I am sure plenty of you are wondering what the theme for May is going to be since it is just around the corner. Well, it has hit the comments a couple of times over the past two months, but I will tell you anyway if you didn't see it. May is going to be Sharon Movie May.
For those of you who do not know, Sharon is my sister. I started calling movies either Sharon movies or not Sharon movies a few years back when I felt like I had a pretty good idea of whether or not Sharon would like the movie. As you may have noticed at Dave's Movie Reviews, every review has my thought on whether the movie is a Sharon movie or not. Now you will get plenty of examples of Sharon movies as she has picked out 15 or so that I will be reviewing. I hope you all enjoy Sharon Movie May!
4/30/2008
What is the Theme in May?
Val Kilmer Movie: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Director: Shane Black
Writer: Brett Halliday (novel) (in part) and Shane Black (screen story)
Genre: Comedy/Mystery/Thriller
Story
Harry (Robert Downey Jr.) is a small time crook that stumbles into a chance opportunity to be an actor and goes to Hollywood with hopes of being in a movie. When he gets there he has to adjust to the new crowd he is a part of and starts to get himself involved with Harmony (Michelle Monaghan), a girl who also came to Hollywood because of a chance encounter and TV appearance on the news. Gay Perry (Val Kilmer) is a detective hired to put someone under surveillance. Gay Perry decides to take his new friend Harry and when they get there they are suddenly pulled into a bad situation. The person they are supposed to be videotaping turns up dead and now they have to get out of it. More murders and craziness continue as they dig themselves deeper and deeper holes.
Everything Else
Shane Black did an excellent job with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang except for the excessive use of language and sex throughout the film. With those annoyances aside the dialogue and story were great. Black was able to keep my attention throughout the film by making one twist after another mixed with funny dialogue.
Of course the script and story would not be much if the acting was terrible and luckily for Shane Black, he was able to get a great cast. Robert Downey Jr. is not my favorite, but he did a great job in this one. He is usually good at narrating himself and cussing a lot. Truth is he made this film work when it really may not have with someone else in the same role; he has a unique style that simply works in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer’s performance as Gay Perry was my favorite part about Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He often delivered the most humorous lines. I could not see anyone else doing a better job in this role so Kilmer was the best choice for the part. Kilmer appears in another good movie. I guess if you are in enough movies you are sure to have some good and some bad. An interesting trivia fact for Kilmer in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is he had to lose 50 pounds quick after his fat character in Alexander. Another trivia piece is that the studio offered to give a larger budget if Harrison Ford played the detective, but Harrison Ford turned it down. That would have been terrible; I am glad they got Kilmer for the part.
The Real Deal
I liked Kiss Kiss Bang Bang the first time, but it wasn’t quite as good the second time. Possibly it was the screaming baby that made the movie less enjoyable, but I still liked it a lot. Val Kilmer is still awesome in it, but the twists and turns are less interesting the second time around (hmm… I wonder why). This time I saw Kiss Kiss Bang Bang on Blu-ray though and it makes it real difficult to go back to the standard DVDs. Hopefully I will get a PS3 again soon so I can watch all the movies on Blu-ray.
An interesting note is that Sharon was here for this movie and I thought she could handle it because of the humor aspect, but I was wrong. I knew it was borderline, but it turned out she could only get through half of it because of all the language and sex. I have to agree with her; the language and sex were unnecessarily over the top. This kind of thing often makes me take the director less seriously because it would seem it is there only to draw some more people in. The thing they fail to realize is that it also alienates some people. Although, I would much rather see an R rated film in the theaters than a PG-13 cause of all the teenagers. My prime example would be Cloverfield which would have been a lot better if I did not have a group of obnoxious teenagers sitting behind me… anyway, a topic for a later post maybe.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 818,398
Sharon Movie? No
4/28/2008
Val Kilmer Movie: Spartan
Spartan (2004)
Director: David Mamet
Writer: David Mamet
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller
Story
Scott (Val Kilmer) is a secret service agent assigned to find a government official’s daughter Laura Newton (Kristen Bell) after she goes missing. It is suspected she has been kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Curtis (Derek Luke), who was recently trained by Scott, joins on the investigation. When everyone thinks Laura is dead, Curtis finds evidence he believes proves she is still alive and convinces Scott to continue the investigation against the orders of the secret service.
Everything Else
David Mamet is a highly praised screenwriter and director of many films, but there is only a few I really liked in the past; State and Main, The Untouchables, Wag the Dog, and Ronin (wait, why didn’t I like Mamet?). I guess because I hated Heist when I saw it and then thought the writing for Spartan was terrible I formed an opinion of Mamet, but now I think I need to go back and watch Heist again. I saw Spartan a couple years ago and got a lot of good laughs out of it and it was still funny this time. Before though I thought it was supposed to be serious and the dialogue was just terrible. This time I came to the conclusion David Mamet’s writing is supposed to be funny in Spartan (I am giving him the benefit of the doubt here). I had never been a fan of Mamet until the second viewing of Spartan.
The directing aside from the dialogue (which I believe could be taken as great or horrible depending on your point of view) was quite good and provided a constant wealth of entertaining scenes and well thought out plot twists. Spartan gets a little odd with its locations and the mix of what seems to be reality and what is simply an elaborate stakeout or simulation. The story moves along well and if you can wade through the deep waters of murky dialogue then I am sure you will like Spartan a lot.
The acting in Spartan fits the interesting style of Mamet almost flawlessly at least on the part of Val Kilmer. Kilmer’s delivery of the lines was the most entertaining part of Spartan for sure (“where’s the girl Jerry? Jerry where’s the girl? Jerry where’s the girl Jerry?”). William H. Macy was in Spartan and did well; off the top of my head I would say I remember Macy being in State and Main as well, but it has been a few years. Kristen Bell has short screen time as the kidnapped girl, but does a good job. Interesting how different she is in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Val Kilmer
Kilmer was great in Spartan and fit the script almost perfectly as I had mentioned earlier. I liked seeing Kilmer in a lead role again as he is in a lot of movies in small parts. This Val Kilmer movie month has been filled with movies that had Kilmer only appearing as cameos. I think somehow Kilmer lost his drive to provide great performances like in The Doors. It almost appears he is on autopilot just going through the motions. Still he does an excellent job, but I know he could do even better. Maybe no one is presenting him with the challenging roles anymore… then again he is KITT now (laughs). I am not sure if that reflects more negatively on Kilmer or the people that were willing to pay enough to get Kilmer to do it for such a crappy show (no I haven’t watched it, but it has to be bad I am sure of it).
The Real Deal
The first time I saw Spartan I laughed so hard I was crying. The dialogue is so ridiculous in some parts I had to rewind and play the part again just for more laughs (yes it is that funny). My favorite part is when Kilmer and some other guy are talking for a little bit and none of it makes sense. Then Kilmer says “what are we talking about here” with a choice word added. It is almost like Val Kilmer really did not know what they were talking about and decided to say that after delivering the line and Mamet just left it in because it was funny. Who knows, but I just loved it. I have to recommend Spartan to anyone for a good laugh and an entertaining story. I am sure people are mad because I thought the dialogue was ridiculous, but I feel like I have finally found the genius in Mamet’s writing which before I found to be just rubbish. What does everyone else think about Mamet’s scripts or more specifically the Spartan script?
The Short Version
Raw Score: 793,383
Sharon Movie? No
The Beach
The Beach (2000)
Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: John Hodge (Screenplay) and Alex Garland (Novel)
Genre: Drama/Adventure/Thriller
Story
Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) decides to run away from his ordinary life to explore the world. He arrives in Bangkok and finds a place to live. Daffy (Robert Carlyle), one of the crazy residents of the same building befriends Richard and tells him about a perfect beach on a perfect island. Richard acquires the map from Robert and decides he is going to set out to the secret island with his neighbors Franciose (Virginie Ledoyen) and Etienne. They get to the island and discover is beauty, but they quickly found not everything was perfect about the island.
Sorry the story was a little vague, but I don’t want to spoil anything as the story is most of the fun in this one.
Everything Else
I usually love Danny Boyles films, but The Beach seemed like a long commercial. Let’s set some background to my reasons for liking Danny Boyle films though. The first Danny Boyle film I saw was Trainspotting which most will probably agree is a good movie. I then saw Millions which was different and I liked it for that. Then I saw 28 Days Later and Sunshine and absolutely loved both of those films. Some may or may not like Danny Boyles films, but you have to agree about their unique style which distinguishes them from being just anyone’s films.
Back to The Beach though, Danny Boyle himself was disappointed in The Beach and I think rightfully so. I mentioned it felt like a long commercial and this is because of the music and flow of the film. The movie races along never slowing down and the music often overpowers. Along with that, Richard’s narration fills in every gap in the story. It is sometimes nice to have some narration, but when you could easily infer people’s emotions and the story without the narration then it seems redundant. The entire film was like this aside from part of the wild hallucinations near the end.
Unfortunately all of the previous problems are likely a direct result of Danny Boyle and not that of the writers or actors. Other aspects of the film were quite good though. The acting on most everyone’s part was solid. Leonardo DiCaprio (thankfully after moving past his pretty boy stage) made a great lead performance as Richard. DiCaprio had a somewhat weak performance in this as compared to his later roles, but still his acting talent was apparent. Robert Carlyle as Daffy was perfect for the crazy character it appears they were going for and Virginie Ledoyen was a good choice for Richard’s love interest. Tilda Swinton as Sal was a standout performance. Swinton has the range to appear mean and forceful like she did in The Beach or be an innocent character. Her talent was used wisely in The Beach. Overall the character interactions and conversations came across well, but the directing left a lot to be desired. I would have never guessed that The Beach was directed by the same guy that brought us Trainspotting and 28 Days Later.
The Real Deal
Even with the film racing along too fast to stop and enjoy most of it, I liked it. The story was good enough to make the fast pace worthwhile and the acting did not disappoint. There is also plenty of great scenery on the island which made me want to be on a beach and I don’t even like the ocean or beaches. The sex, drugs, violence, and language were all there for the R rating it raked in, but there were only a couple of parts that seemed unnecessary. It really came down to the ending for me; I did not like the ending and felt that it really could have had a better one. After talking to Rodney about the movie a little bit it sounds like the movie was very similar to the book so I guess when you make a movie after a book and you want to stick with the story then you have to accept the ending the way it is. It was well worth the watch even though it is my least favorite Danny Boyle film so far.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 712,098
Sharon Movie? No
4/27/2008
Kilmer Blitz #2
Pollock (2000)
Pollock is a film about the late Jackson Pollock who was a famous painter. You may remember the splatterific paintings he was famous for. I found Ed Harris to be a powerful actor in Pollock, but he did not do so hot with the directing. In the end I felt there was not a lot to get from the movie; it was never very happy and never really got that emotional. I did not feel attached to Jackson Pollock, and although I do feel like I know the story better now, I didn’t much care for the movie.
Oh yeah, and Val Kilmer was in this one for about 5 minutes at most. He did a great job, but did not get the screen time he deserved.
Raw Score: 712,845
Sharon Movie? No
Masked and Anonymous (2003)
Masked and Anonymous was an interesting movie about Bob Dylan. It stars Bob Dylan and was written by Bob Dylan and then Larry Charles directed it and helped a little with the writing. Although Masked and Anonymous was very unique, I was not feeling it. There were not enough characters getting developed aside from Jack Fate (Bob Dylan), but even he was a bit vague. Apparently this was all supposed to represent Bob Dylan’s life. There were tons of cameos in this one including a great part with Val Kilmer. Everyone form Giovanni Ribisi to Ed Harris made their way onto the screen. John Goodman and Bob Dylan were probably the most prevalent. I enjoyed Masked and Anonymous for its unique feel and funny dialogue, but most of the time I thought I was going to fall asleep.
Raw Score: 549,392
Sharon Movie? No
Wonderland (2003)
Wonderland was a quick $5 impulse buy at Walmart, but I ended up liking it a lot. Val Kilmer did an excellent job in it and the story was fairly interesting. I liked how the movie took different perspectives on the same incident just like the police had to deal with when trying to solve the case. The only thing Wonderland seemed to be lacking was emotion. I never really had a character to root for and although I was rooting for Val Kilmer’s character, I believe it was only because it was Val Kilmer.
There were enough drugs, sex, and violence in Wonderland to warrant an R rating for sure. I would recommend it to anyone who can get through that and are interested in seeing a good Val Kilmer movie. It is amazing the other characters he played just on this blitz that were so different even if most were small parts.
Raw Score: 787,009
Sharon Movie? No
The Missing (2003)
The Missing was missing something it would seem Ron Howard is not able to give consistently; depth. Each and every turn looked completely rigged and setup. How do you follow A Beautiful Mind up with The Missing. I have a hard time describing it, but it was almost like a play on opening night; everything was there, but not everyone had their game face on yet. If only they hadn’t pushed this movie out before it was ready maybe it could have been a lot better. I still liked it and it had a few key people in it. Tommy Lee Jones put forth a great performance as a white man trying to be an Indian. Cate Blanchett continues to rank on my top ten list for actresses for such varying performances. She always does a great job and steals the screen. I never question her characters, as they are dead on. Val Kilmer had a short role in this one, which may have got him ready for a bigger role in Stateside. He put on the military uniform and waived his gun around a bit and then left the screen.
The Missing was gruesome enough in parts to make it R rated and the Indian witchcraft was a bit creepy. The sex and language were not noticeable if there really was any. Don’t get your hopes up for this one and you will be ok.
Raw Score: 683,293
Sharon Movie? No
Stateside (2004)
Stateside was a harsh disappointment for me. I really wanted to like it because it had uniqueness to it, but as it dragged on I kept wondering when the story was going to kick in. It never did. At every turn it seemed there was opportunity to delve deeper into the characters or thicken the plot, but every time it fell flat. The dialogue was promising at first, but the more it went on the more childish it sounded. There was absolutely no attempt to have realistic character interactions and that was really the only thing the story hinged on. Every good scene was cut short and skipped over. It felt like they had 10 hours of footage they wanted to put in the movie, but realized none of it was good so they tried to cut it down to 100 minutes and ended up giving us the first three minutes of each good scene. Everything was rushed and poorly executed. On a good note, Val Kilmer was awesome as Staff Sergeant Skeer in the Marines. He was even one of the more well thought out characters it seemed. They stole most of those scenes from Full Metal Jacket though.
There was language and some violence and sex, but really nothing too shocking. I kept waiting for something to happen, but I made the mistake of looking at how far into the movie I was at one point and that is when I realized there was no hope for the film. I recommend passing this one up all together.
Raw Score: 509,887
Sharon Movie? No
4/24/2008
Val Kilmer Movie: Blind Horizon
Blind Horizon (2003)
Director: Michael Haussman
Writer: F. Paul Benz and Steve Tomlin
Genre: Drama /Thriller
Story
Frank (Val Kilmer) is a man who cheats death after getting shot and left for dead in the desert, but he has lost his memory. Liz (Amy Smart) is his nurse in the hospital and they start to fall for each other even though they just met. The Sheriff Jack (Sam Shepard) is hard at work trying to figure out what Frank was doing in the middle of the desert left for dead. As Frank begins to regain his memory and Chloe (Neve Campbell) comes forward as his fiancée, things start to get a little more interesting. Frank seems to think the president is in danger and there is a plot to kill him.
Everything Else
The directing of Blind Horizon was a little on the sloppy side, but it was certainly coherent enough to keep the average viewer entertained. From the opening credits, the film has a stylistic feel to it and continues to try and mix different camera effects to heighten the suspense throughout. All of this pays off even after some of it feels somewhat amateur.
The story seemed almost a little too overused, but still provided entertainment and enough twists and turns to hold the movie together. I would have liked to have a little more originality in the plot, but it was good enough for some entertainment.
The acting was good on most parts. Amy Smart did not have the screen time she needed to develop her character and honestly neither did Neve Campbell. They both did well, but could have had stronger scripting and directing to make the characters sing. Sam Shepard possibly holds the strongest character bedsides Val Kilmer’s. The Sheriff needs to be strong and yet somewhat oblivious for this character to work and Shepard did exactly that.
Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer pulled all of the acting together with his character Frank. Without Val Kilmer providing a strong lead role Blind Horizon could have failed miserably. Kilmer is believable as a man with amnesia and a desire to figure out what is going to happen to the president. Trivia for Kilmer and Blind Horizon is that he lived in a nearby ranch and decided to be in the movie along with his work with the New Mexico Film Investment Program, which funded Blind Horizon.
The Real Deal
I liked Blind Horizon a lot, but there was a lack of originality that constantly overshadowed the efforts of all involved. I kept hoping there would be a huge twist at the end, but this movie is a little on the predictable side (sorry to spoil it for you). Nevertheless it was entertaining and a fun watch for a Saturday morning. There is language and some violence, but aside from that the movie was not too rough for an R rated film. I was glad to see Kilmer in another lead role, but still hope for another Jim Morrison.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 722,001
Sharon Movie? No
Don't Forget to Backup
I have been given this valuable lesson time and time again, but for some reason I forget and take it for granted. Today I found that the flash drive I was keeping all of my posts on failed. I put it in the USB port and it did not work. Bummer. Have no fear though, I got the Music Within post up before it failed and I mostly only had short film reviews on the drive anyway. I think I will be a little more careful about that in the future though.
What does this mean to you? Well, I would like to think that if I had not written this post you would never have noticed, but it is hard to say. I will try to get the posts out there just like normal; it was only a minor setback. It makes me think about what I would do if somehow Google lost my blog though. Has anyone else worried about suddenly going on your computer and finding that for some reason Google Blogger or Wordpress just deleted your blog or someone hacked in and it was gone... anyway, I will try not to think about it, but if anyone has a good idea for backing up entire blogger blogs I am all ears.
4/23/2008
Music Within
Music Within (2007)
Director: Steven Sawalich
Writer: Bret McKinney (written by) & Mark Andrew Olsen (written by)
Genre: Comedy/Drama
The Story
Music Within is based on a true story about a boy with a rough childhood grows up and decides he wants to be a public speaker. When Robert Pimentel (Ron Livingston) goes to a college after winning many awards for his speaking, he is rejected by the teacher who was willing to give him a shot. Upon his rejection he makes a rash decision to join the army during the Vietnam War. In the war he loses most of his hearing and comes back to more rejection from the colleges which now say he cannot be in school because of his lack of hearing. Now he is determined to get out there and make it happen for himself and along the way he meets someone who truly changes his life; Art (Michael Sheen), a man with Cerebral Palsy who ends up being one of the only people he can understand. After a few encounters with people treating Art badly, Robert finds his calling to fight for the rights of the disabled. His journey found him contributing largely to the passing of the ADA of 1990.
Everything Else
The directing of Music Within was strong and consistent if a little bit on the uninventive side. There is not a lot gong on in the way of making the story any more interesting than it already is. This is good though because the story is enough to carry the movie on its own and could seem less sincere if the directing were to overpower. The dialogue and character interactions seem to be played out well; only shaky a few times, but there are plenty of fine lines when dealing with veterans and disabilities and people being offended on both sides of the equation.
Out of all of the directing though, there did seem to be some places that simply seemed a bit over the top. Namely, there was a scene in a restaurant where Robert and Art go for Art’s birthday so that he can get some pancakes. The waitress is told by here boss to ask the two to leave because of Art’s CP. I can see this situation occurring, but the dialogue that the waitress delivers is way over the top. Then again who knows, maybe there was a person that was simply that far out of touch with reality that they could treat someone with CP that way. This scene was important on giving more motivation to Robert’s character, but could have done so in a much more believable way.
The acting in Music Within was great from both Ron Livingston and Michael Sheen. Livingston proves his ability to take a lead role and make a powerful enough performance to make me forget Office Space. Of course he is still kind of funny from time to time, but Office Space was long forgotten by the time 20 minutes rolled around. Mix Office Space with a little Band of Brothers and you might find Livingston’s Music Within performance. Michael Sheen did an amazing job as a man with CP. It was completely believable which could not be an easy thing to do with such an extreme disease. His character also provides the backbone to why Robert Pimentel is so motivated to achieve what he eventually does.
The Real Deal
We saw this one at Blockbuster on the new release wall and it looked good. It was even better than I thought it would be even though there was not a lot of fresh ground covered. It was a beautifully heartfelt and emotional film, which gave a couple actors a chance to prove their talents and told a true story that people should definitely hear. Although there was sex, language and a little violence, I would still recommend this as a great film for encouragement in pursuing your dreams or simply for a little history lesson with some great acting performances.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 842,293
Sharon Movie? Yes
4/22/2008
Short Film Review: Tell Us the Truth Josephine
Tell Us the Truth Josephine
Director: Valerie Buhagiar
Story
Josephine is a Maltese woman who swims in the ocean all the way to Canada (yes, it is a bit odd). Not only that, but then she decides to walk the countryside on stilts and has a hard time figuring out why everyone looks at her so weird. She goes along exploring her new venue while the film explores her past and the things she is running from.
Synopsis
It was very odd, but had plenty of depth to it which makes you think about things like why she decides to go to Canada or why she is on stilts. The problems come in the way of the very rough camera quality and seemingly random mix of past experiences and current situations. It is extremely hard to figure out just what is actually going on and the images and voices are often annoying and even horrifying (it does not seem like they should be).
If you can wade through all of the harsh video and sound, the story seems to have a lot of depth which may make you feel as though you have found a diamond in the rough. I found it difficult to get past all of the rough video and sound and actually did not find the story too compelling which warrants the 5/10 for effort. I would have liked to have seen this film have better picture quality and less weirdness to it. I love David Lynch films for the bizarre things going on, but it just did not seem to work here for some reason. I will admit the idea of her walking through the country on stilts was an interesting way of showing how she felt being an outsider in an unfamiliar country. You can check it out at Film Movement.
Raw Score: 5/10
Sharon Movie? No
4/21/2008
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Writer: Jason Segel
Genre: Comedy/Romance
The Story
Peter (Jason Segel) gets dumped by his actress girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) and decides to take a trip to Hawaii to take his mind off of things. The only problem is he ends up at the same hotel as Sarah Marshall and her new musician boyfriend Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Now Peter has an even harder time trying to forget about the girl he has been dating for the last five years. Plenty obnoxious and often hilarious jokes ensue as he tries to find love with Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis), one of the girls working at the hotel.
Everything Else
The directing of Forgetting Sarah Marshall was good with only a few minor complaints. One of which was the lack of music in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Although a lack of music can sometimes help the film it seemed to let it drag a little in the beginning of this, but it later picked up and would not even need music to liven it up. The second complaint was the absolutely fowl language and gross sex jokes throughout. If it were not for that, Forgetting Sarah Marshall could have been a truly great movie. Every time there was a hilarious scene that was pretty clean, it was followed by an unnecessary and unfunny dirty joke scene. I still cannot figure out why these filmmakers seem to think this is all the American public wants, but then again it has worked for Superbad and Knocked Up and plenty before it so I guess they just figure go with what works.
Even with all of the dirty jokes and scenes that only took away from the film’s comedy, there were enough truly well placed and acted jokes that I was laughing more than I usually do while watching a comedy (Part of this could probably be attributed to the fact that we saw this one at the Drive-In so I knew I would not bother anyone with my laughing out loud). The acting by Jason Segel who also wrote Forgetting Sarah Marshall was great. It is obvious he is not a Jim Carrey or a Will Ferrell, but that is what is good about his acting. He seems more sincere and realistic than wacky and weird. This allowed the viewer to not only relate to his character, but also make the situational jokes even more hilarious because of his monotone responses. Although I am not usually a fan of Jonah Hill from other comedies (Superbad, 40 Year Old Virgin, Click), he did a great job in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. His type of humor was mixed in at just the right times. Mila Kunis is a rising star; I could not place her until I realized she was the girl from That 70s Show. Kristen Bell as Sarah Marshall was possibly the least interesting character of the film. She was a little too cliché at times and never really made the viewer want Peter to get back with her. Russell Brand was quite funny as Aldous Snow. Overall the acting was quite good (I forgot to mention Bill Hader as Peter Bretter’s brother Brian; he did well also).
The Real Deal
As I mentioned before if it weren’t for the dirty jokes Forgetting Sarah Marshall could have been one of my favorites. I loved many of the jokes and Jason Segel made this movie in more ways than one. His writing and acting were great. If you were wondering about the morals shown in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, then maybe you have not read everything else I wrote; there was tons of language, nudity, and sex throughout, so just know that if you watch this with your parents you will likely be quite uncomfortable. In spite of the gross humor, it was a hilarious movie and I would recommend it to anyone that thinks they could get past this aspect of the film. This was the first movie back in the theaters after Emma was born so it was great to see a movie on opening night even. The Drive-In looks to be the best bet for pulling this off in the future, so it is a good thing we have a great Drive-In near by.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 763,203
Sharon Movie? No
4/20/2008
Dedication
Dedication (2007)
Director: Justin Theroux
Writer: David Bromberg
Genre: Romantic Comedy/Drama
Story
Billy Crudup plays an author of children’s books, Henry, who has an illustrator he works closely with; Rudy (Tom Wilkinson). Rudy comes up with the idea for a book about a beaver and now they have to write the book after pitching the idea to the publisher and getting a contract. When Rudy dies though, Henry is stuck with finishing the book on his own. The new illustrator the publishing company hires is a rookie illustrator looking for her big break, Lucy (Mandy Moore). Lucy has to try and get along with Henry even though he may be the most unlikable person in the world and now they have to finish a book together. As the movie goes on they start to fall for each other and chaos ensues.
Everything Else
The directing and acting really make this one shine after a fairly simple and possibly overused feeling plot. It is true the plot seems almost unique, but without the style in which the film was made it would have been quite forgettable. What was achieved however, was a film that was not only enjoyable to watch, but also will leave a lasting impression on my mind. And all this comes from a simple romantic comedy.
Well, this is not the typical romantic comedy. Billy Crudup does a great job here of being a terribly obnoxious and eccentric person which seems almost impossible to relate to and get along with. In spite of all that you start to almost feel for the guy because you almost buy into who the character is. If his character had been written to be just a little bit more believable, I could have really related to him possibly. Mandy Moore did an excellent job along side Crudup here. This film seems like a step forward for her as she breaks out of the more kiddish roles and less serious movies of the past. I really liked how she still seemed to keep some dignity and morals in the film while at the same time be a part of something which seemed like it lacked a lot of morals and dignity. That may seem an odd statement, but partially I would say that because there was liitle to no nudity on either actor’s part. It is possible this is what the director really wanted, but with the rest of the film the way it is it seems the director originally intended for there to be more skin.
With that said, although the movie wins a medal for using way too much language, this is the only thing that truly warrants the R rating aside from the brief sex scene in the beginning which is unrelated to the movie anyway. The film was written and directed in a unique way that provides comic relief in moments, which might have otherwise not seemed funny. Also, inner monoluge of Billy Crudup is presented with Rudy appearing constantly in dreams and daydreams. This provides more screen time for Tom Wilkinson and allows the viewer to have more to think about than simply the plain old romance of the two main characters.
The Real Deal
In the beginning of the film I thought I was not going to like Dedication, but as it went on I began to like it more and more for its quirkiness. The acting was interesting and different than I would have expected from all involved except possibly Bob Balaban (the publisher) who played the same guy he always does best at. I can recommend this movie to anyone who is looking for a romantic comedy with a little more depth off the beating path.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 745,293
Sharon Movie? No
4/18/2008
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Here is the second movie review proving Casey Affleck is a rising star, or maybe that he is already a star. Check out the first one on Gone Baby Gone.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Director: Andrew Dominik
Writer: Andrew Dominik
Genre: Biography/Crime/Drama/Western
The Story
The true retelling of the assassination of the infamous Jesse James was a calm and collected masterpiece not to be overlooked. Jesse James (Brad Pitt) was the brother of Frank James (Sam Sheperd) and the leader of a group of bank and stagecoach robbers. This movie picks up right at the end of his long career in the robbing industry and follows Robert Ford’s (Casey Affleck) entrance into the group and how he made friends with Jesse James only to lead ultimately to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Everything Else
Andrew Dominik is my new hero. I liked Chopper a lot, but did not realize until after viewing The Assassination of Jesse James that they were both made by the same writer and director. Chopper was good, but The Assassination is now in my top 50 movies list without a doubt. I am not sure why it truly hit the mark in my book, but it did and there are a few things that I am sure contributed to that.
The directing was unique and fresh. People will call The Assassination of Jesse James a slow and boring movie, but I would say the flow reminded me of other powerful movies such as Traffic and The Insider. There was a remarkable amount of professionalism displayed by Dominik’s directing. The stunning landscapes and visual detail kept my eyes peeled the entire time while the brief narrations from time to time added an almost history channel feel. Typically that would be a bad thing, but the way that the narration was mixed with the live action of the film and the stunning acting performances made this a key component to the movie.
The acting was excellent even from the usually text actor Brad Pitt. I like Brad Pitt a lot and think he is great in just about every movie he makes, but most of the time it almost looks like he is on autopilot. In The Assassination Pitt proved that his remarkable talent was still very much alive and well. I forgot about everything Brad Pitt and began to think only about who Jesse James was as a person. Great performance by Pitt. A couple of honorable mentions would be Paul Schneider as Dicki Liddil and Sam Rockwell as Charley Ford. Both did well at there respective parts and Schneider seemed to fit his character like a glove.
Casey Affleck
Again the reason for the review being tied to Gone Baby Gone is Casey Affleck. In Gone Baby Gone he proved he could hold his own on his home ground and with his normal accent, but The Assassination took him through a completely different character as Robert Ford. Robert Ford was portrayed here as a coward (if you couldn’t figure it out with the title). If you recall, this is very opposing to his character in Gone Baby Gone and made the performance all the more impressive. This means that he has an acting talent rather than just that ability to be the same guy every time. In The Assassination you never knew what his character was going to do and how he was going to react to situations. His facial expressions and body language said a thousand words so that his character did not have to speak them for the viewer to know exactly what kind of person Robert Ford was. Another excellent performance for a movie that came out in 2007 means Casey Affleck has risen onto my watch list for actors. I am glad to see it is Casey and not Ben.
The Real Deal
I loved The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford from the very beginning with its crisp picture and instantly sucking me in with great acting. There are plenty of violent moments to warrant the R Rating and of course the blood. However, since the slow and confident of this film is present it is unlikely that many immature viewers would even make it to the gruesome stuff. I am excited to see what both Andrew Dominik and Casey Affleck are going to do next.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 901,382
Sharon Movie? No
4/17/2008
Gone Baby Gone
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Director: Ben Affleck
Writer: Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockhard
Genre: Drama/Crime/Thriller
The Story
A young girl is kidnapped and appears on all of the news stations in Boston. A couple (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) are detectives asked by the grandmother of the child to help with the case. The police including Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris are already on the job working to find out what happened to the girl. The young detectives meet tons of resistance as they start to uncover more and more about the case and what happened. As they dig deeper they begin to struggle with their own moral beliefs. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you going, but I don’t want to reveal any of them here.
Everything Else
The directing of Gone Baby Gone may be the most shocking part about it. Ben Affleck has a true talent for directing which is something I have never really been inclined to point out for his acting (sorry Ben). I think he has found the correct job for the future with directing and writing.
The acting in Gone Baby Gone was phenomenal with Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman to round out the cast. I always enjoy Morgan Freeman even when he is in the worst movies. He picks a lot of movies to be in, but this one was a great one and he only added to it. Ed Harris was very good in Gone Baby Gone as well. I have not seen this kind of emotion and range from him in quite some time, but maybe I was just not paying attention before; this time he got my attention though. I was not all impressed with Michelle Monaghan as I think she was stiffed on the screen time and here character did not seem all that strong as compared to the others. Even her character’s opinions did not really convince me, but this is actually more to do with the whole story and directing probably.
The way Gone Baby Gone is filmed is somewhat simple, but effective in telling the story well. I would have liked to see more interesting styles used here, but with the subject matter and actors involved it was not necessary to make an excellent film. Everything flowed well even if it did seem to drag after a couple of twists; it picked up after a bit and held my attention the whole time (that was just a nit-picky point). The character development was strong and allowed you to take sides with the different characters and where they were coming from on the issues in the movie.
Casey Affleck
You did not think that I forgot Casey did you? Casey Affleck had a break out performance here. His accent was at home and therefore I can’t give him much credit for it (even though its authenticity added a lot to the film), but his performance outside of the accent was stellar. He showed a tremendous amount of power in his role and actually shocked me with some of his conversations with the other characters. His character stayed strong and became the one I was truly rooting for in the end. With only Gone Baby Gone I would have said Casey Affleck just did well because he was working with his brother and the part was made for him, but then I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and I retracted any thoughts like that real quick.
The Real Deal
The language is very rough (what else would you expect from Ben Affleck) and the subject matter is hard to deal with for the weak of heart (plus there is a lot of violence), but Gone Baby Gone was a powerful and moving film I will never forget. I loved the movie for its gloves off dive into the issues and presenting an unbiased view of all the sides. Possibly Affleck had intended to sway the viewer one way or the other, but I feel that since everyone was talking about how much it would get you talking that he did a good job of at least raising the issue up for discussion. Check this one out if you get a chance; if it does not offend you too much, it is sure to please.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 894,203
Sharon Movie? No
4/16/2008
Val Kilmer Movie Month Presents: The Salton Sea
No doubt you already saw this review earlier when I posted it for Vincent D'Onofrio Month. This movie is the overlap between those two themed months and it is still a good one. I just added a little note about Val Kilmer to it and put it in my new reviewing format. Enjoy!
The Salton Sea (2002)Director: D.J. Caruso
Writer: Tony Gayton
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
Story
Danny Parker/Tom Van Allen (Val Kilmer) is trying to find himself amongst the drugs, snitching, and cops. Really, there is a lot that I would like to say, but I do not want to give the movie away. You really need to see it for yourself. Danny Parker is a snitch for the cops struggling to get away from that life. Tom Van Allen wants to seek vengeance. This is an interesting film about one man finding himself.
Everything Else
Val Kilmer is great in this movie. It is always interesting to see the roles that he picks and the movies that he is in. I was sold by his performance in The Saint, but he has done many films; most of which he was great even if the movie was not. Kilmer does a great job with characters that change throughout a film and have a lot of depth. This was proven by this film. Most of the other roles were of equal size, so we have to focus on Vincent D'Onofrio since it is D'Onofrio month. Vincent D'Onofrio plays the role of "Pooh-Bear", a drug dealer that has lost his nose because of the drugs that he has done (sorry VDO fans, his nose does not appear in this film). D'Onofrio does a great job yet again and proves that he can play just about any part and make it interesting. D'Onofrio puts everything he has into to each role that he plays and it shows in the performances that he gives.
D.J. Caruso does a great job with making this film feel almost bluezy. The movie slowly mopes along while it has twists and turns. I love the laid back feel of this movie that is really relaxing, but at the same time interesting. Caruso made the film unique which scores high on my scale.
The Real Deal
I have seen this movie twice now and it was just as good the second time. I was paying closer attention to Vincent D'Onorio's performance this time around and realized that he has blended into a lot of movies and I hadn't even noticed him before. This can be the sign of a truly great actor. Whose idea was it to put the JFK reference into The Salton Sea. Interesting; especially since D'Onofrio was in the film JFK.
Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer was the lead in this film and fit right into the part of Danny Parker and Tom Van Allen. He yet again proves his ability to have a strong performance in a wide range of characters. He spent time with real drug abusers in Riverside and the greater L.A. area to authenticate his performance. All of his hard work on researching for this part paid off. Although I had reviewed this movie previously for Vincent D'Onofrio Month, it seems much more appropriate for the Val Kilmer Movie Month as he is the main character. Thankfully, Val Kilmer proves himself in a decent movie this time as some of the others he has been in have tanked (Red Planet among others). The Salton Sea was a step back in the right direction for Kilmer.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 832,102
Sharon Movie? No
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Val Kilmer Movie Month Presents: Red Planet
Red Planet (2000)
Director: Antony Hoffman
Writer: Chuck Pfarrer
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action/Thriller
Story
The earth is overpopulated and over polluted and we have no other idea than inhabit another planet to solve the problem (Mars looks like a nice place!). For years, we have been shooting algae bombs up to Mars to try and create an atmosphere and a livable environment. Everything seemed to be going well because there was oxygen and plenty of green vegetation that could be seen from Earth, but for some reason the vegetation disappeared all of the sudden and a group of scientists or astronauts are sent to try and find out what happened. The movie follows this small group as they journey to the Red Planet to find out what went wrong.
Everything Else
The story was not all that bad; although the execution of it was vital and failed miserably. Let’s start with the best part about the film, the actors. I know what you are thinking if you saw it, “the acting was terrible.” Well, you may be right, but let me point out that we have a few actors here that have proven they are good and although this movie did not prove their talent, I am going to blame the director and writer for it.
Should I run from the explosion or just stay here and take myself out of this movie?One case in point, the scene where most of the actors are running from an explosion in the spaceship was definitely the result of poor directing. In this scene, the actors look like they are taking a meaningless jog just for the sake of exercise or something, but then you see fire chasing them down the halls as they try and get to a safe area. None of the actors showed even the slightest bit of worry on their face and did not even seem to be running fast. In this moment it would have only made sense for them to be running for their lives, but they apparently don’t care about being burned alive. The fire is completely fake as is the rest of the special effects in Red Planet and therefore simply changing how close the fire was to the actors would have saved this scene and made the acting make a lot more sense than it did. Possibly the special effects team is to blame, but someone needed to speak up here. Ok, I will try not to degrade to simple Red Planet bashing; just for the sake of finishing this review though.
The special effects as I mentioned above looked like a PS1 game. I saw this one a long time ago not long after it came to DVD and remember it looking bad, but when I watched it again I would say it is some of the worst special effects I have ever seen. This is the classic example of a movie using CG to try and make things they do not want to expend the time and money on to make models of. CG was not capable of looking good enough to use the way they did and this makes the movie age so quickly you might as well burn if you have a copy.
In case you are wondering, this is what fire looks like.But what if you are just looking for a story and some action and are able to ignore the bad special effects? Well the story was decent, but there were plenty of parts that simply did not make any sense. I will not go into it, but basically every time there was a problem, the solution for it seemed ridiculous and poorly written.
Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer was the star of this one and it’s not a bad thing being next to Sizemore again, but I am sure Kilmer had wished he hadn’t been in this one after he got to see the first screening of it. Kilmer like all of the other actors in Red Planet seemed to have been swindled by the director and writer. It was simply not a good movie and even the best of performances would not have saved this film.
Why did I take this job?The Real Deal
I enjoyed Red Planet a lot actually. What? Yes, I enjoyed Red Planet because I love goodbad movies and this is exactly what Red Planet was. It was a movie that was so bad that it was funny and therefore enjoyable. I just keep thinking about how the director must have thought that he was making some