It’s a Disaster

It’s a Disaster: Splendid

2012 / 88 min / Comedy | Drama

If you’re looking for a film to watch this week I found it.

With all the crap that is around these days on TV and even in the theater, check out; It’s a Disaster.

The film itself is far from being a disaster. It’s very witty, funny and down right enjoyable.

It’s Splendid.

My favorite part of the whole film is how it does a turn in the story. At first you’re presented with a simple friends meeting to have dinner type of film. You know the type. Each character is having his and hers relationship problems, cheating and simply falling out of love. Everyone knows each other, there all good friends and this is something they have been doing for quiet a while now.

The only new person at the table is David Cross, who I’ve always thought steals the show of which he’s on, even in interviews, he just steals the spotlight in his funny way.

The dialogue is lovely and the random characters like the next door neighbor and the call center guy, don’t just pop up without the viewer noticing. They pop up and steal the scenes making you laugh.

There is a ton in this film that I feel will make you smile ear to ear and keep your eyes glued to your TV.

The ending might upset a few, but I thought it was just downright perfect… Enjoy!

Nature Calls

Nature Calls: Ouch

79 min  –  Comedy (?)  –  2012

So one night a friend and I went on Netflix looking for a film to watch. You know, late night snacking with a “funny” movie playing, drinking beers and pissing the night away. When we finished watching this film we both could not help but wonder why we watched the whole damn thing. It’s such a crappy film, I think we both were in a shocked state of mind.

Polar-opposite brothers Randy and Kirk never saw eye-to-eye, but their rivalry is taken to a new level when Randy hijacks Kirk’s son’s sleepover, taking the boys on a Scout Trip to remember. (IMDB)

So why does this film suck so much?

It’s a comedy film that has maybe 12 seconds of funny in it. Out of the 79mins only 12 seconds is funny? Well I’m not sure how that can be counted as a comedy film.

I mean, Schindler’s List was funnier…

With a cast like Nature Calls I think I’m angrier that it’s as bad as it is.

Patton Oswalt, Johnny Knoxville, Rob Riggie, Darrell Hammond and Patrice O’Neal (his last film).

And this film still sucks? I like the story, the actors but the script just wasn’t ready and maybe could have been worked on by its awesome cast.

If you come across it one night, Skip it.

The Conjuring

The Conjuring: Fun

112 min  –  Horror | Thriller  –  19 July 2013

It’s a simple film, unlike the recent past horror films; this one takes a simple classic approach. I’ve always thought horror films were a somewhat beat to hell genre these last few years. Anytime a new “horror” film would come out, all I could think was cheap filmmaking for a quick buck. A lot of shitty remakes have come out to the point I called this genre, dead.

Well after watching this I can happily report, we are back on the right road. I’m not the type of person who gets scared or jumpy, just the type of moviegoer who sits there entertained with a smile on his face. And watching this I had that smile on my face.

It’s not a perfect film but one I think did its job, and did it pretty well. I honestly was suppressed that it wasn’t one of those cheap horror thrills; we’ve gotten so much of lately.

The story uses Ed and Lorraine Warren (of Amityville Horror fame) who where paranormal investigators as the vehicle to introduce and explain everything a regular viewer would need to know. It starts off with a real creepy short doll story, which sets the mood right away. It’s something fun to see, which also pops up again later one.

All in all the whole thing was just a real fun popcorn film. Sadly we didn’t have that so much this summer, but if your looking for a fun film to watch give this one a try.

Wedding!

Congratulations to Matt on his wedding day!

Behind the Candelabra

Behind the Candelabra: Fabulous 

118 min  –  Biography | Drama  –  2013

I know its shouldn’t come as such a surprise that HBO hits another home run, but they seem to have their shit together then most of TV (and as well as a few movie studios).

Brief History
At first Steven Soderbergh was having a hard time finding a studio who would back this film. Everyone’s reasoning was that “it is too gay”. Sadly that’s the world we live in, lucky for us HBO threw its hat in and said we’ll back it. First it was rumored to have Robin Williams set to play Liberace, then came Douglas. Soon after in 2008; filming was put on hold. In 2010 Michael Douglas began his treatment for throat cancer which put the film on hold.

The Film

Casting is heavy on talent. With Michael Douglas as Liberace, Matt Damon and Scott Bakula join in. Also Rob Lowe, Dan Aykroyd and Debbie Reynolds who plays Liberace’s Mother.

The acting is what stands out in this film. First off Matt Damon really holds his own opposite Douglas. Toward the end during his character (Liberace’s lover Scott Thorson) downward spin, you really feel the power of anger and love his character had. My favourite part of his, is when he screams at Liberace during a fight about another “young boy” Liberace may or not be sleeping with.

Rob Lowe plays a Doctor, creepy yet fun at the same time. He is part of this club but it takes time as a viewer when you first seem him onscreen. It’s very creepy in a way I haven’t seen before. Dan Aykrod is Dan Aykroyd and that not bad. I thought he was perfect for his role as was Scott Bakula and Debbie Reynolds.

Liberace himself is the reason I love this film. Michael Douglas give one of his best, if not his best performance. He kills it with such ease. The look and voice just worked so well, that I could without a doubt, believe him as Lee. I’m amazed by Douglas’s career as I write this. I’ve never not like him in a role and he always brings something that makes watching movies so damn fun. I’m always taken away by how far he jumped over his father in the art of acting, not to say Kirt isn’t good, he’s damn good but he just seems to be a whole different Douglas and I love that. I hate not seeing him in more films and it seems that will be changing soon. I have a feeling we will be talking about Reykjavik where he plays Ronald Reagan, with Christoph Waltz (who we all love here at SR) and Frank Langella whose not playing Nixon and yet I believe the whole time I’ll be thinking of that. 

Soderbergh did a good job with this one, he makes up for The Girlfriend Experience which I have a ton of issues with. He says this is his last film, thou he has said that more times then I can count with my hands. But if this is really the last one, then I’m glad he’s going out like this!   

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone: Terrible

100 min  –  Comedy  –  15 March 2013 (USA)

It always amazes me that films like this get made.

Listen.

During the process of making a film, a lot of people read the script…a lot. So you mean to tell me NOT ONE person raised their hand and said, “Guys this is very weak. I think we should try again”.

With a cast like this…

	Steve Carell	…	Burt Wonderstone
	Steve Buscemi	…	Anton Marvelton
	Olivia Wilde	…	Jane
	Jim Carrey	…	Steve Gray
	James Gandolfini	…	Doug Munny
	Alan Arkin	…	Rance Holloway

and at the end of production, they make one of the worst movies (if not the worst) of the year!

Never in my life did I fall asleep watching a feel, when I sat down to watch one. Guess what? The record has been broken.

P.S. Olivia Wilde is still a babe!

The Place Beyond the Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines: Powerful

‎2hr 20min‎ – ‎Rated R‎ – ‎Drama‎

Going into this film I wasn’t really expecting much but that default Ryan Gosling film we seem to get anymore. The silent romantic killer type, which I don’t mind. He does a good job in his films and yes this is another one, but it’s damn good. The story is simple, Guy sees a girl he had a past with. Guy finds out he has a child, guy has no money but wants to help. This is mostly the first hour of the film. Ryan and (in real life girlfriend) Eva Mendes are a great onscreen couple. They play off of each other nicely. The film also is shoot beautifully and the film as a whole just feels tight and well made. There are these shots with Ryan on his bike that are not anything special but it comes off just fantastic.

The only real issue with this film is the running time. For a 140min film the first hr and a half go quite fast, its the last 50mins of what kills the film for me. 

Look at the film like this, its 3 in 1. The first film is all Ryan. The second is with Bradley Cooper, the third-well lets keep that under wraps.  If I told you any of it, I would spoil something that you should find out when watching the film. Bradley Cooper does a great job as well with his screen time  I think I was more impressed with him here then his past films. He also shares the screen with Ray Liotta, who, yep you guessed it plays… a baddie.

There is this “silver lining” (If I can) throughout the film which helps this film wrap up nicely. But like I said earlier could of been a bit shorter. The ending could of lost a solid 20mins. The whole film is nicely packaged till this point. But then feels as if they jammed every idea they had and couldn’t let any of it go. Otherwise it’s a lovely film, one I think a lot of people will like.

Acting is great. Directing and DP are great. Running time just needs to be shorten a bit.

OBLIVION

OBLIVION: Predictable

126mins/Action/2013

Story: Without getting into spoilers, do to the fact I could easy ruin the film for you, I’m just gonna say it’s pretty predictable. Way too predictable in the sense before every corner in the story, you will predict everything. Which of course hurts the film. The story is okay, really its just okay, sure it’s better then most in this genre and has a bit of originality to it, but we seen stuff like this before. The ending has issues and at times the story feels weak. The best parts for me is the music and the look of this film. The story does have twist and turns but when it happens you most likely figured it out for yourself. For me I kept saying, “Well okay that’s what I thought”. Is it good? Yes it is with all the issues its diffidently one of the better films this year.

Olga Kurylenko (Julia) – Weak. The character and not the actress. The character feels like the writers just didn’t give the effort when writing her as like the others (mostly like Victoria who is awesome sauce).

Morgan Freeman (Malcolm Beech) – Well yep he’s pretty damn awesome like every time we watch him. 

Music (M83) – My favorite part. Listen I’ve been a BIG fan for years now and always wanted to see the band do a score for a film. And at times during the film,  I would  just fall back into my chair listening to the score.

Tom Cruise (Jack Harper) – He’s Tom Cruise in this film…again. I kinda would like to have seen some one else but he did good, even at 50.

Joseph Kosinski (Director, Producer, Screenplay, Story) – The guy knows his stuff. When Tron Legacy came out, it brought a smile to my face. He took us to a world that I just haven’t seen or felt in awhile. The guy did that on his first film, his FIRST! This is only his second film, and I feel the guy just knows his stuff more then most, who have been at it far longer. Visually and musically the guy kills it.

Side-note: Apparently all the sky images you see in the film, according to the director, he photographed them himself and is not CGI! That’s what I like to see and hear!

A Good Day to Die Hard

A Good Day to Die Hard: Bullshit

98mins/Action/2013

Might have some spoiling but hey this film spoiled all that was good in the Die Hard universe.

Apparently this was a Die Hard Film…

Die Hard is and will always be the best or one of the best action films ever. Its even in my mind of one of the best films period. Then they did Die Hard 2 which is fine you know its okay, it has wisecracking John McClane so it a fun film. Then we got Die Hard: With a Vengeance which is fantastic! With Samuel L. Jackson this film got very close to original Die Hard. But those two are kinda different, the biggest is Die Hard with a Vengeance’s scope is so much larger, this time it’s racing around New York. Compared too Die Hard which was pretty much 99.9% in a building (which just goes to show you how incredible that film is). Years later we got another one, Live Free or Die Hard. And at the time I had issues with it but it was just fine and I kinda left it at that (I’ll come back to this later).

Then this year we got A Good Day to Die Hard and boy did I die inside. I could make a long ass list of the issues with this film but its not worth your time. So here is just a small bit of the bullshit this film was.

Story is very weak

Plot holes coming out of its ass

Bruce Willis SUCKS…John McClane never shows up

Weak Villain

Shitty Directing.

A Ending that made me shake my head in pain.

His son (Listen he wasn’t that bad, clearly the film was written for him but I came to see John not Jack)

The stupid “Jack we thought you went to Russia and where doing drugs, bullshit, no dad I work for the CIA” It just doesn’t work for me.

And so on…

Action was way out there, going though like 4 floors into water at Chernobyl and just acting like it wasn’t anything. Oh shit and there is a scene where his son gets a piece of rebar in him and they talk and talk then hey lets pull that bar out and boom he’s all good and healed.

Okay so Bruce Willis WTF? He never seems like he wants to be here. The thing about McClane is he is a fantastic character and honestly his lines never seemed like McClane nor did Bruce who was just Bruce. I have a sad theory that the new GI Joe film will have him play a more McClane like character, and that’s not good.

The Ending is so shitty its just sad. Here is what I would do. I would have him get off the plane and meet is Wife and Daughter and BOOM they all die and we end the pain I must now go through in life knowing Die Hard has a shitty film like this. I hated that damn ending. The music, them talking and not hearing what they’re saying (I mean its fine but that went on for like 2 min’s and I kept saying what the hell are they saying?). Then it ends with John half of the screen. The shot was so off it made me very upset. Listen it sums up the film, Johns is half off in this film (Should of been on the poster).

So back to The Live Free or Die Hard. I didn’t care for it when it came out but I watched it again and you know what its so much better compared to this shitfest,  even Bruce seems and sounds like John, why did they not just end it on that one…Oh yeah greed, the number #1 Killer of movies today.

…Oh I paid to watch this. Hummm wonder why people watch movies online, oh yeah to save their hard earned money and not waste it on films that should of never been made…never!

 

And sorry for the rant with spelling errors but I’m writing this and I quickly started to run away…So depressed.