Tuesday's With Movies: 9/11/12

Snow White and the Huntsman: I don't hate Kristen Stewart as much as everyone else - yes I do hate on Twilight, but that is the whole thing not just her performance. When we were to receive the double-dose of Snow White films this year (Mirror Mirror also) this is the one that I wanted to see, it just looked more fun.

What to Expect When You're Expecting: Probably another horrible chick flick with a happy ending, but I will most likely check it out with Mrs. Kano in the near future.

Girl in Progress: I heard about this one awhile back and put it in my Netflix queue, then I really didn't hear anything else about it upon its release and now its release on DVD. Looked decent enough to me to at least check out.

HOT: Toy Story 2

It's really tough to understand the full quality of this film without knowing how it actually came together. Luckily you can check that out in the documentary, A Pixar Story.

Toy Story 2 was rushed into production and then totally reshaped not long before it was set to be released. Thanks to John Lasseter the film came out much better than originally planned.

As the first film was focused more on Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), this one goes a little deeper into Woody's (Tom Hanks) background. As Andy (John Morris) gets ready for cowboy camp, Woody is excited that he gets to spend time alone with his best friend. But, right before he's about to leave Andy plays one last time and ends up tearing Woody's arm - and decides to leave him behind.

Woody sits on a shelf and finds Wheezy (Joe Ranft), who was put on the shelf when he lost his squeaker with hopes of getting one replaced. Andy's mother comes and picks through Andy's room for stuff to get rid of in a yard sale. As Wheezy is selected, Woody goes on a rescue mission to save him from the yard sale. While on the mission, he gets discovered by Al (Wayne Knight) who owns Al's Toy Barn - and eventually gets stolen by him.

Woody is taken to Al's apartment and learns that he was once a a children's television show with his own Roundup Gang - that featured Jessie (Joan Cusack), Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammer) and his horse Bullseye.

Al has already agreed to ship the entire collection to a toy museum in Tokyo as soon as he finds the Woody doll to go with it.

Buzz, meanwhile, puts together his own rescue mission with Rex (Wallace Shawn), Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), Slinky Dog (Jim Varney) and Hamm (John Ratzenberger) to get Woody back from Al and return him to Andy.

Toy Story 2 is another great film from Pixar, but it's probably the weakest of the Toy Story films - but it's still one hell of a flick.

The introduction of Jessie was great, and her backstory was heartbreaking. And the silent partner Bullseye was also a great addition. Stinky Pete turned out to be a pretty decent villain as well - sort of semi-partnered with Al.

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HOT: The Green Mile

The posting of this review comes at an unfortunate time. I am (again) still catching up on reviews of movies I have watched awhile ago. This comes just days after the death of its star Michael Clarke Duncan of a heart problem. I always enjoyed Duncan in many of his roles - this one probably being his best - and always wondered why he wasn't in more mainstream films.

Anyway, back to the movie. You will be missed Mr. Duncan.

I believe in my life I have only watched two films that were adapted from Stephen King's writing - The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile (but, I will be watching Stand By Me soon).

Here, Tom Hanks stars as Paul Edgecomb, a death row prison guard during the Great Depression. Edgecomb works with Brutus Howell (David Morse), Dean Stanton (Barry Pepper), Harry Terwilliger (Jeffrey DeMunn) and newcomer Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison).

Percy is an issue in the prison - but he also just so happens to be related to the warden Hall Moores (James Cromwell), so the rest of the men just have to put up with him.

Edgecomb also happens to be dealing with one of the worst urinary tract infections I have seen - and has difficulty using the rest room, walking sometimes and in the boudoir with his wife Jan (Bonnie Hunt).

One day a prisoner arrives to the 'Mile', which they call it. A prisoner named John Coffey (Duncan) who is convicted of killing a pair of young girls. He joins two men already on death row, Eduard Delacroix (Michael Jeter) and Arlen Bitterbuck (Graham Greene).

After the death of Bitterbuck, the Mile gets another member 'Wild Bill' Wharton (Sam Rockwell). Wharton is one of the worst criminals - and really stirs things up on the Mile.

The guards begin to realize that Coffey may be a bit different than other prisoners - and not just because he stands almost a foot taller than the rest. Edgecomb even begins to develop a relationship with Coffey and begins to think he didn't commit the crimes he is being charged with.

After Eduard's circus mouse is killed by Percy, Coffey shows his first miracle - bringing the mouse back to life. Standing amazed, the guards truly believe Coffey is something special - and begin to feel horrible that they will have to put him to death.

The film is marvelous to look at. You get the feeling by how the film looks just how it felt to be working on the Mile. Constantly sweating - much like in A Time to Kill - it was used very well.

The acting is top-notch. Hanks and Duncan are the standouts, but Cromwell, Morse and Pepper also give memorable performances. Hutchison, who is seriously despised in this role, does a great job to make us hate him. Finally, Jeter and Rockwell were just amazing in their roles as criminals. Rockwell really went over the edge as 'Wild Bill'.

This is one of those films that is great, but hard to watch except every so often. It's long and you begin to feel for these characters, especially Coffey, that it's hard to take on repeat viewings.

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Tuesday's With Movies: 9/4/12

Safe: Every so often you just like to watch a film where people kick ass - and Jason Statham apparently is the new ass kicker of this decade. I kept thinking the Rock would take over what Schwarzenegger and Stallone did so well in the '80s, but Statham seems to have taken the torch - so much so that he is even Stallone's right-hand man in The Expendables.

Piranha 3DD: The horror film of the week - apparently this bombed pretty hard. Not that it matters to me I wouldn't be watching it anyway. But, I just found out it was directed by John Gulager, who won in the show Project Greenlight, so I guess it is still sort of cool that he is still working.

The Five-Year Engagement: Jason Segel has been on a pretty decent role of late, plus Emily Blunt seems to be a pretty talented actress as well. Plus, this looks like it might be pretty funny - so yes I will be checking it out.

Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day: I have no idea what this movie is or what it is about. Doesn't look like anything that would interest me though. So, skipped.

Theater Review: The Dark Knight Rises

I had heard a few times that Christopher Nolan was apprehensive about doing a third Batman film and I couldn't understand why. But, after seeing the film I can sort of see why he was - no matter what he put out it was always going to be compared to The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight Rises also had another superhero film to contend with this summer that I am sure it was expecting to contend with when it was first announced - The Avengers. It's sort of odd to compare them as they are on two totally different spectrums - but you sort of have to.

Although I feel The Dark Knight Rises is the superior film, I would have to say I will probably watch The Avengers far more. It is just a more fun film - sort of like how Saving Private Ryan is a hell of a film, but I cannot watch it all of the time.

What The Dark Knight Rises was also up against was the amazing performance given by Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight. No matter how great a villain that Nolan could cook up for the third film - no way was it going to live up to Ledger's performance.

Anyway, the final film picks up about eight years after Batman (Christian Bale) took the blame for killing Harvey 'Two-Face' Dent. All of the years as Batman has also taken a bit of a toll on Bruce Wayne - and as he stays hidden in his mansion he limps around from room-to-room.

As the guilt begins to tear at Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), he is captured and brought to the new villain that has risen under the streets of Gotham, Bane (Tom Hardy). Gordon is shot, but manages to escape  despite losing a letter he had written with the truth about Dent.

Police officer John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) finds Gordon at the end of a tunnel and gets him to the hospital for treatment. Because of his detective work, Gordon promotes Blake and tells him to answer directly to him.

Blake was also once an orphan who looked up to Wayne because of all the donations the Wayne family gave to the orphanage - but he also somehow knows Wayne's true identity and tells him the city needs him to resurface.

Batman finds a local cat burglar, Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), to help lead him to Bane. Kyle uses the opportunity to get a program that can help erase her identity from all databases on the planet - and free her from her thieving ways.

Kyle, however, turns on Batman and turns him over to Bane in order stay alive - and Bane breaks Batman's back and leaves him in a prison in the middle of nowhere - the only way out is to climb out.

As Bane holds the city hostage with a nuclear weapon, he promises to finish what Ra's al Ghul started and destroy Gotham. With Batman out of commission, Gordon and Blake are all that is left to help save the city.

First off, my description above doesn't give the film justice. There was so much going on and all of it was so interesting and fit the story so well - just amazing story telling.

The film returns Bale, Michael Cane, Morgan Freeman, Oldman and another special guest that have been in all three movies and they continue to shine here. Newcomers Hardy, Hathaway and Gordon-Levitt were the main stars in this film and they were amazing.

Hardy was a great villain, and won't get the acclaims that Ledger did, but he held up this movie just fine as the villain. Sure, he wasn't the Joker, but Bane was ruthless and a great equal to Batman. Hathaway was simply amazing as Catwoman - I was a bit skeptical when I first heard she had signed on, but she played both sides of the fence to perfection - and wow did she look good. Finally, Gordon-Levitt - I can't really say much else about him, he has really become one of the best actors working today and here it was no different. So talented and he really shined in this film - even if he was just a cop.

Go see this movie - I am sure you already have. It is a great finale to Nolan's trilogy. I look forward to seeing it again.

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