The Family

The Family: Fluff

2013/Crime/111Mins

Well was it entertaining?

Yeah a little bit but most was just…

Fluff

I’ve said this before, if your looking down at your phone more then the movie your watching, then the movie isn’t doing its job. So whats this film about…

The Manzoni family, a notorious mafia clan, is relocated to Normandy, France under the witness protection program, where fitting in soon becomes challenging as their old habits die hard.

Sure it was fun to watch the “Mafia” De Niro back on the screen. But that’s not enough to save a whole movie. I think this film could of been more. It just felt like there wasn’t much to do with this film and so some Fluff got thrown in. I like Michelle Pfeiffer and her children played by Dianna Agron and John D’Leo. They were good, acting and side stories where fun. Tommy Lee Jones is Tommy Lee Jones. The story isn’t bad, I liked it but it could of been better. Luc Besson directed this and it kinda doesn’t show.  Compared to his masterpiece Léon: The Professional and the extremely entertaining The Fifth Element. The Family is missing the fun he brings to his films and I think that’s what really killed it for me. I was expecting more from Besson.

So, it’s a bit entertaining but mostly boring fluff added in to what could’ve been a fun film.

And that’s it…Oh wait yeah Goodfellas.

This might be spoiler like, so I’m warning you.

Yes Goodfellas pops up in this film. The first part is the outdoor barbecue scene shot and block just like Goodfellas was. I noticed this off the start, I figured okay that’s a cool little egg. Was that it? Nope. In fact De Niro brings Tommy Lee Jones to a showing of a movie.

And that movie was?

Yep Goodfellas.  So De Niro in a film is watching a movie De Niro was in.  And then talks about how close movies and real life are on the subject of The Mafia.  Ugh!  This is just a bit odd for me.  Maybe walking past a poster or something, but no, he does watch it, it’s in the movie.  So is this needed?

To me again it felt like more Fluff.

Parkland

Parkland: Messy

Drama/93mins/2013

Parkland is one of those films you hear about then count till the day it comes out. It peak my interest mostly due to the event this film takes place on. I’m talking about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The assassination has always been an interest of mine for awhile now because I’m the history type of guy and not a conspiracy type. Every 22nd of November I sit in front of my TV and binge watch.

So how does this film work covering the events that took place on that day? Well it’s kind of…

Messy  

Let me try and explain. If you wanna watch a good movie about this part of history watch Oliver Stone’s JFK. Parkland is really, well suppose to be about the events at the Hospital Kennedy and Oswald where taken too. Yes in the beginning we get that, but then it begins to explore Zapruder, we shift to Robert Oswald and his mother, The Secret Services agents, The Reporters and then back to the hospital. Now maybe the writers thought this was a good idea to do a film about the hospital and not the same old format. But that’s not really how it played out. Did they say, “Shit we don’t have enough material to do just the ER.”

The synopsis to this film is  “A recounting of the chaotic events that occurred at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital on the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.” But most of the film is about Zapruder and the Oswald family. Yes that was very well done and in fact both of those parts are the best in the film, but I was expecting a whole ER film with a few drop outs in setting but not a bookended film with no care toward the only parts this film was made about.

Abraham Zapruder was played brilliantly by Paul Giamatti. He is my favorite thing of this whole film. Ron Livingstion who is always great and James Badge Dale who really stands out in this film as one of the only actors seemingly entertaining to watch. Marcia Gay Harden, David Harbour, Billy Bob Thornton, Tom Welling, Mark Duplass, Colin Hanks, Jackie Earle Haley and Jacki Weaver all are included in this mass of who can we fit in here for a kinda cameo. That’s what it really felt like. Was it bad? No just a bit too much I think.

Then we have the top billing of Zac Efron. I’ve never watched that much of his work but ouch he seems to try way to hard to not be that Zac Efron. He just plays a guy we as a viewer should care about but instead we go hey you look like, right your that Zac guy. Hey he might be a nice guy, I really don’t know or care but you need to tone it down a bit. For the charactor we should care about I honestly could care less about.

This film isn’t what I was told it would be. It was good at a few things including a nice looking production, with a real time period look to them. Solid acting, here and there. And a film that even though a ton of information is missing, including that of not including John Connally who was at the same ER and in the same car as JFK. So yes the film is weak, worse in some areas but overall a messy mess.

This is Halloween: The Haunted Mask

The Haunted Mask: Fun

22mins each/44mins Total/Horror/1995

The Haunted Mask is the 11th book and episode 1 and 2 of season 1.

It’s about a girl, Carly Beth who gets picked on because she’s easily scared. She’s the joke of the school and because of that is pushed into buying a mask that will turn her weakness into her ultimate revenge.

This book stands out as of of the more popular stories. I became a big fan when the 2 part episode was released on VHS. As a kid this was one of the films that I would play ever year for Halloween. 

The acting is what you would expect from a 90’s children’s TV show. The real reason this is a staple of 90’s kids is the story. It works almost too good. It’s not just about a girl who wants revenge, but the mask Carly picks changes her, it attaches to her and takes her over.

The Mask

The “unobtainable, unloved ones” all look pretty cool. In fact I find that I like some of the others more then the one she picks. But that’s not to say the one she picks isn’t good, it really is badass looking. The issue is the lighting. They should of made it a bit darker because the mask doesn’t work as awesome in the brighter night shoots. But the voice and the darker scenes really make the mask work, especially when she begins to get angry and the mask begins to sweat.

These episodes aren’t the scariest of the show. But they’re very enjoyable and have a deeper meaning of excepting ones self and not trying to be different for anyone else.

Thanks for reading guys and girls!

Happy Halloween!

This is Halloween: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors: Imaginative

96mins/Horror/1987

This is it guys and girls!

This is the film that introduced me to horror and Freddy. Two loves that will never die for me. I remember that day, it was a cold rainy day and me and my family went to a farmers market early that morning. I walked around couldn’t find a damn thing to buy, but I knew I wanted to buy something thou nothing had peaked my interest.

I began to check out a collection of VHS’s that seem to just collect dust.

Then a beat up VHS cover came my way…

That is what I saw, and I was never the same again. I asked my mom, since it was rated R and I was like 6, she obliged; lucky for me! I went home holding the shit out of that VHS counting the time to when we would get home. It was getting late so once everyone went to bed and my tracking on the VHS player cleaned up that damn picture I begin to watch the film that would make me into a man that faithfully night!

Dream Warriors is the 3rd film in the Nightmare on Elm Street series, raking as one of the stronger Freddy films. This film is the one with the “puppet strings”. My favorite kill on Freddy’s slasher list and yes its a gory film if you didn’t know, maybe the most out of all the Nightmares. This time around the the victims fight back using their own dreams to create a force Freddy has yet to see. This is a interesting turn in the films that really makes it stand out. Almost everyone agrees possibly the best sequel in the franchise.

Chuck Russell (The Mask, Eraser, The Scorpion King) does a fantastic job as Director. Sure its a bit goofy, gory and somewhat cheesy but its hands down one of the best entertainment bang for your buck of films in years. Its a film I would watch with friends and never get bored with the repeats we had with that one old beat up tape.

This is Halloween: The Faculty

The Faculty: Underrated

104mins/Horror/Sci-Fi/1998

It’s a film by Robert Rodriguez, that when I say that, a shit ton of people that never knew that pop up with seriously? That Robert Rodriguez? Yes that one. I know it doesn’t have that Rodriguez feel to it, but after a few viewings it starts to become clearer. The story is simple as dirt, teachers bodies become taken over by aliens and a few students stand up to take them down. The film has a Breakfast Club mixed into Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibe in it. And that there for me takes this film to a different level you don’t get very much anymore.

The film stars Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, Piper Laurie, Famke Janssen, Usher Raymond, Salma Hayek, and Jon Stewart. If that isn’t an amazing cast I’d like you to prove me wrong.

Like Matt said in our upcoming podcast, The Faculty is an underrated film. This is something that I’ve said for years now. Since the film came out in 1998, I’ve heard nothing but hatred toward this film. Every time it came up people would downplay the entertainment value and said that is was just crap. I would always come to its defense with how enjoyable this film is.

Trust me, Give it a shot this Halloween!

This is Halloween: Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus: Immortal

96mins/Family-Comedy/1993

As a kid growing up in the 90’s things were pretty awesome in the world of film and TV. Disney had a gold mine of 90’s kids movies that became instant classics to us of the 90’s and we still hold that to ring true to this very day. If you go to a flea market, I can almost guarantee you will see a flood of Disney VHS for sell. They were cranking them out every single week, sure a few kinda suck but a good majority of them are classics children films that as a “adult” now I still find myself watching every now and then.

Hocus Pocus is one of them. And every year in October this is a film I pop in and watch. Why because its fantastic. It holds up well and still allows me to dive into a bit of excitement that a children’s Halloween film should. They don’t make films like this anymore. Halloween films are made mostly for teens and adults these days. The younger children don’t get the focus anymore. Sure when I was 7 I was watching Freddy frighten teens in their nightmares and Leatherface doing what he does best with a door and hammer, but that’s that. Some kids can’t do that. And honestly shouldn’t experience that stuff at such a young age. But hey I turned out somewhat… decent.

After 300 years, Three sister witches are resurrected in Salem Massachusetts on Halloween night, and it us up to two teenagers, a young girl, and an immortal cat to put an end to the witches reign of terror once and for all. (IMDB)

Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Park and Kathy Najimy star as the three sister witches, who steal the souls of children! Omri Katz, Thora Birch and Vinessa Shaw are the hero’s who go up against the witches. The three witches steal the show with their goofy antics and song, “I Put a spell on you” that will be stuck in your head. Thora Birch’s acting stands out good. She’s young and doesn’t turn in to one of those annoying forced line delivering children actors can sometimes bring.  The cast works pretty well and only add to the wonder of a story Disney put out.  

Hocus Pocus is a incredibly well-made film that brings the scary part and fun part together and a well wrapped candy bar for a kids eyes and mind. It single handle brings back the excitement that seems to have been lost anymore during Halloween. It’s a simple story about putting a end to the witches, which is place on top of a brother and sister relationship that I find mean more to me then any other film when I watch with my sister. Sure if you might not have watched this film before then it might be hard to understand now as a adult. But when you watch this when your young and grow up from it, then it becomes something more. Its a fun film to watch that doesn’t get made as much but luckily its immortal and seems to last forever. 

Big Fan

Big Fan: Intense   …But fun.

88mins/Comedy/Drama/2009

Patton Oswalt plays a lovable but passionate fan of his football team. Not just any football team, but his New York Giants. To him no other team should even exist on this earth. But then one day his favorite player kicks the crap out of him. This puts him in a bad place.

Emotionally he becomes unstable and it leads to a place that surprised me at first.  He has to pick between him or his football team and the way it plays out was pretty awesome.

This is a film that I couldn’t really guess what came next. So many films anymore are very predicable. Patton Oswalt really shines in this film. This may be a comedy slash drama, but I would really like to see him go more toward the drama end. He really just fit this film in such a way I couldn’t see anyone else play. Micheal Rapaport and Kevin Corrigan also star, both hold a screen present not too many can. The ending will leave a smile on your face and wanting more. I would also like more from director and writer, Robert D. Siegel who on top of this wrote, The Wrestler. Both films I enjoyed and only wish we got more of his work.

Been a fan of Oswalt for the longest time, and this film might just sealed it for you as well.

Breaking Bad Predictions (Justin’s Take)

Okay so this is it.

Today its all over.

One of the most brilliant shows ever to be placed on the boob tube is ending, and it might go out in a bang! After 61 episodes Breaking Bad is ending on the 62nd episode in-titled; “Felina”.

and if you haven’t heard yet:

FeLiNa = Iron, Lithium and Sodium aka, Blood, Meth and Tears.

Now the great thing about the writing of Breaking Bad is it can go in a completely different way. How many times have Walt and Jesse got themselves in a corner and boom! Using their minds problem solved.

So this is just how I see it going and how I would like to see it play out.

Blood: Walt brings that big ass machine gun to take out the Neo-Nazi gang.

Meth: Taken back control of his product, then destroying it all.

Tears: Walt dies. He takes the Ricin, because like he said before, He isn’t going to let the cancer get him and it’s over when he says its over.

Now lets back up a second. I think its safe to say Walt is going back to get his meth. That was his empire that he himself built. This is triggered after seeing Elliot and Gretchen Schwartz lie on TV. I wish he went to go kill them, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

When Walt goes back to get his meth he will run into Jesse. He’s going to be surprised since he’s under the impression that Jesse is dead. This could lead to a team up in order to get Lydia and The Neo-Nazi gang. Now there is a good amount of bad blood between the two and maybe Walt takes the ricin to show Jesse no matter what I will be dead. Both Lydia and Todd will die, maybe together in a fire at the meth lab.

Now Jesse “kinda” has a clean slate. Yes he told Hank and Gomez on tape everything that happened. But both are dead and the tape was taken by the Neo-Nazi gang. So if Jesse knows any good he will go grab Andrea’s son and run off to a safe place far far away because the DEA is pretty much just looking to get Mr. White.

With Jesse gone and Walt on the verge of death, Skyler, Betsy and Flynn might just all move into a house together with both their husbands now dead. Now let me take this one step further. Last episode “Granite State” the movie, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium popped up. This could be a clue using it’s plot of a man who thinks his time has come and is giving his business over, maybe Walt hands it over to a family member? Far fetch? Maybe but cool none the less.

I think that’s pretty much it. I wish the episode was a good few hrs so a lot can play out but I think it will be a fast, bumpy ride.

But I would like to see one more thing, even if its by a long shot. But hey I could dream right? With Walt walking into the darkness of his own death (We don’t see him die onscreen) his hat remains. Like Charlie Chaplin, Walt’s hat is what makes him. And maybe just maybe in that Chaplin moment, the hat gets pickup with a gust of wind and rolls. It rolls and rolls till it is stopped by someone’s feet. They bend over and pick up the hat and place it on their head.

Heisenberg is back!

—Cut to Black—

What We’ve Learned From Breaking Bad