Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Tuesday's With Movies: 11/27/12

Men in Black 3: The first Men in Black film is a pretty underrated treasure. I think it sort of came out of nowhere when it was released - and pretty much supplanted Will Smith as an A-list movie star. The second film was not as great as the first, but was still enjoyable. I have seen (and own) the first two films, so of course I will be checking out the third.

Lawless: May be the last chance we get to check out Shia LaBeouf in a non-independent film. At least for a little while until he gets bored. Anyway, the cast alone has me intrigued and the film itself actually looks pretty decent, so yes I will watch this one.

Step Up Revolution: Never. Not once have I seen - even a glimpse - of any of these films. Not going to start now.

Apparition: So we have the girl from Twilight (Ashley Greene) and Draco from Harry Potter (Tom Felton) in a horror film together. Honestly, I would rather watch Twilight.

The Day: According to the film's synopsis, this film is in a post apocalyptic setting. A group of people find a farmhouse to hold up and soon find themselves fighting for their lives. Looks like a ton of people I know from past films, but not sure if I will check this one out or not.

Sparkle: The wife was interested in seeing this, so it will be here at some point. Not sure if it is one I will be checking out with her or not though.

Paranorman: One of the many Halloweenie-type kid's films that has been out lately (along with Hotel Transylvania and Frankenweenie). Probably give it a look, perhaps something the son will like. Plus, Anna Kendrick lends her voice to it - I should definitely lend my support.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

HOT: Ladykillers

I watched this movie a long time ago, when it first came out on DVD and I absolutely despised it - at least I think I did. But, either way I must not have enjoyed it - because this is the first time I tossed it in since that day.

Tom Hanks stars as Professor G.H. Dorr in The Ladyillers, which is based on a film and book from the 1950s.

Dorr finds a house in the south owned by Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall), who has lost her husband and spends most of her time talking to her dead husband's photo, knitting, going to church and complaining to the local sheriffs about anything and everything.

Dorr is looking for a room to rent while on sabbatical, and finds Munson's house with a sign in the window with a room available.

Dorr uses his charm and intellect to get in good with Munson and lies to her about his intentions on his sabbatical - to practice with his band in her root cellar. While his true intentions are to use her cellar as a way to tunnel into a nearby underground vault.

Four others are part of Dorr's 'band', Gawain MacSam (Marlon Wayans), Garth Pancake (J.K. Simmons), The General (Tzi Ma) and Lump Hudson (Ryan Hurst).

MacSam is the inside man. He works on the casino boat in which the vault is fed. Pancake is the explosives 'expert' with I.B.S. The General runs the show, while Lump is the muscle - pure dumb muscle.

Usually I like ensemble casts coming together for a heist, but something must have really turned me off the first time I watched this. A lot of that may have come from Hanks' character. He just didn't seem to fit into this era - he was Col. Sanders mixed with William Shakespeare and, despite being in the south, just felt like he was out place.

After rewatching it, I may have liked it a little more. Still not much for Hanks' character - who was still out of place, but of course he still rocked it - but I enjoyed the other cast members. Simmons was great and I liked The General as well. Wayans was of course a bit over the top - and I have liked Hurst since Remember the Titans, and he played dumb pretty well here.

Not an amazing film, but better than I originally thought. Could have been a whole lot better though, in my opinion. One of the bottom-tiered Hanks films.

Grade:

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Tuesday's With Movies: 11/20/12

Pretty slow week in terms of releases, just one major one that I could find.

Expendables 2: I was pretty excited to see the first film in this franchise. And, it was decent - but I haven't even thought of tossing it again to rewatch it. Maybe I should - because I am even more excited to check this one out. I am sure the inclusion of Van Damme and Norris, not to mention the expanded roles of Willis and Schwarzenegger, may have something to do with that. So, definitely looking forward to checking this one out.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

HOT: Polar Express

So, my Hanks-O-Thon hit a bit of a snag when this movie popped up. I love watching Christmas films, but even I couldn't fathom watching a Christmas movie before Halloween. So, there it sat for a good couple of months.

Well, it is still probably too early, but today I decided to toss in Polar Express. The movie is based on the children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg. Which is interesting because the book itself is actually very short. But, they were able turn the short book into a 100 minute film - and it pretty much worked.

Tom Hanks plays, well, he plays pretty much everyone. In fact, I just discovered that he actually played the young child in the movie - whose name is actually never said, but is called Hero Boy. This was a surprise to me, because in all of the other voices (Santa Claus, Father, Conductor and the Hobo) you can actually hear Hanks' voice.

Anyway, Hero Boy is getting to that age where he is just not sure that Santa Claus is real anymore and the magic of Christmas may have slowly started to fade away. Well, Christmas Eve night a train pulls up in front of his house and offers to take him to the North Pole. At first he hesitates, but curiosity gets the best of him and he decides to jump on board.

The ride to the North Pole is pretty wondrous, full of singing, dancing and hot chocolate. But, as Hero Girl (Nona Gaye) forgets her ticket and Hero Boy tries to return it - he drops it. And the adventure begins as he tries to get her ticket and return it to her. Also where he meets the mysterious Hobo on top of the train.

As he gets to the North Pole with the rest of the kids, he joins Hero Girl and Billy (Peter Scolari) in getting stuck inside the elves' workshop - and eventually getting trapped inside the bag of presents.

But, as Santa presents himself - it is Hero Boy who is selected to receive the first present. At first he was unable to hear the jingle of the bells, but as he begins to believe again he is able to hear the marvelous noise.

Not a bad rewrite/extension of an outstanding children's book. To extend the source material to full-length feature was a great accomplishment.

My only knock on the film is how it looks. I just do not like the look of this animation - and to know how far we have come just makes it look even worse. Which is too bad because the film itself is actually pretty good - and excellent for a Christmas movie.

Grade:

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Tuesday's With Movies: 11/13/12

Brave: Did you think I wouldn't rush out and check out a Pixar film in the theater? Here is my review from back then. Definitely looking forward to checking it out again. I really liked what was the first Pixar film to feature a female lead. It looked amazing, as always, and I thought the heart and humor remained top-notch as well.

Savages: Taylor Kitsch had himself a difficult summer. I don't think he originally thought when he had three major blockbusters coming out in the same summer that it would go like it did. Savages was the third of the three to be released - after John Carter and Battleship - and it actually made some money during its release (not much, but it did). I also think it was the movie I wanted to check out the most - though I will eventually check out Battleship as well (not sure I will John Carter).

The Watch: Well, this movie had its ups and downs when it was being released. Originally entitled Neighborhood Watch the film's marketing took a huge hit during the Trayvon Martin case, and it was forced to change. Basically it was just horrific timing for the movie to be coming out and I am sure it not only hurt its box office take, but possibly swayed some reviews as well. I plan on giving it a look.