The Mechanic – 6
You’ll like this movie if you like
a. Jason Statham
b. Mindless Action
c. New Orleans’ locales
This movie is a remake of an old Charles Bronson flick, and it’s not bad. It’s diversionary action on a Saturday afternoon.
A Mechanic is a killer for hire. When mechanic Statham takes on a protégé, the son of his mentor whom he had to murder, the inevitable conclusion is that one is going to have to kill the other. There’s proper mayhem in between and as long as you don’t take it too seriously, you’ll have some fun.
The Adjustment Bureau – 2
You’ll like this movie if you like
a. Matt Damon
b. Emily Blunt
c. Romantic chemistry
Unfortunately, the charisma and chemistry of the two stars can’t save this silly whisp of a movie.
What could have been an interesting premise falls flat. The premise is that there is a higher power mapping out everyone’s lives and when love upsets the apple cart it’s time to send in the adjusters. This dilemma gets resolved when the stars run from the adjusters (identified by the hats they wear) and everyone gets transported all over Manhattan by running through doors that open to unexpected places. Sorry, it gets laughable after awhile and the pearly whites of the stars can’t save the script. This might have been a better TV show, just get rid of the “door” concept. Captain Kirk can give you some “transporter” alternatives.
Conviction – 7
You’ll like this movie if you like
a. Stories of persistence
b. Hillary Swank
c. Lawyer stuff
This is a better story than it is a movie. Hillary plays real-life heroine Betty Anne Waters who obsessively spends 18 years going to college, then law school to fight the unjust murder conviction of her brother, played by Sam Rockwell. They’re both compelling and convincing as the outcasts of another dysfunctional family.
People have fundamental fears. One of them has to be a wrongful conviction. You’re thrown in jail. Who on the outside is going to work hard to save you? Or would you just rot? Imagine.
Great question, but here it seems hard for two hours to cover and condense the 18 years. There seems to be a lot left out, like where’s the rest of the family? Why does Betty Anne get divorced? Why are those pesky Boston accents so distracting?
Google it all and you’ll find that the movie bales on “the rest of the story” and I’ll just let you be the judge. It’s an earnest depiction, but it’s just not as compelling as the real story is. Probably a good book, not a great movie.
SCANNING THE SATELLITE
Prompted by this Rotten Tomatoes Ranking:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/best_of_the_best_pictures/
I’m determined to catch all the Best Picture Winners I’ve missed. The Oscars were pretty boring this year. In the same way that scientific polling has taken the mystery out of most elections, the Oscars have become too predictable thanks to all the surveying they do of the membership. Casting an Oscar nominee as a host who appeared to still be stuck in his movie, didn’t help. Oh well. Time to check out past winners.
First Up:
On The Waterfront – 10
No matter how many times I’ve seen the ending, and the famous “coulda been a contender” taxi cab scene I’d never seen the whole movie. I recently caught it on the new SONY HD channel on Directv. It lives up to its billing, first for the amazing performance of Marlon Brando, secondly for great raw story telling. Now it stands as a historical document of how hard some Americans, in this case dock workers, had to fight for the worker’s rights we take for granted now. Great stuff.
Some day I’ll get to do my ranking.
