“American Beauty” is widely considered a great movie. I was not that impressed with it. In fact, I was so unimpressed with it, I have not seen anything else by the director, Sam Mendes. Well, “Away We Go” has me reconsidering my opionon.
When Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) find them expecting their first child, they travel across the country visiting friends and family to find the best place to start their family. Through their travels they begin to discover what makes a family and what makes a place a home.
As much as I love the explosions and special effects of the big budget movies, I love movies like this just as much. Great characters exploring just who they really are can make the most riveting movies.
John Krasinski is best known for his role as Jim on “The Office.” He can handle comedy with great ease, but as he proved in this role, he can also do drama just as easily. Burt and Verona are not married, but Burt keeps asking her. She does not see it as necessary, they love each other and that is enough. There is a scene late in the movie where they talk about it. He wants to get married incase something happens to one of them. They go back and forth on marriage and their relationship.
The one person I have to talk about is Maya Rudolph. She is best known for her time on “Saturday Night Live,” and was very funny. I had no idea how much of an actress she could be. There is a scene near the very end of the movie that just proves how good she is. She tells Burt a story from her childhood and what home was to her. It was a great scene and I will never doubt her talent as an actress again.
I consider movies like this a detox from the larger movies. It is a great little film that is well worth the time and money. I am in love with this movie. It takes a lot for me to fall for a movie like I have for this one. Soemtimes it comes back to bite me in the ass (“Juno” lost a lot of its luster once I saw it on DVD), but I have a good feeling about this one. The performances are great, the writing is stellar and it made me reconsider my thoughts on Sam Mendes.
8 out of 10
Rated R for language and some sexual content.
98 min
The summer is the season of blockbusters. These are those big budget, special effects driven, explosion-palozza movies where heroes grapple with villains and the fate of the world is always in the balance. This summer is no exception. The newest film to throw its hubcap in to ring is “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”
The plot, near as I can tell, is the Autobots (the good robots) and the Decepticons (the bad robots) are again fighting to save and destroy the world respectively.
That is really it. The plot is really secondary to the explosions and the cars that transform into robots. In fact, the plot is almost nonexistent. There are hits here-and-there that there is more to the story that the robots, but it gets lost among the explosions and the robots fights.
In all honesty, you could take the human characters out and it would be just about the same movie. They serve so little purpose to the overall story that the fact that there are so many humans makes most of them redundant.
Take for instance the character of Sam’s roommate, Leo (Ramon Rodriguez). He serves no point. He never makes any big revelation, does anything to help or really anything at all besides give an weak excuse to have John Turturro come back (which is a good thing).
Even Megen Fox’s Mikaela is just window dressing, which as a guy I cannot really complain that much about. She basically spends the entire movie trying to get Sam (Shia LaBeouf) to tell her that he loves her.
Which brings me to Shia. I hate Shia LaBeouf, as an actor. Even with the aliens in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” he was still the worst part of it. The fact that they even joked/hinted that he would take up Indy’s fedora in future installments makes the movie geek in me want to swear off movies for good. As a person he may be alright, but is wide-eyed “I cannot believe I get to do this for a living” attitude seems fake to me and it is getting old.
Enough ranting.
Good stuff: special effects and…well that is about it. As with the first the special effects were top notch, but that is what you get with a movie directed by Michael Bay. And giant explosions like this one:
Did I hate the movie? No. Did I like it? Not really. It was worth the money, but the first one was superior in every single way. If you really feel like watching giant robots fight, watch the first.
6 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material.
150 min
“Trekers” is the politically correct term for what is commonly known as “Trekies.” No matter what you call them, I still hate them. As a member of a fandom, I know my limits. I don’t go around quoting “Firefly,” reading fanfic (stories written by fans about their chosen obsession), post on message boards, save money to go to fan conventions, buy any and all merchandise. I could go on and on, but it all boils down to: “I hate Trekies.” That being said, I loved the new “Star Trek” movie. 
“Star Trek” is not a conventional sequel, prequel, or even a true reboot. I don’t even know how to classify it. The ship, George Kirk (Chris Hernsworth) and pregnant mother, Winona (Jennifer Morrison) are on is attacked by Nero (Eric Bana) and George is forced to take dramatic action to save the crew and his new family.
Years later James Kirk (Chris Pine) is recruited by Star Fleet Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to join the fleet. When he is not 
chosen to go on a rescue mission, he sneaks onto a ship (the USS Enterprise, not surprisingly) and forces himself into the mission. Things begin to go wrong when Nero shows up. He wants to destroy Spock’s (Zachary Quinto) home world of Valcan. The young crew of the USS Enterprise does everything they can to stop Nero.
The casting in this movie is absolutely perfect. Pine is a great Kirk, Quinto plays Spock as both emotionless and human, Karl 
Urban is an amazing “Bones” McCoy, I could go an and on. The one casting I loved was Simon Pegg as “Scotty.” Pegg is best known for “Shaun of the Dead” and has been gaining fame ever since. I am not well versed in the original show, but I like what they did with “Scotty” in the new movie. “Scotty” is a genius, but is also very laid back. They could not have gotten a better actor for the role.
Director J.J. Abrams has become a huge star as of late. As a producer/director/writer, he has his hands in many pots. He is the creator of the brilliant “Lost,” he produced last year’s sleeper-hit “Cloverfield” and directed the surprisingly watchable “Mission Impossible 3.” What he does here is amazing, he did not make a “Star Trek” movie. He made a movie that just happened to be “Star Trek.” It is not just for fans, it is a great as a stand alone movie. I knew virtually nothing about the mythology of “Star Trek” but I enjoyed this on the same level as my friends who were.
This is not your father's "Star Trek." The space battles are fast paced, diplomacy is not discussed in long scenes, the fight sequence looks stunning and there is even a little sex in the movie. Hardcore Trek fans are pissed at some of these changes, but if you really want a series to be successful, you cannot cling to the past. My message to them is, get over it. Trust me. J.J is doing you a favor. 
I don’t want to say anything that would spoil the movie, but Lenard Nemoy, makes an appearance as the character he made famous: Spock. How can there be two Spocks? That would ruin a big part of the plot, so I’ll just say you have to see it.
9 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content.
127 min
The opening weekend for the summer movies is big. To be the opening summer movie means that you have the opportunity to set the tone for the summer. Were it not for my confidence in other summer movies, I would think that this is going to be a disappointing summer for movies based on “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,”
Logan (Hugh Jackman) is a man who has the power to heal himself and he also has bone claws that come out of his hands. He 
is recruited to a team that uses their special abilities to take the missions the government does not want. After one brutal night he quits and thinks that he is out of that life, but when his brother and fellow team member Sabertooth (Liev Schreiber) kills the woman he loves, Logan goes back to get revenge. William Striker (Danny Huston) gives him the indestructible adamantium skeleton and those famous claws that have made Wolverine a fan favorite.
Acting is not really an issue when it comes to a summer movie like this, yet I could not help but be disappointed in the wasted potential of Liev Schreiber. He is a great actor and has shown it time and time again in smaller roles. He is finally given a chance in a movie like this and he is relegated to snarling and a very one-dimensional character.
The character of Gambit has always been one of my favorite characters and he finally got an appearance in this movie. To top it all off, they got a great actor, Taylor Kitsch. If you are not watching “Friday Night Lights,” then you are missing out on a lot, including Kitsch’s Tim Riggins. Gambit has the power to manipulate kinetic energy. His favorite way to use that is by charging playing cards and throwing them. Kitsch is great in the role of Gambit and I wish that he was given more screen time, a thicker Cajun accent and more card throwing.
I have heard a lot of bad things about the special effects, especially the claws. I did not notice anything overly bad about them, but I did not see anything impressive either. It was just a lot of explosions and mutant powers.
The character of Wolverine is a hard and gruff character. His attitude is as much a part of him as his claws, but that was just not in the movie. He was, well, kind of a sissy. There was no bite to him. This was the perfect chance to have the character be as rough and unforgiving as he could, and they dropped the ball in a big way. 
So, yea there was a lot that is was disappointed about when it came to “Wolverine.” I enjoyed it, but not as much as I hoped I would. It was better than “X-Men: The Last Stand,” but not close to the first two “X-Men” movies. It is not one of those movies I would recommend that you rush out to see.
7 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity.
107 min
Caper movies are one of my favorite types of movies. They are, for the most part, fun movies. It is fun to try to figure out what is going on, watch the plan as it comes together, and see how obstacles are overcome. In the past couple years movies like “Inside Man,” “The Italian Job,” and the “Ocean’s Eleven” movies have been pretty popular. Now “Duplicity,” which oddly enough stars two people who have had experience with past caper movies, has thrown it’s hat into that ring.
Ray Koval (“Inside Man” star Clive Owen) and Claire Stenwick (“Ocean’s Eleven” star Julia Roberts) are former spies working on the opposite side of the same scam, or are they? There is a formula that will revolutionize the world and make billions for the company who has it. One company headed by Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson) has the formula and another company headed by Richard Garsilk (Paul Giamatti) wants it. Ray and his team are hired by Richard to steal the formula and Claire is hired by Howard to keep it safe.
It takes a lot to trick me. I have seen a lot of caper movies and watch a lot of procedural dramas on television (cop shows) and can usually figure those out pretty quickly. This movie came as a complete surprise to me. When it ended I was truly shocked. That is the mark of a truly great caper movie.
As far as performances go, everyone was good. No one really stood out. Owen and Roberts had great chemistry and played off one another really well. Wilkinson and Giamatti were great as the heads of the competing companies. Their slow motion fight in the beginning of the movie was absolutely hilarious.
One of the funniest things is what the two are competing over. It seems like this grand thing, but the revel of what it really is, is one on the funniest things in the movie.
8 out of 10
PG-13 for language and some sexual content
125 min
