Licorice Pizza

Licorice Pizza (2021)

Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Stars: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper

Saying this off the bat, I hate the title. I do. I really do. What the fuck does licorice pizza mean? Whatever. This is the last Best Picture nominee that I needed to see. I like the movie, but I think the movie has some problems.

The dynamic between Gary (Hoffman) and Alana (Haim) was good. I was getting a little iffy with it because their a ten year age difference between the two. I didn't want an underage romance. The two leads are friends, but I have no idea why they are so jealous of each other when they are with other people.

My biggest problems of the movie were the cameos of Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper. They dragged the movie down. I was getting pissed off with them. I wanted them to go away. The third act fell apart for me. It dragged on. I was getting frustrated. There was also a problematic scene with an Asian character in this movie. I physically winced.

Rating: 7.5/10

Nightmare Alley

 Nightmare Alley (2021)

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan

Based on the novel by Lindsay Gresham

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Rooney Mara, David Strathairn, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins and Ron Perlman

Oh, boy. How do I start this? I love Guillermo del Toro. His movies from the past five years have been a miss for me. The Shape of Water was another movie of his that I did not like. I was bored to tears with it, because I could not connect with the characters. It's the same with this movie that I am reviewing.

The visuals of the movie are gorgeous. The costumes, the production design, the cinematography are immaculate, but the biggest problem with this movie is the story. You follow this grifter (Cooper) as he falls into the carny life. The thing is I don't care about Cooper's character, Stanton to get me invested in the story. I was bored to tears with this movie. No character was fully fleshed out. They were cupboard cutouts that could talk. I would rather watch the original Nightmare Alley than this.

Rating: 4/10

Movie Bullshit: Guardians of the Galaxy

Today, I'm gonna introduce a new feature on the blog. It's called Movie Bullshit. It is myself giving opinions of today's latest news.

I'm sure that everyone and the dead granny has seen the Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy trailer. Fanboys are having nerdgasms seeing the trailer. Personally, I don't know dick about them. I maybe read two digital comics on my phone since this movie was announced.

Today, came word of Rocket Raccoon's voice being revealed. He is being voiced by Bradley Cooper.

Granted, it's only a 30 second teaser.

I can't say that I am excited to see this movie, except for that section of the trailer where Chris Pratt, who plays Starlord looking incredibly ripped. For a guy that was quoted on Conan that he hated working out, he sure doesn't have a problem showing off. I give you Exhibit A and B. I rest my case.

Guardians of the Galaxy flies into theaters August 1st.

The Place Beyond the Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)

Directed by Derek Cianfrance

Screenplay by Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio and Darius Marder

Stars: Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Ray Liotta, Mahershala Ali, Bruce Greenwood, Ben Mendelsohn, Rose Byrne, Harris Yulin, Robert Clohessy, Emory Cohen and Dane DeHaan

It has been awhile since I have reviewed a movie. I'm recovering from being snubbed by the LAMMY committee for the fourth year in a row. Apart from being the Susan Lucci on the blogging world, I wanted to see a good movie to lighten my mood. Raving about his previous directorial effort, Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance follows it up with The Place Beyond the Pines. I hate the title and mostly everything about this film.

Ryan Gosling re-teams with Cianfrace playing "Awesome" Luke, a motocross rider that works for a traveling caravel. The job takes him to his old stomping grounds of Schenectady, New York where he bumps into his ex-fling, Romina (Mendes) that kept a secret from him. A son named Jason. Luke wants to get back into his son's life but there are major hurdles in his way; one is her boyfriend, Kofi (Ali) and not having money to support them. A brilliant idea has been concocted when Robin (Mendelsohn) tells Luke to become a bank robber. Seeing that he was good with it, Luke becomes cocky and alerts the attention of the police, particularly rookie cop, Avery Cross (Cooper).

The movie seems like three movies into one. You have the first act that is trying to be like the infamous Best Picture winner, Crash, where characters have to bump into each other to get any kind of interaction. The second act of the movie is like any stereotypical cop movie where the good cop tries to play with the bad ones and gets in too deep. The third act of the film is trying to say that no matter where you go, life comes back around in a bad way.

There is something about this movie that rubbed me the wrong way. It was like I have seen this type of movie before. The plot felt very contrived and recycle. It was nothing fresh or new about it that could set it apart from any other movie. The motivations of some characters in the final act left me puzzled.

They only thing I liked about the movie with the Bradley Cooper performance. It was a solid performance of a rookie cop that tries to do the right thing in a wrong world.

The expectation of the movie was raised to an impossible level for me to enjoy the film that much. Maybe a few years down the line, my opinion would change.

My Rating

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Directed by David O. Russell

Screenplay by David O. Russell

Based on the book, "The Silver Linings Playbook" by Matthew Quick

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Anupam Kher, John Ortiz, Julia Stiles, Paul Herman, Dash Mihok, Brea Bee and Chris Tucker

I have no idea why it took me so long to see Silver Linings Playbook. I guess, it was something about football that I don't know shit about. It's all a foreign language to me. Since the movie was nominated for eight Oscars, I thought I should check it out before it leaves the theaters. I am glad I did.

Bi-polar Pat Solitano (Cooper) has been released from the loony bin after eight months by her mother, Dolores (Weaver). He was put in there in the first place, because he had a psychopathic break when he caught his wife, Nikki (Bee) cheating with another man and almost killed him. Pat tries to integrate back into his family's eccentric dynamic. Pat Sr. (De Niro) is a obsessive compulsive man who is very superstitious about his betting on the Philadelphia Eagles in order to open a restaurant.

Pat is obsessed with Nikki and wants to change for Nikki to take him back. Pat meets a broken young widow named Tiffany (Lawrence) who is self-described as dirty sloppy slut. They have a weird set of run-ins until they both have major things that want done.

What made stay away from this movie with mental illness and football aspect of the film. I have suffered from mental problems all my life and I hate how it is portrayed on screen. It's either the butt of the joke or completely over the top. I'm glad it was not exploited in this movie. It made me relate my eccentricities to the characters on screen.

Even though, I loved the movie. It was something about the ending that made me scoff. I understood there can't be "Silver Linings Playbook" without the silver lining. I forgave it for that. I'm thankful that the Oscar nominations made me get off my butt and see this film.

My Rating