watching movies one cup at a time

Truly an American classic. The story of Romeo and Juliet has been told a million different ways in a million different movies. There could be a whole section on Netflix just of star-crossed lovers from rival families/countries/races/sports teams – you name it. This movie takes Romeo and Juliet into New York City in the ’50s, and the two feuding families are replaced by brawling street gangs. The Montagues become the Anglo Jets, led by Riff, and the Capulets become the Puerto Rican Sharks, led by Bernardo. At a dance, Tony, former leader of the Jets and Riff’s best friend, and Maria, Bernardo’s little sister, see each other across the room and it’s love at first sight. With opposition from both sides, they meet secretly and their love grows deeper. However, the gangs are plotting one last rumble, a fight that will finally end the battle for control of the streets. And of course the story then reaches it’s tragic conclusion. Read the rest of this entry »

Cate Blanchett is brilliant. Watching her play Elizabeth is truly watching a master at work. So many times she has dazzled us. Her big break to American audiences was the movie Elizabeth which this movie follows. And it was an interesting decision to revisit the same character 10 years later.

Ultimately though the story falls just a little flat. It was just okay. The first movie is clearly a more developed story. This feels a little too loose. And definitely does not have the same intrigue and politics that filled the first film. Through it all Cate Blanchett shines brightly with her near perfect performance. Her sudden shifts from vulnerable to domineering are subtle yet highly effective. And her almost mannequin-like portraits of the Queen are very impressive in their detail and strength.

In summary, watch the movie to see Cate but the story is lacking.

I have to admit, I didn’t really watch this film. I’m not a JLo fan and I had no interest in it. But I wanted to mention it because I was in the room while my wife watched it and I could easily tell I wasn’t going to like it.

The movie is basically the story of Hector Lavoe who started the salsa movement in 1975 and brought it to the United States. To say this movie caused some controversy would be putting it mildly. As I understand it, the salsa community HATED this frickin’ movie. Even people who contributed and consulted on this flick later slammed it mercilessly. And considering the movie is about a salsa legend, that’s probably not a good thing. I could see maybe in a really, really early discussion it seemed like a great idea to get Marc and JLo in this flick together. But someone should have gotten wise and saw the trainwreck coming.

As for the movie, all I heard for 2 hours was JLo YELLING constantly “How can you do this to YOUR WIFE, Hector!” I mean just yelling the whole time – at this person, at that person, shrieking. And Marc Anthony just kind of dazed out. Man, it was so annoying. Why would I want to go see a movie where some arrogant diva is constantly berating everyone around her? This is entertainment? This is a story that has to be told?

It’s clear that JLo’s star is flickering out. She had a nice run but clearly no one’s buying what she’s selling any more. Her last album completely bombed and she has had a steady stream of movie failures starting with the career-killing Gigli. El Cantante might be the last straw. We’ll see.

I was really looking forward to this movie. I liked what the director Julie Taymor did with Frida and this looked interesting and vibrant. It got some good reviews but I never made it to the theaters to see it. So I was looking forward to the DVD.

Well… I can’t say it’s bad. But I can’t say it’s good either. There are definitely some interesting visuals in here and some exciting musical numbers. But really I just got kind of bored with it. It kind of just stumbled along looking for excuses to throw in Beatles songs. There is a character named Prudence who I felt only existed so they could have a moment and sing “Dear Prudence.” And everyone’s name is like that. It’s like some big Beatles fan wet dream.

Now I love the Beatles. They made phenomenal music. But I wasn’t really feeling this mash-up version. It just didn’t have enough real story. I didn’t care about any of the characters and I didn’t care what happened next. I’m sure they were going to bump into someone named Elanor just so they could sing “Elanor Rigby” to her. Yawn.

And then they started having all these dumb cameos. Bono shows up about half-way pretending to be some Ken Kesey type guru/hippie dude. Bono, now there’s a guy who doesn’t know the meaning of the word “subtle.” His acting style is no different than his stage presence. Great for a stadium of 20,000 fans, a little overblown for a small movie like this. I couldn’t help but think back to that horrible 70s movie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. Horrible film with lots of pointless star cameos that pillaged the Beatles catalog with no connection to the actual Beatles musicians themselves. This movie by no means sinks to that level, but I can’t say I wasn’t reminded of it. And that ain’t a good thing.

Plus through in a little hippy-dippy Hair influence and a really original looking film starts to feel really unoriginal. Again, not a bad movie. Just not as good as I expected.

F’ing Dinosaurs!!! What’s not to love about this movie? Seriously tho, in 1993 when this came out, no one had seen anything quite like it. We’re very used to CGI creatures these days but back then it was very impressive how real these creatures appeared. And of the 3 JP movies that have been made, this is hands down the best. It’s not even close. Steven Spielberg really interjects some style and flair to this to build the suspense and elevate the terror. And the whole story behind the creation of the park is very well done. That is what was lacking from the following movies. By the time the third one came out, it was all “Oh Sh*t! RUN!!!!”.

I think it would be really interesting to see these dinosaurs really make an attempt at spreading beyond the island. They played with the idea in the second movie but it never got past the “Oh Sh*t! RUN!!!!” stage. The first movie made a big point about how the dinosaurs were evolving beyond what the scientists that created them had anticipated. You could take that a step further and have the dinosaurs make a real play to coming back and dominating the world again. Or at least part of it. They were once the dominant species here. So why not see what would happen if they came back and started busting up man’s world. JP3 didn’t do so well at the box office so this series has probably run it’s course. And that world idea might be too much or if not done well, look really stupid. Read the rest of this entry »

I hate Meg Ryan. I really do. I hate the cutesy-poo BS she does in all her movies. It makes me wanna puke. Ah… I feel better now that I got that out. I have to admit though, When Harry Met Sally is probably her best movie. And I give most of the credit for that to Billy Crystal. This is probably his best movie too. The story is good, the directing is good, it’s got everything going for it.

This movie is up there in the rom-com (romantic comedy) hall of fame. Meg Ryan was on a role in the 80s and 90s with her romantic comedies. She was like their patron saint, blowing weepy girly dust all over the movie landscape. I ain’t mad at her, movies have to appeal to many different audiences. And women LOVE rom-coms. L-O-V-E them. I know this first-hand because honestly I would be completely ignorant to the Meg Ryan canon if not for my wife. But you know, I’m not all “Aliens! Smash! Explosions! Guns! Zombies!” (though I gotta admit I do love all that). I can appreciate a good “chick flick”. And this one is definitely one of the best. It was written by Nora Ephron, who is also a rom-com goddess. She wrote the other two Meg Ryan romantic comedies people love, Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. You have to hand it to her, she writes a good chick flick.

The interesting plot device of moving through such a long period of time during the two main characters relationship is very well done and is an excellent way to establish the connection between these two. It really shows the audience in an effective way how they progressed from not even liking eachother when they met to being friends, then best friends, then the inevitable romantic relationship. It feels very honest. And their frank and honest discussions about relationships comes off as genuine and not forced or simply there to move the plot along.

Bottom Line: I am definitely recommending this. Just don’t invite me over when you watch it, okay?

Musicals. When they’re great, they’re really great. And when they suck, they REALLY suck. I never saw Rent on broadway so I don’t have that to compare the movie to. But I couldn’t even get through this movie. It just got so annoying after awhile I gave up. In opera, the entire performance, dialogue and all, is sung and performed as a musical piece. So Rent tries to be that, but in a modern, “hip and edgy” kinda way. Big mistake. Trying to make this thing into a non-stop song was just plain stupid. These people walk from one situation to the next and are just singing nonsense constantly. It’s not like Chicago or Moulin Rouge where they’re singing some of the time. These people are ALWAYS singing. “Going to the bus? Let’s sing about it!” “Like to eat peanuts? How about a song!” “Dying of AIDS? Singing might help!” and after awhile I just felt like saying SHUT UP for 2 frickin’ minutes PLEASE! It maybe, MAYBE, would have been okay if the songs were decent, but the songs were TERRIBLE. Stupid lyrics, boring music, WAY over the top emoting going on. And the story was just plain stupid too. I had high hopes for this movie cuz everyone always raves about it. But like I said, I had to turn it off about half way cuz I could not stand another second of someone constantly singing these crap songs. The only song I did like was the one in the trailer. And that was in the trailer so why did I need to see 2 solid hours of songs that were NOT that one? No thanks.

I really liked this one. It was smartly done and Amy Adams steals the show as Giselle. She’s absolutely perfect. She makes you laugh at her without her looking stupid, and she has the convincing air of innocence the character needs without seeming too naive or helpless. The story is an interesting one, having fictional cartoon characters cross over into the real world and become real themselves. It was all kind of a stretch but it worked fine enough.

Timothy Spall is great as Nathaniel, making him both rather buffoonish and tenderly sympathetic. James Marsden is a great Prince Edward, really fleshing out the archetype but not over doing it. Susan Sarandon had some fun doing this one. Her evil Queen is just the right balance of scary and absurd.

Another great family movie. Disney is really jumping on this whole “princess” thing so they can sell kids more crap. But it really didn’t feel like a Disney fairy tale movie. It stands on it’s own and it was a good time. It’s the same director as the really well done Eloise movies from a few years ago. He has a knack for this kind of story.

Seriously one of the worst movies ever. It was astounding how bad it was. I’m mad I got suckered into seeing it. Where do we start? Cameron Diaz is in this movie blatantly trying to cash in on her There’s Something About Mary fame from a few years earlier. But this is like a really bad copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of what that movie was. The plot makes no sense, the characters are put in basically random situations just to fuel some lame and usually gross jokes, and there is pretty much nothing likeable about any of these people. And what little laughs they could squeeze out of this were ALL in the trailer! So if you saw the trailer, you already saw anything that was remotely funny in this thing. I hate when movie studios do that. It’s total bait-and-switch to steal my $10. I want that 2 hours of my life back.

BTW, the writer of this flick was a staff writer for South Park and this was her first movie. And guess what? That was also her last movie. Somehow the director keeps working, which is a shame because the directing was a mess. Avoid this movie by any means necessary.

Family movie. Plain and simple. No great aspirations here, just some harmless fun. People often talk about Cuba Gooding Jr.’s descent into movie mush after his Oscar win (Daddy Day Camp, Boat Trip, etc.) but he does manage a good role in a good movie. And even tho this isn’t American Gangster or As Good As It Gets (yes, he’s in both), he’s playing the lead, his character is a successful, decent guy, and the movie is light-hearted fun. I see no harm done. He never slips into any stereotypes or gets put in any overly-humiliating situations. It’s mostly just the usual “fish-out-of-water” jokes.

The movie also features one of the last performances by James Coburn before he died. And he is really good in this as usual, a terrific presence on screen and fun to watch. Someone who I was rather surprised to see was Sisqo. Remember him? He sure dropped off the face of the earth. I’m guessing some manager/agent just stuck him in here to get his “movie career” going. I don’t really buy it that he plays a dentist, but no big deal. I’ll live. Read the rest of this entry »