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

Movie of the Week: The Kennedys

   

 

    Movie of the Week (11/24/13-11/30/13): As the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination comes to a close we end it on a nicer note with a very good miniseries. This was suppose to come on the History channel back in 2011, but it got turned away because of how controversial it was. The Kennedy family didn't like it because it was accurate to history and showed some of the bad doing in the Kennedy family dating back to the 1920's. Imagine that, History Channel not showing something that is accurate! So, Reelz Channel picked it up and aired it for all of us to see. This is The Kennedys.
    This week we step away from the assassination and the conspiracies around it, this week we have a biography. But, this is not a biography of JFK it is a biography of his whole family. It opens on election eve of 1960 and then from there it goes forward and backward by ways of flashbacks. But, every flashback is triggered by something that happens in the present. So, the flashbacks work great in this long movie. The flashbacks span several decades and goes into great detail about the lives of the Kennedy family and we find ourselves questioning the acts of the family several times, yet we still like them.
    I think one of the main reasons we do continue to like them is because of the cast. The cast here is absolutely wonderful, I can't really think of any other actors that would have been better for the roles. First we have Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy, although you will hear him being called Jack a lot through out the miniseries. But, Kinnear does a great job at becoming Kennedy and his development from his younger years to 1963 is great, but his accent does slip in and out and several times. But, that is not enough to detour us. Next, we have Barry Pepper as Robert F. Kennedy, who is really the best in the miniseries, he fits Robert perfectly with how he researched the role and how he moved and talked like him. You will think that Robert is on screen and not Barry.
    The next best actor in this series is Tom Wilkinson who plays the father of the Kennedys, Joe Kennedy Sr. And he too gives us a power house performance as the character's urge to win office seemed to drive Wilkinson to make this role his own. Another truly wonderful performance here. The last main character that the show focuses on is Jackie Kennedy, who is played by Katie Holmes. Now, Katie isn't the best actress out there, but in this particular role she actually does a great job. Not only does she look like Jackie she did a good job at becoming her and making us believe we were watching Jackie. The rest of the supporting cast is almost unknown, but they also are fantastic in their characters.
    What makes this miniseries great is the writing. As I said the show drives on flashbacks that are keyed by some kind of event that has happened in the present. Because they did that the pacing is not hurt at all, in fact it helps it. We have great writing here that leads into each scene with perfect flow. Along with that the editing is great because of the flow and the flashbacks. The writing helped it but the editing is still top notch here and adds to the story. As does the cinematography, depending on the time period a scene takes place, it looks different to add to the feel of the time. The twenties look darker than the fifties and sixties. It helps with the feel of the series which gives it a more realistic feel.
    One thing that is rare about a miniseries is a director directing the whole thing all the way through, I think it only happened one other time, maybe, with Tom Hooper directing all of the miniseries John Adams. But, Jon Cassar directed this whole miniseries and does a great job. He took on a large task with this and brought to life critical events in America's history with great drama, from integration to the Cuban Missile Crises and all the mini-crises that the Kennedys go through. A fantastic job by a mostly unknown T.V. director.
    We also have great costumes here with each and every piece being recreated from history, from Jackie Kennedys popular dresses, to JFK's good looking suits and his hidden brace that he secretly wore, to even Marilyn Monroe's short appearance dresses that she could barely walk in. A good and accurate to history design team for the costumes. Set designs were also right on the money since they recreated several historical places from the Kennedys lifetime. The Oval office looks perfect and just like it was in the early 1960's down to the smallest detail on JFK's desk. The bringing back to life of the Kennedys home and the 1920's was also very well done.
    Now, this miniseries is no Band of Brothers or John Adams, but it is a good one because of the cast and good drama that we get. It has eight episodes that are each about forty five minutes long, so you can easily watch the entire miniseries in a week. But, remember this is biography of one of the riches families in American history and tells you things that most people might not want to know about one of our greatest presidents. The secret lives of the Kennedys are brought out in this miniseries in very good detail and adds to the drama. This is a good biography with good writing, great acting, and great direction that makes for great entertainment.
3.5/4 Stars.

Movie of the Week: JFK

   

 

    Movie of the Week (11/16/13-11/23/13): This coming Friday is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. So, this week I'd figure I would pick my favorite movie about the assassination and the conspiracies surrounding it. This is the movie that should have won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1992 and among the other awards it was nominated for. This is a movie that brought in all of the conspiracies in one film and made for a wonderful drama that is one of the most controversial movies of all time. This is JFK.
    Even though it is called JFK the movie doesn't not follow Kennedy, in fact it takes place three to five years after the assassination. It follows the District Attorney of New Orleans, Jim Garrison, as he and his crew investigate the Warren Report, interview witnesses, and interview other suspicious men around the New Orleans area that they believe had something to do with Oswald. They fear that a much larger conspiracy was part of the assassination than what the government had told the American people. They finally go to trial to try and prove that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone in the shooting.
    This is a very large movie and with that we have a very large cast. Kevin Costner plays Jim Garrison and gives us one of his best performances because emotions take over several times. Gary Oldman plays Lee Harvey Oswald who also gives us a fantastic character performance because he literally becomes Oswald. Joe Pesci plays David Ferrie as a man who is associated with the communist regime and who is scared for his life. Tommy Lee Jones plays Clay Shaw in a fantastic Oscar nominated performance, who is believed to be at the head of the conspiracy. Kevin Bacon plays Willie O'Keefe, a witness to Shaw, Oswald, and Ferrie. And Sissy Spacek plays Liz Garrison, Jim's wife. There is also Jay O. Sanders, Ed Asner, Jack Lemmon, Brian Doyle-Murray, Wayne Knight, Michael Rooker, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Grubbs, Walter Matthau, John Candy, Dale Dye, and Donald Sutherland in one of the best supporting cast in a film.
    One thing that stands out the most about this film, after the cast, is the editing. The editing in this film has to one of the best ever. The film opens with a seven minute archival montage of footage describing what Kennedy had been through in his presidency before ending with a mix of archival and actual movie footage about a women screaming about how somebody is going to kill Kennedy. Then the assassination takes place. The editing doesn't end there as the film is full of flashbacks as very long monologues describe what is going on. Most of the flashback footage is in black and white. One scene about two hours into the movie, which is my favorite scene, features a man named Mr. X explaining to Garrison what the Government did before, during, and after the assassination. That scene is beautifully edited as is the last scene of the movie which is a moving, yet long, monologue by Costner.
    Oliver Stone is the mind behind this beautifully made film, he directed it, which is probably his best job, and he also wrote it. The screenplay is absolutely phenomenal, the scenes were written perfectly and the dialogues were written perfectly. I've already mentioned the two monologues that are probably the best on film. Stone researched this film from top to bottom hiring several historians to read books, watch film, and study pictures on how the conspiracies came about. Using all those resources, true or not, he brought it all into one fantastic screenplay that should have won an Oscar. Stone also read about twenty books himself to contribute to the script. This is one of the best writing jobs I've ever seen.
    Not only is this film written perfectly, it also looks beautiful. The cinematography is also among the best in film because of how they made certain parts look like archival footage in the flashbacks and how it looks in the recreation of the assassination. It was just beautifully mixed into this epic picture. One final thing that completes this film is the haunting, exciting, and moving score. John Williams did a wonderful job and gave this film the perfect score that gives it an eerie feeling and then turns into a moving score. This is the perfect score.
    If you are into all the conspiracies about the JFK assassination and you haven't seen this film then you must see this film! Even if it is not true, it will make you think and sweat all at once and you will love it. At the same time this film is set in 1966-1968 and is based on information that they knew back then, so some of it might be wrong now, but that doesn't mean that you can't sit and enjoy this controversial drama. When you watch it, watch the Director's Cut, it is about twenty minutes longer and clocks in at 3 hours and 25 minutes, but trust me, it is worth it! This is a film that raised eyebrows in 1991 and still does today.
4/4 Stars

Enjoy the trailer below!

Movie of the Week: Parkland

 

 

    Movie of the Week (11/10/13-11/16/13): As I'm sure most of you all know we are approaching the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. So, expect a lot of posts in the next few weeks of movies, shows, and even a book or two about him and the assassination. Since I'm a history buff this is a very interesting subject and event in American history to me because it has been told over and over again. The assassination has been looked at and investigated who knows how many times and there have been books written about it and films made about it, both documentaries and Hollywood films. You also know that there have been several conspiracy theories built up around it, but this film here does not focus on any of those, this film focuses what happened after the assassination in Dallas, Texas. This is Parkland.
    This film came out just a couple months ago in a limited release run in theaters because it was produced by the private studio, The American Film Company. They are still a new film company that produces historically accurate films with there first being The Conspirator, which focused on the Lincoln assassination. Parkland is the studio's second film. This film focuses on what happened after the assassination on its main focus is on Parkland Memorial Hospital, which was where Kennedy was taken after he was shot. It does not center around one or two characters it centers around several characters from the doctors who tried to save Kennedy, the secret service, the FBI, Abraham Zapruder, and the Oswald family.
    This film has a very good cast and all of who do a really good job at their parts because they all researched their characters very well. We have Paul Giamatti as Abraham Zapruder, Zac Efron as Dr. Charles Carrico, Marcia Gay Harden as Nurse Doris Nelson, Ron Livingston as James Hosty, James Badge Dale as Robert Oswald, Billy Bob Thornton as Forrest Sorrels, Tom Welling as the controversial Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman, Colin Hanks as Dr. Malcolm Perry, Jackie Earle Haley as Father Oscar Huber, and Jackie Weaver as Marguerite Oswald. The cast is really great here, we have veteran actors and younger actors working together. Two that stand out are Paul Giamatti and Billy Bob Thornton, who both do a fantastic job, despite how many other actors they are with, whenever they are on screen, they own it. We have a very good cast and performances here.
    This film was written and directed by first time director Peter Landesman, although he adapted the screenplay from Vincent Bugliosi's book. His direction is very good by giving it a very realistic, intense, and at times frightening look. His writing is okay, but at times it was a little bland, and by that I mean I felt like there could have been some more details to the characters themselves. However we do get very good and authentic details about what went on in the trauma room, Air Force One, and how they were able to look at the Zapruder film. That was really the only complaint I had about the film, there needed to be a more detail to some of the characters to add to the movie. They could have done that because the movie is only 93 minutes long.
    The film is also intense and keeps you on the edge at times, we can thank the actors for that especially Billy Bob Thornton in a couple scenes that you can't miss. This is also an authentic film when it comes to the costumes and props, they fit the time period perfectly and look great. What also looks great is the cinematography, the film looks great and was filmed very well and it really is beautiful to look at because it brings 1963 back to life very well. One final thing is the editing; this is a fast paced film at times and the editing adds to that as it brings intensity, but it is not the best.
    I did like this film and liked that it didn't bring up any of the conspiracy theories, that's for next week, it just focused on what people went through on that terrible day. The actions of everybody are not explained, just shown, and that makes the film more believable. The only problem I had was that it was too short and too bland at times. But, if you like history and enjoy a good drama with a great cast, you should give this film a watch, you might like it! There is more to come in the next couple weeks on films and books about JFK, but for now enjoy this film this week!
3/4 Stars.

Enjoy the trailer below!