Love and Mercy - 8
You’ll like this movie if you like(d) the Beach Boys, and the more you know about them, the more you’ll probably like this movie.
You’ll like this movie if you like(d) the Beach Boys, and the more you know about them, the more you’ll probably like this movie.
This is the partial story of Brian Wilson. In order to cover his life director Bill
Pohlad has two actors play Wilson. Paul Dano
is the young Brian Wilson and he is spectacular in the role. John Cusack plays the older Brian Wilson, and
while he is a little less convincing, and doesn’t bear much physical
resemblance, he certainly brings the angst.
In fact if there were a subtitle for this movie, “bring the angst” would
be as good as any.
In the Dano portion, Wilson is trying to break free of both
his father and live performing which he dislikes because of the traveling. In the Cusack section, it’s over-medicating
psychiatrist Dr. Eugene Landry that Wilson must break free from. If not for the efforts of his girlfriend
Melinda (beautifully played by the ever versatile Elizabeth Banks) Brian may
never have emerged from his funk.
Oh, there’s enough story here for two movies, and because I
just re-watched the miniseries about the Beach Boys which was more in-depth I
was able to fill in the blanks. I’m not
sure if someone who doesn’t know the Beach Boys story is going to know what’s
going on.
The best parts of the movie are the recording studio scenes
where we get an up close glimpse of Wilson’s creation of such classics as Good
Vibrations, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, and God Only Knows. If the whole movie had just been about the
music, and there was certainly enough studio drama and dissent to fill a
script, the movie would have been spectacular.
Unfortunately the exhilaration of the music is darkened by the outside influences,
and while Pohlad intertwines the stories to some distraction, it’s a story well
told, but not all told. We'll take it.
Jurassic World – 8
You’ll like this movie if you liked Jurassic Park and thrill
rides when you were a kid. Jurassic
World is a new amusement park conveniently located where Jurassic Park went
awry and undoubtedly Jurassic World II will do the same in about 3 years. There has been some genetic engineering of
dinosaurs going on that is running concurrent with the development of 3D and
movie technology. So what you have here
is a nearly flawless special effects roller coast ride that is alternately
silly and thrilling, as well as a throwback to every adventure close call cliché
that can be jammed into a movie.
Don’t worry, it’s fun, fun, fun until the bad guys let
Indominus Rex get away. That’s the
genetic mutation dinosaur designed to bring more business into the park. Indominus Rex has trained to be nasty, so
when he gets loose the adventure begins. It’s
up to Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard to try to stop him and they are
properly heroic. I had a problem with
one huge plot hole at the end of the movie, but it’s fun enough for me to
overlook that.
Entourage – 1
For the one time I laughed.
It was a really good line and I don’t remember it. I wish I did, because I paid a steep price for
just one joke.
Filled with cameos that made little sense, this is one of
the most disappointing movie experiences since 1845. I liked the HBO Series. I hated this movie.
Disjointed, poorly written, poorly acted, poorly directed,
poorly conceived and poorly funny, the movie picks up where the series left
off, kind of. It gives a short
explanation of why things are the way they are (hint – no Sasha Gray - and she is sorely missed) and it’s
all downhill from there. The timeline
makes no sense and it’s a concoction of scenes that just don’t work. In fact this movie is so bad it made me
question my taste in ever watching the series.
Can a movie make the series worse?
I didn’t think so, but I didn’t know how bad a movie could be.
Spy – 7
Melissa McCarthy gets to rattle off enough one-liners to
circle the equator in this fairly amusing spy spoof. It’s often spinning at such a breakneck pace,
with jokes so rapid-fire, that one wants to slow it all down and try to
comprehend it. But I guess that’s what
DVD’s are for. She plays a CIA recruit
who works in the headquarter basement talking in the ear of her favorite
spy. When circumstances require her to
leave the friendly confines it turns out she is a great field agent, of
course. Rose Byrne is terrific as her
nemesis and there are some laugh out loud bits here. It kind of makes me wish they’d whip a
lighter touch on James Bond.
San Andreas – 7
You’ll like this movie if you
like video games.
The destruction in this movie about a huge west coast
earthquake is on such a large scale, that you know you’re looking at computer graphics.
There’s no other way they could have
done this. But, you don’t seem to mind,
and that’s a little sad.
While the action is credible and even thrilling at times, I
couldn’t get past the Hollywood casting problem that is in the news. The directors and producers of the movie
Aloha have taken an immense amount of flack for casting the lily white Emma
Stone as an Hawaiian, which has angered a whole state.
This movie is even worse.
Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson is the hero of the movie. He lost a daughter in a rafting accident,
which led to the breakup of his marriage to Carla Gugino, who finally gets a
major starring role. They spend much of the
movie trying to rescue their remaining daughter, played by Alexandra Daddario.
Now Alexandra Daddario IS stunning. She is also a great actress because she makes
you actually believe the single most implausible part of the movie, that a charismatic,
beautiful girl who has undoubtedly been hit on by every male in the world,
would still be the friendliest young lady on the planet. No way.
It’s like if (insert the most beautiful woman you can think of here) was
walking through a mall saying hi to everyone, and specifically stopped to flirt
with you. (Yes, I inserted Angelina Jolie)
But the other thing that I never believed for a minute was
that she was the daughter of the Rock.
The Rock’s Wikipedia page states that he is half Samoan, half
Black. This girl has no trace of being
anything but even more lily white than Emma Stone. They really
couldn’t find someone that kind of resembled him to play this part? It would have been like casting Brad Pitt as
the son of Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker in Lee Roberts’ The Butler. I’m not making any comment on race here, just
on Hollywood’s casting practices. I don’t
think everyone needs to be white. A hint
of believability would be nice. But of
course when the Rock can commander a helicopter, a truck, a plane, and a boat
in under 2 hours and narrowly escape death 14 times (I’m guessing) it
lets you know believability is not really the priority.
Having said all that, Alexandra Daddario is probably the
best non-computer-generated part of the movie, and she’s on her way to being a
big star. She deserves it after having
to perform the ultimate stretch part.
One more thing. If
you live anywhere close to the San Andreas fault, pack. Move.
Documentaries
Requiem for the Dead:
American Spring 2014 – 10
Most people I know love guns and there’s no point in
debating them. But in the spring of 2014
an estimated 8000 people were killed by gunfire in the USA. This riveting HBO documentary tries to put a face on those
8000 people. Some were accidents, some
were suicides, some were murder, and some were other crimes. But every one of them devastated a family
somewhere, and this documentary shoves as many stories and pictures as a person
can stand into its one hour running time.
I couldn’t have watched 2 hours of this.
There’s one case in particular that changed my opinion on something
within the gun debate. I don’t expect it
will change any minds but I dare you to watch.
I’ll Be Me – 9
CNN is airing this documentary about Glen Campbell and his
ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s. Showing
footage on and off stage of his last concert tour, this paints a very personal portrait of what this disease does to its victims. I was a big Campbell fan, but even if you
never heard of him, this is powerful and moving..
