MOVIE REVIEW: FLAMIN' HOT

 

Richard Montanez, the son of a Mexican immigrant, was a janitor at Frito Lay when he came up with the idea for Flamin' Hot Cheetos. His creation, inspired by the flavours of his community, revitalises Frito-Lay and disrupts the food industry.

Director: Eva Longoria

Cast: Jesse Garcia, Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert, Tony Shalhoub, Emilio Rivera, Matt Walsh

Release Date: June 9, 2023

Genre: Biography, Drama, History

Rated PG-13 for some strong language and brief drug material

Runtime: 1h 39m

Eva Longoria's directorial debut, Flamin' Hot, is engaging even as the story hits a lot of familiar beats from the underdog genre.  There's a hazy area as to how much is real and embellished but the film and story works onscreen due to some fun direction and likable performances from its central cast.  It works best as a fact based fable, similar to 1993's Rudy, where the true story isn't nearly as fun as the legend that's grown out of the myth.  Longoria manages to avoid some of more the clichéd pitfalls by delivering an efficient film that's easy to like because it manages to maintain an air of authenticity that grounds the entire thing.  Jesse Garcia does the lion's share of the heavy lifting with a performance that’s fun but surprisingly layered especially when the story explores his difficult upbringing and relationship with his wife played well by Annie Gonzalez.  Garcia and Gonzalez share a believable chemistry together which makes it easy to root for both of their characters.  The supporting cast is made up of strong character actors such as Dennis Haysbert, Tony Shalhoub, Matt Walsh and Emilio Rivera who each give their characters more depth than the script provides. It does feel like a missed opportunity not to give Shalhoub and Haysbert meatier roles but it’s a testament to their talent that they're able to leave their mark on the film.  Their characters function more as archetypes that fully formed characters and the film follows a predictable path but the cast and crew make Flamin' Hot far more enjoyable than it would have been in lesser hands.

B

Cindy Prascik’s Review of Pain & Gain

Dearest Blog, hot on the heels of a great concert, the movies seemed like a poor substitute for the thing I really love. Still, it's Saturday, so off to the cinema I went to see Pain & Gain.

Three muscle-bound meatheads hatch a risky plot to relieve a Miami mogul of his considerable wealth.
Spoiler level here will be mild.

There's really no reason Pain & Gain should be a funny story. Three idiots ruin their own lives and several others, just because they think life owes them more than they've got. However, the sheer stupidity of our terrible trio--brilliantly played by Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Mackie, and Dwayne Johnson--makes this the funniest movie I've seen in at least a year.

I've never held with people who believe dramatic acting is more credible than comedy. Wahlberg, Mackie, and Johnson are absolutely fantastic in Pain & Gain, and Ed Harris nearly steals the show when he turns up to take on the bumbling criminals. It's to both writers' and actors' credit that the leads are enjoyable, yet it's
always clear they're bad guys, and you won't feel sorry for them if things go sideways.

Pain & Gain is loaded with brutal violence, bad language, and drug use, with some boobies thrown in for good measure...pretty much offensive across the board. If you're sensitive about such things, this isn't the movie for you. If, for whatever reason, you can get a laugh out of some horrible and inappropriate scenarios, well...you're in the right place! My only complaint is that the movie's somewhat longer than it needs to be.

Pain & Gain clocks in at 130 minutes and is rated R for "bloody violence, crude sexual content, nudity, language throughout, and drug use." I thoroughly enjoyed it, laughing out loud for most of the two hours. Of a possible nine Weaselys, Pain & Gain gets seven and a half.
Until next


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Time….

Uhhh...get well soon?

MOVIE REVIEW: PAIN & GAIN

Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) is a regular bodybuilder who works at the Sun Gym along with his friend Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie). Sick of living the poor life, Lugo concocts a plan to kidnap Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub), a regular at the gym and a rich, spoiled businessman, and extort money from him by means of torture. With the help of recently released criminal Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson), the "Sun Gym Gang" successfully gets Kershaw to sign over all his finances. But when Kershaw survives an attempted murder by the gang, he hires private investigator Ed Du Bois (Ed Harris) to catch the criminals after the Miami Police Department fails to do so.

Director: Michael Bay

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris

Release Date: Apr 26, 2013

Rated R for crude Sexual Content, Bloody Violence, Drug Use, Language Throughout and Nudity

Runtime: 2 hr. 9 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy

Review:

I’ve been a bit of a Michael Bay apologist over the years. Not because I believe he’s a mad genius but because I think he’s actually a solid action director whose becoming a whipping boy admittedly due to some of his really bad films. He creates the type of bombastic popcorn movies that are easily digestible and would rot your teeth if you consumed them regularly. Like all indulgences it should be done in moderation which is ironic since Bay doesn’t know anything about moderation. Pain & Gain is a bulging muscle flexing with veins popping out everywhere. Its first act is the type of caffeinated movie going experience that feels like somebody’s poured cocaine into your eyeballs. A bulging Mark Wahlberg is focused and dedicated to his role. He’s clearly enjoying himself throughout and keeps a bug eyed energy alive through the better part of the film. Equally game Dwayne Johnson, looking bigger than I’ve ever seen him, and Anthony Mackie match him throughout. Their interplay is great comedy especially as things get more ridiculous and out of control. Having the story change from point of during the story allows us to get into these morons minds and see what’s leading them down the incredibly slippery slope towards disaster. Tony Shalhoub delivers an extra salty performance in a limited role. Sadly Ed Harris and Rebel Wilson are mostly marginalized in thankless roles. Pain and Gain’s major faults are really a reflection of Bay’s. The characters, all of them, are caricatures of people; none of them feel real in anyway. They’re Bay mutated version of what real people are. Additionally, Bay never knows too much of a good thing. The first 2 acts are crisp and energetic but the last act drags on. It’s not terrible but it could have been streamlined. Bay would have been better served if he remembered its ok not to flex all the time.

B

Movie Reviews: EASTERN PROMISES & 1408

Sunday, October 07, 2007
Movie Reviews: EASTERN PROMISES & 1408
IN THEATHERS




EASTERN PROMISES

Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), who belongs to one of London's most feared organized crime families, meets a midwife (Naomi Watts) who unwittingly holds damaging information that could lead to unraveling the family's criminal network. Nikolai must make sure this doesn't happen without ruining the young woman's life.

Cast Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl (more)

Director(s) David Cronenberg

Writer(s) Steven Knight

Status In theaters (wide)

Genre(s) Drama

Release Date Sept. 14, 2007

Running Time 100 minutes

MPAA Rating R - for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality,

language and nudity

Review:

Eastern Promises is quite simply one of the best films of the year. David Cronenberg's new film is a complex and totally enthralling work that keeps your eyes glued to the screen throughout. This is due in no small part to stellar performances from the cast. Viggo Mortensen turns in quite possibly his best performance ever and is fully deserving of an Oscar nod come nomination time. Mortensen's Nikolai is a massively compelling character and it's impossible to take your eyes off him when he's on screen. Vincent Cassel supporting role as Kirill is excellent and he gives the character, which could have been played very clichéd in lesser hands, plenty of depth and pathos. Naomi Watts almost gets lost in the mix but her subdued performance is on par with rest of the cast even if her role isn't as meaty as her counterparts. Cronenberg takes advantage of these wonderful performances and elevates what could have been a very straight forward, even clichéd, thriller and turns it into an operatic piece of art with very Cronenberg sensibilities. Try not to winch and grimace during the naked knife fight which is as potent an action sequence as I've seen on celluloid. I've always been a fan of Cronenberg's work but his recent films like A History of Violence and Eastern Promises he's elevated his game to a truly masterful level.

A

ON DVD

1408

Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is a guy who stubbornly refuses to believe in the paranormal. In fact, he's written two bestselling books debunking myths and rumored hauntings. His latest subject is a hotel room in New York City with a dark and infamous past. However, in his determination to prove that 1408 is not haunted, Enslin may just stumble into a real-life ghost story.

Cast John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Tony Shalhoub (more)

Director(s) Mikael Håfström

Writer(s) Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski

Status On DVD

Genre(s) Horror

Release Date June 22, 2007

DVD Release Date Oct. 2, 2007

Running Time 94 minutes

MPAA Rating PG-13 - for thematic material including disturbing sequences of violence and terror, frightening images and language

Review:

1408 starts off very well establishing mood and a pervasive sense of dread but quickly fizzles out as it crashes towards the end. Mikael Håfström (Derailed) movie starts with excellent pacing and wonderfully sets up shots that give the film a refined sense of quality. Unfortunately, once the action moves to the actual room these lavish shots quickly disappear and we are subjected to a fairly pain by the numbers ghost/haunted story. The story is surprisingly layered and deep but the execution just fails. My main issue with this film is that John Cusack is so over the top that it's distracting and hard to take him or the story serious. Needless to say I didn't find it particularly frightening or disturbing, on a side note it did make me want to watch The Shining again. As the film progresses and the situations get more and more outlandish the movie it becomes more of a chore to watch than anything else. 1408 starts the movie with the promise of great things ahead but fails to deliver anything new or frightening.

C-