Max Payne

I do have to admit; I never played the video game. And I know that a video game-to-movie is always going to be a little ‘over the top’. But for a movie like this, the fact that it was a video game had nothing to do with the cinematic train-wreck that was this film. There was a lot to give you hints that this was going to have a chunk of the supernatural in it, and you were even lead to believe that at several points in the movie.

In fact, there were several points in the movie that made you feel as if it could not make up its mind if it wanted to be a supernatural thriller, or a gritty crime drama. And both paths set up for nothing new. What I will give this movie good credit for is having really good cinematography, special effects and great action. But sadly that is all it had going for it. The supernatural ‘hints’ left many more questions to be answered, and lots of illogical plot holes. As a matter of fact, some of the inconsistencies left plot holes so big I actually though about walking out at one point. However, I did decide to stick around for the inevitable and quite gruesome shootings… they always make it worth the ticket price if nothing else does.

Lives up to the pre-views? No.

All-in-all: Holes- of the bullet and plot variety.

Stars (out of five): 2

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Appaloosa

I do have to admit; I have never been a huge fan of Western Movies. The most recent ones however, including this one, have pleasantly surprised me. This movie centers around two travelers, one of which is a former soldier, who go from town to town as gunmen for hire. The catch on that is, they are more like ‘sheriffs for hire’. They go to towns with big law problems, and are hired by the town’s leaders to protect the place. And when they finally end up in Appaloosa, New Mexico, to save the city from a murderous rancher on the outskirts of town and his rough brawler ranch help- the movie goes down a predictable and generic ‘trail’.

Even though it has a bit of a standard setup, the acting is excellent- making it much more of a character study that any kind of action film. There are a few twists in it as well, making for a little more action than you would think for a character study, and the action is actually quite suspenseful. In fact, the moments before the shootouts are more tense than the shootouts themselves.

Normally Western movies center around a lone gunman who is brining justice to a lawless town, and therefore bringing about the end of his era. That is the era of the range riding gunslinger who lives by the laws of the land, rather than the government. This movie does that very much as well, setting up those who want a life in a new ‘modern’ era, and those who know they can’t survive in such a change of ‘times’, and with a very pleasant existentialist tone at the end of the film- towards those who the onset of a better era will leave in the dust.

Lives up to the pre-views: Didn’t see any

All in All: Duos and Duels

Stars (out of five): 4

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Choke

Choke is due out this week. I saw this last January at Sundance. So, instead of doing a new review, I am going to take the lazy route with this one. Here is my review of Choke, from last January on The Mad Scientist blog (of course, with the features here added):

Well, I am going to start off by saying that the book is better than the movie. It always is. This movie is an excellent adaptation however. There were only a few small changes and creative liberties for times sake. The show was pretty much step by step the book. Sam Rockwell did an excellent job as the main character. He channeled Palahniuk’s writing perfectly. The rest of the supporting cast was good as well, with the exception of the mother character. She left a little to be desired. For those of you who are easily offended this movie is not for you. There is a LOT of vulgar/pervasive content. But what would you expect? The movie is about a sex addicts. That is incidental in the story however. The main ideas of the book, mostly the twisted and unusual take on the concept of a ‘savior’. The driving point of the book (one of my favorites by Chuck P.) is where and how do we find a ‘savior’? The main character runs a scam by pretending to choke to death in high-end restaurants, and have the wealthy patrons ‘save’ him. By the old Chinese concept that once you save someone’s life, you are responsible for that person, so they send him money and nice gifts, which he uses to pay for his mother’s mental hospital bills. They become his savior by a sort of twisted means. But that is not the only way this is explored. He has his mother’s doctor translate her diary. She finds that through some weird turn of past events he may be a direct descendant of Jesus. He of course does not want to be the savior of humanity and goes down some paths that he thinks are self destructive, and end up unintentionally parallel to that of Jesus, and craziness ensues as only Chuck P. can produce. The main questions are accurately presented: If we save someone who is pulling a scam, is it still saving? Are we saved in our lives by the highs from our addictions? Do we save ourselves through rehab and sobriety? Is a savior just a religious idea, or can we find them in the most unlikely of places? Can one surrounded by smut and pervasive behavior be saved by love?

All in all: Saviors, Sex and Sarcasm

Lives up to the pre-views? Yes.

Stars (out of five): 4

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Righteous Kill

In reading other reviews for this movie, I was not expecting much going into it. However, with that being the case, I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. I wanted a gritty cop crime drama, and that was exactly what I got. The two actors I thought did an excellent job. They were their normal characters though, Pacino was the normal seeming crazy guy and Deniro was his usual hot-headed mean guy. Not a large step out of the norm for either actor, but always fun to watch.

The movie centers around two cops who are on the trail of a murderer. the problem is, they come to the conclusion that the killer is also a cop, making him very hard to catch. The killer targets bad people who have slipped through the justice system and remain on the street, and most of them are cases that the buddy cops had worked on. Not only that, but the crimes they are investigating drag up some shady and illegal things the two of them had done years before to put a child killer behind bars.

The movie was very entertaining, despite seeming like a long episode of CSI, a plot twist I guessed mid way through the movie, the presence of 50 Cent as supporting cast (quite painful), and the fact that both of them just seemed too old.

All in all: Wrinkles and Wrong-Doers

Lives up to the pre-views? Mostly.

Stars (out of five): 3

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Bangkok Dangerous

This movie centers around a hit man (Nicholas Cage) who is hired by a Mafia boss to kill four people who are ‘bad for business’ so to speak. Then violence ensues. But there is not as much action as one might expect- the majority of the movie gravitates around the killer character and the people (two in particular) he interacts with during his job. The movie starts with him describing his routines and “rules” he follows, and how lonely he kind of is. So, basically, it takes a turn from indiscriminant killing to tell a story a guy who is essentially isolated from humanity, and how he breaks some of his “rules” to be a little more on the normal side of life.

The big problem with ‘hit man’ types of movies is setting up the killer to be a protagonist. There are only a few routes that one can take. The most cliché is the ‘I only kill bad people’ type of approach. I applaud this movie for not doing that. Or there is a ‘they needed to be killed, because some other higher power said they did’ type of scenario (a perfect example is Wanted). This show did not take that route either. In fact, it made no apologies for the main character, and what he does. To set him up as a protagonist with that being the case, they give him the guilt of what he has done (yes, even innocent people) to grapple with. Unfortunately for this movie, it was not done enough, nor is it enough material for an entire movie. But the touches on this subject are well done- it just needs more, a lot more. Then it would have been a much better movie. My biggest complaints were: the middle drags, and all of his social interactions have been done before, in these same types of movies nonetheless (and much better). There are spots of action here and there, and the final scene is a bit odd. It is meant to demonstrate how once you go down this kind of path, your life cannot go back to the way it was- I think. Like I said, it’s not that well done.

All in all: Life-taking Lifestyle.

Lives up to the pre-views? No, much less action than one would expect.

Stars (out of five): 3

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Tropic Thunder

When I first saw the pre-views for this, my first reaction was: oh, I’ve seen all this crap before. And really, you have. The movie centers around a group of over the top actors filming a war movie, and by a twist of fate and a cruel idea from the director, they are plunged into some real life combat with scary mercenaries working at a heroin refinement plant. Basically, actors thinking bullets and danger are all part of the set, and comedy ensues. Aside from having a less than original plot, it’s quite entertaining. And who goes into a comedy expecting great acting and a superb plot?

There are even fake pre-views and ads at the first for the characters movies, and those are some of the best moments of the film. And Robert Downey Jr’s character transforms himself into an African-American guy, and plays an absolutely hilarious racial stereotype, which steals the comedy thunder of Jack Black and Ben Stiller when they are on camera together. Jack Black and Ben Stiller do their usual comedy routines; Black does the loud and crazy guy, and Stiller does his clueless and illogical dumb guy. That alone carries the first half or so of the movie. Once again, even though you have seen it before, it’s still pretty funny.

The latter half of the show gets a little slow. The funny parts get more and more sparse, and it mostly just spends its time setting up for the end, which has quite a few chuckles, but does not redeem itself for letting you get a little bored. I’m not kidding, there were a few times I thought of listing points in the movie that would be ideal piss breaks.

All in all: Nonsense and nuisance in a neat package.

Lives up to the pre-views? Falls a little short.

Stars (out of five): 3

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Pineapple Express

First thing's first: you must go into this movie not expecting typical stoner humor. The humor is mostly conversational sarcasm, with only a bit of over the top type physical comedy. The main character works a government job, dates a high school girl and is constantly smoking pot. When his job puts him into a situation where he accidentally witnesses a murder, he and his burned out hippie dealer must go on the run from a ruthless drug lord and crooked police officers. The typical buddy comedy conflicts arise, and there are parts where I was rolling in laughter. However, be prepared to mostly chuckle at the witty (or wit-less) banter of stoners.

The movie is also surprisingly brutal at times, and makes you laugh at rather harsh violence. There are several fist fights that actually make you cringe when they are hit and slammed into things, but still making you giggle the entire time- especially when lots of silly things are used as weapons. There is one character that gets shot pretty much every time he is in a fight, and just does not seem to die. It's great humor. You just have to be in the right mind-set to be able to get the most out of this movie.

Even though this is great entertainment and I loved watching it- nothing out of the normal plot formulas for this type of flick occurred. The dialogue was great, the little physical comedy was great, the acting was timed for comedy delivery perfectly- it just failed to leap into anything that is original. And it very well could have, just some wasted potential. I would recommend seeing it, but I would not buy the DVD.

Lives up to the pre-views? Falls a little short- or not.

All in all: Stoned banter and stray bullets.

Stars (out of five): 3

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