Movie of the Week: We Are Marshall

   

 

    Movie of the Week (8/25/13-8/31/13): With the football season kicking off this week, I thought it only logical to pick a football movie. However, this football movie will not really get you pumped up like most other football movies because it tells a sad true story. This film isn't about an underdog overcoming all of the hardships, it doesn't focus on a select number of players on a team that is good or bad, and it is not about one single player trying to play for a team. No, this is an emotional film about a football program having to start from scratch because a horrific and tragic event struck the town at the end of the previous season. This is We Are Marshall.
    The film opens with the teams last game before the accident of the 1970 season and then shows the tragic plane crash very briefly that killed seventy-five members of the Marshall football team including several other people. We then see the aftermath and the story takes off. The President of Marshall University plans on not having the 1971 season but a couple players, who were not on the plane, and the students persuade him and the board otherwise. They then begin to search for a new coaching staff who then has to find new players. While all of this is going on the President tries to persuade the NCAA to let freshman play and family and friends of the people who died continue to cope with their losses. The season finally comes around as the new football team tries their best to replace what was once there.
    The first thing that makes this a good movie is the cast and it is a fantastic cast all of who did wonderful jobs. We have Matthew McConaughey as Jack Lengyel, Matthew Fox as Red Dawson, Anthony Mackie as Nate Ruffin, David Strathairn as President Dedmon, Ian McShane as Paul Griffen, Kate Mara as Annie Cantrell, January Jones as Carole Dawson, Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Sandy Lengyel, and Brian Geraghty as Tom Bogdan. I know that's a lot, but I'm not going to go through each one. But, I will say that Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, and Ian McShane all give us fantastic performances. McConaughey probably gave us his best performance of his career, but the recently released Mud surpassed that. David Strathairn and Anthony Mackie also give us great performances.
    One thing that surprised me about this movie was the direction that we get from McG, or Joseph McGinty Nichol, who does a very good job when it comes to the football scenes and emotional scenes. There are many scenes that are emotional to watch and he did a great job at directing the actors through these difficult scenes. He also did a great job at directing the football scenes which are very realistic and look great, they almost match that of Friday Night Lights. With those shots comes good cinematography, not great, which is what we have and it helps bring that 1970's feel come to life. And of course it makes the football scenes great!
    But, we don't really watch this film for the football scenes because that is not what this movie is about. This is about the drama that occurred the year after the accident and that is what makes this a great movie. It is a great drama that is a sports movie, there are only a few of those that we watch for the drama of the situation and not the sports scenes. One last thing that makes this a good movie is the score, if you don't shed a tear or two in some of the scenes with no music, you will once the music begins. The emotional score adds so much to the movie, especially at the end, that it is hard not to shed a tear. This is a good underrated film and McG's best film to date because of a good screenplay, great performances, and an emotional score. This film will not get you pumped up for the football season, but it will certainly inspire you!
3/4 Stars    
          

Movie of the Week: Patton

   

 

    Movie of the Week (8/18/13-8/24/13): One of the most famous generals of World War II was also one of the most hated by his men, by civilians, and even by the Supreme Commander of all the Allied forces during the war, Dwight Eisenhower. But, you know what? He did not care at all because he never kept his mouth shut, or his hands to himself. That man had a mind of his own that most people did not like, he wanted to do things his own way or no way at all and a lot of the time he expressed himself through physical means, which earned him the nickname "Old Blood and Guts." That man was General George S. Patton and the film Patton shows exactly what he was like and in great fashion.
    The film is a biography, but not of his life just of his exploits as a General during World War II, which we get a great detail of. It starts off with him and his army in Africa fighting tank battles, which were well done. Then he has his personal problems, including the infamous incident of slapping a soldier and his attitude toward his friends and his superior officers. Finally, we work our way towards Germany with a couple more exciting tank battles and the famous rescuing of the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne.
    With an epic historical picture like this you need a good cast and a wonderful lead actor to take on the role of Patton himself, but the trouble with this film is that there are not many actors in it that are known today. There are really only two actors that most people know and those two play the two leading roles in the film. The first is obviously George C. Scott who plays Patton and gives us a captivating performance that will have you hooked on the movie the moment he steps on that stage in the opening scene. Words almost can't describe how much I loved this movie because of his acting, they truly couldn't have found anybody better for his Oscar winning performance. The other actor is Karl Malden who plays Patton's closest friend in General Omar N. Bradley. He too delivers us another unforgettable performance and the two of them were a great pairing for the movie.
    One of the best things about this film, besides Scott's performance, was the writing. The screenplay was such wonderfully written because it has powerful dialogue, in which many of the words spoken were taken from Patton's speeches or memoirs. The man behind the Godfather films wrote the screenplay, Francis Ford Coppola, who as we all know did a fantastic job with those and on this film. It was mixed with such great and even pacing throughout the film that I simply couldn't stop watching it. There is plenty of powerful drama to go around and there is a lot of fighting, although most of it is tank battles, but they are so well filmed and choreographed that it adds to the excitement of the film. It is not just a biography film filled with words, but when the words are spoken they pull you in deeper because of the tension in each scene.
    The last few things that make this a great film from 1970 is the direction, cinematography, and musical score. Franklin J. Schaffner, who is known by older audiences because of films like this one, Planet of the Apes, and Papillon, but not younger ones did a fantastic job because he worked with such a great cast and screenplay. He really kept the tension going with Patton and filmed wonderful tank battle sequences. With the filming comes the cinematography which is simply beautiful, but that is mainly because they had such beautiful landscapes to work with. Finally, we have a fantastic score by Jerry Goldsmith, although there is not much music throughout the film, but when it is used it makes the film that much better, again adding either tension or excitement. This is one biography film to remember because of a great performance from its lead actor and a wonderful screenplay. There is no questioning why this epic was nominated for ten Oscars and won seven of them including Best Picture!                                          
4/4 Stars.     

Movie of the Week: The Mummy (1999)

   

 

    Movie of the Week (8/11/13-8/17/13): In 1932 a classic horror picture known as The Mummy was released to the world and frightened many people. Of course that was a different time period and different movie because in 1999 the remake of that movie was released. However, this picture was not near as dark as the original in fact they turned it into more of an action adventure film from director Stephen Sommers, which it is. But, that does not mean that this new take is a terrible film because it is quite fun to watch, although it does have its flaws, like any film.
    The film focuses on an American who helps a librarian on a dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra, along with her brother and a couple other folks who are interested in the gold there. There, they run into another group of people who are also looking to dig in the city. Eventually they each end up causing trouble and read from a book that they shouldn't have and wake a mummy from the dead. From there on chaos is unleashed and they rush to put the mummy, Imhotep, back to where he came from, although Imhotep has other plans.
    The first thing I would like to discuss would be the cast, of course, which really was not that bad and overall I liked the casting. Brendan Fraser stars as Rick O'Connell, the American escort, and gives us probably his best performance, followed by the sequel, although not so much in the third unfortunately. So, I liked him in this movie and this role, I thought he was a good pick. Next is Rachel Weisz who plays the librarian, Evy Carnahan, who mainly gives us a funny performance early on, but by the end turns very serious. So, I liked her development. John Hannah plays her brother Jonathan, who is there for the comedic relief. We also have Arnold Vosloo who plays Imhotep, who gives us an "okay" performance at times, for some reason, I felt he wasn't always into his character, but other times he was great, I was mixed on him. One of my favorite characters in the film was Rick's sidekick, if you would, Ardeth Bay played by Oded Fehr. For some reason, I liked his character and we get a good performance from Bay.
    What set the film apart and what made it good and worth the watch is the visual effects, editing, and sound editing. Visually this film is great, we get all kinds of effects when it comes to the mummy scenes especially towards the end. A giant wall of sand with a face in it sets it apart along with the effects on the half dead Imhotep. The film also sounded great, you'll know the scenes I'm talking about when you see them, they are mainly the fight scenes and the scenes when the mummy uses his powers to do some weird stuff. With that weird stuff comes some very interesting sounds that got it nominated for an Oscar.
    Finally, what hurt the film a little was the screenplay, at times it felt thin and I wasn't interested in a couple of the characters because there wasn't much on them. And one is rather annoying, trust me, you'll know when you see him. Although they were minor characters when they died, I didn't care for them that much. I just felt that a little more background and development on some of the characters would have helped. But, the film was thrilling at times and we get enough development with the two main characters that it works fine overall. So, this is a good remake with good lead acting, visual effects, sound editing, and at times a weak script, but overall good development between the two leads. This is a good, not great, film!                                                                                                   3/4 Stars

Movie of the Week: The Hangover

   

 

    Movie of the Week (8/4/13-8/10/13): I'm beginning to make a habit of this late thing, but I was in Gatlinburg this weekend, so I think that is a good excuse for being late this time. With summer slowly coming to a close and school beginning to start back up, I thought a movie about a party gone wrong would be a good fit. Although I don't believe most people will stop partying for those reasons and I hope your party doesn't turn out like it does in this film. Four friends go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party and are slipped drugs, then one thing leads to another and they lose the groom, the next morning three of them wake up and must retrace their steps to find out where he is in The Hangover. 
    What is good about this film is that it is very original when it comes to the writing from screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. Throughout the film the three main characters are faced with many serious, but very funny challenges that will make you laugh for a while after the movie is over with. They have to face things like a stripper who married one of the guys without him knowing it, an unknown baby, a couple funny police officers, a powerful, yet small, man named Mr. Chow, a tiger, and Mike Tyson himself. All of these encounters are well written and original, which is why they turn out to be extremely funny, along with a great cast that couldn't have been better.
    The cast is extremely good in this film with Bradley Cooper as Phil, Ed Helms as Stu, Justin Bartha as Doug, Zach Galifianakis as Alan, Heather Graham as Jade, Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow, and Mike Tyson as Mike Tyson. When you put this funny cast into one movie you know it's going to be hilarious. This movie was also the coming out party for Zach Galifianakis, who is very funny, and has done other roles since then and looks to be very promising. Everybody else is superb in their roles as they embraced them, especially Bradley Cooper, who will win an Oscar one day, and Ed Helms who give us the best performances in the movie.
    With the film being set in Las Vegas it of course looks great and it has great cinematography, but that is not why we watch comedies, but of course that is still important. When it comes to comedies we mainly look at the originality of the film, like I have already mentioned, which is powered by the writing. But, we also look closely at the direction, editing, and score because all three of these are very important for comedies, although they are also important for other films too obviously, but comedies are different, they are hard to make. The director, Todd Phillips, does a great job at directing the cast to give us hilarious performances and making each scene serious and funny at the same time. The scene where Stu sings "The Tiger Song" is probably one of the funniest in the movie. The director is also helped with the editing and score, both of which are very good and help bring humor and tension in each scene.
    This film is the first of a trilogy, the last part of which was released early this summer, and they started it off with a bang. I haven't met very many people who did not like this movie. What makes this movie a good comedy is that it is not a stupid comedy, like most people think comedies should be, no it is funny situations happening in a serious setting. That is what makes this movie a great original comedy, I know I keep saying that but it is true and why it is so good. It fits in the ranks of comedies form directors such as Mel Brooks and David Zucker, his earlier films that is. It is hard to make comedies these days and Todd Phillips proved everybody wrong when this film came out, it is one of the best, if not the best, comedies in the last five of ten years.                                           3.5/4 Stars