Movie Review - "Mission:Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (2011) ****1/2

     Wow. One simple word....WOW. Those three little letters crossed my mind many times while watching the newest installment in the Mission:Impossible film franchise. This is a franchise that I have been a big fan of. The original film just missed making my top 100 list, it was one of the last cuts actually. The scene where Tom Cruise and his team of agents infiltrate the CIA headquarters is one of my favorite movie scenes ever. M:I 2 was a bit of a letdown but I enjoyed M:I 3 a lot as well. So I was excited for this newest installment and have been waiting patiently for a couple of months to see it. I've always been a fan of Tom Cruise, the actor. (Tom Cruise the "celebrity" hasn't often been the same case). When he is on his game, and isn't too full of himself, I think he's one of the funnest actors of our generation to watch. His performance as Ethan Hunt in M:I Ghost Protocol only strengthens that argument for me.

     Describing the plot of a M:I film is not the easiest thing to do. I think I may be able to perform brain surgery better. In a nutshell, there is a person of interest with the code name of "Cobalt" who wants to start a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. The movie opens with a team of IMF (Impossible Missions Force) agents breaking Ethan Hunt out of a prison in Moscow, Russia. (Don't ask) On the outside, Hunt receives a mission to infiltrate the Kremlin in order to gain information on "Cobalt". Hunt and his two sidekicks, Jane (Paula Patton) and Benji (Simon Pegg), soon find themselves undercover deep in the heart of the Russian military but the plan goes awry and must be aborted. The Kremlin is blown up and the Russians blame the IMF and the United States, leading to tensions that haven't been this high since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The President of the US activates Ghost Protocol which disavows the entire IMF, and the team finds themselves on the run without any help from the government. They pick up a fourth member along the way, an IMF analyst named Brandt (Jeremy Renner), who we can tell from the get-go has more to him than initially meets the eye. The 4 IMF agents track "Cobalt" to Dubai, where an exchange is scheduled to happen at the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. It's here where a lot of the jaw-dropping special effects and action take place, highlighted by Ethan scaling the outside of the building like Spiderman in a vertigo-inducing scene. Wow. Before the movie is over we also visit Mumbai, before arriving back home in the US.

     M:I - Ghost Protocol is a pure adrenaline rush from start to finish. The movie takes a break for five minutes here and there to setup what's coming next, but for the most part is action packed from start to finish. Most of the action defies logic of course, but this is one of those movies you just throw all of that garbage out the window and just go with it. I saw this movie in IMAX and if you get the opportunity to see it that way, I highly recommend it. Only about 30 minutes of the movie was filmed with IMAX technology but those are a tremendous 30 minutes. A lot of it occurs during the Burj Khalifa scene, which will immediately go with that CIA infiltration scene in the original as an instant classic. I'm not sure how the film will look on a regular screen, but I hope it doesn't lose its luster. I may give it a try, just to see the comparison. The film was directed by Brad Bird, a name you probably know but for a completely different type of film. All of Bird's previous directing work has been in animation, including the hits The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, a personal favorite of mine. He would seem like an odd choice for this job, but he has pulled off a miraculous feat. It doesn't matter what kind of movie you make, when you're good, you're good. For a film that is so action packed, the acting is also superb here. We've mentioned Cruise already, but Renner is becoming one of my favorite actors to see on screen. He earned my vote as Best Actor back in 2010 for The Hurt Locker and I also enjoyed his role in The Town. Simon Pegg provides some well-timed comic relief as Benji and Paula Patton does a kick-butt (literally) job as Jane. I highly recommend this film. If you want a 2-hour escape where you can just sit back and say WOW repeatedly, this is your movie. One of my favorites of the year so far.

Movie Review - "Bridesmaids" (2011) ***1/2

     I can't remember what movie it was that I went to see earlier this year, but as I was walking through the theater, I saw a large cardboard advertisement for Bridesmaids. I distinctly remember rolling my eyes as I passed by it and thinking to myself, "Well, there's no way THAT will be any good." I paid no attention to any reviews or promotion for the film and I had forgotten about it as the summer went along. Fast forward to the past few weeks. We are in "Awards Season" where all the different critics associations start handing out their year-end honors for the films of 2011. Something started raising my eyebrow, Bridesmaids was being nominated, and even winning, some of these accolades. When the AFI (American Film Institute) named it as one of the 10 best films of the year, that really opened my eyes up and made me second guess myself on this film. So I rented it On Demand and decided to give it a shot. The old saying is true, "Don't judge a book by its cover".......or a movie, I guess.

     The film has a pretty simple storyline. Annie (Kristen Wiig) and Lillian (Maya Rudolph) are best friends since childhood. Things have not been going well for Annie. She's in a relationship with an uncommitted jerk named Ted (Jon Hamm), her cake bakery business has gone out of business, and she is struggling to pay even the smallest bills. So when her best friend tells her that she is getting married, Annie is obviously happy for Lillian, but there is definitely a little bit of jealously. Annie agrees to be the Maid of Honor though, she is Lillian's best friend after all. At the engagement party, we meet the other bridesmaids; Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey), Becca (Ellie Kemper), Megan (Melissa McCarthy), and Helen (Rose Byrne). Helen is Lillian's newest friend and is one of those "perfect" ladies that other ladies usually hate right away. It isn't long before Helen and Annie are butting heads over how to give Lillian the best wedding possible. Annie is sure that Helen is trying to replace her as Maid of Honor and will do anything to avoid that. All of these ladies want the best wedding possible for Lillian, but can they come together and bond before destroying the whole event before it happens?

     I was surprised by how much I laughed during this movie, it even had me doubled over a couple of times. The movie is directed by Paul Feig, who is best known for his work in television on such shows as "Freaks and Geeks", "The Office", and "Arrested Development". Bridesmaids marks his directorial debut in movies. The movie is produced by Judd Apatow, the famous producer/director who is responsible for many comedies over the last decade and a half, including 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Superbad, just to name a few. His movies are known for their raunchiness, so you'd think this would be something different. It's not. This movie is every bit as raunchy as his predecessors, maybe that's what appealed to me. This isn't a movie for the kiddos by any means!! There is a scene, which I have learned has already become legendary, where the bridesmaids have some food poisoning "issues" while trying on bridesmaids gowns. I was shocked to see this unfold before my eyes, but I couldn't stop laughing at the same time. This is something I would expect from a movie like The Hangover, not a "chick flick". All of the actresses perform admirably, but Melissa McCarthy is the standout in my opinion as Megan. Her character is a complete riot and I would not be shocked to see her pick up an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actress. Wiig's performance is also getting some well-deserved attention but a Best Actress nomination seems like a long shot. I don't know, it was just missing that little something. Don't get me wrong though, she does a great job. I doubt Bridesmaids will make my top 10 list for the year, like it did with the AFI, but it's going to be darn close. This is a funny movie and I'm glad I got over my initial bias and gave it a shot. It was a fun two hours.

Movie Review - "The Muppets" (2011) ***1/2 (***** for sentimental value)

     Well, it feels good to be back reviewing movies on the blog. I've missed this the past few months. Hopefully I won't have any more long lapses and I hope you the reader finds something here that will have you coming back for future installments. For my first review of the blog reboot, I decided to go old school in a way. I'm one of those people who is very attached to his childhood. Quite often, I like to go back and revisit things that were popular when I was growing up. One of those things that I fondly remember is The Muppets. I grew up watching The Muppet Show on television, saw all of the Muppet movies when they came on television, heck I even became a huge Muppet Babies and Fraggle Rock fan. I just loved all things Muppets. I think it's safe to say that Muppets creator Jim Henson is behind only Star Wars creator George Lucas in shaping my childhood pop culture memories. So about a year ago when I first heard that a new movie was being made featuring the Muppets, I knew that was something I wanted to see. While I love the Muppets, the movies have been a bit hit or miss. My favorite is probably The Muppets Take Manhattan but the most recent film, Muppets From Space, was a bit lacking I thought. That being said, I was looking forward to this new installment with great anticipation.

     The Muppets stars Jason Segel and Amy Adams (absolutely beautiful as always, if I do say so myself), as Gary and Mary, a happy couple who has been dating almost 10 years yet still haven't gotten engaged, to Mary's disappointment. Gary has a brother named Walter, the world's biggest Muppet fan. Gary surprises Walter one day by inviting him on a vacation that he had planned with Mary to Los Angeles. Gary says they can stop by the Muppet Studios while visiting L.A., which obviously excites Walter. Upon arriving, the trio learn a harsh reality. The Muppet Studios are worn down and a rich, oil tycoon named Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) is planning on buying the studios and tearing them down because he suspects oil is underneath the foundation. Walter learns that the only way to save the studios from the nefarious Richman is to come up with $10 million quickly. Walter, Mary and Gary come up with a plan to reunite the Muppet gang and have a telethon to raise money so they can save the studios. They visit Kermit to pitch the idea but he is down on it because the gang has all split up and went their separate ways because the Muppets are no longer important to anyone. They do eventually get Kermit to agree though and soon all of our favorites; Fozzie, Gonzo, Miss Piggy, Animal and the rest are back at it. Can they pull off a good show and raise enough money in time, or will evil Tex Richman get the last laugh? (maniacal laugh)

      So, is The Muppets a great movie? Yes....and No. From a story standpoint, I wasn't really invested. It's not like we don't know how it's going to turn out or anything. The acting is fine, nothing to write home about. Segel, Adams and Cooper all do good enough jobs, and there are a ton of cameos to look for throughout the picture which was a lot of fun. But this movie works simply for sentimental reasons. The characters could have been on screen reading the phone book and I would have had a smile on my face. It's just fun seeing Fozzie try to crack a joke. Or Piggy, being as sassy as ever. One of my favorite touches was seeing Animal in anger management class, now that's good stuff. By the time we get to a singing of "Rainbow Connection", I'm completely hooked and the smile won't leave my face. I may have even had a tear well up in my eye a time or two. The movie works tremendously in that sense. I specifically made a mental note to watch the children in the audience, to see how they reacted to this movie. While there was some rustling and fidgeting during the first 45 minutes or so, by the end of the film, you couldn't hear anyone talking or moving in that theater, the kids were hooked on the screen. That warmed my heart more than anything. The Muppets brought a lot of joy to people in my age range, I think some of you are probably smiling right now reading this, you know who you are. But this movie will allow the Muppets gang to reach a new generation of children and with some of the trash out there these days, that can only be a good thing. We need more of the Muppets.

The Blog: The Sequel

    Well, after disappearing for a few months, I've decided to wipe the dust off the movie blog and give it another shot. I had a lot of fun doing it when I started but I got kind of discouraged when it felt like nobody was coming unless I linked them to it. So I just decided to let it go and my suspicions were confirmed when nobody asked about it for two months. I guess it wasn't missed much. That's okay though. It's something I enjoy doing and that should be the only motivation I need. I love movies. I love watching them, I love talking about them, I love debating them. Hopefully, if I rebuild it, people will come. If not, that's okay though. For the two people who seemed interested, and you know who you are, this is for you.

Movie Review - "Rabbit Hole" (2010) ***1/2

     Well, this movie certainly hit home with me. Losing a child is probably one of the hardest things to ask anyone to deal with. As someone who has lost a child, it was very difficult for me, and still is sometimes. Over time I've come to accept it and it gets a little easier to deal with. But that first year or two is something you just can't quite describe. You go through so many different emotions, especially anger and grief, that it's easy to see how people that are really weak often get torn down by the process. You don't want to hear people say things like, "We know how you feel". No, you don't. You don't want to be around kids. You don't want to let go of things, but at the same time you don't want things around that will remind you of your child. It's so rough and each person handles it differently. Rabbit Hole is the story of how two characters named Becca and Howie handle it.

     Becca is played Nicole Kidman who earned an Oscar nomination for her role. Howie is played by Aaron Eckhart. As the movie opens, Becca and Howie seem like a happy couple, but it isn't long before we realize they are struggling a lot. Eight months ago, the couple lost their only child, a young boy who chased the family dog into the street and was hit by a car. (Thankfully, we are spared seeing this happen). They go to counseling sessions but Becca finds them useless, and quits going. Her way of handling things is very internal, we know she is thinking about it constantly, but she is backed away from the world. She starts trying to get rid of the constant reminders. She donates her child's clothes to Goodwill, takes colored pictures down off the refrigerator and spends time in her garden in solitude. Howie wants to talk about it more. He wants the memories of his child around and he wants to talk about it in class. These two ways of handling the situation will obviously clash, and when they do, the scenes happen abruptly and provide some of the most dramatic in the movie. They love each other, but don't know how to deal with things together. They each turn to a different person, someone they can talk to. For Howie, it's a lady named Gaby (Sandra Oh) from his help group sessions. The person Becca turns to, I will not reveal here because it's a brilliant move by the story, and it caught me off-guard. We don't know right away why this person is important to Becca, but when we learn the reason, it pushes this movie from good to very good for me. I think it's handled perfectly.


     This movie will not be for everyone. Like the previous film I reviewed, Blue Valentine, it deals with some serious subject matter and is not a "happy" movie by any means. The movie works because of the brilliant acting by Kidman and Eckhart. They are very real in these roles. They hit the emotions perfectly. I know, because as someone who has been through this, I could see similar reactions and emotions that I experienced myself. That they are able to play these roles so straight, without going over the top, is a testament to their acting abilities. The movie was directed by relative unknown, John Cameron Mitchell, and is based on a play by screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire. As it's going along, you may be thinking the movie will end one way, but you may be surprised by how it turns out. Personally, I thought ending scene was very well done. It's simple, but says a lot at the same time. I give this a high recommendation, give it a shot.

Movie Review - "Blue Valentine" (2010) ****

     When watching movies, nothing makes me happier than when  you get one of these small films that didn't get much recognition, and they end up exceeding your expectations big time. Blue Valentine is one of those films like that. Give me Blue Valentine over Transformers any day of the week. This movie got on my radar around Oscar season earlier this year. I kept hearing about it as a possible dark-horse candidate for a Best Picture nomination. It didn't end up receiving that nomination, but Michelle Williams picked up a Best Actress nomination for her performance and that made it a movie I wanted to see eventually. Fast forward to July, and I finally got the opportunity to watch it. I'm glad I did.

     The premise of the movie is pretty simple, it's basically a two person showcase. Ryan Gosling is Dean and Michelle Williams is Cindy, a couple that has been together for six years in a relationship that was once strong but has fallen apart. When we first see them, it is present day and they have a young daughter named Frankie. It's obvious from the start that both parents love Frankie, but Dean and Cindy are distant to each other. The present day events are broken up by looks into the couples past. They first meet at a retirement home; Cindy is a college student who is visiting her grandmother and Dean works for a moving company who is helping an elderly gentleman move into the home. There eyes connect and instantly there is a connection. Cindy has a boyfriend named Bobby (Mike Vogel), but she likes Dean's quirkiness and eventually the two start seeing more of each other. Things are going well for the young couple but hit a bump when Cindy finds out she's pregnant. Dean flips out at first and wants Cindy to have an abortion. As the procedure is about to take place, Cindy decides she can't go through with it and walks out. As the confused couple is riding home on a bus, Dean decides to accept this fate that has been handed down and wants to raise the baby with Cindy. Back in present time, the struggling duo decide to get away to a little motel to have a weekend together. While shopping for supplies, Cindy bumps into her old boyfriend Bobby and her feelings during this encounter confuse her any more. It eventually leads to conflict with Dean and we realize that this weekend together is almost a formality to saving a marriage that can't be saved. How the movie ends may or may not be as you expect it, I will leave that for you the viewer to decide.

     Blue Valentine is not an easy movie to watch, especially if you have been in a failed relationship. A lot of things on screen hit home for me, unfortunately. But not all movies are supposed to make you happy and feel good. Life is full of ups and downs and this is a film that focuses on the down times. So why does a movie like this work for me? This movie was destined to succeed or fail based strictly on the acting. Could you believe the characters? For me, it was a homerun. Gosling and Williams both give great performances. Williams earned every bit of her Best Actress nomination and I'd be hard pressed to keep my original Best Actress choice, Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone, in front of her. I think I may still give a slight edge to Lawrence, but it's really close. Gosling deserves kudos as well, he is very believable in this role. It's a performance that makes me want to go back and see some of his earlier works. I saw The Notebook, but that just didn't work for me. Maybe some other stuff will. The movie was directed by Derek Cianfrance, a relative newcomer. If he makes more films like this, he could become a directing star. I will keep my eyes open for more of his work. In closing, I think this is a great little film and one that slipped by most audiences unnoticed. Give it a chance, I think you may be surprised.

AMC Harry Potter Legendy Adventure

     4 nights. 8 movies. 19 hours 38 minutes worth of screen time.....These are the numbers that made up the Harry Potter Legendary Adventure, presented by AMC Theatres. I decided to take this journey, and it was one that gave me plenty of trepidation at first. My exposure to the Harry Potter universe prior to this adventure was very limited. I had not read any of the books and had only seen some of the first movie. I tried watching it twice on dvd, but both times I quit before it was over because I just didn't find it very exciting. There were portions that I thought were very boring and I had come to the conclusion that this movie just wasn't my cup of tea. So, why did I decide to not only try to watch the first one again, but also all 7 other films over the course of four days??

      One of the main reasons is I simply thought it was a good deal that AMC was offering. For $40 I was getting 8 movies, including 1 in 3-D, a custom lanyard, a collectible booklet, special Potter themed 3-D glasses, and a mini movie poster. I'm a sucker for little extras like that, so I thought the price was real nice. This blog was also another major factor in my decision. I think if I only talk about movies that I enjoy, that would make this blog pretty boring and defeat the purpose of what I wanted it to be from the start. I want this to inspire discussion. I figured if I saw these films, even if I didn't like them it would be a nice topic to give my opinions on, good or bad. I want to step outside the box and take chances more often, and this was a nice way to do that.

     Before I talk about the movies themselves, I want to take a quick moment to praise AMC theatres. They did a tremendous job running this event from start to finish. Managers would meet with us before the first movie each night and thank us for being there. They would give away prizes for answering trivia questions (one of the few times when I felt completely lost playing trivia). They monitored the door so other people couldn't get in and take advantage of the showings we had paid for. Even thought the theater was only half full all week, last night during the midnight showing of the finale, they did not open our theater up for anyone else even though they could have used the extra space. When you are sitting with the same 40 or so people for 19 hours plus during a week, you tend to form a bond with them. By the end of last night, we did feel like sort of a small family. I think that's pretty cool and AMC recognized that and respected it. They had every right to open that theater last night and chose not to. Kudos to them. I have done marathons with them before with the Best Picture Showcase the last three years, and I hope they continue to offer events like this. Here's a picture of the swag we received with our package.

     So let's talk about the movies now. I'm not going to do full reviews for each film, my fingers would absolutely fall off after that much typing. So I will be talking about the series as a whole, but I will take the time to grade and rank each film later. Like I said earlier, I went into this series with trepidation, but I am coming out of it extremely satisfied. I think this is a very good series and there are times where it is a ton of fun. It starts out with a whimper though, as I was pretty worried after night one. After making it through Sorcerer's Stone finally, I thought it was nothing great but better than I remember on dvd. Film two though, Chamber of Secrets, was a big failure to me. I was completely bored watching it and there was nothing about it that was memorable to me. After the first night I was worried that I had made a big mistake, and even considered calling it quits and eating the forty bucks. I'm glad I talked myself out of that decision.

     The movies really start hitting their mark with the third installment, Prisoner of Azkaban. From here on out, I found each of the remaining episodes ranged from slightly above average to great. As the kids get older, and the subject matter becomes a little darker, the story really hooked me and I found myself emotionally invested in the main characters. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint all give solid performances as the primary trio of the series; Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, respectively. But there are so many memorable secondary characters, I can't possibly name them all. In fact, while the acting is for the most part a success, I feel this is one of the problems with the series. There's just TOO many characters to keep track of. More than once I found myself confused by names or faces that sort of pop up out of nowhere, or certain characters would be in one movie, disappear for a film or two, and then show up again down the road. This became a bit much. I pretty much circled the main characters to the plot (or who I thought would be) and others I just sort of pushed to the side of my brain and tried not to think about too much.

     The other flaw, and this is the one that was the most noticeable to me, was there are stretches where the story really drags to me. There are times where the exposition goes on for so long that the more they explained, the less I understood. This reached it's peak in episode 2, where at the two hour mark I'm almost begging the movie to just DO something. It eventually does, but by then I had emotionally checked out and just didn't care. This also happens in episode 5, Order of the Phoenix. The first 1:45 of that movie were terribly boring to me. However, that film was saved by an amazing final 30 minutes or so that were some of the best scenes in the series, in my opinion. Even the better films would have short stretches where I found myself checking the time, and if I do that, that's usually an automatic half-star deduction from my rankings. I just simply think pacing is a problem here quite a bit and that's the issue with trying to adapt a movie from a book.

     Despite these flaws, I think this series overall is a success and my expectations were exceeded big time. I'm not sure that these are movies that I would watch multiple times, but I'm glad I gave them a chance and I respect the Potter story now. By the time it was over, I was actively rooting for certain characters. During the finale when one of the secondary characters steps up and pulls off a heroic sacrifice, I was clapping and cheering with the rest of the crowd. I did not expect that to happen when I started this. When one of the characters dies in the next to last film, I felt my eyes tearing up and I was shocked by how much it was affecting me. I think that is the biggest praise I can give to the Harry Potter films, I don't consider myself a Potter fan, but I got to a place where I cared about the characters and what happened to them. That's important and the series succeeded there. Is this Star Wars to me? No, and it's honestly not close, but that's not a bad thing. I'd have to give it some thought, but this MAY be the second best movie series I have seen. The fact that it got better as it went along is unique and a breath of fresh air. I'd prefer this over something like Lord of the Rings any time.

    The Harry Potter story is a great success. I'm glad I watched it the way I did, where I could keep everything fresh in my mind. The arc from beginning to end was clear for the most part. The road was a little congested at times, but I was happy when I arrived at my destination. I know there are people out there who don't feel like I have gotten the complete Potter experience because I won't read the books, and they are entitled to those opinions. But I'm a movie lover, that's my art form of choice. Potter author J.K. Rowling signed off on all these films and has said she is pleased with the outcomes. That's good enough for me. I don't need to know every minutiae of detail about the Potter universe. For those who do, I completely understand the love, being a Star Wars fan who does love the minutiae of that series. My exposure to Potter is these 8 movies, and I'm glad to have witnessed them all. I could have done a lot worse.

How I rank them:
1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (3rd movie)  -    ****
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 (7th movie) -   ****
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (5th movie) -    ***1/2
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 (8th movie) - ***1/2
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (4th movie) -  ***
6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1st movie) - **1/2
7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (6th movie) - **1/2
8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2nd movie) - *