Monday Moments - Is This Thing On?

 So, I was kinda done with the world on Friday and needed to escape.  How about a marriage falling apart movie?  Yeah, that's the way to go. Popcorn and a soda - escape for two hours watching some misery.  Ha!

Is This Thing On? is directed by Bradley Cooper and he does a good job.  Will Arnett (Alex) is superb and Laura Dern (Tess) is always glorious  to watch. They've been married for over twenty years and are pretty much fighting all the time.  So they agree to split and divorce. The movie basically follows them struggling to make the divorce amicable for their two sons. 

Incredibly well acted and very realistic. Alex is in finance by day and then finds standup comedy by night. It's sheer happenstance that he goes into a comedy club. To not pay the entrance fee, he had to sign a sheet and do some comedy bit.  Turns out it's a bit therapeutic and he gets some laughs. He finds himself "alive" and challenged. It's a new world with some new friends.

What happens when Tess coincidentally sees him perform and she's the butt of his jokes?  Sorta a turn on? Are they kidding themselves? 

The  movie  feels very New York City real... like not really normal folks, but movie folks real.  I enjoyed it. The acting is really good and the difficulty of navigating  marriage is spot  on.  It's work.

Movie Review Madness - A Star is Born

What doesn’t Bradley Cooper do?  He acts, he flashes that sweet smile and those clear baby blue eyes, and he’s managed to come off as a real nice guy. Now he’s directed his first feature film AND he sings in it. In a 2018 remake of A Star is Born, Cooper is Jackson Mayne, an alcoholic musician with tinnitus, who’s not keeping it together. His brother, Bobby (Sam Elliott), does his best but Jackson is self-destructing. Then one night after a show, in search of a drink, he has his driver stop outside a place. It’s a drag bar, but the young lady featured to sing had been a former server. Everyone is enthralled with Ally’s performance, and Jackson falls hard.  Ally (a superb Lady Gaga) has tried to get in  the business, but she’s unconventional looking. She’s heard the critiques about her nose, etc,  and doesn’t need the verbal abuse.

Of course, in movie world – boy meets girl, boy gets girl up on stage, girl takes the crowd by storm, and conquers the music world very quickly. We watch Ally’s rise and root for her. Lady Gaga can belt a song and can really act too – she’s the real deal. Meanwhile, even though in love, jealousy rears its head. Jackson’s alcoholism is on a collision course with Ally’s success.  A Star is Born is solid. The story has good bones and this version works. The music is current and the singing is excellent. Cooper and Gaga have chemistry. My only usual complaint – it runs a tad long. I think Cooper could have edited or tightened it by fifteen, twenty minutes. Still, I’ll say Bradley Cooper can do it ALL – a director is born! Sing it loud.

Movie Review - Joy (or lack thereof)

Joy is not. It’s not a happy movie. It’s not an exceptional movie. It’s a rather annoying movie. I give it a solid C. A Facebook friend and his wife loved it. We had a short written discussion about it and agreed to disagree. Can I appreciate a character driven movie? Yes, absolutely. Have I liked previous David O. Russell flicks? Yes – Silver Lining Playbook and American Hustle were excellent. I found Joy rather tedious and just was not drawn into the line of storytelling.

Based on a true story, Joy is an extremely smart gal, destined for great things, who ends up working to try to make ends meet, to keep her kids fed, to keep her mother able to just watch soap operas, to keep her ex-husband still living in her basement and doing his singing gigs, and to take in her crabby father (an annoying Robert De Niro). The house is falling apart, and she seems to be the only sane one in the crowd. Jennifer Lawrence is excellent as Joy. I had no problem with her at all – she projects a fierceness and intelligence that leaps from the screen. I can be invested in her character and I wanted her to succeed.

She’s always been a thinker and an inventor, and she arrives at a concept for a new mop – one that has a detachable head for throwing in the washing machine, one that has a wringer effect so you don’t have to touch the dirty mop with your own hands. Ingenious! She creates a model, manages to convince Bradley Cooper’s QVC guy to take her on, and she appears on the show to sell the mop herself. Overnight success, right? Well, no. There’s a lot about patents and molds and contracts and getting ripped off and Joy battling everyone while still carrying everyone on her back.

It’s a pull one up from the bootstraps movie. Normally I like those. But – while I liked Joy the fighter, and Joy trying to be a business woman, I detested the peripheral characters and how they were presented. Admittedly, this was based on a true story and perhaps this poor woman really had to put up with all of these nut jobs, but I found myself very detached from the film. I kept thinking, “This is so annoying.”   Thus, it gives me joy to save you, the film goer, from seeing Joy. Consider this my first good deed of the new year. You are welcome. 

Movie Review: Aloha

Aloha can mean hello or goodbye in Hawaii.  Or, in the case of this movie title, it can mean snoozefest. There is no real point to this movie. I sat there watching it, a few weeks ago, and not caring about what was happening to the people. The only good thing is the setting – Hawaii is absolutely beautiful and the colors pop on screen. I wish I could say that was true for the acting. Bradley Cooper looks good, crinkles his baby blues, and meanders through the film. Rachel McAdams is pretty and she tries to look annoyed at Bradley. Emma Stone (whom I normally like a lot) is pretty and is trying way too hard in this film to be believable as a tough taskmaster who’s in charge of managing Bradley.  

The general gist of the film is how Bradley Cooper, as a defense contractor, learns about a secret satellite launch and has to foil the scheme. But the film is billed as a romantic comedy. Thus there are mixed messages and none of the plot works. The flirtation is not steamy. The evil doing is not that tense. Even more disappointing is that Aloha was directed by Cameron Crowe. What was he thinking?

 

I’m guessing the film crew surfed a lot and drank Mai Tais. They could write off a nice trip to Hawaii and hope for success in DVD and streaming. All I shall say is aloha………..goodbye, don’t waste your time.

Movie Review Madness: American Sniper

Pennsylvania boy Bradley Cooper and English rose Sienna Miller are darn good actors. They pull off Texan in American Sniper without a fake drawl. Number one in the nation, this movie directed by Clint Eastwood deserves its Oscar nomination and perhaps has a chance to win. It’s sneaking up in the opinion polls. This is based on a true story, and the book of the same name.  

Chris Kyle, an all American Texas boy, had a good eye as a hunter under his father’s direction. Then as a Navy Seal, under Uncle Sam’s eye, Chris Kyle is credited with the most kills of any sniper in history. His four tours in Iraq are a portrait in heroism, and, as the movie shows, a portrait of a very human mortal man. Clint Eastwood guides this movie in an objective fashion – no obvious agenda shows. We have a lot of reasons to admire Chris Kyle, and a lot of reasons to say, “Time to say stop, time to go home to your wife and kids. It’s okay.” Eastwood shows the pressure on soldiers, and the effects of battle.  

Bradley Cooper is fantastic and very worthy of his Oscar nomination. He’s a gung-ho young man who matures before our eyes, and ages into a weary wary man. From what I understand, he captured the essence of the real Chris Kyle. American Sniper is superbly filmed, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. You inhale and exhale with Kyle, and you pray that a kid does not pick up a rocket launcher. The tension is palpable and the movie audiences are quiet, totally absorbed in the action. The performances are all nuanced, not stereotypes. This is a rich film, and a snippet of history.  

American Sniper is very worthy of the big screen. You’ll come away with your own opinions of war and its human aftermath, etc. But you won’t question the powerful movie you saw and the excellence of Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. You will exhale slowly as you exit the cinema.  

Movie Review Madness: Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy is beyond awesome silly fun.  This is a Marvel misfit movie. What could go wrong in outer space will and it will be very amusing. Peter Quill as a young boy loses his mother. He runs out of the hospital and is sucked into space. Twenty six years later we see him, played by an awesome Chris Pratt, stealing an orb, living by a mixtape, and trying to get a nickname Starlord to stick. He’s a charming rascal.  In this chase for the orb, he encounters a green girl – Zoe Saldana – totally badass and her sister Nebula is worse. Rocket the raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) is the brains behind any operation but he’s a creature with no scruples. Groot (Vin Diesel’s voice) is a walking tree. Dave Bautista voices a serious Drax who takes everything literally. Altogether they are a mess and yet they slowly conquer the fight against Ronin.  

In the early stages of the movie, don’t worry too much about all of the planets and leaders, etc. Concentrate on our self-proclaimed Guardians. They bicker and they are a mess and it works. This movie is hysterical as it kicks into high gear. Stay conscious of the winning oldie soundtrack – that’s the charm of this flick. Entertaining – this is a full bucket of popcorn and a large soda movie. Truly joyous – Ooh Ooh Child will never be the same.  

We are Groot.  That’s the motto. Watch the movie and join the club. Stay after the credits for a blip of an old joke.  Guardians of the Galaxy is summer movie magic.

Movie Review Madness: American Hustle

American Hustle kicks butt. Everyone is scamming somebody in this flick. It's just a question of who can outlast the contenders. Christian Bale gained 40 pounds for this role along with a bad combover. He keeps his cons low key until he meets Amy Adams. With those innocent blue eyes, she lures him into bigger money deals and even though his (big) gut says no, he can't help but say yes. Unfortunately Bradley Cooper's FBI character uncovers this duo, arrests them, and sees larger prey in store. 

It's 1978 and the movie is loosely based on the Abscam scandals. Using a fake sheik and a whole lot of potential money, the FBI nabs congressmen, senators, and a lot of greedy folks looking for the quick buck. Bales's wife, played by the incandescent Jennifer Lawrence (what can't she do on screen) knows he has a girlfriend, but she's the one with the ring on the finger. There's some classy (!) Jersey catfights going on. Jeremy Renner is the mayor of Camden. With his pompadour and frank innocence - he gets caught up in the money laundering scheme.  

This is an adult movie full of a lot of nuanced moments. Some folks might think it moves slow. This critic was along for the ride and enjoying every second of the buildup to the final, final con. The soundtrack adds to the cinema experience. Enjoy the disco music, the polyester clothes, the Jersey accents, and the sheer power of David O. Russell's directing. Do the American Hustle. 

Happy New Year! Silver Linings Playbook

Well, it's New Year's Eve and you can tell what I've done most of the Christmas/New Year holiday - movies. I love seeing films on the big screen, and fortunately my favorite theater, Cinemark Tinseltown, has matinees for $4.25. Sssh - don't them that is really inexpensive. I don't want them to enter the 21st century. So, here's the last review for 2012 and then no doubt it's onward into 2013 with Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty, and more.

Silver Linings Playbook is humorous angst, if that's possible. We meet Pat (Bradley Cooper, spreading his wings as an actor) as he's released from a psychiatric hospital. Now he's back living with Mom ( a fretful Jacki Weaver) and Dad (uptight Robert DeNiro) and trying to cope with the world again. His goal is to get back his wife, and he has to prove to everyone that he has his act together. That's tough to do when the song "My Cherie Amour" triggers rage at the doctor's office, when he jogs wearing a garbage bag over his track suit, and when he meets another unhinged person and sparks fly.

Jennifer Lawrence shines as Tiffany. Her husband died, she slept with everyone at her office and got fired, and she's a loose cannon training for a dance competition. She convinces Pat to be her partner and in turn she'll smuggle his letters to the separated wife (by restraining order). As they practice dance, the friendship grows and yet Pat is fixated on the wife.

Meanwhile, the father is running a bookie business and is obsessed with the Eagles. He tries to bond with Pat and even blames himself for Pat's issues. There is a lot of shouting in this movie, and plenty of tension. Pat has no social filter on his mouth, and with Bradley Cooper's excellent acting we can watch the conflicting emotions cross his face. Or we can feel his confusion.

Ultimately it is an evolving love story and also a family in crisis movie. And Silver Linings Playbook is funny. Amidst all the angst and crazy, you will like these people and root for them to win. It is R rated for good reason and is for grown-ups looking for a movie with a solid cast and story. Oscar buzz alert. You'll want to place your bet on this one.

Happy New Year!!