Hotshots Movie Reviews
Hotshots Movie Reviews by Dan Culberson
“Fair Game” The Target, Not Spying
Nov 17th
“The Target, Not Spying”
FAIR GAME tells the real-life story of an incredibly serious incident that happened in recent history that is not talked about anymore and unfortunately seems to be on its way to becoming forgotten.
This is unfortunate, because what happened was so serious that the law makes committing it a crime punishable by death.
Ironically, the law was passed during the administration of President George H.W. Bush, former CIA head.
The crime? Exposing the identity of an undercover CIA agent.
And just to make matters more intriguing, a case has already been made that Bush the son was obsessed with outshining his father’s accomplishments and might have invaded Iraq in 2003 because his father had failed to do so in 1991 during the First Gulf War.
The events of this movie are the background for the reasons stated at the time that led Bush the son to invade Iraq.
The subjects who were involved were CIA agent Valerie Plame, played so well by Naomi Watts, and her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, played just as well by Sean Penn.
The movie begins shortly after 9/11 with some stock footage of Vice President Dick Cheney saying to the camera, “We will take whatever action is necessary to defend our security and our freedom.”
What he doesn’t say, but what turned out to be the case is “even if it is illegal.”
Then we see scenes of the professional life and family life of Valerie, who was an expert on the Middle East, but she cannot tell Joe where she has been or what she has done. They communicate by Post-It notes on the refrigerator.
Because of his qualifications and familiarity with Africa, Joe is asked by the CIA to go to Niger to investigate if Saddam Hussein were obtaining uranium from there for his nuclear-weapons program, and Joe’s report is that Hussein was not.
That is not what President Bush said in his infamous State of the Union address, Iraq was invaded, Joe wrote an article in THE NEW YORK TIMES entitled “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” and in retaliation the White House leaked that Valerie worked for the CIA.
FAIR GAME refers to the target and not to spying, and it is a great movie that should never be forgotten for its subject matter and its message.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Due Date” See It
Nov 10th
“See It”
DUE DATE could be dismissed as just another “odd couple, “buddy,” “road-trip” movie, but it is much more than that.
It is a very funny, often laugh-out-loud movie about two men forced to travel across the southern United States in order to meet separate deadlines, but I have a feeling that men will enjoy it much more than women will.
However, everyone can enjoy the talent of the two actors who play those two men: Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakas, who portray Peter and Ethan, respectively.
Peter is an architect, Ethan is an actor wannabe, and the story begins in Atlanta, where they have an unfortunate, but funny encounter at the airport departure curb.
Then they have another funny, but unfortunate encounter before takeoff on the same airplane to Los Angeles, and it just keeps getting better as it goes on.
Peter and Ethan end up in a rental car and in a hurry to get to California, because Peter’s wife is about to have their first child and Ethan has a scheduled meeting with an agent.
Peter doesn’t want to share the road trip with Ethan, but is forced to, because as Ethan tells him, “I have all the money, the car, and the winning personality.”
Peter and the audience will agree on two of those reasons.
However, Ethan also has a dog traveling with him; glaucoma, which causes a side trip to buy some medical marijuana; and the ashes from his recently deceased father, which he carries in a coffee can.
Unfortunately, Ethan spends almost all his money on the weed, and now they are left with only $60 between them, and they have reached only Birmingham, Alabama.
There is a very funny scene in which they try to get some money wired to them from Peter’s wife; an even funnier scene in Dallas where they stop for help from Darryl, an old friend of Peter’s played by Jamie Foxx; and a scene that tops them all when they accidentally try to cross the border into Mexico, which ends fantastically hilarious.
When they reach the Grand Canyon, where they stop to satisfy Ethan’s wishes, they swap confessions in a touching scene until Ethan reveals the biggest confession of them all, and then we have one final mad dash to meet their . . .
DUE DATE. See it.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” Surprises All the Way to the End
Nov 4th
“Surprises All the Way to the End”
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST is the third Swedish film in the Millennium Trilogy that includes THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, it is just as good as the first one, and it leaves you wanting more.
We know that there will be more, because Hollywood is working on its own version of the first film, and there are rumors that the manuscript for a fourth novel was found on the computer belonging to Stieg Larsson, the Swedish author who died tragically at 50 before the novels were even published.
This film begins, naturally enough, where the second one ended, and Lisbeth Salander, the 27-year-old title character, lies in the hospital in pretty bad shape, having had a bullet removed from her brain.
Mikael Blomkvist is the investigative journalist who has been helping Lisbeth in the first two films, and his sister Annika is a lawyer who agrees to defend Lisbeth against the charges of three murders that the audience already knows she didn’t commit.
Lisbeth tells Annika, “I don’t need a lawyer.”
However, of course she does, and she also needs luck and help in her hospital room, because other people are trying to kill her.
Now, it might be confusing to try to understand who all the old people in the story are and to keep them straight after you have seen them, and it will definitely be confusing if you haven’t seen the first two films. So, the place to start is with the excellent first film, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO.
You might also think that a movie that spends most of its time in a hospital and then later in a courtroom is not going to be very exciting, especially considering all the action in the first two films, but there is action aplenty in this one, as well.
It is also a kick to see Lisbeth get her punk look back when she walks into the courtroom. She is definitely her own woman, and there is already talk about an Academy Award in 2011 for the Swedish actress who plays her, Noomi Repace.
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST is as excellent as the first film, it contains surprises all the way to the end, and I want a fourth one.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
