Posts tagged funny
“The Hangover Part III” Third in a Successful, Redundant Series
Jun 1st
“Successful, Redundant Series”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Hangover Part III is not as good as the first movie in the trilogy, but much better than the second one, which was just a remake of the first one but with the setting changed from Las Vegas to Thailand.
This one mixes up the basic plot of a lost weekend in connection with a wedding for the hapless men known as The Wolfpack, and it moves the setting back to Las Vegas, as well as adding two new characters to the mix.
Oh, and it also has a wedding, but you might be surprised at who gets married.
Once again the self-named Wolfpack consists of Phil, played by Bradley Cooper; Stu, played by Ed Helms; and Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis.
Doug is back, as well, but just as in the first two movies, he is missing from most of the story. That guy just can’t catch a break, can he?
After a brief prelude in Thailand, which features Mr. Chow, again played by Ken Jeong, the story begins with Alan driving down the freeway towing a live giraffe behind him and yelling, “Oh, my life is great!”
Alan is 42 years old and still living at home, and his life is anything but great and just keeps getting worse, mostly because he says he will never change, and this time he has an excuse.
Meanwhile, a gangster named Marshall, played by John Goodman, interrupts everybody’s plans and forces them to find Mr. Chow in order for Marshall to get back $21 million in gold that Chow stole from him.
No problem, right? Well, yes, lots of problems, but eventually they find Chow in Las Vegas and the madcap antics start all over again, some funny and some not so funny.
So, how many more of these movies can we take, and how many more can be made?
Well, the possibilities are endless and frightening, which means as long as they make money, which they seem to do.
After all, there is still one member of the Wolfpack who is not married, and then there is the possibility of divorce parties for all of them, but now I am just beginning to make everybody sick.
The Hangover Part III might not be the end of these movies, but just another one of a successful, redundant series.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Iceman” about a Cold-Hearted Killer
May 25th
“Cold-Hearted Killer”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Iceman is based on a true story about a man named Richard Kuklinski who worked for many years as a hit man for organized crime on the East Coast.
The movie begins in 1964 in New Jersey and we meet Richie, played by Michael Shannon, as he finally gets a girl named Deborah, played by Winona Ryder, to go out with him.
She works across the street from where he works, but right off the bat he is secretive about his personal life. When Deborah asks Richie what he does for a living, Richie tells her, “I dub cartoons.”
Actually, however, Richie makes duplicate copies of pornographic films for his mobster boss, Roy, played by Ray Liotta.
When Deborah asks about Richie’s family, he says that he has a brother who is around somewhere, but Richie doesn’t talk to him, and later we will find out why in a scene that foretells Richie’s own future.
Deborah thinks that Richie is funny, is glad that he asked her out, and tells him that she had a really good time.
Well, a year later, Richie and Deborah are married, they have a baby girl, Deborah likes the way that Richie takes care of her, but she wants them to move into a bigger apartment.
At the same time, Roy tells Richie that he is closing the pornography lab, but he gives Richie a chance to make money by working for him as a hired killer, and Richie takes it, after proving to Roy that he can do the job.
Then we skip ahead 10 years, and we see more of Richie’s work, as well as more of the men who work for Roy and how he makes sure that jobs will get done.
Richie and Deborah have two daughters now, and Richie is devoted to his family, but he tells everybody that he makes money in currency exchange.
Meanwhile, another of Roy’s workers, Josh, played by David Schwimmer, messes up, and Richie is given a job that Roy also hired another hit man to take care of at the same time.
The other hit man is Mr. Freezy, played by Chris Evans, and by a series of circumstances Richie and Mr. Freezy start working together.
The Iceman is about such a cold-hearted killer that he was called “The Iceman.”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” So Credible, It’s a Cliche
Mar 22nd
“So Credible, It’s a Cliche”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone may appear to be fresh and original, but if you examine it closely, you will realize that you have already seen this movie many times before.
It has the same plot as many other movies before it, and all you have to do is change the profession, the setting, and whether you want to make it a drama or a comedy.
Here is the basic plot: Two lifelong friends are in business together, they have a falling out when an edgy newcomer arrives on their turf and starts taking business away from them, one of them seeks the advice of the person, now retired, who got them started in the business in the first place, there is a reconciliation in time for a final resolution, and the ending credits.
In this case, the profession is magic and magicians, the setting is modern-day Las Vegas, and the genre is a comedy.
Oh, and because the two magician partners are men, there is also a woman in the story, but in this case she doesn’t come between them, and their falling out isn’t because of her, but because of professional differences.
And let the record show that the quote of note in this movie is when the title character says about the newcomer, “He’s not a real magician, he doesn’t even have a costume.”
So, to fill in the remaining blanks, Steve Carell plays The Incredible Burt Wonderstone; Steve Buscemi plays the lifelong friend and partner Anton Marvelton; Jim Carrey plays the edgy newcomer Steve Gray; Olivia Wilde plays the love interest Jane, although there are many laughs caused by her being called Nicole; and Alan Arkin plays Rance Holloway, the retired magician who caused Burt and Anton to become magicians in the first place when they were kids.
Incidentally, Arkin seems to be the go-to guy in comedies these days, and he doesn’t let us down in this one.
Now, we will see all the standard magicians’ tricks during the course of the movie, but there is one at the end that you probably have not seen before, the disappearing audience trick.
Afterwards, we get to see how that trick is done, and it is more funny than amazing.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, however, is not only credible, but it’s so credible, it’s a cliche.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”