Posts tagged Movie Reviews
“Kick-Ass 2” Thankfully Ends
Aug 24th
“Thankfully Ends”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Kick-Ass 2 is the sequel to the 2010 Kick-Ass, which was a surprisingly and thoroughly enjoyable movie about a nerdy teenage boy who wanted to be a superhero who fights crime and sorta, woulda, coulda almost did.
This movie is not, except for the part about the nerdy teenager, etc.
However, even that part starts out differently, as we hear the teenager, Dave Lizewski say at the beginning, “I’d given up being a superhero, because it was way too dangerous.”
On the other hand, the little sweetheart from the first movie, Hit-Girl, is still fighting crime successfully, and she is doing it by ditching school, where her alter ego, Mindy Macready, has just started high school as a freshman.
Both Dave and Mindy go to the same school, and Hit-Girl’s success causes Dave to get his old costume out, and he suggests to Mindy that they should team up and fight crime together, just like Batman and Robin.
However, Hit-Girl has been grounded by her guardian, but she agrees to train Dave in what she knows about martial arts, and they train every day for three weeks.
Mindy also tells Dave, “If you’re scared of dying, one thing is certain: You’re going to die.”
Meanwhile, the rich kid from the first movie, Chris D’Amico, is still around, but he has given up his desire to be a superhero, too, and instead he designs a costume and wants to be the first supervillain, giving himself a name that can’t be repeated here, but it sounds a little like The Mortarforker.
So, when Dave discovers that he is still not good at fighting crime alone, he learns about and joins a gang of other wannabe superheroes called Justice Forever, which is led by Col. Stars and Stripes, played by Jim Carrey, who is almost unrecognizable and thankfully tones down and doesn’t try to steal the movie with his usual outrageous antics.
Not to be outdone, Chris pays top dollar for every hired hitter in town to form his own gang of villains to support him.
Meanwhile, there is a side story of Mindy wanting to be a part of the cool kids at school, but this ends with extremely bad taste, and the movie turns ugly.
Kick-Ass 2 ends, thankfully, with a Big Fight substituting for the Big Game conclusion.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Watch” Don’t Bother
Aug 4th
“The Watch” Don’t Bother
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Watch is a comedy that combines the subjects of a neighborhood watch group; a compulsive, obsessive, paranoid leader; and an alien invasion in the suburbs, and if you believe that concept is potentially funny, then this movie is potentially for you.
Otherwise, don’t bother.
The story takes place in Glenview, Ohio, and Ben Stiller plays Evan Trautwig, the manager of the local Costco store who forms a neighborhood watch group when his night watchman is mysteriously murdered and his body is horribly disfigured.
Evan wants to solve the watchman’s murder and find who did it, but Evan also has a history of forming clubs just so he can be a member of them and make new friends.
This time, however, Evan tells his wife Abby, played by Rosemarie DeWitt, “It’s not a club. It’s a task force.”
Only three people show up for the organizational meeting: Bob, played by Vince Vaughn; Franklin, played by Jonah Hill; and Jamarcus, who is British and has a funny haircut to go along with his funny accent.
The organizational meeting that Evan planned is too boring and so against Evan’s wishes, the meeting moves to Bob’s house, where they can have fun and drink some beers.
Bob has a teenage daughter named Chelsea who is rebellious and who will play an important part later on in the story.
The watch group’s stakeout on the first night doesn’t go well, as you can imagine, and not only do they have a run-in with the local police, but they also have trouble with some teenage boys.
The group finds a strange and mysterious globe with unusual powers which seems to be out of this world, because it is.
Evan also has a creepy and mysterious new neighbor named Paul who keeps inviting Evan to come to a party, but that turns out not to be what you expect, to say the least.
Eventually, the group discovers that there are aliens among them and that the aliens are using Glenview and even Costco as the sources of their invasion of Earth.
Now, don’t even bother counting the number of bullets fired in the final shootout at the end, which may or may not be satisfying, depending on which side you are rooting for.
The Watch may not be satisfying, either, so don’t even bother.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Descendants” Is Complicated, Confusing, and Funny
Dec 3rd
“Complicated, Confusing, and Funny”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Descendants is the latest movie starring George Clooney, but more importantly it is also the latest movie written and directed by Alexander Payne.
Now, you might not be that familiar with his name, but surely you are familiar with at least some of his other films. Payne also directed the 1996 Citizen Ruth, the 1999 Election, the 2002 About Schmidt, and the 2004 Sideways.
Clooney plays Matt King, a lawyer on Hawaii who hasn’t been on a surfboard in 15 years, and one day he finds himself faced with a number of big problems.
He is the trustee for the ownership of 25,000 acres of the last huge portion of virgin beachfront land in Hawaii that is owned by him and his seven cousins, they are trying to decide whether to sell it for development, and if they don’t sell it, the trust dissolves in seven years.
Matt’s wife, Liz, is in a coma from a boating accident, and the doctors don’t know if she will ever recover.
Matt is ready to be a real husband and a real father to his two daughters, but 17-year-old Alexandra and 10-year-old Scottie are becoming more problems than he is sure he can handle.
And on top of all that, Alexandra tells Matt that she saw Liz out with another man, and Matt discovers that Liz was in love with this man and was going to ask Matt for a divorce.
So, when we hear Matt say, “I know I can make things right,” we are not so sure that he can, and therein lies this excellent and very funny movie.
Matt believes that there is something wrong with his daughters, but he starts to bond with Alexandra in ways that he never could before when they begin a mission together to find out who the man is that Liz was having an affair with. Matt says that he just wants to see him, but we have to believe that Matt might want to do more than just that.
And when Matt discovers who the man is and what he does, he also discovers that there might also be a connection that could affect Matt’s decision about selling that huge portion of land that he and his cousins own.
The Descendants is complicated, confusing, funny, and also very excellent.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”