Posts tagged Business
“Casa de Mi Padre” Worth a Couple of Chuckles
Apr 1st
“A Couple of Chuckles”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Casa de Mi Padre is Will Ferrell’s latest comedy, and the first thing you notice is that the title is in Spanish.
The second thing you notice about the “House of My Father” is that the entire movie is in Spanish, but with English subtitles for the benefit of those of us who aren’t fluent in Spanish.
Well, not the entire movie, because there are a couple of American characters in the story, which takes place in modern-day Mexico, and they speak what the Mexican characters call “American.”
Ferrell plays Armando, the son of a rancher, and at the beginning of the movie, Armando and his two buddies, Esteban and Manuel, are moving some of the father’s cattle to a new pasture, and Armando says, “I hope nothing bad happens on the way home.”
Then they witness an execution that was caused by the nasty drug business that is going on in the country and which will have ramifications later on in the story.
When the three rancheros get home, Armando’s brother Raul shows up with his fiancee, Sonia Lopez. Raul is the son that his father always loved, and if we hadn’t already figured it out, we learn that Armando is not smart, and his father always tells him that.
Armando also has a secret that we learn when he and Sonia go out riding together and they arrive at the Pond of Seven Tears, where Armando’s mother died when Armando was a little boy.
Armando and Sonia take a liking to each other, and Sonia tells Armando that his brother Raul is in the drug business, but Raul doesn’t sell drugs to their fellow Mexicans, only to Americans.
Unfortunately, Raul is trying to do business in the territory of the most infamous drug dealer, Onza, who also has a close connection with Sonia.
Well, you can see a showdown coming up, can’t you? As well as a Mexican standoff and a final shoot-out that is all the funnier because the participants are drinking and smoking cigarettes at the same time as they are blasting away at each other.
The movie spoofs telenovelas and B-movies, production values, and anything else that Ferrell could think of while memorizing his lines phonetically.
Casa de Mi Padre has a good ending, of course, and is worth a couple of chuckles.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“This Means War” Has Four Ridiculous Endings
Feb 27th
“Four Ridiculous Endings”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
This Means War starts off with an excessive beginning like a typical James Bond movie and then quickly turns into a romantic comedy with two men trying to woo the same woman, except that in this case the two men are agents for the CIA.
The woman is Lauren Scott, played by Reese Witherspoon, and when she meets her old boyfriend on the street with his fiancee, she lies to them about her own boyfriend, even though she doesn’t have one.
However, when she tells her friend Trish, played by Chelsea Handler, about her encounter, Lauren says, “I’m going out. I’m dating. I’m meeting friends.”
Meanwhile, the two agents have been grounded by their superior for botching the mission that we saw at the beginning of the movie, and out of boredom, they both sign up for an online dating service.
One is FDR Foster, played by Chris Pine, and the other is Tuck, played by Tom Hardy, and not only are they partners, but they are also best friends.
Well, you can guess it. Trish signs Lauren up for the same dating service without Lauren knowing it, and FDR and Tuck eventually discover that they have both picked Lauren as the woman they would like to get romantically involved with and start dating to see where it leads.
When they find out that they are both dating the same woman, even though they make a gentlemen’s agreement to let the better man win, with all the resources of the CIA at hand, what do you think they will do to interfere with the other one’s chances?
And so we see FDR and Tuck date Lauren and watch the shenanigans that they both pull with supposedly spy equipment and expertise, and we are supposed to believe that the events could actually happen and that they are supposed to be funny.
This is where the movie starts to get really ridiculous.
And, of course, there is still some unfinished business from the botched mission at the beginning of the movie that keeps interfering with the romantic-comedy half of the story.
In other words, there are no surprises in this movie.
There is, however, a ridiculous ending.
No, make that two ridiculous endings.
No, make that three ridiculous endings.
This Means War is a no-surprises movie with four ridiculous endings.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Definitely Not for Everyone
Jan 14th
“Definitely Not for Everyone”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Tinker Tailof Soldier Spy appears as if the title is missing some obvious punctuation, which is an excellent metaphor for this excellent adaptation of the 1974 novel by British author John le Carre, which many audience members will also claim is missing details.
So, prepare to be confused, but also prepare to be thrilled if you make it to the end and then start thinking about it afterwards, because you cannot lose your concentration or let your mind wander for just one second while you are watching it.
Even so, this film is so convoluted that you are still not sure what all happens and what everything means, which is another excellent metaphor for the spy business back in the Cold War of the 1970s.
In fact, the director, Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson, said this in an interview about the film: “We tried to give as little information as possible. When you create music or theater or film that fits everyone, the quality and the personal touch can get lost.”
So, not only do we get as little information as possible, but there are also many scenes that are disjointed with no beginnings or ends, and the story is not told chronologically, but contains many shifts back and forth in time.
The story begins in 1973 with a British intelligence mission in Hungary that ends in failure. Consequently, the head of the British intelligence agency, MI6, who is called “Control” and played by John Hurt, is forced to resign, along with his Number 2 man, George Smiley, who is played by Gary Oldman.
However, not long after that, Smiley is called back into MI6 for a specific mission: to find a mole at the high level of MI6, who was planted there by the Russians.
Control had been working on discovering the mole himself before he left, and he had narrowed the mole’s identity down to five possibilities, whom he had referred to by the code names Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, and Spy.
In his investigation, Smiley learns that the fifth man whom Control suspected was Smiley himself.
So, are you up for a suspense thriller that does not contain any car chases or loud explosions, but does contain sex, nudity, murder, and intrigue?
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a thinking person’s film that is definitely not for everyone.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
