Smokey and The Bandit (June 8th, 2014)
Director: Hal Needham
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, and Jackie Gleason
Pure entertainment. That is what we have here. No artistic ambitions beyond giving people a good time. Burt Reynolds just smirks and laughs his way through the movie, while Jackie Gleason just unleashes vitriol at everyone in his path. Sally Field is there. It's seriously just a movie about Burt driving a car and getting chased by cops. It's like the brainless but fun version of Vanishing Point. If you can enjoy a movie like this, it's a hell of a ride. If not, steer the fuck clear. Me, I was in heaven. Buford T Justice is fantastic and I'm upset he wasn't in my life earlier.
Rating: 8/10
Juno (June 8th, 2014)
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, and Olivia Thirlby
Diablo Cody is a little too cutesy for her own good. Seriously, the dialogue at the beginning of this movie is unbearable. It's just nonsense that she throws in to make it seem like she's hip. But it doesn't work. And Reitman should have known this if he wants to be such a premiere director, as you can tell by watching everything he's done after Thank You For Smoking. But despite the irritating hip and cute dialogue and look at me prestige directing, there's not a bad movie under here. Ellen Page is good as the immature young mom, not ready for love despite her pretensions of maturity. Cera is Cera. Bateman and Jennifer Garner make the most of what they can with the little time they get. Thirlby is a nice find. Cody just needed to be reined in. It's also not as funny as it should have been with some of the people in it, and it very much tries to be funny. This is a very good definition of just OK. It tries hard but falls just short. Not even close to Reitmans best, but somehow not his worst.
Rating: 7.5/10
He Got Game (June 10th, 2014)
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Denzel Washington, Ray Allen, Rosario Dawson, and Milla Jovovich
It seems like if there was any movie in Spike Lees filmography that was made specifically for me, it was this movie. It took me a while to get to it because I fell out of favor with the man after watching Summer Of Sam and The Miracle At St. Anna. But I took the plunge and it is a fantastic movie. A movie about a father (Denzel) and his sons (Allen) broken relationship, trying to fix things between them and maybe trying to fix themselves in the process. All of this while the sons future in Basketball plays in the background. This is some seriously powerful stuff. Denzel is at fine form as the repentant father, a man with many problems but with the desire to change. Allen does ok work, not really having to do much other than be good at basketball and scowl. But the way everything plays out is all thanks to Spike. He adds a grittiness to the affair and a love for the game. This all feels real, even when he's doing his typical experimental stuff. As someone who loves movies about father/son relationships, this was gold. If you like sports and/or familial dramas, this is the way to go. What a great movie, and underrated gem in Spikes cap.
Rating: 9.5/10
25th Hour (June 14th, 2014)
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Edward Norton, Rosario Dawson, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Barry Pepper
Spike Lee hits another one out of the park with this look in the life of a man as he spends the day before his prison sentence with the people he cares about. Ed Norton is a drug dealer who is about to do a 7 year bit in prison. So he has to deal with his girlfriend (Dawson), his two best friends (Hoffman and Pepper), and his father (Brian Cox) among other people. Tensions rise and Norton frets about the hell he is about to live and the mistakes he's made. The others make mistakes too, dealing with the loss of someone they love. Spike brings his typically gritty style to it, making New York pop like no other, the same thing he did in He Got Game. It all culminates in the famous Fuck You scene, where Norton just unleashes all his pent up anger at everyone, including himself. This is also one of, if not the first, to shoot in NY after 9/11 and deal with it in someway. The cast is phenomenal. Especially Barry Pepper. It's almost criminal who underutilized he's been in cinema. He's fantastic in this movie and should be a bigger actor than he is. Norton anchors the movie and brings the pain to the role. This is great, maybe not as personally great to me like He Got Game was, but it's still a powerful movie about the past coming back to haunt us.
Rating: 9/10
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, and Olivia Thirlby
Diablo Cody is a little too cutesy for her own good. Seriously, the dialogue at the beginning of this movie is unbearable. It's just nonsense that she throws in to make it seem like she's hip. But it doesn't work. And Reitman should have known this if he wants to be such a premiere director, as you can tell by watching everything he's done after Thank You For Smoking. But despite the irritating hip and cute dialogue and look at me prestige directing, there's not a bad movie under here. Ellen Page is good as the immature young mom, not ready for love despite her pretensions of maturity. Cera is Cera. Bateman and Jennifer Garner make the most of what they can with the little time they get. Thirlby is a nice find. Cody just needed to be reined in. It's also not as funny as it should have been with some of the people in it, and it very much tries to be funny. This is a very good definition of just OK. It tries hard but falls just short. Not even close to Reitmans best, but somehow not his worst.
He Got Game (June 10th, 2014)
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Denzel Washington, Ray Allen, Rosario Dawson, and Milla Jovovich
It seems like if there was any movie in Spike Lees filmography that was made specifically for me, it was this movie. It took me a while to get to it because I fell out of favor with the man after watching Summer Of Sam and The Miracle At St. Anna. But I took the plunge and it is a fantastic movie. A movie about a father (Denzel) and his sons (Allen) broken relationship, trying to fix things between them and maybe trying to fix themselves in the process. All of this while the sons future in Basketball plays in the background. This is some seriously powerful stuff. Denzel is at fine form as the repentant father, a man with many problems but with the desire to change. Allen does ok work, not really having to do much other than be good at basketball and scowl. But the way everything plays out is all thanks to Spike. He adds a grittiness to the affair and a love for the game. This all feels real, even when he's doing his typical experimental stuff. As someone who loves movies about father/son relationships, this was gold. If you like sports and/or familial dramas, this is the way to go. What a great movie, and underrated gem in Spikes cap.
25th Hour (June 14th, 2014)
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Edward Norton, Rosario Dawson, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Barry Pepper
Spike Lee hits another one out of the park with this look in the life of a man as he spends the day before his prison sentence with the people he cares about. Ed Norton is a drug dealer who is about to do a 7 year bit in prison. So he has to deal with his girlfriend (Dawson), his two best friends (Hoffman and Pepper), and his father (Brian Cox) among other people. Tensions rise and Norton frets about the hell he is about to live and the mistakes he's made. The others make mistakes too, dealing with the loss of someone they love. Spike brings his typically gritty style to it, making New York pop like no other, the same thing he did in He Got Game. It all culminates in the famous Fuck You scene, where Norton just unleashes all his pent up anger at everyone, including himself. This is also one of, if not the first, to shoot in NY after 9/11 and deal with it in someway. The cast is phenomenal. Especially Barry Pepper. It's almost criminal who underutilized he's been in cinema. He's fantastic in this movie and should be a bigger actor than he is. Norton anchors the movie and brings the pain to the role. This is great, maybe not as personally great to me like He Got Game was, but it's still a powerful movie about the past coming back to haunt us.
- Tom Lorenzo
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