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I know I've been just posting up trailers lately but I'll get back to actually blogging next week. Gotta get back onto a real schedule, wake up early, work out, all that. But for now, check out a noir film with a great cast (including the crush-worthy Autumn Reeser) and a very atypical twist to a very typical noir storyline.
Got this from The Playlist over at Indiewire but it's yet another bonkers (and kind of not safe for work) trailer. This time, it's a post-apocalyptic Dance Dance Revolution movie that is kind of a satire of sports movies as well. Apparently it won rave reviews at SXSW and it looks like it could be great. No "Attack on the Block" but a pretty fun time nonetheless.
The FP - Trailer from Trost Bros. on Vimeo.
Heading into "The Lincoln Lawyer", I had read reviews and knew that I should expect a fairly silly film. But I guess I just couldn't prepare myself because I walked out of the film muttering, "That was ludicrous" and being fairly unhappy with the experience.
Great legal thrillers are built like a house of cards but Lincoln Lawyers doesn't even feel like a failed attempt at that, instead it's like they just threw a bunch of cards on the table and thought it was good enough. The story relied far too heavily on lucky breaks and adversaries simply being too stupid to see what was right in front of them. It had less to do with Matthew Mcconaughey's character's brilliance and more to do with everyone else's idiocy. At one point in the film, someone accuses Mcconaughey of orchestrating a set-up and his response is, "How could I be doing this?" Despite the fact that there are obvious ways Mcconaughey could have done it, that response somehow convinces the accuser that someone else must be setting him up. Basically, you have to go into the film realizing that you should never ask the question, "Why?; then it might not bother you. You just have to go with it and ignore the fact that nothing really makes sense. Don't expect an intricate game of cat and mouse; go in thinking of it as a courtroom version of Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote.
If you can turn your brain off then you'll probably focus on the fact that Mcconaughey does a great job in the lead role. He makes the movie watchable. and the other actors also do their part to liven up a stale story. The script does offer some great one-liners that make you laugh out loud so, for most of the movie, it's at least somewhat entertaining nonsense. But as the plot really kicks in, the lack of logic behind the characters' decisions and responses becomes too obvious to ignore.
As many reviewers have said, there's nothing to the film that elevates it above the typical police procedural you see on TV. If they had cut it down, this could have been a decent TV pilot although without Mcconaughey in the lead, I'm not sure if there was enough to make people want to come back every week. And there's definitely not enough to make people want to shell out money to go to the theaters so this is at best a rental. Head into it with zero expectations and you could be pleasantly surprised. But even then, at it's best, it's still just a mediocre, forgettable movie.
While most of the internet hype is surrounding 'Bridesmaids" latest trailer, I'm still not seeing the draw with that film. People seem to think that it is a Hangover for women but that ignores the fact that the Hangover wasn't about a wedding, it was about finding a lost friend, a story with legit stakes and not just "Don't ruin your dress!" It seems to me more like a broad comedy like "Grown Ups".
And while I'm not blown away but this trailer for Friends with Benefits, I have to admit to being very interested in checking it out. It definitely seems like a step above No Strings Attached and could get Justin Timberlake's acting career over the hump (or at least get him ahead of Ashton Kutcher in most casting agents Wanted lists.) Also, it's nice to see Mila Kunis getting more work.
Thanks to Slash Film for calling this to my attention. Here's the first five minutes of the new movie from Duncan Jones (Moon). Well, actually four and a half, if you're going to be a stickler about it.
Whenever you hear a producer, director, hell just about anyone in film talk about making a sequel, they almost always spew the same line about "the audience is going to expect bigger" or "we have to outdo ourselves this time out!" But I have to wonder, how many audience members ever really expect the sequel to be bigger or better than the original? How many people go to a film and think, "I liked the first one but this one need to have bigger explosions or else I'll be disappointed."
I'm starting to think that the problem with most franchises is that they lose sight of what made them a franchise to begin with. Nine times out of ten, it's not the fights or FX that get people into a film, it's the character and the story. And what sequels should probably look to do is expand on the story rather than the spectacle. One of the reasons that The Godfather 2 is one of the best sequels ever isn't because Michael Corleone killed more people or because they had to top the Sonny/Tollbooth scene, it's because they went deeper into the characters and fleshed out the familia.
But, OK, I'll give you that very few films that are getting sequels nowadays are The Godfather. Still, look at Terminator 2. Yes, the addition of the shape-shifting villain definitely added to the draw but what made it a truly great sequel was the connection between John Connor and the Terminator. The added character elements elevated it. The same can be said for Empire Strikes Back, Toy Story 2, Superman 2, etc. I feel like Iron Man 2 could have gone down this path but because they had to dedicate the second act to setting up The Avengers, the character pieces were blown past and lost.
Hopefully producers in the future will heed my warning but odds are they won't. It seems like most of them just want to make a second movie that isn't bad enough to scare away too many people from the third flick, and then poop out the third pick ASAP and then, after that tanks, reboot the franchise and start from scratch. It will be interesting to see how this approach works with X-Men and Spider-man.
And just spitballing here but it seems like the best sequels often contain: a good guy from the first movie turning on the hero, the hero questioning his role/wanting to give up his power, and often the good guys have to team up with the bad guys in order to fight some new kind of evil.
I know that this is starting to look like a Miami Heat blog but after the loss to the Portland Trailblazers, Chris Bosh's quote basically explained everything that's wrong with the Heat's mindset.
Was I effective today? It's common sense. I think it's evident. I just have to get it where I'm effective. I have to get it where big guys get it. Then, I feel I can start helping out this team more. I'm effective down in the low-post area. That's where I need to start getting the ball. I need to be assertive and demanding.
Mind you, this is a game in which LaMarcus Aldridge owned him and helped lead the Blazers to victory. If Bosh wants to be effective and help his team, he needs to focus on the defensive end first and cleaning the glass second. Scoring should be, at best, his third concern. Personally, I find it appalling for a player to get four rebounds and watch his man drop 26 points on him and then cry about not getting enough touches on offense.
I've often said that there's no way they should break up the Superfriends after one season but if Bosh is truly as clueless as his soundbites make him seem and if he is really this concerned about getting touches, then the Heat shouldn't think twice about shipping him out of town for a "lesser" power forward who will work on defense and a defensive minded point guard.
I can honestly say that I was one of the first people off of the LeBron James bandwagon, falling out of love with the phenom before last season. There was just something about him. A lot of people blame ego but ego is what makes players great. You need a bit of attitude and tenacity to be something. It's why someone like Zach Randolph can become a difference maker and why Al Jefferson probably never will. The problem wasn't that LeBron was egomaniacal; it was that he paired it with a sense of entitlement.
At the Sloan Conference, Jeff Van Gundy stated that the worst thing to happen to Tracy McGrady was his talent. He was so good and things came so easily to him that he stopped working on his game. While I'm not ready to dismiss LeBron as the next T-Mac, there are some similarities. LeBron hasn't changed up his game and still relies on a bull rush that is growing less and less effective. This season, he needed to change up his approach to fit his new team but all that he's seemed to do is cede a few shots to Wade while keeping the rest of his game exactly the same.
All that being said and despite my dislike of LeBron still strong, I have to say that the beating the guy is getting in the press is starting to get ridiculous. For all the complaints that sportswriters levy against blogs, most national writers are more jaded, biased, and downright unfair than the average blogger. Case in point, Adrian Wojnarowski is now famous for hating LeBron. Reading a piece from him on LBJ is kind of like asking Glenn Beck what he thinks of Barrack Obama. And there was one quote in his latest piece that really jumped out at me.
“I’m used to coming down in the fourth, having the ball, making mistakes, getting a chance to make up for them, etc."
Now don't get me wrong, this is the epitome of LeBron's problem. He hasn't changed up his game. He still think he can make mistakes but put it on himself to fix them in the end. He doesn't even seem to consider that there are other players on the team. To him, making mistakes is OK as long as he gets the chance to make up for them. He seems to treat Wade and Bosh as if they are Mo Williams and JJ Hickson. It's a problem and one of the reasons that the Heat are struggling. And it's all there in that one quote.
There's just one problem.
LeBron didn't say that.
Dwyane Wade did.
So does Wojnarowski use this quote to point out that Wade also needs to realize that he's not a man amongst D-Leaguers? No, Wade is painted as a sort of victim who should have known better to team up with LeBron because LeBron... thinks the same way he does.
So while I have to admit to enjoying bashing LeBron (and I will also admit that taking joy in that says more about me than LeBron), the idea that he is the ruin of the Heat has to stop. When the Superfriends first took the stage, LeBron infamously predicted seven titles but the possibly more bothersome quote came from Wade who said the team's main issue would be sacrifice. But that's not really it. The Heat's biggest issue is evolution. Wade, LeBron, and Bosh have all sacrificed shots but what they haven't done is change their games to fit together as a team. LeBron hasn't become more of a facilitator, Wade hasn't improved his off-ball movement, Bosh hasn't committed to closing down the paint on defense and crashing the boards like it's nobody's business. They've made small sacrifices in terms of offense and acted like that entitles them to wins or somehow equate to them functioning as a team. As everyone has now seen, it doesn't work that way. Since The Decision, I've felt like Wade and LeBron's games are too similar to work together and maybe that's true but you'd like to see them at least try to switch up their styles to try to make it work.
But before we put the blame all on them, coach Erik Spoelstra also deserves some of the spotlight on this one. The Heat's offense doesn't play to its stars' strengths. It didn't make much sense to try to force the square peg that is Michael Beasley into the round hole in Coach Spo's offense but it's downright nonsensical not to draw up a better offense for the likes of LeBron and Bosh.
Happily for me, I doubt the Heat will figure this out this season. It'll probably take a coaching change and a long offseason of attitude adjustments to get the Heat on the right page. And, honestly, there's a good chance that LeBron, Wade, and Bosh are never able to put it together. But if that doesn't happen, it's on all of them and not just LeBron James. It's one reason why I don't like James being an MVP candidate. We're seeing what LeBron can do right now but it's not what he needs to do. And until the Heat as a team realize that what they're experiencing isn't growing pains but is actually a lack of growing at all, they'll struggle against the NBA's elite teams.
The Miami Heat are still a threat to win it all and, like many true threats, their first and toughest hurdle might just be themselves.
At first I thought that the opposite of "heroics" should be "zeroics" but now I'm thinking it should be "heatroics". The definition of the antonym is below.
The choice of Soulja Boy as the backing track is inspired given LeBron's past comments about the rapper.
I was surprised that there weren't a slew of Titanic rip-offs after its monster success and it's been a while but it seems like we finally have one as Water for Elephants plays exactly like Titanic but with a circus instead of a ship.
The Adjustment Bureau poses the question: if you found out that God existed, would your first move be to hustle off and have premarital sex?
OK, that's not quite right. The Adjustment Bureau IGNORES that question and is more focused on what would you do for love. Early on the film informs us that there are angels amongst us who do things to keep order, more importantly, THE order as determined by "The Chairman" and the film is about a man who finds out about their existence but doesn't want to follow their order. And it's not a huge stumbling block for me but I just couldn't shake the fact that Matt Damon's character discovers the answer to one of the great mysteries of life and he's just like, "Great, now about the girl." I mean, it doesn't even register with him. It's a non-issue.
Anyway, Adjustment Bureau is a solid albeit forgettable film that is really carried by its light tone and the performances by Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Instead of being a ultra-serious Bourne type film, the movie never takes itself to seriously and there's almost a jovial feel to it. The writing also helped this as the jokes were more self-effacing human asides rather that witty Ocean's 11 type one liners.
Matt Damon did his typical quality work but Emily Blunt really shined and reminded me that she really is one of the great young talents out there. The two actors had great chemistry and their performances in the little moments made you believe in their relationship. It's the kind of quality acting that gets ignored because it doesn't feel at all like acting.
It's hard to describe this movie in terms of what it's like. Nothing is really jumping out at me. Maybe The Thomas Crowne Affair. It seems like a good date movie because it has enough lovey-dovey stuff to woo the ladies but enough action and intrigue for the guys. Since, you know, girls only love schmaltz and guys can't watch anything that doesn't have a chase scene in it. Anyway, it's a solid movie that isn't quite a Can't Miss Flick but is something I'd say people should definitely add to your Netflix queue and check out when they have the time.
Been busy so here's a pretty sweet new trailer to bide the time.
Although this trailer for Rubber, about a killer tire is even more insane.
The fact that the release date is April 1st makes me think it isn't real but most sites seem to be saying that it is actually happening.
Angel Haze