Carjacked Taking you along for the Ride

            I found Carjacked at the video store one day. I was drawn to it because it had Stephen Dorff in it. He is probably one of my favorite actors and I just feel he doesn’t get enough credit for the movies he does. In the instance of Carjacked I’m willing to bet most of you out there haven’t even heard of it and you should have.

            Lorraine, Maria Bello, is a divorced woman just trying to provide for her son. But one night when she stops to get gas and Roy, Stephen Dorff, enters her life it all becomes so much harder. Now she has to fight not only for her son’s and her safety but for their freedom. Where will they end up when Roy is done with them or will Lorraine take any of this sitting down?

            I have a few bones to pick with Carjacked before I go any farther. It has a bunch of seemingly useless bits of info thrown in at the beginning. These all, however, come to light as important background for why things are happening in the end. Even the funny story of Lorraine at the gun range comes back in the end to have set something up. Also while they were reasonably realistic with things about the cars in the movie I have to wonder if that was the only area their tech adviser knew anything about. For instance, there comes a time in this movie where a shotgun is brought into play. The shotgun is held properly, maybe too properly, throughout but the use of it is terrible. There’s one scene where it is cocked like three times and a shell never ejects from the shot gun even though it should at that point. What is good about this movie though, and that I love about it, there is none of that constant back and forth with the steering wheel that you see in so many tv shows and movies these days. I mean no one really drivers making that obvious of corrections the whole time. So I think that gives this movie major points towards being realistic. Also Dorff deserved some sort of award for his role as Roy in this film. He was just the right amount of psycho for the role of the bad guy. One minute he’s happy and chatting and the next he’s locking Lorraine in the trunk. Dorff has that rugged handsome thing going for him so it would seem like he is a nice approachable man which is great because he uses that in the movie so well. Most people these days know Maria Bello as the mom still breast feeding her four year old in Grown Ups, but this is a whole different way to see her. She really plays the part that was written very well, but with that said her part wasn’t written all that well. The preview only shows when she gets tough and takes control. In other words it shows the good parts, but really who would be so scared that they would dial 411 instead of 911 in an emergency. That was kind of a stretch to believe. This movie has big stars, big action, and a lot of bad swear word placement, but if you put all that aside then you’re still left with an interesting idea for a movie. I’m not going to tell you it’s the best movie that came out in 2011, but I will say that it’s just interesting enough that you should check it out for yourself.

 

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Come back next week for another thrilling ride when I review The Call.

Saving Mr. Banks Showing the adult side of Mary Poppins

            I saw the preview for Saving Mr. Banks in the theater and I immediately started counting the days till it would come out. Which is why I am so happy that I loved the movie. It was happy, it was sad, it was funny, and it was refreshing for there to be no love story involved in it. It was just a lovely retelling of true events that took place so long ago.

            Mrs. P. L. Travers, Emma Thompson, created the lovely Mary Poppins, and now after twenty years of asking Mrs. Travers has agreed to meet with Walt Disney, Tom Hanks, about making a movie. But Walt will have to go through great lengths to please the uneasy writer.

            This movie is a beautiful and accurate telling of what Walt Disney went through to get the rights to Mary Poppins, but that’s not the only story being told. Through the use of flash backs director John Lee Hancock also tells the story of how Mrs. Travers got the inspiration to write Mary Poppins and it’s not the happy story you’d think it to be. The flash backs seem to coincide well with the movie except for one time. When Mrs. Travers sees the pears and promptly throws them out the window they don’t show hint of why she did this until about thirty minutes later and even then you don’t get the whole meaning behind it till almost the end of the movie. One thing I think is cool to see is the making of the songs that we, the viewers, already know so well. You get to see them figuring out the words and tunes and at the same time trying to get Mrs. Travers to sign off on them. My favorite song to see the making of was the song in the bank. You get to see how much of what is in the song relates directly to Mrs. Travers past. The thing that confuses me about this movie is what they were allowed to put in and not put in because it was a Disney film. Tom Hanks insisted they show Mr. Disney’s smoking habit, but because it was a Disney film the only way it made it in was to see Hanks putting a cigarette out as Mrs. Travers barged into his office. However, all through the movie they show people consuming alcohol. This confuses me because yes smoking is bad, but isn’t drinking a bad thing to show to a younger crowd too? Also, people have said that it is great how Hanks did all the little things that Mr. Disney used to do, like clearing his throat before entering a room to sort of announce himself. But he wasn’t consistent with this. There were a couple scenes where he just walked into the room silently. Then again, though, he could have been trying to just not interrupt what was going on at the time. I thought at first that maybe this movie should have come out sooner since Mary Poppins was released in 1964, but then it wouldn’t have had the great actors that really helped to make this a great movie. So you could say that it came out at just the right time. Over all the good about this movie far outweighs any complaints about it. So if you’ve seen Mary Poppins but not Saving Mr. Banks you are really missing out on a lot of good stuff. You definitely need to see this movie.

 

If you're curious about this movie come check out the preview here.
Also be on the look out for my next review. As always here's a little taste of Carjacked.

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Stay Keeping you in your Seat

            I found Stay in the $1 for two movies for five nights section of my local video store. I already had one movie in hand from this section and thought ‘why not’ and guess what? It turned out to be a pretty good movie. I don’t know if it’s one I’m going to track down a copy of to own it, but I’ll rent it from time to time.

            Henry Letham, Ryan Gosling, wants to kill himself. But before he does he tries to get some help from Dr. Sam Foster, Ewan McGregor. When Sam hears of Henry’s plan he becomes determined to stop him. But can the good doctor hold on to his own sanity as he tries to help this poor boy?

            This movie almost makes me have to put a spoiler alert at the top of the page so I can talk about it. Now I’m going to try not to give anything away, but I can’t really make any promises that I won’t do it on accident. This is by nature a dark movie. The whole thing is centered around a boy who wants to kill himself and this translates a bit into how it was shot. In the beginning before we know about the darkness the scenes seem brighter or are just simply shot in the day time, but then once we learn of the news the lighting gets darker. It almost seems like most of this movie takes place at night time because of this. One of things I really liked about this movie was the transitions between scenes. They’re smooth and yet not at the same time. It’s like it goes from a front door opening to a subway car door opening. You know, they are both doors so it’s smooth, but then the doors look nothing alike and move in different ways making a bit of a jump in the transition. Okay I just realized I can’t talk about anything else without saying this so here goes. SPOILER ALERT!!! If you don’t want me to ruin the movie for you don’t read past this line. Another thing I liked is the clues. The little hints that there was something off about what was going on, the people that appeared several times with the same lines and the same general actions. Of course you don’t know why this is happening until the end of the movie. But I found it a very clever way to inform the audience without informing the audience. At the very end of this movie you’ll go “Oh, I get it now.” But I have another thing to say about the end of the movie, one of Henry’s last lines to Sam. “This hurts too much.” Oh my god, what a great line and with what he’s talking about it just fits so well with the whole thing. It really, just, sums up life. Of course when I say that it makes me sound suicidal too, but I promise you I’m not. I just love that line. END SPOILER ALERT!!! This movie, while dark and seemingly supporting suicide, is a good one to get under your belt. At least watch it once so you can say you did.

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Come back next time and see what else I'm watching. Here's a little piece of Saving Mr. Banks.

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Megamind not Super Original

           I saw Megamind in theaters when it first came out. At the time I loved it. I thought it was funny and cute, just an all around good family movie. But then I bought a copy of it and I watched it at home. Just the second time of watching it and I was already tired of. Not really a sign of a movie that will stand the test of time.

            In Metrocity there has always been good and evil and good has always triumphed. But now that the city’s savior, Metroman (Brad Pitt), is gone and a new evil is lurking will Megamind, Will Ferrell, step up to the plate and save the city?

            It would seem that director Tom McGrath prepared for this movie by watching all the superhero movies that came before it. Megamind is so cliché at times that it hurts. The baby kissing, the hero worship, the useless police force, these are all just trite to even have in a movie any more. This movie just shows that because superhero movies were on an uptrend at the time Dreamworks thought that they deserved a piece of the pie. Don’t get me wrong, for the age group that this was aimed at this movie was very well done, but for the parents that had to come along and watch it too, well, there wasn’t much for them to enjoy. There are some good laughs to be had while watching this movie, but at times they feel forced. There are times when you can feel an awkward silence coming but instead there is a joke out of nowhere. Also Megamind seems to have gone to the Disney handbook on the training sequence. Usually it’s only in Disney movies where great things get accomplished in the time span of a five minute song. Over all, the cast was good, the animation was very nice, and the music was great. But still I have to say it could have been better. Check it out or don’t, there’s no real loss in missing this one.

If you're curious about this movie, check out the preview here.
Don't forget to come back Friday for a special requested review. In the mean time here's a little piece of  to Stay give you a feel for the movie.

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