31/50: Red

This movie sort of got lost in the wind. I found myself counting the rest of the films I had left on my 50 list and I was coming up one short. I had to go back through and figure out what was missing - and sure enough I had forgotten to put down this film.

So, here is the missing film that I watched a good while ago.

Red is a film that follows a quartet of retired CIA agents that are brought back together to after Frank (Bruce Willis) is attacked in his house.

After realizing that the assailants have tapped his phone, he heads to Kansas City to find the only person he has been talking to, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) in fear that they would go after her to find him.

To help him along the way, he joins up with his former CIA team of Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) to help him track down who is after him and why.

This film had a lot of great action and plenty of small jokes. Malkovich was way over the top which is the way I like my Malkovich. Freeman wasn't in the film as much as I would have liked - and he was outstanding as well.

I won't go into the entire story as it might ruin what the film was about. I had heard that this film was outstanding, but I was a bit underwhelmed - however, it was a decent watch, just not outstanding.

Grade:

Weeds: Season 1

I had recently been thinking about what exactly I am going to watch during the summer months on television.

Most of the television series that we watch are currently on summer hiatus. One of my favorite summer shows, Entourage, was pushed to September due to the writer's strike.

So, I started looking around to see what shows are being broadcast during the summer months that I might be interested in. There was a list of five possibilities, but one really jumped out at me. I had never watched it before, but had heard it was rather good: Weeds.

Weeds stars Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin. Season Four is due to start on Showtime (or has started already) and I had not seen any of the seasons. Lucky for me, Netflix currently has season 1 and 2 on Watch It Now.

So, I have just finished season 1. Nancy is a mother of two sons, who had just lost her husband to a heart attack. In order to continue their current lifestyle, Nancy must find work. She was referred to by her brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk) to a friend of his named Conrad (Romany Malco).

Conrad and his family are drug dealers, who help Nancy get started in the pot dealing business. Although, extremely green, Nancy begins dealing to a lot of the high-class citizens in her neighborhood, especially her CPA Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon) and her best friend's husband Dean (Andy Milder).

The whole first season is about Nancy growing as a dealer and learning the ropes thanks to help from Conrad. It also shows her downfalls of trying to support a family, who have issues dealing with their father's death, while also learning her new career.

Parker, although I have never really noticed her before as an actress, is pretty good in the lead role. You sort of get right away that she is in over head, but must do what she can to get money for her family.

The greatest character on the show is Nealon. He is absolutely perfect in the stoner role, and his comic timing is brilliant. It's a lot like Happy Gilmore Nealon.

I am hoping to get caught up on this series so that I can watch at least most of season 4 while it is on this season. I really enjoyed the first season, although it isn't Entourage, I am definitely intrigued to see where things can go during season 2.

Grade: