Hotshots Movie Reviews
Hotshots Movie Reviews by Dan Culberson
“The Way” a Beautiful Film
Oct 23rd
“Beautiful Film on Different Levels”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Martin Sheen in The Way
The Way is one of those rare films that you will remember for a long time to come, because it can affect a wide range of audiences in many different ways.
The film stars Martin Sheen as Tom Avery, and it was written and directed by Emilio Estevez, Sheen’s son, who also plays Tom’s son, Daniel, in flashbacks.
The title refers to the Camino de Santiago, the route of a centuries-old religious pilgrimage that begins in southern France, crosses the Pyrenees Mountains, and ends at the Cathedral de Santiago in Compostela, Spain.
Tom is a widower and an ophthalmologist in California, and one day he receives a phone call from France, and a man asks, “Are you the father of Daniel Avery?”
Tom learns that Daniel was going to walk the Camino de Santiago, but he was tragically killed in a sudden storm on the very first day of his journey.
So, Tom goes to France to retrieve Daniel’s body, and we learn that Tom and Daniel weren’t close ever since his mother died, he was Tom’s only child, and he wanted to see the world.
While he is in France, Tom learns more about the Camino de Santiago, and so he decides to have Daniel’s body cremated and, using Daniel’s backpack, take the ashes with him while he walks the pilgrimage himself, which will take months to complete.
We are told that the pilgrimage is a very personal journey, but shortly after he begins, Tom encounters three other people with whom he will spend most of the journey: Joost from Holland, Sarah from Canada, and Jack from Ireland, all with different reasons for wanting to make the pilgrimage.
Also, along the route, other interesting people are encountered, some making the pilgrimage themselves and others in the villages through which they pass, including some who own and run the inns where pilgrims can spend the night.
Needless to say, Tom has interesting experiences along the way, some touching, some pleasant, and some not so pleasant.
Although Tom walks and acts as if he wants to complete the journey in as short a time as possible, events occur that slow him down and allow him to appreciate the trip and to come to a better understanding of his son Daniel.
The Way is a beautiful film on many different levels.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Ides of March” Shows Dirty Politics
Oct 13th
Official Website
Movie Trailer
“Excellent Portrayal of Dirty Politics”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Ides of March is one of the best movies of the year, but one of the most difficult to enjoy, one of the most rewarding, but also one of the most frustrating, and one that should be seen by everyone who follows politics, but is also a handbook for what not to do in politics.
And expect to hear its name often at the Academy Awards ceremony in 2012.
Now, about the title. To the person who wrote “WTF the title? It doesn’t even take place in March,” I say, “Google it, Dude.” It is a famous expression from a famous play by a very famous author.
George Clooney produced, co-wrote, and directed the movie. He also stars as Gov. Mike Morris, who is campaigning for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
The action takes place in Ohio, where the Democratic primary election is coming up, and we are told, “As goes Ohio, so goes the nation.”
Ryan Gosling plays Stephen Myers, Gov. Morris’s press secretary; Philip Seymour Hoffman plays his campaign manager; Paul Giamatti plays the campaign manager for the Democratic rival running against Gov. Morris; Evan Rachel Wood plays an intern working for Gov. Morris’s campaign; and Marisa Tomei plays a reporter for The New York Times.
Stephen is very good at his job and is told that all the reporters love him, even the ones who hate him. However, when the rival’s campaign manager arranges a secret meeting with Stephen, tells him that Stephen is working for the wrong man, and offers to hire Stephen to come work for him, a chain of events are set in motion that will change Stephen’s idealistic views of Gov. Morris.
And then when Stephen learns a secret about Gov. Morris that could damage his campaign severely and perhaps even ruin the governor, Stephen has to battle his own idealistic views, because he can use that information either to further his own career or to damage the governor’s reputation.
We are told that loyalty is the only thing valued in politics and the only thing that can be counted on. We are also told that if you stay in the political business long enough, you become jaded and bitter.
The Ides of March can do the same and is an excellent portrayal of dirty politics.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“What’s Your Number?” One-Sidetrack Movie
Oct 6th
Official Website
“One-Sidetrack Movie”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
What’s Your Number? follows the recent Hollywood trend of movies about women who are assertive, raunchy, bawdy, and, yes, even foul mouthed.
In other words, the target audience is young men, who Hollywood believes don’t want to see movies about women unless the women are assertive, raunchy, bawdy, and, yes, even foul mouthed.
Get the women to strip and show off their bodies, and, heck, Hollywood has expanded the audience to include teenage boys, too.
Anna Faris, she of the Scary Movie spoofs of the, well, scary movies and the surprisingly good 2008 The House Bunny, stars as Ally Darling, a young woman in Boston who creates a dilemma for herself.
Ally’s sister is getting married, and Ally starts feeling sorry for herself. Then she learns that the average number of lovers a woman has in her lifetime is 10.5.
Ally counts up all her past lovers and determines that she has had 19, but then when she also learns that if a woman hasn’t gotten married after having had 20 lovers, the odds are she will never get married, Ally decides that she will never sleep with a man again unless he is the one she is going to marry.
Well, when that plan doesn’t work, Ally decides to track down all her past lovers to make sure that she hadn’t overlooked one and that he just might have been the one for her.
Of course, that is going to be difficult, and so Ally enlists the help of Colin, the guy who lives across the hallway from her in her apartment building.
Colin is played by Chris Evans, and he agrees to help Ally in exchange for being allowed to hide out in Ally’s apartment every morning so that he can avoid the latest woman whom he brought home the night before.
So, you can see where this is going, can’t you, and if you have seen the trailer for the movie, you have already seen most of the movie.
Now, there is one sidetrack that you won’t anticipate, and for a while you might believe that you were fooled.
We also see Ally’s parents, played by Blythe Danner and Ed Begley Jr., who are divorced because they have two entirely different personalities.
What’s Your Number? is a one-sidetrack movie that you can surely avoid.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
