Reviews and More

Back when I was a kid growing up in the 1980’s, M*A*S*H was in syndication and was on the FOX affiliate every night during dinner time. Since we didn’t have cable in the kitchen, our choices were limited to either this or the news, so my brother and I invariably chose M*A*S*H despite not being particularly interested in the Korean War and not getting much of the adult humor on the show.

As I grew up, I learned that M*A*S*H was one of the most popular television shows of all-time and that the 106 million viewers who turned in to see the finale is still the record, beating out even the Seinfeld finale. That’s one of the reasons I decided to watch the series from beginning to end. I just had to wait for the box set to come down to a reasonable price in order to do it. When the box set hit $99 on Amazon last week, I made my move.

Anyway, I watched the first four eps over the course of two days — and frankly, I haven’t been that impressed. I figured M*A*S*H would be the type of show to stand the test of time, but maybe that won’t be the case. Certainly it’s too early to tell for sure, but my enthusiasm has been dampened quite a bit.

The eps I watched were “Pilot”, “To Market, To Market”, “Requiem for a Lightweight”, and “Chief Surgeon Who?”. The weakest was definitely 1×03, but none of them were really that funny. I guess they were just setting up the character dynamics at the beginning there. Interestingly enough, the characters are exactly how I remember them, with Hawkeye being the smartass, Hot Lips and Burns being the wet blankets, Henry being the clueless leader, and Radar anticipating everything that his commanding officer needs. It’s kind of odd that the characters were like that right from the beginning, though, and makes me wonder if there’s any development at all.

Anyway, I’m still planning to watch all the DVDs, despite the rather inauspicious start. I won’t be recapping my thoughts very often, but might pop in with a M*A*S*H post every once in a while if I don’t have a movie review ready to go!

Someone who hasn’t lived through the 1950s themselves might be tempted to look upon the decade through rose-colored glasses. After all, if popular media from the time is to be believed, most households were bastions of domestic bliss, with women content to take care of the home and children while men gamely went to the office every day from 9-5.

But the Sam Mendes film Revolutionary Road immediately turns that notion on its head, as the audience is introduced to a couple whose lives are in near-constant turmoil even as they project an outward appearance of normalcy or even perfection from their comfortable suburban Connecticut home. The result is a grim look at what happens when life’s ambitions are dashed, and what you see before you now is all you’re ever going to get.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Frank (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) were married soon after meeting at a party one night. Though only bits and pieces of their courtship is shown through flashbacks, it’s clear that they married each other because of certain idealistic notions that they represent. To Frank, April is an intelligent, beautiful woman who will always be there for him no matter what. To April, Frank is an ambitious dreamer who would never settle for anything less than living life to the fullest.

Soon, however, it becomes evident that the two are more different than alike. They begin to have heated arguments about everything from April’s desire to try her hand at acting to Frank’s need to discuss every topic to death. Once children arrive on the scene, Frank and April begin to drift even farther apart, both engage in adultery, and they know deep down that their marriage is quickly unraveling. Neither will admit it, though, so they continue trying to force things to work out in their middle-class home on Revolutionary Road.

Then one day April comes across a photo of Frank in Paris, where he was stationed during the war. She remembers Frank telling her how much he loved the city and how he would give anything to go back someday. So April gets it into her head that they should drop everything to move to France. They have enough money saved up that Frank wouldn’t have to work for at least six months, and in that time April could surely get a job as a secretary in a government office. Frank would then have a chance to pursue his interests in the hopes of coming upon a career that he would actually enjoy.

At first Frank agrees, but slowly it becomes clear that he has no intention of moving. He seizes on every excuse not to go, refuses to quit his job, and generally drags his heels. Once April realizes that nothing is going to change, she takes a drastic step to extricate herself from the situation.

My Reaction: I didn’t really go into Revolutionary Road with any kind of high expectations or preconceived notions, but I was still disappointed with the outcome. The film seemed very uneven to me: excellent at times, yet vaguely unsatisfactory as a whole. It’s hard to say why, but I didn’t enjoy this picture very much.

For one thing, I didn’t understand the source of Frank and April’s extreme discontent. There was never any reason given for why they fought so much, so I was left to assume that they just got married too quickly, didn’t know each other as well as they thought they did, and ended up regretting it. But would that really lead to the extremely heated arguments (which seemed highly out of place for the 1950s) or April’s suicide? Don’t tell me that April wouldn’t have simply considered divorce — or running off to Paris by herself — instead. The paths these characters took didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Another reason I was disappointed by this film was because of DiCaprio’s performance. He was outclassed by Winslet in nearly every single scene, and was so out of her league at times that his whining got to be extremely distracting. In fact, I noticed the clear difference in their skills so often that I was essentially taken out of the movie time and again because of DiCaprio. Not a good thing at all. I can’t believe he’s been nominated for Golden Globes and other awards based on this film.

Overall, Revolutionary Road is not a movie that I am likely to watch again. The characters are not sympathetic in the least, their plight is not moving, and the outcome is far too depressing to warrant a second viewing. Winslet’s terrific acting aside, there’s not much about this film that is worth recommending. I give it 5.5 stars out of 10.

Since my regular television shows have been on hiatus the past couple of weeks for the holidays, I’ve been filling my weeknights by watching Cougar Town off a friend’s TiVo. This Courteney Cox comedy was not something that I expected to like, but it’s actually not as bad as the name would imply. In fact, the show seems more about the friendships between the regular cast members than any relationships Cox might have with younger men, and that’s the strongest aspect, IMO.

Sure, there have been a couple of younger men featured with Cox, especially in the first few episodes. And there were the predictable jokes about Jules (Cox’s character) perhaps needing emergency medical assistance during or after a night with these young studs, but the most recent eps haven’t featured any dating at all. Plus, something is clearly going to develop between Jules and her neighbor Grayson (played by the lovely Josh Hopkins), and he’s definitely age-appropriate for her.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a new show to try out, Cougar Town might be worth your time!

Here are the weekend box office estimates for 12/27/09:

1. Avatar, $75 million
2. Sherlock Holmes, $65.4 million
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, $50.2 million
4. It’s Complicated, $22.1 million
5. Up in the Air, $11.8 million
6. The Blind Side, $11.7 million
7. The Princess and the Frog, $8.68 million
8. Nine, $5.54 million
9. Did You Hear About the Morgans?, $5 million
10. Invictus, $4.59 million

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Jack Bruno (played by Dwayne Johnson) is a Las Vegas cab driver trying to break free of his criminal record and live a straight life. So, he puts up with all the usual crazies you’d expect him to come across ferrying passengers around the Strip. One day, his passengers turn out to be Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig), a sibling duo who act every bit as strangely as Jack’s other fares. Sara and Seth want a ride to a distant location in the desert, and have a huge wad of cash to make sure that happens.

Jack is not in the habit of asking questions, so he just shrugs and starts driving. Soon, however, it becomes clear that there’s something different about Sara and Seth. They’re being chased by government vehicles, and just when it looks like the cab will be caught, the kids use supernatural powers to facilitate an escape. Jack demands to know what’s going on — and hears an answer he wasn’t ready for. Sara and Seth are aliens from a distant planet whose parents sent them to Earth to collect the results of an experiment that could potentially save their dying race. If the children don’t return with the solution, their government is prepared to invade Earth to ensure survival.

Jack sees all the proof he needs, and decides to help the kids evade both the government pursuers and the Siphon (Tom Woodruff, Jr.) creature intent on destroying them. Unfortunately, the military team led by Maj. Henry Burke (Ciarán Hinds) catches up to Sara and Seth, captures them, and prepares to conduct invasive medical testing on the alien duo.

In a race against time, Jack teams up with UFO expert Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino) to try to rescue the kids and get them back to their spacecraft (hidden at a secret facility inside Witch Mountain) so they can return safely to their home planet.

My Reaction: This being a Disney family film, I wasn’t expecting much out of it. I was just hoping for something that would keep my six-year-old interested and that wouldn’t drag on forever, and Race to Witch Mountain actually scored well on those two points. There were only a couple of places where my son got bored; otherwise, he seemed to enjoy the story and understand enough of it to keep watching.

From an adult perspective, the film was merely ok. The story was “meh”, and the acting was terrible, but at least the plot moved along rather quickly. In particular, some of Dwayne Johnson’s reaction shots were unintentionally funny because of how bad they are (check out his face whenever some debris from an explosion flies towards him).

Overall, Race to Witch Mountain is a decent movie to rent if your choices are limited. It’s suitable for both adults and kids, only requires about 90 minutes of your time, and is sufficiently interesting to hold viewers’ attention for that long. I give it 5 stars out of 10.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The 2005 disappearance of high school senior Natalee Holloway on the last night of her class trip to Aruba was a story that gripped the nation — mostly because the news networks latched on and simply wouldn’t let go. Every day and night, the Natalee Holloway story received tons of coverage and led to numerous theories about what might have happened to the nice-looking blonde girl who was headed to the University of Alabama on a full scholarship. But speculation is all anyone has, even four years later, as Holloway’s body has never been recovered.

This movie from Lifetime Movie Network didn’t clear up any details or provide new theories about what might have happened. Instead, it served more or less as a recap of the major events of the case up to the time that the story finally fell out of the daily news cycle. Tracy Pollan stars as Beth Twitty, Natalee’s mom and the woman who tirelessly served as Natalee’s spokesperson throughout the immediate aftermath of the girl’s disappearance. One of the reasons the story remained prominent was that Twitty simply wouldn’t let it die.

The film begins just days before the fateful class trip to Aruba. Viewers are introduced to Natalee (played by Amy Gumenick), who seems like a normal teen. She liked boys but wasn’t a slut, wanted to party in Aruba, but wasn’t a regular drug or alcohol user. On the surface, she seemed responsible and capable of looking out for herself.

But things changed in Aruba, where the legal drinking age is just 18. On the final night of the 3-day trip, Natalee was drinking at a bar with some friends from school. There she met Joran Van Der Sloot (Jacques Strydom), a Dutch national who lived in Aruba but pretended to be a tourist so he could pick up girls more easily. Natalee ended up leaving the bar with Van Der Sloot and his friends the Kalpoe brothers, which would be the last time anyone saw her alive.

The film goes through a couple of scenarios that might have happened with Van Der Sloot, all based on statements he subsequently made to police, investigators, and interviewers. As with most of the news stories, this film focused squarely on Van Der Sloot as the most likely suspect, and didn’t entertain any other possibilities. The film implies that Van Der Sloot wanted to have sex with Natalee on a beach, but then freaked out when she started convulsing. Thinking she was dead, Van Der Sloot disposed of the body in the Caribbean. That, at any rate, is the story that Beth Twitty believes. No one has ever been charged with a crime in connection with the Holloway case.

My Reaction: I thought the movie was decent enough. I really liked Tracy Pollan’s performance here, particularly since I hadn’t seen her in anything since Family Ties and was taken back down memory lane for a bit. Grant Show seemed miscast as Natalee’s stepfather, particularly since he looks so different from the real guy, but whatever. At least he wasn’t in too many scenes.

I was hoping the film would try to present some new information or at least a fresh take on what might have happened, but they didn’t go there at all. The few scenes of Jordan and Natalee on the beach didn’t really count, as most people already figured that to be the case anyway. And sure, if there’s no new information, there’s no new information. But still… it seems like something more should have been done here.

Overall, Natalee Holloway is a nice refresher course on the case, especially if you sympathize with the mother Beth. After all, it’s based on her book, so it portrays her in a favorable light that is probably not completely deserved, as her public persona was much more volatile than what was captured in the film. Nevertheless, this movie is watchable — and as enjoyable as a film covering this subject can be. I give it 6.5 stars out of 10.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): One night a violent thunderstorm sweeps through the town of Bridgton, Maine, leaving extreme wreckage in its wake. The next morning, David Drayton (played by Thomas Jane) surveys the damage to his property and decides that he better head off to town to pick up supplies before the supermarket is cleaned out by other residents. David brings along son Billy (Nathan Gamble) and neighbor Brent Norton (Andre Braugher), leaving wife Stephanie (Kelly Collins Lintz) at home to begin putting things back in order.

On the way to town, David and Brent notice a lot of military vehicles heading in the opposite direction, but they don’t make too much of it. Their focus is simply on getting supplies, which is what lots of other people are doing at the crowded supermarket.

While in the supermarket, the patrons notice a heavy mist rolling down from the surrounding mountains. The mist is dense enough to reduce visibility to zero, which gets the patrons worrying about how they’re going to return home. Then someone runs into the store with a bloody nose, screaming that no one should venture into the mist. The supermarket patrons don’t quite know what to make of the screamer, but don’t really take him seriously — yet.

Things change when a bag boy tries to go outside to fix the store’s only generator. He’s viciously attacked by a tentacled monster that severs his body at the waist. David manages to slice of a piece of the monster, which later serves as evidence that something is indeed out there.

The rest of the films shows the arguments, fights, and killings that take place in the store as the patrons try to decide what they’re supposed to do. Eventually a small group breaks away from the pack and goes on an expedition outside to find out what’s going on. Things look bleak, with no apparent signs of survivors anywhere — which leads to the group taking a drastic final step.

My Reaction: This was one of the few Stephen King stories that I didn’t read in the original prior to seeing the film. As a result, I have nothing to compare the events of the film to. I know that the ending wasn’t faithful to the novella, but I have no idea how the rest compares.

Anyway, I am a bit torn about The Mist. On the one hand, the idea of a monstrous creature hiding in a fog just seems so utterly absurd and laughable that I could hardly work up any tension while watching. I know the film was supposed to be more about the pack mentality than about the monster, but still… it was just hard to get invested in this premise. On the other hand, I actually liked the ending because it didn’t follow the typical pattern of the Army swooping in at the last minute to save the day. Yes, the Army swooped in, but just a few minutes too late, as it turned out.

One thing I don’t understand is why the David’s posse didn’t try to escape on foot once the gas ran out. I mean, there was only one creature, right? And it couldn’t be everywhere at once, right? So they had a pretty good shot of making it to a safe haven without getting torn apart.

Overall, I guess The Mist was about as good as most Stephen King films, which is to say rather average. The events at the end weren’t quite enough to make up for what transpired before, so I give this movie 5.5 stars out of 10.

I know I haven’t been posting as many movie reviews as I usually do. That’s because I’ve been very busy with grad school and a couple of part-time jobs that I have to work at in order to pay for everything. I don’t even get the end-of -semester bonus of being able to sell my textbooks back. Traditional students can all sell textbooks, but being an online students means it’s a hassle for me to box up my books and ship them back. Oh, well.

At any rate, I have the next month off for Winter Break, and have a whole list of DVDs that I want to get through. The fact that most of my favorite TV shows are on hiatus right now also gives me more time to watch films. I can’t wait to start pumping out more reviews!

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Christine Brown’s (played by Alison Lohman) life seems to be headed in the right direction. She has a stable job as a loan officer at a bank and has a cozy home life with boyfriend Clay Dalton (Justin Long), who is himself beginning a new job as a professor at the local university. In addition, Christine is up for a promotion to an assistant manager position, with co-worker Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee) being the only obstacle.

Boss Mr. Jacks (David Paymer) tells Christine that Stu has a slight edge for the promotion even though Christine has been there longer. Christin just hasn’t demonstrated that she can make the tough decisions that the new job would require. This news makes Christine determined to prove that she’s up to the task.

She gets her chance when an old woman named Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver) comes into the bank. Mrs. Ganush is way behind on her mortgage payments (again), and has come to ask for an extension. Christine refuses, in an attempt to show Mr. Jacks that she deserves the promotion. Even after Mrs. Ganush goes down on her knees right in the middle of the bank to beg for leniency, Christine doesn’t give in.

Later, as she’s going home, Christine is attacked by a deranged Mrs. Ganush in the parking garage. They fight it out, with Christine coming out on top. Mrs. Ganush, however, does manage to put a curse on Christine.

For the next few days, Christine is bothered by weird happenings. She sees Mrs. Ganush in her dreams, bleeds profusely for no reason at all, and sees strange shadows in her home. Freaked out by it all, Christine tries to go to Mrs. Ganush’s house to make peace, but learns from the woman’s daughter that it’s too late. Mrs. Ganush has died.

The rest of the film then shows how Christine tries to get rid of Mrs. Ganush’s spirit and the curse once and for all, first with the help of Clay and then with the help of a fortune teller who may or may not be a scam artist.

My Reaction: I’m surprised that Drag Me to Hell has such a high rating (7.3 stars as of this writing) on IMDb.com. That rating duped me into seeing it, and I was completely disappointed with how the film turned out. This wasn’t horror so much as it was gross-out crap, and it wasn’t clever enough to be a comedy along the lines of the Scream franchise.

I can’t believe how many disgusting things went into Christine’s mouth during this film. WTF? I seriously just wanted to reach through the screen and clamp her jaws down. Is this the kind of thing that passes for “horror” these days? Give me a break.

The story lost momentum well before the halfway point, so by the time the Mexican lady from the beginning of the film was brought back in, I had already pretty much tuned out and didn’t care what was going on. All I can say is that I’m glad Christine got dragged to hell at the end. Good riddance to an annoying character.

Overall, Drag Me to Hell was a rather boring film with an unlikable lead, stupid setup, and poor execution. Even though the main character got what she deserved in the end, it was too little too late. I give this movie 4 stars out of 10.

James Cameron’s Avatar dominated the box office this weekend, as expected. I know this film has been hyped to the heavens, but I have zero desire to see it. I am not a sci-fi buff at all, and this just looks like something I wouldn’t enjoy. Maybe when it comes out on DVD. Definitely not going to go to the theater, though.

Here are the weekend box office estimates for 12/20/09:

1. Avatar, $73 million
2. The Princess and the Frog, $12.2 million
3. The Blind Side, $10 million
4. Did You Hear About the Morgans?, $7 million
5. The Twilight Saga: New Moon, $4.4 million
6. Invictus, $4.2 million
7. A Christmas Carol, $3.4 million
8. Up in the Air, $3.1 million
9. Brothers, $2.6 million
10. Old Dogs, $2.3 million