2 Guns – 7
You’ll like this movie if you like
a. Mark Wahlberg
b. Denzel Washington
c. Gunfire
Mark and Denzel are undercover for different agencies trying to bring down a
Mexican drug load or two. They don’t know
they’re each good guys. It’s an
interesting way to start a cop buddy movie, but it’s all really incidental to
the charisma of the two stars. They slog
their way thru the plot twists, turns and contrivances, and generally put
together a reasonable diversion of an action movie. It’s fun and forgotten quickly. There are worse ways to spend 2 hours. Cleaning the oven would be one.
Blue Jasmine – 6
You’ll like this movie if you like
a. Cate Blanchett
b. Woody doing drama
c. Occasional levity
When Woody Allen does “Midnight in Paris” he paints a fantasy weaving his
fictional characters among famous literary titans to great humorous effect. Unfortunately
here Woody does a stilted and contrived drama of fictional characters with no
comic relief, and little in the way of travelogue footage to rival Paris.
Cate plays Jasmine, an exiled New York socialite who comes to live with her
sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) in San Francisco.
Both Cate and Sally are terrific in their roles, and expect Cate to get
Oscar consideration. That doesn’t mean
there is much realism here. This is
almost a documentary, told in the mandatory back and forth flashback style that
is in vogue. (Did Woody start that with
Annie Hall?) Jasmine’s husband, played
perfectly by Alec Baldwin was involved in financial and sexual hijinks. His Bernie Madoff type scheming lands him in
jail and Jasmine’s shame chases her into the real world, which she is ill
suited for.
Ginger’s first marriage, to Andrew Dice Clay’s character, ended when their nest
egg fell victim to Jasmine’s husband.
Her second relationship, to Bobby Canalve is every bit as
promising. Ginger and Jasmine, adopted
by the same parents as youngsters, really have nothing in common except being
unlucky in love. Jasmine finds it briefly,
but she’s keeping her past a secret, so we know where that’s going. She’s lost everything but her mind, and that
seems inevitable.
Didn’t find this particularly interesting or believable, and the Woody Allen
fan in me keeps hoping that his yearly churn will produce another classic or
two before he’s done. One more
“Manhattan.” One more “Annie” or
“Hannah.” Please.
Scanning the Satellite
Searching for Sugar Man – 10
If you like music even just a little, you’ve got to see this fascinating story
of an unknown and presumably dead singer-songwriter of the 70’s named
Rodriguez. He was an unknown in his
native America, but through the oddest of circumstances he became a musical
icon in South Africa and a voice of the rebellion against apartheid. This is the story of the quest to find out
what happened to him 30 years after he became a legend in one country. To say there is a surprising eventual
conclusion is to sell the movie short.
This is a great story punctuated by great music that sent me right to
Amazon.com to buy the music. Do yourself
a favor. Don’t google. Don’t wiki.
Don’t even watch the trailer on youtube.
Find the movie and just let the story unfold. You’ll see why it won the Academy Award last
year for best feature-length documentary.
You’ll also be very happy.
The World According to Dick Cheney -8
Through interviews with Dick Cheney and many of his contemporaries, this film details
the rise of Cheney and his influence through several presidential
administrations, obviously culminating in his 8 years as George Bush’s Vice
President. Documentary film maker R J
Culter paints a fairly balanced portrait.
Dick Cheney never wavered in his self-assurance or his commitment to his
principles or his friends, most notably Donald Rumsfeld. Cheney’s resolve and ability to get his way
is legendary and more than a little scary.
Let’s just say when a politician wants what he wants, there is no reason
to let the facts get in the way.
Chasing Mavericks – 8
I admit it. I’m a sucker for surfing
movies. Maybe it’s because I surfed,
very modestly, a few times and I totally get how someone could be so passionate
about it. It’s amazing. What’s equally amazing is what I always want
to scream at the screen: “How do you
make a living?” How do they get to
spend so much time on a hobby that doesn’t produce any income? In this movie, at least some jobs are in
evidence.
This is the allegedly true story of surfing legend Jay Moriarity, played by
Jonny Weston, and how he grew up fascinated with this mythic area off the west
coast called “mavericks” where the waves are so high no sane man would go
surfing anywhere near there. Which of
course doesn’t stop Jay from spending the whole movie training and preparing to
surf it. Among the skills he is pressed
to learn by his mentor Frosty Henson, played convincingly by Gerard Butler, is
how to hold his breath for 4 minutes. Go
ahead, try it.
The movie is co-directed by Michael Apted and Curtis Hanson
and like every other surfing movie is marked by unbelievable photography edited
together unconvincingly. For example in
the final scenes a boat goes in and out of the frame. Nevertheless, it was fascinating to me and
will be interesting to you in direct proportion to your interest in other
surfing movies.
If you like this movie check out one of my all-time
favorites “Big Wednesday,” or the first surfing movie that caught my attention,
“The Endless Summer.”
Casting By – 9
Here is another fascinating HBO documentary.
This one by Director Tom Donahue is about some “unsung heroes” of
cinema, the casting directors. Much of
this focuses on the legacy of Marion Dougherty, who plucked many unknowns and
cast them in hit movies and TV series.
The amount of gratitude that actors have for her and her contemporaries
is evident here as an extraordinary number of them consented to be interviewed
for this movie and pay tribute to the casting director who discovered
them. The credits alone are a who’s who
of Hollywood, but it’s the insight into the inner workings of filming that will
fascinate those of us sitting on the couch who love classic movies.
