Posts tagged Matt Damon
“We Bought a Zoo” All’s Well That Ends with Animals
Jan 7th
“All’s Well That Ends with Animals”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
We Bought a Zoo is based on a true story in which the location has been moved from England to southern California and was directed by Cameron Crowe.
Crowe is also the writer-director of the 1989 Say Anything…, the 1996 Jerry Maguire, the 2000 Almost Famous and the 2005 Elizabethtown.
Starring Matt Damon as Benjamin Mee, the movie starts with the information that Benjamin’s wife had died six months earlier, and Benjamin is left to raise their daughter, Rosie, who is 7, and their son, Dylan, who is 14.
Benjamin doesn’t want to go to any of the places that he and his wife used to attend, but he reluctantly tells his brother, “I shall try to start over.”
Consequently, he quits his job at the newspaper where he works, decides to move to a different location, and is shown a “unique” option by the realtor, which is exactly what Benjamin says he was looking for.
The house is unique because the 18 acres on which it sits comes with a zoo that was shut down two years ago, and a stipulation requires the owner of the house to also maintain the zoo.
The zoo already has a staff, and it includes Kelly Foster, the head zookeeper, who is played by Scarlett Johansson.
Of course, we can predict that a romance between Benjamin and Kelly is in the future, as well as one between Dylan and Kelly’s niece, Lily, who is 13.
Naturally, however, the main part of the story is to get the zoo ready for its grand reopening, pass the required inspection, and take care of the animals, which are more than just a lion, two tigers, and a bear, oh my.
Benjamin also has to overcome the resistance of his brother, who calls Benjamin insane, the grumblings from his employees who think he will never last, and the fact that Benjamin is running out of money before the zoo can even open.
In addition, the zoo is so far out in the country that Benjamin has to drive nine miles to the nearest grocery store, which causes a problem when there is no butter to go on the corn on the cob that he prepares for Rosie and Dylan.
We Bought a Zoo shows that all’s well that ends with animals ends, well, with animals.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
We Bought a Zoo – Movie Trailer
Jan 1st
Acclaimed filmmaker Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) directs an amazing and true story about a single dad who decides his family needs a fresh start, so he and his two children move to the most unlikely of places: a zoo. With the help of an eclectic staff, and with many misadventures along the way, the family works to return the dilapidated zoo to its former wonder and glory.
“Contagion” Deadly Entertainment
Sep 19th
“Deadly Entertainment”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Contagion is a terrific movie that will probably scare the pants off you and make you wash your hands more often.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh, it stars a number of famous actors, some who have won Academy Awards and a few who will surprise you when they get sick and die.
Yes, the movie is about a virus that mutates, transfers from animals to humans, and then is spread around the world by casual contact, causing people to cough and then to die within days.
And it can happen all too easily today.
The movie tracks the progress of the spread starting from Day 2, which will be explained at the end of the movie, and when someone asks Gwyneth Paltrow’s character, “You okay?” when she starts coughing, and she answers, “Yeah, I’m just jet lagged,” you know that isn’t the reason and that she will infect more people, which will spread to more cities and more continents.
We watch the spread from day to day, see people who are affected as well as who are infected, and see how various organizations react and try to stop the spread and find a cure for the virus.
Matt Damon plays Gwyneth’s husband, and luckily he is immune from the virus.
Laurence Fishburne plays the doctor in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jude Law plays an investigative blogger in San Francisco who realizes that there is a pandemic before the other media do and is very suspicious of what the government is doing or not doing.
Marion Cotillard plays a doctor for the World Health Organization who is sent to Hong Kong to try to find where and how it all started.
Kate Winslet plays a doctor working at the CDC who is sent to Minneapolis to investigate the sudden death of Gwyneth Paltrow’s character.
And Elliott Gould plays a scientist in San Francisco who breaks government protocol while trying to isolate the virus.
So, if you are germaphobic to begin with, you might want to wait to see this movie in the comfort, safety, and cleanliness of your own home, but do see it, because we all might need to use the information contained in it.
And stay to the end to see what happened on Day 1.
Contagion is deadly entertainment.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”