MOVIE REVIEW: The Good Shepherd

There was a trailer not long ago saying that this film was The Godfather of C.I.A films. That's pretty accurate. It starts with the Foreign Intelligence service during World War II and continues through to the Cold War and The Bay of Pigs incident in Cuba. Matt Damon's Edward Wilson is the perfect example of a C.I.A. spook that is quiet and calculating and does not appear to be affected by much. This film captures all of the nuance of the Cold War and its Cold Warriors. Just like in the Godfather trust is a difficult thing to achieve and sustain.

Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) is a man with many secrets. While at Yale he joins the secret fraternity of Skull and Bones, whose members range from Doctors to lawyers even presidents. From the very beginning of the film Edward is being groomed for covert work. They task him to train with British Intelligence during World War II and later hire him to test his mental mettle against the Communists of the Soviet Union. He has a chilly relationship with his wife Clover, (Angelina Jolie) and his son, who doesn't know his father well, is scared to death of him.

Director Robert De Niro has spared no expense in acquiring a top notch cast other than the leads I have mentioned; Alec Baldwin, William Hurt, Michael Gambon, Billy Crudup, Timothy Hutton, Joe Pesci, John Turturro and of course Robert De Niro himself. The film explores the history of the espionage service and how difficult it is to spot an ally or to completely trust anyone. It is also interesting to figure out who the real Edward Wilson truly is as we see him through various stages of his life. He seems to be more at peace while at College looking ahead to his future and falling in love. The girl (Tammy Blanchard) is deaf and does not have his aristocratic blood running through her veins, which makes it difficult for him to truly be with her. As he is being prodded into his career he seems to emotionally detach himself from his personal life. Matt Damon does an incredible job of balancing on the trip wire very similar in many ways to the performance by Gene Hackman in the Conversation. De Niro really turns in an extraordinary directing job weaving the true history of our country into this fictional tale.

Grade 5 Buckets

MOVIE REVIEW: Pursuit of Happyness

I saw the trailer a while back and I thought, "Okay, this doesn't look half bad, It's got Will Smith it seems like a very nice drama." A month or so later and I forgot about it. So this one opened a few weeks ago and it opened big. My wife and I saw it yesterday, and I gotta say that Will Smith has definitely impressed me. This film was pretty good but it was very mundane, it was just average. Will Smith on the other hand, the way he played this, got his hooks into me and I was riveted. I had to watch the rest even though I already knew that it was going to have the Hollywood ending. (I had read about the real Chris Gardner in a magazine. Let's just say the guy isn't living in bathrooms anymore.)

Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a hard on his luck salesman trying to raise a son (Jaden Smith) in very turbulent times. He is barely making ends meet selling Bone Density scanners to Doctors. He can't pay his rent his wife (Thandie Newton) is working three jobs and coming to the end of her rope. Finally, the wife leaves him high and dry to raise their son by himself. He gets an internship at Dean Witter while trying to avoid homelessness at night.

There is nothing amazing or different about this story that you haven't seen or heard before. A good father put through difficult times has all of his choices taken from him. He is smart but has never A. really applied himself properly for a career or B. has never been given an opportunity for a career. His wife leaves him, which makes the stakes higher because there is a child involved. Thandie Newton as the wife does not really bring any true layers to her character. By the time we see her she is a miserable shell of a woman. She is at the end of her rope, so it makes sense that she leaves. The true heart of this story and it's mundane plot is Will Smith and Will Smith alone. His performance is very real, (maybe it helps that your kid is in the picture) he doesn't try to force it, he is an intelligent guy who is having trouble cutting it in the world and he decides to make his own destiny. He takes control, it's a tough road but he does it and he does it with dignity.

Grade: 4 Buckets

MOVIES: Christmas Movies

It's that time of the year again. Although the snow is not falling and, at least down in NC, it's about 60 degrees outside. When it’s this warm it's hard to fully get in the Christmas spirit, so I thought it would be nice to sit down in front of the tube and watch some of my favorite Christmas movies. Unfortunately it seems the network isn't interested in playing the classic Christmas movies of old. I keep seeing these crappy Scrooge rip offs over and over on all of the various networks. Like Mrs. Scrooge, Ebenezer, A Diva's Christmas Carol, A Carol Christmas. (With Tori Spelling, need I say more?) Not to mention these vapid, crappy and sacchrine kid flicks that are so PC they make me want to vomit. These stupid TV films along with the lack of snow have made this holiday feel, well, not Christmassy. So here are a few of my favorite Christmas Movies and why they should be on the boob tube right now.
1. Scrooge (1951) - This version of Scrooge is always my favorite. Starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge. It's dark and kind of spooky in the title with the booming score and the narration taken from the book. A Christmas Carol was one of my favorite of Dickens and this film captures the heart of the book and even goes beyond. They develop the character of Scrooge and why he has become so miserable because of the loss of his sister Fern. They scroll through the various ghosts like they do with every variation of this story, but better and with grade A direction. This will always be a favorite of mine and a reminder to me that it ain't Christmas until I've seen this movie.

2. A Christmas Story - If you have cable and you watch any TV over the holidays it is nearly impossible not to see this Holiday classic. They play 24 hours of a Christmas story on TBS starting on Christmas Eve. I love the story of Ralphie and his quest for a Red Rider BB gun. Peter Billingsly plays the gun crazy kid and the late Darren McGavin plays Ralphie's crusty cursing Father. You also have Flick and the frozen flagpole, The Leg Lamp affair, Scut Farkis, little brother Randy's coat of shame and the Olvaltine/Little Orphan Annie scandal. Classic. This is one of those that stall the coming of Christmas until it has been viewed at least once.

3. A Charlie Brown Christmas - Sure it's only 30 minutes, but it is one of the best. Chuck and the crew try to put on a Christmas play but no one can seem to cut Mr. Brown a break, as usual. Linus does his thing explaining the true meaning of Christmas. The best part for me about this little classic is the score. I admit that I listen to it around this time of year on my I-Pod, and at home. You see, the score is also a Jazz compilation and it's the only thing my wife is as happy as I am to hear over and over again at Christmas. No my wife isn't a Scrooge, she's Jewish.

4. Scrooged - In the 80's and early 90's Bill Murray would be funny if he was sitting in a blank room reading Crime and Punishment. Yes it's a modern re-telling of the Scrooge story but it is by far the best. The opening alone has me in stitches between Bob Goulet's Cajun Christmas and the Night the Reindeer Died with Lee Majors. "This is one Santa Who is going out the front door." Richard Donner directs this funny flick that is always a crowd pleaser and captures Murray at his best.





5.National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - This one is an instant classic that brings us another mis-adventure with the bumbly Griswolds. In my opinion this one even rivals Vacation for it's great one-liners and of course Clark's (Chevy Chase) family breakdowns dealing with burnt Christmas trees, his bonus which results in one of my favorite lines in the film refering to the happy tapping of Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye and of course Jolly Assholes. Randy Quaid and Beverly Di Angelo also make this one a "Real treat."


I have a few more later but chew on these for now and I'll bring back some more tomorrow.

MOVIE REVIEW: Night At The Museum

Hello all, I came home for the holidays yesterday to spend a little quality time with the family. My brother and I were running some errands this morning and thought what the hell lets go see Night at the Museum. It's got Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais and Robin Williams it's gotta be at least a little funny. It was a kiddie film after all but there were a few jokes peppered in there for the adults in the audience. Ben Stiller was his usual funny dopey self. Owen Wilson is funny as a mini-cowboy. Unfortunately we don't get to see enough of the hilarious Ricky Gervais as a dick head curator, but the one who surprised me the most and almost steals this show I shit you not---Mickey Rooney. Yeah, I said Mickey Rooney, you know, the Biggest Star in the World. Honestly I thought he had died years ago after one of those horse movies he did in the 90's. You know The Black Stallion 12 or My Friend Flicker or something. Anyway, the old dude was funny dropping one liners and an elbow on Ben Stiller's noggin.
The movie is about a loser inventor, Larry, (Ben Stiller) who can't seem to hold down a job while disappointing his kid cause he's a dreamer, the damn hippy. So he gets this job as the night watchman at the Natural History Museum in New York. When the lights go out and the patrons leave the Museum starts to come alive, literally. The wax figure of Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) tries to guide the new guard through his daily routine of fending off Lions and Attila the Hun. He also is forced to keep the peace between a mini-Cowboy (Owen Wilson) and a Mini-Roman general (Steve Coogan) bent on killing one another. Larry tries to make his job work with the help of a pretty historian, Rebecca, (Carla Gugino) and three bumbly old security guards. (Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs.)

The film was cute and silly, it was for children after all, but it was nicely acted and it reminded me of those old Disney films I used to love like Freaky Friday, Mary Poppins and Bednobs and Broomsticks. Think of it as a better upgrade from Jumanji. Plus any movie with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson will always be funny, that's just the rule.

Grade: 3 Buckets

MOVIE REVIEW: Blood Diamond

I saw the movie over the weekend but it's been crazy busy making time to sit down and post about it, so here goes. 2006 has been the year of making a man out of Leonardo Di Caprio. Some may say his manhood was firmly established in films like Gangs of New York and the Aviator. Some, who will remain nameless, females, would have us believe that this event occurred during the blockbuster hit Titanic. As you may well know none of them got it right! Mr. Di Caprio grew a pair in Martin Scorcese's fast paced action flick The Departed back in September. He earned his stripes as a toughie from Southie; an undercover cop matching wits with the big boys like Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon. In his next film Blood Diamond, Leo doubles down on his tough guy attitude and turns in a pretty gritty performance as a mercenary trying to smuggle conflict diamonds out of Sierra Leone, Africa. Throw in a solid cast including the beautiful Jennifer Connelly and the always dependable Djimon Hounsou and you've got yourself a pretty slick action movie.
The film explores the terrible conditions of Sierra Leone in the 1990's where Guerrilla forces use slavery, crime and murder to smuggle priceless diamonds out of the country. Solomon Vandy, (Djimon Hounsou) a Mende Fisherman, is kidnapped by one of these guerrilla outfits. He is forced at gun point to work along the river looking for priceless diamonds. The film is often brutal showing the cruel nature of these guerrilla forces as they terrorize small towns killing anyone they choose and stealing children to manipulate them into joining their ranks. A large un-cut diamond comes into Solomon's possession. Danny Archer, (Leonardo Di Caprio) A South African mercenary, hears about this diamond and decides to help Solomon recover his family in exchange for the priceless stone. Maddy Bowen, an American journalist, (Jennifer Connelly) serves as Danny's conscience, trying to steer him in the right direction when he starts acting like a scoundrel.

The sub-plot is nothing entirely new. Danny, the mercenary hard case, learns the hard lessons about his chosen profession and the cost toward human life every time he smuggles a diamond out of the country. The message here is sound but sometimes it feels heavy handed in this very high charged action film. Hansou as Solomon is great, you can feel his frustration and anger as he tries to adapt with every situation thrown at him. I admire Director Edward Zwick for trying to have the best of both worlds. On one side you have a savvy action story. On the other you show the incredibly true and terrible drama unfolding in a little country in the middle of Africa. It is so graphic and it will definitely make anyone who has ever bought a diamond feel like an ass hole. If you're feeling a sigh of relief because you've never bought a diamond in your whole life this film still makes you feel like a jack ass with blinders on. The problem with the story is that it is too real. You can't really enjoy yourself because you know that it's not a made up story that some of these things happen in this country. There probably is no real happy ending. As much as I would love the big corrupt Diamond merchants of the world to be revealed as solicitous bastards more interested in the treasure collected in these countries rather than human life. I know that this is the world we live in and money and greed will always rule the day, but it's not really the happy ending we look for. I think anyone not aware of Conflict Diamonds and the situation in many countries on the continent of Africa very much need to see this film, if not for Leo, maybe for a little perspective on a very serious global issue. Remember when you buy your diamonds this Christmas try to do a little homework, make sure you buy stones that are legit, you got it?

Grade: 3 Buckets