Movie reviews

This is a very entertaining comedy drama, focusing on Tracy Orbison played by Hubbel Palmer, a very talented poet working at a Walmart type store, but feeling very low on confidence because of his weight.

His weight has brought some friction between him and his mother Agnes, played by Kathleen Quinlan (Scofield's mother in Prison Break). His sister Peggy played by the lovely Mary Lynn Rajskub (24), tries to keep the peace between them, while Tracy just takes whatever his mother says as deserved punishment.


As Tracy day dreams with his poetry, he comes upon a chance meeting to visit a theatre show, where Truman Hope played by William Baldwin (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), plays the lead, Tracy is so mesmerised by Truman's performance, when he finds out that Truman is undertaking an acting class locally, he is eager to sign up, and hopeful for a meeting at the end with Truman.

At work Tracy is promoted to assistant manager by his well meaning boss Mr. Grigoratus, played amicably by Bruce McGil (Time Cop). We get a feeling of the relationship between the two, in the beginning when Mr. Grigoratus tries to set Tracy on a double date with him and his wife, he notes down on a piece of paper to ask his wife if she has any "fat friends". Tracy is also in charge of looking after the new recruit Kendis Coley, played by Vincent Calo (The Guild), Kendis asks Tracy to help him out by pretending to be his father in order to meet the Principal at his school, as he is in trouble, he says the Principal has never met his father and he is from Laos, at first Tracy refuses, but sees that this would be an impressive stunt to pull for his acting credentials, and that it would also get him the friends he craves, so he agrees to do the favour by pretending to be Kendis's father in order to get the Principal at his school to go easy on him. After the stunt, Tracy is so impressed that he stays in character a little longer, equally Kendis's friends are impressed that Tracy was willing to do this for Kendis and pulled it off, and soon become friends with him. Tracy sees this as a window to blossom his acting, and a door into the minds and hearts of the misguided youths, however the leader of the teenage gang Shawn played by Nick Lashaway (The 40 Year Old Virgin), has some ominous plans for Tracy, he indicates this by having Tracy go into the local store and get them some alcohol, when he comes out with the alcohol the teenagers all take it and disperse from him, while Tracy naively asks "I thought this was for your parents"?

It turns out that there is a painful lesson on life for Tracy to learn, and although he is well meaning at most times, he finds out that people are not to be trusted not even Truman, who he idolises at first but finds out he is being used, when he gets tickets to a play for himself and Truman, but on the day Truman turns up with another student from the acting class, and asks Tracy to relinquish his ticket to her. He eventually finds out Truman also has eyes on his sister, much to his despair. The movie also delves into his weight problem, and the possible issues that might have contributed to it, especially from his mother's side.

It is a very well acted drama, and viewers will be impressed by how the issues are tackled.

Labels: Bruce McGil, drama, film review, film reviews, films, friendship, Hubbel Palmer, Humble Pie, Kathleen Quinlan, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Nick Lashaway, Vicent Calo, William Baldwin

This is a very well made war related drama, following two soldiers who notify relatives of their loved ones who have died in combat.

It stars the stalwart Woody Harrelson (No country for old men, Zombieland) as Captain Tony Stone, who has hand selected Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, played by the brilliant Ben Foster (Pandorum, Birds of America, Angel in X-men: The Last Stand) to join him on his rounds.

Will has just come back from a deployment in Iraq, where he had three months left for his tour, but he and his platoon were caught up in an IED (Improvised Explosion Device) that has left him with a limp, and constantly needing eye drops for his left eye. We meet Will as he is called in to see his commanding officer, where he is told he is to be assigned to Tony (who is in the room, and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm). His commanding officer says for the job of notifying relatives of the passing of their loved ones, they need someone who is absolutely calm, and they believe he fits the bill, although Will resists that he has no counsellor training, he eventually agrees.

Tony discusses the job and responsibilities of the role, he stipulates there is to be no touching of the relatives, not even a hug, no mincing of their words, use either "dead" or "died", not "gone missing", he tells a story of a woman who was told her son "was no longer with us" and she spent a considerable amount of time thinking that he had defected to the other side. He is given a manual of the rules, and a beeper, that he should respond to at any hour of the day or night.

It turns out apart from his injuries Will had another heavy issue on his heart, that of his girlfriend Kelly played by the lovely Lena Malone (Donnie Darko), who he let go, and is soon to be married to someone else, although they do have some kind of a strange relationship, it turns out as Will puts it he let her go so she wouldn't get any visits from the likes of Tony.

The two soldiers who are at disputes over the interpretation of the rules, and their duties, soon become close, and reveal to each other some of their deepest pain, Tony in his battle with alcoholism, and Will with the pain of his ex.

In amongst this they constantly face up to a barrage of abuse from relatives who have just been told of the terrible news of the passing of their loved ones, and each time you wonder and hope it doesn't escalate into something ominous for the two soldiers, as there is no one else for the relatives to take out their rage, anger and frustration at that precise moment after learning of the death of a loved one than the two soldiers who are unfortunate enough to have brought them the news.

On one occasion, a wife Olivia Pitterson played by the gorgeous Samantha Morton (Minority Report, The Libertine), who had been told of the bad news, does not display the typical reactions Will and Tony have come to expect, she even thanks them for telling her the news, and mentions it must be difficult for them, Will goes back to find out if there is anything she needs, or maybe to determine why she displayed hardly any emotion, and it soon becomes obvious he is falling for her.

It is a very emotionally charged tale, and puts in focus the very difficult job of passing on the terrible news to relatives of members of the army, who have been lost in combat; in a scrutinizing and raw light.

Labels: Ben Foster, drama, film review, film reviews, films, friendship, Iraq, Lena Stone, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, romance, romantic, Samantha Morton, The Messenger, War, War dead, Woody Harrelson

This is an interesting sci-fi drama, about a monster devouring the inhabitants of a small town in Alaska with barely 300 people in it.

It turns out due to man's use of fossil fuels the polar ice caps are melting, which imprisoned mythical creatures from Norse legend The Wyvern, that apparently were created to feast on the dead, but were unsatiated that they moved from the dead to the living, then to all they could find even biting Odin the ruler of Valhalla, hence he banished them to be imprisoned in the polar ice caps for all eternity.

We start off when an unlucky camper enjoying a nice day of fishing cuts his finger on his hook, and walking over to the stream to examine it, his blood drops into the river and moments later the Wyvern, with what looks like the head of a dinosaur, the tail of a snake (a very powerful tail for that matter) and a body with two legs and two wings, makes the hapless man a quick meal.

We then meet some of the people in this idyllic town, Claire played by the lovely Erin Karpluk (Being Erica), who runs the local restaurant everyone congregates to, the local doctor, Dr. David Yates played by David Lewis (White Chicks) who is in love with her, while she only has eyes for Joe Suttner played by Nick Chinlund (Ultraviolet), a drifter who is waiting for an insurance payout for his truck, and holding a very sore heart over the loss of his brother in the same incident. He offers to fix the steps of Claire's restaurant for free, while she offers him breakfast on the house, he politely refuses but she insists that this is the least she can do, we get an idea of how close and friendly everyone is by the fact that some of the customers (if not all of them) don't have to pay for any meals.

Soon afterwards Dr. Yates visits Joe in his caravan, to fix his arm, but really to ask him to lay off Claire as he reckons Joe will be leaving the town as soon as his insurance payout comes through, while Claire and himself will still be in the town, Joe assures the doctor he is not interested in Claire, the doctor apologises and leaves Joe's caravan, but unfortunately he is attacked by the Wyvern, and only his arm is left for the Sheriff, Chief Dawson played by John Shaw (Happy Gilmore) and Joe to discover.

The whole town now faces a desperate race against time to get outside help, relying on General Travis Sherman played by the late Don S. Davis (Stargate SG-1), who previously had tried to get an emergency message to be aired from the town radio station after spotting the creature, but his request was denied by the town's Disc Jockey Hampton played by the lovely Tinsel Korey (The Twilight Saga: New Moon).

When the whole town eventually finds out that there is a monster on the loose, they all face the challenge of contacting help from the outside, and the even more daunting task of what to say to get anyone to believe them.

It is a lovely action thriller very similar in character to Tremors.

Labels: Don S. Davis, drama, Erin Karpluk, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, John Shaw, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Nick Chinlund, sci-fi, science fiction, suspense, thriller, Tinsel Korey, Wyvern

This is a very well made crime drama starring John Leguizamo as two characters Dante Mendoza and his twin brother Perfecto.

It starts off with a seemingly ordinary day where a cop Alberto Santana played by Benny Nieves and his partner Joe Bruno played by the stalwart Harvey Keitel (Pulp Fiction), have come to wish Alberto's daughter Celeste a happy birthday, as Alberto , his wife Gina played by Diane Venora (The 13th Warrior) and Celeste are walking arm in arm towards Celeste's present, a gunman from nowhere turns up and shoots Alberto point blank, then hands Celeste a pamphlet that reads "A Message from the Lord".

We meet Celeste several years later who is now a police officer and played by the gorgeous Florencia Lozano (One Life to Live, she looks very much like Matt Parkman's wife in Heroes), and whose partner is none other than her father's partner Joe. She is still very bitter at not having caught the murderer of her father, who also at the same time period that her father was killed, killed two businessmen that had committed insurance fraud, where a fire is set to dilapidated buildings in order to collect the insurance money.

In turns out that a similar murder has just taken place with the trademark of "The Ministers" where two armed men wearing a hairy face mask, enter a drug fueled neighbourhood and proceed to shoot all the men they encounter, but leave the women as witnesses, with one of them quoting scripture to her as his partner kills the others.

Celeste is extremely keen on taking the case, much to the despair of her boss, Captain Diaz played by Wanda De Jesus (Blood Work), as well as Joe. Joe on the other hand feels a little guilty for the death of his partner after so many years, and the last thing he would like is for Celeste to put herself in danger, when he has ingrained himself into their family, and considers her his daughter.

Matters come to an interesting twist when one of the twin brothers responsible for killing her father Dante, takes a liking to her and proceeds to charm his way into her life, first by offering to fix her car which has broken down, if she will go out on a date with him, he asks her if she has a jack, she says no, then he says that would mean extra, as in dinner instead of a date, he then asks her if she has a spare tyre, she says no, and he says that could mean dancing and maybe more.

The other twin Perfecto who has the upper hand amongst the two, is still intent on revenge for the harm that has been done to him, while Dante would like to put the past to rest, seeing he is falling for Celeste, but as things go, it is clear things will never be this straight forward.

John Leguizamo is impressive in both roles, playing the more level headed of the twins Dante charmingly, as well as the psychotic and jealous twin Perfecto in equal measure. The suspense will keep the audience at the edge of their seat, on how it all pans out.

Labels: crime, drama, film review, film reviews, films, Florencia Lozano, Harvey Keitel, John Leguizamo, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, romance, romantic, suspense, The Ministers, thriller, Wanda De Jesus

This is a very enjoyable comedy starring the legendary Chevy Chase (Caddyshack II) as Henry Perkins, an accountant who is a little tired of his current financial state.

He happens to come across a briefcase containing five million dollars (after mistaking the briefcase for his own in a train) he realises that the briefcase is not his, and contains this large amount of money while at a pub, and rushes to the toilet to verify the amount. Thinking he deserves some good fortune he takes the case home to his wife Carol, played by the lovely Penelope Ann Miller (Kindergarten Cop), he suspects the case belongs to a criminal organisation who he surmises would have his briefcase with all his details, and suggests to his wife that they go on vacation, permanently. Seeing that it is Friday, Henry reckons the criminal organisation will not be on to him until Monday at least, giving him and his wife enough time to run away to Barcelona.

Unfortunately the case belongs to a member of an European mafia gang, and the unlucky fellow who mistakenly took Henry's case, on bringing it to his leader is shot and dumped in the local river (along with Henry's case but not before the leader of the gang takes his business card with his phone number). As expected the gang are very keen on getting the case back.

Matters get complicated when a plain clothes policeman Genero played by Armand Assante (Gotti) notices Henry at the pub rush into the toilet, and he assumes he goes in there to solicit men, so he follows Henry home to extract some money from him. Henry seeing the policeman assumes this is about the case and pretends he is Henry's brother from Australia, with his neighbours (who have come for lunch) Vic played by Christopher McDonald (Requiem for A Dream) and his wife Virginia played by the lovely Rebecca Wisocky having to play along as Henry's relatives.

Matters get complicated further when another policeman Denis Slater played by the always funny Kevin Sussman (Hitch) comes to the house to ask Carol to come along with him to identify the body of someone who is assumed is her husband, (since he had his briefcase when he was fished from the river), however everyone simply dismisses his request even asking him to make tea, much to his frustration. Henry is forced again to adapt and somehow convince his wife, Genero and the taxi driver, Angel played by Guy Torry (America History X) he has hired to drive him and his wife to the airport; to play along in order not to land him in trouble with the law, all the while the malevolent Mr Big is closing in on Henry's home.

There is a hilarious segment when the leader of the gang, Mr Big played by Zoltan Butuc (Sex Traffic) eventually gets hold of someone when he phones Henry's number (since he took his briefcase with all his details in it, and rightly guessed the other person had theirs), and tries to blurt out "briefcase" when he calls him, much to the amusement of Carol as his accent, believable as it is, adds a very amusing twist to the pronunciation.

It is a genuinely great comedy with superb comedy timing all through, many people will enjoy.

Labels: Armand Assante, Chevy Chase, Christopher McDonald, comedy, film review, film reviews, films, Funny Money, Kevin Sussman, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Penelope Ann Miller, Rebecca Wisocky, Zoltan Butuc

This is a very strange crime drama, starring Nicholas Cage (Next) as Detective Terence McDonagh, investigating the murder of a Senegalese family during Hurricane Katrina.

We meet Terence and his side kick Stevie Pruit played by Val Kilmer (Tombstone) in a prison where a convict is pleading with them to help him get out of the flooding jail he is trapped in, from their ridicule of the plight of the convict, we realise Terence and Stevie are not exactly upright holders of the law. Terence going against his behaviour so far, and facing ruin of his expensive undergarments jumps into the filthy water in what we assume is to save the drowning convict, the scene cuts to Terence at the doctor's where he is told he must be on medication from now on, for injuring his back, Terence asks if he will be on medication for ever, the doctor's facial expressions gives the game away, even though he says there are great advances being made in dealing with such conditions, you realise Terence will have to be on medication for the rest of his life for his bad back; and indeed throughout the rest of the movie he walks with an obvious painful haunch.

It turns out Terence is not only hooked on the prescription medication he is taking for his bad back, but also hooked on a lot more harder drugs, which he gets from anywhere he can, first by stopping party goers and going through their belongings to find any narcotics, and from his girlfriend who is also a prostitute Frankie Donnenfeld, played by Eva Mendes (Hitch).

Despite his indiscretions, Terence doesn't stop being a policeman, and he seems to make amends for his obvious imperfections, by following through with whatever task he has been laden with as an upholder of the law, in this case to find and bring to book the murderer of the Senegalese family.

To aide him bring the main suspect Big Fate (played by Xzibit) to book, he has found a witness Daryl, played by Denzel Whitaker (Forrest Whitaker's son, and Carter in Brothers and Sisters), who he has to protect until the case goes to trial. Unfortunately things are not so straight forward. Frankie has been ripped off by a customer until Terence using his power and reputation as a police officer to get the customer to pay Frankie. It turns out the customer is connected to the mob and they are set to extract the amount he paid as well as "interest", or else Frankie and Terence would be in a heap of trouble.

Added to this, things are not going so well for Frankie, as his behaviour has landed him into being scrutinized by Internal Affairs, which is not helped with his drug addiction.

It is a strange tale of crime and addiction from the point of view of one whose job is to uphold the law, and the question of our protagonist being able to redeem himself seeing he is as criminal as the criminals he chases, is what holds the suspense together.

Labels: crime, Denzel Whitaker, drama, drugs, Eva Mendes, film review, film reviews, films, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Nicholas Cage, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, thriller, Val Kilmer, Xzibit

This is a very well acted, drama with Isaiah Washington (Dr. Preston Burke in Grey's Anatomy) as a catholic priest Father Andre James, who has come to a new school with some hidden secrets.

It turns out his predecessor has gone missing without any explanation for quite some time, hence the principal of the school Father William Jennings played by the gravely voiced Robert Loggia (Funny Money) has asked his old friend, Father Andre James to step in and fulfil the previous priest's duties. Father James on the other hand has to impress the priests already there, notably Father Thomas Peters played by the stalwart Bob Gunton (Warden Norden in the Shawshank Redemption), and Father Alfred McKavee played by John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox in Star Trek: Enterprise).

There are the usual antics going on in an all male boarding school, or indeed any school for that matter, bullying, disrespect for their teachers, and looking at indecent magazines. Father James has to run the gauntlet of impressing not just the boys in the school but also his fellow clergymen, and in the midst of this tries to reach out to help one particular boy Parker Remy, played by Jordan Garrett who is a little cut-off from the rest of the boys, and is on medication. Father James would like to know the issues behind this , and would like to help the boy in any way he can. There is a lovely scene where the new priest tries to gain come camaraderie with Parker and the boys in general, he sits at Parker's table during lunch, and asks if the food is any good, Parker replies that it is not, Father James then says food this bad is only good for one thing, and soon afterwards a food fight erupts, with Father James in the midst of it, much to his embarrassment when the other priests walk in on the scene.

There is also a scene that elaborates the problems the boys are going through, with Father James joining in a basketball match where Jason Boyd (played by Andrew Lawrence), the local bully is leading the team, in their jostle for the ball Father James is knocked down, whereupon Jason says they are all fighting to get into the same schools, and to get the same grades, and if anyone is in their way, they get pushed aside.

Isaiah Washington's performance is mesmerising, and he goes deep into the character, blending effortlessly with the prayer rituals, and trying to help the boys at the school, and at the same time trying to defend his actions in front of his superiors and fellow priests.

There is a particularly poignant scene where Father James stays in the room of Parker after Parker asks him to; on account of being scared, on leaving the room the next morning, he is spotted by Father Peters, and brought in front of the Principal, where he is made aware that such actions could be deemed reckless if the press ever got hold of it, and its implied connotations could easily ruin a lifetime's work.

This is one of the first movie of its kind that deals with the difficult and painful subjects of abuse from the point of view of the priests, it is handled respectfully all through.

Labels: Andrew Lawrence, Bob Gunton, child abuse, drama, film review, film reviews, films, Isaiah Washington, John Billingsley, Jordan Garrett, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, priest, Robert Loggia, The Least of These

This is lovely animation that is every child's fantasy.

It follows an inventor Flint Lockwood played by Bill Hader (Knocked Up), who has been inventing items no one really wanted, and couldn't find a useful purpose for, such as shoes without shoelaces; that unfortunately he is unable to remove, as well as flying rats, a thought translator for a monkey called Steve; played by Neil Patrick Harris (Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay),which has become his pet and his right-hand man for his projects, as well as a television that walks.

What adds to the hilarity is that all through the movie parts of his inventions make little cameos, the flying rats are never too far away, as well as the walking television.

Flint lives in a small town called Swallow "underneath the A of the Atlantic" that is known for its sardines, its sardines are found everywhere for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the town mayor Shelbourne played by Bruce Campbell (Spider-Man 3) is trying to boost tourism by having a Swallow Sardines theme park complete with the original promoter of Swallow Sardines "Baby Brent" played by Andy Samberg, who has now grown but is still riding on his reputation.

Flint tries to invent a machine that makes food by simply adding water, but his dad Jim played by James Caan (Las Vegas) is tired of his many inventions that have so far served no meaningful purpose, and would like him to give it up to start working with him at the local family shop that sells Swallow Sardines.

Flint agrees to work with his father, but does not concede defeat. At the opening ceremony of Swallow Sardines theme park, he puts the finishing touches to his invention but manages to destroy the theme park in the process, much to the anger of the local policeman Earl Devereaux played by Mr T. (for some strange reason he seems to move around in acrobatics), but as luck would have it, his invention is blown away into the clouds, soon afterwards it starts to rain hamburgers. Everyone is fascinated as to how this came about, especially a news reporter Sam Sparks played by Anna Faris (F.A.Q about time travel) who has just started her new job, and meets Flint. Flint realising his invention works, tells Sam that it was his plan all along (to impress her).

Soon the magic of the movie takes shape with Flint being able to order anything from his base where his device in the clouds causes it to rain said product, be it eggs and ham, bread, toast, any food that can be thought of, is rained down.

The mayor realising the potential of a town that rains food (and getting overly accustomed to it) invites everyone in the world to Swallow, where they can have any food they want, simply rained down from above, he realises this will boost the town's tourism and put Swallow on the map.

Flint's dad on the other hand sees something very wrong with a device that just brings food from the sky, and tells him it doesn't feel natural, unlike his sardine business which has to be manually compressed into a tin, but Flint is caught up in the acceptance of his invention and the super hero status he has now cultivated after years of ridicule, so dismisses any worries with the device.

It has come classic scenes, especially where Flint is trying to get his dad to operate his computer. It is a unique and lovely movie the whole family will enjoy, especially the image of all kinds of food raining down from the sky.

Labels: animation, Anna Faris, Bill Hader, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, comedy, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, funny, James Caan, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Neil Patrick Harris, romance, romantic

This is a fascinating crime drama, starring the dependable Eric Roberts (Final Analysis , big brother of Julia Roberts) as Merle Hench, an enforcer for a mob headed by regular on-screen baddie, Robert Davi (License to Kill) playing Murdoch, with an impressive Irish accent.

We meet Merle as he deals with some street punks that have stepped into his territory, however on his return to a meeting with Murdoch and all his henchmen he is reprimanded for not dealing with the punks more forcefully, much to his embarrassment in front of everybody.

Murdoch suggests to Merle about retiring, and using some of the money he has saved up for some kind of pension plan, and to let the "young bloods" take the risks. Merle politely declines the offer, and heads back to his routine, of gambling with a local money lender Larry Cobb played by Keith David (Crash), and flirting with a waitress Jackie played by the gorgeous Irina Bjorklund (even more impressive she is Finnish, with no trace of a dialect), at a bar he frequents who Merle affectionately calls "Dollface". He asks her unexpectedly if she would be willing to leave her life and go on the road with him, she tells him to be careful how he phrases it, because one day she just might.

It just so happens such an opportunity presents itself, Merle gets set up by one of Murdoch's henchmen to rob an establishment that holds money belonging to the Mafia, with Doyle played by Paul Dillon (the Lao speaking manager in one of the episodes of C.S.I.) as their caretaker, as the place is robbed Merle manages to shoot down some of Murdoch's henchmen, this puts him in good favour with Doyle who believes his story that he has been set up. During the ensuring robbery Merle comes upon a bag with several thousands of dollars in it, he takes the cash and makes a proposal to Jackie to run away with him, she says it wouldn't be the most silliest thing she has ever done, but if she didn't she would regret it for the rest of her life, and so she comes along with him.

Jackie suggests to Merle to explain to Doyle that Murdoch was behind his framing, and if he can get Doyle to chase Murdoch for the remainder of the cash that was stolen they would both be able to get away without looking behind their backs. Unfortunately things are not so clear cut, as Doyle had surveillance video footage all around the area when the robbery occurred, and Merle was seen taking a stray bag, which Doyle would like back.

The couple's desperate attempt to flee when they are being pursued by Murdoch and his henchmen, as well as the various interests of the Mafia is what keeps the suspense going, if they can survive to start again, as well as Merle getting over "The Butcher" nickname he has come to hate so much.

As action crime dramas go, this is a very decent movie, we even get to sympathise with our protagonist, although he is in a criminal organisation he simply wants to turn a new leaf.

Labels: crime, drama, Eric Roberts, film review, film reviews, films, gun, Irina Bjorklund, mafia, mob, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Paul Dillon, relationship, Robert Davi, romance, The Butcher, violence