Movie of the Week: Jack Frost

   

 

    Movie of the Week (12/22/13-12/28/13): Christmas is pretty much here already so lets have a movie to watch this week about Christmas. We all wish we could make things better with somebody or our family members. But, most of the time that thought doesn't cross our minds until the most cheerful season comes around. That is what happens in this film, except something terrible happens when a child's father dies in a car crash and then a year later he gets a second chance when he comes back as a snowman. He then gets a second chance at being the father he should have been. This is Jack Frost.
    Michael Keaton plays Jack Frost, yes that's his real name, as a man with a family, but also loves his life as a musician. It is this where he must do things which makes him keep breaking his promises and not being with his family, mainly his son. From the short time he is actually on the screen, and not voicing the snowman, he does a pretty good job, although it is not his best performance. But, the fact that he signed on last minute probably had something to do with it. Kelly Preston plays Gabby, his wife, and we get a decent performance for her as well. Joseph Cross plays Charlie, his son, who he comes back to spend time with, and the majority of the time we get a good to mediocre performance from him, but he does his job when it counts. Mark Addy, from Game of Thrones, plays Mac, a close friend of the Frost family and is there to help Charlie through the ordeal from time to time.
    The story here is pretty clear as is the message which we pick up on pretty quick, which also comes up clearly in the end as well. So, the story is fairly basic, but that doesn't mean it won't be good to watch at times. Although we get several cheesy moments throughout, there is still enough seriousness floating around to make you keep watching, and yes even with a talking snowman. That being said the effects were pretty decent on the snowman, but you can also tell that they used a lot of the money on the snowman because a couple other scenes where effects were needed were a little dull. Also, at times at the family home you can clearly tell that they are in a studio just by looking in the background.
    Again, this is not a big time movie and does not have a great story that will blow your socks off, but it has a meaningful story. And that aspect, along with the family friendly atmosphere, is what kept this movie from being a total wreck. Now, we get a good performance from Michael Keaton, good visuals on the snowman, and we get a good mix of comedy and seriousness because by the end of the movie we get a serious scene that might make you shed a tear of two. This is a good family movie that you can sit down and enjoy, it gives a good message, and has a feel good feeling to go along with it. But, its lack of direction, great story telling, and acting by some of the younger actors hurts it in the end. Nevertheless, Merry Christmas!
2/4 Stars 

Movie of the Week: The Wild Bunch

   

 

    Movie of the Week (12/15/13-12/21/13): Well, it's time to pull an oldie again, but not just any oldie, an oldie from my favorite genre in film. The western genre is probably the oldest of all genres and its heyday lasted a good forty years. There were so many westerns made between 1930 and 1970 that it is impossible to count them all. However, that is a good thing because there were so many different stories to be told that many of them were original stories and turned into classics. This film here is a classic but not as big of a classic as some others, but that was because it was apart of the groundbreaking graphic westerns in the late 1960's. This is The Wild Bunch.
    The title tells you that this could be a graphic story and from the opening sequence that proves to be true. It opens with a prolonged bank robbery by the main characters and from there on it is one fun ride. The film follows a group of older outlaws who want to do one last job before the officially retire. Once they escape the bloody shootout a bounty hunter is on to them and then they run into more trouble as one of them is captured. As the time around them is changing and the west is no longer wild, it is now 1913, they stick with their old habits in a new era and attempt one last rescue mission of their captured friend. The film then ends as it began, in a bloody and gory shootout that you must see to believe.

     The film has a great cast and the best being the late great Ernest Borgnine as Dutch along with William Holden as Pike, Robert Ryan as Deke, Edmond O'Brien as Freddie, Warren Oates as Lyle Gorch, Jaime Sanchez as Angel, and Ben Johnson as Tector Gorch. This cast is really fantastic and one to forever remember and unfortunately all of them have now passed. But, at the time this came out in 1969, they were all at the top of their game. They all deliver us great and heart pounding performances and as the movie goes it they only get better. By the end they become a wild bunch that we come to love but ultimately know their demise just by watching their actions throughout and it is a group of performances to remember.
     The very first thing that we notice about this film, because it is use so much and so well, is the editing. From the opening violent sequence the editing essentially becomes a character on its own because it adds so much to the shootouts. The editing is intense during specific scenes and helps shows multiple things at once, which is quite cool and impressive to see considering the time this came out. We also have great writing here, the screenplay is written very well because it digs us deeper into each character as the movie goes on, we learn more about each character, some through flashbacks, which is why we end up liking each one.
    We also have great direction as Sam Peckinpah adds to his resume of graphic films. He is known for his graphic and bloody films, especially during a time where that had just not come around yet. He was pushing the limits and changing film with this graphic picture as he does a fantastic job yet again. You can tell that each and every scene has his personal touch. Along with his touch is a haunting score that drives the film further. This is not just a violent western as the reign of that genre came to end, it is about a group of older, out of date per se, outlaws who continue to stick with their old ways as times change and the Wild West came to an end. From opening to close we are given a great story with an even better cast along with some fantastic gory shootouts that helped changed film and turn it into what we know it as today.
3.5/4 Stars.

Movie of the Week: Running Scared

   

 

    Movie of the Week (12/8/13-12/14/13): Hey, gang! I know I am very late this week, but the heavy snow and ice this past weekend caused us to have no Internet for a few days. But, I'm back now bringing you all the movie of the week, which I know you were anxiously waiting for! This week we are going to steer away from the Christmas movies. As all of you know we lost Paul Walker about a week and half ago, so young at that, and I thought we could honor his memory this week by watching a movie in which was underrated and a movie where he gave us his best and most powerful performance. That movie is Running Scared.
    This 2006 film was not very well known by the national audience upon its release into theaters, it wasn't until it reached home video that it gained popularity. But, once it did more and more people began raving about Paul's performance. The film focuses on a thug who, after a drug deal gone wrong, is suppose to get rid of the gun used to kill a dirty cop in the drug deal. But, things take a drastic turn when his neighbor's kid finds and takes it to shoot his abusive father. The gun then takes a trip through the night ending up in the wrong hands as Joey, Paul Walker, races to find it before everything goes terribly wrong. He runs into several events throughout the night and by the end of the movie he reveals a big secret.

Paul Walker displaying his talent in a scene of rage. 

    As I said, the film stars the late Paul Walker as Joey Gazelle who is a low time thug trying to make a living, or so we think. Walker delivers us the best performance of his career and it is a powerful one, one that probably should have had Oscar consideration. As things get worse in the film he gets better and better, this film is driven by him and the amount of talent he showed in this film showed us what he was really capable of. The supporting cast is pretty good here too, although there are not too many well known actors. We have Chazz Palminteri as a corrupt cop, Vera Farmiga as Joey's wife, Cameron Bright as Oleg, the kid who took the gun, Alex Neuberger as Joey's and Teresa's son, Johnny Messner as a young mob thug, Michael Cudlitz as another mobster thug, and Bruce Altman and Elizabeth Mitchell as Dez and Edele respectively as a frightening couple that we come across in the film's events.
    The other really good thing to say about this film is that it was written very well. It is an interesting story that takes place all in one night and the scenes where written very well, even if some of them are disturbing. It was written by the director, Wayne Kramer, who is virtually unknown but did a very good job at directing this dark movie. There are several scenes that are frightening, not scary, to watch because they were written and directed so well. One scene in particular, which is the best in the film, is the scene at the hockey rink, towards the end, it is so well written, directed, acted, and edited that it gave me chills when I watched it. Kramer is not a well known director but he did a great job with this picture.
    The film also has good editing, but at times the editing is a little to extreme, it seems they got slap happy with it every now and then and I think that was a weakness in the film. With the film taking place at night and in not very well lit places it can be hard to see sometimes, but the majority of the time you can tell what it going on perfectly and that made the film have great cinematography and lighting at times when it needed it, for example, the hockey rink scene. Overall this is a well written and powerfully acted film with a few hiccups every now and then. But, this film is graphic at times and that means the violence, language, and sexual content. It is so graphic in fact that the director thought it would get an NC-17 rating when he submitted it, but it got an R rating, nevertheless he was disappointed that it did not. This is a very good film because the late Paul Walker put everything he had into this film and it will be one of his to remember for years to come. Rest easy Paul.
3/4 Stars

Movie of the Week: Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

   

 

    Movie of the Week (12/1/13-12/7/13): Well, December is finally here and the Christmas season is upon us and I'm sure most of you reading this already have your Christmas trees up. But, you best keep an eye on your trees along with all of your decorations unless you want some green thing to take them away. That's right, lets kick off Christmas this year with a movie adapted from the classic children's book. This is one of my favorite Christmas movies to watch this time of year because it brings a smile to my face and makes me laugh. This is Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
    This film is quite simple to follow, it doesn't have any special plot points to it until the very end and it was adapted well. It is about a fantasy land inside a snowflake that houses Whos who love the Christmas season, some might say too much. But, nevertheless they make an interesting story about one of them who hates the season of Christmas and is set on stopping it from coming by stealing all of their decorations and gifts. That person is called The Grinch.
    That Grinch character is played by non other than Jim Carrey, it's almost hard to tell that that's him under all that makeup, but it is. Jim Carrey does such a great job in this film that you can't tell it's him because of how he changes his voice and once he does that he literally is The Grinch.  He gives us such a funny performance that I laughed out loud several times throughout the movie. Without Carrey in this role I can't imagine who else could had done it and it certainly wouldn't have been the good movie it is without him. The film has a decent supporting cast with Taylor Momsen as Cindy Lou Who, Jeffery Tambor as Mayor Augustus Maywho, Christine Baranski as Martha May Whovier, Molly Shannon as Betty Lou Who, and Clint Howard as Whobris. The supporting cast here is decent not great, but The Grinch runs the show in this film, even though they give us funny performances overall.
    Now, there are two things that really make this movie stand out much further than others from when it came out and even today. Those two things are makeup and set design. The makeup on all of the characters is absolutely phenomenal. Every actor does not look like themselves as they are covered in special makeup to look like Whos. The Grinch's make and costume took hours to put on, put it was worth it as it won the Oscar for Makeup. The sets were also beautifully crafted as they helped bring to life a new place of oddly shaped houses, landscape, cars, and many other items that brought Whoville to the screen. Another great aspect of the film that got nominated for an Oscar.
    We also have very good costume designs in this film as very creative minds give each character distinguished clothing, also nominated for an Oscar. The films director, Ron Howard, also did a very good job as he gave us a very colorful and family friendly comedy, with some crude humor every now and then, that has a heartwarming premise by the film's end. Even though it's not his best work, it is one to remember for the holidays. From start to finish you will be amazed at how the film looks, how the beautiful sets look, how well crafted the makeup is, and how perfect the character costumes are. Not to mention a lot of laughs and the catchy score and great theme song.
3/4 Stars