Posts tagged Hotshots
“The Counselor ” More Novel than Movie
Nov 3rd
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“More Novel Than Movie”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Counselor has so much going for it that you would think it has to be a successful movie, right?
Wrong!
First of all, it stars Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, and Rosie Perez, and of all the lineups of acclaimed stars in acclaimed movies, this is definitely one of them.
Second of all, it was directed by Ridley Scott, and of all the acclaimed directors who have won awards for their movies, he is definitely another one of them.
And third of all, it was written by Cormac McCarthy, who is an acclaimed novelist with many of his novels having been made into acclaimed movies, and of all the great screenwriters in the history of movies, he is a pretty good novelist.
This movie has three other things in it that are worthy of mention: a graphic sex scene, a graphic murder scene, and many scenes of too much talking and not enough action.
The sex scene involves a woman, a fancy car, and a man sitting in the front seat of the car watching, but it is more laughable than erotic.
The murder scene comes in an unexpected location, it involves an unusual device, but takes so long and shows such agony and pain and so much blood that it is more disgusting than effective.
And the scenes of too much talking that are also more philosophical than descriptive would be better read in a novel than heard in a movie. They sound as if they had been written by an acclaimed novelist instead of an acclaimed screenwriter.
Wait a minute! They were!
Anyway, here is the story. A successful attorney in El Paso, Texas, with a busy practice, a beautiful girlfriend, and an expensive car wants more, and so he gets involved in the illegal trafficking of drugs from Mexico into the U.S.
He meets with the necessary contacts he needs in order to arrange for a deal that involves $20 million of drugs to be shipped across the border on its way to Chicago, but as usually happens in the movies, something goes wrong.
Terribly wrong, disastrously wrong, and murderously wrong.
As a matter of fact, those are the very words that could be used to describe this movie.
The Counselor, as a movie, is a spectacular novel.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Enough Said” Title Says It Best
Oct 25th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“Title Says It Best”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Enough Said is a romantic comedy that is the very definition of quirky, which is a synonym of idiosyncratic, which means eccentric or peculiar of constitution or temperament and also an individualizing characteristic or quality.
In other words, it is hard to define.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as Eva, a divorced masseuse who carries her massage table in the trunk of her car to her clients’ homes, and we see three of those clients throughout the movie as a running gag, or should that be a driving gag, or should that be a massaging gag.
Eva has been divorced 10 years, and she has a teenage daughter, Ellen, who is going away to college in the fall.
Eva’s best friend is Sarah, played by Toni Collette, and at the beginning of the movie Eva goes to a party with Sarah and her husband, at which Eva says to Sarah, “There’s not one man at this party that I’m attracted to.”
However, Eva does meet a man at the party, Albert, played by James Gandolfini, who has been divorced for four years and who also has a teenage daughter who is going off to college in the fall.
Eva also meets a woman at the party, Marianne, who is a poet and who becomes a new client for Eva.
Well, Albert likes Eva enough that he calls her and asks her out to dinner, and Eva likes Albert enough that she accepts.
Now, maybe this is how first dates are conducted in California, but at the end of the date when Albert drives Eva home, he doesn’t even get out of the car and walk her up to her front door, shaking hands with her in the front seat.
At any rate, Eva tells Sarah that she thought it was a very good date, and now she finds Albert kind of sexy, enough so that they continue dating and doing more than shaking hands.
Much more.
Meanwhile, Eva’s new client, Marianne, enjoys being with Eva so much that she wants to become friends with Eva, saying that she doesn’t have many close friends whom she can talk to, which mostly consists of bad-mouthing her ex-husband.
Well, you can see where this going, can’t you, especially when you learn that Marianne also has a daughter going away to college.
Enough Said.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Captain Phillips” Goes from Bad to Worse
Oct 19th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“From Bad to Worse”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Captain Phillips is based on the true story of an American cargo ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009 in an attempt to hold it for ransom for millions of dollars.
Tom Hanks plays the seasoned captain of the ship, who had a new crew of 20 men he was trying to get into shape.
Ironically, when his wife is driving him to the airport from their home in Vermont at the beginning of this trip, she says, “You’d think these trips would get easier, but they’re not.”
We also see some background of the Somali pirates on shore, too, as their warlord leaders berate them to get out on the water where they should be earning money.
The cargo ship was the Maersk Alabama, and knowing the dangerous waters they are in, Captain Phillips has practice drills for the crew and puts them all on double shifts.
Captain Phillips’ job is to move the cargo as fast as possible, but his crew members are not all happy with what they are doing and where they are going.
The Somali pirates aren’t all happy, either, and we see them fighting among themselves as they prepare to board the ship, which four armed pirates manage to do.
When Captain Phillips realizes that the ship will be boarded, he orders most of the crew to hide below decks until help arrives, stop the ship from moving, and then he tells the leader of the Somalis that the ship is broken and he doesn’t know where his crew is.
The leader of the pirates is called Muse, and he tells Captain Phillips, “Look at me. I’m the captain now.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy sends a ship to take care of the situation, and Captain Phillips offers to give Muse the $30,000 he has in the safe, but Muse believes he can earn millions.
So, when the situation goes from the proverbial bad to worse, the pirates trick Captain Phillips to get into the covered lifeboat with them, so that they can hold him hostage and improve their bargaining position.
The pirates are still fighting among themselves, and Captain Phillips tries to argue with Muse to help his own situation, because now the pirates are trying to get back to Somalia.
Captain Phillips is overrated, overlong, and underedited.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”