Movie of the Week: The Departed

   

    Movie of the Week (2/23/14-3/1/14): Well, it is Oscar week ladies and gentlemen, one of my favorite weeks of the year, and I figured we would jump back to a Best Picture winner in history this week. Now, we're not going that far back, but that's okay because this movie is pretty much a classic already. I haven't met one person who did not like this movie and I imagine it would be hard to find someone who does. I mean this has a fantastic cast, a wonderful director, amazing editing, and of course fun bloody shootouts to go with it. That's right, this is The Departed.
    The plot might be a little hard to follow because it has so many components going into it, but nevertheless let's give it a try. It centers around the police trying to take down the mob and in doing so they send in an undercover to try and catch them in the act of doing something. Now, the mob has their own plans, they have a mole in the police department who is telling them everything that the cops do to try and catch them. So, sometimes things get a little messy, and both of these cops are new to the force and have their own problems. Soon they become involved with the same girl and find out stuff about each other that could get each one of them killed in their own way.
    The cast in this movie is absolutely phenomenal and each one did such a great job that they could all have won an Oscar in my book, but only one got nominated. Leonardo DiCaprio is Billy Costigan, the undercover cop in the mob, Matt Damon is Collin Sullivan as the mob mole in the police department, Jack Nicholson is the main man here, Frank Castello, as the man the cops are after, Mark Wahlberg is Dignam, Martin Sheen is Queenan, Ray Winstone as Mr. French, Vera Farmiga is Madolyn, Alec Baldwin as Ellerby, and David O'Hara as Fitzy. As you can see, that is a great cast. Now, some of them are cops some of them are mob members and one of them is stuck in the middle. But, all of them probably do their best work here, although it is close for Leo. Mark Wahlberg is great as he was the only one nominated for an Oscar.
    First things first, this film was directed by the great Martin Scorsese and it is hard to say if this is his best work, but it is certainly up there. He gave us an absolutely wonderful movie and it was all because of him and his great direction. And, believe it or not, this is the only movie in which he won an Oscar for directing, but he no doubt deserved it. We also have great editing here, as we have with all of Scorsese's movies, the editing is pretty much a character itself because it controls the pace of the movie sometimes. There are several long dialogue scenes in this movie and the quick editing helps make those scenes fun to watch because it gives it tension.
    Whiles we are on that subject, the cinematography is also at its best here as Michael Ballhaus shot us a beautiful movie to look at with some fancy camera work in several scenes and some classic camera work mixed in. Some of the classic would be during the shootouts when we have a nice wide shot going and everything can be seen. The score is also very creative here as it is mostly electric guitars giving each scene its own tone. Everything in this film is put together so well, that I'm surprised that it didn't get nominated for more Oscar's. It only got nominated for five but won four, directing, adapted screenplay, editing, and Best Picture. But it should have gotten many more nominations. Nevertheless this is a new American Classic and will probably be the last good mob movie for a long while. Stay tuned for later this week when I post my Oscar predictions and who I want to win.
4/4 Stars      

Movie of the Week: Miracle

   

    Movie of the Week (2/16/14-2/22/14): "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" That is what happened at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, a miracle, when the United States men hockey team defeated the heavy favorite and talented Soviet Union on February 22. But, that wasn't even the game that won them the gold medal. They then defeated Finland to complete that miracle and give hope to the United States during the troubling times of the Cold War. So, with the Winter Olympics going on right now, why not have this movie as the movie of the week. This is Miracle.
       Well, you all know the story, I'm sure, of that hockey team and their run in the Olympic Games. But, most people don't know the story behind the team and their coach, Herb Brooks. This is what the film focuses on. We get to see how Brooks brought his team together and turned them into a winning team that was full of amateur players and college players. We also see what he goes through as a coach at home and on the ice with having to make hard decisions when it came to cutting players or to punish his team when they did not play to his expectations. Although some of those decisions weren't hard. We end the movie with the "Miracle on Ice" game that will have you standing up and cheering.
    Kurt Russell is Herb Brooks and from pictures that I have seen of the real Herb Brooks, this was a perfect casting. Tragically the real Herb Brooks was killed in a single car crash the year before this movie was released. But, Kurt Russell is the reason we watch this movie because it is all about his character and what he does with it. This is probably his best performance because he nails it, especially near the end with his reaction to the Miracle. We also have Noah Emmerich as Craig Patrick, an assistant coach, and he is also great here as he is in everything he does. I really like Noah, to me he is an underrated actor who doesn't get enough recognition for the great roles he plays. Most everybody else in the film, mainly the players, are unknown actors but they all really do a great job and should be recognized as well with taking on an important film about one of the biggest sport moments in history.
    Another person that we should recognize is the director, Gavin O'Connor, who hasn't done very many movies yet. In fact he has only done three that you may know, this, Pride and Glory, and Warrior, all of which are fantastic films and if you haven't seen them you need to. His direction is similar to that of Michael Mann's, and what I mean by that is he does films that have a very realistic feel to them. He doesn't do too much fancy camera work with them and the way they are shot makes it feel like you are in the room with the actors. We can also think Dan Stoloff for that because he was the cinematographer for this film and he shot great scenes with great shots that gave them a different effect and feel. So, scenes that were meant to be uplifting were shot differently than scenes that were suppose to be sad or serious, and each shot worked perfectly.
    I believe the next big factor in this film was the score, I mean you can't have an inspirational movie without an inspirational score, right? Well, we get that thanks to composer, Mark Isham, who wrote a very inspirational score for the film and it works perfectly especially, of course, at the end. Finally, to me a good sports movie needs to have good editing because so much is going on that they can easily miss something and put it in the film where it is not suppose to be. That has happened a lot, just watch the scoreboards in sports movies, it will read a different score than it's suppose too. But, here we have good editing overall, with the exception of the missed scoreboard, once I believe during the main game. But, the rest of the editing is done very well and gives the film some extra inspiration to it as the cuts get faster during the Miracle game. This is a very good movie of a very important event that has great acting, direction, editing, and score. By the end you yourself might just be standing up and cheering!
3.5/4 Stars

Movie of the Week: Hitch

   

    Movie of the Week (2/9/14-2/15/14): I hear tell love is in the air this week, and if you want some of you can just swat it away or spray it with a can of air-freshener, or you can embrace it. That's right, this Friday is Valentines Day, or as I like to call it "Single Awareness Day," and naturally we need a movie that celebrates this holiday, at least I guess we do. However, Valentines Day is the last thing on the minds of the people in the movie this week because it is about getting people together for the first time. But, the people in this movie need the help of a man known as "The Date Doctor." This is Hitch.
    This film is a touching film as it is about a man who helps men who have a hard time talking to women, sounds like something I need, and gets them on a date. Alex Hitchens is "The Date Doctor" and he specializes in getting men on dates with women who they think they have no chance with or can't talk to. He has these principles that he and his clients go by that says otherwise. Throughout the film he focuses on one client, a guy named Albert, who wants to go on a date with the beautiful Allegra Cole. At the same time Hitch begins a relationship with a gossip columnist, Sara, who doesn't know who he is but is assigned to write about Allegra. Soon she gets some information, wrong information mind you, about Hitch from a potential client who wanted to use Hitch for something that he does not do.
    Will Smith plays Hitch and like most of his roles he is enjoyable to watch in this one. This is probably one of his most moving performances as several times he delivers great and emotional monologues. My favorite comes near the end at a speed dating scene when some things get revealed. Kevin James plays Albert Brenneman and this is probably his best performance in a movie, he is funny and serious in several scenes and it really mixed well. These are the kinds of roles that he needs to be doing more often. Eva Mendez is Sara Melas and she too delivers a charming performance as a lost girl when it comes to love, plus the chemistry between her and Will is very good. Amber Valletta finishes off the main cast as Allegra and she too, like the rest, delivers a very nice performance.
    This is the kind of movie where special effects are pretty much obsolete because it is about great story and great dialogue. This film has a very well written screenplay with some great scenes that contain wonderful monologues that are very moving. All in all it is also a very good story about love and what is the best way to peoples hearts, we can think Kevin Bisch for that. The film also has very good direction from Andy Tennant as it has a very nice flow from beginning to end along with several well directed scenes, that are funny and serious at the same time. He might be the reason Kevin James did such a good job. Now that being said this is probably Tennant's best movie because some of the others he has done are just trying to be romantic comedies, whereas this one is.
    Like I said this is a romantic comedy that is actually good. Throughout the whole film we get stuff about romance and love, yes, but we also get several funny scenes that are spaced out very well. Plus we get a good original story that is touching and not the same thing that we see in every other romantic comedy out there. This film is a well written, acted, directed, and scored film that will make you laugh, give a crooked smile, maybe tear up a little, and make you think at times. This is one of those rare romantic comedies that could actually teach us a thing or two about love this Valentines Days.
3/4 Stars.

Movie of the Week: Mission: Impossible III

   

    Movie of the Week (2/2/14-2/8/14): There is a scene in this film, part of it is shown in the opening and the rest is shown later, where the villain has Ethan Hunt and his girlfriend handcuffed to two chairs. The villain then proceeds to point a gun at her head and tries to force Ethan to tell him where The Rabbit's Foot is, but Ethan swears he gave it to him. The villain then starts counting to ten and Ethan continues to tell him that he already has it. Then in a fit of rage, that is probably one of the best ever on screen, he shoots her in the leg then yells at Ethan with the camera right on his face with even more rage that is absolutely terrifying to watch, but at the same time great. That actor playing the villain is Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who passed away just yesterday, so this week we honor him with one of my favorite roles of his. This is Mission: Impossible III.
    This is another film in the Ethan Hunt adventure series and one of my favorites in the series. This one focuses more on Hunt's personal life as he tries to keep his job a secret from his girlfriend. But then he ends up trying to take down an arms dealer who has some kind of weapon, which we don't know what kind, called The Rabbit's Foot and things then backfire. He soon has to go out and get The Rabbit's Foot himself and we are then propelled through a series of intense shootouts and interesting intense scenes that involve having small bombs placed in people's heads.
    Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt and he probably gives us his best performance as the character as his emotions take over several of the scenes because things get very personal. Ving Rhames plays the trusty side-kick as he reprises his role as Luther Stickell. Maggie Q and Jonathan Rhys Meyers join the series as members of Ethan's team to help him take down the arms dealer. Michelle Monaghan also joins as Ethan's girlfriend. Simon Pegg is there for the comedic relief. But, the best role of this film goes to Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Owen Davian, the notorious arms dealer, who gets what he wants. This role might not be the best villain in history but it is one for the ages as Hoffman delivers us a true character that we love to hate, he gives us one powerful performance here!
    This film is also directed by the great J.J. Abrams, the man behind the new Star Trek films, and he gives it his own touch with the fast paced and cut action scenes. But he doesn't stop at the action scenes, even the dialogue scenes are done in such a way that they themselves are intense. There is one scene with Laurence Fishburne that is very intense and the way that J.J. does it, you begin to hate him even though he is on Ethan's side. With that the film also has fantastic editing that adds to the excitement of the film, especially one shootout on a bridge that was done very well and will leave you sweating once it's over.
    The film also has an updated version of the iconic theme that we all know, but we have a new and intense score that is particularly good and gives the film the extra boost it needed. With the score, direction, and editing, it is all mixed together to make one great thrill ride. But, this film wouldn't have been completed without the wonderful performance of the Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The intensity and emotion that he brought to his scenes is unquestionably fantastic and I really can't picture anybody else in the roles but him. His untimely tragic death is awful, even it was caused by his own doings, his loss will be felt in the film industry.
3/4 Stars.