Rango

I am always suspicious of animated movies made by companies not named Pixar. Especially if they are led by a well-known movie star. Sometimes the more well-known the cast is, the worse the movie is. Fortunately with Rango, this is not the case.

Rango (Johnny Depp) technically doesn't have a real name. He is a chameleon, raised by humans and kept in a lizard aquarium. Rango is a practicing thespian, using his inanimate aquarium mates to run an acting school. While driving down what I assume is route 66, Rango's aquarium gets bumped out of the back of his car and smashes to pieces. Rango has to pick himself up and at the behest of a wise armadillo, heads into the desert to find a town. He finds the town of Dirt, a squallid old western type town full of various animals all tougher than nails. The entire town runs on one currency: water. Here, Rango decides that he can reinvent himself in any way he chooses. He settles on the name Rango (hence the movie title) adopts a southern accent and makes himself out to be the toughest gunslinger this side of the Mississippi. Through his powers of acting, and a giant fluke where he kills a hawk, the townspeople believe him and elect him to be their new sherriff.

This works out great until it is discovered that the town is running out of water and fast. Rango has to organize the townspeople to figure out the conspiracy behind the missing water and prove that he has the mettle to be one of them.

Possibly the best thing about Rango is how real it feels. The voice acting is incredibly good. It's hard to explain it but it was like I was watching the actors themselves acting. I watched a short special on how they actually did it. The actors would actually act out the scenes they were voicing over. It works splendidly. The actors take on their roles with gusto and enthusiasm. Johnny Depp leads them fantastically. It was unlike any other Johnny Depp role I have seen and just further cements him in my mind as an incredibly versatile actor (even if it was just a voiceover). Johnny Depp really is Rango and it was wonderful. The rest of the cast does very well also (Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty) but one of the very best was Bill Nighy. Bill Nighy plays Rattlesnake Jake, one of the films bad guys. For some reason I always confuse him with Ralph Fiennes because they are so good at playing villains. Bill Nighy was the man who brougth Davy Jones to life in the Pirates movies. At points you can hear his accent creeping through his fake southern one but he was such an awesome bad guy.

The second best thing about Rango is the animation. It is very gritty and I can't think of any movie that has the same type. It really helps bring to life this psuedosteam punk world that Rango inhabits where characters ride roadrunners as horses and rattlesnakes have gatling guns installed in their tails. It has some of the best animation by far that I have ever seen, and it does it all in glorious 2D. Take that 3D trying to hijack all my movies and make them more expensive.

Rango is kind of hard to get into. I found myself very bored at the beginning, which surprises me now that I have finished it. Rango is also very aware of itself which annoyed me as well. The combo of those two really made it hard to enjoy until about a third of the way through, which now makes me want to watch it again. And there was this scene where Rango talks to the spirit of the west. Who is none other than Clint Eastwood from the Man with No Name trilogy! I was so excited I peed a little. Than I found out it was voiced by Timothy Olyphant. I was so angry, I really wanted it to be Clint. Olyphant does a spot on impression though, channeling his character from Justified.

Rango was a real joy to watch. When you leave a movie feeling happy and wanting to see it again, that's the sign of a good film. It's faults can easily be forgiven and it's immediate charms don't hurt a bit.

3 out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell

Limitless

I've got to stop judging movies before I see them. It makes it so much easier to just assume they're bad or assume they're good. But it is always a nice surprise to watch a movie you KNEW was going to be bad, and end up enjoying it after all.

Bradley Cooper (In his first real starring role, certainly not his last) is Eddie Morra. Eddie lives in New York, has a very attractive girlfriend and he has himself a book deal. Unfortunately he is also a drunk, looks like a hippie and hasn't written a single word of the book he needs to turn in. Bummer. And then his super hot girlfriend breaks up with him. Life isn't looking too good. By chance he runs into his ex-wifes brother Vernon. Vernon offers Eddie a chance with a new pill he deals called NZT. As Vernon explains it, it does something with the receptors in the brain allowing to utilize its full potential. The result is incredible, Eddie is actually smart now. He finishes his book, acts really smart and stops dressing like a hippie. But as soon as it wears off he crashes, hard. He goes to get more from Vernon, but he finds that Vernon has been killed. Eddie steals the stash of NZT he has left and lives the life he has always dreamed. Through different shenanigans Eddie loses his stash and discovers that if he stops taking NZT cold turkey, he will die. So he has to figure out how to get some more whilst juggling a wall street job he smarted his way into with Carl Van Loon (Robert DeNiro). And more than one person wants to kill him because of the NZT he has. Good thing what he can do is limitless (see what I did there?)

I thought Limitless was going to be pretty stupid. And by pretty stupid, I thought it was going to be really really stupid. But it shaped up really well. Bradley Cooper is a fairly entertaining leading man. It was fun, a joy even, to watch him transform from a drunk hippie to a know-it-all douchebag to NZT junkie looking for a fix. It was like watching the first Spiderman. When Peter started discovering the new powers he had, everyone in the audience was thinking the same thing: I want that. When Eddie starts learning new languages and making millions in a day everyone was thinking I want that. It's human instinct to want to be the best at something and Limitless shows that potential beautifully. Every time he is on NZT the color scheme changes in the film. They use an orange filter to make everything brighter when he is enlightened and when he is just a regular guy they use a blue screen that makes everything depressing. It was a very effective tactic.

The climax of Limitless was thrilling and involves a totally gross scene. I saw it coming and I was like "NO DONT DO IT BRADLEY COOPER NOOO" but then he did it anyway and it was disgusting. Even the ending has a twist (sort of) that I did not see coming in any way, shape or form.

I only have one complaint. In the aforementioned climax a blind Russian bad guy shoots his pistol at least 20 times without reloading. Little stuff like that irks me.

Limitless is incredibly entertaining. The kind of film you walk out of the theater and mention to your friends how bad you want NZT right now. Well done filmmakers, I enjoyed myself.

3 out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell

Easy A: A Quick Review




  Easy A came highly recommended by many friends, especially women. I'm not really sure why, it's a pretty standard teen comedy. Probably because it's told from the perspective of a girl and doesn't really fall into the chick flick category.

Emma Stone stars as Olive; an apparently socially inept high schooler, even though she's pretty attractive. One day a rumor gets spread that she slept with some college dude because her stupid friend couldn't keep her stupid whore mouth shut. All of a sudden Olive gets a lot of attention from people even though it's because of a fake romance. Her gay friend hears about this and proposes that she pretend to sleep with him so the other guys will think he is straight and stop beating him up. She does and then other socially inept kids pay her to pretend sleep with her and become cool kids. Olive becomes the school slut and gets involved in some pretty scandalous things like chlamydia and extra marital affairs.

Easy A is all about morals. There are so many attempts at morals it is unbelievable. The biggest one is be true to yourself and the second biggest one is don't lie because you'll probably end up as the school skank. In the midst of all these moral espousings Easy A exhibits extremely terrible morals while trying to convey good ones. The biggest one happens near the end. The gay kid previously mentioned decides to just be gay instead of hiding. Hey that's great. Oh wait he does it by running off with a random black dude a la Huckleberry Finn. Wait what? You're telling me he just dropped out of high school to be with a random guy and run away from home? Wow, that's a great moral Easy A. He's living in a motel room with a man he just met. There's more but they just make me angry. And Amanda Bynes is really annoying.

Emma Stone does pretty well in the title role here. When she's not acting out a caricature of herself she is actually pretty funny. But she can't hold a candle to Stanley Tucci. He is an amazingly funny man and every time he was on screen I laughed. Just one of those actors that brings so much more to his films.

Easy A is pretty funny. Not Juno funny, or even as good, but it was still enjoyable. It has some twists to make it fresh but it certainly isn't a modern classic. Rentable would be a good word for it.

2 and a half stars out of 4

-Christopher O'Connell

The American: A Quick Review

I never fully expected to see The American. It had a lame title, I've never really pictured George Clooney as an action star, and there was no buzz during the release of this film. I can say that they marketed this film wrong because it was not an action film.

The American is about an assassin/gun maker. He is staying in a little Italian village waiting for orders. Eventually he gets orders to build a weapon for someone. Along the way he falls in love and develops a really odd friendship with a Catholic priest. Also, some Swedish people are trying to kill him for unexplained reasons.

It's kind of straightforward, but then again it isn't. If that sounds confusing than I agree. The best part about The American is George Clooney. This is the first film I remember watching where I didn't feel like I was watching George Clooney. I really felt like he had gotten in to his character. He isn't cocky and self assured and is funneling the paranoid version of himself from Burn After Reading without the comedy. There is nothing new here but George Clooney was enjoyable.

1 and a half out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: A Quick Review

After hearing about this movie for a long time, much adored by everyone who told me about it, I was lucky enough to be riding on a plane that was showing it. I am so sorry I didn't see this sooner.

Jesse James (Brad Pitt) is a famous outlaw, who has sort of transcended his criminal status into a folk hero. But he is growing older and is gripped by paranoia and seems to be slowly slipping into insanity. Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) is an awkward young man with delusions of granduer. He grew up reading about Jesse James's exploits and decided the only way to become as famous as him was to kill him.

The very best part about this film is the performances. Brad Pitt blew me away. I am quite literally shaking with rage that he wasn't even nominated for an oscar. The man continues to impress. Casey Affleck is wonderful as well, completely sinking into his role of the awkward outsider. He recieved an oscar nomination for his work and it was completely deserved. Both performances are backed by Sam Rockwell and Jeremy Renner who I was delighted to see in a movie together.

The cinematography was superb, it was also nominated for an oscar. Every shot is beautifully done. Every scene is an incredibly combination of cinematography, costume design, set design, acting, and score. I was thoroughly impressed.

The film is a little bit long, and there is so much story that the narrator has to take the brunt of explaining things. I am also told that the film is pretty accurate (Wikipedia). At times it tends to drag on and the story lost itself. Sometimes I was confused by what was happening, but that might be attributed to the plane ride.

Overall, it is just fantastic. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck are so good in their roles its mind blowing. Does Pitt have an oscar yet? Because he really should, he has such a great range. Check it out if you love these actors.

3 and a half out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell

The Adjustment Bureau

"The Adjustment Bureau" was written and directed by George Nolfi.  It stars Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and tons of other people including Terrence Stamp.

The Adjustment Bureau is a group of wonderful people who are in charge of people's lives and many things that occur to them.  It looks like chance, coincidence, or like people have free will, but it quite obviously is the Adjustment Bureau.  Once again, if you are looking for theological truths, do not look to this movie, anymore than you would look to "Glee" to help you make moral decisions.  It just won't end well at all.  Well anyways, Matt Damon plays a politician named David Norris.  Naturally he loses the election(spoiler!).  However, he does meet the lovely Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt).  We learn from this movie that you will find the women of your dreams in a men's bathroom.  For some reason they are not supposed to be together.  David Norris really does not appreciate this though, since he firmly believes in love at first sight.  So he eventually finds out about the Adjustment Bureau, but there's a hitch...if he tells anyone he will get his mind erased.  Those are just some general plot points.  I guess you'll have to see the movie to see if love conquers all...as the cliche goes.

I love Matt Damon with every solitary fiber of my being and I highly support his film career (I however cannot in good conscious support "Happy Feet 2").  He is so talented and can do a variety of genres.  Essentially Matt Damon is precisely what a Hollywood leading man should be.  Emily Blunt is also good, although I have not seen her in nearly as much, so I do not love her.  She is however, much better than Matt Damon's "Hereafter" co-star, Bryce Dallas Howard.  Matt Damon and Emily Blunt really have a strange thing going on.  It's hard to see any real chemistry between the two because they relationship just happens so fast and is so coincidental.  They are separated for three years, but then all of a sudden they see each other again and they apparently are still in love.  I wasn't fully convinced about the relationship, but at least the camera didn't spin wildly around them, like in "Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen," trying desperately to create chemistry that is nowhere to be seen.  So basically suspend some disbelief, like with most movies and you will enjoy the two leads in "The Adjustment Bureau."  Also, I am a fan of Terrence Stamp, and he came along to explain some key information to Matt Damon, just like Frank Langella did for Liam Neeson in "Unknown."

I really enjoyed the music in this film.  This might be because it was done by Thomas Newman, Randy Newman's cousin.  Talent must run in the family.  The music in "The Adjustment Bureau" added to the action and the romance in the film.  I appreciate this because if the music is no good, then your movie may actually cause people to vomit in there seats and people just don't pay $10 for that.  Anyways the music was sometimes intense, but frequently fast paced.  As you may have guessed by now this adds to the uncertainty that Matt Damon's character is feeling, as well as the suspense and such that the audience should kind of be feeling.

The cinematography was good too.  I love when movies are filmed in New York.  There are just so many options for beautifully composed shots with buildings and other city-like affair.  You get a bunch of those including aerial shots, which I also love.  Also, there's some charming panning, or tracking, I can't remember which.  This usually occurs when characters are running which makes for some blurred backgrounds and other fun things.  Finally, the colors were not very bright in the movie, which I enjoyed as well.  It's not like the movie was dark and depressing or anything, but it would have been really dumb if it was brightly lit and if the actors and settings were full of color.  I would have been expecting Jennifer Aniston or Drew Barrymore to pop out at any moment.  I could go on, but I will spare you all, because my memory really isn't that good to explain specific scenes.

I liked the plot of the movie, it's sort of based off of short story, but I had never seen this kind of plot done before.  Sometimes things get cheesy, like with this strange computerized map that shows the routes of the people the team is looking out for.  There also are some exciting awkward lines and other such things.

Matt Damon was wonderful and Emily Blunt was good in "The Adjustment  Bureau."  It's not a great movie, but it is highly entertaining, which a good cast and compelling music and cinematography.  Overlook some of the slight cheesiness, and you may very well enjoy yourself.  However, if you don't like Matt Damon, then don't ever see it, because he is in almost every scene. 2 1/2 stars out of 4...something like that.  I got to the movie a little late and was eating during part of it, so I had issues getting into it at first.

-Joseph Sbrilli

Battle: Los Angeles

Let's get one thing straight. Battle: Los Angeles is not as bad as everyone says it is. It definitely isn't as bad as Roger Ebert says it is, which according to him it is pretty bad. He must have had a bug in his prune juice that particular morning because he hated on it like Miley Cyrus was guest starring.

Battle: Los Angeles has a very simple premise. Aliens are invading, they don't like humans and if we don't kill them, our entire species will be wiped out. The movie follows Staff Sergeant Mike Nantz (Aaron Eckhart, who I LOVE) and his squad of soldiers as they first try to rescue some civilians and, after their base is destroyed, just try to find a way out; when they find a chance of rescue, they head back in to exploit a potential alien weakness and save the world.

And boy is it exciting. The buildup is sufficiently full of tension, giving character background and foreshadowing of a potential invasion. The explosions are loud, mean and plentiful. Bullets fly everywhere and aliens spend a good portion of the movie finding out what hot lead tastes like. At the end it started to feel a bit long but the action and special effects kept me at the edge of my seat. For a popcorn flick with plenty of bang for your buck this is the way to do it.

But I don't just review action flicks. I review movies, and Battle: Los Angeles has its faults. First off is cliches. Everywhere. Scene where characters talk about how they're gonna make it and need to man up? Check. Smart ass one liners? Check. Scene where a character has to sacrifice himself for the others? Check. Aaron Eckhart letting the war get to him and becoming angry? Check. Rousing speech meant to inspire the men? Check. Pulling out your pistol to shoot some aliens even though your rifle works fine? Check. This list could go on and on.

Obligatory strong female character because women need to be empowered? Sort of check. I imagine the conversation at the studio went like this:

"Johnson! We need a strong female character, preferably ethnic, to balance out all this testosterone or guys will never be able to drag their girlfriends to this movie."

"Well, we already used Bridget Moynahan... how about Michelle Rodriguez?"

"Is that our only option?"

"Yes."

"Damn. Fine, do it."

Michelle Rodriguez was awful. It was like she wandered onto set after a crazy party. Did she learn her lines the day before? Sure sounds like it. Just because you need a strong female character, it doesn't mean you need Rodriguez. Get someone with some acting chops that can actually be as good as Eckhart was.

The special effects were amazing. And then they weren't. At points I was so impressed I almost called my parents to tell them. Then at other points it was like I was watching a high quality YouTube clip. Keep it together filmmakers, you have a big enough budget, use it.

The ending is kind of stupid. After literally running off of 24 hours constant combat; the seven remaining soldiers decide to head back in and retake Los Angeles. Don't be stupid, the entire squad is basically dead and you will be too. Take a nap and then fight. That made me angry, I can forgive other lapses in filmmaker judgement but that was just stupid.

The movie is called Battle: Los Angeles. It obviously wasn't meant to be very intellectually stimulating. Get over yourself Roger Ebert. Battle may have plenty of cliches but it was totally worth the matinée. For pure entertainment schlock, this is a movie that you'll want to check out.

2 stars of out of 4

-Christopher O'Connell

Memento: A Quick Review

Disjointed, confusing, sporadic and incredibly good. Christopher Nolan is such a wonderful man I want to kiss him. Memento is one of those movies everyone tells me about but I never have time to see it or rent it, but I finally did! And I don't regret it one bit.

Memento is the story of Leonard (Guy Pearce) a man who is trying to piece together his wifes murder and kill those responsible. Unfortunately he was injured and his lost his ability to make new memories. Everything he sees or does he will forget at some point. Nolan takes us back through time with small snippets of story to show how it all began.

Guy Pearce is wonderful in this role, he really took it to the next level and I've got to stop taking him for granted. Memento can get incredibly confusing. Sometimes it's memory backflashes can get pretty tedious and annoying to follow. It also has a significant lack of closure but that's what leads to the brilliance of the film. Check it out, even if you don't like it, it is a very fun ride.

-Christopher O'Connell

28 Days Later: A Quick Review

The amount of time between my viewing of 28 Weeks Later and 28 Days Later is probably considered a crime in some circles. I finally saw it, after loving the sequel, and am proud to announce that it is a very good film.

In England, some animal activists decide it's a good idea to break into a labratory and release imprisoned monkeys, despite being warned that they are infected with a very dangerous disease called Rage. After releasing said monkeys, they get attacked by them and quickly turn into humans with a blood lust that forces them to attack and kill everything living. You could say that they are zombies but in reality they are more like infected humans and that takes away a little of the unknown factor that zombie movies are famous for.

Anyways, the film is wonderful. It is shot in a kind of artsy, indie flick lens that makes it more personal. You aren't watching the movie, you are experiencing it with the characters as it unfolds. My friend put it a good way, 28 Days Later is a social commentary with horror elements. It's not really that scary, the gore is at a minimum for a zombie flick (making it more accessible to audiences) and it doesn't suffer one bit. If you like a zombie film that is actually good and entertaining definitely rent 28 Days Later. And then see 28 Weeks Later. A good horror movie with a good sequel, it has been a while since that has happened.

-Christopher O'Connell

Unknown

Unknown was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.  It stars Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, and Frank Langella.

Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson), and his wife, Elizabeth (January Jones), travel to Berlin for a science conference that he is speaking at.  When they get to the hotel he discovers that he left his incredibly important brief case at the airport, so he gets in a cab to go back for it.  Unfortunately, that wasn't a great idea and the cab smashes into a guardrail and lands in the water.  He wakes up from a coma four days later and has no identification on him.  He tells people that he is Dr. Martin Harris, which becomes a little awkward when he finds out that another man (Aiden Quinn) is married to his wife, and claiming to be him.    The Dr. Martin Harris played by Liam Neeson is of course incredibly confused and enlists the help of the cab driver (Diane Kruger) to help figure out this mess.  Professor Rodney Cole (Frank Langella) is probably the most helpful at explaining the confusion to Martin.  There are twists and turns as far as the eye can see.  Many of them defy logic, but if you want logic you really should not be seeing a Liam Neeson movie made in the last 3 years.

With Taken, Liam Neeson proved that just because you are 56 it doesn't mean that you cannot reinvent yourself as a action star.  After all, this is America and everyone has that option.  It turned out that Liam Neeson is quite the leading man.  He's in great shape and is surprising convincing in action movies and thrillers.  It's a strange phenomenon, but after a while you accept it.  Unfortunately, he does not get to shoot guns in Unknown.  I've got to admit this was a little sad, as I learned to love Liam Neeson with a gun, after watching Taken.  However, he did get to beat a couple people up and yell a little bit.  Anyway I really like Liam Neeson and enjoyed him in this role.  He worked well with the two main actresses, and I guess when he reinvented himself he made it so that his female leads are in their 30s.  Once again this is America...One final acting note...Frank Langella is an incredibly talented actor and I really wish he was in more of this movie.  He doesn't show up until close to the end, just in time to explain the fiasco to Liam Neeson (and audience members like myself who did not see the ending coming).  I got really excited when his name showed up in the opening credits, as I had forgotten he was in the movie.

The movie was incredibly entertaining.  The quit cuts and musical score all adding to the suspense of the film.  The film wasn't particularly original, but I assume the filmmakers knew that and just didn't really care.  However, it was fast paced and had some nice shots of taxis driving into rivers, buildings exploding, among other superficial things.  Also, the flashbacks had a unique look to them, appearing to be a little blurry and surreal, adding a dream-like tone to those scenes.  The camera work in general I thought was good as well, sometimes having the background be blurry and having Liam Neeson be more in focus, since he was the primary part of many of the scenes.

The dialogue in this film isn't the greatest...then again in recent years Mr. Neeson really doesn't attract quality scripts (The A-Team anyone?) anymore.  Some lines in Unknown were cheesy and in a similar vein to the "skills" line Neeson so beautifully delivered in Taken.  I can't think of any concrete examples right now, but there were indeed a couple dumb lines in Unknown.  It might be fun for people to try and pick them out for themselves.  However, no lines were as horrendous as those that were constantly hurled at me when I watched Burlesque.


If you like Liam Neeson you may find something to like about this movie.  He is a great lead for action/thrillers.  However, this movie obviously isn't some high quality affair...which is why it was released in February.  However, it is fun to watch, and the ending is a bit surprising. 2 out of 4 stars...this may seem bad, but it's really not...2 star movies can still be perfectly entertaining...they are just not examples of solid filmmaking.  Oh, and by the way, the above poster is a complete lie.  I think it was just a cheap ploy to make people think of Taken and encourage them to see this movie.  The two films are not as similar as people think...and Liam Neeson's hand never touched a gun in the entire movie.

-Joseph Sbrilli