Tag: movies

George Clooney acts and directs the roaring twenties football rom-com, Leatherheads. George Clooney in a film set in the twenties should remind you of “O brother, where art though?” And that should remind you of his work with the Coen brothers and their love for staging an exact simulacra of a period in America. Then you find out that Renee Zellwegger plays a fast talking career gal reporter and this may be some kind of screwball comedy homage.

Then you watch the movie.

It’s nothing like this.

Leatherheads completely missis the point of all that. Clooney, you would think, could’ve captured the magic of the Coens and served a throwback to screwball comedies, but decided to mix and match story and tone of the show. It was a mess. A romantic comedy that had no laughs. A grid iron story that lacked oomph. A sad spectacle as the final big game in the mud. It was 3-0 until the end. And it was a boring game. Same for the movie.

2 of 5 stars.

There should be commas there shouldn't there?In support of Fat War, the seed, fish tank and I caught this movie.
Fish tank and I eating some popcorn. The premise of the movie is simple: after running away from his pregnant
bride on their wedding day, Dennis (Simon Pegg) will run back to her
graces in a marathon. Of course, he's a shlub whose only exercise is
going to the market for smokes. He must face off with smug, American
Whit (Hank Azaria) who makes running a part of his daily routine. You know how this one plays out. So why bother? Simon Pegg, he of
Shaun of the Dead fame and Hot Fuzz, is always a winning character.So British, but somewhat fun. Fat War continues on the screen!http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425413/3 of 5 stars

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day features Amy Adams in all her princess-ness as singer/actor, Delysia LaFosse juggling three men. Frances McDormand is the titular character who helps her Delysia sort the men until she finds her true love.

It doesn’t sound appealing. It wasn’t at times, but what can you ask for a Sunday matinee. I feel that this was one of those stories that old time Hollywood gave to their leading ladies to pass the time. Not the classic, but a solid sub-par A. It will fill out the bill.

McDormand must have jumped on this at the urging of her husband, Joel Coen, because this looked like one of the Coen brother period pieces they so love. Except in London, every thing was the look.

3 of 5 stars.

Be Kind Rewind is a paean to creativity and to those that inspire it in ourselves. It can be just a simple bedtime story or the films we watch. Whatever it is it can inspire.

This film follows the path of Cloverfield in making concrete the ideas of the YouTube generation. It is inspired and has inspired other ‘sweded’ films. You can catch a majority of them on internet video sites. Done by creators for simple, simple reasons. Unlike Cloverfield, it does posit that something magical happens when stories are meant to inspire. Cloverfield as a thesis for the YouTube generation inspires people to film their nuts getting kicked; Be Kind Rewind wants you to make your own movie about your nuts getting kicked.

3 of 5 stars.

Jumper tries to establish a science fiction realm that could be plausible. Yet, it fails to even establish a coherent story. It’s a sad showing by The Bourne Identity’s, Doug Liman. It’s as if he took this job for the money. He unexpertly relies on the flash of the jump effects to hide the lazy development of the plot. It’s got big holes in its logic: how did the Paladins defeat jumpers when there was no means to control electricity to contain them back in the day? Doesn’t make sense. And it doesn’t make sense that Liman can be so lackadaisical in this movie’s execution. He always seems to be prepared. Perhaps not this time around. What’s he doing next that got him distracted from this venture?

Diane Lane is in this one too. Another stinker.

2 of 5 stars.