Dave’s one-line movie reviews XIV

January 6, 2015 at 6:20 pm | Posted in movie reviews, Reviews | 1 Comment
Tags: Corleone, Draft Day, Elizabeth Banks, Eternal Spotlight, film review, Godfather, Godfather 2, Godfather 3, her, James Brolin, JFK, Kevin Costner, Labor Day, Moneyball, movie review, Nebraska, one-line movie review, Sunshine Mind, Thank You for Smoking, The Last Exorcism, Walk of Shame, Warren Commission, We're the Millers

Here we are in 2015.  The past week has been great, I’ve enjoyed a “stay-cation,” which means hanging around the house, doing some chores, sleeping late, eating out and catching up on a lot of movies on TV and Netflix.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been to the cinema since Christmas, but plan to make several visits in the coming weeks which I will share with you avid readers.  But there’s still lots of movies to talk about, so in no particular order, here we go:

“her”  The lower case was their idea.  Is this an allegorical tale about current society’s growing addiction to electronic communication at the expense of human interaction?   Or is it a cleverly disguised advertisement for Apple computer products?  Do you really care? A better use of your time would be to shove a pencil into your eye socket and go to the emergency room seeking human interaction from an internist.

“Nebraska” is  like that quirky Saturday Night Live sketch that starts at 12:45 AM, only Nebraska is funny and worth watching.  My only concern is I’m afraid all mid-westerner’s are going to think that anyone who lives on the east coast thinks this is what mid-westerner’s are like.

“We’re the Millers” is a crude comedy that delivers a few laughs, and not one, not two, but three scenes of Jennifer Aniston, looking darn good at 45, dancing a striptease in her underwear.   Jason Sudeikis plays the same part he usually does and Ed Helms hams it up well, this time with all his teeth.

“Walk of Shame” is another crude comedy that delivers a few laughs, but this time we have Elizabeth Banks in a tight dress, looking darn good at 40 years old.  As long as Hollywood has beautiful skinny actresses, I guess we’ll be getting a lot of T&A comedies.  Perhaps some smart movie exec is working on “The Millers Walk of Shame” for next year.

“Labor Day.”  Long story about escaped convict James Brolin teaching a young boy how to make peach pies while Kate Winslet gets tied to a chair.  The boy grows up and turns into Tobey Maguire and starts a bakery.  Sorry – I just gave the plot away.  Well, the “entertainment” is in the getting there.

“Eternal Spotlight of the Sunshine Mind.”  A highly rated movie by Charles Kaufman, who prefers abstraction to storytelling.  Great cast, enjoyable story.  I’m not sure if it’s a bad Woody Allen movie watched while taking good acid, or a good Woody Allen movie watched taking bad acid.

“The Last Exorcism 2“.  Just because I haven’t seen the film, does that mean I shouldn’t write a review?  All I can ask is how can you make a sequel to something that was called “The Last….”

“Thank You for Smoking” is one of the best films of the past decade.  I guess the actors all got paid scale, because they’re all well known talent but the budget was only 6.5 Million.  They obviously spent the money on story, because they got it right.  I’d put this movie in the same category as 1976’s “Network,” and if you want to call yourself a film-goer, you should make sure you’ve seen both.

“Draft Day” was a fun movie, even though the visual effects were really cheesy.  While not a fan of football movies, I enjoyed the story about the wheeling and dealings behind the scenes.  This is sort of a football version of “Moneyball,”  and Kevin Costner shows he’s still got it.

Talking about Kevin Costner, “JFK” is making the rounds on cable television.  The plot is entertaining but the movie is really a three hour Oliver Stone tirade against the Warren Commission.  If you want a good movie, by all means watch it, but if you’re interested in JFK assassination conspiracies, there are a lot of well researched books out there that will give far more balanced information.

“The Godfather“, “Godfather 2” and “Godfather 3” are also making the rounds on cable television.  The original “Godfather” is a classic crime thriller and an engaging character study of the effects of power on a character.  For all you youngsters out there, “Godfather” is one of the pioneer flicks for gunshot wound special effects.  “Godfather 2” is often described by critics as being better than “Godfather 1.”  Without judgement, I’ll say they’re both worth watching.  “Godfather 3?”   Hmmm, I don’t want to say anything bad, the Corleone’s might be reading.

Thanks for reading and please share my blog with your friends, therapists and probation officers.

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