Cindy Prascik's Review of Mortdecai & The Imitation Game

Dearest Blog, lemme tell ya: I'm a little bit exhausted from juggling all these awards hopefuls (that I never expected to see in my area) with regular new releases and weekly screenings of The Hobbit!

However, thanks to an understanding boss, this weekend I was able to catch Johnny Depp's latest as well as one of Oscar's favorites.

First on my agenda: Mortdecai.

Johnny Depp stars as art dealer/thief Charlie Mortdecai, called upon by MI5 to assist with a case.
Well, dear reader(s), even as a die-hard Depp fan, I'm growing bored with his seemingly endless succession of interchangeable goofy characters. Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, and even Transcendence were all terrible disappointments to me. So, as a Depp fan, I'm pleased to say that Mortdecai, while far from perfect, represents a bit of a rebound.

Comedies are a sketchy business...so often you pay ten bucks for a ticket only to find that all the really funny bits were in the trailer. It is, perhaps, because Mortdecai is more amusing than gut-bustingly funny that it doesn't seem that way; instead of a dozen big laughs spread over two otherwise boring hours, Mortdecai is a more evenly-entertaining experience.

Depp is terrific as the self-absorbed Mortdecai, and, if his "weird people with English accents" routine is wearing thin, it works better here than it has in his last few attempts. As Mortdecai's loyal and long-suffering manservant, Jock, Paul Bettany is the movie's highlight.

 A running gag with Jock--not so much as hinted at in the trailers--provides the movie's best laughs.

Mortdecai is a caper as well as a comedy, and it's pretty entertaining. It doesn't drag on or over-inflate itself with unnecessary pretense. It's not too clever, but it IS fun, and, yes, there are even some laugh-out-loud moments.

Mortdecai runs 106 minutes and is rated R for "some language and sexual material." (For my money, I've seen far worse rated PG13...don't understand this rating at all.)

Mortdecai is not a special movie--you won't be talking about it next week, let alone next year at awards time--but Mortdecai IS a bit of mindlessly fun entertainment. Last I checked, that wasn't yet a crime in Hollywood.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Mortdecai gets five and a half.

(It would have been six had it co-starred ANYONE besides Gwyneth Paltrow!)

Next up was The Imitation Game.

During World War II, English mathematician Alan Turing leads a team attempting to break Nazi codes.

Alright, I'm gonna say it straight up: though it has zero chance of taking home the Oscar, The Imitation Game is easily my favorite of the Best Picture nominees I've seen.

 (Still missing Whiplash, which hasn't hit my orbit yet.) Benedict Cumberbatch is phenomenal in the lead, often abrasive but still strangely sympathetic. Again, though he doesn't seem to have a legitimate chance of hearing his name called on the big night, his performance is as good as any I saw last year, and the supporting cast is uniformly strong as well.

The Imitation Game races against the clock to break Nazi codes and prevent further loss of life; as such, it's more "edge of your seat" than it probably seems from the description. The movie also touches on Turing's homosexuality, for which he was prosecuted later in life, under UK laws of the time. It's heartbreaking, but never miserable.

The Imitation Game clocks in at 114 minutes and is rated PG13 for "some sexual references, mature thematic material, and historical smoking."

The Imitation Game is riveting from start to finish, beautifully executed on all levels. The very definition of "must see!"

Of a possible nine Weasleys, The Imitation Game gets nine. Just go see it already!

Until next time...

Somehow I knew the Internet wouldn't make me do this myself! :-)

Cindy Prascik’s Review of Iron Man 3

Dearest Blog, yesterday I braved the fanboy throngs for Iron Man 3's opening weekend.
Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you haven't seen in the trailers.

When billionaire Tony Stark's world is torn apart by a terrorist, he sets out to save "the one thing (he) can't live without"...and, you know, maybe the rest of us too.

If one of those realistic movie description sites took on Iron Man 3, its tagline would undoubtedly be "Go big or go home." The movie is in constant competition with itself to be bigger and bigger and BIGGER, to the point it sometimes feels like nothing more than a series of ever-growing explosions. Regular reader(s) will know that's a concept I firmly support, but the runtime's pretty bloated for so much filler.

Robert Downey, Jr. is, as always, magnificent in a role tailor-made for him. The brilliant Don Cheadle is underused 'til the movie's last act, and Guy Pearce is marginally less ridiculous than he was in Lawless. (That's meant as more of a compliment than it sounds.) Gwyneth Paltrow is her usual pasty, unbearable self--why can't all films take a cue from Contagion and kill her off right away??--but my beautiful girl Rebecca Hall more than makes up for it. Oscar winner Ben Kingsley does what he can with what I'll call a curious role.

As mentioned, the action and destruction in Iron Man 3 are HUGE; the digital surround-sound on this one almost necessitates earplugs. The effects are pretty terrific, though, and I daresay the bigger the screen, the better they look. I'm not invested in Iron Man lore, so any affronts to the core fandom would have gone straight over my head. The story's nothing to write home about, but some of the dialogue is amusing enough to showcase Downey's comedic talent. Overall it's pretty entertaining, but the film definitely over-labors some points and would have been a lot better with a half-hour edited out.

Iron Man 3 runs a very unnecessary 135 minutes and is rated PG13 for "sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief suggestive content. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Iron Man 3 earns six.

Until next time...




Well, hellooooooo Iron Man!

MOVIE REVIEW: IRON MAN 3

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) wrestles with inner demons while contending with monsters of his own creation in this sequel from writer\director Shane Black. The story in Iron Man 3 picks up shortly after the events of The Avengers. Having previously entered another dimension in order to save New York City, Tony remains deeply haunted by the experience. Tony has only started to appreciate the gravity of his problems when an enigmatic terrorist named the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) hijacks the airwaves and threatens to bring America to its knees with a painful series of "lessons". ~ Rovi

Director: Shane Black

Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall

Release Date: May 03, 2013

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief suggestive content

Runtime: 2 hr. 20 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure

Review:

Picking up after the Avengers was going to be a bit of a task, thankfully Iron Man 3 handles it fairly well lead by new director Shane Black. A slightly more focused, albeit kind of silly, plot than the overstuffed 2nd entry breathes life back into the franchise. Black and Robert Downey Jr. have a tangible chemistry together. Black is capable of keeping RDJ from going into cruise control and the script forces him to explore the effects of the events in The Avengers. It’s a solid logical choice, it would have been terribly easy to just breeze past it and keep him feeling invincible. There are still plenty of laughs and tons of massive summer movie level action set pieces that are thrillingly staged such as the attack on Starks home and a mid air multi-person rescue. That being said there are a few blemishes on the film. It’s not as overstuffed as Iron Man 2, which was too busy serving as a sequel to Iron Man and prequel to The Avengers, but it’s still too busy. The villains are a bit too cartoonish with Ben Kingsley going a bit too overboard (with good reason though). Sadly, Guy Pierce’s character never feels like a complete creation, simply functioning as a plot mechanism. Paltrow and Cheadle are given some extra bits of characterization but nothing earth shattering. As the film, wraps the film starts to feel like it’s tying things up in case RDJ decides to retire from the superhero business (this films marks the last film on his contract with Marvel). While a bit of streamlining and trimming would have made this more efficient summer film, it still manages to trill and excite so maybe it’s not time to throw this franchise on the scrap heap just yet.

B

[Trailer] Iron Man 3

The newest trailer for Iron Man 3 is out and it looks pretty impressive. The Avengers kind of made you forget about the overstuffed 2nd film.

This new trailer looks like it really ups the ante and gives us hope we’ll have a better entry this go around. Lots of wonderful tidbits offered throughout, check out the trailer and enjoy.

[Trailer] Iron Man 3

First trailer for Iron Man 3 has been released and it looks to take the series in more serious and darker direction.

Shane Black takes over the directorial reigns and these early bits of footage look more impressive than expected.

Since Iron Man 2 fell into a lot of the traps that big sequels suffer from, including the extended set up for The Avengers, so it’d be nice to see a more focused entry from Marvel.

MOVIE REVIEW: CONTAGION

IN THEATERS

CONTAGION



Steven Soderbergh presents this look at what happens when an infectious disease threatens humanity through varied viewpoints from an ensemble cast, including Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, and Kate Winslet. The Informant's Scott Z. Burns provides the script. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Cast: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow
and Kate Winslet

Release Date: Sep 09, 2011

Rated: Disturbing content and some language

Genres: Action/Adventure, Suspense/Thriller

Review:

The easiest test of how effective Contagion is how quickly you start to consciously think about touching your face, grabbing a door handle or holding hands with a loved one. Contagion is the type of film that maintains such a close proximity with reality that it feels like an extravagant “what if” documentary. Steven Soderbergh is the perfect director for this germaphobic waking nightmare. Soderbergh reins this film in, keeping the flights of fancy that countless other similar films take so easily, while maintaining his usual detached sensibility and faux naturalism. It’s a different kind of horror film that makes the mundane and common look horrific and vaguely terrifying. The assembled stars are all game even if more than a few get shafted in screen time or fulfilled story lines. Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne and Jude Law leave the biggest impressions each for very different reasons. The plot itself does waver a bit in the last act and it kind of stumbles towards the finish line, feeling more exhausted than accomplished. Still it’s leaves enough of an impression that it’ll make you think about touching the door on your way out of the theater.

B+

Bluray quality; Video is fantastic across the board ; Sound is equally impressive.

I was hand-selected to be a member of Blu-ray Elite, a beta program from Warner Home Video which has graciously sent me this free Blu-ray disc.