Kaboom

Movie: Kaboom

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: Smith (Thomas Dekker) and Stella (Haley Bennett) have been best friends forever.  They are now in college together.  Stella is gay, Smith is “undeclared”.  Smith has an odd dream that is seemingly coming true.  He meets a girl from the dream, only to see her die when attacked by men wearing animal heads.  The next day there is no evidence of any foul play.  Eventually Smith and Stella and Smith’s new friend, London (Juno Temple) start figuring out what is going on.

My two cents: This was a strange one.  It has a lot of things going on: a subversive group planning to take over the world, a plan to blow up the world, witches, boy-on-boy sex, boy-on-girl sex, girl-on-girl sex, boy-on-girl-on-boy-sex, children kidnapped to be brain washed and yes – men running around wearing animal heads when they do their evil deed.  If you can go with the flow, the movie is kind of fun – but I kept finding myself muttering “Oh come on, give me a break”.

Bottom line: if you see this, just try to accept what it gives you and don’t look for anything resembling realism.

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Even the Rain

Movie: Even the Rain

Genre: historical drama

Synopsis: Sebastian (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Costa (Luis Tosar) are producing a movie about the treatment of the native American population by Christopher Columbus.  For budgetary reasons, they are filming in Cochabamaba, Bolivia.  It happens that Cochabamada is in the throes of government efforts to privatize all water sources.  People are not even allowed to have their own wells.  One of the natives cast in the movie is a driving force behind the popular uprising to protest this privatization effort.

The movie goes back and forth  between it’s movie within a movie showing the horribly inhumane treatment the natives received at the hands of the Spanish and the way the current government is treating its own citizens in modern day Cochabamada.

My two cents: After seeing this movie, I charged home to see just how accurate the two story threads were,  It turns out they were both dead-on accurate.  In 2000, the government really did try to privatize all sources of water in Cochabamaba.  The resulting uprising by the people was called “The Bolivian Water War”.  Had the privatization been successful, people would have had to pay up to 50% of their income for water.

And backing up 500 years . . . the Spanish really did require natives over the age of 14 to pay a tax that consisted of either a tiny bell (the size worn by hunting hawks) with gold or 50 pound of cotton every three months.  Failure to pay the tax would result in one or both of the native’s hands being cut off.  It is pretty grim stuff.  Also, the priest depicted in the movie-within-the-movie making the exact speech shown.

As to the movie itself, it took me a while to separate Gael Garcia Bernal from the image of Carlos burned into my brain by 5½ hours of the “Carlos” movie.  I thought this was a great movie – it was a real eye-opener regarding current conditions in Bolivia as well as just how horribly the native population was treated from a492 on.  One problem I had with the movie was with the two main characters: Sebastian and Costa. It seemed that they were inconsistent in how the characters reacted to the current plight of the native population.  Sometimes Sebastian was sympathetic and Costa did not give a damn, other times Costa put himself at risk to help while Sebastian only seemed to care for the fate of the movie.

Bottom line: most definitely see this movie.  If you have the opportunity, before you see it – do yourself a favor and do a little research on Antonio de Montesinos and Bartolomé de las Casas and look up The Bolivian Water War in Cochabamada.  It will help you appreciate what you see in the movie.

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Cold Weather

Movie: Cold Weather

Genre: mystery

Synopsis: Doug (Cris Lankenau) is a college dropout.  He had been majoring in forensic science before he quit school.  Now he is living with his sister, Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn) in Portland and working the night shift in an ice factory. Rachel (Robyn Rikoon) is a former girlfriend who pays Doug a visit when she is in town.  When she seems to mysteriously vanish from her motel room, Doug and his sister take it upon themselves to figure out what happened and what became of Rachel.

My two cents: This movie started a little slowly, but picked up steam nicely.  Initially, you are not even sure there is a mystery to be solved.  I had a lot of fun following the two as they came across clues and tried to solve them to get to the next piece of the puzzle.

Bottom line: this is one of those independent gems that will be seen by far too few people.  Don’t pass up a chance to see it.

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Hall Pass

Movie: Hall Pass

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are married to Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate), respectively.  The two men are obsessed with sex.  Specifically, they cannot stop fantasizing about having sex with everyone from the babysitter to the coffee barista to just about any female they see.  Finally the women have had enough.  They offer their husbands a one-week “hall pass”: a week when the wives take the kids out of town and the men can behave as if they are not married.  They can do whatever they want – with impunity.  The two men learn that they are not the smooth operators they seemed to think they would be.  Meantime, both of the wives end up having a bit of fun during the week.

My two cents: An interesting premise.  A lot of laughs.  Personally, I found the raunchiness of some of the situations to be a bit over the top.  That said, I really enjoyed seeing Jenna Fischer outside “The Office” – although I found it a bit of a stretch to view her as a middle-aged mother who has lost her physical appeal.  An interesting bit of casting had Richard Jenkins as a kind of sexual guru.

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Unknown

Movie: Unknown

Genre: action thriller

Synopsis: Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) arrives in Berlin with his wife, Elizabeth (January Jones).  He is a biologist who has been invited to give a lecture at a conference.  After leaving his wife at the hotel, the taxi Martin is in has an accident.  The driver, Gina (Diane Kruger) saves his life – but then flees the scene.  Martin is in a coma for two days.  When he awakens, his wife not only does not recognize him – but has another man that she claims is her husband – Dr. Martin Harris.  Martin does not know if he is going crazy or if he is being duped.  He tracks down the taxi driver and enlists her help to get to the bottom of things.

My two cents: Pretty good.  I was stumped as to what the heck was going on until pretty close to the end of the movie.  There were a couple of excellent car chases.  Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger and January Jones were all great.  The movie was not as good as Taken, but definitely worth seeing.

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I Am Number Four

Movie: I Am Number Four
Genre: science fiction thriller
Synopsis: John (Alex Pettyfer) is from another planet. When the Magador race conquered his planet, nine children were sent to Earth for safety.  John is the fourth of these nine.  His companion/bodyguard/father-figure is Henri (Timothy Olyphant).  Magadorians have landed on Earth and are hunting down the nine children in order.  The first three have been killed and now they are after John.  When Henri moves them to Paradise, Ohio to hide out, John falls for Sarah (Dianna Agron), a girl in the local high school.  When the Magadorians descend on Paradise with their hunting creatures, John must enlist the help of some of the locals to battle them – and he gets some additional help from unexpected sources.

My two cents: I kind of enjoyed this movie.  I had low expectations, but it turned out to be OK.  The storyline is a bit of a stretch, but once I bought into it, it was fun.  The powers that John had were interesting, the Magadorians were cartoonishly evil and both sides had some really big and really mean creatures they enlisted during the climactic battle at the end.

[46]

Cedar Rapids

Movie: Cedar Rapids

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) is an insurance agent for a small insurance company in a really small Wisconsin town.  When the top salesman in the firm dies – under awkward circumstances, Tim is picked to represent the firm in the annual insurance convention in Cedar Rapids. To say Tim is naïve is to grossly understate the situation.  He arrives in Cedar Rapids where he has to share a room with “to be avoided at all costs” Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly) and Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.)  Dean and Ronald join forces with Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche) to try and pull Tim out of his cocoon.  He ends up getting drunk, smoking crack, skinny dipping with Joan - and having a fling with Joan.  Then he has to face the music at the convention awards ceremony.

My two cents: This was a really funny movie.  Tim reminds me of the innocence most of the citizens of Mayberry had.  Ann Heche had a great role, as did John C. Reilly.  Kurtwood Smith (the father from That 70’s Show) was perfect as the president of the insurance convention.  His initial meeting with Tim in a gym where they each have just a towel – and then nothing – on was hysterical.  I can’t fail to mention Sigourney Weaver’s role as Tim’s sixth grade teacher who has been sleeping with him for the last several month.  Last but not least, Alia Shawat (Michael Bluth’s niece in Arrested Development) was a hooker – but Tim kept thinking she was just hanging around the hotel looking for someone to give her a cigarette; so he would counsel her on the dangers of smoking and offer her a butterscotch.. Everyone was just great in this film – and the ending was pretty decent too.

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