MOVIE REVIEW: THE GAMBLER

In this remake of the James Caan 1974 vehicle The Gambler, an English professor (Mark Wahlberg) who is also a compulsive gambler finds that the only people who will have anything to do with him are those to whom he owes money. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Rupert Wyatt     

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Brie Larson, Jessica Lange, John Goodman, Emory Cohen

 Release Date: Dec 25, 2014     

Rated R for some Sexuality/Nudity and Language Throughout     

Runtime: 1 hr. 51 min.     

Genres: Drama, Suspense/Thriller     

Review:

The Gambler is a film that’s trying very hard to be something special.  Rupert Wyatt gives the film a glossy sheen, driving it through its narrative with noticeable energy.  Mark Walhberg is doing his best Christian Bale impression by losing a massive amount of weight and looking generally disheveled.  John Goodman does excellent work in a supporting role as Mafioso.  Typically all this would make for an excellent film but the results here are mixed.  I respect Walhberg’s attempts to take his craft seriously but he’s seriously miscast here as the worlds most aggressive English professor.  He gives it his best try but it doesn’t work, it’s just never believable.  It’s always good to see Brie Larson get some work but she’s saddled with a nonsensical love interest role.  We’re told she’s a genius early on but her actions throughout the rest of the film tell us otherwise. John Goodman does give us an excellent supporting turn, creating an extremely intimidating character in limited scenes.  All in all The Gambler feels like a missed opportunity because there seems to be a better film in there somewhere.

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

Peter Jackson takes cues from the appendices of The Lord of the Rings to expand New Line Cinema's Hobbit adaptation with this third film completing the epic tale of Bilbo Baggins, as played by Martin Freeman. The story opens to find the vengeful dragon Smaug (voice of Benedict Cumberbatch) decimating the peaceful hamlet of Laketown as Bilbo, Thorin (Richard Armitage) and the rest of the dwarves lay claim to the Lonely Mountain. But their celebration is short-lived as Thorin grows obsessed with finding the Arkenstone. Meanwhile, Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Saruman (Christopher Lee) battle the Nazgul in an attempt to free Gandalf (Ian McKellen), and get some unexpected help from eccentric wizard Radagast (Sylvester McCoy). Unfortunately for all involved the struggle has only just begun, because as armies of dwarves, elves, orcs, humans and goblins converge at the base of the Lonely Mountain, the fight for the future of Middle Earth begins. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Peter Jackson 

Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom

Release Date: Dec 17, 2014

Rated PG-13 for Intense Fantasy Action, Frightening Images and Intense Fantasy Violence

Runtime: 2 hr. 24 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure

Review:

The final entry in The Hobbit trilogy finally pays off all the set up from the sometimes laborious previous entries.  Jackson has proven time and again that he’s a master of marvelous mayhem on an epic scale. After wrapping up the storyline from the 2^nd film, which should have be the previous entries finale, the film moves judiciously through some plot points setting up the final battle(s).  This film is the leanest of all of Jackson’s Tolkien films with a steady sense of momentum throughout.  Once the film’s battle sequences begin, they don’t stop for nearly an hour and a half.  It’s a dizzying run through every sort of battle you’ve ever seen.  The finale set in the ice and snow is the most impressive of the entire film which also packs the biggest emotional punch.  The actors have all settled into their roles by this point and each delivers strong performances with Luke Evans and Martin Freeman being the biggest standouts.  Evangeline Lilly gets a rather large chuck of screen time which is baffling since the character is not in the books and she’s saddled with a clichéd love story.  Unlike the other trilogy capper, this one doesn’t wear on too much but that’s not to say it doesn’t overstay its welcome.  Battle fatigue, even when they wonderfully crafted, starts to set in after a while.  At the very least it’s not filled with endless false endings like Return of the King, instead we get a nice send off with an aged Bilbo taking us back to the start of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

B

MOVIE REVIEW: THE INTERVIEW

Dave Skylark and producer Aaron Rapoport run the celebrity tabloid show "Skylark Tonight." When they land an interview with a surprise fan, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, they are recruited by the CIA to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission.

Director: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen     

Cast: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Randall Park, Lizzy Caplan, Diana Bang

Release Date: Dec 25, 2014

Rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual humor, nudity, some drug use and bloody violence

Runtime: 1 hr. 52 min.     

Genres: Comedy, Action     

Review:

The Interview will probably be remembered for having one of the strangest releases in movie history.  The Sony cyber attack, North Korea and The Guardians of Peace all made for the cancelled then eventual release of this film.  After its strange long trek to screens, you can’t help but wonder if the film was even worth all the trouble.  The Interview is pretty much what you’d expect from Rogen and Franco.  Juvenile humor with some very strong moments scattered throughout the film.  Rogen does his usual shtick albeit playing a bit more of a straight man than usual.  Franco is over the top throughout, playing Skylark like an overgrown man child. The biggest issue is that the film never maintains the laughs for very long, you’ll have sporadic bits of hilarity followed by some fairly noticeable dead spots were the film just drags; it would have fared better with stronger editing.  The final act gets surprisingly gory for no apparent reason but it typifies the film, it serves as a perfect microcosm of the film, funny for bits but bland for long stretches.  Goldberg and Rogen seem to be shooting for Spies Like Us feel which they achieve occasionally.  It’s not the pair’s finest work and their inexperience behind the camera is evident.  Ultimately, the hype around the film will probably over shadow the film in the long run which isn’t surprising since it’s an above average comedy film at best.

C+

Cindy Prascik's Review of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Dearest Blog, with a couple screenings of the final installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy now under my belt, I shall try to present some thoughts. Coherence not guaranteed. (But is it ever?)

Spoiler level here will be mild-ish, no biggies, but if you prefer to go in totally blind--if that's even possible with a story that's nearly 80 years old--kindly defer reading until you've seen it.

Having made their way home, the company of Thorin Crabbypants defends its Kingdom Under the Mountain, but there's more than gold on the line when the battle expands.

Where to start...where to start...

Beginning at the beginning, BOTFA kicks off where Desolation of Smaug ended, with an angry dragon descending on the panicked citizens of Lake-town. For such frantic circumstances, the start of the film seems quite slow. Then there is The Thing that happens so quickly I have to wonder why The Thing didn't happen in the last movie, as (in Director Cindy's opinion) it seems more fittingly part of that one, and would have provided a more logical breaking point between numbers two and three.

The Thing is a pretty major development, but dropping it so soon makes it seem almost an afterthought. Once the movie gets rolling, it's not hard to see why filmmakers changed the name from There and Back Again...this movie is not about a trip; this movie is about a fight. While I wouldn't quite agree that it amounts to no more than an extended battle scene, there's definitely a lot of battlin' going on.

At nearly two and a half hours, BOTFA is the most compact of Peter Jackson's six Middle Earth epics, and it honestly does not seem long. Having said that, there are plenty of places it could have been cropped to make a better film, battles among them. (I might also mention the attentive viewer needs just so many shots of a dive-bombing dragon to get what's going on there.) Some CGI is inexcusably poor for a movie that cost so much to make; as with DOS, it's mostly noticeable in the movement of the Elves.

The few lighter moments are hit or miss, with Martin Freeman's wonderful expressiveness getting credit for the hits, and a bunch of flat, obvious gags featuring Ryan Gage taking blame for the misses. The character Tauriel remains a pointless addition, and her simpering looks at Kili and Legolas and Thranduil and...well...pretty much everyone are almost too annoying to bear. Finally, there's simply too little of 12 of the 13 Dwarves we've come to love over the course of the series.

On to the positives...Ken Stott and Martin Freeman remain the heart of The Hobbit, through three movies turning in performances that are consistently genuine, funny, and moving. I'd be remiss in my fangirling if I didn't note that Aidan Turner and Luke Evans are also terrific; this franchise will deservedly make big stars of both, and I couldn't be happier or more proud.

The movie's backed by the usual glorious New Zealand scenery, and the usual glorious Howard Shore score.

Obviously, this is another Jacksonized version of Tolkien; by this point, I'm sure nobody walks into these things expecting a faithful adaptation of the books. (If it were about real people, I'd say it's more "inspired by true events" than "based on a true story.") In many ways, it's Jackson's final thank you to the fans who have loved his vision of Middle Earth, with characters from the other films being name-checked or turning up in cameos and small roles.

Even if the battle scenes run on a bit, there's no shortage of nice fight choreography, cool weapons, and badass hero moments. It would be less than honest to pretend the story isn't stretched pretty thin; this is no Return of the King, and it won't be received as such by fans or critics.

That may feel like going out with a whimper instead of a bang, but in the end it's immaterial to me. Buoyed by my strong affection for the franchise, I have no problem accepting this as a fitting goodbye, and, as with all the other movies in the series, I'm confident my love will only grow with repeat viewings.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies runs 144 minutes and is rated PG13 for "extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence and frightening images."

I'm not sure this a great movie--and I'm not sure it's not--but I'm mostly happy with it.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies gets seven.

Now, if anyone needs me, I'll be petitioning the Tolkien estate to give PJ the Silmarillion.

Until next time...

Because...reasons

Cindy Prascik's Review of Exodus: Gods and Kings

Dearest Blog, end of the year means burning that unused vacation, so today I found myself at a mid-afternoon screening of Exodus: Gods and Kings.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.
Believing he's been called by God, Moses leads hundreds of thousands of Hebrew slaves out of Egypt.

Dear reader(s), in the interest of full and fair disclosure I'll note that to me the Bible is as real as a Twilight novel. I mean that not to insult anyone's beliefs, but to make it clear that Biblical accuracy or lack thereof is not why I hated this movie. I hated it because, to quote one of my all-time favorite reviews, it is "a lumbering bore."

Much has been made of all the white folks portraying characters who would have been decidedly un-white, and that does make it a bit hard to take the movie seriously. Sigourney Weaver as an Egyptian queen gave me a fit of the giggles that I almost didn't get past, and I'm pretty sure a servant girl was wearing one of Lady Gaga's wigs. Close-ups reveal French manicures on some of the women. (I'm not even kidding.) Accents are all over the place--hell, Christian Bale runs through four or five different ones himself--and the language is too modern to suit the movie's time frame. If Lord of the Rings bought its battle scenes at Wal-Mart, they'd probably look a lot like the ones in Exodus. Much of the CGI is laughably bad; in fact, the whole thing kinda looks like a regional theatre production of Jesus Christ Superstar. And if being bored to tears isn't bad enough, there's a boatload of explicit animal cruelty for your viewing pleasure, and a blustery score that occasionally goes all "NCIS terrorist cue." It's more than a little offensive.

Bale's Moses is an unsympathetic character, who, like Russell Crowe's Noah, comes off as cold-hearted screwball rather than a man agonizing over choices he must make for the greater good. Moses' "brother" turned nemesis Ramses, played by a barely recognizable Joel Edgerton, is a buffoon in enough guyliner for a Motley Crue video. Ben Mendelsohn turning up was a pleasant surprise, but that's about the only good thing I have to say about Exodus.

Exodus: Gods and Kings clocks in at a bloated 150 minutes and is rated PG13 for "violence including battle scenes and intense images."

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Exodus: Gods and Kings gets two. It's a trainwreck.

Until next time...

I am, in fact, too fast for love.

MOVIE REVIEW: EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS

From acclaimed director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Prometheus) comes the epic adventure “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” the story of one man’s daring courage to take on the might of an empire. Using state of the art visual effects and 3D immersion, Scott brings new life to the story of the defiant leader Moses (Christian Bale) as he rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton), setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

Director: Ridley Scott     

 Cast: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Sigourney Weaver, Aaron Paul 

Release Date: Dec 12, 2014

Rated PG-13 for violence including battle sequences and intense images     

Runtime: 2 hr. 22 min.    

Genres: Drama    

Review:

Exodus: Gods and Kings is a throwback to the big scale biblical epics from the past.  Ridley Scott brings a sweeping grandeur to the whole thing but it never really gets its footing with any of the characters.  The film clocks in at nearly 2 and half hours, some of which is quite a slog, yet we never really get any real connections to the characters.  Christian Bale is fine as Moses but he doesn’t give the character any heartfelt drive to save his people.  As such Moses comes off as an annoyed nut whose just doing something because he has to.  At lease the script gave Moses a bit more of a tacticians mind as he plots his revolt that will lead to the liberation of the Israelites.  Rames, played by a guy liner-rrific Jole Edgerton, comes off as a bumbling buffoon all the way through.  There’s a little effort to give him a bit more depth but not nearly enough to matter in the long run.  The supporting cast is prestigious but underused and ultimately wasted.  The film’s lack of three dimensional characters is ultimately its biggest downfall.  Ridley Scott created a visual spectacle which is finely produced but it all feels hollow since we really don’t care about any of the characters, not the way we were supposed to at least.

C+