Monthly Archives: April 2013
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
The poster for the movie says, “The Greatest Manhunt in History.” It should have said, “The Greatest Waste of Time.” The running time of the movie is 157 minutes. They literally could have cut the running time in half and told the same story and it actually might have been entertaining.
The movie is about the 10 year long “Manhunt,” capture, and killing of Osama Bin Laden after the attacks that occurred on 9/11/2001.
We all know by now that the fact that it took America 10 years to find Bin Laden and kill him is an absolute disgrace. Of course, it was a great thing when it finally got done, but it sure took us long enough. Zero Dark Thirty plays on that fact. The movie is a very long, drawn-out depiction of the steps that we took to finally track down America’s Most Wanted and destroy him. The film isn’t a decade long, but it certainly tries to feel that way. It is so boring and slow at times that I wanted to turn it off at a number of different points.
The other thing about this film is that it is hard to tell how factual it really is. It is based on a true story, but do we really know all of the facts? Unfortunately I think that people will watch this movie and assume that it is 100% accurate. How do we know the truth about what happened? A lot of the information about the “Manhunt” is classified. How will we ever know the real truth?
The film tried so hard to be this big epic movie. It failed quite miserably as far as I am concerned.
Zero Dark Thirty was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress (Jessica Chastain), Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Sound Editing. To me, that is so comical. It shows that the Academy has truly lost its mind to even nominate such garbage in the first place.
This movie was almost as far away from Best Picture as you can get. The acting was mediocre at best, especially Jessica Chastain’s performance. Not even close to top notch. The screenplay was very un-original. They took a story that everyone in the world knows about and turned it into a screenplay. That is not original in my book. There were so many unnecessary scenes that could have been cut out of the movie that it was a complete disgrace to filmmaking. The editor should have been fired, not nominated for an Academy Award.
I’m glad that the movie only won an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing. It was better that it didn’t actually win. It technically tied with Skyfall (2012) for Best Sound Editing. Skyfall should have won. I don’t know what is more embarrassing for Zero Dark Thirty, the fact that it was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and only won 1 of them or the fact that the only one that it actually won was a tie for Best Sound Editing.
Maybe the movie only got so much recognition because Kathryn Bigelow directed it. Her film The Hurt Locker (2008) was very solid and was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won 6 of them. That film made her the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director. Were the Academy Award nominations for Zero Dark Thirty just a sort of blue ribbon recognizing Bigelow for her participation in trying again?
Bigelow had no support from her cast which most notably includes Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Reda Kateb, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Ehle, Harold Perrineau, Jeremy Strong, Mark Strong, Edgar Ramirez, James Gandolfini, Stephen Dillane, Frank Grillo, and Joel Edgerton. Maybe the cast was not of much help because their characters had way more than enough time to develop, but they never really did.
Kathryn Bigelow was in way over her head when she decided to direct Zero Dark Thirty and it shows. The film is a steaming pile of cow dung. The only decent part of the movie is when they showed Seal Team Six raiding Bin Laden’s lair.
I recommend staying as far away from this movie as possible. Save yourself a precious almost 3 hours of your life and don’t watch it.
I rate this movie a 2 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Run.
Trailer for Star Trek into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek into Darkness (2013) (click on the title for my full review)
For those of you who know me, you know that I am not a huge Star Trek fan. With that being said, Star Trek into Darkness actually looks semi-decent. I just may have to check it out when it releases. If I like it, I may have to go back and give some of the other movies a second look. This new Star Trek does not look like your average Star Trek. Even the poster looks intriguing for a Star Trek movie.
The film is directed by J.J. Abrams and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Alice Eve, Jon Lee Brody, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Nolan North, Nick Tarabay, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Tom Archdeacon, Heather Langenkamp, and Christopher Doohan.
The movie is set to release on 5/17/13.
Hitchcock (2012)
Hitchcock (2012)
In Hitchcock Anthony Hopkins steps into the shoes of the Master of Suspense and they fit him quite well. In fact, he seemed so much like Alfred Hitchcock that at times I forgot it was actually Anthony Hopkins. They even have the same monogrammed towels, although, that’s merely a coincidence. Or is it?
Hitchcock is based off of Stephen Rebello’s non-fiction book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. The film gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the relationship that Alfred Hitchcock had with his wife and the struggle he went through to create his most popular beloved masterpiece, Psycho (1960).
I am a huge Hitchcock fan, and I was not familiar with a lot of the events that occurred in this story. The movie was a sort of tribute to the legendary genius film director. It was enlightening and very entertaining.
Just as Hitchcock was able to get tons of popular actors to act in his films, Hitchcock the movie is overrun with a number of great actors: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Danny Huston, Jessica Biel, Toni Collette, Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Wincott, James D’Arcy, Richard Portnow, Kurtwood Smith, Ralph Macchio, Wallace Langham, Currie Graham, Spencer Garrett, and Frank Collison. Sacha Gervasi directs the movie.
Helen Mirren is superb as Hitchcock’s wife Alma. The chemistry between Mirren and Hopkins on screen is perfect.
The filming of Psycho was very tastefully recreated in Hitchcock. Scarlett Johansson does an excellent job playing Janet Leigh. Jessica Biel is a great Vera Miles. I thought James D’Arcy was a pretty believable Anthony Perkins.
Anthony Hopkins did for Hitchcock what Daniel Day-Lewis did for Lincoln (2012). They didn’t just act the part. They became the part.
If you are an Alfred Hitchcock fan like I am, than you will most certainly enjoy Hitchcock.
I rate this movie a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
Note: You might be wondering why the name Ralph Macchio sounds so familiar. He was the original Karate Kid (Daniel Larusso) in The Karate Kid (1984). Can you believe he is already 51 years old?
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Impression of Jeff Dunham’s Walter Doll
I thought this was funny and I couldn’t resist posting it. Here is Arnold Schwarzenegger doing his best impression of famous ventriloquist Jeff Dunham‘s Walter doll. Do you see the resemblance?
Trailer for Grown Ups 2 (2013)
Grown Ups 2 (2013)
Can Adam Sandler do us all a favor and stop making unwatchable garbage. He has not made a good movie for years. Arguably his best movie in the last 7 years was Just Go with It (2011) and that is not saying much. Click (2006) was probably his last good movie. The majority of the movies that he made before Click were all hilarious in their own way. After Click, all of Sandler’s movies turned into pure excrement.
Was the first Grown Ups (2010) not bad enough? Do we really need to be subjected to a sequel?
In the first Grown Ups, Adam Sandler got all of his almost washed-up, aging comedian friends together (Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Tim Meadows, Dan Patrick, Colin Quinn, Maya Rudolph, Blake Clark, Norm MacDonald, Jonathan Loughran, and Dennis Dugan)to make a not so funny, not very family friendly, family comedy also with the likes of Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Steve Buscemi, and Sandler’s wife Jackie Sandler and 2 daughters Sadie Sandler and Sunny Sandler.
So now 3 years later, he brought most of them all back together again and made a sequel. Is it safe to assume that they are all actually washed-up this time since they are back for more? He had to try to top the first one, so he added Taylor Lautner, Milo Ventimiglia, Andy Samberg, David Henrie, Alexander Ludwig, Steve Austin, Taran Killam, Nick Swardson, Shaquille O’Neal, Cheri Oteri, Erin Heatherton, and Melanie Hutsell to the mix.
I can’t believe Sandler pulled it off, but this movie looks worse than the first one. I will most certainly skip this film in the theatre and I won’t even waste my money at the Redbox. It would have to be free for me to watch this, and even that will be risky.
Dennis Dugan directed both Grown Ups movies.
The trash will be picked up on, I mean the movie will release on 7/12/13.
Trailer for Elysium (2013)
Elysium (2013)(click on the title for my full review)
Sci-Fi lovers rejoice. Elysium is coming.
Elysium takes place in the year 2154. The rich live on a space station and the poor live on Earth, but the Earth is in shambles. The rich are trying to protect their way of life, but the poor want in.
With an estimated $100,000,000 budget, the filmmakers are banking on Matt Damon and Jodie Foster to make Elysium a monster summer blockbuster.
It is written and directed by Neill Blomkamp who is most known for directing District 9 (2009).
The movie also stars William Fichtner, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Michael Shanks, Sharlto Copley, Talisa Soto, Ona Grauer, Terry Chen, Wagner Moura, Johnny Cicco, and Faran Tahir.
The film looks like it will be rich with special effects and action. This one looks like a must-see.
The movie is set to release on 8/9/13.
Trailer for Redemption (2013) Also Known As Hummingbird (2013)
Redemption (2013) (also known as Hummingbird (2013))
Jason Statham has been stuck making a lot of very similar movies lately. Hummingbird seems slightly out of the norm for him. The movie looks like it has a little bit more of a story to it and a little bit more heart in it. Although I could be completely wrong, that is just what I gather from the preview.
A man (Statham) assumes a different man’s identity in order to hide from the law.
The film also stars Vicky McClure, Lee Asquith-Coe, Benedict Wong, Ian Pirie, Agata Buzek, Ger Ryan, and Lee Nicholas Harris.
The movie is written and directed by Steven Knight.
I’m not sure that this movie would be worth seeing in the theatre. I’m also not sure if it will even get wide release in the U.S. or go straight to DVD. Either way, it looks like it would be worth seeing when it finally does come out on DVD.
I can’t find a U.S. release date on this one, but it is supposed to be sometime this year.
Trailer for The Purge (2013)
The Purge (2013) (click on the title for my full review)
I’m not sure that I agree with this concept, but it will definitely be a controversial movie. It will be interesting to see how this movie pans out. How could you end a movie like this?
The film looks like it will probably be pretty brutal. It would really be a scary world to live in if all crime was legal for one day out of the year. I don’t think that would solve any of the world’s problems.
I’m not sure if this would be classified as a horror movie or a thriller. Probably a thriller.
Ethan Hawke continues to choose eerie and gritty roles.
The movie looks intense, but I’ll totally have to see it.
Lena Headey co-stars. You might recognize her as the bad woman from Dredd (2012)
The rest of the cast is hardly worth noting. It seems like the majority of the cast includes actors who have had very small roles in movies and are not popular. You probably would not know who I am talking about if I listed anybody else in this movie.
It is written and directed by James DeMonaco and produced by the people that brought you Paranormal Activity (2007) and Sinister (2012).
The film is set to release on 5/31/13.
R.I.P. Roger Ebert
RIP Roger Ebert. June 8th, 1942 – April 4th, 2013.
The famous film critic died today in Chicago due to complications from cancer. He was 70.
A thumbs up to you sir!
Trailer for White House Down (2013)
White House Down (2013) (click on the title for my full review)
It never ceases to amaze me how often very similar movies release in theatres just a few months apart from each other. White House Down appears to be basically the same story as Olympus Has Fallen (2013). Is it a coincidence how both movies have titles that are so alike?
White House Down is directed by Roland Emmerich who is known for directing The Day After Tomorrow (2004), The Patriot (2000), and Independence Day (1996).
White House Down stars Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Jason Clarke, Joey King, Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, Richard Jenkins, Rachelle Lefevre, Jimmi Simpson, Lance Reddick, Garcelle Beauvais, Peter Jacobson, and Matt Craven.
The movie does look good. I will probably have to check it out in the theatre.
The film is set to release on 6/28/13.
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