Warrior

Movie: Warrior

Genre: action-drama

Synopsis: Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) and Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) are brothers.  Growing up, Tommy was a champion wrestler of amazing talent.  When their abusive, alcoholic father, Paddy (Nick Nolte), became too much to bear, Tom and his mother fled.  Brendan opted to stay behind.  Flash forward to the present.  Brendan is a high school physic teacher, married (to Jennifer Morrison) with children and is estranged from his father.  He is also about to lose his house to the bank.  Tommy has returned home for the first time since he left – while he was gone, he had no contact with his brother or his father.  Although he still despises his father, Tommy asks him to help him train for an upcoming Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) world championship.  Paddy has been sober for 1000 days and agrees to train Tommy, in hopes of building a relationship.  Brendan also enters the same MMA tournament – in hopes of winning the $5 million prize so he can save his house from foreclosure.

My two cents: A really enjoyable movie.  While there are a lot of fight sequences that are well done and fun to watch, the movie is just as much about a father trying to redeem himself with his sons and build a relationship with them – and the sons trying to bring themselves to forgive their father and each other and put the past behind them.  Nick Nolte was great to watch.  I first saw him as a boxer in “Rich Man Poor Man” in the 1976.  It was interesting to watch him play a tired old man trying to coach his middle-aged son as a fighter. I also liked seeing Jennifer Morrison (Brendan’s wife) – I have not seen much of her since she left “House”.

Bottom line: most definitely worth seeing.

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Contagion

Movie: Contagion

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) is infected with a particularly virulent virus while on a business trip in Asia.  She brings it back to the U.S. where it spreads like wildfire.  Her husband, Mitch (Matt Damon), was immune but she and their son both succumb to the disease.  One story line follows Mitch as he tries to keep his daughter from being infected.  A second story line follows the efforts of the CDC doctors (Laurence Fishburne and Kate Winslet) try to track the origin of the disease and develop a plan to contain it.  A third story line follows a WHO doctor (Marion Cotillard) as she tries to locate the origin of the disease in Asia.  Another story line follows a fringe blog writer (Jude Law) who claims to have predicted the outbreak and also claims to have a cure.

My two cents: A really good thriller.  A lot of good performances.  The really scary thing about the movie is how possible it is.  Something like the 1918 Spanish Flu could spread throughout the world in a matter of days.  It’s pretty sobering stuff to think about.  Definitely a movie worth seeing.

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Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

Movie: Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: Bucky Larson (Nick Swardson) is a not-so-bright kid (early 20’s) who is hanging out with his equally dim-witted friends one night watching a porn film from the 70’s.  Much to his surprise, the film starred his parents (Edward Hermann and Miriam Flynn).  Much to his delight, he learns that his mother and father were a famous porn acting team in the 70’s.  Bucky decides that his destiny is to also be a porn star . . . so he moves to L.A..  There he meets Kathy (Christina Ricci) who becomes his good friend.  He also meets a down and out porn film producer, Miles Deep (Don Johnson).  Mile guides Bucky into his new career where, amazingly, he becomes a wildly popular star.

My two cents: I saw this movie because of the “0” rating in Rotten Tomatoes.  I thought it might be one of the those “so bad that it’s good” films.  It was not.  This was the type of film that regularly made me feel really uncomfortable because the lead character was just so naïve and downright stupid.  I was surprised to see actors like Christina Ricci, Edward Herrmann (the grandfather from Gilmore Girls), Don Johnson, and Kevin Nealon (Weeds) in a film like this.

An example of the level of this movie is the opening scene: Bright and early in the morning, a farmer is shown standing in his goat pen holding a big jar of peanut butter as he takes a handful of it and smears it on below.  A big smile appears on his face as the goats crowd in. . . and you get the definite impression that this is considered to be perfectly acceptable behavior, as he waves and says “howdy” to a passerby who gives a friendly wave back.  Too much for me.

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Apollo 18

Movie: Apollo 18

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: The premise is that Apollo 17 was not the last Apollo mission.  There was a top-secret Apollo 18 that made it to the moon.  When they got there, they discovered what would become the basis of the catch-phrase “there is a reason we never went back”.

My two cents: This movie has gotten pretty crappy reviews . . . but I liked it.  The big stumbling block is believing that - with all the hundreds, if not thousands, of people on the ground involved with an Apollo mission – it has taken over 35 years for anything to be leaked about it to the public. Once I got past that, it was kind of fun.  A number of real goose-bump moments; such as when the two astronauts in the lunar module look out their window and discover that the flag they planted is no longer there, or when they discover footprints.  I think this was much better than the critics and a lot of viewers) have given it credit for.

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Creature

Movie: Creature

Genre: horror

Synopsis: The “Creature” is a man-alligator that haunts the swamps near a small Louisiana community.  Three young couples who are just “passing through” learn about the “legend” of this creature and decide to visit the house where the man who supposedly became the creature used to live.  Many, many bad things follow.

My two cents: A pretty typical “wrong turn” type of movie – with an alligator twist.  The actor I most enjoyed watching was Sid Haig – who played his typical really-evil type of character (you may remember him as one of the scariest clowns ever in “The Devil’s Rejects”).  An example of the stuff that just drives me crazy with this type of movie: these six people just suddenly decide that they are going to hike through an unknown backwoods swamp area and camp there overnight – but no one even has a flashlight.  If you are into this genre you would probably like it.  If you are not a big fan of this genre, definitely give this a pass.

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The Debt

Movie: The Debt

Genre: spy thriller

Synopsis: In 1966, Rachel (Jessica Chastain), Stephan (Marton Csokas) and David (Sam Worthington) were three Israeli Mossad agents wo were sent on a secret mission to East Germany.  Their mission was to kidnap a Nazi war criminal and bring him back to Israel for trial. The movie begins 31 years later in 1997 with Rachel (now played by Helen Mirren) is the ex-wife of Stephan (Tom Wilkenson) and David (Ciarán Hinds) has only recently re-entered the picture.  The three were celebrated as heroes for their exploits in 1966; but the return of David brings a major bump to their lives.  As we re-live the 1966 mission, we find out just how big the “bump” is.

My two cents: A pretty good spy thriller.  The plot and execution was pretty believable.  I especially liked Jessica Chastain as Rachel.  After seeing Jessica as Celia Foote in “The Help” it was interesting to see her in such a radically different role.  I would like to have seen Ciarán Hinds get more screen time.  After seeing Helen Mirren play a “wet work” specialist in REDS, it would have been nice to see her do more butt-kicking.  That said, my only real beef with this movie was the ending.  I like the endings to wrap up loose ends and – for me - this movie left too many.

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Seven Days in Utopia

Movie: Seven Days in Utopia

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Luke (Lucas Black), an up and coming professional golfer, is challenging for the lead in the final round of a golf tournament … until he shoots a 14 on the final hole.  After his meltdown, he drives off to be by himself.  He ends up in a town of 375 called Utopia.  In Utopia, Luke befriends Johnny Crawford (Robert Duval).  Johnny is a crusty old gentleman who turns out to be a former professional golver with his own golf course in Utopia.  Johnny promise Luke that if he gives Johnny a week to work with him, he will give Johnny the tools to turn his golf game around.  What follows is Johnny in the role of Mr. Miyagi and Luke in Ralph Macchio’s role.  By the end of the seven days, Luke has indeed learned what he needs to turn his life (and golf game) around.

My two cents: The movie had a lot of potential . . . but I was too distracted by the “Karate Kid” similarities.  I kept waiting for Johnny to tell Luke: “Wax on . . .wax off”.  I did like the performances: Robert Duval never seems to miss.  I especially liked seeing Deborah Ann Woll sans fangs (i.e. outside of True Blood).  The movie just got a little too preachy for me.

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