The Rum Diary

The Rum Diary

Directed by: Bruce Robinson

Written by: Bruce Robinson

Plot:

American journalist Paul Kemp takes on a freelance job in Puerto Rico for a local newspaper during the 1950s and struggles to find a balance between island culture and the expatriates who live there.

Review:

The Rum Diary might be one of the most unsatisfying movies of the year. First off the trailer was very misleading since I thought the film was going to a psychological journey through the mind of this writer. Instead we got a lot of filler scenes. I felt like I was waiting for something to happen the entire movie and then it ended. 

The beginning of the story all felt forced with each line of dialogue being way to obvious about setting up what was going on. With ridiculously cheesy moments between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard that goes along with their unexplainable love connection I felt like I was being cheated of a real story. 

This film is based off a novel, which I have not read, but I don’t see how they thought the book could be adapted. There was too much irrelevant scenes and dialogue that took place to make me care about the main character or even get invested into the story.

Johnny Depp is always the man with a believable performance as a drunk but his supporting cast really hurt his performance. Michael Rispoli played one of his roommates and he just got on my nerves and played no part in driving the story. Someone that bothered me even more was Giovanni Ribisi who played a way to over the top alcoholic. Every word that came out of his mouth pissed me off and he contributed even less to the story.

The two people I wish were int he film more often are Amber Heard and Aaron Eckhart. They both gave great performances. It felt like the movie was going to revolve around the two of them and Depp but then abruptly they were both out of the picture. The abruptness of their departures from the film did not make sense or fit into the story.

The main purpose of this film was to show Depp’s character find his voice as a journalist during his experience in Puerto Rico but I think the filmed did a terrible job at portraying this. At no moment did I feel that he was lost as a writer besides the one line of dialogue which he said he was lost and there was no moment where I felt he gained his voice. Sorry Johnny better luck next time.

Rating: 4/10

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The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers 

Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson

Written by: Alex Litvak, Andrew Davies

Plot:

The hot-headed young D'Artagnan along with three former legendary but now down on their luck Musketeers must unite and defeat a beautiful double agent and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war.

Review:

It does not please me to say this but I was very dissapointed with The Three Musketeers. I mean first off they should have called the movie The Fourth Musketeer as the film focused mainly on D’Artagnan’s character rather than the musketeers themselves. On top of the forced D’Artagnan love story, it was full of cheesy moments, and atrocious dialogue. The editing was all over the place and the film could not decide what tone and message it wanted to send. In a film that could have been something they really screwed the pooch on this one.

The part that bothered me the most was the editing of this film. It was choppy and made me feel disoriented during simple conversations. It would be one thing if it was terrible during the action sequences but the action sequences were done rather well. But they couldn’t edit a simple conversation. A character would be in one spot during a conversation and then all of a sudden were at the opposite side of the room. It was extremely frustrating to watch while this nonsense was going on. 

A refreshing part of the film was seeing Orlando Bloom playing a villain. It is a change of pace for him and I think he pulled it off. It will be cool to see him play the villain character again in the sequel (pending this movie rakes in the dough). All of the casting in the film is spot on though and their acting jobs were okay int heir respected roles. I really liked Luke Evans as Aramis, who looks a little bit too much like Orlando Bloom. It did confuse me a little at the beginning of the film. The other notable performance was by Logan Lerman who I am sure will have another big blockbuster under his belt soon enough.

Luckily the action in the film was pretty good, as farfetched as it all was for the classic Three Musketeer story. It was all entertaining and exciting. One action scene bothered me though, when they tried to copy 300 with slowing and speeding up the action at certain points. Not gonna lie, it works a lot better when Gerald Butler is a giant Spartan then Athos (Matthew Macfayden) in funny tights. 

I wish this film could have been better. I wish there was a little more effort put into the movie because you can tell there was not a 100% effort put forth. The dialogue was awful and all of the side characters, especially the King, were unbearable. Yes, the film ends with the promise of a sequel. I think the way they make you believe there is going to be a sequel was just as bad as the rest of the film. 

Rating: 4/10

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Footloose

Footloose

Directed by: Craig Brewer

Written by: Dean Pitchford, and Craig Brewer

Plot:

City kid Ren MacCormack moves to a small town where rock 'n' roll and dancing have been banned, and his rebellious spirit shakes up the populace.

Review:

Who thought that remaking Footloose was a good idea? Seriously who? I guess for a dance movie it is better than a movie like Step Up, but who can realistically believe a town getting so enraged over an incident where they decide to make dancing illegal. This is completely outdated and on top of that it had no sense of era to it. All of the characters were still written like they were from the eighties but apparently it took place in present day Bomont since the main character, Ren McCormick (Kenny Wormald)  listened to an ipod half the movie. 

Some bright spots in this film include the stunning Julianna Hough. She might not be the best actress, but she sure rocks a pair of short shorts. The other bright spot was Ren’s best friend Willard played by Miles Teller. This guy was hilarious. He was the only character that made me laugh when I was suppose to laugh. Yes, the theater did burst into laughter at many cheesy moments throughout the film. I hope this kid gets some comedic roles as he has great comedy chops.

As funny as Miles and as stunning as Julianna Hough were in this film they both couldn't save this from being a flop. The dialogue was cheesy and I could not take the serious scenes seriously. There were multiple times where unexplainable things happened and Kenny Wormald is no Kevin Bacon. 

Back to the realism issue. The movie portrayed the adults as old farts compared to these hip youngsters but if this movie is set in the present then these old farts grew up in the rock and roll era. They would have known what it was all about and been a lot more understanding rather than being so close minded. I really didn’t expect much but I did expect better story structure since this is a remake.

Rating: 4/10

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The Ides of March

The Ides of March

Directed by: George Clooney

Written by: George Cloony, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon

Plot:

An idealistic staffer for a newbie presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.

Review:

The title comes from Ancient Rome. The term is most famously known as the date Julius Caesar was killed. His death was planned by a group of conspirators in the roman government. George Clooney did a great job by taking the basic concept and turning this concept into a  well constructed, thought provoking modern drama. We get an intense inside look at how dirty politics can be.

The acting and writing in this movie were superb. All of the dialogue was fast paced and extremely witty. Ryan Gosling had some great one on one scenes with the female lead, Evan Rachel Wood. It’s amazing that Ryan Gosling has been in two great movies this past month. He has really hit it big and only bigger things are to come. He plays a character who is the media mastermind behind a governor running for president (the Julius Caesar character played by George Clooney.) His character in the beginning is a very kind, charming, and moral man but as the movie progresses we see some intense character development. 

Ryan Gosling’s character isn’t the only role that had some major character development. Every main character had 180 switches in their mannerisms and personalities. This is what made the acting in this film great. Other great performances come from George Clooney, Paul Giamatti, and my favorite performance, besides Goslings, Phillip Seymour Hoffman. 

The Ides of March is what’s called a good movie. Not great, but very good. It keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what twist and turn that’s coming next, but since Gosling’s character has such a big character change it is hard to identify with him in the end. I kind of like this but I think others might find it unsettling. 

I would really like the believe that our government isn’t actually as corrupt as this movie portrays, but I guess who am I kidding. 

Rating: 7.5/10

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Killer Elite

Killer Elite

Directed by: Greg McKendry

Written by: Matt Sherring

Plot:

When his mentor is taken captive, a retired member of Britain's Elite Special Air Service is forced into action. His mission: kill three assassins dispatched by their cunning leader.

Review:

I would have to say that this movie was subpar and the fact that I went in thinking this didn’t help. I am kinda bias to films that claim they are based on a true story when the actions in the film are just absurd. Although I did like the film The Devils Double (http://bigbobbosreviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/devils-double.html) which was based on a book about real events. Killer Elite is based on the book The Feather Man written by ex-SAS officer Ranulph Fiennes and who the hell knows what he wrote is in any means true. The opening titles even said, (I can’t remember the exact words but went something like...) The actions in this film are based of events during this time period but a lot of information is confidential by the British Government. It was obviously a lot more concise and smooth than what I just wrote but you get the gist.

Either way the trailers gave us all a misrepresentation of what the plot was about. The trailers made it seem like Clive Owen was a bad guy and Jason Statham was going to kill him. This was not the movie. The plot was a lot more complex then this storyline and this was not a good thing. Since there was so much going on the structure of the story was all over the place leading you in all different directions which made it confusing to follow. And if you are looking for your normal Jason Statham skull bashing flick this is not it. 

I did like the acting in the film. It is Jason Statham at his finest since the film Snatch. Maybe after this film he could land a role besides the role he plays in almost every other movie. Clive Owen is great as always. I think he is a great actor and he played a good support man in this film. His mustache was menacing. Robert De Niro has been in a lot of bad films recently and I guess he can add this to his list but he still knows how to act. He did not have a large role in the film but he had some good hand to hand fight scenes. 

I have not read The Feather Man, but I hear Killer Elite was very faithful to the book. I like it when I hear things like that but this film still didn’t cut it for me because they plastered the words, “Based on a True Story” before the film began. Once I see that I can’t help but to judge the film.

Rating: 5.5/10


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50/50

50/50

Directed by: Jonathan Levine

Written by: Will Reiser

Plot:

A Dramedy centered on a 27-year-old guy who learns of his cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.

Review:

It’s hard to imagine a cancer comedy working well in a non-offensive way, but surprisingly 50/50 beat those odds. It was a film that made you laugh but then made you want to cry. It made you think about your life. It made you think how lucky those of us that do not have cancer are. I think the majority of people in this world know somebody that has battled cancer or is battling cancer and the fact that 50/50 is a film that dealt with this subject, successfully, is really something.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the lead in this film. He played the 27 year old Adam, who is quiet and easy going. This film takes us right into the mind of this character and his journey dealing with his cancer. We see him with a good attitude and a brave face but then see how he struggles in his everyday life. It’s hard to imagine any other actor pulling this role off. He brought so much emotion to this role but his emotion a lot of the time was cut short by none other then his supporting actor...

...Seth Rogen. Seth was extremely funny in this film. I thought it was one of his better roles in a while. He plays Adam’s best friend in the film, who is always supportive and establishes a pity-free relationship with him and make shim feel comfortable. As funny as Seth Rogen was I think he was too funny. I didn’t think this film should have been as funny as it was. I thought the humor in the film took a little away from the emotion and the intensity of the film. 

There was one thing that really bothered me about this film and that is the love interest of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, played by Anna Kendrick. Anna Kendrick is a very talented actress who plays his therapist as well as his love interest but the fact that the love interest is his therapist is a little ridiculous. Half of their interactions in the film go against the therapist/patient code of ethics. It felt very forced and would have worked better if the love interest came from somewhere else or their was no love interest. Does a cancer story really need to be held up with a love arc? Anyway I would have loved to see more intense therapy sessions to get deeper into the mind of Levitt’s character.

Overall a very solid movie. Great performances all around and I do commend the director and writer on doing such a great job at keeping the film tasteful. I wish the best to all of you that have or know somebody that is currently fighting cancer.

Rating: 7.5/10
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