One of those “happened one night” films in the vein of After Hours. Interesting, enjoyable, a little creepy. Great performance by Paul Dillon. Makes you want to read the book it is based on just to read about the other freaky things he came upon.
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14 hours in the life of a Chicago cab driver is examined as he picks up fares from the good and bad parts of the city and emotionally connects to many of his passengers including a depressed rape victim whom he longs to help, but knows there is nothing he can do. Other fares include a drug runner and a manic race to get a pregnant woman to the hospital. Little is shown of the cabbie’s own life and thus the film leaves us with no emotional connection to his life.
I appreciate the wide eyed innocent characters that Will Ferrell has played. The cheerleader on SNL, Buddy the elf, even Chazz in Blades of Glory.
But when that wide eyed character is actually just a lazy ass dufus with no social skills, he really isn’t amusing. It is sad. There was so little likeable about either of these characters until the very end of this film that there is nothing worth sticking around until that point. I was surprised that I did.
It makes me sad to see 4 great actors wasted so badly in this film. The parents were pathetic and it was no surprise that they raised awful children. And ALL of the children were awful, even the successful one.
I wouldn’t recommend this film and after the last two previous Will Ferrell outings we watched, I am not sure how enthusiastic I would be to watch another. And the man is a workhorse, he has a lot of films in the queue.
Will, please stop disappointing me. Your humor seems to be regressing as you get older. Hint: boogers and poop aren’t funny for men over 40. Hell, they aren’t funny for boys over 14. Actually they aren’t funny at all at any age, but they are tolerable and understandable until around 14. Your films are becoming untolerable and I don’t understand it.
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Two spoiled guys become competitive stepbrothers after their single parents get hitched.
I don’t recall hearing about this being in the theatre. There are alot of actors in this film that you would think you would see on posters and in ads, but maybe after seeing the end product they all decided they would not do any promotion for the film.
Two guys go for a promotion to manager of a new branch of the grocery store chain they work at. They attempt to destroy each other in very subtle ways. Soon the stress gets to them both. One falls back on bad habits that lead to his downfall. The other decides to become a better man and gets the job.
Not really a comedy. Not really all the interesting. When the funniest joke is about the handling of an “Deli Employee of the Week” poster where someone was rewarded for cutting the cheese, you know this really isn’t a funny film. More “ewww” than “haha” for this film.
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Two assistant managers of a corporate grocery store vie for a coveted promotion.
Very long film about Hell’s Kitchen Irish Gangs in the late 80s and their relationship with the Italian organized crime groups of lower Manhattan.
Much scene chewing. Ed Harris’ character puts money over family – not the best way to run your gang. And if you believed this film was based on any truth you would have found a dead bartender at every bar in Hell’s Kitchen throughout the 80s.
And seriously guys, the slow motion shoot out as closing scene hasn’t been effective or edgy since Bonnie and Clyde. And you sir, are no Peckinpah.
I did learn that Hell’s Kitchen was called Clinton way back then. I thought it was some newer thing from around 1995. But no matter how long they try to call it that, I doubt it will stick.
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Terry Noonan returns home to New York’s Hells Kitchen after a ten year absence. He soon hooks up with childhood pal Jackie who is involved in the Irish mob run by his brother Frankie. Terry also rekindles an old flame with Jackie’s sister Kathleen. Soon, however, Terry is torn between his loyalty to his friends and his loyalties to others.
Syndey or as we watched it, “Hard Eight” was one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s first film and was released one year prior to Boogie Nights.
This film, like most Anderson films, develops some great characters and follows them through their days. This followed a man named Sydney played by Philip Baker Hall. He is also in Boogie Nights as is a great deal of the cast of Sydney.
The movie follows Sydney and his mentorship of John (John C. Reilley). The relationship that develops but also how Sydney is always there for John. It isn’t until the end when you find out one of the main reasons for that. And it is a pretty nice twist.
There are times where I wish things were explored more and some things moved too quickly, not getting the time they deserved – like the friendship between John and Jimmy. No idea how it started, possibly as unexpectedly as the one between John and Sydney, but did they both have the same reason for starting? We will never really know if John was sought out or lucked into by both characters.
Good film, interesting characters. I would give it 2 hours of an evening anytime. But then it had Samuel L. Jackson in it, and that means it must be watched here.
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John has lost all his money. He sits outside a diner in the desert when Sydney happens along, buys him coffee, then takes him to Reno and shows him how to get a free room without losing much money. Under Sydney’s fatherly tutelage, John becomes a successful small-time professional gambler, and all is well, until he falls for Clementine, a cocktail waitress and sometimes hooker.
Year of the Dog was a long form commercial for PETA. It was actually the least upbeat film we watched this Sunday.
The film begins with Molly Shannon (never known for being in a film that was such a downer) and her dog Pencil. The most adorable little beagle. We get very little time with Pencil before they kill him off and Molly’s character starts losing her mind in an effort to deal with the loss. They paint her as a big loser with no personal life, no interests and easily swayed into basically anything that someone she somewhat admires can suggest. So she ends up a Vegan, stealing money from her boss to donate to animal rights groups, adopts every dog that was going to be put down in an animal shelter that day, hunts her neighbor, influences her niece against the parents wishes, and slowly melts down.
And in the end she uses it all as some sort of statement on her empowering herself to follow her conscience.
It was hard to care about her, as a matter of fact I didn’t. This was a preachy film that couldn’t produce an animal lover that could make you care about their cause.
And I have cried at almost every animal dying film there is.
And Mike White of School of Rock directed and wrote this. I would have expected something more substantial for the characters based on that film alone.
This film is listed as a Comedy Drama….don’t believe them. There is no comedy.
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A secretary’s life changes in unexpected ways after her dog dies.
I never saw the stage play. Yep, lived in NYC for a decade and never saw it. I actually only saw 2 Broadway shows in that entire time, so my chance of it being this one weren’t very good.
But the movie was good. I often watch Academy Award nominated films and wonder how they got nominated. This deserved to be there. The music is great, but then Fosse always is. The dancing was amazing, the interpretation to the screen was flawless. Even Renée Zellweger seemed less squinty than usual. My only complaint would be Richard Gere. I just think someone else could have played the part better. He didn’t seem as devoted to the part as I would have liked. It was especially evident in the ventriloquist scene. He just didn’t convince me. I wanted his part to be bigger as in more flamboyant, not longer.
All in all, a satisfying musical that sort of makes me wish I had seen it on Broadway.
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Murderesses Velma Kelly (a chanteuse and tease who killed her husband and sister after finding them in bed together) and Roxie Hart (who killed her boyfriend when she discovered he wasn’t going to make her a star) find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.
A parody of the music bio pic done intelligently, with ‘smart’ dialogue, silly situation, and a great pace. This film was fast paced without leaving you out of any of the jokes if you are aware of the genre it plays with. They were able to keep the character nieve enough to make him likable, but aware enough to make him dispicable when it was relevant. Great cameos from dozens of actors. My favorites were Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Jason Schwartzman, and Justin Long playing the Beatles. Jane Lynch as usual, gives a surreal performance as a television reporter.
A very fun film. Well written. I liked it. Warning: more penis than one may consider necessary.
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Singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity to become a musical legend.
