Posts tagged Justin Timberlake
“Inside Llewyn Davis” Tries Everything to See What Sticks
Jan 13th
“See What Sticks”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Inside Llewyn Davis is the latest film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and the story follows a weekend in the life of the title character as he tries to become a success as a folksinger in New York City.
As with most Coen Brothers movies, this one has already won some awards, been nominated for more, and will probably win a few more during this awards season.
Also as with most Coen Brothers movies, audiences love them, hate them, or can take them or leave them. This one, I can leave.
The time is February 1961, and we see Llewyn performing at a cafe in Greenwich Village for bucket money. While he is singing, a bucket is passed around the audience, and he gets to keep whatever money is left in the bucket after the house takes its cut.
Llewyn doesn’t have a regular place to stay, and he depends on the kindness of friends to be allowed to sleep on their couches. So, he wakes up one morning after being awakened by the owners’ cat, and when he leaves the apartment, the cat follows him outside.
Unfortunately, the door locks behind him, and a running motif in the story has Llewyn carrying a cat around with him until he can return it to the owners.
Other friends of Llewyn’s are a folksinging team of Jim and Jean, played by Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan, and when Llewyn goes to see Jean at their little apartment, Jean shows him a note that says, “I’m pregnant.”
Jean doesn’t know who the father is, it could be Llewyn, it could be Jim, or it could even be someone else.
Then Llewyn goes on a road trip to Chicago, where he hopes to advance his struggling career, and he meets Roland Turner, played by John Goodman in yet another of his many roles that steal scenes and even movies.
Well, Chicago doesn’t work out for Llewyn, either, and he goes back to New York City, only now he is so despondent that he tries to become a sailor in the merchant marine again.
The Coen Brothers seem to throw everything at the wall just to see what sticks, which includes bookends to the movie that don’t make much sense.
Inside Llewyn Davis is too “inside” for my taste.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Runner Runner” a Loser Loser
Oct 13th
“Loser Loser”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Runner Runner stars Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck in a movie about offshore gambling, and it brings to mind an eternal truth about gambling: “The house always wins.”
In this case the house is the movie theater, and the loser is you.
Timberlake plays Richie Furst, who is earning his masters degree in finance at Princeton and is also a teaching assistant, but he spends a lot of his time playing online poker, which causes him to be called into the dean’s office for a meeting.
The dean tells Richie that he has his hands in his fellow students’ pants, he is an affiliate for online gaming, and then says, “You will close up shop immediately.”
Like all gambling suckers, Richie doesn’t listen to reason, he plays online poker again on a popular Website, bets everything he has, and loses it.
However, Richie’s two buddies and colleagues use statistics to convince him that the Website cheated him, and so Richie travels to Costa Rica, where the Website is located, to confront the owner of the Website.
Affleck plays Ivan Block, the owner of the gambling Website, and after Richie learns that Block is like The Wizard of Oz and nobody gets close to him, Richie manages to get an invitation to meet Ivan on Ivan’s boat.
Ivan tells Richie that he thinks Richie is exceptional, and Ivan offers Richie a job working for him.
After Richie proves himself to Ivan, Richie now believes that he has almost everything he wanted, and he invites his two buddies from Princeton to come down to Costa Rica and work with him.
However, Ivan confesses that he hates his business and that it is not fun anymore, even though it allows Ivan to do whatever he wants. There are payoffs and bribes to local officials that are necessary for him to run his business, and it is also very dangerous.
Yes, Richie gets beaten up a couple of times doing his job for Ivan, who even knew it would happen.
Ivan tells Richie that everybody has something worth more to them than money, and in Richie’s case it is his father.
You know how some movies seem to have been made just because of the exotic location? This is one of those movies.
Runner Runner is nothing more than a loser loser.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”