Gideon58's Reviews

I thought Candy's character was going to be more of a direct protagonist, deliberately trying to make Martin's life miserable and that's not what he was at all...I'm trying to think of an example of what I'm saying but I'm drawing a blank right now, but I expected Candy's entire motivation throughout was to keep Martin from getting home and that's not what he was at all. OK, I just thought of an example...did you ever see Identity Thief with Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy? McCarthy's character fought Bateman most of the way and made it as difficult as possible for him to get home. Del Griffith wasn't like that at all,,,his intentions were always above aboard even if his actions weren't and I loved that he didn't reveal the truth about his wife until he did...he could have used that information much earlier than he did to elicit sympathy and help from Neal but he didn't.

I heard nothing but positive things about the 2009 romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer prior to seeing it so imagine my disappointment to find this allegedly quirky and offbeat romantic comedy hard to invest in because it works SO hard at being quirky and offbeat that it just becomes forced, manipulative, and annoying.

This is the story of Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt), a dreamy-eyed romantic virgin, and Summer (Zooey Deschanel), a cynical non-believer in love whose favorite Beatle is Ringo, and their rocky, on again off again romance, but the primary hook that was supposed to make this film something different is that the story is told out of sequence...each scene is represented by the number corresponding to each day of Tom and Summer's relationship.

The screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weaver is awash in romantic cliches, despite the complex set-up of the story not being told in sequential order, a writing concept that, for some reason, really worked with a crime drama like Pulp Fiction, but just doesn't work with romantic comedy for some reason, at least this romantic comedy...as the final credits rolled, I really wasn't sure why the relationship ended...or even if it really did or not.

Joseph Gordon Levitt displays leading man potential as Tom, but the screenplay is fighting him all the way, but he has a grand assist from director Marc Webb who has clearly given the actor enough trust in his own instincts to make some unexpected moves from the character work. Deschanel, an actress whose screen persona has always defined "offbeat and quirky" comes off surprisingly stifled here and maybe it's just me, but I felt no chemistry between the two actors at all, stemmed primarily from the fact that Deschanel, costumed like a sixth grade teacher and Levitt, costumed like a prep school student just didn't look right together. Deschanel looked about ten years older than Levitt here.

The film is not all bad...Webb has an imaginative director's eye that includes an off-the-cuff musical number set to a Hall and Oates song, effective use of Manhattan locations, but the confusing screenplay and the inability to invest in the leads as a couple made it hard for me to love this film as much as everyone else does.

I see what you're saying. I could see a director doing that too.

The Depression was a time of financial ruin and desperation in America and for a lot of people, their only escape from the misery that was their lives was going to the movies and watching Fred Astaire woo Ginger Rogers or Dick Powell chase Ruby Keeler. This is the inspiration for a 1981 musical called Pennies from Heaven, a dark and moody musical that breaks all the rules where musicals are concerned and that might be why the film was such a box office disaster.

The film stars Steve Martin as Arthur Parker, a song salesman who loves his work even if he isn't terribly successful at it. Arthur is unhappily married to the sexually inhibited Joan (Jessica Harper) who won't satisfy Arthur in bed so it's no surprise when Arthur finds himself drawn to a lonely schoolteacher named Eileen (Bernadette Peters), but it is a chance encounter with a blind girl (Eliska Krupka) that changes Arthur's life forever.

The unsettling hook with this musical, in addition to a dreary setting and a really depressing story, is that the emotions of Arthur and the other characters are displayed in lavish song and dance numbers, where the actors lip-sync to original 1930's recordings of the songs that provide an outlet for Arthur's unhappiness.

Director Herbert Ross (Funny Lady) and choreographer Danny Daniels have effectively channeled Busby Berkley in mounting some of the most elaborate musical numbers mounted for a film musical and it is the stark contrast between these musical numbers and the story that makes this film such an initially unsettling experience.

Dennis Potter's screenplay adds to the discomfort by giving us characters who are mostly unlikable, particularly Arthur Parker...his treatment of Joan and Eileen does not endear him to the viewer, another reason why it is hard to invest in this film, but what the film does have is striking originality...you have never seen anything on the screen like this before and probably never will again. Steve Martin is charismatic as Parker, completely investing in the negative aspects of the character and making him oddly riveting. Bernadette Peters is lovely as Eileen and there is a fabulous cameo from Christopher Walken as a slickster who tries to pick up Eileen in a bar. This film is definitely not for all tastes, but lovers of musicals and Steve Martin will have a head start.

Oliver Stone's penchant for overindulgence as a director was never more evident than in the 1991 biopic The Doors, an overblown look at the rise of the 1960's counterculture rock group, but more specifically, at its charismatic front man, Jim Morrison that provides some insight into its controversial subject, but not enough to sustain interest in a film of this length.

The film follows Morrison from his days as a UCLA film student to his early fame at the Whiskey a Go Go in California to his eventual passing at the age of 27 in Paris. Set during the turbulent 1960's, Stone mounts an effective canvas for Morrison's story that perfectly conveys how Morrison's "it's all about me" songwriting and poetry was perfect for the hedonistic 1960's and the hippie sensibility that pervaded everything in the day. Like a lot of biopics about musicians, Morrison is presented as a guy who became an instant success even though commercial success wasn't really on his radar...what seemed to be on his radar was sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, and he definitely imbibed to the point of excess which was his eventual downfall.

Oliver Stone has taken a great deal of care and expense in bringing Morrison's story to the screen and his respect for the subject is evident in every frame. His screenplay with Randall Johnson is a little too talky at times but is rich with 1960's sensibilities, but what this film has above all else is an Oscar-worthy lead performance from Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, an unapologetic and charismatic performance that haunts long after the credits roll. He also gets solid support from Kyle MacLachlan, Frank Whaley, and Kevin Dillon as the Doors and mention should be made of a surprisingly stylish cameo from Kathleen Quinlan as a Satan worshiping reporter with whom Morrison has an affair.

Stone employs some striking camera work in bringing southern California and Manhattan to the screen and also employs a great deal of care in bringing the music of the Doors to the screen. I read somewhere that the real Doors had hard times distinguishing between original Morrison recordings and Kilmer's recreations. Kilmer's electric performance does make this worth checking out, but as a film experience, the
movie is a little long and rambling to be truly effective.

Enjoyed your review on The Doors. When I was younger I was a huge Doors fan and must have read No One Hear Gets Out Alive the book that this film was largely based on, at least a half dozen times.

It's been like 20 years since I seen The Doors movie, but from what I remember you're spot on with your review. Kilmar embodied Morrison and did a damn fine singing job too. I really like Kyle MacLachlan as the older and wiser Ray Manazarek.

A clever screenplay and the surprising comic chemistry between the stars make Get Hard worth watching, and don't be turned off by a title that sounds like bad porn.

Will Ferrell plays James King, a millionaire who gets sentenced to 10 years in jail for embezzlement and is given 30 days to get his affairs in order. Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart) runs a car wash business in the parking level of King's company and King has always treated him like an indentured servant. King is terrified of going to prison and offers Darnell $30,000 to prepare King for survival in prison, predicated on King believing that Lewis is black and, therefore, must have done time in prison. Darnell, who has never been in prison, plays on the stereotype and seeks his own help in helping James, which includes turning James' mansion into a simulated prison, turning his swimming pool into "the yard."

Screenwriters Jay Martel and Ian Roberts have constructed a very funny story that contains material that could be deemed racially offensive, but is written and delivered with just the right amount of tongue in cheek that all we get is laughs, comfortable and appropriate laughs. Director Etan Cohen displays great trust in the comic skill of his stars and keeps the reins on them somewhat loose while mounting some viable action sequences and memorable set pieces that prove Cohen knows how to deliver an action comedy.

Ferrell is terrific as King, garnering major laughs and working effectively with Kevin Hart as Darnell, a standup comic who proves he has the chops to bring his talent to the movie screen with a performance that is hysterically funny but never over the top. There is also solid support from Craig T. Nelson as Ferrell's boss and future father-in-law and Allison Brie as James' bitchy and self-absorbed fiancee. Though a little on the predictable side, the film delivers solid laughs and sustains interest through the closing credits.

Attachments

 

Actors and musicians often have to give up a lot in their pursuit of fame and fortune and this is the theme of a 2015 character study called Danny Collins, which also works due to the charismatic star turn from the Oscar winning actor in the lead role.

Al Pacino plays the title character, an aging rock star who has definitely seen better days who, upon receiving a cherished childhood souvenir from his idol, John Lennon, decides to cancel the rest of his tour and go on a journey of self-discovery which includes attempting to connect with the family he never knew he had and bringing a lonely hotel manager (Annette Bening) out of her shell.

Director and screenwriter Dan Fogelman has really nailed the whole burnt out rock star thing, but his title character seems to be based on a different kind of rocker....Danny is not like a Mick Jagger or an Axel Rose who still attracts a younger demographic. Danny reminded me of Neil Diamond, which became glaringly clear by the gray hair and pot bellies that populated his audience during the opening scenes, which, for some reason, raised the pathetic factor of the character, making us feel terrible for him when his new found family initially wants nothing to do with him. We understand how they feel. but Fogelman's script and Pacino really makes us care for and root for Danny...he is sad but he is so likable. The story and actor combination here reminded me a lot of the Alexander Payne/Jack Nicholson triumph About Schmidt and how Pacino's habitation of this character makes the film seem a lot better than it is. I fell in love with Danny instantly and was terribly upset by the curve balls the screenplay threw him in the final third of the film, but realized they only added to the realism of what I was watching.

Pacino sparkles with a real movie star turn here...there is a consistent twinkle in Danny's eye that is hard to resist and he creates a viable chemistry with Annette Bening in a role quite unlike anything she's ever done. Bobby Cannavale brings the proper anger to his role as Danny's unforgiving son and Jennifer Garner also scores as his wife, as does Christopher Plummer as Danny's manager and voice of reason. This movie is probably not as good as I thought it was and maybe that's because I'm a huge Pacino fan and Pacino fans will definitely have a head start here.

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore team for a third time in the 2014 comedy Blended, which scores points for attempted originality but loses points for predictability and lack of economy in telling a story where we can see the ending coming from miles away.

Sandler plays Jim, the widowed father of three girls, who has a disastrous blind date with Barrymore's Lauren, the divorced mother of two boys, who are then reunited at a resort/seminar for blended families that takes place in Africa of all places, where they connect through c
each other's children first.

Even though we pretty much know what's going to happen once our star-crossed lovers meet again in Africa, there is a certain amount of curiosity as to how exactly it's going to happen. We watch as Jim gives Lauren's younger son baseball tips and as Lauren helps Jim's daughter Hillary to let go of her inner tomboy and discover that she really is a girl, despite the fact that Jim might have been raising her to believe the contrary. The fact that this all happens in Africa is kind of original and there is a lot of attractive location photography, but it doesn't take away from the story's predictability and the fact that the film is about 20 minutes too long.

Ivan Menchell and Clara Sera's screenplay does have a spark of originality to it, due to the fact that both our lead characters are single parents and it is refreshing to see the lead characters in a romantic love story put the needs of their children first. but when the children start pushing them together, that's where the predictability kicks in. I think this story would have been a lot more interesting and realistic if Jim and Lauren had found a way to put their kids' needs first and still work on their own relationship despite the fact that their kids hate each other, but the kids are practically shoving these two at each other from jump, which was what I was expecting, but every now and then I like something to happen in a movie that I don't expect.

Sandler and Barrymore's reputation as a screen team has to go a long way here and I'm not sure if it was enough to sustain the film since the performances from the kids are kind of annoying and the supporting cast, which includes Terry Crews, Wendie McClendon-Hovey, Kevin Nealon, and Shaquille O'Neal, is pretty much wasted in thankless roles. Recommended for hard core fans of Sandler and Barrymore only.

The 2013 comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a severely underrated comedy that works thanks to a clever story, a razor-sharp screenplay, a first rate-cast and some terrific magic effects.

Steve Carell plays the title character, an arrogant and obnoxious magician who finds himself at a loss when he has a falling out with his longtime partner, Anton (Steve Buscemi), losing his permanent gig at Bally's Casino in Las Vegas and forcing a fateful encounter with the magician (Alan Arkin) who was his childhood idol.

I hadn't heard a lot of great things about this movie prior to seeing it, but I have to admit I enjoyed this film thoroughly. Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Dailey's screenplay is a little long-winded but rich with comic dialogue that had me on the floor for most of the running time, stemming not only from some great physical comedy but an on-target character study of the title character as we watch grow from clueless and obnoxious show business snob to actual human being...I love when he loses his suite at Bally's and is shocked to learn that room service doesn't deliver outside of the hotel.

Director Don Scardino has a sharp comic eye and a definite talent for casting the right actors in the role, even when they are cast against type like Buscemi. Carell is fall on the floor funny as one the most obnoxious characters he has ever played and he and Buscemi make a credible comic team. Olivia Wilde was a lovely leading lady, displaying some surprising comic timing which I didn't see coming. The late James Gandolfini also garnered laughs as the owner of Balley's, but if the truth be known, the best performance in this film came from Jim Carrey, doing a dead on takeoff on magician Criss Angel that was almost a little frightening in its accuracy, kind of like his Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon, but always, always funny and surprising because Carrey has done quite a few stinko movies in the last decade or so, but maybe Scardino found the secret...give him a key supporting role where the film doesn't rest entirely on his shoulders because it sure worked here.

I also found it interesting watching Carell doing scenes with Arkin, the man who stole the Oscar Carell should have won for Little Miss Sunshine, but Carell's respect for Arkin as an actor was clear in every moment they shared onscreen. This was a deliciously entertaining comedy with a story that comes full circle to a very satisfying conclusion.

Director and writer Woody Allen, whose early career was predicated on writing and producing laughs onscreen, made his first foray into drama with the 1978 film Interiors, a scorching, uncompromising, dark and voyeuristic drama that was Woody's homage to his cinematic mentor, Ingmar Bergman, who Woody has actually referred to onscreen as "the only true genius in cinema". This look at family dysfunction at its zenith was groundbreaking movie making due to Woody's unapologetic screenplay, his keen directorial eye and a knack for casting the last actor you would expect in a certain kind of role and making it work.

The film centers on an affluent New York family who we meet as the family patriarch, Arthur (E.G. Marshall), quietly announces one morning at the breakfast table that he wants a trial separation from wife, Eve (Geraldine Page), an event that sends not only Eve, but Arthur and Eve's three daughters' lives into a tailspin.

Joey (Mary Beth Hurt) is Arthur's pet and happily married, but has been unable to find a career that she is either happy with or can be successful with. Flyn (Kristin Griffith) is an actress who has been out of the family loop for awhile because she is always on location working somewhere. Renata (Diane Keaton) is an extremely successful writer who is married to a writer (Richard Jordan) who is nowhere near the success his wife is, which is probably why he drinks heavily and has been harboring a secret crush on his sister-in-law Flyn. Things get ugly because the daughters refuse to accept the possible end of their parents' marriage, despite Arthur's history of infidelity. Things get even uglier when Arthur brings a new woman named Pearl (Maureen Stapleton) to a family function and announces his plans to marry her.

In many of my reviews, I have often spoken about characters that speak "without filter" but I think this is the film where it originated...I have never seen family members speak to each other with such insensitivity and cruelty without a second thought. Arthur's matter of fact attitude when he announces he wants out of his marriage is undeniably disturbing. He is so upset that favorite daughter doesn't approve of his decisions but every time he speaks to anyone else about her, all he does talk about what a disappointment she has been to him. Renata's arrogance as the most successful member of her family and her boredom with everyone depending on her, not to mention the emasculation of her husband is startling and Eve's emotional blinders about the end of her marriage and her refusal to accept her part in it is alternately annoying and heartbreaking. These are angry, insensitive, and callous people who happen to be family, but absolutely nothing that happens during this 90 minutes comes off as false or affected.

Allen's genius at creating sympathy for unsympathetic characters works in his casting...Arthur is one of the most reprehensible characters that I've ever seen, but the casting of E.G. Marshall in the role and his subtle underplay made the character fascinating to watch. The way the story is constructed, the character of Pearl is supposed to be the alleged villain of the piece, but Maureen Stapleton brings such a vivacious and rich quality to the character (with the help of Allen's writing of the character) that there is no way you can hate Pearl. Eve is a foolish and slightly pathetic character, but with Geraldine Page in the role, you forget that very quickly.

Allen's genius as a director is evident in every frame...one of the most startling directorial touches I noticed here was that with the exception of a single party scene where characters are dancing with each other, the film has no music score at all...the power of the storytelling here drives the film and until the scene with the music happened, it didn't even occur to me that the film had no music and I really didn't miss it, which I found very ironic because Woody's taste in music has always been flawless, always picking the right music for the right scene.

Allen also knows how to draw powerful performances from his cast and this film is no exception...Page, an actress who was incapable of giving a bad performance, is magnificent in a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for lead actress and Stapleton's sparkling turn as Pearl earned her a supporting nomination. Marshall is a revelation as Arthur and Keaton's interpretation of a very complex character is powerhouse.

If you want to see where films like Crimes and Misdemeanors, Another Woman, and Husband and Wives came from, check out this early masterpiece of the master, which certainly should have won Allen a screenplay Oscar. This is a must-see for serious students of cinema.

Little Fockers is the second sequel to the 2000 hit Meet the Parents which is definitely a classic case of going to the well once too often.

This 2010 comedy starts in a pretty positive place for the principal characters, the tightly wound ex-FBI agent Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and his male nurse son-in-law, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) who has now given Jack twin grandchildren. Jack is thrown when he learns that his other son-in-law, Dr. Bob (Tom McCarthy) cheated on his other daughter Debbie and instantly jumps to conclusions about a Greg and a new co-worker (Jessica Alba). Things are further complicated by the return of Pam's former fiancee, Kevin (Owen Wilson) who has just been dumped by his latest girlfriend and still seems to be carrying a torch for Pam (Teri Polo).

Screenwriters John Hamburg and Larry Stuckey have done their homework, effectively mining the history of these characters into a story but ten years after the first film, it's a little hard to care and more misunderstandings of Byrnes always thinking the worst of Greg and working hard to trap him in lies and make him look bad in Pam's eyes, are just tiresome and predictable now. We saw it in two previous movies and nothing terribly original has been done for this third film. What does ring true though is Greg's resentment of Kevin's return to their lives...it was nice to see a man who has been married over a decade actually still be jealous over his wife's old boyfriend...I think a much more interesting film could have developed if this had been the primary story presented, providing a contrast to the first sequel.

The stars have settled comfortably in their roles and Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand's pointless appearance as Greg's parents just seems obligatory and a waste of screen time. Jessica Alba, despite looking amazing, is way over the top, but there is a fun cameo by Harvey Keitel and it was fun watching him and old Taxi Driver co-star De Niro share the screen, but there just wasn't enough viable new material for a second sequel. Incredibly, another sequel is implied at the end of this film and it hasn't happened yet...thank God.

There's an old joke..."What do you call a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start." For some reason, this joke continually flashed through my mind while watching the manipulative but effective 1998 courtroom drama A Civil Action.

This fact-based story stars John Travolta as Jan Schlictmann, a slick civil action attorney who has built a reputable law firm from years of ambulance-chasing who, thanks to a phone call during a radio interview and a speeding ticket becomes involved in a civil suit regarding toxic waste and dead children that puts his reputation and his business on the line.

Director and co-screenwriter Steven Zaillian, who won an Oscar for writing Schindler's List has created a story that does not paint attorneys in a flattering light at all. From the opening scene, underscored by a rather callous narration from Schlichtmann about who makes the best clients in a civil action suit to his handling of the above referenced radio phone call to his accepting this case, it is initially unclear what Schlichtmann's agenda but at some point, his motives come into focus and his agenda is clear but the problem here is that I never really noticed when that change in Schlichtmann happened and I found that troublesome.

One aspect of the story that really worked for me was an uncompromising look at the expense of mounting a civil suit for the plaintiff's law firm, something that I don't recall being addressed too much in courtrooom dramas prior to this one. In Erin Brockovich, we see the firm sharing expenses with a larger firm, but here we actually see the firm crumble financially under the weight of this suit, which wasn't pretty, but very realistic.

Travolta is solid as Schlichtmann and there's a brilliant performance from the always reliable Robert Duvall as the opposing attorney. Also loved James Gandolfini as a possible witness, Kathleen Quinlan as the mother of one of the victims and especially William H. Macy as one of Schlictmann's partners who tries to keep an eye on the bottom line. There's also a classy cameo by the late Sydney Pollack as one of the defendants in the case.

The film is expensively mounted with some interesting camera work and some sharp film editing, but it is the compelling and well-rounded story, that doesn't provide easy fixes, that make the film worth checking out, even if it doesn't endear you to lawyers.

A pair of charismatic lead performances and intelligent direction are the primary reasons to check out Urban Cowboy, the 1980 smash that made country and western music, a bar called Gilley's, a mechanical bull, and being a cowboy, sexy.

Bud Davis (John Travolta) is an oilfield worker, obsessed with being the king of the mechanical bull at Gilleys, who falls for Sissy (Debra Winger), a barfly at Gilley's who Bud actually proposes to after their second meeting. Of course, they married too soon, separate and eventually get involved with other people: an ex-con named Wes (Scott Glenn) casts his eye on Sissy and a glamorous socialite named Pam (Madolyn Smith) becomes obsessed with Bud.

The story is so not what makes this film work, but the way director James Bridges chooses to tell the story...the whole country and western ambiance was something we hadn't seen before and a pervading theme throughout the film is how cool it is to be or to be with a cowboy, even though it's never really made clear exactly what a cowboy is, though that first closeup of Bud after he shaves his beard at Gilley's with his black cowboy hat was a definite clue. Bridges shows a real talent for advancing story without dialogue...the scene on the dance floor where the above mentioned characters are trying to make each other jealous is brilliantly photographed and directed.

Travolta cemented the stardom he created with Saturday Night Fever and Grease with his star turn here, a character not that much unlike Tony Manero, but Travolta puts a unique stamp on this somewhat sexist character and also proves that he is just as adept with a Texas Two Step as he was on the disco dance floor three years earlier. Winger lights up the screen with her natural and unaffected performance as Sissy. Winger is one of those actresses, like Toni Collette, you never catch "acting" and she is a joy to watch here. Her slow ride on the mechanical bull is one of the scene's most memorable scenes. Scott Glenn is the perfect combination of dangerous and sexy as Wes and Smith perfectly combines bitchy and sexy.

Needless to say, the film also features one of the most toe-tapping music scores I've heard in a while and I don't even like country music but the appearances by Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Lee, Charlie Daniels, and, of course, Mickey Gilley just added to the rich and entertaining atmosphere that director Bridges creates here. Well worth a look.

Primary Colors is the splashy and expensive look at a presidential candidate and his first run, which appears to be a thinly veiled look at Bill and Hillary Clinton, as seen through the eyes of a young African American campaign worker who finds surprises at every turn working for the charismatic candidate.

John Travolta plays Jack Stanton, an amiable and charismatic governor who has begun a campaign to become POTUS when news of an arrest in his past, as well as an extra-marital affair come to light, which motivates Jack's campaign staff to beat the press to any further dirt by hiring a special investigator named Libby Holden (Kathy Bates) to dig up any more dirt on Jack before the press does.

The parallels between this and the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal notwithstanding, it is really hard to tell how much of what we're seeing here really factual, so I will be talking about this film purely for its entertainment value and for that, this film really hits the bullseye...the late Mike Nichols has assembled a spectacular all-star cast who really deliver the goods, and by the goods, I refer to Elaine May's superb screenplay, which is a no-holds barred look into the political machine and the scars it can leave its warriors.

Travolta lights up the screen as Stanton and Emma Thompson buries her English accent long enough to be believable as Stanton's wife, Susan, the woman behind the man and probably the strongest resemblance to her real-life counterpart. Kathy Bates received an Oscar nomination for her performance as the slightly demented investigator and Adrian Lester held his own with a screen of old pros as the idealistic young campaign worker who finds his head turned by the Stantons. Billy Bob Thornton, Larry Hagman, Paul Guilfoyle, Diane Ladd and Maura Tierney also score in supporting roles in this sparkling political comedy that even without its roots in real-life political history, is still solid entertainment.

Spike Jonze' Oscar-winning screenplay and a dazzling lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix anchor 2013's Her, a riveting and manipulative romantic drama that truly is "a love story for the computer age."

Phoenix plays Theodore Twombley, a soon-to-be-divorced writer and techno geek who gets a new organizational system installed into his personal computer that has a female voice (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) and Theodore actually finds himself entering into a relationship with this new system, who named herself Samantha, that defies explanation.

Jonze, one of the creative forces behind the brilliant Being John Malkovich has once again tread where no filmmaker has tread, creating one of cinema's most unique love stories that has you rooting for the protagonists even though you know in the pit of your gut that there is no way this will work.

And it's not for lack of trying or imagination...Samantha even manages to somehow convince a woman to act as a surrogate so that she can actually touch Theodore, but it doesn't work for Theodore.

Jonze' story is sparkling with originality and I expect nothing less from him and Phoenix delivers a performance of pathos and empathy, creating a character of such depth and likability that we can't help but pray that he and Samantha get together. Fans of Being John Malkovich will definitely have a head start here, but if you're looking for something completely different, give it a chance. I should also mention that I think the title of the film is perfection.

The HBO series Sex and the City that ran from 1998 to 2004 was brought to the big screen in a feature length film in 2008 with the original cast. This splashy, overlong, and overblown extension of the cable series attempts to give fans closure on the show and the characters fans had grown to love but takes way too long to do it.

The primary focus of this film is on the relationship between writer Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) and how their matter-of-fact decision to get married is the beginning of a very slippery slope. We also are subject to marital troubles for Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg), Charlotte (Kristen Davis) adjusting to motherhood and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) who is now residing in LA and trying to learn how to be the girl in her relationship with Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis) while suppressing fantasies about a new neighbor (Gilles Marini).

There is a lot of history behind these characters and Michael Patrick King, a creator of the series and director and co-writer of this film, attempts a brief overview of said history during the opening sequence but one has to wonder if it's enough for the uninitiated. As I watched this film, I couldn't help but think that moviegoers who did not watch the series would have no interest in seeing this movie. I thought the same thing about The Brady Bunch Movie, but I do know there are people who liked that movie who were not fans of the series so, it's really hard to say.

As someone who was a fan of the series, I have to say I found this cinematic journey a long but predictable one...it would have been nice to have been offered a few surprises along the way. The closest thing to new information we got here was the final reveal of Big's real name (John James Preston). I was also disturbed with what appeared to be an alteration in the relationship between Carrie and the other three girls...the movie implies that Carrie and Samantha are BFF's...Carrie even asks Samantha to be her maid of honor, but in the series, I always felt Miranda was Carrie's BFF and watching that relationship shifted behind Carrie and Samantha was kind of disturbing to me. I also had trouble with the forced relationship between Carrie's gay friend Stanford (Willie Garson) and Charlotte's gay friend Anthony (Mario Cantone)...shoving these two characters together just because they were both gay just didn't work, evidenced by the clear lack of chemistry between Garson and Cantone. And Jennifer Hudson's hastily-written supporting role meant to capitalize on her success in Dreamgirls was pointless.

On the positive side, the film is beautiful to look at...the cinematography is stunning with effective use of Manhattan and Mexican locations and, as expected, the costumes are Oscar-worthy, but the film is definitely substance-challenged and if you weren't a fan of the series, you probably just won't care.

A somewhat original story and a pair of engaging lead performances made the 2015 comedy The Wedding Ringer one of the more pleasant surprises I've had as a moviegoer.

The film stars Joshua Gad as Doug Harris, a socially inept geek who is scheduled to marry a girl way out of his league (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) in less than two weeks. Unable to find someone to serve as his best man, Doug is led to one Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart), the president and CEO of a company called The Best Man Inc., where Jimmy, for a price, agrees to be a groom's best man and providing for the groom all that being a best man entails. Jimmy's business is so successful that he has a pamphlet outlining the different packages he provides in terms of service to the groom. Jimmy is also so good at what he does that the grooms begin to believe that he really is their best friend and Jimmy finds himself always having to remind the grooms that what he is doing is strictly business. Doug offers Jimmy $50,000 to pull off a package not on the pamphlet called "The Golden Tux", which includes a bachelor party and seven groomsmen.

Director and co-writer Jeremy Garelick has crafted a story that asks the viewer to accept a lot but it also delivers a lot, particularly in the area of lead characters that we instantly care about. We are put behind Doug from the opening scenes where he tries to get a best man on his own and we are behind Jimmy when it is clear that he has a lot of experience doing what he does, asks all the right questions, and provides all the correct answers in being a believable best man. The relationship between these characters is set up from the beginning but one line of dialogue changes everything and we find ourselves looking at a completely different story that shifts gears and delivers some surprises in storyline that we don't see coming at all, even if it takes just a little too long to get there.

Gad makes Doug a completely lovable hero and he is a perfect straight man to Hart, whose slick Jimmy Callahan has the charisma of a young Eddie Murphy, providing laughs where he should and heart where he should. And most importantly, it is the surprising chemistry between these two characters that make this movie worth investing in. This is a film filled with silly situations, some outrageous characters, some viable comic action but it also has heart and a surprising integrity for a comedy that was quite refreshing.

Star power drives the 2007 road trip/buddy comedy Wild Hogs, making the film seem a lot better than it really is.

John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy play four middle-aged men who are weekend warriors on motorcycles who wear jackets with the name of their "gang" on it, but they never take their bikes any further than the parking lot of their local bar. Tired of their hum drum lives and playing bikers, the guys decide to take an actual road trip where they face several adventures, including a very dangerous encounter with a real biker gang led by a psycho (Ray Liotta) who resents weekend warriors and decides to take out his resentment on our heroes.

I liked the way Brad Copeland's screenplay set up these guys' motivations for starting the Wild Hogs and how each guy needs the group as an outlet for their own individual reasons. It also makes clear that these guys know each other intimately and when the chips are down, would do anything for each other. And most importantly, the story allows for various forms of growth for the four principals...these are not the same guys we meet at the beginning of the movie.

Director Walt Becker made the inspired decision of casting four middle-aged actors as four middle-aged characters and actually allowed them to play their age and all that implies. I think this might have a lot to do with why the four leads really seem to be enjoying themselves. As I've mentioned in other reviews, I love performances where the actors really seem to be enjoying what they are doing and the actors do seem to be enjoying themselves here.

When you see their names listed together, the four leads seem like an odd combination but they work surprisingly well together and I have to give a shout out to Macy, not known for comedy, as the romantically challenged computer geek who falls for an attractive restaurant owner (Marisa Tomei). Liotta is solid, and there are some funny bits by Stephen Tobolowsky as a wimpy sheriff and John C. McGinley as a kinky highway patrolman. There's also a classy cameo by Peter Fonda, an obvious nod to Easy Rider. Some beautiful photography and some great music help, but when it all comes down to it, the whole thing has a kind of emptiness to it that the star power almost makes you look past it...almost.

Nice review, I agree with you...the star power makes it fun, but it's not an amazing film, but worth a watch.