Looper - 2012

Chandler - 4/22/13

In the year 2044, much of the United States is in poverty (presumably due to Obamacare). In the year 2074, time travel is invented and immediately made illegal. So of course mobsters use it to send people back to 2044 to be murdered, thus disposing of the body and evidence. The mob will also eventually send back the future self of the hired killers... creating a situation where a guy must kill himself and then live the next 30 years like a boss.

Ok... time travel movies are almost always terrible, with none ever coming close to the quality of Terminator and Terminator 2. But Looper is very good. It glosses over most of the paradoxes, and provides a pretty straight forward film that doesn't warp your brain too much (unless you let it).

Definitely worth a watch.

Rating - 3

Take Shelter - 2011

 
Geoff - 4/22/13

This movie should have been titled: "Take me to the counter and give me my money back".

Rating - 1

Into the Wild - 2007

Chandler - 4/18/13

I never thought I'd see the day when I let Sean Penn and Eddie Vedder into my house for 2.5 hours, and I didn't want to punch them in the dick afterward. In fact, Kristen Stewart made a 20 minute appearance as herself (a slutty, trailer trash 16 year old)... and I actually don't dislike her anymore today than I did yesterday.

It's a fucking miracle.

Into the Wild starts slow but really picks up steam once it has a chance to give you some back story. Only then did I finally start to sympathize with the main character: a 23 year old kid who decides to run away from society to live a few years off the grid. Basically, he's a homeless man.

What makes this movie worth watching (and I find myself saying this a lot) is that it's based on a true story. And by all accounts, it was pretty damn accurate. The final scene has a major historical inaccuracy, but that's just Sean Penn trying to push the dirty hippie cause. It's also not worth me nit-picking, since he did a pretty good job directing the rest of the film.

Rating - 3

"42" - 2013

Chandler - 4/16/13

Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in Major League Baseball. "42" breaks the N-word barrier in Hollywood. Seriously... it has to be a new record how many times that word is used.

So everyone knows the story of Jack Roosevelt Robinson, and how he was the first Negro League player to ever be signed by an MLB team. During his first season he endures a lot of racism, especially in the south where spring training is held. But Jackie is mentally strong and takes insults on the chin, and balls to the face, in order to play the game he loves.

"42" showed the above synopsis and nothing more. It wasn't really "gripping." None of the characters were that interesting, and it kinda felt like a drawn out made-for-TV movie. Harrison Ford's portrayal as Dodger owner Branch Rickey ranged from "awful southern accent" to "literally acting like Lewis Black when angry." I'm still not sure if I think Ford did a good job.

Anyway... the movie was alright. Just seemed like it tried too hard to be the "feel good movie of the summer." A good example was during the final epilog:

One of the film's villains was Phillies player/manager Ben Chapman, who would yell all sorts of racist things at Jackie from the dugout. The movie pointed out that he was eventually fired and never managed again, as if to say bad karma and racism were his downfall. In reality, Chapman not only finished the year as the Phillies manager, he also managed most of the next season. He was fired because the team was in 7th place (out of 8 teams). In fact, the Phillies went through three managers that season.

Oh well. Racism is bad. So... yeah... just remember that.

Rating - 2

Lincoln - 2012

Chandler - 4/15/13

Geoff hated this movie. He would tell you all his reasons, but he can't remember how to post a quick review of films he's recently seen.

However, I thought it was great. Daniel Day-Lewis was superb as Abraham Lincoln, and his method acting was so intense you really forget you're watching an actor. Sally Field also did a wonderful job as the broken-down and crazy Mary Todd Lincoln.

Sure, the film should have been called "The 13th Amendment." And the fever at which Lincoln fights for and  incorporates the amendment was a bit overblown. But it's still a good look back into that period of our country. The emotional toll the war took on Abe is the most interesting part of the story.

As a person who likes to tell random, long-winded stories... I found Day-Lewis' depiction of the President endearing.

Rating - 3

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Geoff - 4/22/13

Ugh... where to start. Lincoln is really long and probably wouldn't be a bad movie if it were called "The 13th Amendment" and Daniel Day Lewis wasn't being weird. The movie isn't really about Abraham Lincoln at all; this movie could be made with the exact same plot, without ever even having a scene with Lincoln in it.

And what was wrong with Daniel Day Lewis, you ask? He won an Oscar. He won an Oscar for the same reason Chandler mentioned, you forgot it was DDL when you were watching. The problem is he had some weird voice, and he told the semi-humorous long winded stories throughout the movie. Maybe that's how Lincoln was, maybe not. The point is, it was a huge distraction, and I found it extremely annoying.

And then, you get robbed of the payoff in the end of the movie, because the assassination scene was a complete letdown. Hey, Spielberg, how 'bout we skip just one of those lame anecdotes and toss in a a quick scene someone might actually want to see.


Rating - 1