Med City Movie Guy

Pitt is right on the "Button"

In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt plays a man who ages backwards. The film is based on a short story by Minnesotan F. Scott Fitzgerald who most famously said, “the rich are different from the rest of us, ya, you betcha.” The quote has since been gentrified.

     Benjamin Button is curious, indeed. Born with the physical features and maladies of an eighty-five year-old, he’s promptly deposited on the steps of a New Orleans nursing home where he is raised by one of the home’s caretakers. As he grows younger and watches those around him age and pass away he learns his life is no less fraught with sadness and is destined to end in much the same way.
     Against a Forrest Gumpish backdrop of significant events from WWI to Hurricane Katrina and told largely through the narration of his life’s love Daisy (Cate Blanchett), Button is, at its core, a story of love and loss. Though the film really only gains traction when Benjamin is taken-on as a tugboat hand and sees the world, experiencing life firsthand, that’s all incidental to his relationship with Daisy and their ever expanding age-gap.
     Brad Pitt (Seven, Ocean’s 11, and half of the media circus known as “Brangelina”) is outstanding as Benjamin Button. Cate Blanchett -- who most recently played the campy Irina Spalko in this year’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- turns-in a performance as fine as her take on Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese’s underrated Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator though supporting actor Jared Harris, as the salty Captain Mike, comes close to stealing the show.
      But the film is somber and the pacing is slow in this two hour and forty-seven minute tale. An all-too-brief battle scene shakes things (or rather “wakes things”) up a bit as do fleeting “lightning strike” flashbacks. Unfortunately, the lulling Harry Potter-like score and comfortable theater seats make the eyelids grow heavy at times. Nonetheless, Pitt and director David Fincher, who also directed the star in Fight Club and Seven, ought to clear their calendars for an Oscar nod on February 22nd.

2 1/2 Honks
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking.

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You can’t say “no” to Carrey’s “Yes Man”

Jim Carrey’s latest film, Yes Man, is a cross between his past efforts Liar Liar and Bruce Almightily but without the miracle of walking on water, which never really impressed Minnesotans anyway -- thousands of ice fishermen do it every winter.

     Carl Allen (Carrey) doesn’t want to do anything with anybody. To party invitations from his friends he says “no.” To career advancement confabs with his boss he says “no.” And to marriage, and relationships in general, he says, “no.” But after reluctantly attending a personal development seminar, self-help guru Terrence Bundley makes a covenant with him and Carl soon finds that saying “yes” to every opportunity empowers him to do great things.
     Yes Man is the “In Living Color” star’s thirty-first film and one of his funniest, besting Will Smith’s Seven Pounds for the number one spot in weekend gross. (Delgo, for those keeping score, is not only still solidly in last place, it also set another record by going from more than two thousand screens to absolutely none in just one week.)
      For all his comedic prowess, though, Jim doesn’t “carry” the film alone. Co-stars Zooey Deschanel (Elf, The Happening), John Michael Higgins (Fun With Dick and Jane, Best in Show), and New Zealand Comic Rhys Darby as Carl’s theme-party throwing boss, Norman, provide exquisite support though Higgins probably delivers the best line in the entire film (something about a cow and a bazooka, we’ll just leave it at that). Rounding-out the cast are those bit roles that could have been expanded, like Luis Guzmán’s “jumper,” and those that should have been eliminated altogether (creepy neighbor Tillie, for instance).
      In all, Yes Man delivers a wonderful message to “embrace the possible” and not let life pass you by. So start saying “yes,” especially today, and especially if you encounter a Salvation Army bell ringer. Don’t worry, “no” can still remain in your vocabulary. It’ll come in handy when they ask if you want something “Supersized,” if you want an extended warranty, or if you think it’ll ever get above freezing.  
  

3 Honks

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude sexual humor, language and brief nudity.

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Own a piece of film history

With reluctance, I am putting this rare piece of Hollywood history up for auction. "Delgo" set a new record for the smallest opening weekend gross of any film ... EVER! Very few of these tickets were produced and most were discarded in frustration after the film. Own this piece of film history!

Bid here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200289532823

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UPDATE: It Sold!!!

Click the thumbnail for more details

 

Producers thought “Delgo,” but no one did

In the new animated film Delgo, the fictional land of Jhamora is inhabited by lizard creatures known as the “Nohrin” and “Lockni,” or what the State Canvassing board calls “Al Franken votes that should be counted.”
 
     When Delgo, a teenage terrestrial Lockni voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr., falls for winged Nohrin Princess Kyla (Jennifer Love Hewitt) he’s drawn into an epic battle between those who would peacefully coexist in Jhamora and the King’s exiled sister Sedessa who wants to dominate the land.
     The film borrows from some of the best – the forbidden romance is out of Romeo and Juliet, the Lockni, who get around on Star Warish Ton-Tons, have a force-like control over stones, and everyone looks like the Creature from the Black Lagoon – but nonetheless manages to come up short. So short, in fact, that Delgo set a new record for worse opening ever.
     But while ticket stubs from its opening weekend are selling as rarities on eBay, it would be unfair to call Delgo the worst film ever, especially with a field of A-list celebrity dogs dominated by the likes of Battlefield Earth (John Travolta), Gigli (Ben Affleck), and this year’s Meet Dave (Eddie Murphy). Kids too young to have yet seen a better film may find Delgo engaging, especially with its Xbox-like animation style. Others will find it slightly less entertaining than the National Guard video that precedes it.

½ Honk
MPAA Rating: PG for sequences of fantasy action violence.

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Nothing Like the Holidays

3 Honks

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements including some sexual dialogue, and brief drug references.  

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Oh DVD, Oh DVD

      Do you know what time it is?
     It’s the most wonderful time of the year. A time to praise the season and a time to find the perfect gift for a loved one. Some will go the modern route (a Wii or iPod), others will go the traditional route (Gold, Frankincense or a Herberger’s gift card). But only a few will give that which is most valuable: their time. Carve a few hours of this precious commodity to spend with those you love and watch one of these great holiday movies together.

 

The Lemon Drop Kid (1951)
     Damon Runyon, the prolific storyteller who gave us Guys and Dolls and Little Miss Marker, also wrote of The Lemon Drop Kid, a “tout” he encountered one afternoon when visiting a racetrack for inspiration. In this retelling, legendary funnyman Bob Hope is the “Kid” who steers a mobster from a winning horse and must come-up with a way to repay him. His solution is to dress like Santa and, with the help of some Brooklyn mugs, encourage generous people to “chunk it in” the pot to save a life: his own. Lots of great dialog and “Runyonesque” characters.

 

Elf (2003)
     Back before Will Ferrell was overexposed and passé he was actually a pretty funny guy. In Elf, one of his best films, he plays “Buddy,” an orphan raised by elves who travels back to New York City in search of his real father who is, of course, none-too-pleased to see him. But Buddy never lets up on his holiday enthusiasm in this entertaining pic that also stars Bob Newhart and James Caan. Best line: “You did it! Congratulations! World's best cup of coffee! Great job, everybody!”

 

A Christmas Story (1983)
     A wonderful film capturing the excitement of being a kid at Christmastime that manages to resonate with everyone who’s ever slept with a copy of the Sears Wishbook under their pillow (and even a few who haven’t). All Ralphie Parker wants for Christmas is an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock. His mother’s worried he’ll shoot his eye out which would be a shame because then he wouldn’t be able to appreciate the now-iconic “leg lamp” that his father won in a contest. Based on Jean Shepherd’s “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.”  Move over It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. This is the new holiday standard.

An afternoon watching “Australia” is a g’day

In Nicole Kidman’s new film, Australia, the Oscar winner plays an English aristocrat who longs for her family cattle ranch in the Spring like a linksman longs for the Golf Dome in December.

     Against a backdrop of World War II, Kidman, as Lady Sarah Ashley, travels to the land down under to attend to her property. Along the way, she takes-in a young Aboriginal and falls in love with a cattleman named Drover (Hugh Jackman).
     The Outback is formidable and the drama epic in this Aussie Gone With the Wind which is arguably one of Kidman’s best roles and easily Jackman’s finest—though with Flushed Away and Deception under his belt, that says very little.
     Director and screenwriter Baz Luhrmann gets everything right from the score to the cinematography even touching on the delicate racism that victimized the indigenous people.
     But Australia is not for everyone. This film that comes from the land of plenty is plenty-long, just under three hours, and at times moves plenty-slow. Seasoned film goers will appreciate the careful character development and growth that younger or more impatient viewers will find agonizing.
     Don’t make the mistake of waiting for the DVD; Australia is a film that must be seen on the big screen and it must be seen before February’s Academy Awards where it is certain to be a contender.

3 Honks

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some violence, a scene of sensuality, and brief strong language.  

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