Posts tagged coffee
“Due Date” See It
Nov 10th
“See It”
DUE DATE could be dismissed as just another “odd couple, “buddy,” “road-trip” movie, but it is much more than that.
It is a very funny, often laugh-out-loud movie about two men forced to travel across the southern United States in order to meet separate deadlines, but I have a feeling that men will enjoy it much more than women will.
However, everyone can enjoy the talent of the two actors who play those two men: Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakas, who portray Peter and Ethan, respectively.
Peter is an architect, Ethan is an actor wannabe, and the story begins in Atlanta, where they have an unfortunate, but funny encounter at the airport departure curb.
Then they have another funny, but unfortunate encounter before takeoff on the same airplane to Los Angeles, and it just keeps getting better as it goes on.
Peter and Ethan end up in a rental car and in a hurry to get to California, because Peter’s wife is about to have their first child and Ethan has a scheduled meeting with an agent.
Peter doesn’t want to share the road trip with Ethan, but is forced to, because as Ethan tells him, “I have all the money, the car, and the winning personality.”
Peter and the audience will agree on two of those reasons.
However, Ethan also has a dog traveling with him; glaucoma, which causes a side trip to buy some medical marijuana; and the ashes from his recently deceased father, which he carries in a coffee can.
Unfortunately, Ethan spends almost all his money on the weed, and now they are left with only $60 between them, and they have reached only Birmingham, Alabama.
There is a very funny scene in which they try to get some money wired to them from Peter’s wife; an even funnier scene in Dallas where they stop for help from Darryl, an old friend of Peter’s played by Jamie Foxx; and a scene that tops them all when they accidentally try to cross the border into Mexico, which ends fantastically hilarious.
When they reach the Grand Canyon, where they stop to satisfy Ethan’s wishes, they swap confessions in a touching scene until Ethan reveals the biggest confession of them all, and then we have one final mad dash to meet their . . .
DUE DATE. See it.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Cybertech
Aug 10th
Computer users and web designers revolt against old Internet junk that’s holding down the advancement of a better tomorrow, also coffee shops are taking a toll because too many people sit around on laptops without much in return. Also a touch on fashion, environment and here at home in Boulder the city folk are building around the mountains and too close for comfort.
“Whatever Works” Predictable, but Very Good
Jul 16th
Predictable, but Very Good
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
WHATEVER WORKS is the latest Woody Allen film, and it is pure Woody Allen, even though he doesn’t appear in it, himself.
Woody wrote and directed the film, but the part that he usually plays is taken by Larry David, and he does an admirable job of speaking the lines that you can recognize as being pure Woody Allen.
In fact, Woody wrote this back in 1977 for Zero Mostel, but when that renowned actor died that year, the screenplay was put on the shelf.
Woody has
updated it to the present day, of course, but you can also tell that some of the material that would have been daring over 30 years ago is now rather commonplace.
David plays Boris Yellnikoff, a grumpy curmudgeon if ever there was one, and the film begins in New York City with Boris and three of his buddies talking at a sidewalk coffee shop.
Actually, Boris is doing all the talking and then he breaks the “fourth wall” of the movie screen and starts talking directly to us, the audience. He says, “This is not the feel-good movie of the year. So if you’re one of those idiots who needs to feel good, go get yourself a foot massage.”
Boris walks with a limp, and a flashback to his life with his former wife, Jessica, shows the event that caused it. Boris says that on paper, they were ideal, but life isn’t on paper.
That night when Boris is about to enter his building, he is solicited by a young runaway woman who begs him for something to eat. She is from Mississippi, her name is Melody St. Ann Celestine, and she is played by Evan Rachel Wood.
Boris feels what little bit of pity or sympathy he is capable of, and he invites Melody up to his apartment, but says that she can stay for only two minutes and that’s it.
Well, for all his bluster, Boris relents and lets Melody stay for a couple of nights, which turns into much longer. And then their relationship changes, too, although Boris tells his buddies that he just wants her out.
The film takes a left turn when Melody’s mother shows up looking for her and then a right turn when her father does, too.
WHATEVER WORKS is predictable, but very good.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”