Red Tails
This is George Lucas' first production since the Star Wars prequels. He has been trying to get this movie made since the late 80's, but has had trouble finding financing and a distributor for the film due to it's all black cast and unknown black director. The special effects and the action sequences look fantastic, but the dialogue in the trailer looks a bit preachy. Lucas has said that he wanted to make an old fashioned war movie with true heroes without faults. I liked Spielberg's War Horse a bit, and that was supposed to be a throwback movie, too. Whether this is a good movie or not will depend on how the actors playing the pilots do. Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Terrence Howard will give the corny speeches that were in the preview, but the lesser known actors have a chance to make this a memorable movie instead of the usual trash that is released in January.
The Director - Anthony Hemingway - This will be his first feature directing job, however he has quite a few excellent television credits. He has directed episodes of The Wire, True Blood, Community, Battlestar Galactica, Treme, and Fringe.
The Writers - Aaron McGruder, John Ridley - And here's what has me worried about this movie. Ridley's biggest credits are as the creator of the Barbershop TV series and the head writer of the Wanda Sykes show. Then McGruder is the creator of The Boondocks on Cartoon Network. I haven't watched any of these shows, but this seems like a pretty big jump in production size. At least Anthony Hemingway was directing big budget television shows.
The Actors
Terrence Howard - I didn't like Hustle & Flow, but he seems like a good actor. Doesn't look like he has much to work with in this movie though.
Cuba Gooding Jr. - This type a movie only needs one guy to give long spirited speeches. Seems like an unnecessary character to me.
Bryan Cranston - I haven't seen Breaking Bad yet, so I'm not sold on him as a great actor.
The pilots - No big names, so we'll see how they do.
Nate Parker, Tristan Wilds, Elijah Kelly, Leslie Odom Jr., Kevin Phillips, Cliff Smith(aka Method Man),
Early Reviews
Michael Phillips - ** out of 4
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/sc-mov-0117-red-tails-20120119,0,1748740.column
Roger Ebert - ** 1/2 out of 4
http://www.rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120118/REVIEWS/120119986/-1/RSS
Colin Covert - ** out of 4
http://www.miami.com/039red-tails039-pg-13-article
Owen Gleiberman - B-
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20483133_20556657,00.html
May the Force be with you,
CHUD
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Contraband Review
ContrabandDirected by Baltasar Kormakur
Written by Aaron Guzikowski
Starring
Mark Wahlberg... Chris Farraday
Kate Beckinsale... Kate Farraday
Ben Foster... Sebastian Abney
Giovanni Ribisi... Tim Briggs
JK Simmons... Captain Camp
Story
The basic premise of Contraband is pretty similar to another Giovanni Ribisi classic, Gone in Sixty Seconds. Chris Farraday's brother-in-law is forced to dump a shipment of cocaine when his ship is boarded by the Coast Guard, and is in debt to a local drug dealer for $700,000. Here comes Marky Mark to the rescue. He is a former smuggler, but has gone legitimate as a home security installer. Unable to reason with Tim Briggs he is forced to do one last job to come up with the money. Of course, he won't smuggle drugs because he has such high morals, but is willing to smuggle in millions of dollars in counterfeit money.
Acting
No standout performances, and a couple very mediocre ones. Mark Wahlberg is very attractive and can do no wrong. (Guess who produced this movie?) Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, and JK Simmons all do their part, but their characters are pretty two dimensional. And Giovanni Ribisi shouldn't be allowed to do an accent, or play a tough guy. I can't think of a person I would be less afraid of than him.
Review
I had pretty low hopes going in, and those hopes weren't even met. Every character is thin, the action sequences are a mess and impossible to follow, and the story is very predictable. If it had a little more edge to it, and the risks seemed a bit more real it would have been better. But if you like a nice simple heist movie, it has some enjoyable parts to it. You know Farraday will get away with it, so the question is how will he do it? They come up with a couple of low tech ways that seem plausible, but I'd like the Mythbusters guys to take a look at it. The big action sequence with the duct taped face army from the preview is completely pointless and the worst part of the movie. It makes no sense why the characters would be there, or what purpose they serve, and it was poorly shot and edited. The camera is shaking so much, and bad guys and policemen appear out of nowhere with fully automatic weapons that must be misfiring when they aim at Mark Wahlberg. All in all, an average movie that has been made better before this.
** out of five stars
May the Force be with you,
CHUD
Friday, January 13, 2012
Friday Preview: Contraband
Hi everybody,
Last year I set a goal of seeing 100 movies in the theater, and I reached that goal. I also wanted to write reviews and give ratings for all those movies on my blog as I saw them. That didn't really happen. So, this year I will change the way I write the blog. Instead of throwing up random movie reviews, I'll try to keep it a bit more structured. Every Friday I will post a preview post of the movie that I will be seeing over the weekend, and then on Tuesday I'll put up a review. Easy enough, let's get started.
Contraband
The preview leaves a little to be desired. It's the same premise as the Nicolas Cage Gone in Sixty Seconds. A career criminal leaves the business only to be pulled back in when a family member gets caught up with the wrong crowd. And what's with the duct taped masks? Wouldn't it be easier to just get some ski masks, and a hell of a lot less pain to take off? Also, can anybody tell me what accent Giovanni Ribisi is using? It sounds like a mix of creole, southern, and testicle squeezing.
The Director - Baltasar Kormákur - A filmmaker from Iceland. Seems like this is his first hollywood movie. Can't say I know much about him, but if this is any good I might check out some of his other movies. He also starred in the original Reykjavik-Rotterdam.
The Writer - Aaron Guzikowski - First time writer.
The Actors
Mark Wahlberg - Doesn't look like he breaks much of a sweat here. Typical action role where he gets so worked up that every line he says he sounds like he's out of breath.
Kate Beckinsale - Doesn't look like she is in it all that much. Probably just need an attractive female to put on the poster and make out with Marky Mark.
Ben Foster - Good actor, I hope he is in more than the preview shows.
Giovanni Ribisi - He looks god awful in this. Hope that I'm wrong, but I doubt it.
Early Reviews
So far on RottenTomatoes.com it is sitting at 25 positive and 28 negative.
Roger Ebert - ** - "Contraband" involves a lot of energy, but I'm getting tired of violent retreads of these heist elements.
http://www.rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120111/REVIEWS/120119998/-1/RSS
Richard Roeper - A- - This is a first-rate action film with a great cast, a talented director and a strong script.
http://www.richardroeper.com/reviews/contraband.aspx
Michael Phillips - ** 1/2 - Wahlberg has the presence, the glower and the laconic line readings to guide us through a mess of pain, painlessly.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/sc-mov-0111-contraband-20120112,0,4388609.column
Colin Covert - *** - It's like an exciting police procedural turned on its head.
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/movies/137194693.html
I hope everyone likes the new format, and give me some feedback if you have any ideas on how I could make this blog better.
May the Force be with you,
CHUD
Last year I set a goal of seeing 100 movies in the theater, and I reached that goal. I also wanted to write reviews and give ratings for all those movies on my blog as I saw them. That didn't really happen. So, this year I will change the way I write the blog. Instead of throwing up random movie reviews, I'll try to keep it a bit more structured. Every Friday I will post a preview post of the movie that I will be seeing over the weekend, and then on Tuesday I'll put up a review. Easy enough, let's get started.
Contraband
The preview leaves a little to be desired. It's the same premise as the Nicolas Cage Gone in Sixty Seconds. A career criminal leaves the business only to be pulled back in when a family member gets caught up with the wrong crowd. And what's with the duct taped masks? Wouldn't it be easier to just get some ski masks, and a hell of a lot less pain to take off? Also, can anybody tell me what accent Giovanni Ribisi is using? It sounds like a mix of creole, southern, and testicle squeezing.
The Director - Baltasar Kormákur - A filmmaker from Iceland. Seems like this is his first hollywood movie. Can't say I know much about him, but if this is any good I might check out some of his other movies. He also starred in the original Reykjavik-Rotterdam.
The Writer - Aaron Guzikowski - First time writer.
The Actors
Mark Wahlberg - Doesn't look like he breaks much of a sweat here. Typical action role where he gets so worked up that every line he says he sounds like he's out of breath.
Kate Beckinsale - Doesn't look like she is in it all that much. Probably just need an attractive female to put on the poster and make out with Marky Mark.
Ben Foster - Good actor, I hope he is in more than the preview shows.
Giovanni Ribisi - He looks god awful in this. Hope that I'm wrong, but I doubt it.
Early Reviews
So far on RottenTomatoes.com it is sitting at 25 positive and 28 negative.
Roger Ebert - ** - "Contraband" involves a lot of energy, but I'm getting tired of violent retreads of these heist elements.
http://www.rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120111/REVIEWS/120119998/-1/RSS
Richard Roeper - A- - This is a first-rate action film with a great cast, a talented director and a strong script.
http://www.richardroeper.com/reviews/contraband.aspx
Michael Phillips - ** 1/2 - Wahlberg has the presence, the glower and the laconic line readings to guide us through a mess of pain, painlessly.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/sc-mov-0111-contraband-20120112,0,4388609.column
Colin Covert - *** - It's like an exciting police procedural turned on its head.
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/movies/137194693.html
I hope everyone likes the new format, and give me some feedback if you have any ideas on how I could make this blog better.
May the Force be with you,
CHUD
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Top Movies Coming in 2012
Hi, I hope everyone had a good 2011, and a good start to 2012. Starting next week I am going to try to post more frequently here with a preview of a movie on Friday, and then a review of the movie on Tuesday. For this week though I'm going to take a look at the most anticipated movies coming out this year.
John Carter - March 9 - This movie has been an on again, off again production for nearly a lifetime. It's finally coming to the big screen, and is being directed by Andrew Stanton(Wall-E). Hopefully he is as successful as Brad Bird going to live action with Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. It has a Star Wars, space fantasy feel to it, but I'm not sure Taylor Kitsch is the choice I would have made to carry this franchise. Hope it turns out well. Here's the trailer.
The Hunger Games - March 23 - I liked the books and was really looking forward to it. The first casting announcements were great, with Jennifer Lawrence playing Katniss and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch being fantastic choices. Then it started to go downhill. Lenny Kravitz was cast as a linchpin character. I looked up Gary Ross' film history on IMDB. Big, Pleasantville, and Dave were not the type of movies I was thinking of when I read the book about a dystopian future where the elite, ruling class make children fight to the death. And then this trailer came out, and almost all hope is lost.
I'm hopeful, but feel this is going to be a big disappointment.
The Avengers - May 4 - Iron Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor all lead into this comic book movie to end all comic book movies. Should be a huge spectacle, and I cannot wait :)
Men In Black III - May 25 - MIB 2 was an atrocious pile of shit, but the original is one of the best sci-fi comedies ever made. I'm hoping this isn't just a cash grab for the studio and this franchise gets back on track the way Transformers did last year.
Prometheus - June 8 - A prequel to Alien being directed by Ridley Scott. A fantastic cast (Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson, Guy Pearce) and a cool first trailer will make me consider going to a midnight showing of this.
Brave - June 22 - When Pixar makes a bad movie I'll stop getting excited to see what they do next. (Cars 2 was pretty average, but not terrible.)
The Amazing Spider-Man - July 3 - About as bad a first look as you can get with its first trailer. My friend Tom thought it was a sequel to Superhero Movie, a spoof of the original Spider-Man. Haven't heard much about this since the trailer came out. I like the character of Spiderman and I liked Andrew Garfield in Social Network. We'll see.
The Dark Knight Rises - July 20 - By far the most anticipated movie of 2012. There is no way this can live up to the hype, so I think quite a few people will be disappointed. I'm hopeful it will be better than first, and close to as good as the second. Can't wait to see Tom Hardy as Bane.
The Bourne Legacy - August 3 - A Bourne movie without Matt Damon. Jeremy Renner has pretty much taken over Hollywood. Rumor has it he will be the lead in the next Mission Impossible movie, he's part of the Avengers, and now is taking over the biggest spy series outside of 007. He's a great actor and I'm looking forward to the trailer for this one.
Skyfall - November 9 - The only thing better than a new Bourne movie is a new Bond movie. Yay!
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - December 14 - This is my most anticipated movie of the year. I love the LOTR movies and enjoyed the first book, but The Hobbit is a far superior story in my opinion. In Fellowship the story focuses on the nine members of the group and their journey across Middle Earth. Now take that concept and replace the boring humans with some lively dwarves. Martin Freeman was brilliantly cast a Bilbo Baggins and having Peter Jackson back directing is for the best.
Well, I hope you enjoyed reading my 2012 preview. I think this will be a great year for movies and I wish that it was this year that I decided to see 100 movies in the theater since it looks much more promising.
May the Force be with you,
CHUD
John Carter - March 9 - This movie has been an on again, off again production for nearly a lifetime. It's finally coming to the big screen, and is being directed by Andrew Stanton(Wall-E). Hopefully he is as successful as Brad Bird going to live action with Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. It has a Star Wars, space fantasy feel to it, but I'm not sure Taylor Kitsch is the choice I would have made to carry this franchise. Hope it turns out well. Here's the trailer.
The Hunger Games - March 23 - I liked the books and was really looking forward to it. The first casting announcements were great, with Jennifer Lawrence playing Katniss and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch being fantastic choices. Then it started to go downhill. Lenny Kravitz was cast as a linchpin character. I looked up Gary Ross' film history on IMDB. Big, Pleasantville, and Dave were not the type of movies I was thinking of when I read the book about a dystopian future where the elite, ruling class make children fight to the death. And then this trailer came out, and almost all hope is lost.
I'm hopeful, but feel this is going to be a big disappointment.
The Avengers - May 4 - Iron Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor all lead into this comic book movie to end all comic book movies. Should be a huge spectacle, and I cannot wait :)
Men In Black III - May 25 - MIB 2 was an atrocious pile of shit, but the original is one of the best sci-fi comedies ever made. I'm hoping this isn't just a cash grab for the studio and this franchise gets back on track the way Transformers did last year.
Prometheus - June 8 - A prequel to Alien being directed by Ridley Scott. A fantastic cast (Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson, Guy Pearce) and a cool first trailer will make me consider going to a midnight showing of this.
Brave - June 22 - When Pixar makes a bad movie I'll stop getting excited to see what they do next. (Cars 2 was pretty average, but not terrible.)
The Amazing Spider-Man - July 3 - About as bad a first look as you can get with its first trailer. My friend Tom thought it was a sequel to Superhero Movie, a spoof of the original Spider-Man. Haven't heard much about this since the trailer came out. I like the character of Spiderman and I liked Andrew Garfield in Social Network. We'll see.
The Dark Knight Rises - July 20 - By far the most anticipated movie of 2012. There is no way this can live up to the hype, so I think quite a few people will be disappointed. I'm hopeful it will be better than first, and close to as good as the second. Can't wait to see Tom Hardy as Bane.
The Bourne Legacy - August 3 - A Bourne movie without Matt Damon. Jeremy Renner has pretty much taken over Hollywood. Rumor has it he will be the lead in the next Mission Impossible movie, he's part of the Avengers, and now is taking over the biggest spy series outside of 007. He's a great actor and I'm looking forward to the trailer for this one.
Skyfall - November 9 - The only thing better than a new Bourne movie is a new Bond movie. Yay!
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - December 14 - This is my most anticipated movie of the year. I love the LOTR movies and enjoyed the first book, but The Hobbit is a far superior story in my opinion. In Fellowship the story focuses on the nine members of the group and their journey across Middle Earth. Now take that concept and replace the boring humans with some lively dwarves. Martin Freeman was brilliantly cast a Bilbo Baggins and having Peter Jackson back directing is for the best.
Well, I hope you enjoyed reading my 2012 preview. I think this will be a great year for movies and I wish that it was this year that I decided to see 100 movies in the theater since it looks much more promising.
May the Force be with you,
CHUD
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