there!

The Story:

The story opens with a thief (Jackie Chan) escaping from the Bank of England with a rare jade Buddha.  He hides out with an eccentric inventor, Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan) who entrusts his new companion as his valet.  When they are mocked at the Royal Academy of Science, a wager is made between Fogg and Lord Kelvin (Jim Broadbent).  If Fogg can circumnavigate the globe and return to the Academy within 80 days, he can become the new minister of science.  If not, then he must never invent...again!

Would it help to remind you that this film, that's about to celebrate its 10th Anniversary, was a Disney film?

Because that will explain how the source material is blown up and completely rearranged from the book.

The book was a wonderful read by Jules Verne, but since it's been nearly 30 years since I read it, but it remains a happy memory for me.

This movie, well it's designed to entertain the kids, and not bore the parents.

In that regard, well it mostly succeeds.

The cast is generally likeable, and they sprinkled in famous cameos to bump into Fogg and Passepartout along the way. 

Plus they add Cecile De France who plays Monique La Roche, who joins the duo on their madcap race around the globe, as a potential love interest for Fogg.

Naturally with Jackie Chan in the movie, there will be several fights which serve to wake the film back up.

However, the movie is a bit bloated as it churns along for 2 hours. 

There are times you might feel it's taking 80 Days...

Overall though, it could've used a good 10-20 minutes of trimming/tightening and it would've made the picture stronger, and I would give it a stronger recommendation to boot!

Overall, agreeable fluff for the family.

Final Grade: C+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Once every 10 years seems to be about right. ;)

It's What's on the Inside That Counts..."Beastly"

Tale as old as time...

The Story:

Kyle Kingston (Alex Pettyfer) is the rich, handsome, popular kid in school.  As he runs for student body election on nothing other than how awesome he is, he crosses paths with a witch (Mary-Kate Olsen) who slaps him with an ugly stick.  His father, aghast at what has become of his son, locks him away in a townhouse and hires a blind tutor (Neil Patrick Harris) to educate him.  Alas poor Kyle, he finds a former classmate (Vanessa Hudgens) in trouble, and makes a deal with her dad to keep her safe.  But what are the odds that she could find love with someone so...

beastly!

Bam!  How's that for a plot synopsis that ends with the title of the movie?  That's right, even I'm going to have to take a bow for that clever wordplay!

;)

This was one of the those movies that I'd never seen/heard of, and just happened to stumble across while perusing Netflix one day.  We watched it, and I have to admit...

I was impressed.

A modern day retelling that tweaked and added to the story as it saw fit, all the while staying as true as it can to the source material story.

Even better: it is never dull.

Kyle gets help from the tutor and the maid to try and woo Lindy.  Neil Patrick Harris naturally steals every minute of the movie that he is in as the blind tutor with a style all his own

As is always the case in this story, Lindy hardly finds her prince anything but charming.  Much like I lamented about the movie Penelope last month where she doesn't look nearly hideously enough as she could have, here too Kyle doesn't look too beastly, more of a tatted and pierced teenager. :)

Kyle too learns that all of his supposed friends who thought he was the best thing ever, secretly disliked him.  They only hung out with him because he was rich and popular.

Naturally, the story has to cut it close with whether the Beauty will truly love the Beast before the curse is unable to be broken.

I have a feeling you'll find the ending satisfactory.

Final Grade: B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Enjoyed it. Went out and bought a copy.  Watched it a few times since.  Good stuff!

R.I.P. : Paul Walker, 1973-2013

Well, that's the very definition of Hollywood irony...

: /

So by now everyone's heard the news that Paul Walker died in a fiery car crash as a passenger.  His driver?  A professional race car driver.

:: sigh ::

I suppose, sadly, in the day of the internet and fake death hoaxes, the first thing you have to do when  you see these kinds of news stories, you need to verify with several reputable news sites first.

However, even those can be duped rather easily.

When you see it reported on Twitter though, especially by Paul's representatives and all of his co-stars, it's real.

And it's sad.

The only positive I take from his passing is at least he didn't take his own life.  I grow weary of stars that take their own life, throwing away whatever potential future they had for themselves and years of entertainment that they had for their fans.

An accident?  Those happen.

Still tragic.

So then why do fans mourn when celebrities pass away when hundreds die everyday?

I would imagine it's the sense of connection.  These stars brought friends and family together, for 2 hours at a time while we enjoy their movies.

Looking over the movies he's made, there's quite a few good movies on the list.

Naturally, the Fast and Furious franchise is first and foremost the obvious place to point for a career retrospective.

I had the great pleasure to introduce the family to the franchise earlier this year as I had them watch the first 4 movies and then re-watch Fast Five.

Sure, Paul was probably never going to win an Academy Award, but he gave 100% in his movies, and at the end of the day, I was entertained.

That's doing your job, and for that he should be commended!

Other favorites over the years:

She's All That ~ Playing the villain that bets Freddy Prinze Jr. that he can't make Rachel Leigh Cook a prom queen.

Timeline ~ An underrated Richard Donner time travel movie.  Recommended if you've never seen it.

Eight Below ~ A Disney film based on a true story of a team that is forced to abandon their sled dogs to the elements.

I suppose the question now becomes...

What will Universal do with the Fast and Furious franchise?

Was 7 set to be the last?  Were they going to retire and turn the franchise over to some new crew members?

No easy decisions to be made for a franchise that was actually getting better with each new installment after the main characters all reunited.

Condolences to his family and friends and other fans.

:* (

Welcome To December, The Time of Year We All Start "Becoming Santa"

Ho Ho Ho my goodness!

The Story:

Jack Sanderson has not been feeling the Christmas spirit since his parents passed away.  He finds a picture of his father dressed as Santa taken after his mom had passed, and he wondered if maybe dressing up as the jolly fat man might rekindle his spirit.  So Jack is about to embark on an adventure of going to Santa School and becoming a symbol of the holidays for the holiday season.

Jack's world is about to change.

This is a double-documentary, squeezed into one presentation.  Normally I've complained about that before, but in this instance, it not only works, but it works really well as it helps complete both stories that are being told.

Naturally, we have Jack's story.  I had no idea that there were Santa Schools out there, but indeed there are, and they take their training seriously.

So we follow his adventures as he goes to school, gets a suit and gets ready to play the part.

Along the way we meet many, many other "Santas", and you find out that some of these people don't just do it at Christmas, they are "on" all year round keeping the spirit of Christmas and St. Nicholas alive all year round.

This may cause you to question their sanity, but watching the documentary, you should warm to them and why they do what they do.

Interspersed with Jack's tale, and that of meeting these other Santas, you will be taken on a journey through the life and legend of St. Nicholas to the arrival of the legend of Santa Claus as the world knows him.

You'll get the whos, whens, whats and whys for the creation of the legend to the point where we know him now.

It's a pretty enjoyable ride.

Naturally, if you're a Grinch who hates Christmas, this is not the documentary for you!

For all others, give it a spin, it's pretty fun!

Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I don't know if this will join the list of annual movies/shows that get watched during the Holiday season, but I could see revisiting this every few years.