Movie Review: Pain & Gain (2013)

Pain And Gain is a 2013 movie directed by Michael Bay. Now I am not a man who likes to pan film directors. Becoming a filmmaker and practicing filmmaking can be quite hard. That said, I don't dislike Michael Bay's career. While it is true that a lot of his movies (that I've seen) haven't been great, Pain and Gain surprised me because while it is not great, it's a good movie that is very entertaining, but where does the problem lie? The movie focuses on a group of three friends (Anthony Mackle, Dwayne Johnson, and Mark Wahlberg) basically these three guys are on the quest for the "American Dream" and they want to basically become these rich, prosperous guys who don't have to lift a finger to make money. In order to accomplish the goal these three guys go out and kill, torture, and steal from people to get there. Now this movie is based on a true story and reading about it online (as well as seeing other film reviews of this blockbuster) this definitely is a film that offended a significant number of people. The folks killed on screen are all based off of real people. While the movie is said to have a number of entirely created moments, there is still even more of an offensive line to that. Did it bother me? I respect and sympathize with the people who were bothered by this film. However, for me this didn't do that. I actually thought this was one of the better Bay films. It incorporates comedy and that is something that often goes haywire in Michael Bay's cinema projects. He injects really unfunny humor that just rely on toilet jokes to be humorous. This movie does do that a tad, but I really felt that he captured what actually makes something funny. The three leads in this movie are all great. I didn't know Rebel Wilson was in this movie, until of course I watched it. However, Rebel W. was great. She's a very talented actress and makes a real interesting character in this movie. My flaw of course is the tone. Not because of the real event, but because of the way it's handled. The movie will be funny, serious, and it also does this freeze - the - scene bit where we get captions that explain things to us as we go along. The uneven shifts in tone make this movie a little strange. One other thing that I had to get used to (Didn't totally dislike though) was how the narration shifts from character to character and it messes with you because you aren't expecting it. Overall, Pain and Gain actually makes for a good, guilty pleasure movie with good acting, comedy, but the material and the way it was handled, as well as the uneven nature of tones does present some problems in the movie. Two stars.

Movie Review: There's Something About Mary (1998)

There's Something About this girl....but it's hard to place what it is. Could it be her looks, her kindness and inner being, or is it just the fact that she makes men feel good about themselves? The third one wins. There's Something About Mary is a 1998 movie directed once again by the Farelly Brothers which stars Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon, and Cameron Diaz. The movie follows Ben Stiller's role as he hires a private eye (Dillon) to track down the girl he loved and still loves in high school (Diaz) Now going into this movie I had very good expectations. The Farelly Brothers are a great comedic duo (after all they brought us both Dumb and Dumber pictures) and given such an intriguing plot I thought there was no way to possibly go wrong. I was right because this movie was great. There's Something About Mary is a funny, relatable, and even gently (not in the face) heartwarming which really has an interesting message about what it is relationship and gender casts between females and males. One of the things this movie does greatly is displays how gross-out humor can actually be used in a good way. The seen with Mary's hair is iconic and that is toilet humor that is actually funny and works. It's so smart, that it can afford to be dumb. I won't spoil what the message is at the end of this movie, but I really believe that the conclusion about why five guys pine after Mary is true. Yet again, the one primal flaw with this film is the humor that is used which goes too far. Throughout the entirety of There's Something About Mary, mentally disabled people are mocked. While it can solicit a few laughs, I found some of the humor to be extremely insensitive to that community. If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother you. I didn't bother me, but that did not stop me from taking note of it. I'll also share with you that the movie does a great job of playing out stereotypes (in a more clever way in other scenes) Overall, There's Something About Mary was a great movie, very funny, and while it did really try to "push" the boundaries of what a movie can do and how it remains politically correct, that doesn't deter from the mass quality of the film. Three stars.

Movie Review: Only God Forgives (2013)

Only God Forgives is a 2013 film directed once again by Nicolas Winding Refn. The film stars Ryan Gosling as a man who after the death of his brother, goes on a revenge quest against a character named Chang. The story also explores the inner demons inside of Julian (Ryan Gosling) and how they got there as well as how they effect and makes this man's life so hard to prosper within. This movie polarized critics when it's release occurred. Some people dubbed it as a movie they loved, but others called it one of the worst movies they'd ever laid eyes on. The film is very artistic and it does have some flaws that I read online and did spot in the movie. The film received complaints such as that it doesn't really have characters, but more representations of personality. That actually didn't bother me. I never knew it until just today, but I actually enjoy art films. How did I figure that out? That is because I thought this movie was really good. From the opening scenes I was engrossed and sucked completely into this film. This is a very complicated story and while it does have one flaw that really speaks to me the majority of this movie was good. I've never loved art films and seeing this movie made me want to go out and explore more abstract cinema. Besides the acting being stellar, the storyline is one that I didn't honestly believe one director would be able to succeed with. Even with Refn being such an abstract and artsy director this movie is hard to pull off as the story is very far fetched. It's not really all that realistic and part of that leads back to the metaphor issue (which I for a fact, did not have a problem with) The one main flaw that spoke to me in this movie was the narrative. This movie doesn't really seem to have a straight flowing story. What the film does, it puts characters together in different scenes and explores their emotions and reactions to each other. While the overall story never got blurry to me, Only God Forgives does feel less of a story and more of a character exploration. Plenty of films are character studies and this movie falls apart once you realize that the storyline doesn't quite have a feeling of coherence throughout the piece. Other than that small issue, I very much enjoyed this movie. It's actually a film that interseted me more in art house pictures and inspired me to make one of my own. Overall, Only God Forgives is a very good movie that has excellent performances (especially from Ryan Gosling) and while it does falter in some ways in terms of it being a linear narrative, it's a highly impressive movie that shows just how much Refn can do with a camera and a few great actors. Three stars.

Movie Review: Nixon (1995)

OK so heres how this went down: I saw this movie last weekend, got very busy this week, and now at the end of Friday I am reviewing this movie. This is the second entry in my Oliver Stone review series. This past weekend I reviewed Wall Street (1987) and now I get talking about a movie that not only do I respect more, but has more to it. Nixon is a 1995 movie directed by Oliver Stone (of course) the film stars Anthony Hopkins in the lead as president Richard Nixon as well as a whole other plethora of actors and actresses, such as James Woods, Paul Sorvino, Bob Hoskins, and Joan Allen. The movie chronicles Nixon's life not only as president, but as a person and how his own innermost demons made him a very flawed, if not disturbingly misdirected individual. This movie is over three hours long and I was never bored...once. Nixon is a good movie and that's all I have to say about that. It doesn't amaze me with it's greatness because it doesn't really go above and beyond. It's just a good movie. That to me is a great thing because I don't dislike it, but I don't love it. It's just good. What makes it so good? Well, Anthony Hopkins is literally perfect in this role. The makeup/costume design in this film is so great that if Hopkins turns his face in a certain way, you can see the face of Richard Nixon. This man looks so much like real Richard Nixon in this movie that it's scary. As far as an Oliver Stone movie goes, this one follows all the rules. Anything stored in Richard's past is filmed entirely in black and white. That's really interesting because in many ways there was no colorful things or light in the beginning of Nixon's life. Leading him to become a really scary and downright horrifying man. This portrayal of Nixon is downright unpredictable. He does things all of a sudden that you would expect out of nowhere and he's so intent on getting what he desires that he even verbally harms his wife. This movie is very good at showing how this man became such a predator-like being. He didn't grow up in fame, his father was abusive when he was growing up and after tuberculosis was given to both of his brothers, his mother and him were left alone and without direction. Which explains how he was able to lose direction in his life. James Woods in this movie is downright fascinating as H.R. Haldeman (Richard Nixon's chief of staff member) was unbelievably good as he doesn't even do that much. This movie was very entertaining and suspensful. Overall, the movie Nixon was a good film that constantly thrills and entertains. Three stars.

Movie Review: Wall Street (1987)

Wall Street is a 1987 film directed by Oliver Stone. Starring Charlie Sheen, Daryl Hannah, and Michael Douglas, the movie follows Bud Fox (played by Sheen) as he is seduced into the world of insider trading by Gordon Gekko (Douglas) Now I am a fan of Oliver Stone and in my opinion Stone is one of the best american directors of all time. That being said, Wall Street was a very mixed bag of things for me. First off, if you are going into this movie without any knowledge of the stock market or of wall street, you will not understand this film and that was the deal for me. I'm not a huge business-stock junkie so I really found it difficult to understand the words they use in this movie as well as how the film is essentially based around the ups and downs of the trade world. Leading me to a lot of moments where I zoned out and wasn't even paying any attention to it. That's the issue with this movie, you have to have a good amount of knowledge about the subject before you see it. To me that's a flaw because looking beyond those details this movie is a good film. It's very well made and the ending is crafted in such an open-ended, yet closed way (no spoilers) However, that does lead me to mention another flaw which is the characters in this film. The characters are all wooden in this movie. They show no real emotion. Especially Charlie Sheen whenever he gets emotional or cries, it's just an awkward moment. No connection is established ever between you and the characters and because of this disconnect, it makes the movie fairly hard to watch in some parts. Despite these two flaws, if you can look beyond those this is a very respectable movie from director Oliver Stone. I always like his movies and this one isn't my favorite, but he still utilizes great cinematic qualities throughout all of Wall Street. Overall, Wall Street is a well-made, good movie, but doesn't explain all of the background to viewers unfamiliar, and while the characters are often enjoyable and funny the film doesn't always give the people on screen enough depth. 2.5 stars.