Hotshots Movie Reviews
Hotshots Movie Reviews by Dan Culberson
“Easy Virtue” Different from You and Us
Jul 2nd
Different from You and Us
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
EASY VIRTUE is one of those films that sound better when you hear about them or read about them than they are when you actually see them.
That could be because it is based on a 1924 play by Noel Coward, the English playwright who was best known for his witty, brittle, and sophisticated comedies about the British upper class.
Yes, this film is witty, brittle, and sophisticated, and it is about the British upper class, but unfortunately it is just not very enjoyable.
The story takes place in the Twenties in England. Jessica Biel stars as Larita, an American free spirit. She has married John Whittaker, an English upper-class twit, and the story involves John bringing Larita home to meet his family.
In anticipation of the meeting, John’s mother, Veronica, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, says to her husband, Jim, played by Colin Firth, “Please try to make an effort to be civil.”
Now, there are some delightful sight gags, but they seem to have been thrown in by the filmmakers in an attempt to spice up the weakness of the overall movie more than anything else.
John and Larita plan to stay at the Whittaker estate only a few days, which upsets Veronica, because she expected them to stay much longer, even though she has developed an obvious dislike of Larita.
Larita, however, tells John in private that she doesn’t think she will manage to make it to breakfast.
Veronica has a little Chihuahua named Poppy who is always barking at Larita, and an unfortunate accident causes even more difficulties for Larita.
Something mysterious seems to be going on with Jim, who indicates that he doesn’t care at all for the upper-class life he has, and he also seems to just barely tolerate his wife, Veronica.
There are visits from neighbors, including John’s old girlfriend, a fox hunt that Larita disapproves of, a revue at which one of John’s two sisters scandalizes the audience, and a painting that Larita presents to the Whittakers which scandalizes Veronica.
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that the rich are different from you and me, to which Ernest Hemingway responded, Yes, they have more money.
The upper class are different from you and me, because they all believe that their lives mean something.
EASY VIRTUE is different from you and us.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Away We Go” How Sweet It Is
Jun 24th
How Sweet It Is
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
AWAY WE GO is a sweet little film directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes and starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. Krasinski, of course, is featured in the NBC TV series, “The Office,” and Rudolph was on “Saturday Night Live” for many years.
Here they play Burt and Verona, a nice young couple in their thirties who are about to have their first baby. Verona is six months pregnant.
Although she looks further along than that.
The movie starts with their going to visit Burt’s parents for dinner, who will be the only set of grandparents the baby will have, because both Verona’s parents died long ago.
At dinner, Burt’s parents reveal the surprising news that in June they are going to Belgium to live for two years.
Burt says, “You’re leaving a month before the baby is born?” and his mother says, “We’ve been planning this forever, Guys; you knew that.”
Now, the only reason that Burt and Verona are living where they are is to be near Burt’s parents, but because Burt sells insurance futures, they can live anywhere they want.
So, they decide to go on a road trip to visit friends and relatives in order to choose someplace to live where they can raise their baby.
First up is Phoenix, where they visit a woman whom Verona used to work with and her family. Allison Janney turns in a nice performance as the potty-mouthed Lily, who has a very pessimistic husband and two children who don’t pay attention to her, probably for good reason.
Then they make a quick trip to Tucson, where they visit Verona’s sister before they head up to Madison, Wisconsin, by train.
They have to take the train, because the airline doesn’t believe that Verona is only six months pregnant and won’t let her fly.
In Madison, they visit Ellen and her family, who is a professor at the university. Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a wonderful performance as a wacko hippie, but the visit does not go well.
Then they are off to Montreal and a visit with a couple they went to school with, followed by an unplanned trip to Miami to help out Burt’s brother and his sudden crisis.
AWAY WE GO brings to mind another famous saying by Jackie Gleason, and that is “How sweet it is.”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Taking of Pelham 123” Better Than Expected
Jun 17th
Better Than Expected
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 is a remake of the 1974 film of the same name but with different spelling, and it has been updated with new technology and financial conditions, as well as with the whiz-bang visual techniques of director Tony Scott.
Denzel Washington plays the Walter Matthau role of Walter Garber, a temporary dispatcher of New York City Transit, and John Travolta plays the Robert Shaw role of a man named Ryder, who leads a team of four hijackers of a subway train.
When Garber first talks to Ryder to ask why the train stopped, Ryder says, “This is the man who’s going to give the City a run for its money.”
After some quick and obviously phony calculations, Ryder demands $10 million and one cent in cash in exactly one hour, or else he will start killing one of the 19 passenger hostages for every minute that the money is late.
James Gandolfini plays the mayor, who gets involved when he has to authorize the payment of the ransom, and we get an awful lot of preliminary setup shots followed by an awful lot of talk, plus the flashy visuals of the police racing to transport the money downtown to where the subway car is waiting.
Garber’s boss tells Garber to go home and let the official hostage negotiator from the police take over, which is fine with Garber, because he has had the dispatching job only a couple of weeks. But when Ryder learns that Garber is gone, he shoots the motorman and demands that Garber be brought back for the negotiations.
If you are not familiar with the story, at this point you might start to wonder What’s the suspense? Well, the suspense is in whether the hijackers are going to succeed or fail, depending on which side you are rooting for.
So, essentially we have a weak story with very good execution and exceptionally fine acting, especially by Travolta, who naturally has the showier part.
Garber and Ryder eventually even get to meet face to face when Ryder demands that the dispatcher come underground with the money for reasons we don’t learn until afterwards.
Then we get an exciting ending that we didn’t anticipate.
THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 is better than expected or deserves to be.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
