A Man No Longer Included

A Man Most Wanted is a sad tale. A story of a broken man who is no longer included, and he knows it. Director Anton Corbijn shoots a wonderfully dark, dreary, and ultimately depressing story about the international war on terror. Negative superlatives aside, I highly recommend this movie.

This was Philip Seymour Hoffman's last film, and one of his best performances. PSH is in charge of anti-terrorism efforts in the city of Hamburg, Germany, a post he excels at, but is actually a demotion from where he once stood in the anti-terrorist hierarchy in Germany. You can feel PSH's character pain at the disrespect he receives from his superiors, and you get a sense of a man who is trying to get heard by yelling into the wind. Robin Wright masterfully plays an engaged, but detached CIA agent. I think my favorite performance was Nina Hoss as PSH's top lieutenant. The immigrant at the center of the story is played by Russian actor Grigoriy Dobrygin. His character, Issa, comes off as fairly naive, and easily manipulated by the powerful forces swirling around him. Rachel McAdams is alright as a human rights lawyer for Issa. Did you know she was Canadian? Me neither.

This movie is a welcome addition to the war on terror movies that have been released over the years. Incidentally, the movie is based off a John La Carre book so you know it's good. That is if you enjoyed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which how could you not?

I give this 8/10. Great solid movie about the war on terror.

I have more in common with The Fifth Element than I do with The Matrix

The Wachowskis' most recent movie Jupiter Ascending is over the top in both a bad and good way. The movie is not great, but it is worth seeing. Wired has an excellent article on why you should see Jupiter Ascending, even if the movie is a bit silly.

Jupiter Ascending is gorgeous and breathtakingly absurd. The Wachowskis created a world worthy of their pedigree. As the Wired article linked to above mentions Jupiter Ascending borrows from a great many sci-fi movies including the Matrix series which established The Wachowskis as having a unique voice in Hollywood. This movie is about fun, science fiction, love, and sitting back and accepting a ridiculous plot. I allude to the fact that Jupiter Ascending has more to do with The Fifth Element than the Matrix and that is because like the indulgences of The Fifth Element, Jupiter Ascending doesn't take itself too seriously.

The actor's performances are passable, but nothing special. Channing Tatum can do no wrong these days. Mila Kunis is, well Mila Kunis. Eddie Redmayne is delightfully unhinged. I haven't seen anything before with Douglas Booth, but he was a welcome addition to the cast. The same can be said for Tuppence Middleton. That is one heck of a name, Tuppence. Huge spoiler alert. Sean Bean is in this movie. He doesn't die.

Is this a "good movie?" What does that even mean? If you go in with an open mind and low expectations you will enjoy this movie. Enjoy the visuals if nothing else. I give it 7/10. 6/10 if I am feeling overly critical.

Heart Warming

The internet has been teeming with Frozen references for some time now, references that I did not understand at all. I was finally able to correct this deficiency by seeing Frozen, and I am quite happy that I did. This movie is just as entertaining as you expect a Disney movie to be, but it also has some endearing qualities that may not be obvious on first blush.

The story follows the lives of two sisters who find themselves alone and needing to figure out how to get through life together. If that sentenced sounded a bit coded it is because it was to try and avoid spoilers. The characters that Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee managed to develop in the movie were memorable, and Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, and Jonathan Groff did their parts, but it was the way the story unfolded that was truly worth your time. One thing about Idina Menzel. If you haven't see John Travolta butcher her name do yourself a favor and watch it here. Good, now continue reading.

The prototypical Disney story has a damsel in some sort of distress being rescued by some prince charming. Seriously, that is like every movie except maybe The Lion King and Peter Pan. Some people find Disney sexist. If you want to explore that viewpoint even further here is a Youtube video with 100k+ views. What the creators of Frozen did is make the first Disney movie, I am aware of, where the female characters are almost exclusively responsible for saving the day. This is no small feat on their part and a bit of a cultural watershed moment. Does this portend a new future for Disney? Probably not entirely, but it is certainly progress.

There are multiple reasons to see Frozen; the music, the characters (especially Josh Gad's performance as Olaf the Snowman), and the groundbreaking story. I give it 8/10, would watch again fo sho.

Smaug Delivers

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is yet another excellent addition in the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkein's Middle Earth mythology. Every time I see Peter Jackson's renditions in this genre I always think of Meet the Feebles. It's amazing that it is the same director. You would think his early work doomed him from every heading up an A-list franchise.

I think that The Desolation of Smaug is possibly in the group of sequels that are actually better than the movies that precede them. I would throw The Godfather: Part II, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Dark Knight, and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. Yes I know these are not controversial positions to take. Oh my gosh, how could I forget Terminator 2: Judgment Day? Anyways, this is not to say that TDOS (that's "The Desolation of Smaug" in case you were wondering) is as good as the sequels already listed, but I think TDOS is better than The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. TDOS has more action than AUJ (that's "An Unexpected Journey") and the characters start to come into their own beyond the introduction period of AUJ.

Listen, this is pretty simple. If you like the Lord of the Rings movies, or fantasy movies (there aren't really a ton of these) then you will like The Desolation of Smaug. 7/10, good solid entertaining movie.

Oh that? That was a gift from Van Gogh

Sometimes you watch a movie which you assume is going to be absolutely terrible, but are completely caught off guard. "The Man from Earth" is that type of movie. Put your preconceptions on hold for this one, and enjoy the ride.

The movie is anchored by David Lee Smith's protrayal as a man who doesn't age. Smith's character, John Oldman, is a retiring professor who has a going away party with some of his university friends. The discussion eventually turns hypothetical about what a caveman would be like if they were alive today. Unbeknownst to his friends, John Oldman is in fact a caveman, and he is not that different from them.

This premise may seem absurd at first, but the actors manage to pull it off. You will recognize many of the B-movie actors that populate this film. People like Tony Todd, John Billingsley, and Ellen Crawford. The relationships between the actors seem genuine, and their surprise at the prospect that their friend is thousands of years old is believable and not hokey.

If you are able to put disbelief aside you will enjoy this movie. There is almost a Forrest Gump type story-line in this movie, because Oldman managed to be involved in some of history's most significant events. This movie really is great, and it tells a compelling story of humanity.

This is a solid 8/10, possibly a 9/10.

You Kill it We Clean it!

The users of IMDb have got it wrong when it comes to Sunshine Cleaners. This movie is not a 6.9, it is easily an 8. The pairing of Amy Adams and Emily Blunt as sisters, with Alan Arkin as their father, may not make much sense from a "they need to look alike" standpoint, but it is convincingly natural in practice. Christine Jeffs, in addition to directing this highly underrated movie, also directed a movie about Sylvia Plath aptly named "Sylvia." That movie starred Gwyneth Paltrow. I did not see that movie. Moving along.

This movie has an almost buddy cop feel to it. The story follows two sisters down on their luck who find success cleaning up crime scenes. Talk about an industry you don't think of. The dynamic between Blunt and Adams is very organic, and believable. Amy Adams character's son played by Jason Spevack put in an exceptional performance. Comedian Steve Zahn put forward a convincing dramatic turn as the philandering police officer.

The movie reminded me of Little Miss Sunshine. There are some dark undertones to the movie that I don't want to spoil, but they definitely add to the believability of the family interactions. Strife and sorrow can be very adhesive bonds. This is not a sad movie though. This is a very happy movie, but it is not your typical sugar coated Hollywood.

As I said, this is an 8/10, easily.

Not as Hungry as I'd Like

These four notes are etched into my memory for all time. Not necessarily because of how great this movie is (it isn't all that great), but because this movie was crazy hyped. I felt like there was constant advertising of it. And, I'll admit, I was very excited. That changed when I left the theater.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Hunger Games movie. Catching Fire simply did not live up to the first one. I did enjoy Catching Fire, but I thought it would be more enjoyable. I feel like the story just wasn't as engaging, and the characters seemed a little flat. Not all of the characters were flat though. I thought Elizabeth Banks actually did a fantastic job in this movie as Effie. Josh Hutcherson was also pretty solid just like in the first movie.

I will say that the movie is believably set up for the 3rd installment (I know the third movie is being broken up into two but whatever), so I don't feel like the series is unnecessarily carrying on. I think i've been too harsh on the movie. It definitely has it's moments. Lenny Kravitz? Exactly. Also, the introduction of Philip Seymour Hoffman was a welcome addition. Overall, this was pretty good. Not as good as the first, but close enough.

7/10. Entertaining. I'll watch again if I binge watch the quadrilogy at some point.