Today's Movie: Milk

                                   

                                  

Milk is a 2008 biopic about the politician/gay rights activist Harvey Milk. The film stars a pretty solid cast featuring Josh Brolin, James Franco, Allison Pill, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, and Sean Penn as Harvey Milk. Taking place on the 1970's, the movie focuses on Milk's numerous attempts and eventual success in being the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California. I wasn't alive in the 1970's and I've never done any extensive research on the life of Harvey Milk, so I'm going assume most of the film accurately depicts the real life events. It's well directed, well acted (Sean Penn even won an Oscar for his role in the film), and features a solid musical score by Danny Elfman. However, despite the interesting subject matter, I find the film a little on the boring side and drags a bit at times. It's a 2-hour movie that feels like 3-hours. 

Is it one of the best biopics of all-time? I don't think so, but it's a good movie.

3.5 out of 5.

Close Range

Close Range is a 2016 film with some slightly deceptive box-art.

In the film, Stanly Winters (played by Henry Douthwaite) is a former soldier that accidently shot and killed a young boy during a raid. Haunted by this experience, Stanley has since retired to the French Alps where he cares for his blind mother. Some years later, the boy's sister sets out to find her brother's killer and get revenge.

Now, based on the premise and a quick look at the Blu-ray cover made me think this was going to be an action B-movie set in a snowy environment, with some bad puns and maybe a snow-mobile chase thrown in for good measure. However, If you go into this one hoping for an action flick, then this will be a pretty big let down. On the flip side, if you just want to take a gamble on some random film that you never heard of then this might be a pleasant surprise. The movie isn't great, but it is good. It's a quiet and slowly-paced film for the most part, which helps to emphasis the wintry solitude. The acting overall is decent and it's pretty well written. 

I give this one a solid 3 out of 5

Western Wednesday: Days of Jesse James

Today's movie is the 1939 film Days of Jesse James and it stars two legends of the Western genre, Roy Rogers and George "Gabby" Hayes. The movie hits the ground running by starting off with Jesse James and his gang robbing a train. This event is enough to convince one of the train's passengers, Gabby Whittaker (played by Hayes), to start putting his money into the bank. Unfortunately for him, the bank he puts all his money in is robbed shortly afterwards. Of course everyone assumes that Jesse James is also responsible for the bank robbery, so Roy and Gabby set out to find the James gang. However, the two soon discover the truth and, Spoiler Alert (if you're actually worried about spoilers for a movie that was released nearly 80 years ago), it turns out the bank manager is the one who actually stole the money.

 Overall, this is a decent flick. The plot is straight forward and to the point, and although it's probably not one of Roy Rogers best, I think it's enjoyable. 

2.5 out of 5

Today's Movie: Broken City

2013's Broken City is one of those films that falls into the "good enough" category. It has a decent cast and some pretty good cinematography, but suffers from a formulaic plot. 

The film is about a former cop-turned-private investigator, named Billy Taggart (played by Mark Wahlberg) who has been hired by the mayor of New York City to follow his wife and collect evidence of an affair. Of course this is all part of an elaborate setup, and a much bigger government corruption scheme. If you're even a moderate fan of political thrillers or crime dramas you'll probably be able to predict every twist this movie throws at you 10 minutes before it happens.

With that being said, I still think it's entertaining. Russell Crowe plays Mayor Nicholas Hostetler and Catherine Zeta-Jones plays his wife and are both solid. The movie does lack a bit of tension, and there's a whole thing about Billy's girlfriend being an aspiring actress which felt, at least to me, like unnecessary subplot thrown in to pad the runtime. 

Overall, Broken City is a mixed-bag. If you like Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, and films about corruption then definitely check it out. Otherwise you're not missing anything if you skip this one. It's fine and I wasn't bored but, I'm also going to probably forget I even watched it in a few days.

2.5 out of 5

Today's Movie: Zipper

Released in 2015, Zipper is a political-thriller starring Patrick Wilson and Lena Headey. 

The film is about a federal prosecutor named Sam Ellis (played by Wilson) who, in addition to being a lawyer, also has political aspirations. One night, whether it be from the pressures of his stressful life or just his own curiosity (the film never explicitly says), Sam contacts an escort service and cheats on his wife. Unfortunately for Sam, this soon leads to him becoming addicted to prostitutes. From there bulk of the film is about Sam's struggle to balance work and his new obsession, all while trying to keep his indiscretions hidden from his wife, the FBI, and the press. 

There are couple of things I like about this movie; Patrick Wilson's performance is good and Richard Dreyfuss has a small part in the film. That being said, I wouldn't call this a good film overall. It's not particularly well written or directed, and it hard to empathize with any of the characters. If the plot sounds interesting to you, then you might want to check it out. I don't recommend this one but, it's only about 1hr 40mins long and there are far worse movies out there.

1.5 out of 5.

It's a Disaster

It's a Disaster is a 2012, comedy starring David Cross, Julia Stiles, America Ferrera, Jeff Grace, Erinn Hayes, Kevin M. Brennan, Blaise Miller, Rachel Boston, and Todd Berger. In the film a group of couples all get together for their regular couples brunch. Three of the couples are either married or in long term relationships with the one outlier being Julie Stiles' character Tracy, who has brought along her new boyfriend Glenn (played by David Cross). As you'd expect with just about any movie involving couples, they're all in different situations; One couple is headed for divorce, one couple is made up of two free-spirits, and one couple has someone who is hesitant to set a wedding date. However, where this differs from a typical relationship-comedy is the fact that a major disaster is going to kill them all. 

Shortly after everyone arrives for brunch, the power and phone lines go out. The group is alerted by a neighbor that there were a series of explosions downtown, and toxic gas is heading their way. It's a pretty simple setup that could get old pretty quickly but, the film moves along at a brisk pace and the dialogue is witty enough to keep things entertaining. It's not a particularly great movie but it's fun and I got a few laughs out of it.

I give this one a 3 out of 5

Demon House

Released earlier this year, Demon House is a documentary about a house in Gary, Indiana that is reportedly haunted. The documentary is written, directed, and produced by everyone's favorite paranormal-investigator/charlatan Zak Bagans who, of course, also stars in the film. 

Now, I actually really like Zak Bagans show on the Travel Channel Ghost Adventures, it's a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, so I was very interested in checking this out. Unfortunately, the film just feels like a much longer episode of the TV show... and not one of the good episodes. 

So, what's it about?

Shortly after having a nightmare, Bagans hears a news story about a house that is supposedly home to a multitude of demons and so he buys the house sight unseen. He then travels to Indiana to investigate, looking for anyone with any connection to the home. The majority of the movie is just Zak conducting interviews, which is a little disappointing if you go in looking for more of a ghost-hunting movie like I was. Toward the end of the film Zak actually does finally decide to stay the night alone in the house with all the windows and doors boarded up. Not much happens. A blurry shadow is briefly seen on camera, Zak gets a bad headache and claims that the night in the house was the cause of him now needing to wear glasses. After that, the house is torn down and the movie is over. 

Overall, I didn't find this film all that compelling and I can't see myself actually recommending it anyone. 

I give Demon House a 1 out of 5.

Western Wednesday: Cahill United States Marshal

It's another "Western Wednesday" and I'm going with a John Wayne movie again this week (last week I reviewed The Train Robbers, you can check out that review by clicking HERE). Today's movie is 1973's Cahill United States Marshal. 

In this one John Wayne plays J.D. Cahill, a U.S. Marshal who's job often keeps him away from home and his two sons Danny and Billy for long stretches of time. One night, while Cahill is away, Danny and Billy help a gang lead by Abe Fraser (played by George Kennedy) rob the local bank. The gang has the perfect alibi because, as far as everyone else knows, they were all in jail for drunk and disorderly conduct the night of the robbery and Billy is tasked with hiding the stolen money. When Cahill returns to town, he and Danny set out to find whoever robbed the bank with the help of tracker named Lightfoot. While Cahill is out of town looking for the criminals, Fraser and his gang ambush Billy demanding to know where the money is hidden. The problem is Cahill's sons feel guilty and want to return the money to the bank, but Fraser will stop at nothing to get it. The result is a showdown in the forest between the Fraser gang and the Cahills. 

As a film, this is a pretty average, by-the-numbers Western. There's no interesting camera work, amazing musical score or incredibly complex characters. However, this is the kind of movie that is really elevated by John Wayne's larger then life presence, which makes it an enjoyable watch. Plus, I've always liked George Kennedy and he's also good in the movie. Cahill United States Marshal isn't a flick I'd recommend to everyone but, I think it's a "must-see" if you're a John Wayne fan.

 3 out of 5

A Look Back at the 'American Pie' Films

For those who don't already know, the American Pie film franchise is a series of teen comedies, full of people finding themselves in awkward and often embarrassing situations... with a bit of gross-out humor thrown in for good measure. These are not high-concept cinematic masterpieces and even though I usually don't get into these types of movies, I've always enjoyed this franchise. 

Now, I'm only going to focus on the main series and not any of the spinoffs like American Pie Presents: Band Camp or American Pie Presents: Beta House. This is because;

 A) All those spinoffs were direct-to-video releases and they're all awful, so I don't want to rewatch any of them for this piece.

B) Other than Eugene Levy, none of the core original cast is in the spinoffs.

Now, none of these films were hits with critics for obvious reasons (the first film features Jason Biggs humping an apple pie), but they all did well at the box-office. Looking back, the first three films are pretty dated but a lot of the jokes still get a laugh out of me and the pop-punk/alt. rock soundtrack each film has is right up my alley. I find the core cast of this series to be a bit of a mixed bag with actors Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Alyson Hannigan, and Eugene Levy all giving memorable performances, whereas some others like Chris Kline, Tara Reid, and Thomas Ian Nicholas are kind of forgettable.

Let's start, obviously, with 1999's American Pie. This first film focuses on a group of friends who are high school seniors that make a pact that they'll each find a girl and have sex by the end of prom night. It's a premise that worked in '99 but probably wouldn't do so well today. Even though each character gets their own story beats, Jim Levenstein (played by Jason Biggs) is the real standout of the movie, and he becomes the true main character in subsequent films.

Next up is American Pie 2 which was released in 2001 and stars all the same cast as it's predecessor. The film picks up with each of our main characters from the previous film after their first year at college. It's summer break and the guys rent a lake house for a summer of fun and plans to end it with a big party. Alyson Hannigan's character (Michelle Flaherty) has a bigger role in this film, with her and Jim developing a relationship. The best way I can describe this one is, uneven. It has some of the series' best moments, and also some of the most skippable.

The third entry in the series, American Wedding, came out in 2003 with some noticeable absences to the cast. There's no Chris Klein, Mena Suvari, Tara Reid, or Natasha Lyonne, but when rewatching the movie I really didn't miss any of their characters. In this one everyone is done with college and, as the title suggests, they're all preparing for Jim's wedding to Michelle. Of course, shenanigans ensue, and even the characters in the film acknowledge how remarkable it is that Jim gets into all these crazy situations and ends up coming out of it on top. 

Nine years later the cast of the original came back together for one last time for 2012's American Reunion, and this probably the last we'll see of that original cast in an American Pie film (unless all of the actors get real desperate for money in the future). I never went to the theater to see this one and, in fact, only recently watched it for the first time. While I do enjoy the series, I thought American Wedding was a satisfying conclusion so I passed on this one initially. It's been thirteen years since the gang graduated high school and they're all back in town for a reunion. This one is definitely the weakest of the bunch and a lot of the jokes don't land as well as they did in previous films. It's not terrible, but the movie relies a little too much on the viewer's nostalgia for the older films.

Overall, I wouldn't call any of these movies great, but I think they're fun. Maybe I was just at the right age as these movies came out but, despite their flaws, I find myself going back to them every so often. 

Today's Movie: Brubaker

Released in 1980 and starring Robert Redford, Brubaker is one of those really good movies that no one ever seems to talk about. Fun Fact: It also happens to be one of Morgan Freeman's first films (though he's only in it for a few minutes).

At the start of the film Henry Brubaker (played by Robert Redford) enters Wakefield State Prison as an inmate and almost immediately he identifies a slew of problems at the prison. Some of the issues include a doctor charging inmates for medical attention, inmates being tortured, and food with maggots in it. It's soon revealed that Brubaker is actually the new Warden and he plans to turn things around. Of course not everyone is on board with the reforms. Local businessmen had been benefitting from the free labor the inmates were forced into by the previous Warden. Then a political scandal begins to unravel when Brubaker confronts a group of politicians over corruption, repairs that are long overdue, the eventual discovery of several unmarked graves on the prison's property. 

Overall, I think this is a really solid, well-crafted movie. A few of the characters are slightly underdeveloped and the film does drag just a little bit at times, but none of that ruins the movie for me. I recommend checking this one out if you've never seen it.

4 out of 5.

Western Wednesday: The Train Robbers

It's been a while since my last 'Western Wednesday' post, but I'm going to try and make it a regularly updated series again. So, today's movie is the 1973 John Wayne film, The Train Robbers.

The movie is about a widow named Mrs. Lowe (played by Ann-Margret) who wants to recover a half million dollars in gold that her late husband stole and return it to the railroad in order to clear the family name. Plus, there is a nice $50,000 reward for anyone who returns the gold. With the help of a man named Lane (played by John Wayne) and a couple others they set out for Mexico to retrieve the hidden gold. However, a gang made up of some of the original train robbers want the gold and they'll stop at nothing to get it. 

The plot really isn't anything special but, the relatively short 90min runtime keeps things moving forward and I think it's a fun movie overall. There are a couple shootouts, John Wayne punches someone in the face in multiple scenes, and near the end a couple of buildings get blown up. Sure, It's not at that level of John Wayne classics like True Grit, The Searchers, or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but I still think it's definitely worth watching if you're a fan of The Duke. 

I give this one a 3 out of 5.