Movie Review: Trouble with the Curve

Trouble with the Curve

Directed by Robert Lorenz

Starring Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake

Rating: B+

There is a lot more to this movie than baseball and the inevitable love story. Trouble with the Curve is filled with emotion and surprising reveleations about the strained relationship between a father and daughter. In the beginning it seems Mickey has her life figured out; she works hard and is reaping success from her efforts. Later we find out the reason she works so hard and why she works so hard at being a lawyer, something she says she didn't want to do as a career. Gus has some secrets of his own, including why he seemingly abandoned Mickey when she was young. Both characters have some very hard truths to face and plenty of time to do it on their scouting trip together. Neither is happy about having to be on the trip with the other, but there is a familial sense of obligation. On top of that complexity, the baseball scout has failing eyes, there is a rookie scout who is wistfully hopeful about a backup career, and a power seeking mid-level manager who is out of touch with life outside the office. The result is a nice, complex movie that is heart warming, raw, inspirational, romantic, and sportsy. 

Movie Review: The Guilt Trip

The Guilt Trip

Directed by Anne Fletcher

Starring Barbara Streisand, Seth Rogan

Rating: B+

This movie has much more than just comedy. Seth Rogan and Barbara Streisand team up to deliver joke after joke on an eight day, cross country road trip while a more serious storyline plays out. The two attempt to find the reason why there's no love in each others lives, and secrets are revealed along the way. Tensions rise as the days go on; a fight ensues and both say things they regret. Relationships mend and by the end of the movie there is a surprising, happy ending.

Movie Review: The Hobbit

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Directed by Peter Jackson

Starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett

Rating: B+

     While I enjoyed this movie I believe the director and producers made it in order to give some eye candy to fans of the Lord of the Rings franchise. I know the stories are related, but it seems to me that someone who hadn't seen or read The Lord of the Rings would not get some parts of this movie or it would take them longer to catch on. There is character cross over, including Lady Galadriel whose mystical powers are revealed in a much more obvious and transparent way in LOR. The orcs and other evil creatures are the same. However, other characters in this movie are similar, but new. The dwarfs are a source of comic relief at times, especially when Bombur catches a sausage that is thrown his way and the bench he is sitting on folds under his weight. Each dwarf looks different from the next and his his own character traits.The trolls are disgusting creatures that appear a bit dim witted.
     This movie finished much sooner than I was anticipating. I expected more build up to the end and more struggles for the characters throughout. That's why when the movie ended after their seemingly first real struggle I was a little startled. I had to look at my watch to see how long we'd been in there. While there wasn't as much plot complexity as I was expecting the fact that I had to look at my watch is a good sign because it shows the movie was engaging and not boring and I did not feel like I had been sitting in the theater for nearly three hours.
     In addition to this movie being the first in the series of Hobbit movies, it is also trail blazing because it is the first to use HFR (high frame rate). I hadn't heard of such a thing before looking up movie times. Upon further investigation, I found that a standard Hollywood movie is filmed at 24 frames per second. This movie was filmed at 48 frames per second. That in itself is exciting and a reason to go see the movie. I viewed The Hobbit in 3-D, HFR and the picture was clear, vivid, and detailed. I would be interested in seeing a side-by-side comparison of a movie that is HFR and one that is not. While I thought the movie had spectacular resolution I'm not sure if I thought that just because I had not seen this particular movie before. I do not have any complaints on HFR, however there was a lot going on in this movie. The picture was so sharp and with the 3-D there were things flying at me by the minute!

Movie Review: Bernie

Bernie

Directed by Richard Linklater

Starring Jack Black, Shirley McLaine, Matthew McConaughey

Rating: B

This is an entertaining and amusing movie. It is also a lighthearted poke at the people of Texas and small towns in general. Jack Black is nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as a funeral director's assistant. The nod is well deserved as Black portrays the truly good hearted Bernie so well as he lives through joys and anguish. However, I do not see Black getting the nomination for an Oscar; this is not the type of movie that generally gets noticed for such a thing, especially since it is classified as a comedy or musical. Still, it is an enjoyable movie.

Movie Review: The Sessions

The Sessions

Directed by Ben Lewin

Starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy

Rating: B

I'm still not sure how I feel about this movie. It was deeper than I anticipated and there were many relationships that were examined throughout the course of the movie. We grow to know and like the main character and cheer for him on his quest for sexual gratification. I'm not ruining anything by divulging that he dies at the end, after all the movie is based on a true story. He is eulogized as a man who knew love and was loved. He lived a full life. I am uncomfortable with the sex therapist. The viewer is supposed to feel sorry for her and feel closer to her as she falls for her patient. However, I found it hard to develop that connection to a character who is cheating on her husband for work. I do believe, as she explains, there is a difference between her job and that of a prostitute, but since she is married I do not find her work noble in any way. She tells her husband that she does not develop an emotional connection but she does, at least in this case.

Movie Review: Hitchcock

Hitchcock

Directed by

Starring

Rating: B+

This movie was very enjoyable as it was about more than just the life of esteemed director Alfred Hitchcock it was about the making of his most famed movie Psycho. Throughout the process from story conception to cinema premier, the audience is given insight into Hitchcock's insecurities, marital trouble, paranoia, indulgence, and more. The director struggles to get Hollywood, his friends and even his wife to buy into his latest movie idea, at least at first. They all come around mostly because they have faith in Hitchcock and what he is able to do. Psycho becomes Hitchcock's greatest hit, something that is foreshadowed in the movie, but the director himself doubted whether the film would work on multiple occasions. Even his business advisers wonder if Hitchcock will break even on the film. Luckily, Psycho was turned into a masterpiece by Hitchcock and his wife in the cutting process.

Movie Review: Life of Pi

Life of Pi

Directed by Ang Lee

Starring Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan

Rating: A

This movie is not quite what I was expecting, but in a good way. Before seeing the movie I feared it might be dull. After all how much excitement and dialog can come from a boy who is trapped on a rescue boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? The story was set up nicely, as we learn the boy is taught to fear the tiger. His family is forced to move from India to Canada on a cargo ship with the animals from his father's zoo. By the time the boat was shipwrecked I was already hooked on the movie. The boy talks to the animals some, but mostly we hear the words he writes into his journal and what he reads from the survival handbook. The director did an excellent job capturing the beauty of the scenes from beginning to end from the zoo animals at home, to the storms, to the water at sunset. In the end we find out there is a double meaning to the shipwrecked story and that is the part of the movie that has stuck with me. I actually can't get it out of my mind. To say this movie exceeded my expectations is an understatement.

My Favorite Christmas Movie

     Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas is my favorite holiday movie. Although the Jim Henson creation is a story that is very much geared toward children, I still enjoy its simplicity and traditional Christmas values. I believe it carries the right kind of message and that is something that is important to remember this time of year. I recently purchased the DVD after not seeing the movie for years. Every time I would talk about it people would think I was nuts. Many have not seen it or even heard of it. The movie was originally an HBO special from 1977. I loaned the movie to a friend so he could show it to their kids, and the movie stood the test of time. His kids loved it, albeit for reasons that are very different from my own. Still, it is nice to share my holiday memories with others.

Movie Review: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov

Starring Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell

Rating: B

     I was hesitant to see this movie after reading some reviews, however I am glad I did. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is an action packed film that has content. I feared the storyline would just jump right into slaying creatures of the night without much plot development. Instead, the movie started out with the telling of why Abraham Lincoln detested (fictionally, of course) vampires so much. There was an appropriate build up before the future president met his foe. Even though there are many parts that are unbelievable, the story was well done. I joke that writing about vampire gives the author poetic license to make up rules for the existence of the undead, and this movie did just that. The alterations to accepted vampire lore (if there is such a thing) aid in telling the story and add to the suspense as more of the plot is revealed. I actually enjoyed this movie more than I enjoyed Lincoln, which I have previously blogged about. It was far more entertaining and had a palpable hook that engaged the viewer.

Movie Review: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Directed by Lorene Scafaria

Starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley

Rating: C-


This movie feel much short of my expectations. It had potential to be a great movie, but proper story development wasn't there. The viewer is expected to make mental leaps to understand certain plot points and there were scenes that should have been more prominent instead of forgettable. They were referred to later in the movie and I was a bit lost. There were humorous moments, but through most of the movie I was questioning what the characters were doing and why they were doing that. In the movie the characters are helping each other out with a goal, but they don't really need each other to accomplish it. I found the movie to be a bit unbelievable, and not the whole countdown to armageddon/ death by asteroid, but the unlikely pairing of next door neighbors who seem to at times despise one another. Why would someone spend the last days of their life with a person they can barely stand? There has to be a better way to spend time.

Movie Review: Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook

Directed by David O. Russell

Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro

Rating: B


     I enjoyed this movie, as I thought I would. It was intense, conflict orientated, sentimental, and cheerful at times. It is a true story of dysfunction breeds dysfunction, but family togetherness trumps all in the end. The relationship between what seems like an unlikely couple at the beginning blossoms as the two help each other through their emotional and psychological problems. The writer and director bring it all together in the end, as all of the different plot lines combine. You have the father's obsession and superstition over Eagles football, an ex-wife and a chance at reconciliation, a dance competition, and romantic tension over a could-be relationship. The movie had great story development from the build-up, to the climax, to the resolution. The best part of the movie, it had a happy ending.

Movie Review: Ruby Sparks

Movie Review: Ruby Sparks

Directed by Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris

Starring Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas

Rating: A

            This is a charming movie with a great and original concept. I have never before read, seen, or heard a story along the lines of this fictional great. The antisocial writer creates his perfect woman in writing and she comes to life. It is interesting how the idea of Ruby escalates from what seems to be a figment of Calvin’s imagination to someone everyone can see and interact with; she becomes his girlfriend. He eventually takes a break from writing in an attempt to stop manipulating his relationship. However, when he created her she was his ideal woman and she grows unhappy in a relationship in which he won’t let her do anything but be with him. So, he starts writing again to make her happy, and then in an attempt to make him happy. He wanted the storybook romance of his creation and when he’s not writing what she is doing and feeling she is able to act on her own free will and her actions are not what he desires. She says Calvin has rules and won’t tell her what they are until she breaks them and didn’t live up to the image of who he wanted her to be.

It is odd that while she is a real person with a real past she was bound by what Calvin would write. She had a past and real; she just happened to end up in his life exactly when he wrote about it. In the end when he is proving a point to her by making her act exactly what he wrote he is going through mental tumult as he is letting her go. He is coming to the realization that the story needs to end. She was physically real, but still a figment of his imagination. His problem in the beginning is that he cannot write, he cannot come up with a new story, but in the end he has the greatest story of his lifetime.

            I greatly enjoyed this story. I had no clue where the twists and turns would take me. The acting was convincing and I lost myself in the movie. A great amount of my appreciation for the film comes from the fact that I have never witnessed anything of the like. It was refreshing.