Fellon

"We're all in prison."

3.5 Stars

Well, first of all... prison is no place TO BE!!

My mom had this movie and it didn't look too bad.  She knows I like prison movies so I was in.

Interesting premiss.  Porter (Stephen Dorff) is a hard working new father, and starting his own construction business. A burglar enters the house and after making sure his family is in one spot he grabs his baseball bat and searches the house.  The robber bolts and as he's running out Porter throws a fatal and the bad guy is dead on his lawn.

Now here's the most discussed part of this movie for us.  Because he was killed outside of the house, Porter is now placed under arrest and charged with murder.  Apparently this is knowledge my Grandfather knew already.  

"Drag 'em into the house." he said, according to my mom.  Leave it to Grandpa to know the loop holes.

Porter's prison experience quickly turns for the worst and he is soon placed in a max security prison, "The Shoe".  It all happens so fast and you can't help but feel so bad for this guy who was only protecting his family.  

The prison has a sort of "fight club" that the guards bet on and enjoy watching.  Porter learns to hold his own, and survive.  

Val Kilmer, who can easily be mistaken for Jeff Bridges in this, is his cellmate.  He's got his own story, and I appreciate that their relationship wasn't so predictable.

The women in this movie were very miscast. I'm confident that's what cheapened this movie.

There was a poor man's Mary Steenburgen as his mother-in-law, and the wife was very unsympathetic.

But there were about... two "oh shit!" moments and that's a good thing.

Lessons learned?  

• Don't go to jail.
• Drag 'em into the house!
• And pay up, and get Mary Steenburgen.

Invincible

"When I told you not to get your hopes up...
didn't mean that I wasn't."

2.5 Stars

I'm such a sucker for these redemption type movies. At least that's what Amazon has said. It just warms me!

This was the true story about a bartender who's lost his other job as a substitute teacher, and then his wife leaves him. Living in Philly in the mid 70's, everyone's loosing their jobs, and struggling to make ends meet. So like men, they turn to football for escape and inspiration.
Unfortunately their Philly Eagles aren't winning, and now they all feel like bigger losers. Until....

The Eagles have open try outs, and guess who makes it?
The rest, actually the whole movie is pretty predictable, but I knew that going in. It was perfect for today's weather, and with these times being as hard as theirs, it was nice to have some Disney inspiration.
They sure know how to dish that shit out.
Thanx Walt!

La Vie En Rose : Haiku Movie Review

"You're astounding!'
"I'm wearing heels!"

4.5 Stars


A bruised childhood

And demons she'd fight forever

She still sings to all

First Snow

"Don't snow the snowman."

2 Stars

This was a waste of time dude.
This salesman ( Guy Pierce), busts his car in the middle of nowhere, and decides to kill time by visiting a fortune teller.
Seen it!
He later tells him he's gonna die come the first snow.
So he figures some old friend of his is out to kill him because of a money laundering scheme gone wrong.
So now we spend the majority of the movie watching this this guy become totally paranoid that he's going to be murdered, and chasing this fortune teller around for answers. I understand the film was supposed to be building tension, but it just didn't read. It also seems that Pierce is getting pigeonholed in this character since his role in Memento. Too bad.

Finally we get to a climax of cash, and guns, and a loony, and you think "Alright we're gettin somewhere!"
But it ended up to be anti-climactic. After all the crap they put us through, homie gets hit by a car on the first snow...?!

I was so happy to just be done with it.

Sin Destino : Haiku Movie Review

"Fucking airplanes!"

Student film, maybe?

Drugs, bad sex, no rock and roll

Complete waste of time

The Dead Girl

"-You're not kissing me.
You're just lying there like you
want me to rape you!'

-Okay.'"

4 Stars

I was pleasantly surprised! I didn't think this movie was going to be as class, as it was.
Since the previews, and print show mostly Brittany Murphy I thought it was going to be another on of her movies. Cool thing is, she's in it for a short time, and by the time we meet her, you kinda care for her.

The story is broken up into chapters of different women, and how they are connected to this dead girl.
The Stranger who finds her, The Sister who believes she's family, The Wife who could help her, and The Mother who's looking for her.
Each story is short but just enough. I loved them all. The format really remides me of one of the best films I've ever seen, Nine Lives. Watch it.

I was happy to see so many great actors in this movie.
Who knew? Collette, Ribisi <3, onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINWC-GFC9QouQM03BeBQtmVd_plIfgn7Xz2jMbhR9mPmp99PVeXMlRXPqIh4a-7Za1PuQyi6WQFWmrYhZxw637aNDlunWF3NTDaWyYDgpctZ_bK1NBZlFTQlBTHrpqvyislejJivf85gS/s1600-h/thedeadgirl3.jpg">

21

"Winner, winner, chicken dinner!"

3 Stars

I was, in the beginning, really excited to see the story of the MIT Blackjack Team.
I wanted a "true story", but I got a movie "based on actual events". In other words, a good story for a Hollywood movie.

Based on the book Bringing Down the House, 21 is the story of a group of MIT math students who used their smarts to count cards and take the house(es) of Vegas.
And a-one two three four, you know the rest.
Big wins, no worries, someone gets lost in the game, and then it's not fun anymore, and then you're caught.

One thing that I was really disappointed with was that there was no real "good times" montage. Hello? These are college kids in Vegas, winning whale like money, and they show just a clip or two of them in a limo, and shopping at Louis Vuitton. I've made a better Vegas "good times" montages, and I'm no where near high roller status.

The ending was very Hollywood.
I was hoping to see at least a short court scene, but it was taken in a direction that had me saying "What?".
I remembered when this whole MIT thing went down in the 90's. It was fascinating! I think the Vegas Gaming Commission should have fronted some money for the movie development to show the true story, and to prove that if you count cards, you get caught.
I bet those MIT students aren't having any "good times" montages now. But according to this movie, everyone's fine.
I expected more.