Allen and Costner are flawless
NEW MOVIE OUT THIS WEEK
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
The Upside of Anger
Starring:Joan Allen Kevin Costner Erika Christensen Alicia Witt Keri Russell Evan Rachel Wood
Director: Mike Binder
*** Stars
Wake up screen actor’s guild, the ensemble-casting category already has a slot filled and its everyone in The Upside of Anger. But the main focus is the character of Joan Allen. Her role reminds us of Diane Keaton in Something's Gotta Give. But Allen is funnier, wittier, drunker, and more inspiring than any other actress I've seen all year.
After being abandoned by her husband, Terry Wolfmeyer finds her life changed when a once-great baseball star (Costner's best performance in years) steps in as her drinking buddy and becomes a member of her dysfunctional family.
Terry has four children and every single one has perfect dialogue, a perfect story and just the right amount screen time. Each character has distinguished qualities and bring true emotion to the dinner table.
But the real focus is on Costner and Allen.
Allen and Costner surprisingly, have one of the best on screen chemistries of the year.
Director: Mike Binder
*** Stars
Wake up screen actor’s guild, the ensemble-casting category already has a slot filled and its everyone in The Upside of Anger. But the main focus is the character of Joan Allen. Her role reminds us of Diane Keaton in Something's Gotta Give. But Allen is funnier, wittier, drunker, and more inspiring than any other actress I've seen all year.
After being abandoned by her husband, Terry Wolfmeyer finds her life changed when a once-great baseball star (Costner's best performance in years) steps in as her drinking buddy and becomes a member of her dysfunctional family.
Terry has four children and every single one has perfect dialogue, a perfect story and just the right amount screen time. Each character has distinguished qualities and bring true emotion to the dinner table.
But the real focus is on Costner and Allen.
Allen and Costner surprisingly, have one of the best on screen chemistries of the year.
Fever Pitch
Starring:Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon
Directed by:Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
*** Stars
Based on the novel by Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch is an easily lovable and enjoyable movie. It shows the love, support, and the devastation and horror of being a true Boston Red Sox fan.
First, we meet Ben Wrightman, a man who sums up his life in this order, Red Sox, Sex, and Breathing. So you know there's bound to be controversy when he meets Lindsay Meeks, successful and attractive and on the brink of her career. But he meets him in the winter. This winter guy will take care of her when she’s sick and will do anything for her. But right when the season starts he turns into something more than just a fan, it's an obsession.
You get the idea of what happens. There's fights and depression during the season because of the struggles with the Sox and Lindsay and Ben. Instead of going to a romantic trip to Paris with Lindsay, Ben decides to stay and watch the games and this escalades into the big conflict.
The ending is obvious. The Sox win...finally. After 86 years, the heartbreak, depression, embarrassment, and catastrophes of the Boston Red Sox end. The curse of the bambino is over (The curse goes back to the beginning of the 1919 season where the owner of the Red Sox traded the best player in baseball Babe Ruth, to build a musical theater).
The film is also perfectly cast. Fallon doesn't over do it. He gives a solid performance and perfectly captures what it's like to be a sox fan. Barrymore also stands tall. She doesn't try to be the heart of the film because that's Fallon's job. She plays her part with perfect emotion.
The movie has humor when it needs humor, there's romance when it needs romance, and there's Red Sox when it needs it. The Farrelly brothers give a perfect balance of baseball and romance and I loved every minute of it.
Hostage
Starring:
Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Jimmy Bennett, Jimmy Pinchak, Jonathan Tucker
Directed by: Florent Emilio Siri
**1/2 Stars
In the beginning of the movie, Jeff Talley (Willis) is negotiating to a criminal who is holding a family hostage. Sadly to say, he fails to save all their lives. Years later he finds himself in the same situation only this time the consequences of failure could mean the termination of his own family.
The question that the movie "Hostage" is asking you is the simple. Would you risk the lives of another family to save your own? That is what Talley has to face. When three crazy and idiotic teenagers try to steel a Cadillac from a rich family, they end up taking the father Walter (Pollack), Tommy (Bennett), and Jennifer (Michelle Horn) Smith Hostage. When Talley arrives on scene, he begins to negotiate with the criminals to deescalate the situation he find out that there are bigger things happening than the lives of this family.
When leaving the scene he finds himself taken hostage himself. The masked men have his family and if he doesn't retrieve something from the Smith's home their as good as dead. So Talley now must rely on little Tommy to retrieve the file.
You know with Willis your going to get a die-hard action performance and he pulls it off. Somewhere in the middle, the movie forgets what the movie is really about. Siri focuses too much on the problems of the burglars and not Talley's crisis. It goes in debt about how one of them is lonely and tries to rape the girl and how he's alone. Its purpose is questionable and foolish.
It has a lot of flaws, but despite that, Hostage is a must for Willis fans and those wanting his die-hard attitude.
Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Jimmy Bennett, Jimmy Pinchak, Jonathan Tucker
Directed by: Florent Emilio Siri
**1/2 Stars
In the beginning of the movie, Jeff Talley (Willis) is negotiating to a criminal who is holding a family hostage. Sadly to say, he fails to save all their lives. Years later he finds himself in the same situation only this time the consequences of failure could mean the termination of his own family.
The question that the movie "Hostage" is asking you is the simple. Would you risk the lives of another family to save your own? That is what Talley has to face. When three crazy and idiotic teenagers try to steel a Cadillac from a rich family, they end up taking the father Walter (Pollack), Tommy (Bennett), and Jennifer (Michelle Horn) Smith Hostage. When Talley arrives on scene, he begins to negotiate with the criminals to deescalate the situation he find out that there are bigger things happening than the lives of this family.
When leaving the scene he finds himself taken hostage himself. The masked men have his family and if he doesn't retrieve something from the Smith's home their as good as dead. So Talley now must rely on little Tommy to retrieve the file.
You know with Willis your going to get a die-hard action performance and he pulls it off. Somewhere in the middle, the movie forgets what the movie is really about. Siri focuses too much on the problems of the burglars and not Talley's crisis. It goes in debt about how one of them is lonely and tries to rape the girl and how he's alone. Its purpose is questionable and foolish.
It has a lot of flaws, but despite that, Hostage is a must for Willis fans and those wanting his die-hard attitude.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Sin City
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen, Elijah Wood, Jessica Alba , Brittany Murphy, Josh Hartnett , Nick Stahl , Rosario Dawson Carla Gugino Jaime King Marley Shelton Alexis Bledel Devon Aoki Michael Clarke Duncan Rick Gomez Michael Madsen , Powers Boothe
Directed by:
Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller
Co-Director: Quentin Tarantino
**** STARS
Sin City is an exuberant filme. Robert Rodriguez has put Frank Miller's violent comic into one of the greatest comic movie ever made. With Quentin Tarantino as guest director, this is a film you've never seen before.
There is no set time or date in the film. It's a cross pollination of 1960-70's automobile with a present day background (the skyscrapers buildings etc.) The cinematography consists of black and white backgrounds with slight colors such as blood and hair.
The movie has 3 stories into one. First, it tells the story of Hartigan (an absolutely perfect Bruce Willis), a close to retirement cop who saves an 11 year old's life after she is kidnapped. Years later, when Hartigan is accused of rape and molestation charges is sent to prison for 8 years where he falsie confesses his sins so he can go free. Now all he wants back is the little girl whose name is Nancy. Nancy is all grown up and is now a strip dancer (Jessica Alba). He must find her and keep her safe. She is the only thing that is keeping him alive.
The next story is about a man name Marv (a brilliant performance by Mickey Rourke). Marv has had the night of his life. He meets a prostitute named Goldie and they spend the night together. Marv and Goldie share a special bond and Marv feels more for her than anything else in his life. In the morning when he wakes up, Goldie has been mysteriously killed, by the very disturbing cannibal named Kevin (a wicked awesome and deeply scary Elijah Wood). Now he seeks revenge on who committed this murder.
The last story involves a man named Dwight (the better and better Clive Owen). Dwight has a girlfriend Shellie (Murphy) who's ex is trying to come back into her life only she doesn't want him. His name is Jackie boy (Del Toro) and Dwight chases him out of Shellie's life. What Dwight soon finds out after he kills him is that he was a cop. So now he must protect himself and try to get rid of the evidence. Every moment of this film is purely creative, wild, and rich of life. It is a violent, wild, funny, and an amazingly stylish adaptation of the comic. The film is so alive that there is really no other way to explain it except to go and witness this yourself.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
Why make movies like this? Why?
*1/2 Stars
The story catches up with FBI agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) shortly after she successfully disarmed a threat against the Miss United States Pageant while working undercover as a contestant in Miss Congeniality. Having become a media celebrity following her heroic pageant exploits, Gracie has been spending more time lately at the salon than the shooting range, working the talk show circuit and promoting her book. When her friends, pageant winner Cheryl and emcee Stan, are kidnapped in Las Vegas, Gracie's all-out efforts to jump back into action to save them puts her at loggerheads with the FBI top brass who don't want to risk losing their mascot and fear she might not be up to the job anymore.
It's just not a good movie. Regina King looks like a guy and Sandra Bullock has lost all taste fot his roll. Plain and simple: JUST DON'T SEE IT.
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