7/50x2: Smokin' Aces

I first wanted to see this film when it was in theaters. There was just something about the trailer that drew me in, perhaps it was that it starred a bunch of well-known actors, or because it looked like an action film on steroids. Either way, I wasn't able to check it out in the theaters. Then, I waited patiently for it to come via Netflix - and the disc wouldn't play in my player.

So, almost five years later I finally got see Smokin' Aces. And although it was a decent flick, it wasn't something I needed to wait five years to see.

Buddy 'Aces' Israel (Jeremy Piven) is a magician in Vegas, but also has his webs inside the mob somehow - which has made him filthy rich.

Well, in order to save his own ass he has agreed to turn over evidence against the mob - which makes him the No. 1 target for Primo Sparazza - so the FBI, believing Sparazza will go after Israel - use him to bring the entire operation down.

But, there is a huge hit out on Israel and every hit man (and woman) in the Vegas area are out to collect on the hit and take down Israel.

So, here is a bit of a rundown of those targeting Israel. Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan), a master of disguise. Sharice Watters (Taraji P. Henson) and Georgia Sykes (Alicia Keys), a team of hitwomen, Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell) a torture expert, and the Tremor brothers, Darwin (Chris Pine), Jeeves (Kevin Durand) and Lester (Maury Sterling).

Oh, and a trio of bail bondsman, Jack (Ben Affleck), Pete (Peter Berg) and Hollis (Martin Henderson), who have been hired to bring Israel back into custody.

And finally, he is being protected by the FBI team of Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia), Richard (Ryan Reynolds) and Donald (Ray Liotta).

Talk about a bunch of heavy-hitters. And not to ruin anything, but a lot of the names above have a brief cameo or very little screen time at all.

The best part of this film has to be the Tremor brothers. They are insane and truly funny. Plus, I liked the relationship between Reynolds and Liotta, very father, son like.

There was at on of action, which I liked - but it wasn't an amazing film. It was just a decent, fun watch.

Grade:

1/50x2: The Town

History is sometimes bound to repeat itself.

In the case of Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), it begins to mirror that of his father, Stephen (Chris Cooper) in the Affleck directed The Town.

Doug is a crook, like his father before him, but so far Doug has been one step ahead of the law, unlike his father, who is now serving life in prison.

Doug isn't alone, he has a trio of good friends that help him out, including his best friend James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner). Doug is the brains of the operation, he strategically maps out the perfect heists as to not get hurt and not get caught.

During one such heist, James takes the bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) as a hostage, only to release her once they are far enough away. However, James becomes paranoid that Claire may know something and could turn them in, so Doug 'runs into her' to find out the truth.

Well, one thing leads to another and all of a sudden Claire and Doug are falling for each other - talk about a perfect couple?

James, who has been to jail before, finds out and he becomes increasingly unstable - forcing Doug to do a heist even though it isn't foolproof.

All the while, Det. Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) believes that he has figured out that Doug's gang was behind the robberies in town, but he needed the evidence to arrest them.

Behind these worker bees is a mastermind, the florist Fergie Colm (Pete Postlethwaite). When Doug confronts him about getting out, Fergie threatens to hurt those he loves.

The final heist is to rob a sacred Boston landmark, Fenway Park. As they prepare, James tells Doug that he has no plans of going to jail - if things go wrong he plans on having a shootout.

The film also stars Blake Lively as Krista Coughlin, who while watching the film doesn't really have much going on, except being a junkie. However, she becomes more and more important as the film roles on.

I thought this was a good way to start my second 50 films list. A great heist movie (although I would have liked a few more heists). But, the overall story was just as good as the heists. I am not sure the hatred for Affleck - sure he has had some missteps, but as of late he has truly done very well for himself. Here he shines as well.

Grade:

Extract

I had been looking forward to seeing what Mike Judge's new full-length feature had to offer. Office Space, and to a lesser extent Idiocracy, have both become cult classics in the DVD-world.

I am a huge fan of Office Space and I enjoy Idiocracy on occasion, so I had to love Extract as well, right?

Well, I did not.

Extract was just not funny at all. I watched the entire film without once laughing, and that is hard for me to do. This film should have been hilarious, it starred Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons, David Koechner and Kristen Wiig - but the so-called comedy actually came out of Ben Affleck, who played Bateman's hippie best friend.

Let's get into the movie. Cindy (Mila Kunis) is a con-artist/thief. She uses her looks to get in with men in order to get a huge pay day. Lucky for her, Step (Clifton Collins, Jr.) has just lost his testicle in an accident at Russel's Extract plant. Joel (Bateman) is the owner of the plant, and Step has already agreed to take the insurance money due to his injury - until Cindy gets involved.

Joel is having his own issues at home. His wife, Suzie (Wiig), hasn't given him anything in months. He tries his hardest to get home before 8 p.m. because once Suzie gets the sweatpants on, they are not coming off.

He first believes that Cindy is flirting with him, and starts to contemplate cheating on his wife. But, being the nice guy that he is, he can't get himself to do it. But his buddy, Dean (Affleck), gets Joel to hire a male prostitute to seduce his wife and see if she would cheat on him - therefore opening the doors for him to cheat on her.

There are just too many stories going on at the same time in this film that only runs just over 90 minutes. It almost feels like two films at once. Plus, too many funny people are just wasted in the film - Simmons and Wiig are way funnier than either of them were able to be.

Overall, I was just not pleased with the overall film. It wanted to do more than it should have, and went in too many directions with the plot. Focusing on one or the other may have given the plot more of a purpose and allow Judge to sprinkle in many more jokes that were just lacking in the final product.

Grade:

Good Will Hunting

I had yet another math movie problem to solve, this time with the film Good Will Hunting. I have to admit it had been years since I had seen this film, but it was a welcomed surprise.

The movie is very well done - math aside - as Will (Matt Damon) is down a very bad path despite being truly gifted in mathematics, as well as other areas of study. Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) notices his gift and quickly tries to get Will help so that someday he can help the world with his solving of complex mathematic problems.

The issue, however, is that Will is extremely troubled. He won't let anyone in all of the way, and if anyone gets too close to him he pushes them away or does something to get rid of them. The only people he really trusts are his friends Chuckie (Ben Affleck), Morgan (Casey Affleck) and Billy (Cole Hauser) and that's because they don't ask too many questions and would do anything that he asks.

After multiple psychiatrists, Will finally was handed over to Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) an old roommate of Lambeau. For some strange reason, Maguire was able to handle what Will tossed at him - and he went at his own pace letting Will control the process.

Finally, Sean was able to get through to Will - which was ab absolutely mesmorizing scene.

Both Damon and Affleck were superb in their roles as well as Minnie Driver's Skylar.

But, the person that truly stuck out in this film is Robin Williams. It was an amazing performance, one that even landed him a best supporting Oscar.

It got me thinking about comedic actors turning dramatic - which not many are able to do. But a few stuck out to me:

I just watched Adam Sandler in Reign Over Me, which to me may be his best work to date. He was amazing in that film, and I feel may have been looked over for an award as well.

We can't forget Jim Carrey in The Truman Show or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind even though he didn't go fully dramatic - but it also wasn't full on comedy, there was a lot of emotion in his performances.

One I haven't seen yet, but heard is a good role for him was Will Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction.

I am sure there are more out there, but these stuck out to me. When you think of their names you automatically think comedy - but they also appear to have the acting chops to play dramatic as well.

As for the grade for the film. It has been pointed out to me that I may have been giving some of my former movies a lower grade than I should have. For some reason I was unable to give any movie an excellent grade when really it should, because the next step up is best of the best. So, I will try to be more giving in my grades - starting now.

Grade: