IHeart "IZombie"

IZombie (2015)

TV-14

Starring Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kholi, Robert Buckley, David Anders

Created by Diane Ruggiero and Rob Thomas

The Story:

Dr. Olivia Moore (McIver) goes to a party at the insistence of her boyfriend, Major (Buckley) who wants her to have a good time. Bad idea, Major. The boat party turns into a massacre, and Liv is scratched by some crazy dude (Anders) and when she wakes up, she's craving brains!  That's right, Liv is now a zombie. She leaves her chosen profession behind and goes to work at the morgue working for Ravi (Kholi) and where she has ample supplies of fresh brains to work with. One apparent zombie side effect is that the brains give Liv bits and pieces of memories from the consumed. She uses this nifty trick to help Detective Babineaux (Goodwin) solve their murders.

The heir apparent to Psych, we have a "psychic" helping the police force solve murders with the help of a funny guy in the morgue. Sure, that's stretching both premises slightly to make my point, but I saw it, and therefore on some subliminal level, it must surely exist. :)

This entry on the CW is, surprise surprise, based on a comic book. Again, that's news to me since I've long ago left reading them on a regular basis.

That it's a good show that I really enjoyed, these thoughts come as no surprise to me as most comics have great stories, ideas and a solid premise behind them.

IZombie is no different, and I'll have to give a shout out to my oldest daughter who discovered this show and converted the whole family into fans.

A tremendously talented cast who can run the gamut of hilarious, terrified, forlorn and just about everything in between, with ease and grace.

Kudos to everyone involved, especially the creators for coming up with another creative take on the zombie mythos and giving us a new (and frankly, terrifying) way that zombies behave.

Frankly, I really enjoyed almost the entire first season.

However...

The Final Episode threw one too many "hey, wouldn't this be a great way to end the season and keep them looking forward to next year?" coincidences and cliffhangers at the audience.

After a season of slow building, the kitchen sink approach fell a little flat for me at the end.

But the 12 episodes in front of that were pretty tremendous.

 Final Grade: B+

"What If" This Movie Had Been Better?

What If (2013)

Rated PG-13

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Adam Driver, Megan Park, Rafe Spall

Directed by Michael Dowse

The Story:

Wallace (Radcliffe) meets Chantry (Kazan) and the two immediately connect. However, Wallace has been burned by love too often, so he's only too happy to remain friends with her, and that works for Chantry also because she already has a boyfriend (Spall). Of course, this wouldn't be a romantic comedy if the two didn't naturally want to take their friendship to the next level. As always though, crossing that line may not be easy, or desirable.

This movie was much funnier when it was called When Harry Met Sally.

:)

Otherwise, it's a harmless, mostly by the numbers romantic comedy that follows the typical stereotype that yes, men and women can just be friends, but invariably, someone might change their mind and want to take things further.

You'd think they could make one where the two don't fall in love, but then, that would be just like real life, and could be boring.

My first recollection of seeing either of the two leads in a film, alone or together. Their chemistry almost works as friends, but it's hard to believe either want to make a go of it with the other.

Would you believe me if I said this was the first film I've watched with Daniel Radcliffe in it?

True story.

Never was interested in Harry Potter, so never bothered.

He seems like a pretty good actor, if a bit bland.

I don't see him as much of a leading man candidate. He doesn't have the charm of a Hugh Grant or the personification of an action/thriller star.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm thinking this is Macauley Culkin 2.0.

Time will tell.

Final Grade: C

"Unfinished Business" Is An 'Uneven Movie'

Unfinished Business (2015)

Rated R

Starring Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson, Dave Franco, Sienna Miller, Nick Frost, James Marsden

Directed by Ken Scott

The Story:

Dan (Vaughn) has had it with his current company. He quits and tries a Jerry Maguire speech to bring his co-workers with him. Tim (Wilkinson) and Mike (Franco) are the only two that jump in with him. Time passes, and they have one final "Hail Mary" to save their business from going under, but involves a business trip to Europe to land a deal with Mr. Spinch (Marsden). They assume it's a lock, until they realize their old employer is there to close the same deal.

Tucked in this movie was a good story with some funny characters.

They emerge every so often as the film moves along.

They also get buried in a lot of "throw it at the wall and see if it sticks" moments that really do nothing except padding the runtime of the film.

It loses focus often for the sake of the gag, and the gags rarely help the overall momentum of the film. Instead it seems like a lot of pieces that are cobbled together to frame a story from beginning to end, but it's a bumpy, jarring ride to get there.

Are there funny moments? Absolutely, but they often are isolated and alone and rarely strung together.

Vaughn's attempt to help his daughter's homework project seems like a weird narrative device to shoehorn his home life into the work story.

That said, the final product that she turns in is very heartwarming and something most dads should relate to.

It's got some genuine amusement, and a fantastic cast, but just too scattershot to be worth ever revisiting.

Final Grade: C

"Run All Night" Feels Awfully Familiar

Run All Night (2015)

Rated R

Starring Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Boyd Holbrook, Vincent D'Onofrio

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

The Story:

Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) has a choice to make tonight. His son, Mike (Kinnaman) was about to be killed by Danny Maguire (Holbrook) so Conlon shot him and killed him. The problem? Maguire's dad, Shawn (Harris) is the mob boss that Jimmy works for. Shawn is now going to kill Mike first, and then Jimmy unless Jimmy can save them both and kill all of Maguire's men, and possibly Maguire himself, first.

It's going to be a long night!

And at almost 2 hours, it really is quite a long night.

The latest in the string of get Liam Neeson to play his Taken role and shoot the bad guys while escaping.

This one falls squarely between Non-Stop and A Walk Among the Tombstone, and behind Taken.

The movie crackles with Neeson or Harris, sadly the two barely share any screen time together, and again, after 90 minutes of watching Neeson dispatch anyone and everyone, the movie plays like a deja vu film reel versus something new and exciting.

Even D'Onofrio is mostly wasted as the cop who wants to arrest Jimmy, and has been trying for years but can never pin anything on him. He spends what little screen time he has 5 steps behind the action.

Pity.

 Final Grade: C- range.

Now That's A Spy Movie! "Kingsman: The Secret Service"

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

Rated R

Starring Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson,

Written and Directed by Matthew Vaughn

The Story:

An underground spy network needs to recruit their newest member when one of their own perishes. Harry Hart (Firth) chooses Eggsy (Egerton), the son of the man who saved Hart's life years earlier. Eggsy is very rough around the edges, and not the gentleman spy that typically serves as a Kingsman, but Hart has high hopes. As the process of choosing the newest member moves forward, so does a credible threat from a multi-billionaire (Jackson) with nefarious plan to extinguish much of society.

I thought the film looked pretty good from the trailer.

It exceeded any and all expectations that I had, and will wind up on my Best of the Year list when all is said and done.

This one even gets a nod from the Mrs. as she not only watched it the first night, she sat through it again the next night when the kids moaned about having missed it.

That tells you the film must be pretty good.

And I have an extremely odd taste in what can be considered a family movie!

:)

Thoroughly British, utterly enjoyable, it's an updated take on the spy game that takes a lot of Bond and adds a dash of Bourne and spits out a wonderfully fresh and fun look at the world's 3rd oldest profession.

Give or take.

An amazing cast that has a blast with the material they are given is on display from the very opening of the film. If you think Colin Firth is only a dramatic or comedic actor, get ready for a revelation of Colin Firth: Action Star!

Seriously, he pulls if off in a way that defies any expectations you have of him.

Samuel L. Jackson appears to be having a blast as the villain of the film, and is both frighteningly evil and hilariously funny at the same time.

That said, hats off to Taron Egerton who gets to carry much of the film when Firth and Jackson aren't doing their things.

The franchise, should they choose to turn this into one, is his to enjoy for the next decade or more.

Vaughn, who notoriously stays away from writing or directing sequels to his work, is actually onboard for at least a second chapter of Kingsman.

Works for me!

Final Grade: A-

If They Would Have Just Used A Bit More "Focus" On The Script

Focus (2015)

Rated R

Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Adrian Martinez, Gerald McRaney, Rodrigo Santoro,

Written and Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

The Story:

Nicky (Smith) is a really smooth con man with a great network of hustlers that help him work really big jobs. He takes a green rookie named Jess (Robbie) under his wing because she's a natural talent that just needs some...

focus.

Ooo.

See what I did there?

: )

Anyway, they work on the gig, and then go their separate ways.

They run into each other a few years later, each working on different cons that are both targeting the same guy.

Will their feelings for each other ruin an otherwise extremely elaborate ruse and wind up getting someone killed?

I try and avoid talking too much about the plots of heist/con man movies because that often takes out any or all the fun of watching them.

Ficarra and Requa have teamed again to bring another dramatic comedy to the screen.

My problem, here comes the soapbox, is this film would have played perfectly, and perhaps better, with a PG-13 tag. I don't think there's a line of dialogue that a writer has to write using Carlin's list of words you can't say on television, and not still convey the message you're trying to get across.

Take out the language, the film softens to a PG-13, more people go, even families, and more people turns this into a box office hit instead of a financial flop.

The heists and scams are always enjoyable to see orchestrated on the big screen, and this film tries to up the ante on what Nicky can, and will, be able to pull off.

Could've been better, still wasn't that bad.

Final Grade: B-

It's "Jupiter Ascending" Quickly To The List Of Worst Movies Of 2015.

Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean

Written and Directed by Andy & Lana Wachowski

The Story:

Jupiter Jones (Kunis) is an illegal alien who cleans bathrooms for a living. No, not that kind of alien, the kind from outer space. However she doesn't realize this until aliens come to get her and she is saved by intergalactic space hero, Caine Wise (Tatum).

That sums up about the 20 minutes, that felt just shy of an hour, that I endured this film.

I looked around the room at all of the faces not watching, or caring what was happening in this film.

I then looked at the clock on the wall and realized I still had just a hair under 2 hours still to go, and I didn't really care for the characters or the plot (if there truly was one yet) of this film.

Eject.

Return.

Note to self, add the Wachowskis as directors (and writers) whose work, overall, is stuff that I don't care for. Never cared for The Matrix, never bothered with the sequels. Cloud Atlas had some interesting ideas, but the overlong run time saps your energy.

Again, I have to wonder if you keep allowing some directors to write/direct/produce their own movies, who is the filter to tell them, hey, this kind of sucks?

Seems that there isn't one.

I can only tell them after the fact.

Hey, this movie kind of sucked.

The visuals were nice though.

: /

Final Grade: D