Naked Hobo

Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is a neurotic accounts manager who works in a small cubical filling out billing reports day in and day out. He allows his boss, his girlfriend, and his best friend to walk all over him. To cope with his life, he takes anti-anxiety pills by the bottle full. Wesley has no desire to change his humdrum life, but one day while getting more pills at the drug store, he meets a beautiful woman, Fox (Angelina Jolie), who changes his life forever. Fox was sent to protect Wesley from the man who had just killed his father. Fox tells Wesley that his father died yesterday on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Building and that he will be next. Wesley is recruited into the “Fraternity,” a secret society of assassins that his father was a member. Fox must train Wesley to bring out his special powers that he was born with in order to avenge his fathers death. The Fraternity’s leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman), also teaches Wesley the ways of the group, and Wesley soon becomes an assassin just like his father.  Courtesy, as always, IMDB.

I am not familiar with the original comic that this movie is based on.  Therefore, I cannot comment one what changed in the transition from page to screen.  I do know a little from what I have read online before the movie came out, so I kind of knew what to be expecting.  The movie is ridiculous in the presentation of the action  sequences, but it starts off that way and doesn’t vary.  They make no pretentions of this being anything other than a comic book movie, so I can accept the otherwise impossible events, curving bullets to shoot around things, flipping cars through the air and off buses.

McAvoy, I think, played the dweeby loser turned assassin quite well.  Jolie, well, she has played the assassin type before, and she plays cool killer quite well.  Morgan Freeman, well, it is a little odd seeing him in a role like this.  He does fine, I don’t think he is capable of a bad performance, he just felt…out of place for me.

Taking this film for what it was, and what I was expecting out of it, they delivered a decent movie.  Is it great?  Well, no, but it is better than the last Indy flick, 3 1/2 axes.

I was a huge fan of the original tv show, “Get Smart”.  What?  You didn’t know there was a tv show that came before the movie.  Leave.  Now!

They gone?  Good.  Now we can continue.  As a fan of the original I was both happy and apprehensive about this project.  Who could ever fill Don Adams shoes as bungling super spy Maxwell Smart?  They cast Steve Carrell.  Okay, maybe he can pull it off.  And he does, he does a remarkable job playing the smooth yet ridiculous Agent 86.  Anne Hathaway looks good as 99, and the Rock, well, you just gotta like the Rock.  Alan Arkin as Chief, perfect.

I was very pleased with the outcome of this one.  There is some slapstick, some sophomoric humor, but the film didn’t soley rely on them.  True, I could have done without the vomit scene.  I was also pleased that the scenes I saw in the trailer were not the only funny scenes in the movie.

One does need to accept one thing though, this is a not a copy of the original show, it is a re-envisioning of the show, an homage that has been updated for the times.  They do well in this regard.  The humor may have been a bit thin at times, there were many little laughs and smiles, but not a whole lot of huge belly laughs.  Still, I enjoyed it, I think they did a good job bringing Agent 86 and his battle against KAOS into the new millennium, 3.73 axes.

Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. As a result, his product is superior to what is currently available on the street and his prices are lower. His alliance with the New York Mafia ensures his position. It is also the story of a dedicated and honest policeman, Richie Roberts, who heads up a joint narcotics task force with the Federal government. Based on a true story.  Courtesy IMDB.

So you have Denzel and Crowe, two very good actors, and a wonderful supporting cast, plus directing duties done by Ridley Scott, and yet at times I felt more bored than I should have with all these people involved.  The movie wasn’t bad by any means, it just seemed to plod along at times.  I felt my mind wandering in thought as the film moved on.  I also think that Crowe did a better job making his character truly believable than Denzel did.  He had the accent, the mannerisms, he was his character.  I love Denzel, but often he just seems to be Denzel.  I don’t think this movie was as good as other people told me it was, but I still enjoyed it, 3 1/2 axes.

The less said about this movie, the better.

Tight-lipped Englishman Alex Hughes (Alan Rickman) arrives in Northern Ontario on his way to meet the woman with whom hes had a son. Hes bullied by an altogether unconventional but lovable 19 year-old hitch-hiker Vivienne (Emily Hampshire) into giving her a ride to her hometown of Wawa. When the car is hit by a truck on the outskirts of her home town, Vivienne dies instantly. Alex finds himself, for the second time in his life, grieving for someone he never knew.

Shocked and stranded in snowbound Wawa, Alex is drawn to seek out Viviennes mother, to talk to her in person about the fate of her daughter. He also goes armed with trinkets and childrens amusements that Vivienne has picked up along the way for her mother. Alex knocks on the door and comes face to face with Linda Freeman (Sigourney Weaver).

Linda is no ordinary Mother. Alex soon becomes aware that Linda is an adult autistic, albeit a high-functioning one. He becomes increasingly involved in Linda’s life and the community to which she feels complete indifference, in large part because of her condition. Linda in turn becomes attached as attached as she is emotionally capable of to Alex and what he can do for her.

Alex also forms a relationship with Linda’s sassy independent neighbor Maggie (Carrie-Anne Moss), and is the object of scrutiny by the ineffectual local law enforcement officer Clyde (James Allodi), who, besides being jealous of Alex’s relationship with Maggie, believes hes discovered a dark secret in Alex’s past.

When Alex finally gets back on the road he has exorcised his inner demons, and the town he leaves behind has also been transformed. He had been tempted to stay and make more of his relationship with Maggie, but knows that it wouldn’t suit either one of them. He must return to his life and holds out a faint hope that Linda and Maggie may become, if not exactly friends, then at least more accepting of each other. As the snow melts, each characters memories remain intact but are changed forever by their experiences with each other.  Courtesy IMDB.

Sigourney Weaver, of whom I am not a real big fan, does an extraordinary job in her portrayal of Linda.  Now, I don’t have tremendous experience with autism, and even less with adults that are autistic, at least not since my childhood.  Still, I think the way she spoke, acted, even the way she moved her eyes, everything she did served to further the belief that Linda was autistic.

Alan Rickman, on the other hand, I am a big fan of.  This role is not the usual type of roles I have seen him in.  He isn’t the bad guy, or a hard drinking angel.  He is a simple man that has a lot of grief in his life.

I enjoyed the movie quite a bit.  You got a real sense of attachment to the main characters, you truly felt like you were getting to know them.  You watch the film and you can’t help question things in your own life.  The simple pleasures that Linda can enjoy, the coming to terms with grief that Alex goes through, the simple growth one can achieve just by meeting new people.  I was pleasantly surprised, 4 axes.

Okay, I will admit that I let my hopes get a little high for this movie.  I did not totally hate the Ang Lee version from a few years back, but that alone did make me somewhat apprehensive about the new one.  Then they cast Ed Norton as Bruce Banner.  That was a big plus for me, not that I dislike Eric Bana, but I am a huge Norton fan (I even kinda like “Death to Smoochy”).  So, even with my hopes risen higher than I would have liked for yet another comic book movie that has the potential to be either fantastic or another Fantastic Four, I still enjoyed this movie immensely.  For me, this was much more of what an Incredible Hulk movie should be.  You had Hulk smashing and throwing things, you had a bad guy that wasn’t a giant electric Nick Nolte.  And, for those comic die hards that whine because the villain was changed from a Russian soldier to a Russian born, English raised, American soldier, suck it up.  That isn’t a big enough change of anything important.  Neither is the whole Samuel Sterns is a doctor in this one as opposed to the janitor he was in the original comics.

I also like Liv Tyler.  I like her acting, I like how well she fit with Norton as Banner, and I like looking at her.  Tim Roth was fine as Abomination, but truthfully just about anyone could have played the role, it lacked any real depth.  William Hurt as General Ross was about what I expect from William Hurt, a journeyman job.

Did I mention there was a lot of smashing and throwing and hitting and explosions?  Now, those are always good things, it just isn’t always enough to make a good film.  Thankfully there is enough story that the whole movie isn’t just one big ADD fest.  The movie was paced very well, a little story, some kick as action, some more story, more action, more story, more action, and then a lovely ending that adds more to the expectation of the 2011 “Captain America”.

I will admit that the final battle could have been a little longer.  It just seemed to be over too quickly.  Aside from that I really have no complaints about the movie.  It had plenty of Hulky action, enough story to keep it interesting, a great ending, and a dash of humor too (You wouldn’t like me when I’m hungry).  Go see it, 4 axes out of 5.

Three men, three dreams. It’s 1976 in Flint, Michigan. Jackie Moon’s American Basketball Association team languishes in last place, with few fans in the seats. Jackie dreams of a merger with the NBA. A tough-minded point guard named Monix is at the end of his career; he’s played on the champion Celtics but accepts a trade to Flint to be close to Lynn, the love of his life. Clarence “Coffee” Brown dreams of stardom: he’s the Tropics’ best player, but he’s a hotdog who doesn’t value teamwork. When the trio learns that a merger is in the works that won’t include the Tropics, they pull the team together to try to achieve the impossible. Can dreams come true in Flint?  Courtesy IMDB.

Will Ferrell is a funny guy.  He is a very funny guy.  Which is why this film was a bit of a let down.  I admit to liking his lame, over the top, comedic performances.  This one just seemed to push the whole idiocy thing too far.  Every moment seems to want to top the last one.  It would be fine if it worked.  Many things just seem to fall short.  I think the main reason it failed is because unlike many of Ferrell’s other films he did not have a great cast of supporting characters.  He was the lead, and he is fine as a lead, but only if he has strong characters around him.  No one filled that void in this film.  He needed someone to play off him.  He is a funny guy, a very funny guy,  but he cannot carry a movie by himself.  If he had a Charles Nelson Reily at his side this movie would have been much better, but as it is, 2 1/2 axes almost feels too generous.

Invasion of privacy and domestic spying take on terrifying meaning in this unsettling tale of voyeurism. A young man has a secret obsession for a beautiful woman. By planting hidden cameras and listening devices in her home, he learns her most intimate secrets in order to manipulate her into a relationship that she innocently permits. Shot entirely through hidden cameras, including a “body cam,” takes the audience to an extreme level of voyeuristic intimacy, exploiting both our fear of being watched and our compulsion to watch.  Courtesy IMDB.

This was a creepy and uncomfortable movie to watch.  But, it was also hard to stop watching.  You are slowly lured into this world of stalking and psychological terror.  Colin Hanks does a fantastic job as the voyeur.  He plays weird and awkward so well.   Ana Claudia Talancon, the victim, does a great job too, and she is very easy on the eyes as well.

The thing that hit me the hardest is seeing what the stalker does and know that a lot of it isn’t technically illegal in many states.  Even if he had been caught, the charges against him would have been minor for the most part.  It makes me realize how unsafe the world can be when someone that is both mentally unstable, yet still smart enough to choreograph crimes likes this can get away with such things.

The movie did a great job of pulling you in, much like how the victim is pulled in.  I recommend this as a great thriller, 4 axes.

Roland Rat, Margaret Thatcher; Rubik’s Cubes, the Royal Wedding; aerobics, skinheads… It’s 1983, and the schools are breaking up for summer. Shaun is 12 and a bit of a loner, growing up with his mum in a grim coastal town, his dad killed fighting in the Falklands War. On his way home from school where he’s been tormented all day for wearing flares, he runs into a group of skinheads, who against expectations turn out to be friendly and take him under their wing. Soon Shaun discovers parties, girls and snappy dressing, and finds some role models in Woody, Milky and the rest of the gang. But when an older, overtly racist skinhead returns home from prison, the easy camaraderie of the group is broken, and Shaun is drawn into much more uncomfortable territory. Based largely on his own experience as a youngster, this is Shane Meadows’ most mature and fully realised film. Handling the complexities of masculinity, violence and race with sensitivity and a lightness of touch, it’s hard to imagine a film that would better capture the mood of the time, or that could have any greater an understanding of the allure of being part of a gang.  Courtesy IMDB.

For someone who has never acted before, Thomas Turgoose, who plays Shaun, does a very good job.  He brings a definite child like feel to the role, and yes, he is young, but often films have dialogue and directions that make kids seem unreal and much older than they are.  His laugh is so genuine.

The film, for as dark as it is, is surprisingly funny.  The first half of the film is very funny, until the racism aspect really starts.  Even then it manages to inject plenty of humor to prevent things from becoming nothing but depressing and gloomy.  There is also more of the more and more common nostalgia of the 80’s.  Many people seem to hate that era, many of whom didn’t grow up in the 80’s.  I loved the 80’s, it was some of the best years of my life.  I loved the tv shows, the music, and all the goofy crap that came about.

The film, much of which is based on real life events of the director, Shane Meadows, does a great job of making you feel what the characters are feeling.  The beginning and end of the film are full of video snips from the same era as the film, which really helps you get a perspective for where the film is coming from.  The movie is honest and heart felt and gut wrenching, the pains and trials one must go through simply to grow up.  I think this is a great film, and the more I think on it the more I like it.  Last night I would have given this 4 axes, but after a day to reflect, it gets 4 1/2 now.

Frank is a hitman.  Frank is an alcoholic.  Frank’s drinking is getting in the way of him doing his job.  Frank gets drunk, misses a hit, then gets sent to San Fransisco to sober up.  Ben Kingsley plays Frank in this fun comedy.  I mean, what is funnier than murder and alcoholism.  I just love seeing the same guy that played Ghandi play a hitman, and he does it really well too.

Am I just a movie snob now because I like IFC stuff better than most of what the big studios are putting in the theaters?  I mean, I still like some big movies, like “Ironman”.  The wife and I have gotten in the habit of watching some independent film on dvd, then adding all the preview movies to our Netflix queue.  It has been working out quite well for us so far.

Back to the topic at hand.  This movie was a blast, I mean, when is the last time you can say you saw a movie with Bill Pullman in it, and you still liked it….a lot.  He plays a total jerk in this one, maybe that is what he needs to do, you need to have him play a role where you hate him so that maybe you won’t spend all your time hating him.  Does that make any sense?

When was the last time you saw a movie with Tea Leoni in it, and you still liked it….a lot.  Sure, there is Ben Kingsely, but remember he also made “BloodRayne”.  Luke Wilson is good as a supporting character, which is what I think he does best.  Phillip Baker Hall and Dennis Farina play their usual mobster type roles and do about what you would expect of them.

I found this movie to be fun for the entire 90 minutes.  I was never bored and the story never seemed to really drag.  Typical film work though, things are a bit predictable.  Still, it didn’t detract from the movie, overall….4 axes.