Posts tagged change
Midnight in Paris – Movie Trailer
Jun 25th
This is a romantic comedy set in Paris about a family that goes there because of business, and two young people who are engaged to be married in the fall have experiences there that change their lives. It’s about a young man’s great love for a city, Paris, and the illusion people have that a life different from theirs would be much better. It stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni, among others.
“The Hangover Part II” Same Movie Twice
Jun 2nd
“Same Movie Twice”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Hangover Part II is, sure enough, the sequel to the most successful R-rated comedy of all time, and you will have to admit that this one is even raunchier than the first one.
Not funnier, just raunchier.
As a matter of fact, this is just the same movie as the first one with even the same characters, except that there is a different groom and it takes place in Bangkok, Thailand, instead of in Las Vegas.
It even has a new catch phrase to replace “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” The new catch phrase is “Bangkok has him now, and it will never let him go.”
Once again we have Bradley Cooper as Phil, Ed Helms as Stu, Zach Galifianakis as Alan, and Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow, and the plot is exactly the same, except for the change of locale.
Even Doug, the groom who was missing for most of the story in the first movie returns, and he is even missing for most of the story in this one, too, except that everyone knows where he is. The person whose whereabouts aren’t known is Teddy, the 16-year-old brother of the bride.
So, here is the story. Stu, the mild-mannered dentist who has a dark side with a demon in him, is getting married to Lauren, a beautiful woman from Thailand, and the wedding ceremony is to take place on her parents’ estate in Thailand.
When the movie opens, Phil is talking on a phone, and he says, “It happened again,” adding that the situation is a little worse than “no-wedding bad.”
Then we see a title of “One Week Earlier,” and here we go again.
Stu doesn’t even want a bachelor party and is happy to settle for a bachelor brunch at a local IHOP restaurant, and he is even forced to invite Alan to the wedding, who was the cause of all the trouble the first time.
Once in Thailand, everything goes from bad to worse, especially after the guys go have a campfire on the beach and what was planned to be only one beer and roast some marshmallows.
And they wake up the next morning in a trashed hotel room in Bangkok with no idea where Teddy is.
The Hangover Part II should have been called “The Hangover, Take II.”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Water for Elephants” Story Construction Rip-Off
Apr 27th
“Story Construction Rip-Off”
Water for Elephants, as we are told at the beginning of the film, is about pretty much the most famous circus disaster in history, and it stars three of the most popular actors in the movies these days.
However, don’t look now, but the story construction of the film is pretty much an exact rip-off of an earlier, more successful disaster film.
Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz star, but before we meet them, we see Hal Holbrook show up at a circus after it has shut down for the night. He has left the nursing home where he is living and wanted to see the circus for old-time’s sake.
The manager of the circus invites him inside while the manager tries to figure out what to do with this old-timer who seems to know a lot about circuses.
The old-timer tells the manager that he was there when the circus disaster occurred in 1931 with the Benzini Bros. Circus, and he says, “I had a good life, you know. A good life.”
Then as the old man starts reminiscing and telling his story, his voice changes to that of a young man, Jacob Jankowski, and we see and hear Pattinson narrate the story.
A personal tragedy forces Jacob to change his plans to become a veterinarian, and while he is hitchhiking to Albany, he jumps onto a passing train that happens to be the Benzini Bros. Circus train.
The roustabouts take a liking to Jacob, and the next day he is taken to meet the owner and ringmaster, August, to apply for a job. August says that Jacob can have the job of carrying water to the elephants, but the joke is that this is a third-rate circus, and it doesn’t have any elephants.
However, when Jacob’s experience as a veterinarian is revealed, he becomes the veterinarian of the circus animals, which brings him into contact with Marlena, the boss’s wife and the star-attraction trick rider.
Of course, Jacob and Marlena become attracted to each other, of course August is a cruel and possessive taskmaster, and of course events are not going to turn out well for everybody, even when the circus does acquire an elephant.
Water for Elephants is okay as a love story, but it has the same story construction as the 1997 Titantic.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
