The Road to the Top

Director Nick Ryan's first documentary The Summit is a gripping tale of the horrible tragedy on K2 in 2008. I should state up front that very shortly before seeing this movie I had read the fantastic book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. I think that may have influenced my viewing of the movie somewhat.

The Summit is a documentary, but it is one of those documentaries where you feel as though you don't know what happens at the end even though you do know what happens. The story follows the climbers from the beginning of the climb through to its tragic end and aftermath. You come away with an understanding of the passion that drives serious mountaineers, but also an idea of the terrible choices that people sometimes make on a mountain. That part was a bit difficult to understand. Why go on when things have gone so terribly wrong?

There were a couple of things about the documentary I did not enjoy. One, the movie claimed to be an exposition of some great mystery. From this I implied some sort of foul play, but the mystery was not really there in the documentary. My takeaway was that above 8000 meters things can get hazy and tragic. Two, I didn't really care for most of the actor reenactments of the events. Some were a bit too hokey. I should say that there were one or two that were very moving.

Those concerns aside this is a good documentary that tells an interesting story. The people interviewed seemed very frank in how they answered questions, and it didn't appear that anyone was trying to do some salvage job, or rewrite history. If you have any instance in mountaineering, or general adventure, you would probably enjoy this documentary.

6/10, but maybe 7/10 when I'm feeling very Tenzing Norgay

Let's Dance

I'm not sure what I expected from Silver Linings Playbook. David Russell really put together a very good film. Even a great movie, but not a super movie, or super great if you will.

This movie is very Bradley Cooper driven. His character is completely incapable of accepting reality, and yet at the same time is not oblivious to reality. There are strong performances from Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, and most impressively, Chris Tucker. I think that my two favorite performances in this movie were Chris Tucker's and John Ortiz's. Ortiz's portrayal of Cooper's buddy overwhelmed in his marriage was fantastic. This is not to discount Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro. They both were exceptional in their roles. In fact, I think Jennifer Lawrence was more convincing than Bradley Cooper. There was a palpable sense of vulnerability in her character.

This is one of those movies where you watch it and you have your fair share of "What, is going on?" moments, but at the end you are very happy that you watched it. The story is sad. Bradley Cooper's situation is depressing, but the response of those around him is truly uplifting.

I don't think this movie should have been nominated for Best Picture (I can think of another movie that should have taken its slot), but it was a great movie.

9/10, this is a really good movie, a great movie. You will be happy you watched it.

How dare you attack the son of Odin!

Thor is the fourth movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films. Kenneth Branagh's film starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and that titan of character actors, Stellan Skarsgård is a decently entertaining film. Also, isn't it weird that this is a Kenneth Branagh film?

For those unfamiliar with Norse mythology, Thor is one of the Norse gods and the son of Odin (played in typical intense fashion by Anthony Hopkins) the head honcho Norse god. In the movie Thor falls out of Odin's favor, and proceeds to engage in shenanigans down on Earth. On Earth Thor encounters Natalie Portman, and Stellan Skarsgård. You see Portman and Skarsgård's character are scientists, and they are ahh researching stuff, about like the sky or something? It doesn't really matter. This movie is not to be taken seriously, and it doesn't take itself seriously. Agent Colson (played with characteristic deadpan by Clark Gregg) from S.H.E.I.L.D. is a main character in the movie. Thor isn't the same on Earth as he is on Asgard. This movie is classic fish out of water. Blah, blah, blah.

If you catch this movie on a lazy day it is worth leaving it on. The acting is serviceable, the story mostly makes sense, and if you are a fan of the Marvel movies you should probably watch it. There isn't a lot to the movie, but it is fun.

6/10, but really more like 6.5. This is no Iron Man, but it is definitely consumable comic book fare.

WELCOME TO THE ROCK!!

Michael Bay's The Rock may be the quintessential 90's action movie. It has all the absurdity that you would expect from the pre-911 action genre. In fact, I think the only other movie that comes close to competing with it would probably be True Lies. Now before this post devolves into a one-man love fest of the Governator I should get back to The Rock.

The Rock is a reference to Alcatraz Island and accordingly, the movie is aptly named, because it is where the action in the movie takes place. You have people breaking into Alcatraz, people that broke out of Alcatraz, and people that just wanted a picture of them behind bars at Alcatraz before they went back to their hotel. The acting in this movie is actually really pretty good. Ed Harris's portrayal of the misguided general is believable in nearly every way. Sean Connery basically plays a retired James Bond, and there is nothing wrong with that. Nicholas Cage. Well, Nicholas Cage plays Nicholas Cage. He isn't losing it the whole time, but he is very Cagey.

Here's the deal. The Rock is a good movie. People don't want to accept that because of Nicholas Cage, and because it is a Michael Bay movie. However, if you don't believe me, maybe you'll believe what the late Roger Ebert had to say about the film. The movie is a fun no frills action movie. It doesn't go over the top with special effects, and it delivers equal parts suspense and absurdity in a delightful manner. If you like action movies, The Rock is for you.

8/10, own it, will watch again, and again, favorite Michael Bay movie, that's a short list

I like the way you die boy.

Django Unchained. Quentin Tarantino. Jamie Foxx. Christoph Waltz. Do I really need to keep typing things? Kerry Washington. Leonardo DiCaprio. Samuel L. Jackson.

This Tarantino offering, like many of his other films, is packed full of quality performances by the actors. Additionally, it's not just the actors performances that are quality. As you have no doubt come to expect, the story, cinematography, music selections, and overall feel of the movie are also of the highest quality. I can only speculate that Tarantino has the most voluminous movie mind out there. Every shot that he does seems to have meaning and is a homage to some other famous movie. For example, Waltz's character being a dentist is apparently a reference to an old Bob Hope movie, The Paleface.

The movie is in the style of an old Spaghetti Western revenge flick. Since this is Quentin Tarantino we're talking about the movie is gory. In fact, this movie has one of Tarantino's highest death tolls. The carnage is not really the central focus though. The movie is much more about Django's odyssey to find his wife Broomhilda.

The great thing about a Tarantino movie, and really all well done movies, is the level of detail in each shot. For example, there is a scene where Django and Christoph Waltz's character Dr. Schultz go into a bar. Dr. Schultz goes and pours a beer for himself and Django and you are treated to a closeup of Dr. Schultz wiping off the top of the head from the beer. I don't know why, but I just thought that was such a cool little detail to add. That little closeup probably isn't even important to the story in anyway, but you'll appreciate it when you see it.

9/10 will watch again, gory, but great revenge/rescue epic

P.S. There was buzz about DiCaprio and Jackson being snubbed, and truth be told they were fantastic in the movie, but I've come to expect such superb performances from them every movie so just how fantastic they are seems self-evident to me.

Wielding Neptune's Spear

The operation that killed Osama bin Laden is not without controversy. Anything surrounding terrorism is, and always will be, a loaded subject. Some people even accuse Kathryn Bigelow's movie Zero Dark Thirty of being a propaganda piece. I have no comment on all of that, because I just write about movies as movies.

As an aside, apparently, 2012 was the year of the CIA movie since Zero Dark Thirty lost the Academy Award for Best Picture to Argo. Yeah, yeah, but what about this movie?

This movie is all about Jessica Chastain, and she rightfully earned a Best Actress nomination for her role as Maya. More to the point, this movie is all about Maya's obsession. It shouldn't come as a surprise that she is obsessed with finding Osama bin Laden. With each event Maya believes she is getting closer to finding bin Laden, but that isn't really the case.

The supporting actors are all quite solid, such as Kyle Chandler and Jennifer Ehle, but the two that really stick out for me were Reda Kateb (as the detainee Ammar) and Jason Clarke (as the CIA officer Dan). The interaction between Ammar and Dan is uncomfortable on many levels, but it would be hard to say it isn't convincing. There is also a considerable amount of torture in the film. You've been warned.

This movie could easily fall into the category of "not needing to see again," not because it is a bad movie, but because it hits a little too close to home. You already know the story, and yet the tension is there. So many emotions surrounding the subject matter are evoked by the film that it could be the kind of thing you don't want to revisit.

9/10, although I reserve the right to roll it back to 8/10 if I ever watch it again. I thought it was a great movie, but there's something about it I can't put my finger on.

Tin man gets a heart

Writing this review of Iron Man 3 was difficult in that I didn't want to reveal too many spoilers. Ultimately, this is the worst of the Iron Man movies. That doesn't mean that the movie is bad, but that the other two are pretty good. If I had to rank the movies from best to worst I would do so in the order that they came out.

Robert Downey Jr. is so familiar with the character at this point that it looks almost too easy for him to pull off Tony Stark. Somewhat surprising to myself in this one is how much screen time is devoted to Gwyneth Paltrow's character Pepper Potts. However, upon reflection, it does make sense, because the events center almost entirely around Pepper and Tony's relationship.

From the trailers I was expecting a very epic clash between a worthy mad genius foil for Tony Stark, ie The Mandarin. I will say this, Ben Kingsley can do no wrong. Spoiler alert, do not click this link about why comic book fans didn't like the Mandarin in this movie.

Apart from the aforementioned controversy this movie actually has the most tension of all the Iron Man movies. Iron Man might not make it through this time. The enemy is substantial, and the fight is larger than before. You've got all the necessary Iron Man whiz bang, and snarkiness. Don Cheadle is there to help out. And you know what, that is enough. Definitely a movie you wouldn't mind watching if it happened to be on, and you'd probably deem it a worthy waste of time.

7/10 Good cap to the series......so far, I mean they are going to make another, no way they don't

P.S. Guy Pearce is in this movie, and he is almost as scuzzy as he was in Lawless. All I've got to say about that.