Captain Phillips

Rating: 4¼ / 5

 

"How can they send us out here without some security?" asks a crew member after the MV Maersk Alabama survives a scare with a pirate skiff. It's a great question that never gets answered, but like Captain Rich Phillips' legacy, is still making news. In the end, I don't care about what actually happened nearly as much as I suppose I should. For those of us that are fans of the Bourne Trilogy + 1, we're already familiar with Paul Greengrass's use of hyper-realistic cinematography. What this means for those of you who couldn't watch the second and third Bourne movies due to the shaky camera, you will have some trouble with this one, but not nearly as much. The first fifteen minutes was the only time that trying to track the main characters left me feeling motion-sick. Thankfully, nothing really happens in those fifteen minutes, so you could just close your eyes if need be. The film really gets going when we first see our pirates, led by Barkhad Abdi's Abduwali Muse, and it never really stops. That's what I really enjoyed about this movie, there is literally never a dull moment. Tom Hanks does a great job as Phillips, but Abdi's portrayal of the now-convicted Muse, upstages him. In a year when Christoph Waltz wasn't in a major motion picture, Abdi is my vote for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Greengrass does a great job taking you along for the ride; you genuinely feel as if you're there: I caught myself thinking "Oh, they're going to stop those pirates from getting the ladder on the ship" knowing full well they weren't and being disappointed and a little worried when they didn't. Greengrass's hyper-realism made the ride more enjoyable, and when it's all over, you'll end up feeling just as exhausted yet relieved as Captain Phillips.

Frozen

Rating: 4½ / 5

Having grown up in literally the best time for a kid who enjoys animated films, I've loved Disney for most of my life. Disney managed to create "Beauty and the Beast", "The Lion King", "Toy Story", "Aladdin", and many other films that not only defined countless childhoods but still stand today as some of the best animated films of all time ("Beauty and the Beast" is a 5/5 film for me.) That being said, in the 2000s, Disney had some trouble maintaining the quality of animated features that the previous decade had seen. I'm pretty sure if you've seen "Brother Bear", "Treasure Planet", and "Home on the Rang", you and the 50 or so other people like you should start a class-action lawsuit against Disney. They owe you, they stole nearly six hours of your life that you'll never get back.Anyway, moving into the last part of the decade through today, the Mouse had more success with films like "Up", "The Princess and the Frog", and "Wreck-It Ralph". "Wreck-It Ralph" was pretty good, admittedly, I'm not a fan of Sarah Silverman, but the movie was solid. Then we have "Frozen". "Frozen" reminds me the most of the Disney movies I had as a kid: The story was familiar, and you knew everything was going to work out in the end for Elsa and the gang, but along the way we had ridiculously good songs thanks to both the voice actors (namely Broadway stars Idina Menzel and Josh Gad) and the songwriting of Robert Lopez ("Avenue Q", "Book of Mormon") and wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Jonathan Groff and Kristen Bell both did well, but Gad's snowman, Olaf, steals the show. You don't need to be a kid to see this movie and have a great time, although its message is a little off for young children. How could "run away and live in an ice-castle because you're self-conscious about your super powers" (wait, is this "Superman") not be seen as a little too strong of a message to kids about overcoming obstacles? Regardless, the film is the closest thing I've seen to "Beauty and the Beast" in quite some time, and I only hope the future holds similarly great things.

American Hustle

Rating: 2½ / 5

Loosely based on the actual FBI operation "Abscam", David O. Russell's latest work is packed with quite talented actors. Christian Bale does well as the lead con artist, and Amy Adams pairs well with him as a slightly crazier con artist. Bradley Cooper was enjoyable as the eager but overzealous FBI agent, and Jennifer Lawrence looked like she had fun playing the manic depressive housewife of Christian Bale. Jeremy Renner is once again underrated as the well-intentioned but gullible mayor of Camden, New Jersey. Renner's character is the only one I found myself genuinely interested in, as the others were rather unlikable. Louis C.K. plays Bradley Cooper's fun-hating boss, and while he's initially seen as a dud, it later becomes clear he might be the only sane person in the movie. The real problem with this film is that the actors did their jobs really well, but the rest of the movie just lets them down. David O. Russell puts out a performance closer to the bizarre "I Heart Huckabees" than the successful "Silver Linings Playbook". The message of the movie is supposed to be "Everyone Hustles to Survive", but all we really see are three idiots, the mayor they took advantage of, and an unstable housewife. I don't know why this movie had to be made, that is, I don't know why this story needed to be told. All in all, the acting was solid, but the story and the direction were subpar.

Red Dawn (2012)

Rating: 1 / 5

This film comes from the "Popular on Netflix" selection on Netflix.

I'd like to think of myself as a guy who's in the know when it comes to what people like in movies, but after watching this remake, I'm not quite sure about that. The opening sequence doesn't even try to hide that this is a movie based on another bad movie, "Red Dawn" (1984). Instead of going with something like, "Based on a book by Kevin Reynolds," it simply states, "Based on the movie Red Dawn." I'm not quite sure how much work needs to go into making a movie based on a similarly bad movie, but from what I've seen, not much did. The highlight of the film was in the first 5 minutes when ESPN's Mark Schlereth is the head coach of the Wolverine's football team. Seriously, it's the best part of the film. I watched the rest of it so you don't have to. It's like somebody at MGM said, "Let's remake a bad movie with bad actors but not ironically." I love Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, but here they fall flat. Red Dawn had such a great chance to be a "so bad it's good" movie but was simply a "so bad you turn it off" movie.

Rating System

I love Flixster, Hulu, and Netflix. They make many of my viewings possible. In part, they are the reason I started this blog. Of all the rating system used by those sites, I like the Flixster method the best. My rating system is very similar, but instead of stars, I use numbers. Here's a breakdown of just what the numbers mean:

• 1 = Hated it. No redeeming qualities. I'm looking for a way to travel back in time to get part of my life back.
• 2 = Didn't like it. Less than 10% of the movie was watchable.
• 3 = Liked it. These movies are just past the post of "was it worth my time." I might watch it again, I might not.
• 4 = Really liked it. A movie worth watching again. I'll probably buy it even though Netflix will probably carry it soon.
• 5 = Loved it. One of my favorite movies of all time. I will stop what I'm doing and watch if I see it's playing. I could watch this movie over and over without losing any love for it.

Like most things in life worth measuring, I believe movies are (for the most part) normally distributed. I realize that there may be more really awful movies than really fantastic ones, but I'll try and filter those out. My ratings will generally reflect how good a movie is, but there are times I will acknowledge a movie achieves its purpose but in a style or manner I don't care for. I will try to remain objective, but not to the point of killing the purpose of doing subjective reviews.

Gravity

Rating: 4 / 5 

 

I'm a fan of 3D movies. I know many people think they're gimmicky. I know wearing glasses while watching the film is a little obnoxious, but I enjoy what it adds to the movie. While I still think animated features handle 3D much better, Gravity is the best example of the added depth I have ever seen. I caught myself flinching a handful of times when the debris was shredding everything in orbit. For someone who doesn't find modern horror flicks appealing in the least, Gravity is the most terrifying movie I've ever seen. Sandra Bullock does a good job, but I think a different background would have made here character more accessible. Instead of having anything back home, she doesn't have a family thanks to some tragic events. While I wish she had something to live for, it might have changed the message from survival because "you're not done yet" to being one of survival built on the strength of loving others (as in 12 Years a Slave). Regardless, the film strikes deep to remind us we could face our end alone, but we are by no means resigned to that fate.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

 Rating: 1½ / 5

Will Ferrell's newest movie about being a big-shot anchor for a major news channel is nothing like his first movie about being a big-shot anchor for a major news channel. Or maybe it is. Either way, the only person who thought this was funny was a lady who must not have seen the first Anchorman, because everything seemed so new and hilarious to her. I wish I could have been her. Nothing about this movie is worth going to see, except maybe the last 20 minutes or so which are filled with cameos by, mostly, much better actors (Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sacha Baron Cohen, Liam Neeson) and one much worse (Kanye West). Instead of wasting time and money, watch the original Anchorman. If you can trick yourself into believing the world is new again and Will Ferrell hasn't made essentially the same movie a handful of times over the last decade, let me know how you did it.

 

12 Years a Slave

Rating: 4½ / 5 

 

Steve McQueen's powerful film about Solomon Northrup's kidnapping, enslavement, and eventual freedom is stellar. Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance as Northrup kept me invested in what some think is the best movie of the year. Nobody was particularly interested in seeing the movie with me which lead me to believe things weren't as grand as they seemed. I mean, who wants to see "White Guilt: The Movie"? It never was an issue. Maybe it's who I am, but when I see Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Michael Fassbender use the "n" word so freely, I have trouble identifying or sympathizing with them. Perhaps the greater barrier was in their status, I would never have been able to afford a plantation, let alone any slaves. The most overlooked role I've seen is from Garret Dillahunt playing a former overseer who works alongside the slaves before agreeing to help Solomon (Platt). He's the most accessible character for me; he hasn't led a perfect life and faces a tough choice between his survival and his morals. Overall, the movie isn't as disturbing as I thought it would be, because I don't think that was the message here. I think the message here is that as awful as kidnapping and enslavement are, the human spirit is still stronger.