50x3: Sunshine Cleaning (A-1)

The first movie that was selected for me came from Aimee's list. A movie I had been wanting to see for awhile now and finally got a chance to see.

Sunshine Cleaning stars two ladies that I have really started to enjoy, Amy Adams as Rose and Emily Blunt as Norah.

The pair are both sisters in what appears to be a small town. Rose was a popular high school student, the head cheerleader who was dating the popular bot in school.

Her present, however, is not as spectacular as her past. Rose is struggling to make ends meet as a cleaner with a son, Oscar (Jason Spevack). She is also still pretty much in love with her former boyfriend from high school, Mac (Steve Zahn), who just happens to be married with a daughter.

But, they still seem to plan weekly meetings at a local motel.

Rose and Norah lost their mother at an early age when she took her own life. Rose, the elder sister, sort of began the motherly role towards Norah. Especially since their father, Joe (Alan Arkin), though loving is also struggling with odd things he is looking to sell to get rich quick.

Mac, who is a cop, over hears how much a crime scene cleanup crew charges and passes that on to Rose. Rose has been looking to become a real-estate agent, but it is taking much longer than she is expecting. Once Oscar is kicked out of school and she must send him to a private school, she takes Mac's plan and begins cleaning up crime scenes with her sister.

While shopping for supplies she meets Winston (Clifton Collins Jr.), who becomes a bit of a mentor to her as she really has no idea what she is doing, or what she needs to have to complete these jobs.

Though it is buried throughout, the underlying theme of the film is family. Rose has also felt she needs to take care of her sister, especially after their mother's death. Norah, who is still hurting from her mother's death, has some issues that she begins to work through - and realizes she needs to step out on her own away from Rose.

Finally, Rose begins to realize that she needs to stop living in the past and begin planning for her future, which means leaving everything else behind from her past.

Very enjoyable film. As I said, Adams and Blunt are very talented and I have really started to enjoy their work from the new things I have seen. I also love how well the English Blunt is able to speak Americanized - I just think it is so cool.

Plus another subtle yet solid performance from Collins Jr. He has been acting for a good while now, but I didn't become really aware of him until Star Trek. And here he played off Adams very well.

A good start to the new list, looking forward to the rest.

Grade:

HOT: You've Got Mail

So, this movie is a remake of a film called The Shop Around the Corner, which I have not seen but the title of that film is used nicely here as a store.

You've Got Mail is the final of three films (so far) that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks star in together, previously starring in Joe vs. the Volcano and Sleepless in Seattle. Here, I feel they were going to the Sleepless in Seattle well yet again - but with a little more comedy this time around.

Ryan stars as Kathleen Kelly, the owner of a small bookstore called The Shop Around the Corner. It was her mother's and she inherited it when her mother passed away. It has what all of the superstores tend to lack - a face and a heart.

Hanks stars as Joe Fox, who is part owner of Fox Books with his father and grandfather - which just so happens to be a book superstore. One, that slowly is taking out the other local bookstores just by being built. Kelly's store is one of the last to go under.

So, it goes without saying that Kelly hates Fox without really getting to know him.

That is where things sort of get twisted. Fox is currently seeing Patricia Eden (Parker Posey), while Kelly is in a long-term relationship with Frank Navasky (Greg Kinnear). However, both Kelly and Fox have found a friend online that they enjoy chatting with.

This is where that updated version - is already sort of outdated. I am not sure how many people still use AOL out there, but I have not had it in years. Plus, not sure how many people are actually finding there soul mates in chat rooms (this could actually still be happening, but I am way out of the dating game so I am not sure). But, in the ever growing age of technology - the dial-up and iconic 'You've Got Mail' message have already gone the way of the dodo.

Anyway, their chatting at first is rather bland - just every day things and someone to rant to. Plus, they keep it anonymous - no names or jobs.

After the two of them break things off with their significant others, however, Fox asks to meet. And, he soon finds out that the person he has fallen in love with over the internet is in fact Kelly, the one woman who despises him.

With this knowledge, however, he stands her up and begins to make nice with her - he now knows who he is chatting to online, yet she is still clueless. And, he uses this to get her to fall in love with him - the real him, not the superstore guy that tanked her business.

Though it is already outdated for the most part, I actually liked this Ryan/Hanks feature the most out of all of them. I know a ton of people love Sleepless in Seattle, but I feel this one is the better of the two.

It also has a pretty solid cast with Dave Chappelle playing Kevin Jackson, Hanks' right-hand man; Dabney Coleman playing Hanks' father; Steve Zahn playing George Pappas, one of the workers in Kelly's bookstore

Again, already a pretty outdated movie in terms of technology - but a pretty fun rom-com if you ask me.

Grade:

HOT: That Thing You Do

So, I have seen this movie a ton of times. In fact, I got a copy of it on DVD a few year's ago. But, it's on television so much that I had never opened it.

Well, for the Hanks-O-Thon it was time to watch the DVD. And, to my surprise, there was a Director's Cut available - and since I had seen the original version so many times I figured I'd give it a shot.

There wasn't too much more in the director's cut of That Thing You Do. A lot of the extra scenes involved the characters and gave them some extra depth. But, there were some scenes that really opened my eyes to a character, something I never saw in the original.

Anyway, a quick rundown of the film. A small band in Erie, Pennsylvania is about to play at a local talent contest. Jimmy Mattingly (Johnathan Schaech), Lenny Haise (Steve Zahn), T.B. Player (Ethan Embree) and Chad (Giovanni Ribisi) make up the band. Mattingly's girlfriend Faye (Liv Tyler) is also prominently featured as part of the band, even though she doesn't sing.

A few days before the contest, Chad tries to jump over a parking meter and falls and breaks his arm. In a bind the group goes to Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott), a drummer who is being coached to take over his father's appliance store.

The song 'That Thing You Do' was written by Mattingly and was meant to be a ballad - but once Guy gets things rolling, the song becomes very upbeat and becomes a hit - and even nets them a job singing at a local restaurant.

After cutting an album on their own, the band is signed by a manager who promises to get their song on the radio and get them playing in larger cities - and he comes through. So much so that 'The Oneders' is soon signed by Playtone Records and Mr. White (Tom Hanks) - who changes their name to 'The Wonders'.

The song climbs the charts for months and the band plays state fairs with the rest of the Playtone galaxy. But, as things really begin to get good for the band - they also start to drift apart.

I really enjoy this movie. So simple, yet so fun.

The two main things in the director's cut that we get to see is Guy's girlfriend, Tina (Charlize Theron), fall in love with her dentist. In the original, we see her meet her dentist and see that there is something there - but here we see much more of the two of them interacting. The second thing we see - Mr. White is apparently gay. I never saw any really glimpse of this in the original, but there were a few scenes in the director's cut - including seeing his boyfriend, played by former NFL star Howie Long.

Doesn't change the movie all that much, but pretty interesting to see the whole picture now.

Hanks isn't in the movie a ton, more of a side character. The real star is Scott, Tyler and the other band members. But, his touches are all over it - including writing and directing it. Not to mention the slew of actors in bit parts throughout the movie from a lot of his other movies, including his wife, Rita Wilson.

Grade:

31/50x2: Rescue Dawn

When this film was first released I really wanted to see it. It was right around the time that Christian Bale was becoming (or cementing himself as) a pretty top-notch actor. Plus, for the most part, war films are usually done rather well.

Rescue Dawn stars Bale as Dieter Dengler, who is German-born but is a U.S. Navy pilot. During a mission his plane is shot down over Laos. He is captured, but given the opportunity to go free if he signs a document against the United States - he refuses so he is sent to a prisoner of war camp.

Here he meets a few other P.O.W.'s from around the world, including Americans Gene DeBruin (Jeremy Davies) and Duane W. Martin (Steve Zahn), who have been captive for a few years now - and so they are a bit stir crazy.

The camp is pretty strict with guards with guns walking around 24/7. At night the prisoners are even locked up by their hands and feet and forced to lay on the wooden floor of their "cell".

Immediately after being taken to the camp, Dengler begins his plans for escaping, despite the concerns of the other captives who have been beaten down both physically and mentally during their time at the camp. But, the others agree to help once Dengler comes up with a plan.

Possible Spoilers Ahead

Dengler and the others eventually do escape, but a few of the other captives don't follow Dengler's plans and thus both he and Martin are forced to trek though the jungle without any shoes because one of the men didn't grab some for them.

This is sort of where things get annoying for me. I was all ready for the small group of people that escaped to work their way through the jungle and to possible safety - with of course obstacles along the way - but they all split up and Dengler and Martin head of together without anyone else.

In fact, we never hear or see from any of the other characters at all, not even at the conclusion of the film. That irritated me. I wanted to know what happened to Davies' character. Did he make it? Was he killed or recaptured? But, we got nothing.

Then comes the strange occurrence at one of the villages that the pair we do get to follow come across. The two get on their knees in hopes that the villagers will see that they are not threatening and will offer them food and shelter. But, instead, one of the villagers chops off Martin's head. At first I thought this was all a dream or mirage that one the guys was thinking about. And I got even more confused when not much time later we actually see Martin walk up and sit down next to Dengler - but no, that was the actual mirage, the dude was killed, decapitated.

And, the decapitation looked horrible and fake.

As much as I would love to actually love this movie. As much as I enjoyed the acting and all of the main actors. I just could not get past some of these things at the end of the film. It's two hours long and almost immediately are dropped into this camp and get to know the prisoners there - but no closure is given on more than half of them. That truly bugged me.

Bale, Davies and Zahn gave top-notch performances, but the overall film left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I can't hate it completely, but it drops my grade because of it.

Grade: