Posts tagged change
“The Hangover Part III” Third in a Successful, Redundant Series
Jun 1st
“Successful, Redundant Series”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Hangover Part III is not as good as the first movie in the trilogy, but much better than the second one, which was just a remake of the first one but with the setting changed from Las Vegas to Thailand.
This one mixes up the basic plot of a lost weekend in connection with a wedding for the hapless men known as The Wolfpack, and it moves the setting back to Las Vegas, as well as adding two new characters to the mix.
Oh, and it also has a wedding, but you might be surprised at who gets married.
Once again the self-named Wolfpack consists of Phil, played by Bradley Cooper; Stu, played by Ed Helms; and Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis.
Doug is back, as well, but just as in the first two movies, he is missing from most of the story. That guy just can’t catch a break, can he?
After a brief prelude in Thailand, which features Mr. Chow, again played by Ken Jeong, the story begins with Alan driving down the freeway towing a live giraffe behind him and yelling, “Oh, my life is great!”
Alan is 42 years old and still living at home, and his life is anything but great and just keeps getting worse, mostly because he says he will never change, and this time he has an excuse.
Meanwhile, a gangster named Marshall, played by John Goodman, interrupts everybody’s plans and forces them to find Mr. Chow in order for Marshall to get back $21 million in gold that Chow stole from him.
No problem, right? Well, yes, lots of problems, but eventually they find Chow in Las Vegas and the madcap antics start all over again, some funny and some not so funny.
So, how many more of these movies can we take, and how many more can be made?
Well, the possibilities are endless and frightening, which means as long as they make money, which they seem to do.
After all, there is still one member of the Wolfpack who is not married, and then there is the possibility of divorce parties for all of them, but now I am just beginning to make everybody sick.
The Hangover Part III might not be the end of these movies, but just another one of a successful, redundant series.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Host” of Two Minds, One Body
Apr 6th
“Of Two Minds, One Body”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Host is based on the novel written by Stephenie Meyer, who also wrote the books that were the basis for the Twilight series of films, but this one doesn’t have any vampires or werewolves in it, just aliens.
When the movie opens, Earth has been invaded by an alien race that has inhabited almost every human body, and the humans who haven’t been invaded are on the run.
We learn that the aliens don’t change the worlds they invade, but they just occupy and improve them.
Yeah, right.
We see one young woman being chased by aliens and put up a fight, but she is captured.
An alien known as The Seeker looks down at the captured woman and says, “This one wants to live.”
The mind of the young woman, Melanie, played by Saoirse Ronan, stays active even though her body is taken over by an alien mind.
How do we know this? Because we hear the thoughts of both minds, but you can figure out the problem with this gimmick, can’t you?
Both minds are played by the same actress, therefore they sound exactly alike, and when one of the minds starts thinking, we don’t know if it is the human or the alien speaking.
Also, which mind is in control of the body?
Well, the alien mind says to call her Wanderer, and the human mind, Melanie, dreams, which we see and which fills in her back story, but then the Melanie body escapes when she is being interrogated so that the aliens can find other humans.
We can see the difference between aliens and humans, because the aliens all wear white clothes. The aliens also don’t lie, because they trust each other, and therefore it is easy enough for Melanie to borrow an alien’s car and take off in search of other humans.
However, Melanie and Wanderer get into an argument and one of them crashes the car.
Well, to make a long movie short, Melanie and Wanderer find some humans who are led by Melanie’s uncle, there is a three-way love story, but the movie’s pacing is so slow, what could have been a promising story just drags along.
Also, some famous actors in it are unrecognizable.
The Host is of two minds and one body, just like me about this movie.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” So Credible, It’s a Cliche
Mar 22nd
“So Credible, It’s a Cliche”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone may appear to be fresh and original, but if you examine it closely, you will realize that you have already seen this movie many times before.
It has the same plot as many other movies before it, and all you have to do is change the profession, the setting, and whether you want to make it a drama or a comedy.
Here is the basic plot: Two lifelong friends are in business together, they have a falling out when an edgy newcomer arrives on their turf and starts taking business away from them, one of them seeks the advice of the person, now retired, who got them started in the business in the first place, there is a reconciliation in time for a final resolution, and the ending credits.
In this case, the profession is magic and magicians, the setting is modern-day Las Vegas, and the genre is a comedy.
Oh, and because the two magician partners are men, there is also a woman in the story, but in this case she doesn’t come between them, and their falling out isn’t because of her, but because of professional differences.
And let the record show that the quote of note in this movie is when the title character says about the newcomer, “He’s not a real magician, he doesn’t even have a costume.”
So, to fill in the remaining blanks, Steve Carell plays The Incredible Burt Wonderstone; Steve Buscemi plays the lifelong friend and partner Anton Marvelton; Jim Carrey plays the edgy newcomer Steve Gray; Olivia Wilde plays the love interest Jane, although there are many laughs caused by her being called Nicole; and Alan Arkin plays Rance Holloway, the retired magician who caused Burt and Anton to become magicians in the first place when they were kids.
Incidentally, Arkin seems to be the go-to guy in comedies these days, and he doesn’t let us down in this one.
Now, we will see all the standard magicians’ tricks during the course of the movie, but there is one at the end that you probably have not seen before, the disappearing audience trick.
Afterwards, we get to see how that trick is done, and it is more funny than amazing.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, however, is not only credible, but it’s so credible, it’s a cliche.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”