Catching Up

Ok, so it seems that reviewing every movie I watch has become pretty unrealistic.  It's much harder than I thought because every post takes a long time if I want to do it right.  So, I've seen several movies since I've started "blogging" that I haven't discussed.  I thought I'd briefly do all of those right now.

1.  Edge of Darkness.

Mel Gibson is clearly much crazier than most of us thought.  And this movie sort of came and went without much ado.  However, I really enjoyed it.  Mel Gibson plays a Boston police officer (with a very questionable accent) whose adult daughter is shot and killed on his front porch while at home visiting him.  He takes it upon himself, of course, to solve the mystery and get revenge.  There are several sincerely startling moments.  It's not really an "action" movie, but there is a mounting tension as the mystery unfolds and the limited violence that exists is very real and well done.  It's too bad Mel went so nuts and won't be in a movie any time soon.


2.  The Expendables.  I think the real reason I watched this one in the first place was to write a funny review about it.  Sylvester Stallone got all of his action-movie buddies together in an effort to make the "ultimate" action movie.  eh.  (Just for the record, Bruce Willis and Arnold S. are in it about 30 seconds total).  Jason Statham is probably the most legitimate action star of the bunch.  The rest of them aren't.

I haven't seen a Dolph Lundgren movie since Rocky IV.  I had to look up who Randy Coutre is (apparently he's one of those ultimate fighters).  Mickey Rourke?  isn't he most famous for 9 1/2 weeks love scenes?  I suppose Jet Li is a martial arts star, but I haven't seen any of them.  Terry Crews is in a funny Old Spice commercial, and Steve Austin was a professional wrestler in the 90's.  I don't get it.  Noticeably absent are Jean Claude Van Damm and Steven Segal (who may or may not be in jail...)

There is sort of a plot.  The squad of mercenaries is sent on a Dirty-Dozen-esque suicide mission.  A lot of people are stabbed and a lot of things explode and Stallone gets the girl (who has to be 40 years younger than him.  Literally).  In other words, it's very forgettable.  I've already forgotten it...  Watch the Dirty Dozen instead.


3.  Big Fan.

This movie is great.  It's a small-budget under-the-radar movie.  Patton Oswald plays a loser, barely-employed New York Giants fan.  He's too poor to afford tickets, but he and his friend go to the parking lot of the stadium and watch home games on a tiny TV out there.  He lives with his mom and spends his time writing out Giants-related rants which he later reads on local sports radio call-in stations.

At one point he sees his favorite player filling up his SUV with gas.  He follows the player to a nightclub and speaks with him.  The player figures out that Oswald's character followed him, gets angry, and beats him to a bloody pulp.  The rest of the movie explores Oswald's personal conflict.  His friends, family, and the police all want him to turn in the player.  However, he refuses to do so because of his loyalty to the team (he knows that without this particular player, the Giants are a much worse team).

Great movie, explores the sports-obsessed American culture.  I saw too much of myself in the main character...


4.  Invictus.  Another good movie, if a little bit too long.  The movie is about Nelson Mandela's early years as President of South Africa and the South African Rugby team's quest for the 1995 Rugby World Cup.  It's perhaps a little bit slow at times, but Clint Eastwood is such a great storyteller that it all pays off.  My main complaint is personal...I would enjoy it more if I knew more about Rugby (because I know literally nothing) and if I knew more about South African history.  I am shamefully ignorant on both of those subjects.

5.  Sugar.

Great low-budget movie about a young Latin-American baseball prospect playing minor league baseball in America.  He doesn't know the language, doesn't have any friends, and can't figure out exactly what is expected of him.  He winds up on some rookie league team in rural America.  It's interesting because this happens literally all the time but it is rarely explored in the news media or in film (probably because the stories don't generally end happily).   Cool movie, makes you think about the American minor league baseball system and the toll it takes on the players.

Toy Story 3

What's the deal:  Remember when the first Toy Story came out?  Animated films before Toy Story weren't done on computers, and Tim Allen was still sort of an actual celebrity.  It seemed, initially, that Toy Story's defining characteristic was that new kind of crazy computer animation.  Who would have thought that the studio behind Toy Story would become an absolute behemoth and every single movie they make would make a gazillion dollars and be loved by everyone?  They come out with one movie every year, usually in the summer, which is warmly received by audiences and critics.  The films consistently balance really good, light comedy with emotional, often heavy, dramatic material. 

Toy Story 3 is no exception.  The main characters are the same ones that have made the other Toy Story movies great...Woody, Buzz, Slinky Dog, Piggy Bank, The T-Rex, The Potato-Heads, etc.  When the story picks up, Andy (the toys' owner) is going off to college and the toys are worried about what's going to happen to them.  Are they going to the attic?  To the trash?  To college?  Are they getting "donated?"  Will they stay together or be split apart?  The toys inadvertently get donated to Sunnyside Day Care, which is ruled with an iron fist by a seemingly lovable teddy bear named Lotso.

                                         

However, Woody, Buzz and the gang quickly realize that Lotso runs Sunnyside like a prison.  He keeps the new toys in cages at night, and during the day they are forced to be played with by the reckless, dangerous toddlers instead of the kids for whom they are "age appropriate."  The toys then hatch an escape scheme and much of the movie is devoted to this intricately planned escape.  It's really entertaining and actually pretty suspenseful in a lot of places.

Once the toys are out, they have to find their way back to Andy's house and more adventures ensue. 

What I like:

1.  References to other movies:  Especially prison movies.  Pay special attention to shout-outs to Cool Hand Luke (the box), Escape from Alcatraz and The Great Escape.  Also the first Mission Impossible is parodied briefly. 

2.  It's just plain funny.  In typical Pixar fashion, the movie contains a lot of laughs.  Often they are quick, subtle oddities happening among a thousand other things.  I'm thinking of when the toys are getting rambunctiously played with by the toddlers.  It's a rapid little montage of toddler after toddler abusing toy after toy.  The scene is very busy, but contains a lot of laughs.  The Barbie/Ken love story created some good laughs, too.

3.  It strikes the perfect emotional chord.  Also in typical Pixar fashion, the movie tugs on the ole heart strings.  It's not as emotional as "Up," (Melissa didn't cry quite as much...that's how I know) but Toy Story 3 does involve the characters saying several long, teary goodbyes.  It's clear that the moviemakers' objective was to force the audience members to think nostogically about the playful times of their own childhoods also to be a little bit sad that it's just not that simple any more.  It worked.

4.  It's actually a good sequel.  Sequels are usually pretty lame and seem thrown together at the last minute so the studio can release "something" and milk audiences who enjoyed the first installment of whatever out of a little more cash.  But this one is good.  I liked that. 

What I didn't like:

1.  It's a cartoon, but it's kind of heavy for kids.  I don't know why I feel the need to put this in here, because I don't think a single reader of this blog has a child at an age where they need to censor what he or she is seeing in the movies.  And even if they did, I hope they wouldn't turn to me as a final answer to that predicament.  (I mean, I recommended a movie called Zombieland).  But for some reason, because Toy Story 3 is a cartoon, I found myself thinking "wow, that was kind of a scary image for a little kid."

2.  The 3D.  I'm just pretty resistant to this whole fad altogether (at least I hope it's just a fad).  The glasses make me kind of nauseated (or is it nauseous?? what's the proper usage of those words?) and I just don't think it adds all that much to the moviegoing experience.  Except that it costs more.  hmph.