Recent DVD Release: All Is Lost

Published February 26, 2014 by mrsrag

Starring:  Robert Redford.

Rated: PG-13.  Action/Adventure/Drama.  Running Time: 1 hour 46 minutes.

The cast list tells the tale; this is quite literally a one man show.  “Our Man” (as he is listed in the credits), is the 77 year old Redford, alone in the middle of the Indian Ocean asleep aboard his sailboat when he is jarred awake by a violent collision.  He has rammed into a floating shipping container that must’ve been lost at sea, and the result has left a gaping hole in the side of Robert’s 39 foot yacht.  This unfortunate and unlikely happening is really just the beginning of the bad luck that Our Man will encounter.  I would contend that no movie has ever had a more appropriate title than All Is Lost.  Redford, to his credit, looks pretty good for a man his age.  He wears it  mostly in his face, but his body has held up rather nicely.  He performs all manner of feats, grand and small, in a furious effort to stay alive, but he just can’t catch a break.  I was hoping for a, ‘Cast Away on a boat movie’, but All Is Lost is no Cast Away.  Too much adversity, not enough triumph.  Just imagine if Tom Hanks had ONLY: crashed, knocked his own aching tooth out, had his flashlight burn out, gashed his leg on the coral, and found his dead friend; without also: making fire, learning to spear fish, finding the cave, finding the sail, finding all the FedEx boxes and Wilson.  You need the highs with the lows and Redford just doesn’t get any.  He gets to keep breathing, mostly, that pretty much is his “high” inventory.

All Is Lost lacks a very simple ingredient that helps a viewer like myself give a shit.  Back story.  We don’t know who this guy is, what he’s doing out there or why.  And we never get answers to these aching questions.  I imagined that at some point they would address the most basic ones, but we get nothing.  Back story aside, you can’t help but feel bad for Our Man.  But I spent the entirety of the movie feeling relatively depressed, which is not my favorite state to be in while watching a film.  Our Man is persistent, if nothing else.  He tries everything and seemingly impresses us with his vast knowledge of the ocean.  But as Ross has already laid out, luck and fate have other plans.  There are a few redeeming qualities to this flick.  For one, the effects are breathtaking.  The boat is literally toppling over and you, the viewer, believe it.  They flawlessly execute scenes that involve yachting and the protocol for emergency action.  That kind of knowledge can only come from experience or in depth research.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Redford is an avid sailor.  And the other redeeming quality is the message of hope.  There are times when you can feel and see Our Man’s exasperation.  But there’s always that shred of hope left in his eye, like he believes that his luck is about to change.

It was maddening not knowing why this man chose to be out in the middle of nowhere, at his age, alone.  Did he lose a wife?  Screw over some business partners?  Was it on his bucket list?  Or is he just a life-long thrill seeker?  Not knowing who Our Man is and what motivates him, made it extremely difficult for me to feel for him and with him.  At one crucial juncture during one of the horrible storms he went through, Redford runs into a pole and knocks himself out cold.  I spontaneously burst into laughter like I was watching Jackass.  This was a serious moment, but I wasn’t invested enough to feel his pain and the mortal danger he was in.   It just felt funny and I hit “rewind” twice to watch it again.  I wanted to love All Is Lost; I didn’t.  I also didn’t hate it, because how can you hate anything Robert Redford is in?  My feelings about the movie actually have nothing to do with his performance.  He was brilliant as always.  Ironically, later on in the night while lying in bed channel surfing before sleeping, I came upon The Sting.  One of my top two favorite movies of all time (Caddyshack is either 1 or 1A depending on the day) I’ve seen it a jillion times but I had to watch the whole thing again.  Redford and Newman are pure, silky magic and Maria turns to me and says, “He made this movie 41 years ago!”   Hard to conceive the time passage, but there is no mistaking the magnificent career of the man.  His face shows the wear and tear of the decades but he still has that magical twinkle in his eyes.  He deserved a better screenplay than he got in All Is Lost, and I think he knew it on some level.  Near the end of the film,  after another incident of horrendous luck, Our Man who has barely uttered a peep, throws his head back and screams to the heavens “Fuuuuuuuckkk!”  I couldn’t agree more Robert, fuck it all.  Old age, bad scripts and your weird orange(?) hair.    

It was by far the best part of the movie.  And the closest I came to feeling for Our Man.  We can all relate to his F bomb moment in some small way.  When his head hit that pole, Ross’ laughter was too contagious not to join in.  Even though I was still feeling pretty bad for the guy.  The Academy Award winner does his usual on screen magic, but all in all, All Is Lost falls short.  I think at this point in his career Redford is just doing what he wants to do.  He must have really liked some aspect of this project or he wouldn’t have wasted his time with it.  The score of this movie is definitely one of its highlights, as there is little to no dialogue.  And Alex Ebert, frontman of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, cleaned up at the Golden Globes taking home ‘Best Song’ and ‘Best Original Score’.  I wouldn’t say that I hated the movie, but I certainly didn’t love it.

Ross’ Rating:  3 Gummy Bears out of 5.

Maria’s Rating:  2.5 Gummies.

 

Movie Review: The Lego Movie

Published February 12, 2014 by mrsrag

Starring the voices of: Chris Pratt, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Charlie Day, Nick Offerman, Shaquille O’Neil, Jonah Hill.

Rated: PG.  Animated/Comedy.  Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

Ross leaned over toward the end of the movie and said, “This may be the most clever kids movie I’ve ever seen…or the most clever movie ever.”  Which is saying a lot considering he’s seen a TON of movies, especially of the kid genre.  Clever is the best one word description of this film.  He wasn’t even looking forward to it as much as Ethan and I were.  As we walked to the car he declared, “Well, that was 1,000 times better than I thought it was going to be.”  The Lego Movie was full of fun, laughs and tons of heart.  The jokes were so high brow that out of a packed theatre, Ross and I found ourselves to be the only two hysterically laughing.  I’m not saying the two of us are ready to join Mensa, but these jokes were too funny not to be laughing if you understood them.  Some of my personal favorites were the references to things such as ‘Kragle’, an old tube of Krazy Glue with some illegible letters, the orb of ‘Titleist’ – an ordinary golf ball and the ‘Exact zero’ blade, an Exacto knife.  They flawlessly integrated these everyday household objects into the fantastical plot surrounding the Lego characters.  And the cast of Lego people included, but were not limited to the following: Batman, Wonder Woman, Abraham Lincoln, Gandalf, Superman, the Green Lantern, the Green Ninja, a bunch of Star Wars characters and the usual yellow-faced dudes.  One of which ends up fulfilling a prophecy about a master builder who will save the World.  Emmett is just a regular old construction worker who likes to follow the rules, enjoys his daily routine and just wants to make friends.  Until one day when he sets eyes on the girl of his dreams.  While in pursuit, he literally stumbles upon the ‘piece of resistance’ and is thrust into an unexpected adventure.

The “Polish (think Poland) Remover of Nigh-ell, for nail polish remover was one of my favorites!  Having watched Lego based shows Ninjago and The Legends of Chima on Cartoon Network with Ethan, I REALLY wasn’t expecting much from The Lego Movie, and as is often the case I was more than pleasantly surprised.  The voice actors  were perfectly cast here and the writing is off the charts.  Everyman hero Emmet (Pratt), Master Po-like mentor Vitruvius (Freeman), vibrant vixen Wyldstyle (Banks), her beau Batman (Arnett), Bad Cop/Good Cop (Neeson) and Lord Business/President Business (Ferrell) are the core of the movie, and they banter and battle their way through the land of Legos with blissful abandon.  I honestly can’t wait to see it again to memorize more of the classic lines.  And as if the whole romp wasn’t enough on it’s own, there is a spectacular twist at the end (that Maria mostly saw coming I might add), that brings it to an even higher level.  Go see The Lego Movie.  You’re kids will love it and if you keep your attention vigilant, you’ll hear some of the wittiest jokes and references since the Shrek series.  “I will repay you.  Unless of course I can’t find you, or I forget.” 

Much like Shrek, The Lego Movie is full of classics.  It definitely merits another watch.  Along with the witty jokes and clever plot, there is also a deeper allegory that focuses on conformity.  The underlying message being: be creative, think outside the box and don’t always follow the instructions.  This movie just makes you feel good after seeing it and it will make you laugh.  Something I think we could all use.  Just go see this movie because, “EVERYTHING IS AWESOME…”

“Everything is Awesome”, the signature song from the movie is a catchy, brainless ditty that you will find yourself humming on the way out.  We have seen some great animated films in the last year or so.  Wreck-It Ralph (which I thought should have definitely beat out Brave for Best Animated), Despicable Me 2, and the fantastic Frozen.  The Lego Movie fits in nicely with those gems.  First week gross was $69,000,00, easily outdistancing The Monuments Men $22,000,000.  It remains to be seen if TLM can catch Frozen’s $350,000,000 and counting, but I’m guessing word of mouth will push it to the stratosphere.  Would be absolutely shocked if we don’t see more from the land of interlocking blocks, and I for one can’t wait!  Who would of thought, little yellow people with “C’s”  for hands = box office gold?!  Awesome, indeed.

Maria’s Rating: 5 Gummy Bears out of 5.

Ross’ Rating: 4.5 Gummies.

Recent DVD Release: Last Vegas

Published February 6, 2014 by mrsrag

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen, Jerry Ferrara, Romany Malco.

Rated: PG-13.  Comedy. Running Time: 1 hour 45 minutes.

An A-list foursome of old codgers head to Vegas and rip it up.  Sounds like my last trip out there; just kidding.  Seriously though, I’m not quite as old as those boys but some of the themes hit pretty close to home.  Billy (Douglas) is getting married to a woman less than half his age, and he needs his three best friends to come to Vegas for his bachelor party.  Archie (Freeman), Sam (Kline) and Paddy (De Niro) come from New York, Jersey and Florida to complete the “Flatbush Four”.  They’ve known each other for fifty years and even though they’re thousands of miles apart, they’re as close as ever.  One problem, Paddy is seriously pissed at Billy for missing his wife’s funeral.  There is more to the story, but I’ll let you find that out for yourself.  The guys quickly meet an interesting lounge singer of a certain age, Diana (Steenburgen); and make an impression in the casino, which leads to a comped suite.  Things move at a fast pace in Last Vegas, and you get the feeling the guys can hear their clocks ticking down.  The prostate jokes, references to small strokes and oodles of prescription meds are flying around, but the chemistry between these four legends is smooth as silk, and they really feel like lifelong buddies.

When I first saw the previews for Last Vegas I thought, “It’s ‘The Hangover’, geriatric style.”  Which it kind of is.  But I love these four guys and they keep it entertaining.  They can laugh at themselves and they genuinely seem like they’re having a good time doing it.  The four friends embark on this spontaneous trip, each hoping that it will breathe new life into their progressively mundane lives.  Kline is suffering through water aerobics classes at his Florida community.  Freeman is being treated like a big child, nearly imprisoned in his son’s Jersey home.  DeNiro is a grieving widower and he spends his days sitting around his apartment in a bathrobe and refusing soup from a concerned neighbor.  Douglas appears to be the only one of the ‘Flatbush Four’ with blood coursing through his veins.  He’s got a beautiful young lady on his arm and a successful business.  But he’s still unsatisfied.  He’s faced with his own mortality at a close friend’s funeral and pops the question to his ‘child bride’, as they so often refer to her.

We can certainly relate to the Douglas’ story line as Maria and I are getting married in August and we have a fairly significant difference in age.  Unlike these relationship stereotypes, which are clearly on display here, I am not rich and Maria is not an empty-headed bimbo.  I am also not quite ready for the nursing home, but can clearly relate with the guys facing down their own mortality and fears of not being able to live life to it’s fullest.  Beyond all of what appears to be morbid subject matter, Last Vegas is an enjoyable watch.  As I mentioned the action is fast paced, the laughs are plentiful and there are some decent supporting roles.  Steenburgen is sultry, and surprisingly can carry a decent tune, as the lounge singer/possible love interest.  Romany Malco (from 40-Year Old Virgin) is great as the guys’ reluctant at first concierge, he was supposed to be handling 50 cent for the weekend.  And Jerry Ferrara is very Turtle-like (his role in the HBO series Entourage) as Dean, a cocky bar rat who gets knocked down a peg or two and becomes the Flatbush Four’s personal boy Friday.  Certainly not going to be a cinematic classic, but I saw enough to hope they have at least one sequel in them.  One final note, keep an eye out for the scene where Morgan Freeman’s character has one too many Red Bull vodkas.  We’ve all seen, or been, that guy before.  “It’s like being drunk and electrocuted all at the same time!” 

Freeman was the highlight for me.  He provided the best laughs and was my personal favorite character.  The bar scene Ross is referring to is literally the best five minutes of the whole movie.  But there’s a few more laugh out loud moments.  The ‘child bride’ storyline is formulaic and the age difference is much more substantial in this plot than our real life relationship.  The young woman is always portrayed as a money grubbing, ditzy bimbo.  And honestly, I can’t blame them for this.  I’ve seen that stereotype played out in real life.  Fortunately, it does not at all reflect our story.  I think I would have played my hand a bit better if that was my mission.  Firstly, I’d get some filthy rich Palm Beach resident.  I’d have my eye on someone with more money than God.  And secondly, he’d be attached to some oxygen and rapidly approaching his expiration date.  What does this look like, amateur hour?  Last Vegas turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  These four seasoned actors don’t take themselves too seriously in the film and that translates on screen.  It was most certainly a better choice than watching ‘The Hangover 3″.

Ross’ Rating: 3.5 Gummy Bears out of 5.

Maria’s Rating: 3.5 Gummies.

Recent DVD Release: Prisoners

Published January 28, 2014 by mrsrag

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Paul Dano, Melissa Leo, Dylan Minnette.

Rated: R.  Crime/Drama.  Running Time: 2 hours 33 minutes.

Hi everyone, hope you all had a great holiday season.  We’ve been away a while with family, work, vacation etc., but we’re ready to get back into the swing.  We rented Prisoners last night, an intriguing (albeit a bit too long) morality play that makes you contemplate some serious issues and has you asking the question, “what would I do?”  Keller Dover (Jackman) is an outdoorsman, survivalist and decent family man.  His best friend and neighbor, Franklin Birch (Howard), seems equally decent and both men are married with two kids.  The families have a little Thanksgiving day gathering, and before long the two little girls (one from each family) end up wandering off unsupervised.  This is where Prisoners begins in earnest, as the families desperately search for the missing girls.  The focus quickly centers on a beat up camper that was seen parked nearby earlier.  The camper’s driver, Alex Jones, another damaged man/child played by the seemingly one-dimensional Paul Dano, is apprehended by local cop, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) and becomes the prime suspect.  Extensive searching and questioning turns up nothing and the police eventually have to let Alex go.  The clock is ticking and Keller decides to take matters into his own hands.     

Prisoners has a similar feel to Mystic River or Gone Baby Gone.  These films share that initial moment when your heart sinks and you feel nothing but absolute sympathy for the family involved.  Then your mind wanders and you think, “what if it was me?”  Suspenseful, intriguing and in its totality quite clever, Prisoners is a moral dilemma.  The audience won’t know whether to encourage Keller Dover or to lock him away.  Personally, I am a bit of a sucker for vigilante justice (i.e. my love of the Death Wish movies), but it strikes a different chord when you’re unsure of the recipient’s guilt.  Jackman gives a truly electrifying performance as the desperate Keller Dover, alongside some fairly forgettable characters.  Ross is right about the length, it ran a bit too long for my taste, especially in the middle.  The ending was worth a wait, but not the wait they imposed on us.  Prisoners kept us guessing and questioning ourselves for a good while, but no one can keep Ross Gallo guessing too long.  The man is a savant.

I’m not sure about savant; idiot maybe.  If you have kids, you have to relate to Keller Dover’s plight.  I’m pretty sure if you’ve seen the previews for this movie, that I’m not ruining the plot by telling you that he tortures the hell out of Dano’s Jones.  If it was my kid missing, would I go that far?  My guess is yes.  The filmmakers make it extremely uncomfortable, because there are serious doubts about Jones’ guilt.  The race against time is on though and I found myself being unable to decide if I wanted him to continue or not.  I’m certain this is the place where they wanted the viewer to end up.  Hugh Jackman is excellent and carries the movie.  It is through him that we “live” the anger, doubt, horror and anguish.  The supporting cast is mostly wasted, though for you Saving Grace fans, it was cool to see an all grown up Dylan Minnette who played Grace’s nephew Cole on the TNT hit.  Too long, but worth a watch for sure.  Maria hit it on the head with the Mystic River feel.  Though not the exact same plot, the cold, drab winter and tortured father are similar; as is the “did he do it or didn’t he?” suspect.  Check out Prisoners to find out the movies answers, and probably some within yourself as well.

Prisoners was no shining cinematic achievement, but if you’re in the mood for a suspenseful mystery, it’s worth a try.  It had a few good twists and turns.  And Jackman’s emotionally charged performance cements his place as one of Hollywood’s eminent talents.  He single-handedly keeps Prisoners above average.  But the combination of the lengthy plot and forgettable supporting cast bumps it back into mediocrity.  This isn’t the genre of movie I would rush off to see in theatres anyway, but it was a good RedBox investment.

Ross’ Rating- 3.25 Gummy Bears out of 5.

Maria’s Rating- 2.75 Gummies.