THE NIGHT BEFORE
Directed by Jonathan Levine
Screenplay by 5 People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Starring: Joesph Gordon-Levitt; Seth Rogan; Anthony Mackie; and Jillian Bell
On Christmas eve, three lifelong friends, two of whom are Jewish, spend the night in New York City looking for the Holy Grail of Christmas parties.
I will get to the point...except for the church scene, which you see in the trailer, this film is shockingly not funny. Sooooo flat. And as I noted it was written by 5 people!!!
The three leads are just too old to be behaving this way and they come across as pathetic and self absorbed. There is nothing there.
Positives?
Michael Shannon as Mr Green the pot dealer is amazing in this movie!!!!! He steals the film. I would go as far as saying he give an Oscar worthy performance in a supporting role. He is that good...and yes Michael Shannon is funny!!! Who would have thought????!!!!
Lizzie Caplan......James Franco....Jillian Bell...Mindy Kaling....Miley Cyrus (Yes that Miley Cyrus) are all really good and funny here in their short time on the screen. They get more laughs then the three leads. Problem is, the three leads are in every scene.
1 1/2 out of 5 for this disappointment. Save your money.
SECRET IN THEIR EYES
Directed by Billy Ray
Screenplay by Billy Ray
Based on the screenplay by Juan Jose Campenella
Starring: Julia Roberts; Nicole Kidman; Chiwetel Ejiofor
A tight-knit team of rising investigators Ray and Jess (Roberts and Ejiofor), along with their supervisor Claire (Kidman), is suddenly torn apart when they discover that Jess's teenage daughter has been brutally murdered.
Well, it is hard to come into this movie knowing the whole story and already knowing what is coming. I have seen the Argentinian version of this film. The Argentianian version is better. Still...that is not saying much, as in the Argentinian version, this American version is creepy and sad.
Positives?
This is Julia Roberts best performance in a long while. You see her melt before your eyes and never recover.
Ejiofer is terrific as the guilt ridden investigator.
Well that is all I have for positives. There are a lot of negatives.
The film flips back and forth between time periods which can be confusing.
There are ridiculous, almost laughable searches including one at Dodger Stadium.
Nicole Kidman really struggled with the American dialect. She kept slipping, and you can pick up her Aussie twang often.
The so called relationship between Ray and Claire goes nowhere and it almost seems like filler.
The ending almost made the film irrelevant...No Spoilers Here...but that is why the Argentinian version I felt failed also. You are just left with a creepy factor, with a lot of sadness.
This film should not have been remade...2 out if 5 stars for Secret In Their Eyes. If you are really interested in seeing it just rent the other version on Netflix.
It is Wednesday Yay Or Nay trailers. I judge the movie just by watching the trailer!!
ZOOLANDER 2
Release Date February 12 2016
UH OH!!!
This did not look good and I did not laugh once. I see bad plot and bad green screen work. I kills me to say NAY!
DEMOLITION
Release Date April 8 2016
I do not know why I liked the trailer but I did. It looks like it could be depressing. However it looks so different that I wanted to see more. So big YAY!
HELLO MY NAME IS DORIS
Release Date March 11 2016
Yes there is a creepy factor but I did laugh. Like the Demolition trailer it looks so different I am in..plus Sally Freaking Field!!! YAY!!
Since I will not be blogging next week I am giving you two weeks of new releases for home viewing this week. I know!! Settle down!!
I have 2 films of note being released this week, and 4 for next week!! So here I go:
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Directed by Guy Ritchie
Screenplay by Guy Ritchie and Lionel Wigram
Based on the series by Sam Wolfe
Starring Henry Cavill; Armie Hammer; and Alicia Vikander
In the 1960's, CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Cavill) must team up with KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (Hammer) to battle a secret operative that plans on building a nuclear weapon.
It is the year of Alicia Vikander!! Testament Of Youth!! Ex Machina!! Now she slips into this film and steals it. The film is just okay. It is pretty much spy vs spy, which was done much better in MI Rogue Nation. This is charming but just lays there. The two leads have no chemistry and it is odd because when they are without each other it works.
It takes place in the 60's so the old school spy tools are fun. The outfits are fun. The music is cool (One funny and fun scene of Vikander dancing alone). Still, the screenplay is just flat and when Vikander is not on screen it is less interesting not only because of looks, but because even though the two leads are "super" spies, Vikander seems smarter than both of them and that is fun to watch.
3 stars out of 5 for The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
THE HOBBIT THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES
Directed by Peter Jackson
Screenplay Fran Walsh; Phillipa Boyens; Peter Jackson; and Guillermo Del Toro
Based on the book by Tolkien
Starring Ian McKellen; Martin Freman: and Richard Armitage
I will keep this short. This was unnecessarily put into three books. Also unnecessarily not keeping with the book. This last film of the Hobbit trilogy is the best one. However....it has been an exhausting road and unnecessarily long. I had troubles caring. There is more action in this one at the same time the green screen work is .....well not good or just used too much here.
I wouyld give this final chapter 3 out of 5 stars.
Now For Next Week....
AMERICAN ULTRA
Directed by Nima Nourizadeh
Screenplay by Max Landis
Starring Jesse Eisenberg; Kristen Stewart; Connie Britton; and Topher Grace
A stoner, Mike, (Eisenberg) who works at a convenience store, comes to finds he is also a goverment agent. He also finds out he is marked as a liability. So Mike and his girlfriend, Phoebe (Stewart), together, they try to find a way out of this confusing mess.
American Ultra is not a very good film.
There are many problems with this film and it starts with the trailer. All the funny parts that are in the trailer are the only funny parts in the film. In fact the film has a bit of sadness to it, when we see the way Eisenberg's character fights anxiety attacks and is manipulated by the government. The trailer does not show the violence in the film. Without a doubt one of the most violent films of the year. The strange thing is the violence is toward soldiers that are not bad guys but just doing what they are asked and trained to do, so then you end up feeling bad for them also.
Screenplay. You get the feeling by watching this that they had maybe the first 15 minutes on paper and just made the rest up as they went on. The film just seems messy with revelations that make no sense and, most important, I have no idea still why they wanted Eisenberg's character eliminated.
Casting. Topher Grace's was not believable at all. It almost became silly and annoying. Connie Britton's character was not fleshed out at all. She was just there as almost a mouthpiece. So her talents are wasted.
What worked? The chemistry between Eisenberg and Stewart was fantastic and lovely. However even there, they separated about 45 minutes into the film and at that point the film swirls further down into the toilet.
2 out of 5 stars for this disappointment. After watching the trailer I expected it to be much better.
SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE
Directed and Screenplay by Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
Starring Well: Shaun Who Is A Sheep
Shaun the sheep is tired of doing the same work at the farm everyday. He decides to take a day off. In order to do that, he needs to make sure the farmer doesn't know. When more happens than they can handle, the sheep find their way in the big city. Now they need to get back to the farm.
SHAUN THE SHEEP IS ON THE LAMB. I just love that tag line!!!
Well, Inside Out has some Oscar competition.
It is laugh out loud funny in some parts, highlighted by an operating room scene and a jail scene.
That is all they want is to have a day off and it back fires!!!!
It is a silent film with no talking and it makes me wonder if kids will appreciate it. I think it may have enough action to keep them interested. However, like Inside Out, adults may get more jokes here than the children watching. The screenplay is well done.
Negatives: Well, I always think the Wallace And Gromits and Shaun The Sheeps are better in small doses. This film runs about 85 minutes and it still seems a little long.
Well, still, 4 stars out of 5 for Shaun The Sheep. Stay through the credits. Plus, love Shaun The Sheep song by Mark Thomas, it could be Oscar worthy. Also read the last bunch of lines of the credits...it made me laugh.
NO ESCAPE
Directed by John Erick Dowdle
Screenplay by John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle
Starring: Owen Wilson; Lake Bell; and Pierce Brosnan
In their new overseas home, an American couple (Bell and Wilson) soon finds themselves and daughters caught in the middle of a coup, and they frantically look for a safe escape in an environment where foreigners are being immediately executed.
First I will get this out of the way!! I read in a couple of reviews out there that this film is racist!! What? It makes me sad when the PC police reach into entertainment and make remarks that are untrue to fill their agenda. This is a story of a family...outside of their element..trying to escape and get the heck out. It has been criticized because it only shows the struggle of this white family...not the people living there in their native country!! Well!!!!! That is not what this film is about!!!!!!!! If you want to make a film about what countrymen or women do when there is a coup...well make it. Oh wait a minute Hotel Rwanda showed both sides and how it is ugly. Here you just see a little bit of the slaughter of the locals caused by the uprising. And ...that is enough for me. The PC police made the same remarks about the great film The Impossible. Again if you want to make a film about the locals and the tsunami and the rebuild...go for it. However that film was about a family and their true story of escape (In fact that story showed the kindness of the locals). The odd thing about what the PC police wanted in this was a film about locals hiding. They don't plan on running away to their country because they are living there!!!! So you want a hiding movie...sounds exciting...not.
Now to this film. It is an okay movie.
Wilson is very good playing the brave everyman...family man. Bell, one of the most underrated actresses working today (and a very good writer), is perfect as the mother who really did no want any parts of this move.
The movie is exciting from the get go I mean they check in and crap hits the fan!! The film wastes no time.
The negatives:
Pierce Bronson is really good here and funny. However the trailer is deceiving and so are the posters. Bronson is only in the film for 10 minutes!! When he is not on the screen you miss him because his character brings personality to the film.
The couple's children may be the most annoying children in film this year. I will not say more because it would be mean but ....ugh!!
The film become almost tedious. It is dark so you can't really see the difference of where they move from point to point, and after awhile it gets boring, and you just want them to make a big move and go and end the film. The 103 minutes film felt real long.
And finally!! The director/screenwriter never telling us where they are!! What country?? PC again??
3 stars for this film out of 5.
RICKI AND THE FLASH
Directed by Jonathan Demme
Screenwriter Diablo Cody
Starring Meryl Steep; Kevin Kline; Rick Springfield; and Mamie Gummer
A musician, Streep) who gave up everything for her dream of rock-and-roll stardom returns home, when her daughter is going through a tough time..
Meryl Streep. I know it is Streep!! So miscast.
Diablo Cody. I know it is Diablo!! How did she write something so bad and corny. It is missing Diablo's quickness and her bite.
They try to throw an umbrella around this thought process of...if a man (Jagger) can leave his family to pursue a music career? What can't a woman? No!!!!! You can do both!!!!! Jagger was successful over a long period of time. Ricki was literally a flash in the pan. There is no reason she cannot do both. And it does not make Jagger right either he can do both. UGH!!!!!!! Look up Pat Benatar!! Carole King!!! They did both!!!
There is a break up, played by Streep's real life daughter Mamie, she was unpleasant.
Streep as Ricki was unpleasant and cannot sing and it was hard to watch.
In fact other than Kline everybody in Ricki's family is unpleasant.
The only good thing to watch is Rick Springfield and I don't get his characters attraction to Ricki and they had absolutely no chemistry.
Then throw in a corny awful ending, involving a wedding.
This film is bad.
1 star out of 5 for Ricki And The Flash. It was really unpleasant from the bad singing to the characters.
First some notes. I will not be blogging next week during the holiday week. There will be no review of the new Hunger Games this week because I have a close friend who wants to see it with me next week so I will be pushing it back one week. Lets face it....no matter what me or critics say...people are still going to go. So after Thanksgiving look for a flood of reviews showing up on this blog.
Well this is the Monday recommended of a film that may have passed you by. I am going with a Thanksgiving theme here and recommending:
PIECES OF APRIL
Directed by Peter Hedges
Screenplay by Peter Hedges
Starring: Katie Holmes; Oliver Platt; Patricia Clarkson; Derek Luke; and Alison Pill
A nervous daughter April (Holmes) invites her dying mother (Clarkson) and the rest of her estranged family to her apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.
Back before there was a Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes, you may forget there was a Katie Holmes the actress. She was and still is a very good actress. Here she is awesome as the daughter cooking her first Thanksgiving dinner for her family in New York City.
We see Holmes go from one nightmare scenario to another while cooking this meal. You fall in love with her and want sooooo bad for her meal to turn out well.
We also see the family coming from Pennsylvania to New York City for said meal. They are miserable and are not excited at all by the trip or for the coming meal. Throw in the fact that Clarkson as mom has cancer and is keeping everybody on edge with her narcissistic behavior. She received an Oscar Nomination for this role.
There is also another storyline that is enjoyable. April's relationship with her boyfriend Bobby played by Derek Luke. They have fantastic chemistry and are fun to watch.
This film may sound miserable but I promise you it is funny and sad and loving. It is Thanksgiving.
4 1/2 stars out of 5 for Pieces Of April. I think Holmes should have also received a nomination for this film.
Pieces Of April is available for rent from Netflix.
Directed by Jessie Nelson
Screenplay by Steven Rogers
Starring Diane Keaton and John Goodman
When four generations of the Cooper clan come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday.
Well I was able to go to a screening of Love The Coopers. So thank you Gofo for sending me a pass.
There is a lot going on in this film, so I will break it down for you.
Hank Cooper (Ed Helms) and Angie ( Alex Borstein), are divorced. Hank is soft and struggling to find work. While Angie is on him about being soft. Not an interesting story and kind of negative.
Charlotte and Sam Cooper are the parents of the family who are trying to get through one last Christmas then they are getting divorced. It seemed unrealistic and a downer.
Charlie Cooper (Timothee' Chalamet) is in love with Lauren (Molly Gordon). They are both teenagers and this part was likable and funny. However in the end it is oddly corny. I like corny but it was more odd.
Ruby (Amanda Seyfried) is a waitress and has a regular customer Bucky (Alan Arkin). They are more like dad and daughter. This worked, however the ending of their storyline fell flat.
Emma (Marisa Tomei), sister of Charlotte, is arrested for shop lifting. We see her drive around in the squad car with Officer Williams (Anthony Mackie). Even though they are both very good actors this story was not needed and could have been left on the floor.
Eleanor Cooper (Olivia Wilde) is just hanging out in the airport stalling so she will not have to visit family. There she meets up with Joe (Jake Lacy) and they have kind of have a Before Sunrise relationship. This was very intriguing and enjoyable to watch, until you start to realize that Eleanor is not just funny/smartass, but she is an asshole and you then want Joe to run away quick.
At the end the stories get wrapped up into one big Christmas Bow. However I do not know how it got from sadness in point A to hugs in Point B. It was like the screenwriter tried to push...this will be a happy ending dammit if it kills me!!
The film tries desperately to be Love Actually....there is just too much of an umbrella of sadness to enjoy, like we all enjoyed Love Actually. Yes Love Actually had sad parts but it also had joy and hope. This kind of lacked that. 2 1/2 stars...mainly for a couple story lines for Love The Coopers.
Okay I am a day late... know. I was at a screening of a film last night ...and that review is coming up. However I have I have the Finding Dory trailer.
FINDING DORY
Release Date June 17 2016
I thought the plot would be...Dory got lost. It looks like they are looking for Dory's parents. Interesting...but I am in anyway...I mean you have to get excited right when you heard that familiar score!! YAY!!
BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2
Release Date March 25 2016
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Yikes It looks stiff and contrived. Almost sad. I will go with a slight NAY!
HELLO MY NAME IS DORIS
Release Date March 11 2016
This could be real funny or real awkward!! I leaning toward both, and it looks different!!
Big YAY from me!!
