Interstellar (2014)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan

Composer: Hans Zimmer

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Mackenzie Foy, Ellen Burstyn, John Lithgow, Timothee Chalamet, Bill Irwin, Anne Hathaway, William Devane, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck, Topher Grace, Matt Damon

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.

Plot: A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? Probably.

I watched this a few weeks back in the theater so I'm likely to leave something out.  Alright.  I was not blown away like it seems everyone else was.  I really wanted to.  The big reveal at the end was mind expansive and I dug that but there was so much else that bothered me.  Cooper (McConaughey) clearly loved his daughter to the point of neglecting his son but that bit was sidelined to tell the story.  I thought Cooper was a benevolent asshole when it came to his relationship with his son and Cooper had not problems flaunting his love for Murph (Foy).  I'm not going to make this a bashing session at all and this will be brief but having had lots of time to reflect on the film since I saw it, lots of questions and irritating plot points have come to mind.  It seems like the more I think about it the more it reminds me of PROMETHEUS (2012) with how idiotic some of the dialogue and character actions were.  When Brand (Hathaway,  SCIENTIST!!!) says, "Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends time and space." I about lost it.  That might have been the moment where I started to enjoy the picture less.  Then other things started piling on.  I REALLY liked the big 'fuck you' that one of the leads ultimately revealed.  The effects were insanely convincing but it's the story that, while aiming for the Moon with its ideals, helped take the air out of the sails from what should have been a much more cerebral science fiction masterpiece.  Do you think it helps to have kids to enjoy this more?  On that note, I liked the robot and Bill Irwin's voicing.  His interplay with Cooper added some much needed fun.  I could have done without the typical Hollywood action business on that planet where you know who shows up.  It's almost three hours long and it felt it.  I will give it another chance someday.  Maybe my questions will be answered after that or maybe I'll realize that this really isn't as good as it should have been.

Goin' South (1978)

Director: Jack Nicholson

Writers: John Herman Shaner, Al Ramrus, Charles Shyer, Alan Mandel

Composers: Perry Botkin Jr., Van Dyke Parks

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Mary Steenburgen, Chritopher Lloyd, John Belushi, Veronica Cartwright, Richard Bradford, Jeff Morris, Danny DeVito, Tracey Walter, Gerald H. Reynolds, Luana Anders, George W. Smith, Lucy Lee Flippin, Ed Begley Jr., Anne Ramsey

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Saved from the hangman, for a fate worse than death!

Plot: Henry Moon is captured for a capital offense by a posse when his horse quits while trying to escape to Mexico. He finds that there is a post-Civil War law in the small town that any single or widowed woman can save him from the gallows by marrying him. Julia Tate needs a man to help her work her mine and marries him. The sheriff makes it very clear to Moon what the consequences of his leaving Julia will be. The two begin to try to form a relationship based on necessity in which they have nothing in common.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Hmmmmm.  Maybe.

I haven't seen this in nigh on 35 years.  I half liked it then.  It's not a bad film. Hell, it's the very likable lead performances in Nicholson and Steenburgen that make it worthwhile.  They about carry the film.  I really dig how their relationship somewhat grows.  It doesn't mature as quickly and (I'm hesitant to say) predictably as most movies would allow.  There's always a level of ambiguity and distrust that lingers through the picture.  I like that. I also liked the very colorful and flavored old western slang that's all over the picture.  Belushi fans are going to be disappointed.  He's barely got anything to do and he's not bringing much funny. The same can be said with DeVito.  The highly recognizable faces in the cast are fun.  It's not a home run but it does have a lot going for it even if you're not entirely satisfied when the closing credits begin.  Hell, I wasn't exactly convinced I understood the motivations of Henry and Julia (Nicholson and Steenburgen (in her film debut, by the way) but it far from hurts the picture.  Oh, wait.  Then there's the subplot of Deputy Towfield saying he was in love with Julia early on and the story not doing much to act on that and follow that thread through. The Paramount DVD has a nice anamorphic widescreen print with not a single extra. 

Screwed (2000)

Directors: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski

Writers: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski

Composer: Michel Colombier

Starring: Norm MacDonald, Dave Chappelle, Elaine Stritch, Danny DeVito, Daniel Benzali, Sherman Hemsley, Sarah Silverman, Malcolm Stewart

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Everyone gets it in the end.

Plot: A chauffeur kidnaps his rich boss's dog to hold it for ransom, but when she accidentally gets the dog back, she thinks that it's the chauffeur who's been kidnapped.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I really like Norm MacDonald.  There was a time when his Weekend Update on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE was the one thing I could count on to be funny.  Chappelle is a funny cat, too, and these two guys work well together.  Elaine Stritch is fucking hilarious in this picture.  She was pitch perfect as the old battle axe of a boss to MacDonald's butler.  She's wonderfully mean as shit.  DeVito's character should have been better written but he's still got moments of funny and some of that is just what DeVito brings to the acting table.  It's a picture that's filled with weak spots but damn it if I didn't laugh out loud quite a bit.  For as much as I like Daniel Benzali, he almost feels like he's being too straight or too hard ass as the detective leading the case.  It's almost a thankless role as he's one of the few people in the picture that doesn't get any laughs (as designed).  I'm not suggesting he should have played the character lightly (or that it should have been written that way) but he seemed a little out of place.  Still, this picture's got some great laughs and the performance by Stritch alone is worth the price of admission.  The Universal DVD has a nice anamorphic widescreen print with the only acceptable extra being the theatrical trailer and even it's fullscreen.

The Trip to Italy (2014)

Director: Michael Winterbottom

Writer: Michael Winterbottom

Composer:  None.  Operatic bits instead.

Starring: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Rosie Fellner, Claire Keelan, Marta Barrio, Timothy Leach, Ronni Ancona, Rebecca Johnson, Alba Foncuberta Bufill, Flora Villani

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Anyone for seconds?

Plot: Two men, six meals in six different places on a road trip around Italy. Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi and ending in Capri.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yeah.

I really dig these two guys so getting to spend time with them for almost two hours goofing off, rattling about impersonations of actors I really dig and filling my eyes with drop dead gorgeous location scenery is just a peach of a good time.  There's very little in the way of a narrative.  Winterbottom gives them some extra curricular activities like an affair, wife, kids, and so on but that's just there to perhaps work in some drama, not that its needed.  It's not a knee-slapper of a comedy but more of a pleasant, whimsical variety the helps if you like the characters/actors.  The music selections (presumably taken from Italian operas) are beautifully sublime and they wonderfully underscore the magnificent scenery.  I liked season one of this show but I haven't seen the film they edited the 6 episodes into.  This film is the six episodes of season two.  It works nicely as a film.  I wonder how much was edited out of the show, if any.  The big question is how do I get one of these gigs to travel like this, eat fine food, stay at cozy villas and experience a world of history in every direction.  I better get started on figuring it out.

Tigerland (2000)

Director: Joel Schumacher

Writers: Ross Klavan, Michael McGruther

Composer: Nathan Larson

Starring: Colin Farrell, Matthew Davis, Clifton Collins Jr., Tom Guiry, Shea Whigham, Russell Richardson, Nick Searcy, Afemo Omilami, James MacDonald, Michael Shannon, Cole Hauser

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The system wanted them to become soldiers. One soldier just wanted to be human.

Plot: A group of recruits go through Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana's infamous Tigerland, last stop before Vietnam for tens of thousands of young men in 1971.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I wanted to like it but at no point was I engaged with any of the characters.  The acting was OK and it was great seeing Michael Shannon in an early role and seeing Shea Whigham (who's probably most known for his role as Eli Thompson on BOARDWALK EMPIRE) in a reasonably substantial early role.  Except for seeing these two guys in something new, I didn't care much about any of them.  I dug the grainy film look which makes it feel more like its period but the constantly shaking camera took me right out of it so therefore it doesn't matter if it was shot on Super 16mm.  And that's a damn shame.  The story is OK but it was the execution that muffled what good is found within it.  The 20th Century Fox DVD has a few extras including a director's commentary, about five minutes of footage with Farrell in a casting session, the theatrical trailer and two TV spots (all fullscreen), a four minute featurette which makes me wonder why bother, and a fullscreen trailer for TORA! TORA! TORA!.

The Man with Two Brains (1983)

Director: Carl Reiner

Writers: Steve Martin, Carl Reiner, George Gipe

Composer: Joel Goldsmith

Starring: Steve Martin, Kathleen Turner, David Warner, Paul Benedict, Richard Brestoff, James Cromwell, George Furth, Peter Hobbs, Earl Boen, Sissy Spacek, Merv Griffin

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Steve Martin Is A World Famous Surgeon. He Invented Screw Top, Zip Lock Brain Surgery. Trust Him.

Plot: A scheming woman only marries for money and her latest catch is a revered brain surgeon. He is driven to distraction as she endlessly pleads a headache whenever he gets amorous - though this doesn't seem to stop her with other men. On a trip to Vienna, city of the elevator serial killer, the doctor visits a laboratory and strikes up an odd friendship with something - or someone - he finds there. The result is that as he grows increasingly suspicious of his stunning wife, he develops a meaningful - but of necessity platonic - relationship with a bottled brain.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

OMFG.  I haven't seen this in thirty years and I'd completely forgotten how damn funny it was.  It's absurdly funny and everyone in it is hilarious.  Steve Martin?  It goes without saying that he's comically talented as shit but David Warner?  I've never seen him sillier and he pulls it off beautifully.  Kathleen Turner?  Yeah, I've seen her in some comedies but she had me laughing out loud.  Her timing and pratfalls are priceless.  Sissy Spacek is the voice of the brain and her delivery is funny as shit.  I don't think I've seen (or heard) her in a comedy like this before.  It's outrageous.  The gags are silly as shit but some of them are so left field they had me seriously laughing out loud.  The one thing I would have changed is Joel Goldsmith's (son of Jerry) synthesizer score.  It sounds cheap.  It could have been a budgetary issue to go electronic.  I loved the ending when you find out who the serial killer is.  "Somebody get that cat out of here!" "You can turn off the subtitles now."  Classic.  Now where the fuck is a widescreen DVD of this thing?  The Warner Bros. DVD is from the early days of the format and it's fullscreen with no extras.  Bastards.

RoboCop 3 (1993)

Director: Fred Dekker

Writers: Frank Miller, Fred Dekker

Composer: Basil Poledouris

Starring: Robert John Burke, Mario Machado, Remy Ryan, Jodi Long, John Posey, Rip Torn, Mako, John Castle, S.D. Nemeth, CCH Pounder, Stephen Root, Shane Black, Nancy Allen

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Chaos... Corruption... Civil War...

Plot: Robocop saves the day once more. This time the half man/half robot takes on ruthless developers who want to evict some people on "their" land.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

The first film was fantastic, the second wasn't as bad as I remembered and it had some great moments but this third and final installment just kind of sits there.  It's not horrible but it's just boring, immature and flat enough to just sit there.  You'd think with Miller and Dekker behind the script it'd be better. I don't have a beef with a major character dying early in the film but I do with how it only serves to give Robocop the unnecessary motivation to do what he has to do in the final moments of the film.  Say, what's the deal with the jetpack?  MAJOR METAL SPOILERS AHEAD!!!  They tease you with it throughout the picture but it only comes into play when Robocop flies over the bad guys, fires off a couple of rockets to kill most of them, something he could have done anyway.  But then we would have been robbed of that laugh-out-loud moment at the end when he uses it to scoop up the kid and woman, flying out of the window just in time to avoid certain death.  I hope there weren't any people left in that building besides the bad guy because if there were, the right thing to do would have been to fly the bomb out of the window and straight up into the sky to keep from killing anyone.  But hey, it was a huge belly laugh watching him scoot across the floor with the jetpack.  It's great to have Basil Poledouris back with the score.  He was sorely missed in the second film.  In all it's only an OK sequel that probably shouldn't exist.  It's a shame this had to be PG-13.  It could have used some of that R-rated stuff to spice things up.  The MGM set of the trilogy has a nice anamorphic widescreen presentation for this film but the only extra is the theatrical trailer in fullscreen.