Monday Movie Review - The Lost City

 Last Thursday began as a cold blustery day. I decided I needed some sunshine and stupidity in my life, so off to the movies. The Lost City starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliff, and Brad Pitt filled all of my goals. 

This is old fashioned rom-com fluff with no redeeming  value. But those of us in the theater laughed out loud and enjoyed the ridiculous situations. Sandra B plays a burned out romance novelist. Channing is her cover model, Dash. Daniel Radcliff is the wacko billionaire who kidnaps her from her book tour,  to help translate some ancient parchment.  He's convinced that from her books, his lost city on an obscure island, actually has treasure in a tomb. Are you following this?

Channing/Dash is sure he can save her, but he enlists an old buddy of his, Jack, who's military trained. Jack (Brad Pitt) is a real-life Dash - handsome, daring, and rom-com ready for anything. 

I won't go into more. It's convoluted but all plays well to the casts comedic skills. Sandra Bullock is a treasure and she was awesome in this movie. The cast looked like they had fun with it. The Lost City romp was exactly what I needed. I came out smiling  to a sunny, still blustery day. It was worth my five dollars and worth you streaming when it hits your television. 

Movie Review Madness - Ocean's Eight

Ocean’s 8 is a glossy fun goof filled with a great cast, fantastic jewels, nice clothes, a spiffy NYC, the fabulous of the Met, and an awesome larceny.  Sandra Bullock, Debbie Ocean, is out of jail but her life is crime and she had plenty of years to perfect the best heist possible. The Met Gala, a Cartier necklace, starlet Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway), and an awesome crew = hi-jinks and a slick plan.

Lou (Cate Blanchett), Rose (Helena Bonham-Carter), Nine-Ball (Rihanna), Constance (Awkwafina), Amita (Mindy Kaling), and Tammy (Sarah Paulson) all bring a skill set – petty crimes, tech guru hacker, street hustling tech support, diamond expert, design, and a swindler. No guys allowed. Well, maybe for part of the fall.

We get some back story. We see the plan pull together. We see a few chances of hiccups, but these ladies are quick on the fix. There’s snappy dialogue, eye popping settings, friendship, and female dynamics. Ocean’s 8 is crooked, breezy, and it’s a joy to watch Sandra Bullock lead a film. They are all good, and Anne Hathaway’s Daphne is annoyingly awesome. You can tell Hathaway had a blast playing her. Summer movie time deserves a chance for the ladies to stretch their legs and pull off a killer heist – no guns needed. No blasting, no death, no destruction. All you need is a blind spot or two – anything is possible.

Movie Review Madness: Gravity

Gravity is ninety minutes of great filmmaking. Alfonso Cuaron has created a believable out of this world space adventure. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney bring humanity and grit into space and you'll hold your breath as you tumble along with them to dodge space debris. I recommend paying for the 3D movie. I am someone with motion issues, but did not have a problem and the 3D dimension truly added to the movie experience.

We first meet Bullock and Clooney as they work. He chats and oozes confidence, hoping to break a time in space record before he retires. Bullock is a research doctor who's testing her studies in space. She's reserved and quiet with a mournful air. He's determined to get her to loosen up and talk more, and then discovers the reason for her seriousness.

The mission is going great, and as a member of the audience we are feeling buoyant. Then, Houston announces an impending disaster. Russian equipment exploded causing a chain reaction of hurtling space debris, and it's headed directly toward our heroes. Indeed, it all happens so fast, we barely have time to duck and we fear for their lives as she becomes untethered and spins out of reach of safety. Fortunately, he still has some jet pack fuel. With his experience, they are back together to head to the space station.

But communications are lost. More debris hits and it keeps being one disaster after another. She has to remember her simulator training for this mission. She's a medical researcher not an astronaut by trade, and Bullock portrays intelligence, fear, anxiety, and doubt in her acting. She's great for this role. I won't give away the rest of the movie. Needless to say, the title means a lot - the gravity of the whole situation.

Gravity is worthy of the buzz. It's fast paced with hold your breath moments. For anyone with astronaut dreams, strap in for the ride.

Movie Review Madness - The Heat

Just so my readers know, this crush of movie and book reviews has accumulated over the past two months. I haven't done a marathon of movies and reading in one weekend. They've piled up and I decided to have a Madness week or so.  Here's another one:

Not many critics' fave, but The Heat is a hysterical female buddy cop flick. I give this a thumbs up for sheer laughter and snappy dialogue. Sandra Bullock, our straight-laced uptight FBI star, is paired with Melissa McCarthy, a sloppy Boston beat cop detective with common sense, mad skills, and a fearless recklessness. Both women have to learn to work together as they close in on a drug ring. You can tell they had fun filming this movie and I'm guessing there are a lot of ad-libbed lines. And they work. The pacing and energy is infectious.

It's a normal cop plot line. The DEA is infighting with the FBI and the regular cops. And there's someone on the inside blowing all the news. That's not original but it still works. We know the formula, but the key is the connection between the ladies. Their on-screen chemistry is awesome, and we root for them all the way. The Heat is summer cotton candy for the mind. Load up a bucket of popcorn and laugh from start to finish. The heat is ON!