Real Movie Review-Movie Reviews, Movie Quotes, Movie Trivia

Director: John Schlesinger

Starring: Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Boris Leskin, George C. Grant, Lori Singer.

One of the most authentic spy movies ever made. I guess this is because it’s based on a true story, from the novel of the same name by Robert Lindsey. The direction could have wound up the tension some more and the story is a little dry, but it is still a good story. Sean Penn overacts a little, and Timothy Hutton is a little wooden (as he usually is), but both still do fairly well and are backed up by a solid supporting cast.

Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn are Christopher Boyce and Daulton Lee, two lifelong friends from affluent family. Lee becomes an unsuccessful drug dealer, while Boyce, after leaving the seminary, goes to work for the CIA. When Boyce becomes disillusioned by the way “The Company” operates, he decides to teach them a lesson by selling secrets to the Russians, using his alter boy buddy, Lee as the go-between.

This film has its faults, but is still a good choice for those with an interest in the world of espionage in the 1970s. It is frustrating to watch and disturbing at times, but in the end it is a pretty good story and worth catching on TV.

Starring: Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick

Director: Sidney Lumet

Quickly forgotten at the time of its release, this is a little gem of a movie that combines interesting, developed characters with a pretty good story to come up with a surprisingly, likable result.
Connery is at his best, as a charismatic, but unrepentant career criminal. Dustin Hoffman plays his disapproving son and Matthew Broderick is a discontented academic, and the third generation of MacMullen men. This family has a beer mug full of issues to sort out, and decide that nothing would better for this than a good old joint family caper. My family loves capers too; that and our monthly family gatherings at the penitentiary.
The story is clever, if not entirely convincing, and gets a little muddled near the end, but the this movie is worth checking out to see three talented actors playing three interesting characters against the Sidney Lumet NYC backdrop, which is always good. It is a tasty light mix of drama and comedy.

Director: Brett Ratner

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Tea Leoni, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Piven, Saul Rubinek, Josef Sommer, Makenzie Vega,

Family Man is a touching romantic comedy with a slightly Christmas setting. The story is cliched, but warm and thought provoking, as it looks at life from the perspective of the road not taken. The acting is very natural and the characters are endearing. The ending is good and helps to make this a strong feature, overall.

Nicholas Cage is Jack Campbell, a happy, hotshot, Wall Street, yuppie with a Ferrari and no shortage of beauties looking to spend time with him. One Christmas Eve, while on the way home to his swinging bachelor pad, he has a strange encounter with an apparent street tough, named Cash (Don Cheadle), who tells him he will be rewarded with a glimpse. Jack has no idea what that means until he suddenly finds his privileged life ripped away and replaced with an ordinary life as husband to his college sweetheart, Kate (Tea Leoni), and father to their two kids.

This is a predictable, Christmas romantic comedy about the choices we make and the choices we don’t, as well as the things in life that have real value. There are a few laughs and some very good performances, but mostly, this is a smiling-on-the-inside kind of film, that will probably make you want to go give your loved ones a hug. Go ahead. It’s ok. Give them a hug.

Director: Tony Scott

Starring: Robert DeNiro, Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo, Ellen Barkin, Benicio Del Toro, Andrew J. Ferchland, John Kruk

DeNiro is fantastic and is surrounded by a strong star-studded cast that included early roles by future stars like John Leguizamo and Benecio Del Toro in this underrated thriller by Tony Scott, whose past directing efforts include True Romance and Crimson Tide (a couple of my faves). The story moves steadily, but a little slowly, but with ever-increasing tension. The ending gets a little weaker, but this is sadly common in thrillers.

Robert De Niro plays Gil Renard, a failing salesman and maniacal baseball fan, whose life is slowly getting away from him, due to his inability to manage his time and his temper. As things get worse and worse for Gil, we are also following the story of San Francisco’s newest baseball star, Bobby Rayburn. Wesley Snipes plays Rayburn and is well-suited to the role, which he handles very well. John Leguizamo steals several scenes as his snivelingly, sarcastic agent and Del Toro smolders as Rayburn’s teammate and rival, Juan Primo. As Renard’s life worsens, he forces his way into the lives of the players that he idolizes with unforgettable results. Ellen Barkin sparkles as a sexy, but sharp-tongued sport radio host and look for major league slugger, John Kruk (now retired), who plays another Rayburn teammate (barely speaking) and also hit the home runs for Scott, when needed.

This is an excellent movie that many people have missed. It plays like Taxi Driver crossed with a baseball drama, but this is a good movie with strong characters and excellent performances. Snipes, Barkin, Del Toro and Leguizamo all show strong screen presence and are a pleasure to watch. The movie isn’t really about baseball, but there is enough of it to put off sports-haters, so be warned, but I still think it’s worth seeing.

Director: Tim Story

Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington, Andre Braugher

It’s clobbering time! Or is it? I thought I was watching Dr. Richard’s Fun with Physics! Where is the action? Where is The Thing busting stuff? Well, in all fairness, I often complain that action movies do not have enough story. This one does, but goes a bit overboard with all the wedding drama and the comic book science. Maybe four heroes are too many to try to do the Spider-man soap opera thing. Still, it isn’t a bad movie. The effects are great, the story is okay and the Surfer has potential as a tragic villain and these things make the sequel a little better than the original, which only had the great effects and the endless action scenes.

Well, the fab four are back. Rex (Ioan Gruffudd) and Susan (Jessica Alba) are still trying to get married, and Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) is still trying to meet chicks and celebrating the joys of being a celebrity. A threat to destroy the planet starts to interfere with the wedding plans (can anything EVER interfere with ANY all-important wedding plans?) and only the Fantastic Four can step up. There is lots of silly science and logic gaps big enough for the Earth to escape through, but why quibble? It already has one guy that engulf himself in flames and another who can stretch his body to seemingly limitless lengths. Science reality, this is not. Stan Lee has a great cameo and the effects alone are worth the price of admission.

Hard to call! Those who love super-hero action flicks will probably find it a suitable, but less entertaining sequel, as they squirm and wonder where the rest of the action is. Those who are less enthralled with the Marvel movie universe should pass on this one. As for me, it wasn’t painful or unpleasant, but it won’t be added to my movie library or my 2007 Top Ten List.

Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Thomas Gibson, Robert Prosky, Colm Meaney

Director: Ron Howard

When it tries to be funny, it ain’t. When it tries to be an interesting historical epic, it ain’t. When it tries to be too long and feel like it goes on for a week? Well, one out of three means a failure. Tom Cruise has made lots of good movies. Ron Howard has made lots of good movies. For both of them, this is a bloody disgrace. It seems like Cruise wanted to make a movie with Nicole and couldn’t be bothered to wait for a decent project. Maybe Ron owed him a favor or something. The script is a mess and Howard even shares writing blame with Bob Dolman. Be warned, it is my plan to tell the whole story to save you the pain of watching all of it to see how it ends (exactly like you think it will).
Cruise is Joseph Donnelly, a hard-working, ambitious young Irish lad (with a patchy accent, but what the hell) who plans to take revenge on his cruel landlord. The revenge thing doesn’t work out, and he somehow ends up going to America with the landlord’s daughter, Shannon Christie, played by Kidman. This is the opening act of this movie and it is wayyyyy too long, and nowhere near as funny or as interesting as they intended it to be.
In America, Donnelly, who is right handy with his fists, ends up being an underground prizefighter, while living in the same boarding house as Christie. Both deny the obvious romantic attraction and have decent lives, until everything is suddenly ripped from them and they soon they are penniless on the street, pursued by Christie’s family. I fell asleep then, but couldn’t bring myself to go back and watch what I missed. There is only so much I’ll do for you people. Sorry. When I jerked awake and wiped the drool off my chin, we were finally in the third act with Donnelly, Christie (now with a romantic rival) and Christie’s family all getting ready to grab land in the Oklahoma land rush. I did kinda like this scene, but I’m not sure why so many horses were falling and why so many wagons were falling apart, so this scene soon got stupid, too. It ends with Cruise and Kidman together with their own land and in love, of course.
The acting was weak, the story was worse. The pacing was awful and the editor should have been dragged behind one of those crashing wagons. The idea of comedy mixed with a historical epic is risky and the jokes weren’t funny anyway. If you want to see Cruise with his shirt off, there is a lot of that. If it has something else to offer, I guess it happened when I dozed off.

Director: Michael Moore

Michael Moore was at it again in this documentary, but this time out, his target is not Corporations or its CEOs, but the biggest CEO of them all, U.S. President George W. Bush. As much as I dislike Bush (and I really do dislike him), Moore goes after the Leader of the Free World like a viciously, trained pit bull on one of those training ropes. It’s funny at times, and as slick as Moore’s usual work, but any semblance of balance is thrown out to the point that it feels like a personal vendetta.

Moore starts out by questioning Bush’s controversial 2000 election win and goes on to challenge his immediate response to the World Trade Center attacks and then on to examine business and personal connections between the Bush family and the rich and powerful of Saudi Arabia, etc, etc. There is an amusing musical montage of the Bushs meeting a bunch off different Saudis set to the background of REM’s Shiny, Happy People. I got a kick out of that. This is followed by an attack on the self-serving culture of fear that Bush and his boys (and girl) have created in the U.S.

I don’t imagine that this feature did much to endear Michael Moore to Republican Party supporters, who already seem tempted to have him arrested and tortured under the Patriot Act. It is funny, informative (but accurate? no guarantees) and well-edited, like all of Moore’s work, but Mike seems rather vindictive (really? Its true. I am a master obvious stater) this time out, but I’m sure he felt better, getting all of that anger out of his system.

Director: Joel Cohen

Starring: William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell, Frances McDormand, John Carroll Lynch,

Well, Geez, these Cohen fellas, they sure can write. Oh Yah, done alot of that directing stuff , too. You’re darn tooting, Yah, Oh Yah, geez! Okay, I think I’ve gone as far with that as I can. There is a great, unpredictable tale, typical of the twisted Coen brothers’ style, but this is their best project so far. The characters are wonderful, rife with the quirks that make movie characters stick with us and are brought to life with spectacular performances by all the lead actors. The Coens are noted for their natural dialog and that reputation is confirmed here as they catch the patois of Minnesota/North Dakota, though I found it exaggerated and distracting at first. This setting builds in incredible irony and allows a constant stream of subtle humor as all the characters from the area constantly strive to be polite and upbeat. New York, this ain’t. Years, and several viewings, later I wouldn’t have it any other way.

William H. Macy is Jerry Lundegaard, a man with a desperate to achieve financial success to escape the crushing oppression of his domineering father-in-law (Harve Presnell). He comes up with a shocking plan to have his gentle wife kidnapped and skim off the bulk of the ransom cash. He hires Carl (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear (Peter Stomare) to pull off the kidnapping, but their bungling soon brings about an investigation by clever, and very pregnant, sheriff, Marge Gunderson played by McDormand in an amazing, Oscar-winning performance. It is a tribute to the Coen’s genius that when McDormand told them she was pregnant, rather than re-casting, delaying shooting or using tricks to hide it, they wrote it into the script and made the story even stronger. The ending is wonderful, sensible and memorable.

This is an off-beat crime drama, apparently based on a true story, that is refreshingly unlike anything that pops into my head besides other Coen films, like Blood Simple or little known gems like Red Rock West and A Simple Plan. If you haven’t seen it, well, geez, thats just something that you are going to have to work on isn’t it? You’re darn tootin’!

Director: Richard Linklater

Starring: Wimer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Ana Claudia Talancon, Juan Carlos Serran, Greg Kinnear, Ashley Johnson,

I rented this thinking that it was a documentary. It isn’t, not quite anyway. It’s a fictional film with actors and a story (lots of stories actually) that pounds the viewer with all the subtlety of a falling cinder block. About what, you wonder? Well, the fast food industry, the meat processing industry, the patriot act, illegal immigrants, the Bush administration, and our corporate culture, plus there are probably a few more that I’m forgetting. If this sounds like it lines up with your social conscience, then you will enjoy this. I did (commie pinko that I am). Be warned though, it is often preachy, never funny and doesn’t seem to quite finish its story or any of its numerous subplots.

The film starts by alternating between Mexicans stealing across the border, and Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear) in a fictional fast food company boardroom (called Mickey’s. I wonder if they are trying to tell us something. What could it be?), where we learn that there is a problem with fecal matter in the meat. I think that is a problem. They send Don to find out what the deal is. Back at the border, we follow the four Hispanic stars, through subtitles, as they begin work at the same meat processing plant that Don is checking out. Along the way, he meets a local Mickey’s cashier, Amber (Ashley Johnson), who is a young girl starting to re-think her livelihood. The story is regularly disrupted with long patches of contrived dialogue about different issues, which are normally delivered by minor characters in cameo roles (including Bruce Willis, Ethan Hawke and Kris Kristofferson). Also, look for Canadian bubble gum rocker Avril Lavigne in a small, but ecologically correct role. One issue I had with this movie, in addition to the inserted lectures, was that none of the stories are really resolved. Maybe, this is supposed to tell me something in itself, like maybe we are supposed to create the ending ourselves with our actions, or something. Anyway, as you know, I’m as thick as a $30 steak and I don’t get it. I would prefer if they just finished the movie.

This is not for everyone. You are sitting in church, so its more interesting if you a member of the choir if you know what I mean. This is still a good movie, but it could have been better with fewer subplots and a more subtle, and focused, message. If you were thinking, “Right on, man, fight the power!” as I described the issues addressed, this is a must-see. If you were rolling your eyes and yawning, then you should just re-rent Jarhead.

Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Sean Astin, Blake Clark

Director: Peter Segal

Wow, what a nice, warm-hearted movie! I had planned to make some sarcastic jokes about walrus members and the incredible possibilities of having a girlfriend with no short term memory, but I am too touched to do anything but hum love songs and frolic in meadows, so let’s just move on with the review before a tear rolls down my cheek.
Adam Sandler is Henry, a veterinarian who specializes in large sea mammals and bedding tourists, when he meets Lucy, played by Drew Barrymore. Lucy has that Memento condition, where she can’t remember anything after the date of her car accident once she goes to sleep. He finds himself hopelessly attracted to her and begins attempting to win her heart, which works…on some days anyway, and attempts to advance a relationship with a woman who begins every day not knowing who he is. Men may be used to not knowing who their women are, but when she doesn’t know who you are, that’s a whole different kind of problem.
This is a sweet, and really clever story that won me over. Adam and Drew are both good in their roles and are given a lot of comic relief to help them out. Some of it works and some doesn’t but this movie is worth seeing.