Warrior

 Ironically, I love inspirational sports movies, but get bored and confused by everything on ESPN.  I enjoy the family elements that are added to the films, as opposed to watching an actual game I do not understand, nor really care to.  This is precisely the reason why I enjoyed “Warrior.”  My new found love for Nick Nolte probably didn’t hurt either. 

Nolte plays a former boxer and alcoholic who has been sober for a couple years. He has two sons, Tommy (Tom Hardy) and Brendan (Joel Edgerton) who happen to be into mixed martial arts, which I assume is similar to wrestling or boxing. Brendan needs to win the championship to provide for his family, and his brother’s reason is less heartwarming.  He would just like to win the large amount of prize money.  

Naturally, you wouldn’t have any conflict in a movie unless the entire family is emotionally hurt by each other. The perfectly cast actors do an outstanding job at conveying this.  All of the scenes between the three primary characters always felt genuine. One of the acting highlights for me was a brief scene of Nolte’s character gravitating back towards alcohol. 

The film was also incredibly well shot, with a great deal of dimly lit scenes, many of them between Nolte and Hardy. This added to the dramatic aspects of their relationship. Also, the fighting scenes were shot using handheld cameras, getting up close to the action, and adding to the entertainment value and intensity.  Aerial and long shots of Atlantic City (where the championship is held), and the adjacent ocean only add to visual appeal.  

Finally “Warrior” had a nice mix of emotions. You have your usual inspiring moments (just without Sandra Bullock this time…a brief “The Blind Side” reference ), as well as some dysfunction, and a couple jokes thrown in there for good measure.  Also, the pacing of this movie was perfect.  It clocks in at over two hours, but is always engaging.  

Essentially what all of this means is that if a combination of “Rocky,” “The Fighter,” and every other sports movie known to mankind, sounds appealing to you, then by all means give “Warrior” a try.  

3 1/2 out of 4 stars

-Joseph Sbrilli 

Contagion

How many actors can we fit in one movie?

   What if we lived in a world where the Bird Flu wasn’t all hype and ended up killing more people than falling vending machines? This is the basic premise of “Contagion”: a deadly virus spreads its way across the world and kills millions of people. This isn’t a far-fetched premise, it happened in 1918. The Spanish Flu killed between 20-40 million people before it petered out.

   

 Star-studded casts are usually reserved for awful romantic comedies but “Contagion” pulled together more award winners than the Oscar broadcast. Laurence Fishburne is the lead doctor for the Center for Disease Control, and works frantically to find a cure for the virus. Gwyneth Paltrow is patient zero, the first one to contract the disease in Hong Kong and carries it to the United States. Matt Damon is her immune husband who watches the world around him die. Jude Law is an internet blogger who exploits the widespread panic to profit from the disease. Kate Winslet is the first responder sent to organize contingency plans and Marion Cotillard is the World Health Organization’s representative in China who gets kidnapped and held for ransom in exchange for a vaccine against the virus.

  

If this sounds like a lot of threads to keep track of, it is. But director Steven Soderbergh (The “Ocean’s Eleven” series), knows how to handle a lot of plot points. Each character is well developed and none are denied any screen time (except maybe Cotillard). When it’s necessary, Soderbergh isn’t afraid to kill off characters. Gwyneth Paltrow is the first to go in a death scene that is terrifyingly real and must have been a blast to act in.

    

And that is the driving point of the film. The way it’s laid out feels like it could happen tomorrow. Brian Williams could be telling America about a new disease by the end of the week. While “Contagion” can suffer from boring montages of empty gyms and gene sequencing, its poignancy in a world obsessed with hand sanitizer can’t be overlooked.

    

“Contagion” is the scariest movie since “Inside Job.” The acting is superb, and if there is one film that will make you change the way you live (or at least the amount of times you touch your face) it is this one. People with queasy stomachs should probably steer clear of “Contagion” but if you’re ready to become a hypochondriac, then I’d catch this virus.

3 and a half out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell

Our Idiot Brother

"Aw, can we keep him mom?" "No."

Family. That one word conjures up some very good memories, and probably some very bad ones. Memories of people that you have to love, whether you like it or not. Our Idiot Brother is a story about family: a highly dysfunctional family with more drama than an episode of Gossip Girl, but a family nonetheless.

           

Ned Rockland (Paul Rudd) is the happiest guy around. He works on an organic farm with his girlfriend Janet and his dog Willie Nelson. Ned has the childlike ability to see the good in every person. If a stranger offered him candy, Ned would hop right in the van without a second thought. Unfortunately, this gets Ned into trouble. When a uniformed police officer informs Ned that he’s had a really hard week and he needs something to help him deal with it, Ned eagerly offers him a baggy of marijuana.

         

   After being arrested for the sale of narcotics and getting dumped by his girlfriend, Ned needs to get back on his feet. He turns to his three sisters for help, but there’s some bad news; they’re the ones who came up with the title of the movie. Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), and Liz (Emily Mortimer) don’t think highly of Ned. In their minds, Ned is the dysfunctional one and they are the functional ones. But as Ned moves in and blunders about in his sister’s lives, he exposes the underlying problems in their seemingly perfect worlds.

             

Paul Rudd carries the entire movie. Channeling his inner dude is working out for him. Lately he’s been playing uptight guys who need to loosen up (Role Models, I Love You Man), but in Our Idiot Brother Rudd plays the relaxed version of yourself; the version that can watch all the bad events on the news and still leave the house with a smile on. Rudd has always been an everyman, the actor you can relate to, empathize with, and root for. Ned Rockland is all that and more. Having a giant beard and a smile in every scene certainly doesn’t hurt either.

           

His idiocy, gullibility and general lack of what adults like to call “a filter” lend itself to some very funny situations. Ned uses his parole officer as a personal psychiatrist, accidentally telling him illegal things he’s done. While playing with Liz’s son Ned kicks a door shut on his nephew’s fingers and he lets slip that Miranda and her longtime friend totally look like a couple.

            

 Our Idiot Brother can be summed up by Ned’s creed for how he lives his life, “I like to think that if you give people the benefit of the doubt, they’re going to want to live up to it.” His family eventually comes around to his way of thinking.

            

 Our Idiot Brother is a lot better than it should be. Its simplicity should be boring but it allows the audience to see themselves in the characters. The jokes come often and mostly revolve around the comedy of real life. Paul Rudd gives his best performance yet. If his smile doesn’t get you, his inherent charm will. This is a family member you won’t want to shut the door on.

3 out of 4 stars. –Christopher O’Connell Rated R for sexual content including nudity and language throughout.

Final Destination 5

This will be a short review, because it's a friggin "Final Destination" movie.  Firstly, I love these movies...minus the 4th one which was absolutely horrible, even for a movie franchise like this.  The fourth one was so ridiculously stupid and a horror I wish on no one.  I have never seen the third one, but the most recent addition to the series is probably my favorite.  So entertaining all the way through, and with a couple twists, that I of course won't ruin because you never know where "Final Destination" fans may be.

This movie follows the general plot of all the others.  A disaster happens.  This time its a bridge collapse.  Naturally, there is a young person who has a premonition, vision, whatever you want to call it about what horror is about to happen.  He or she (this time it's a he) looks like a lunatic trying to tell people what's going to happen before it does, but he saves 8 people.  However, they start dying in the order they were "meant to," according to the vision.  Apparently, you can't beat death.  Who knew?  However, if you kill someone your life is spared.  Anyways, people die extremely coincidentally and in the grossest, most violent ways possible.  This was made for 3D so there are all sorts of cheap shots of gross things flying at the audience.  I don't support 3D because it is dumb, unnatural, and a rip-off, so I saw the normal version, but this was a perfect gimmicky movie for it I guess.

I really liked the ties to the earlier movies that were found in the new one and the slightly different plot additions, and the fact that I didn't hate my life, like during the one two years ago.  Awful! And not "Grease 2" awful either...

Anyways the visual effects were actually pretty good in this, including the bridge collapse, and the deaths by things ranging from a gigantic industrial hook through someone's face, getting mangled in a gymnastics practice, and a laser eye surgery gone horribly wrong.  I kept imagining these awful things happening to me and it was truly frightening, and I will never get eye surgery, and may not leave my house for a while.

You know these horrible deaths are coming and that is most of the fun of the movie.  Yes, I may sound really messed up for using "horrible deaths" and "fun" in the same sentence.  But, these movies are made purely for it's entertainment value.  And amidst the predictability for the most part, and the cheesy lines nicely sprinkled throughout the script, I thoroughly enjoyed myself for an hour and a half.

Another random bit of information.  These films aren't known for quality acting, but most of the people in this were not cringeworthy, which was pleasant.

I'm not saying these are quality movies, because they certainly are not.  However, I find them fun and entertaining to watch.  The stories are more or less the same in all of them.  But, it is a formula that seems to have worked pretty darn well for the past 11 years.  It's interesting to see how people try to escape death, while ultimately waiting for their impending doom...wow that was a depressing sentence.

In closing, never ever, under any circumstances watch the fourth "Final Destination" movie.  You will vomit and be angry, I promise.  "Final Destination 5," on the other hand is pure fun, in a gory, gross, strange way.  I do understand these may not be some people's movie's of choice, and that's fine.  Again, this is yet another movie I do not receive royalties for.

2 out of 4 stars.

-Joseph Sbrilli

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2011, the-summer-of-movies-that-I-think-are-going-to-be-bad-but-turn-out-being-really-good, as I have so lovingly dubbed it, has surprised me at every turn. The Planet of the Apes franchise is one of the oldest sci-fi series around, spawning numerous movies, a TV show, and a poorly done remake with everyone's favorite Mark Wahlberg. It's been a while since someone put forward a good entry into a franchise that your parents only sort of remember. Rise breathes new life into the franchise while simultaneously proving that mo-cap technology can carry a film.

Continuing the tradition of movies featuring scientists trying to cure Alzheimer's by testing on animals (Deep Blue Sea anyone?), Rise of the Planet of the Apes starts with a simple wish by Will Rodman (James Franco); that he will be able to cure his ailing father Charles Rodman (John Lithgow) through the power of modern medicine. Of course the only way to do this is to secure millions in funds from a pharmaceutical company only interested in profits, headed by the business-savvy Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo). And the only way to get approval for human testing is to successfully test on chimpanzees.

Will's new drug shows an incredible increase in intelligence on one of the chimps he is testing. Unfortunately, the chimp goes ape and has to be euthanized by security. The test subject only went crazy because she had a child, young Caesar (Andy Serkis). Will's research is shut down but he adopts the young monkey who has the same trait as her mother on the drug: a ring of green in her eyes. Caesar grows up as a human, learning at an exponential rate while Will secretly uses the formula to treat his father. When the drug stops working on Charles, and he accidentally steals the neighbors car, Caesar comes to his protection against the car's owner in a fairly violent fashion.

Caesar is court-ordered into a primate house while Will starts work on a new drug that can be administered through aerosol cans. The reason being his dad is dieing because the drug no longer works. Charles slowly passes away. Caesar, being much too intelligent to be locked up, figures out how to break free and obtain the drug for his primate brethren.

The ape-pocalypse has effectively begun. But the marketing executives in Hollywood have portrayed this film all wrong. It isn't about the rise of the apes, it's about their escape. Their escape from being dumb animals. Caesar's escape from loneliness. They aren't rising up against us to kill us, they are rising up to get away from us. If they wanted to kill us it would be way too easy. Without our smarts, we would have no chance against animals that run faster, punch stronger and climb higher than us.

I found it hard to root against the apes. And the film does a good job of letting me do just that. The rise of the apes isn't preceded by their extermination of the human race. It's preceded by our hubris. The very drug that makes the apes strong is what destroys us. And when it spreads over the world and we perish, the intelligent apes will be the ones left to take care of it.

Rise is a touching film, brought to glorious life by the bottomless pit of talent that is Andy Serkis. His talent has been shown before behind the CGI faces of Gollum and King Kong. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the first movie to do something new with motion capture. In older films Andy would have to act out the scene with the real actors and then do the scene again in a green room to edit on his otherworldy features. Now Andy can act in the film with the actors in real time. And it shows, the level of depth he brings to animal expressions is amazing. Caesar comes to life and I didn't doubt that he was a real ape the entire film.

I have very few gripes, Draco Malfoy got to utter Charlton Heston's famous line from the original film. But he got his soon after so that made me happy. If you can't kill him in Harry Potter at least do it somewhere else.

The movie climaxes with a battle between ape and man on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. The entire film is well-shot and an example of how good a well thought origin story can be. If this is the future of the world, I am okay with it.

-3 and a 1/2 out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell

P.S. Just call it Rise of the Apes. Everyone will still know what it refers to.

Cowboys and Aliens

Apathy kept me from posting this review. It's been about two weeks since I actually saw Jon Favreau's latest outing. I wanted this film to be better than it is, or better than it possibly could hope to be. But I was putting too much hope on a movie that has "cowboys" and "aliens" in its title. I should have expected less and gotten more out of the film but instead I expected more and got less.

Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the middle of the desert with no memory of who he is and a nasty gash on his side. He also is the new owner of a fancy wrist bracelet, courtesy of his local shopping mall no doubt. Jake is promptly accosted by several very dirty men, whom he kills in a violent fashion, takes their clothes and then their dog, and rides off for the nearby town of Absolution. In the town a strange woman (Olivia Wilde) takes a special interest in Jake and especially his new Rolex. But before she can woo him with her lady parts Jake is arrested by the local constable. Unbeknownst to Jake, he is a murdering, thieving bank-robber who pissed off he wrong cattle owner: Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). Indy, I mean Dolarhyde, rides in to kidnap Jake (to torture and kill him) and rescue his recently incarcerated son. Here's where the western part ends.

And where the Sci-fi part begins. Strange lights appear in the night sky rushing towards the town. Explosions happen and many townspeople are sucked up into the sky by very fast alien spacecraft. The attack only stops when Jake figures out that his Timex also doubles as an anti-aircraft weapon and brings one down. A wounded alien leaves tracks away from the town. Jake and the boys decide to put aside their differences, hunt down this otherworldly menace and rescue the stolen townspeople.

For a movie with as ridiculous and very strange, Cowboys and Aliens is fairly straightforward. I could predict with increasing certainty what was going to happen next. When the aliens were going to pop out, what character was going to spout a cheesy line, who would die and who would live. The only thing I couldn't predict was the damn dog. Seriously, this canine switches sides to whoever he thinks is going to win. Even though the dog definitely DIED at one point. If the dog runs off to sniff out an alien in an old upturned river boat and the audience hears alien growls and dog whimpers, it means the dog died. A young child, who just watched the alien try to basically face rape him with its hidden arms before killing a reverend runs around looking for the dog afterwards. 10 minutes later the dog comes back after the humans crash an alien space craft. The dog joined the aliens side and when they weren't winning anymore he just came right on back.

I expect more from Jon Favreau. I needed more uniqueness in the film. I wanted surprises, and not almost seeing Olivia Wilde naked surprises, but actual surprises that I've never seen before. This is a short review because there isn't much left to say. There is a decent amount of action, including numerous cowboys getting eviscerated by odd-looking aliens. Harrison Ford growls a lot and Daniel Craig does the best by being silent most of the film. He had the right idea, no cheesy lines out of his mouth.

Cowboys and Aliens is the epitome of the summer blockbuster. No more, no less. You will get exactly what you paid for, and that is cowboys fighting aliens if you weren't quite sure.

2 out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell

P.S. Olivia Wilde may not be a good actress but she is gorgeous beyond belief. Oh and she's an alien that decides to use Earth technology to help beat a more advanced race. Even though she must have needed her own ship to fly to Earth. Whoops, Spoilers.

The Help

This may be my estrogen talking but I loved this movie, despite it being over two hours long and me missing the trailers, and first minute of the movie.  Don't worry, I will attempt to elaborate.

"The Help" is based off an extremely popular book of the same name, that obviously I have not read because I don't usually do that sort of thing.  It was written and directed by Tate Taylor.  I have no idea who he is, but he apparently makes darn good movies all of a sudden.  This nice man gathered an unbelievable list of talented actresses for this film.  That includes, but is not limited to the likes of Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Allison Janney, Sissy Spacek, and Mary Steenburgen 

The film takes place takes place in the 1960s in Mississippi...a nice place to set a story about segregation.  "The Help," refers to the African Americans who spend their lives raising white people and being treated poorly in the process.  It deals with roles of whites and blacks during this unfortunate time in this country's history.  This story is about one white girl, nicknamed Skeeter and portrayed by Emma Stone who wants to be be a writer.  She comes up with an idea of writing a book of interviews about black housekeepers opinions of the white people that they work for and help raise their children.  This obviously is a controversial idea, and these housekeepers are afraid of what they might start, if these stories are published.  The bravery of two housekeepers, Abilene Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) prompts many more to be involved with the book.  The rest of the women are mainly privileged, snotty white women...anyways...

I recently decided that I love Emma Stone.  She is charming and beautiful and becoming quite a good actress.  She led the last of talented women as a girl trying to make a difference during a extremely horrible time.  Allison Janney as her mother was hilarious, as she often time is.  She also got to do a nice bit of drama in the film, and I discovered she is a talented crier.  She is no Sally Field, but then again no one is.  Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer also gave incredible performances, as the primary housekeepers standing up for Skeeter's book idea, and dealing with the ridiculous white people that they work for.  Bryce Dallas Howard plays a real b word in this movie, and i wanted to punch her a couple of times because of how poorly she treated people.  I guess that means she's a pretty good actress.  That is of course if that was her primary goal.  Finally, the scenes with Sissy Spacek, as Howard's mother are absolutely hilarious.  She is senile and and says some hilarious things, many of which her daughter had coming.

The look of the film is very appealing as the clothing, sets, and outdoor cinematography all scream Deep South in the 1960s.  I'm no expect on what the 1960s looks like, beyond what television shows and movies from that time have told me, but I believed that "The Help" looked genuine.  Either that or I was blinded by how entertained I was for the entire movie.  There are some some nice outdoor shots of long winding country roads and generally very beautiful images.

Finally, I loved the mix of drama and comedy that was in this movie.  All the actresses were talented in this area.  They were often times hilarious, either because they were giving large amounts of sass, or because they were being incredibly selfish and oblivious, depending on the character of course.  Other times these actresses were in moving scenes showing how their jobs and the way that they were treated effected them.  I had read that some people did not think that the film dealt with the racism aspect as in depth as they should have. I personally didn't see a problem in this area since I felt the movie was intended to be a drama with comedic undertones, rather than an all out, gut wrenching drama.  I guess viewers can decide for themselves.

What a wonderful summer movie.  This summer has been full of superhero movies, R rated comedies, and animated movies.  To some extent I like all those types a great deal.  However, seeing a movie like "The Help" was just a real pleasure for me.  So many talented actresses that were given a great story work with.  The end result, for me anyway was highly entertaining, quite funny, and at times emotional...if you are into that kind of thing.  Although it was over 2 hours long, I didn't feel it at all since it was well paced, and what was unfolding on screen kept my attention.  Give it a try...unless you really are too masculine for it...then I guess go have a "Rambo" marathon or something.

3 1/2 out of 4 stars.

-Joseph Sbrilli