Archive for the 'Crime' Category

Reno 911!: Miami

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 6, 2008
in Based on TV Series, Comedy and Crime
. 0 Comments

If you’ve seen the TV show, Reno 911, you have a pretty good idea what this movie would be about.  Written and directed by Robert Ben Garant, otherwise known as Junior, this film seemed to just do everything they couldn’t do on television.

The story is a bit ludicrous, yet not that far from the truth.  If you’ve watched any of the COPS shows, you’ll know just how stupid some people can be.  Here we have the whole Miami police force locked down because they’ve all be contaminated with something biological.  Luckily the Reno Sheriff’s Department is there to save the day.

It was all fun and silly until they lost me with the gratuitous nudity and sex jokes.  I’m all for a raunchy film.  I love Kevin Smith’s work, however, there’s a time when stuff is just pointless and meaningless.  It’s hard to explain, but that’s the way I feel.  Definitely don’t want to watch this one again.

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

The Dark Knight

Published
by
Chalupa
on August 4, 2008
in Action, Based on a comic, Black Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sequel and Thriller
. 0 Comments

Liz and I were able to catch the latest installment in the Batman series over the weekend.  We’re both glad we were able to catch it on the big screen.  After all the buildup, hype, and raving reviews, we finally got to see what everyone was talking about.


I was very impressed with Batman Begins and I wasn’t in any way disappointed with The Dark Knight.  I’m already looking forward to the next one.  Heath Ledger did an amazing job with The Joker.  I was reading someone’s comments somewhere and they were talking about how they’ve never been a Ledger fan until now.  They also never realized how menacing and diabolical the Joker could actually be, and after thinking about Jack Nicholson’s portrayal from 1989, they realized that Nicholson was just delivering the same role he had been for the previous 20 years or so.  You may or may not agree with that, but it was a little mind blowing to me.  Maybe I haven’t seen enough of Nicholson’s films, but I’ve never quite understood why people are so enamored by him.  Yeah, he has some good films out there with great performances, but I’ve never been that impressed.  It’s really too bad Ledger isn’t with us anymore for any follow-up films.

Often times in sequels, it’s hard to make something that lives up to the original.  I think Christopher Nolan did a good job in raising the bar by bringing in the Joker, but there’s always room for some improvements.  I don’t think Christian Bale had to really act that much this time around.  The gutteral “batman voice” got a little annoying and old, but it makes sense he was talking differently to try and hide his identity.  Aaron Eckhart did a decent job.  I’ll always remember him as Nick Naylor from Thank You for Smoking.  It’ll be interesting to see if he makes a comeback in the future.

I think Gary Oldman had a much more active role this time around.  He’s such a great actor and it’s nice to see him able to spread his wings a bit.  I liked Maggie Gyllenhaal more than Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes.  She also fit in pretty well.  It wasn’t like some films where actors change for a particular character and the whole time you’re confused as to who exactly that person is.  Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were wonderful as usual.  Some friends of mine complained after the first film that they were grossly underutilized.  I kind of agreed, however, it was nice to actually have a “real” actor play the role of Alfred for a change.  I was just happy to have a live body in the role.

Some of the scenes with the Joker are a bit disturbing, but this is rated PG-13, so there’s not a whole lot to worry about.  They cut away at just the right moments in certain scenes.  Liz and I both said we got a little bored in the middle, but overall we thoroughly enjoyed it.  I would highly suggest getting out and seeing this one before it leaves the theaters.  You won’t be sorry.

Rating: ★★★★½

Spun

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 27, 2008
in Comedy, Crime, Drama and Drugs
. 0 Comments

For some reason I’m always intrigued by drug movies.  Maybe it’s because it’s something I know nothing about.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on what they were going for in Spun though.  It almost had an MTV, jazzed-up feel to it.  At times I think the film was trying to accurately portray what it’s like to be on crystal meth, but all the while being hip and cool about it.  Everything was shot with a lot of close-up lenses.  I know some would argue this really gets you in there, but I really prefer the wide-angle any day.  It gives you a feel for the scene and its surroundings.  There was also a lot of camera movement and jiggling along with some varying camera speeds with time lapse photography.  I think this is what may have confused me on the level of seriousness.

At times things were from almost a first person view.  Not like a first person video game, but from the viewpoint that you were in the group.  At other times the camera was pulled back a bit and I felt much like an outside observer.  This combined with some of the camera tricks are what made me feel like the film was “jazzed-up” to seem more hip and cool.  The main pair of cops trying to catch everyone also seemed like they might have been more at home as the two detectives from Hot Fuzz.  While most drug-centered films I’ve seen are trying to show how drugs are bad (Blow, Trainspotting, etc), this one almost made it seem maybe a little cool.  I felt the comedy aspects were counteracting the seriousness of the drugs.

One other aspect I really didn’t understand was the bleeping of some dialog and the blurring out of some nudity.  The reason this seemed weird is because they sometimes allowed you to hear the same word in an earlier scene.  Now not all nudity was blurred out, just some.  I could kind of see some consistency in the blurring, but it still didn’t make sense.  Maybe they were trying to avoid an NC-17 rating?

Even though I wasn’t completely on board with everything, this film did bring out an reaction and that is a sign of good art.  Who can say no to a movie starring Jason Schwartzman, Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy, John Leguizamo, Patrick Fugit, Mena Suvari, Deborah Harry?  Who’s Deborah Harry you ask?  Well you might also recognize her as the front woman for a band called Blondie.  Jason Schwartzman never ceases to amaze me and Rourke has been awesome in everything I’ve seen him in.  It was also cool watching Blondie kick the crap out of a punk in a convenient store.

I’m not really sure how to recommend this.  Some will be offended by the content and others will just get bored with the feel of it.  I’m glad I stuck through and watched it all.  Something to check out if you have Netflix.  It’s on the Watch Instantly list.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

11:14

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 21, 2008
in Comedy, Crime, Drama, Multiple story line, Murder and Thriller
. 0 Comments

The title 11:14 refers to a time.  On one fateful night, a lot of lives are drastically changed at exactly 11:14.  People die, people are hit by cars, a convenient store is robbed, one girl is playing several people for money, and one guy even losing some very important bits in a bit of a car accident.

I wish I had heard of this one when it came out.  I was really impressed with it.  Some of the cast includes Hilary Swank, Colin Hanks, Rachael Leigh Cook, Jason Segel, Patrick Swayze, and Ben Foster.  I’m not completely sure if this would be considered a neo-noir or not, but it definitely has a lot of those elements in it.  This is another one of those films with multiple time lines and everyone being connected in the end.  It might be good to watch this one without the movie talkers and question-askers.

Rating: ★★★★☆

In the Valley of Elah

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 9, 2008
in Based on a true story, Crime, Drama, Iraq, Mystery, Thriller and War
. 0 Comments

I’ve been finding it intersting that more and more movies are coming out about the war in Iraq.  The other day it just dawned on me that in 20 years, this war will be just like Vietnam in that there will be plenty of books, movies, etc out there for people to learn from.

In the same way that Lions for Lambs seemed so lame compared to Charlie Wilson’s War, I think Robert Redford’s film once again pales in comparison to In the Valley of Elah.  The first pair goes together because they both deal with war in Afghanistan.  The second pair also makes sense because they both deal with the current “War on Terror” or “War of Terror” as Borat puts it.

This film deals with a soldier that has just returned from home, but turns up missing.  Tommy Lee Jones, plays the boy’s father, is trying to figure out what happened to his son.  Being a veteran, and a bit of an investigator himself, Hank Deerfield isn’t satisfied with the lackluster efforts and figuring out just what happened to his son.  Through trial and tribulation, Hank finally gets Detective Sanders, Charlize Theron, to take a real look at the case and try to piece all the parts together.  In the meantime, Hank is trying to make sense of some of the videos his son had been sending home to him from the battlefield.

This is truly a sad and tragic story, but I feel that it gave me a little peak into what some of these people are going through.  Every once in a while I catch a blip on the news about what’s going on in that region of the world.  The only real thing that’s actually affecting me are gas prices and the economy tanking.  I’m not in the armed forces though, and there’s very little chance of a draft happening again so I’d be really surprised if I ever experienced anything like this first hand.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Get Smart

Published
by
nathanshorb
on July 5, 2008
in Action, Based on TV Series, Comedy and Crime
. 1 Comment

Let me preface by saying this: I am a huge Steve Carrell fan. He and Jack Black are tied for being able to make me giggle uncontrollably pretty much just by doing absolutely nothing. Just the other day, which shopping for a greeting card, I picked up one of those cards-with-sound that featured Steve Carrell mumbling something or other from The Office. In the middle of the card store, I laughed really really loudly and couldn’t stop. I love Steve Carrell.

And because of that love, I had relatively high hopes for Get Smart. I knew it wouldn’t be a great film or anything, but I expected to laugh quite a bit.

Well, it’s with great disappointment that I tell you: I wasn’t impressed. I really didn’t even laugh all that much.

It’s your typical summer comedy, a chuckle here and there and quite a bit of poor acting and cheesy delivery. But not even Mr. Carrell could redeem it. So much of the movie simply fell flat. You wanted to laugh, but it just wasn’t worth the effort.

Don’t get me wrong. Alan Arkin is decent as always, and Anne Hathaway is a lot of fun, too. The Rock is as bad as ever, and there are plenty of cameos to keep things interesting, too.

Speaking of cameos: I won’t mention who it is in case some of you are rushing out to see it after this stellar review, but one cameo features another one of my favorite actors, and I felt his 2 minute cameo was the best comedic delivery in the whole movie.

In the end, Steve Carrell just wasn’t allowed to shine enough in this film. While he was one of the main actors, the movie didn’t feature him. It also seemed like he wasn’t allowed to take his lines on as his own, and followed the script pretty closely, when we all know he’s at his best when he’s flying off the cuff.

It’s a fine fun summer movie, but don’t go spending nine dollars on it like I did.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 5, 2008
in American Civil War, Based on a book, Based on a novel, Based on a true story, Crime, Great Depression, Narrated, Trains and Western
. 2 Comments

This movie is one that I’ve been wanting to watch for a while. I’m a big fan of Westerns and their derivatives.  Other drawing factors were the Oscar buzz surrounding this film and the performances by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.  I’m glad to see Casey getting some recognition.  I think he’s a very qualified actor and it’s good that he’s making a name for himself other than Ben’s brother.

In my opinion, there seem to be two main types of Western films.  I’ve always labeled them in my head as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood when in reality they’re both on the same side.  I think the real line should be drawn at the musicals.  Many old films in this style include lots of singing, and maybe even some dancing.  These are the ones I’m really not a fan of.  I more into the shooting, the bank robberies, the jail breaks, and the action.  The Assassination of Jesse James incorporates a lot of these elements.

If you don’t know about Jesse James, he was an American outlaw during the mid to late 1800s.  As I’m sure you can guess by the title, he was eventually assassinated and then became one of the legends of the “Wild West.”  I think it would be fair to argue most people don’t know much about his life other than he was an outlaw.  I really enjoyed this film because it gave a small peak into his life that most would never know.

As I mentioned before, there were some amazing performances by Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt, but it’s fair to mention they weren’t the only stars involved in this film.  Rounding out the cast are Mary-Louise Parker, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, Garret Dillahunt, and Paul Schneider.  Roger Deakins was even nominated for Cinematography, along with No Country for Old Men, and Affleck was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

The only drawback I can think of for this film is the length.  I still don’t understand why some can’t sit through a longer movie if it’s worth watching, but it’s fair to mention just so you know.  I would highly recommend this to any fans of the Western genre.  I would put it on par with 3:10 to Yuma.

Rating: ★★★★½

Eastern Promises

Published
by
Chalupa
on March 27, 2008
in Crime, Drama, England, Graphic Violence, Investigation, Mob, Mystery, Russian, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

Eastern Promises is a follow-up of sorts to A History of Violence. Both are directed by David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen stars in both, and they are both stories about somebody involved in the mob. While Cronenberg’s first mob film takes place in the US, Eastern Promises involves Russian mobsters and takes place in London.

Viggo’s character, Nikolai, works for a very notorious crime family. He’s the driver and he does more than just drive the car from point A to point B. One night he encounters Anna, played by Naomi Watts, as she is looking for somebody at the restaurant owned by the Nikolai’s employers. Anna works at a hospital and a girl died recently giving birth to her daughter. The young girl had a diary which contained a business card for said restaurant. Even though Anna speaks little Russian herself, it is part of her heritage and her uncle, who claims to be ex-KGB, warns her to stay away from the situation. Anna soon finds herself in the midst of a complicated situation as I’m sure you can guess.

One very interesting aspect of this movie is tattoos. In this crime society, tattoos are given as badges and marks of honor. They essentially tell the story of your life. The tattoos are also standardized so anybody can recognize your past glories and exploits merely by noticing the tattoos you have. In the same respect, having tattoos you did not earn can be quite detrimental to ones wellbeing.

Viggo Mortensen is AMAZING in this film. He’s a bit of a method actor in that he heavily researches roles he has and becomes the characters he plays. I know that most people only know him from his exploits in a little trilogy called Lord of the Rings, but seriously guys, Mortensen is a great actor that has been around for a while. I think the first film I remember seeing him in was Crimson Tide. I’ve since seen him in Witness, Carlito’s Way, The Prophecy, Young Guns II, G.I. Jane, and Psycho. The only movie I’ve seen him in that I wasn’t a big fan of was Hidalgo. If you’ve seen any of these and enjoyed Mortensen’s acting skills you should definitely check out some of his other films.

Other noteworthy performances came from Armin Mueller-Stahl, Seymon, who plays the head of the crime family. You’ll probably also recognize Vincent Cassel from Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 13. I always remember him as the creepy brother from Brotherhood of the Wolf and the one movie I always throw out there for “wow factor”, Irreversible.

I really enjoyed this film and hope you do too. Let me know if you have any thoughts or comments.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Eastern Promises

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Published
by
Chalupa
on February 20, 2008
in Based on a novel, Crime, Drama, Narrated, Perfume, Prostitution and Thriller
. 0 Comments

Ever wonder what it would be like to have a super power? You know, like a superhero. Ever wanted super-human strength? The ability to fly? Laser beams shooting out of your eyes? Well how about a super sense of smell? In Perfume, Jean-Baptiste is born with an amazing sense of smell. I don’t even know how to describe it other than he’s like a human hound dog. He can smell you coming and going.

Jean-Baptiste lived a hard life during the French Revolution. He was born in a fish market and soon ends up in an orphanage. If you didn’t know, those places weren’t all fun and games. I’d probably have to describe them as hell holes. Anyways, he eventually starts working in a tannery and one day gets to go into town for a delivery. There are all kinds of wonderful smells he’s never encountered before. He eventually smells the most wonderful scent he’s ever encountered, but tragically loses it.

Jean-Baptiste’s next line of work then becomes the perfume industry. He starts learning how to make perfumes in the effort to preserve smells. He wants to recreate that smell he found in town that one day. As you can probably tell from the title, Jean-Baptiste also happens to be a murderer. I don’t want to give the story away though, so I won’t get into that.

This film is a good watch. There is a slight, crazy twist at the end that kind of involves a mass orgy. Don’t really see that one coming. For this reason I won’t be recommending this to a lot of people. It’s not crazy or too revealing…especially after seeing John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus. If you’ve seen Perfume, we’d love to know what you thought of it. If you liked it, you might want to check out some of Tom Tykwer’s other movies such as Run, Lola, Run or The Princess and the Warrior .

Rating: ★★★½☆

No Country for Old Men

Published
by
Chalupa
on February 5, 2008
in Based on a novel, Crime, Drama, Drugs, Graphic Violence, Neo Noir and Thriller
. 2 Comments

First off, I must apologize for not having a review of the latest Coen Brother film. We talked about this so much on the Lebowski Podcast, I just plain forgot to put anything over here. Secondly, if you haven’t seen it already I highly suggest you do. I thought it was going to be my favorite movie for 2007, but then I saw There Will Be Blood, which is probably bumping No Country to #2.

If you’re not already familiar with the Coens, they are a force of nature in the world of writing and directing. Ethan and Joel are brothers who have been working together since the 80s. They write their own scripts, storyboard every scene beforehand, make heavy use of wide-angle lenses and shots, favor melding Film Noir with other genres, reuse many actors in their films, often edit their own films under the fake name Roderick Jaynes, and happen to be my favorite directors.

The Coens usually only make movies from their own scripts. This is true in this film, but it is heavily based of the novel of same name by Cormac McCarthy. This film has both Noir and Western elements and is set in the state of Texas. It starts off with Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finding the gruesome remains of a drug deal gone wrong and takes off with a briefcase full of money. Naturally, somebody notices $2 million is missing and Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a psychopathic killer with a strange sense of morals and a strong commitment to standing by his word, is sent after Moss to retrieve the cash.

Trying to understand and discern all this is the local sheriff, Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), along with his motor-mouthed and somewhat dimwitted Deputy, Wendell (Garret Dillahunt). Llewelyn’s wife, Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald), and other innocent and not-so-innocent people are also caught in the middle of all this as the story unfolds.

The character of Anton Chigurh is particularly interesting. He’s pretty much the ultimate badass. In fact, at one point two other characters are talking about him and one asks, “just how bad is this guy?” The other responds with, “Compared to what? The bubonic plague?” Anton pretty much kills everybody that bothers him or does something he considers worthy of death. We even find out he plans to kill Llewelyn no matter what. Even if the money is returned, Llewelyn wasted Anton’s time and that’s an offense that warrants death in Chigurh’s mind.

A buddy of mine sent me this link to a blog of sorts in which a couple of friends are discussing the movie. These two guys happen to be big Coen fans and they compare the movie to both The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona. One of them compares Anton to The Dude saying they are the exact opposites of each other. Something really interesting to think about.

I know I’ve been desensitized big time with all the movies I’ve seen. Yes, there is violence in the film, and no I didn’t find it in any way excessive. This may not be the case for some of you though. Something to keep in mind. I would say the swearing is minimal compared to some of the Coens’ other works and even though the story is quite dark, I still enjoyed it….excessively. This is a must-see for any Coen fan.

Rating: ★★★★★