Interstellar

Interstellar (2014)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Screenplay by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, David Gyasi, Wes Bentley, John Lithgow, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Mackenzie Foy, Timothée Chalamet, Casey Affleck, Bill Irwin and Josh Stewart

For the longest time, I have stayed away from Nolan's movie as of late. I felt that he has become to big from his britches. People blindly loved all of his movies, and I'm not part of the cult. 

In a dystopian Earth where a blight has wiped out all chances of sustainability, Cooper (McConaughey) and his daughter, Murph (Foy) is shown coordinates to a supposed decommissioned NASA station. Cooper learns from Professor Brand (Caine) that there might be a chance to colonize an Earth like planet.

Why did this movie have to be almost three hours long? I think the characters pontificating about their motives got on my nerves. Thirty minutes could have been cut out and I would have been happy.

I'm not going to shit on the movie that much. I will say that first half on the movie was good. All about the journey, going back to be with loved ones. Cool. My heart ached for Cooper trying to find a way to get back home to his family.

The thing is when an action of a certain character is revealed, I rolled my eyes. The aftermath of that sent the movie careening off course. Nolan lost me. The ending of movie was nonsense.

Hans Zimmer's score... Why was music so loud? It was sonic booming all over during the action sequences. It took me out of the experience. I liked the score when it was quieter.

I don't hate the movie, but I think people are overly praising it.

Rating: 7/10

Pride Month Movie - Day Twenty Nine: Dallas Buyers Club

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée

Screenplay by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack 

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O'Hare, Deneen Tyler, Michael O'Neill, Steve Zahn, Dallas Roberts and Griffin Dunne

This was a big deal at the time of its release. McConaughey was on an upswing in his career with The Lincoln Lawyer, Mud, and Killer Joe. This movie nabbed him the Best Actor Oscar along with Jared Leto for Supporting. Did I love this movie? No.

Ron Woodroof (McConaughey) is a down on his luck electrician that finds out that he has tested positive for HIV. He doesn't beleive it at first, because it was a gay disease. Then, he has a change of heart and researches everything about it. The CDC, FDA are trying to control a trial of AZT to treat AIDS symptoms. Woodroof circumvents the red tape to provide medicine for people not on the trial.

I have some thoughts. I was not rooting for Woodroof. In the context of the movie, he was extremely prejudiced and homophobic. The slurs that were coming out of his mouth would make you blush. You expect me to root for this awful man. Was he trying to make a difference in treating AIDS? Sure. Should I clap for him? No. He was the main character of the movie. That does not bode well for me. I wanted him to fail. I didn't care about him.

This movie was trying to be so deep with the wailing, "oh, look at me, I lost all this weight so I can get an Oscar" and all that. I wasn't falling for it. Why did this story need to be told? I read up that one of the screenplay writers put a whole bunch of misinformation in the initial script with conspiracy theories that HIV do not develop into AIDS or how the early drugs like AZT worked in human body.

I have to get this off my chest. There were too many characters in this movie. I was confused who from whom. I didn't know who was Tucker,  T.J. or Clint. They all looked the same; white men with mustaches. Get rid of them. I don't care.

Did McConaughey and Leto give good performances? Sure. Oscar winning? Not really. It did not elevate the material in my eyes.

Rating: 5/10

The 2013 Omie Award Winners

 

I am sure that twenty of you are eagerly anticipating the winners of the 2013 Omie Awards. Without further ado, here are the winners:

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Picture goes to…

for creating a story about innocent love between two boys,

"North Sea Texas." Producers: Luc Roggen and Yves Verbraeken

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Director goes to…

for bringing the coming of age story to the screen,

Bavo Defurne, "North Sea Texas"

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Actor goes to…

for portraying a police detective that moonlights as a contract killer, Killer Joe Cooper,

Matthew McConaughey, "Killer Joe"

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Actress goes to…

for portraying the titular Tolstoy heroine torn between wifely duty and forbidden love, Anna Karenina,

Keira Knightley, "Anna Karenina"

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Supporting Actor goes to…

for portraying a dastardly slave owner that wants to keep his "property", Calvin Candie,

Leonardo DiCaprio, "Django Unchained"

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Supporting Actress goes to…

for portraying a girl that professes her love to a boy that doesn't reciprocate, Éponine,

Samantha Barks, "Les Misérables"

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Original Song goes to…

  

for making a song about lost love into a song to find another love,

"The Big Machine" from "Safety Not Guaranteed"


The Omie Award for Most Deserving Foreign Language Film goes to…

a film about the epic clash between mobsters and the policemen trying to stop them, 

"The Raid: Redemption". Director: Gareth Evans.

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Animated Feature goes to…

a animated retelling of classic fables into an action hero team,

"Rise of the Guardians". Director:  Peter Ramsey

 

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Original Screenplay goes to…

a film that poses fun of typical horror movie tropes with a twist,

"The Cabin in the Woods." Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Adapted Screenplay goes to…

winning their third Omie Award,

"North Sea Texas." Written by Bavo Defurne and Yves Verbraeken. Based on the novel,
"Nooit gaat dit over" by André Sollie

The Omie Award for Most Deserving Documentary goes to…

(another four way tie)

for showing the blunt reality of millions of students lives every day,

"Bully". Producers: Lee Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen

for shedding light on a young Frenchman preying on a grieving Texas family,

"The Imposter". Producer: Dimitri Doganis

for showing the precision skill of sushi master, Jiro Ono,

"Jiro Dreams of Sushi". Producer: Kevin Iwashina and Tom Pelligrini

for bringing the life of AIDS activist, Vito Russo to the masses,

 "Vito". Producer: Jeffrey Schwarz

And for the granddaddy of them all, The Suck-It! Award goes to…

for a boring movie about a guy on the lam for stealing fucking bread,

"Les Misérables" nominated for Best Picture

And there you have it folks. I want to thank everyone for voting, especially for Bernardo from The Movie Rat for the nomination of North Sea Texas that it could dominate the awards. Until next year...

Dazed and Confused

Dazed and Confused (1993)

Written and directed by Richard Linklater

Stars: Jason London, Joey Lauren Adams, Milla Jovovich, Shawn Andrews, Rory Cochrane, Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, Sasha Jenson, Marissa Ribisi, Michelle Burke, Cole Hauser, Wiley Wiggins, Parker Posey, Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey

After a long, boring day of work, it's nice to come home to watch a good movie. Thank you, Richard Linklater for making this movie for me to watch. I wanted to watch this movie for the longest time. I have seen a sliver of the beginning of the movie and that was it. This movie makes me nostalgic for those fleeting days of high schools.

Taking place on the last day of high school in Texas, the movie celebrates the days were you could be completely fucked and you could still have a good time. There is a cast of almost of thousand people in this film. It has multiple plots with Randall (London) trying to decide if he wants to be on the football team when the coach went the players to sign anti-booze and drug policy. There is one when upcoming freshman, Mitch Kramer (Wiggins) trying to stay away from the hazing from O'Bannion (Affleck) and Benny (Hauser).

I don't know how can I explain it. There is something about this movie that makes me wish that I could relive my high school years and cherish them more than a distant memory. People in that situation want to get out so bad, but they don't realize what they are messing out when they have to go out into the real world. I wish I had a time machine to take me back to my high school years. I would have done a lot of things differently like not goofing off in class, getting failing grades, be more social, make more lasting friendships and all that.

This is a movie that I want to own and treasure for its simple beauty. I loved it that much.

My Rating

Killer Joe

Killer Joe (2012)

Directed by William Friedkin

Screenplay by Tracy Letts

Based on her play of the same name

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church and Gina Gershon

I have been hearing nothing but good things about this movie. Everybody was talking about McConaughey's performance that it was Oscar worthy. I was waiting for this film to come out until I saw on the local paper here in Houston. It was playing at the Landmark River Oaks Theater. Might I mention that this is the first NC-17 movie that I saw in theater. I had a ball with this film.

Taking place in the outskirts of Dallas, the Smith family is dealing with a serious cash flow problem. Loser son, Chris (Hirsch) has a huge drug debt when his old lady sold his drugs to pay for her shitty car. Desperate to make a quick buck, Chris talks to his father, Ansel (Church) about the possibility of hiring a hitman to kill his mother for her $50,000 insurance policy. Chris suggests hiring Dallas detective Joe Cooper (McConaughey) who moonlights as a contract killer. Killer Joe as he is called has a fee of $25,000 that they could not pay. Killer Joe suggests having Chris' sixteen year old sister, Dottie as a retainer until the job is done.

I have to say that movie is the darkest of dark comedies that I have ever seen. There was some moments that will be ingrained in my memory for a long time. McConaughey is giving a sinister performance as the smooth professional who could have a mean street. I think this year, Matthew has turned a corner in his career that he is choosing more roles that are not fluffy romantics comedies. I hearken this performance to his in A Time to Kill that he is playing to his strengths, his charisma. He is doing things in this movie that I never thought I would see him doing.

I have to give a special shout out to Thomas Haden Church who delivers some zingers that had me busting my gut. Not that much happens in the movie, it is very static, but I thought the characters elevate that movie overall movie. I have to say that I was taken by Juno Temple as the spacey, clairvoyant sister. She is an innocent that gets corrupted by Joe, but their relationship is not strange. If that makes any sense.

My Rating

Magic Mike

Magic Mike (2012)

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Written by Reid Carolin

Stars: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Cody Horn, Matthew McConaughey, Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, Adam Rodriguez, Kevin Nash, Gabriel Iglesias and Olivia Munn

This movie has been highly anticipated to millions of women and gay men around the country, perhaps the world. I didn't get the chance to see the movie when it first opened, because of my unpredictable work schedule. Now, that the torrential rain hitting my city has eased up I saw it. Hearing reviews of this movie was that it was something of substance, I think it should have more of it.

A scandalous video showcasing the lack of dance moves by a then 20-year-old pre-Hollywood heartthrob Channing Tatum surfaced two years ago. The hubbub of it lead into making a fictionalized version of that time of his life with Steven Soderbergh directing it.

The story is about the titular character, Mike (Tatum) or his onstage moniker Magic Mike trying his damnedest to save enough singles to help start up his unusual custom furniture business. He also moonlight as a mobile detailr -- whatever that is -- and a roofer when he meets a scruffy 19-year-old slacker, Adam (Pettyfer). Adam crashes on his sister, Brooke's (Horn) couch for time being, much to Brooke's chagrin.

What's a male version of a "meet cute"? Adam meets up with Mike to enlist a couple of partying girls to come up to Mike's place of a business. It turns out that Mike is a stripper working an all male revue called Xquisite. Think of the Chippendales parody from SNL with Chris Farley. It feels kinda like that. The manager, Dallas (McConaughey) hires Adam to be the bitch boy. He meets the peripheral strippers to fill the screen like Ken (Bomer), Tito (Rodriguez), Tarzan (Nash) and Big Dick Richie (Manganiello). Fate steps in when Tarzan OD and Adam, now called "The Kid" by Mike is thrust -- no pun intended -- on the stage to work the females into a frenzy.

After the reaction of the ladies, Dallas hires Adam to be a part of the crew. He has to keep his new occupation from his sister until she gets suspicious about his costumes. Brooke warns Mike to watch Adam closely. Mike takes Adam under his wing to teach him the ropes of being the best stripper he can be.

Which is the gayest movie, this or 300? Gun to my head, I would say 300. It has lots of mens in loincloths. This movie has bare asses, dick shadows and banana hammocks galore. Don't get me wrong. I thought it was a solid film that has some problems with the third act with a contrived plot device that was tacked on.

I never thought I would say this, but Channing Tatum gives a very good performance here. I was impressed with his dance moves when he was not humping the stage. Thank you, Step Up. Pettyfer was good as Adam. McConaughey was compelling as the scuzzy manager. The real revelation was virtual unknown Cody Horn as Brooke. She was the overbearing sister, but she wasn't a prude with his beliefs about the stripping lifestyle.

My Rating