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Movie Review- Home Edition
Jan. 4th, 2013 04:51 pmLooper- The reviewer at the local alternative paper hated this movie, so I wasn't sure what I was getting into.
Sure, it does owe a good debt to Phillip K Dick, but I liked this movie a lot. I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a strong lead. He reminded me a bit of the confident cool of Ryan Gosling and the smart tough of Ed Norton.
Bruce Willis also continues a career that keeps him one of the most vital men in the industry right now. He is a bit Ed Harris in this one - a tough old geezer not to be messed with.
Anyway, I dug the subtle sci-fi effects and though time travel movies can be tricky, I really liked the way this one played out. It had a certain late 70s vibe (the kind of movies that Tarantino riffs on). There was one place the plot went that kind of gave me a scare (oh no, we are going in this direction now?)
Overall, I think time travel movies can be tough, but I was happy with the way this story was told. I also think that it had a good feel to it- the sci-fi universe did feel like something out of Philip K Dick and the drama and elements played well. I give it a big thumbs up.
The Trouble with the Curve - I am a sucker for sports movies and I really like Clint Eastwood, so I had to try this one.
It's a promising enough plot. It's a bit of the anti-Moneyball -the story of a 70 year old baseball scout who make decisions not on stats and boxscores, but on gut feeling and seeing a sweet swing.
Eastwood plays the irascible character that seems to have served him well in recent years (Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino, whatever the hell that thing was with the chair at the GOP convention).
Unfortunately, named as the movie is, one feels compelled to say 'the trouble with this movie' is.
We've all seen plenty of grumpy old men movies, but Eastwood's character doesn't give this film much to work with. He's not sympathetic, and worse yet, not particularly funny.
One guesses that getting to work with Eastwood is what dragged all the stars along. This really is a straight-to-video movie. The cast features Amy Adams, John Goodman, Robert Patrick, Matthew Lillard, and Justin Timberlake, but feels like a TV movie (and a lower basic cable network movie at that)
The film is filled with the worst film cliches, and though I didn't necessarily expect much, I surely expected more than this.
The baseball portion is entirely predictable. Complain as I might about Disney's sports films, at least they are based on reality that gives things a hint of authenticity. The baseball plot is fun, but feels entirely made up, and at then, made up by a first-time screenwriter.
The other plot points - Adams and Eastwood's father/daughter relationship and the obvious romance angle between JT and Adams - do finally have some redeeming scenes at the very end of the movie. However, for the majority of the film, these plotpoints don't quite gel- they feel forced and chemistry lacks.
Skip this one.
Sure, it does owe a good debt to Phillip K Dick, but I liked this movie a lot. I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a strong lead. He reminded me a bit of the confident cool of Ryan Gosling and the smart tough of Ed Norton.
Bruce Willis also continues a career that keeps him one of the most vital men in the industry right now. He is a bit Ed Harris in this one - a tough old geezer not to be messed with.
Anyway, I dug the subtle sci-fi effects and though time travel movies can be tricky, I really liked the way this one played out. It had a certain late 70s vibe (the kind of movies that Tarantino riffs on). There was one place the plot went that kind of gave me a scare (oh no, we are going in this direction now?)
Overall, I think time travel movies can be tough, but I was happy with the way this story was told. I also think that it had a good feel to it- the sci-fi universe did feel like something out of Philip K Dick and the drama and elements played well. I give it a big thumbs up.
The Trouble with the Curve - I am a sucker for sports movies and I really like Clint Eastwood, so I had to try this one.
It's a promising enough plot. It's a bit of the anti-Moneyball -the story of a 70 year old baseball scout who make decisions not on stats and boxscores, but on gut feeling and seeing a sweet swing.
Eastwood plays the irascible character that seems to have served him well in recent years (Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino, whatever the hell that thing was with the chair at the GOP convention).
Unfortunately, named as the movie is, one feels compelled to say 'the trouble with this movie' is.
We've all seen plenty of grumpy old men movies, but Eastwood's character doesn't give this film much to work with. He's not sympathetic, and worse yet, not particularly funny.
One guesses that getting to work with Eastwood is what dragged all the stars along. This really is a straight-to-video movie. The cast features Amy Adams, John Goodman, Robert Patrick, Matthew Lillard, and Justin Timberlake, but feels like a TV movie (and a lower basic cable network movie at that)
The film is filled with the worst film cliches, and though I didn't necessarily expect much, I surely expected more than this.
The baseball portion is entirely predictable. Complain as I might about Disney's sports films, at least they are based on reality that gives things a hint of authenticity. The baseball plot is fun, but feels entirely made up, and at then, made up by a first-time screenwriter.
The other plot points - Adams and Eastwood's father/daughter relationship and the obvious romance angle between JT and Adams - do finally have some redeeming scenes at the very end of the movie. However, for the majority of the film, these plotpoints don't quite gel- they feel forced and chemistry lacks.
Skip this one.
