Movies
These are video movie reviews, movie trailers, and websites of the latest movies. The C1N Movie section includes Dan Culberson’s Hotshots Movie Reviews with a new review every week. We also show our C1N trailer pick of the week by Aaron Smith which is about 40 years younger than Dans taste. Show times and ticket avails are up. Look for film festivals, movie news, events, and news about the pictures here too.
“Pain & Gain” Redeems Itself
May 19th
“Redeems Itself”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Pain & Gain is a wacky comedy based on a true story, it was directed by Michael “Blockbuster” Bay, and it is definitely not a blockbuster in either size or scope.
And by “scope” I mean the range of operation, not the mouthwash.
The story takes place in 1995 in Miami, Florida, and it is going to result in what is called “the longest and most complicated trial in Dade County history.”
Mark Wahlberg stars as Daniel Lugo, and he is the senior fitness coordinator at a gym, but he believes he deserves better, and he doesn’t want to spend the next 40 years wearing sweatpants to work.
One customer who comes to the gym is named Victor Kershaw, played by Tony Shalhoub, he is a wealthy businessman, and Daniel comes up with the idea to kidnap Victor and rob him of all his wealth.
Daniel gets his fellow gym-rat buddy Adrian to join without any convincing at all, and then for a third partner in crime, Daniel enlists Paul, played by Dwayne Johnson, an ex-con who is also a born-again Christian.
Paul doesn’t need much convincing, either, but to seal the deal, Daniel tells him, “I watch a lot of movies, Paul, I know what I’m doing.”
Well, by this time the audience can tell that Daniel really doesn’t know what he is doing, and what was intended to be a straight-up kidnaping in which they would persuade Victor to sign over all his assets to them becomes–with all apologies to Shakespeare–a comedy of errors.
All of the following comes into play: Adrian has steroid-induced impotence, Paul is so naive that he doesn’t realize that Victor is using whatever Paul tells him about himself to bond with him, and Daniel is just, well, Daniel is just dumb.
Even though Victor is kept blindfolded the whole time while the three stumblebums try to get him to sign the necessary papers, Victor is able to identify Daniel by not exactly the oldest trick in the book, but at least as old as cologne has been around.
Also, whenever Daniel believes that he has been insulted, he flies into a rage that gets him into more trouble than he was to begin with.
Pain & Gain also has Ed Harris, which helps redeem this movie.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Pain & Gain – Movie Trailer
May 14th
From acclaimed director Michael Bay comes “Pain and Gain,” a new action comedy starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie. Based on the unbelievable true story of a group of personal trainers in 1990s Miami who, in pursuit of the American Dream, get caught up in a criminal enterprise that goes horribly wrong.
“The Big Wedding” Lives Up to Its Name
May 13th
“Lives Up to Its Name”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Big Wedding is like a French farce, only without the madcap pacing, which is halfway understandable, because it is adapted from a 2006 French comedy, Mon Frere Se Marie, which means “My Brother Is Getting Married.”
Those French sure have a way with words.
Anyway, speaking of the pacing, this adaptation starts off slow, but then really takes off, which might be explained by the fact that it was scheduled to be released in 2012, but came out in 2013.
The impressive cast includes Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Susan Sarandon, and Robin Williams, although Williams sticks out like a sore priest, which is what he plays.
Here is the plot: Don and Ellie were married for 20 years, but they have been divorced for the last 10 years. Their adopted son, Alejandro, who was born in Colombia, is getting married, and his birth mother is coming to the wedding.
However, the mother is very religious and conservative, and so Alejandro asks Don and Ellie to pretend that they are still married.
No problem, right? In fact, their own daughter tells them, “So, just pretend to be married for the weekend. What’s the big deal?”
Well, as the title says, it is going to be a big wedding on Don’s estate, Don’s girlfriend Bebe is living there with him, his own birth son Jared is 29 and still a virgin, and the groom’s mother is also bringing her pretty daughter to the wedding, who falls for Jared and keeps trying to seduce him.
Wow, this has all the makings of a French farce, doesn’t it? The French part we get, the farce coming up.
Now just add equal parts of Don’s being a successful sculptor of what could be called shockingly erotic subjects, as well as having a very healthy libido; the bride’s parents both having a previous history with Don and Ellie; Don’s daughter is estranged from him because of a previous indiscretion; and she has her own personal problems in her own relationship which result in two big surprises that are going to affect her.
As somebody always says, you couldn’t make this stuff up, but of course they did.
The Big Wedding lives up to its name with a big cast, a wedding, and even more, much more.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
