091: The Damned United (2009)

Title: The Damned United (2009)
Starring: Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney
Directed By: Tom Hooper

Having little to no emotional attachment to the game of soccer makes it a little hard to care about the characters in this biopic. With that said, the writer (Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon) and director (Tom Hooper, John Adams) wisely focus on the emotional journey of coach Brian Clough while the games are taking place, instead of a reenacted play by play. This is, after all, the story of Clough and not the story of The Winchester United club. In fact, when applicable, the scores are presented in title form and used brilliantly as an exclamation point on the emotions of the current scene.

I found myself becoming incredibly involved with this man's story, but in fact it's kind of hard to understand where he's coming from. He's not painted as a hero or a villain here, but more so as a broken man trying to make his dream job work. That I can relate to, but the how, the why, and the when are all a little befuddling. You obviously have to take advantage of the opportunities presented to you, but still it all felt a little rushed in the film. Maybe in real life it was different and it just had to be truncated for story or length purposes. I don't know.

What I do know is this. The film works. It works because it's presented in a way that never feels slow or boring. It works because the actors involved are all on the top of their games, especially Michael Sheen who OWNS the screen every time he's on it. Mostly though, it works because it tells an interesting story without dumbing it down or sapping it up. This isn't a Disney sports biopic, playing every single angle possible for emotion. Instead this is a fun, entertaining movie that works all the better for playing it straight. The laughs are earned and the emotional journey of our characters feels real. I really liked it. Recommended.

Score: 7.5/10

090: Under The Tuscan Sun (2003)

Title: Under The Tuscan Sun (2003)
Starring: Diane Lane, Sandra Oh, Vincent Riotta
Directed By: Audrey Wells

I am neither a middle-aged divorced woman, nor a gay Diane Lane fanboy. Therefore this film was not made with people like me in mind. Because people like me will notice instantly that none of the decisions made in this movie make any kind of sense!

A recently divorced book critic is forced by her friends to go on an Italian vacation to get away and clear her mind. She reluctantly goes after saying "no way". While there, a breezy former starlet catches her staring at a villa for sale notice and suggests that she buy it on a whim. She reluctantly does after saying "no way". The villa needs work and her über-hunk realtor suggests she hires a lovable multinational crew with little-to-no experience. She reluctantly hires them after saying "no way". She swears off men while working on the house, but meets a nice handsome guy while running errands. She reluctantly falls for him after saying "no way". It was constantly flip-flopping! It was painful to watch.

Had this movie had a clear vision of its endgame, and ACTUALLY brought us there in a way that didn't feel like a constant ploy for emotionality, it might have been okay. But as is, it's pretty much a pointless, sappy mess.

Score: 4.5/10

089: The Last Word (2008)

Title: The Last Word (2008)
Starring: Wes Bentley, Winona Ryder, Ray Romano
Directed By: Geoffrey Haley

Don't let the lovey dovey looking poster fool you, this contemporary romantic comedy is as much about death and loneliness as it is about life and connection. Writer/director Geoffrey Haley crafts an intriguing story of connecting with someone through the grieving process and discovering reasons to live with or without someone else in your life. It's all very morbid and yet funny, poignant and at times, touching.

The story is that of Evan (Wes Bentley), a struggling writer who discovered some time ago that he has a knack for helping people pen their suicide notes. He's turned this into a fairly successful practice, but still longs to write a novel in his own words. Charlotte (Winona Ryder) is the sister of a recent client of Evan's. When he shows up at her brother's memorial service, she is intrigued by him. Thinking he is a college friend of her brother's, a lie which Evan himself told her, she wants to meet with him to learn more about her now dead brother. Evan reluctantly agrees and, of course, the two hit it off and begin a relationship. When he's not with Charlotte, Evan is meeting with clients to help them with their notes. One of them, Abel (Ray Romano), pushes Evan to become more involved with his clients and actually get to know them. Through their unorthodox budding friendship, Evan comes to the realization that he has to tell Charlotte the truth about his profession and his relationship to her brother.

From here the film cascades into a series of events that help define exactly what love and friendship and humanity are all about to these characters. It really is a touching and funny set of circumstances, and a fresh new look at life and love and friendship and death as a means of connecting to one another. I won't spoil the ending for you, but I will say this... the movie ends with a very funny and very fitting "bang". Highly recommended.

Score: 8.5/10

088: Year One (2009)

Title: Year One (2009)
Starring: Jack Black, Michael Cera, David Cross
Directed By: Harold Ramis

Similar to my feelings about Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, I couldn't help but expect something better with the names attached to this project. Harold Ramis is a hilarious writer and director responsible for some of the funniest comedies ever to hit the screen (Animal House, Caddyshack, both Ghostbusters, Vacation, Back to School, Groundhog Day). Jack Black is a serviceable star, better suited for supporting roles but still funny in his own right. Michael Cera plays meek and timid in a way that no one else really can, and usually scores a laugh or two in the process. David Cross is blunt and scathing with his stand-up and can usually put some of that attitude on the screen, resulting is some genuine laughs. With all of them working together and a pretty solid supporting cast (including Oliver Platt, Paul Rudd, Hank Azaria, Vinnie Jones, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Horatio Sanz, Olivia Wilde and Bill Hader), I am pretty sad to say that this movie just couldn't deliver the funny at all.

Year One basically just suffers from a case of trying too hard. It's written by Ramis alongside Gene Stupnitsky & Lee Eisenberg, a writing team whose most prolific work is a number of episodes for the American version of The Office. Perhaps they're best suited for adapting someone else's work or for pre-existing characters, because their attempt at an original story here is abysmal. Every single gag goes for the broad and easy laugh, and they usually fail miserably. The basic plot is that of two jungle tribe neanderthals venturing out into the world and witnessing a number of stories from the bible. When playing such material for laughs, it's probably best to point out what's funny about the story rather than add a few dirty words or playing it straight and having our protagonists laugh at it anyway to tell the audience it's supposed to be funny. It starts to feel like one of the recent Movie parodies (Scary Movie, Epic Movie, Superhero Movie, etc.), in that it's more of an over-the-top parody of the bible than it is a comedic epic with these characters dropped in for a laugh. And in all honesty, just like the Movie movies, it's all painfully boring and unfunny.

I wish they would have taken advantage of the people at their disposal. Ramis is better than this, and so is most of the cast. Many of them have written funnier material than this. Perhaps a little more collaboration could have improved this movie, or maybe the overall premise just isn't funny enough and that could have been re-worked. I'm not sure what could have been done, if anything, to make this better. But I am sure that this final product isn't really worth your hour and a half. Skip it.

Score: 3.5/10

087: Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers (2010)

Title: Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers (2010)
Starring: Ryan McPartlin, Yvonne Strahovski, Roger Rose
Directed By: Howard E. Baker

What easily could have been an hour-long Lego commercial with no real plot or character development, instead turns into a GREAT introduction to some really fun characters who happen to be Legos.

The story is that of famed Lego adventurer Clutch Powers and the team that is assembled to help him capture a group of dangerous prison escapees. Through this story we're taken from an elaborately planned and beautifully rendered Lego city to a moon-like prison planet, and from there to a medieval land of knights and skeleton armies and dragons. OBVIOUSLY, this is an attempt to sell children as many playsets as possible, but it all seems organic and fun in the context of the story.

The characters are fun to get to know, and they're allowed some really great "we're freakin' Legos" humor. From their names (Peg, Brick and Playwell) to their actions (Peg brings an extra set of hair 'cause you "never know"), they're all allowed to be self-parodying; which is VERY welcome in a movie like this, and allows for quite a few genuine laughs. It's nice to know the Lego people weren't taking themselves too seriously.

If you've got children (especially young boys between 4-10), you should definitely check this out with them. There isn't so much violence that you'd have to be concerned, and it's all treated with the self-aware, tongue-in-cheek Lego humor we've come to expect from the Lego video games (if you're familiar with them). If you haven't got children, but you're still a fan of Legos or of short but sweet animated stories, you should probably give this a shot as well. You might be surprised how much you laugh, or how enjoyable it can be. Recommended.

Score: 8.5/10

086: Robin Hood (2010)

Title: Robin Hood (2010)
Starring: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong
Directed By: Ridley Scott

Genre films often come with certain expectations built in. The audience is told in the trailer what sorts of emotions they should expect. When I think of how I should feel while watching a Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe epic, the last thing that comes to mind is bored. But unfortunately, that's what happened to me for the majority of this movie.

I think it starts with the cast being generally too old. This is an origin story of sorts; a prequel to the Robin Hood legends that we all know. We're shown here the path that Robin takes to become the lovable outlaw defending the poor people of England. So why is 46-year-old Russel Crowe playing the character? In the time when this story takes place, wouldn't 46 have been a fairly long life? It just struck me as odd to see him playing such a youthful character.

What was even more odd is that the filmmakers decided to make everyone around Robin older as well, so it wouldn't look obvious that they shouldn't have gone with Crowe. In the story, Friar Tuck is just taking over a parish of his own. So he should be a relatively younger looking, if a bit portly man. In this he's played by Mark Addy (whom I really like, especially in this role), who in real life is three months OLDER than Russel Crowe. Robin's crew of Little John, Will Scarlett and Allan A'Dale are played by Kevin Durand (36), Scott Grimes (39) and Alan Doyle (41) respectively. While I do like their casting in these roles, I just can't get over the time in which this story supposedly takes place. If this were to become a franchise, these actors would be bringing some of the most famous and beloved moments of the Robin Hood legend to the screen when they're in their 40's and 50's. I just can't imagine that that would look believable.

The other major problem that I had with this re-imagining was the battle sequences. The story is sandwiched between two epic battle scenes. We start with Robin and the gang in the crusades, fighting along King Richard and we end with Robin and the gang leading an opposition force against the invading French military. Both of these scenes work on their own, and are exactly what you'd expect from Ridley Scott. The man makes exciting battles with LOTS of people in them. But here, the first is used to introduce us to the characters so there's never really a sense of danger. We KNOW they'll be okay. And with the final battle, Marion (41-year-old Cate Blanchett) leads a team of lost boys (all on RIDICULOUS looking miniature horses, as if we needed to further accentuate their youth and small stature) into the fray and ANY credibility the film was still clinging to is lost. These boys have so far in the film had ZERO contact with anyone in society, yet here they are being led into battle by our heroine. We were already rooting for England, we don't need an added element of concern for the safety of the ONE woman and ONLY children in the ENTIRE movie. It was quite dumb. It got even worse when we realize that Marion actually can't fight, so she just becomes the damsel in distress; which feels COMPLETELY out of place in this epic Ridley Scott battle sequence! We aren't even shown the fighting of the children, because up until now we haven't focused on a single one of them, therefore we don't CARE about them. Their involvement in the scene (Marion's included) is utterly jarring. It adds characters we don't need to a situation they don't belong in. It was just stupid. We DID get some pretty cool moments from our villain (the amazing Mark Strong) at their expense though, so I guess there's that.

All in all, the few things this movie got right just couldn't make up for how wrong it all felt. It was too epic for its own good in parts, too cheesy to be taken seriously and the cast was too OLD to be believable. I wasn't expecting much in the first place, but with these names attached it's not hard to think it all should have been better. Or at least, more real.

Score: 5.5/10

085: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Title: Iron Man 2 (2010)
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle
Directed By: Jon Favreau

So, right off the bat it should be said that this is basically a carbon copy of #1. It's got the same look, the same tone, and hits a lot of the same action beats at almost the same times in the plot. In lots of typical summer tentpole releases, that wouldn't fly; but when the movie you're following up is Iron Man, you can get away with it. And that's exactly what Favreau has done here.

Even with a new face (Don Cheadle replacing Terrance Howard, who played Rhodey in the first film), everything seems to pick up right where it left off last time. The only real difference for Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is that the very device he invented to keep himself alive is poisoning and slowly killing him. This subplot gets kind of lost and becomes a little long-in-the-tooth for its own good, considering all the other intertwining stories going on with our villains and supporting cast (Cheadle, Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell). We also get a pretty ludicrous flashback story about Tony's father, but at least it was an excuse to see some extended scenes w/ the amazing John Slattery (Mad Men).

I really did like this movie, but I kind of expected some sort of evolution instead of a straight-up "part 2". That's the only thing that disappointed me though, and for the spectacle of it all alone, this is definitely recommended.

Score: 8/10

084: Harold (2008)

Title: Harold (2008)
Starring: Spencer Breslin, Cuba Gooding Jr., Ally Sheedy
Directed By: T. Sean Shannon

Oh I get it! It's not funny if the kid's just bald, so let's make him act like a crotchety old man too instead of just looking like one! Hilarious!

That's basically the whole plot. Well that and stereotypical ripoff characters doing stereotypical ripoff things, LOTS of inappropriate humor involving a 12-year-old in increasingly ridiculous and offensive sexual situations, and a too-stupid-to-describe "all works out in the end" ending.

There isn't much to like here at all, so skip it.

Score: 4/10