Today's Movie: Leatherheads

2008's Leatherheads was not a movie that connected with critics or audiences overall. The film lost money at the box-office and currently only holds a 52% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6/10 on IMDb. Sure, within the genre of sports films it's no Rocky or Field of Dreams, or The Wrestler but, with that being said, I liked the film when I originally saw it in theaters and re-watching it today I still thought it was pretty entertaining.

Set in 1925, the film stars George Clooney as Dodge Connelly an aging pro football player who plays for team that, like so many others, is broke and about to fold. However, there is a war hero/stud football player out of Princeton named Carter "The Bullet" Rutherford (played by John Krasinski) that Dodge convinces to join his Duluth Bulldogs in an effort to save the team and legitimize pro football. There is one wrinkle though; this 'war hero' may not be a hero after all and reporter Lexie Littleton (played by Renee Zellweger) is determined to get the real story. The film, I feel, blends it's sports, screwball comedy, and love triangle aspects all pretty well. It's well shot and well acted with good chemistry between the three leads, but it probably didn't need to be nearly two hours as it does seem to drag at few points. 

Overall, this is a film I enjoy and if you like sports movies then this is one I recommend checking out if you haven't seen it.

3.5 out of 5.

A Look Back At "The Mummy" Movies

There have been a ton of movies that have featured mummies over the years. And in that slew of films between the 1932 Boris Karloff classic and the 2017 Tom Cruise one (that no one except for me seemed to like), exists a trilogy of films starring Brendan Fraser. Now, none of these were big critical hits but, the first two were mostly well-received by audiences.

The last of the Brendan Fraser 'Mummy' films came out back in 2008 and because it's been ten years since that series ended, I thought it would be a good time to look back and see if the movies hold up. Also, I'm going to keep this limited to the just the 'Mummy' films, so the 'Scorpion King' spinoff movies will not be included.

What works: Although after rewatching all of these I think it would be hard to argue in favor of any one of the three films being a legitimately great piece of cinema, it's hard to deny that they are a fun bunch of adventure flicks. Brendan Fraser is solid as the likable jerk Rick O'Connell, there is a nice balance of action and comedy, and the supporting cast is (mostly) good. Also, I like the musical score in all of the films, particularly the main themes from the 'The Mummy' and 'The Mummy Returns'.

What doesn't: The CGI effects in these films are really bad. Some will argue that the films came out in 1999, 2001, and 2008 respectively so they don't look great compared to today's standards. However, as someone who saw all of these when they were first released in theaters, a lot of the effects were subpar even for the time. Additionally, each of the three films carries a runtime of about 2hrs and they all feel a bit too long. Like most trilogies, there is one movie that is clearly the weakest of the bunch, and the runt of this litter is 'Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'. It doesn't involve an Egyptian mummy, most of the jokes fall flat, and they weren't able to convince Rachael Weisz to come back, so they just recast Evelyn.

Overall, despite some problems, I still think this is a fun trilogy of films. Are they going to go down in history as all-time classics? No, but if you haven't seen then in a while then they are worth revisiting.


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If you enjoyed this there is, I did another 'Look Back' at the Hellboy films (you can check that out by clicking HERE). 

Today's Movie: What Just Happened

 

Released in 2008, What Just Happened is comedy-drama about a Hollywood Producer named Ben (played by Robert De Niro) who is going through his fair share of professional and personal problems. His latest film, 'Fiercely' (Which stars Sean Penn), is receiving a lot of push back after it's test screening because a dog is shot at the end of the film. Of course the film's director doesn't want to change the ending which causes concerns among studio executives. Ben is also having a hard time making a clean break from his ex-wife Kelly (played by Robin Wright) who is seeing a screenwriter named Scott (played by Stanley Tucci) who Ben has previously worked with. As if all that wasn't enough, the studio is threatening to cancel a film Ben is producing because Bruce Willis is unwilling to shave the thick beard that he has recently grown and his agent Dick Bell (played by John Turturro) is too scared to confront him.

For the most part the cast is pretty solid, Robert De Niro turns in a good performance but I wouldn't put it up there with some of his best. Bruce Willis, though not in the film a whole lot, provides a few laughs. Overall, the movie far from perfect and feels about 15 minutes too long with a few scenes that could've easily been cut. It's watchable but not a must-see.

I give this one a 2out of 5.

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