Posts tagged 2011
“Love & Other Drugs” Life Changed Forever
Dec 2nd
“Life Changed Forever”
LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS is a bittersweet romantic comedy with a twist, and by “twist” I don’t mean a twist of lemon that could be applied, but rather a subplot that provides its “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” jokes.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway star, two excellent actors who are not only easy on the eyes, but also both of whom have already been mentioned as possibilities for Best Actor and Best Actress awards in 2011 for this movie.
The time is 1996, and Jake plays Jamie Randall, an enthusiastic salesman of practically everything, but most of his successful sales seem to be to attractive women, if you catch my drift.
In fact, his sales techniques and satisfied customers tend to get him fired, too, and so at a family dinner with his parents and millionaire brother, when they talk about their professional accomplishments, Jamie has to announce, “I am looking for other opportunities.”
Jamie finds a job, and he goes through six weeks of training to become a pharmaceutical representative for a major drug company. The job requires hard-core sales, and he has a quota he has to meet.
Now, sooner or later everyone likes Jamie, because he will do anything to make them like him.
That includes paying $1,000 to Dr. Stan Knight, played by Hank Azaria, to let Jamie shadow him one day, and if anyone asks, Jamie is an intern.
One of the patients is Maggie Murdock, who has early onset Parkinson’s Disease, and Jamie is instantly smitten.
Maggie finds out about Jamie’s deception, but she agrees to go out with him anyway, because she is just like him, not looking for any long-term relationship, except that in her case she doesn’t want to become an inevitable burden to anyone.
Then Jamie’s company comes out with a little blue pill called Viagra, and that changes everything in Jamie’s life.
Of course, Jamie’s and Maggie’s relationship has its ups and downs–wink, wink, nudge, nudge–and I don’t mean just physical.
If this enjoyable romcom has a moral, it would be “Everybody needs someone to take care of them.”
And, of course, people like Jamie and Maggie don’t believe that originally and fight it as long as they can.
LOVE & OTHER DRUGS also shows how you can meet one person and your life is changed forever.
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.”
“Get Low” Get Down to Business
Aug 24th
“Get Down to Business”
GET LOW is a wonderful little film starring Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Bill Murray that will have you chuckling throughout and wiping away a tear at the end.
It takes place in the 1930s and is based on a true event in which a local recluse wanted to throw a funeral party for himself while he was still alive so he could hear what people had to say about him.
Duvall plays Felix Bush in an outstanding performance that could easily win him an Academy Award nomination in 2011 for Best Actor.
Bush is a local legend who has lived alone in his house out in the woods for 40 years, which causes the kids in town to gather up their courage and go out to throw rocks through a window.
Whenever Bush harnesses his mule to his wagon and goes into town, it causes a sensation, one that doesn’t always end well.
One day Bush goes into town to see the local preacher in his church; he pulls out a wad of money and says to the preacher, “About time for me to get low.”
When the preacher asks what he means by “get low,” Bush explains, “Down to business.”
However, when Bush tells the preacher what he wants, the preacher turns him down.
On the other hand, business has been bad at the funeral home, and when the funeral director, Frank Quinn, played by Murray, hears about Bush’s desire and especially about his wad of money, Quinn is eager to do business with the recluse.
However, Bush has more in mind than just a funeral party and hearing what everyone has to say about him. Bush has a secret that he wants to reveal, and he also wants to sell $5 tickets for a raffle, the winner to get Bush’s house on 300 acres of uncut timber when he does die.
Well, money makes people do funny things, and everything doesn’t go as planned, to say the least.
Spacek plays Mattie, a widow, and as Bush puts it, he once “had a go” with Mattie, but she also figures prominently in Bush’s secret and why he has been a recluse for 40 years.
GET LOW gets down to business as an excellent film that I admired for its story, the acting, and its rewarding conclusion.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”