Saturday, November 12, 2011

IMMORTALS is here!


IMMORTALS - Official Movie Website


 While there may not be an official review on the site, it doesn't mean I can't do a little plugging! It's a pretty fun flick and I suggest if you are a fan of Greek Mythology and the movie 300, then you'll certainly get a kick out of this movie! Immortals came out Friday - 11-11-11!

Monday, November 07, 2011

Tower Heist

The question to ask after seeing this movie: Is this Eddie Murphy's last chance to redeem himself as a top Hollywood player? If you were to read Variety, Entertainment Weekly or any other Hollywood magazine you would have read that Eddie is trying to jump-start his flagging career for the second time, or is it third time? Honestly I keep losing track. The early buzz has been positive for this flick except for that little snafu with Universal trying to test Exhibitions patience with a VOD (Video On Demand) challenge. Supposedly they were going to test the market in Atlanta and Seattle through Comcast, available for 60 bucks, three weeks into the run which would make it over Thanksgiving. Theatres were not happy about this idea and declared that if Universal went through with this they would boycott the movie. Thankfully for all parties Universal blinked and everyone remains cautiously happy, but that time is coming soon where a studio may not balk and we are all going to have to have the conversation about the health of the theatre going experience. So I had a few choices this week with Harold and Kumar in 3D, In Time, Anonymous, Rum Diary and of course Tower Heist. But I wanted to see something where I could just relax and not think too much but I wanted something funny yet not gross out funny, sorry Harold & Kumar, so I kept finding myself on the Tower Heist express.
This is kind of Ocean's 11-like. Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller) is the manager of a elite sky-rise on the Upper West Side. It pretty much feels and sounds like Trump Tower. Josh and his staff cater to the wealthy and in particular Investment Guru and billionaire Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda). When the staff discover that Shaw has lost all of their money in what boils down to a Ponzi scheme, ala Maddoff, the crew decides to take measures in their own hands and recover their money in whatever way possible, through a -buh buh buh, Tower Heist. The crew mainly consists of Josh as the ringleader, his brother-in-law Charlie (Casey Affleck), the new hire Enrique (Michael Pena), the maid and resident safe cracker Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe), a fallen on hard times stock broker who finds himself squatting in one of the apartments, Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick) and the one criminal out of the bunch Slide (Eddie Murphy). Josh has the difficulty of breaking into a fortress while distracting the FBI (Tea Leoni), his superiors and the man himself Arthur Shaw.


It's a nice movie, honestly. It's fun and it doesn't make your brain hurt. It's kind of nice to watch Ben Stiller and Alan Alda lock heads in a battle of wits. It's got a nice pace and you won't leave disappointed. The problem is there isn't much more than that. It was nice seeing Eddie Murphy in something decent again but he wasn't all that special or standout that much. There were glimpses of the Eddie I love and remember from Beverly Hills Cop, Bowfinger, Trading Places and 48 Hours. There just weren't enough of them. He was drowned out by better scene stealers like Gabourey Sidibe, who was pretty funny as the psycho maid.  I also enjoyed the little bits from Matthew Broderick, its been a while since he's been relevant or funny.  It also felt good to see the rich ass hole get what was coming to him, it's a visceral thing but a timely one and it shouldn't be ignored. If you find yourself on the side of the Occupy Wall Street crowd then you will really feel a sense of satisfaction at the end of this film, no doubt about it. If you fancy an easy to digest comedy then this is the movie for you.
Grade: 3 Buckets

Friday, November 04, 2011

Puss in Boots 3D

Last week my Mom was in town for Halloween, the little guy was very excited and we had a whole fun weekend plan, but then the snow started falling. Yes, you heard right I said snow. Saturday ended up being a bust so we decided to brave the flurry and go see a movie. Honestly it was only a couple of inches but it was weird seeing fresh snow on green covered trees. Nathan had been anticipating this flick for a few weeks and my Mom has a somewhat unhealthy obsession with Antonio Banderas so our choices were rather limited. But overall I think the movie went over well with the little one. He's got a fascination with cats all of a sudden so I think that enhanced his enjoyment even more.
This, I assume, is a pre-quel of sorts about Puss and Boots (Antonio Banderas) sans Shrek. Puss finds himself on the run from the law and we get a little origin story about his life on the lam. Puss finds himself helping an old colleague Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) search for the Magic Beans from Jack and the Beanstalk in order to find the Goose who lays the Golden Eggs. He gets an assist from a mysterious ally of Humpty's Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), and I suppose a little romance as well. There also has to be a big bad and in this story it's Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris) who play oafish murdering criminals also on the hunt for the magic beans. The voice talents involved were pretty good but the script was lacking a bit. It was a nice departure from the Shrek series and Puss is certainly a better Protagonist then Mike Myer's Shrek who after at least two films became increasingly annoying with his bad puns. In this case the funniest running gag in the film as with the previous Shrek films is Puss' ability to switch from uber swashbuckling hero to a cute adorable house cat and back again. It makes it even funnier when it appears that instinctively he can't even help himself even though he knows better.
It was a fun flick for the whole family myself included. There were some things for the adults that would fly over the kids heads and the story was simple and fun enough for the kids to enjoy as well. There is a glut of Kids films on the way and other than the Muppets I don't see any of the other ones holding a candle to this very cute and entertaining animated film.
Grade: 3 Buckets