Posts tagged Sam Rockwell
“The Way Way Back” Only Way Way Okay
Jul 21st
“Way Way Okay”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Way Way Back is another movie about the coming of age for a teenage boy, only this time it is set at a beach during summer vacation.
The title refers to the third seat in those big clunky station wagons which faced backwards and in which Duncan sits at the beginning and the end of the movie.
Yes, when the movie opens, Duncan is in the car with his mother Pam, played by Toni Collette, which belongs to Trent, Pam’s boyfriend, played by Steve Carell, as they are all driving to Trent’s beach house with Trent’s teenage daughter Steph, where they are all going to spend the summer.
Pam and Steph are sleeping, and there is an uncomfortable scene with Trent and Duncan in which Trent humiliates Duncan and displays what an unpleasant person Trent is.
In fact, later Trent is described as a car salesman with bad taste.
When they arrive at the beach house, which is labeled The Riptide, Betty, played by Allison Janney, who is the neighbor in the house next door, comes over and says, “Let’s have a fun summer!”
Betty has a teenage daughter, Susanna, and a young boy named Peter, whom Betty is always criticizing for a physical trait he has.
However, the summer starts out as anything but fun for Duncan, and the first half of this movie is as painful for the audience as the summer begins for Duncan.
But then Duncan starts spending time at the local water park, where he becomes friends with the manager, Owen, played by Sam Rockwell.
Not only does Duncan begin to have fun, but Owen also takes him under his wing and hires Duncan as an employee there.
Meanwhile, back at The Riptide, the relationship between Pam and Trent becomes strained, especially when they all have to stay inside on a rainy day and play a board game.
You begin to think that all the adults in this film are divorced, but there is one married couple in the story, Kip and Joan, played by Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet, but their relationship isn’t so hot and in fact it contributes to the strained relationship between Pam and Trent.
Who would want to come of age in this bunch of unhappy adults?
The Way Way Back is only way way way okay.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Way, Way Back – Movie Trailer
Jul 13th
THE WAY, WAY BACK is the funny and poignant coming of age story of 14-year-old Duncan’s (Liam James) summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in gregarious Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up to and begins to finally find his place in the world – all during a summer he will never forget.
“Seven Psychopaths” Is Gruesome Twisted Fun
Oct 27th
“Gruesome Twisted Fun”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Seven Psychopaths is a very funny, very bloody, and very violent comedy that keeps you laughing, but you almost feel guilty about doing so.
It begins with a surprising double murder that seems to be out of place with the rest of the movie until an explanation later on identifies the killer as the first of the psychopaths.
Colin Farrell plays Marty, who is living in Los Angeles and writing a screenplay, but all he has so far is the title, Seven Psychopaths.
Sam Rockwell plays Billy, Marty’s best friend who is also a struggling actor, but he has a profitable enterprise which gets him into serious trouble.
Billy steals dogs from people, and then another friend named Hans, played by Christopher Walken, returns the dog to its owner and modestly accepts a reward for the dog’s return.
Meanwhile, Marty gets drunk at a party, his girlfriend throws him out of the house, and he wakes up the next morning in Billy’s house. And yet when Billy accuses Marty of having a drinking problem, Marty says, “I don’t have a drinking problem. I just like drinking.”
Then Billy helps Marty with his screenplay by thinking up additional psychopaths, and we see scenes of the film as Marty narrates it.
However, when Billy makes the mistake of stealing a shih-tzu named Bonny, all hell breaks loose for everyone involved and some who aren’t involved.
You see, Bonny belongs to a mob boss named Charlie, played by Woody Harrelson, and Charlie will do anything to get Bonny back.
Anything.
As if that weren’t enough of a problem, Billy puts an ad in the local newspaper asking for psychopaths to answer the ad, so that they can help Marty and him with the screenplay.
A man named Zachariah, played by Tom Waits, shows up holding a rabbit, and he tells his gruesome story, which we also see.
Meanwhile, Charlie and his henchmen start closing in on Billy, and so Billy, Marty, Hans, and Bonny take off to the desert, where they can all work on the screenplay and where Billy thinks that the desert is the perfect place for a final shootout.
Now, don’t walk out of the theater when the closing credits start, because the movie isn’t over, and there are additional laughs coming.
Seven Psychopaths is gruesome, twisted fun.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
