White House Fun

White House Down is no Air Force One. It's better. Although the two movies have the same rating on IMDb, WHD (yes I have acrnoymized White House Down to WHD, sue me) doesn't take itself seriously, and knows how to party. If you don't enjoy Roland Emmerich's work then we probably can't watch movie's together.

First and foremost. I like Channing Tatum. If this is what he is like in other movies then I'd be willing to see that one where his fiance forgets him or something. He plays opposite Jamie Foxx perfectly. This movie is like everyone showed up and said "Let's have some fun." Except Maggie Gyllenhaal. Her performance added some unneeded gravitas to the whole affair. But have no fear! Reliable supporting actor Richard Jenkins shows up with snark at maximum level as a congressman.

If this movie shows up on cable tv and you haven't already seen it 10 times, watch it again. This is classic style action movie absurdity. The story is not believable, but the the movie is entertaining. Not much else needs to be said about this one.

8/10, will have to watch again, great action movie

Gatsby! Gatsby! Not Gatsby.

Baz Luhrmann made The Great Gatsby exactly the way everyone should have expected him to make it. Did you see Romeo and Juliet? Moulin Rouge!? What was everyone expecting from this movie? If you were expecting something on the same level as the actual book then I completely understand your disappointment. If you went into this thinking "Hey, this is a Baz Luhrmann movie, I bet it will be visually over the top," then you probably enjoyed it, like I did.

The acting in this is not great. It isn't bad either. Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Carey Mulligan all mailed it in. Although, Ms. Mulligan may not have realized she was mailing it in. Leo and Tobey surely knew that was not their best performance. I really enjoyed two of the performances in this movie: Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan, and Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim. Edgerton and Bachchan both were believable with just the right dose of over-the-top for their respective characters.

One more thing. I enjoyed the soundtrack. I think a lot of people didn't think it was a good fit for the story, but I thought it kept the tempo rather well, and was a nice background.

Overall, I'm happy I saw this movie. It's not great, but it is worth seeing. 7/10, which coincidentally is close to it's rating on IMDb.

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.