Posts tagged advice
Horrible Bosses – Movie Trailer
Jul 13th
For Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day), the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses (Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston) into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con (Jamie Foxx), the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers… permanently. There’s only one problem: even the best laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them.
“Source Code” Expect a Tweak
Apr 7th
“Expect a Tweak”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
SOURCE CODE is a science-fiction, action-thriller version of the 1993 GROUNDHOG DAY, except each return to the past lasts only eight minutes apiece.
And yet it is still worth watching, especially for the work of star Jake Gyllenhaal and director Duncan Jones, who previously directed the excellent 2009 MOON.
However, you have to be willing to suspend your disbelief at least nine times, if my count of the trips back in time are accurate.
And we are told that these events are not time travel; they are time reassignment. Also, the program that is called “Source Code” and allows these events to take place is not designed to alter the past. It is designed to affect the future.
It all begins when Capt. Colter Stevens wakes up one morning on a commuter train to Chicago. A woman sitting across from him says, “I took your advice. It was good advice. Thank you.”
And yet Stevens doesn’t know where he is, what is happening, or who this woman is, whose name is Christina.
Eight minutes later a bomb on the train explodes and everyone on it is killed.
Then Stevens finds himself in a crashed helicopter in Afghanistan, and a woman is talking to him over a video screen. She is Capt. Goodwin, and she tells Stevens that he is part of a mission designed to prevent that bomb explosion.
Eight minutes before the explosion, Stevens’ mind can be inserted into the body of another man on that train, and his mission is to find the bomb, find the bomber, and report the results.
Nice work if he can do it, especially in only eight minutes, but each time he goes back, he knows a little bit more which will allow him to find the bomb, find the bomber, and complete the mission.
We learn that Stevens is a born hero and saving people is what he does best, but he is also told by Capt. Goodwin that he can’t save the people on the train, because they are already dead.
This causes conflict in Stevens, because he becomes more and more fond of Christina each time he meets her for the first time.
However, the ending is all wrong and expect some changes to it when the DVD comes out.
SOURCE CODE is entertaining, but expect a tweak.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Hall Pass” Mixed Messages
Mar 21st
“Mixed Messages”
HALL PASS is the latest attempt at humor from the Farrelly brothers, Peter and Bobby, who previously were responsible for the 1994 DUMB & DUMBER, the 1998 THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, the 2000 ME, MYSELF & IRENE, and the 2001 SHALLOW HAL, to name a few . . . too many.
So, to send you a mixed message, don’t waste any time seeing this movie.
However, if you are forced to see it now or accidentally see it later, be prepared for a load of crap, to be crude, and literal, and not funny.
Also be prepared for the movie to take way too long to get started, just as this review is taking.
It stars Owen Wilson as Rick and Jason Sudeikis as his best friend, Fred. Respectively, they are married to Jenna Fischer as Maggie and Christina Applegate as Grace.
Like all men, Rick and Fred take long looks at beautiful women whenever they can, and like all wives, Maggie and Grace take personal offense when their husbands do.
So, on the advice of a friend, Maggie decides to give Rick a chance to get his wanderlust out of his system. She says to him, “I’m giving you a hall pass. One week off from marriage.”
Grace does the same with Fred, and together Maggie and Grace take the kids and travel to Cape Cod to spend a week with Maggie’s father, leaving Rick and Fred in Providence, Rhode Island, to do whatever they want for a week with no wives around.
Then we get a day-by-day account of the expected horndog hilarity, which we know is going to end with a message, right? The movie also cuts back and forth from Providence to Cape Cod as we watch the wives encounter some unexpected situations, as well.
On Day 6 Richard Jenkins shows up in Providence as Coakley, a mentor and hero for Rick and Fred, and he shows them what he does that makes him succeed with women, especially by throwing a big party at his house with a lot of women and a lot of opportunities for Rick and Fred.
Well, I won’t spoil the movie for you by telling you what you can already guess, but I do suggest that you stay until after the credits.
HALL PASS contains mixed messages, some funny and others not at all.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
