Movies. Movies. Movies
"Bad Santa 2"
starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Tony Cox, Christina Hendricks, Brett Kelly, Ryan Hansen, Jenny Zigrino, Jeff Skowron, Kristina Rosato
written by: Johnny Rosenthal and Shauna Cross
directed by: Mark Waters
Once you get the question of whether or not we actually needed a sequel to the 2003 original film and can just appreciate Billy Bob Thornton at his best when he is cranky and quite the curmudgeon, then you'll enjoy this film. And yes, sure, behind all the adult humor of anal sex, his infinity for larger women, his binge drinking and pissing himself jokes, there's actually some heart and an allegory for the greed and consumerism that underlines Christmas here in America- the capitalist of the capitalists countries.
Mark Waters’s sequel to Bad Santa commences with Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) back at rock-bottom, with only his idolatrous friend, Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), by his side. The curly haired Thurman, still overweight and convinced that Willie is Santa Claus, is a man-child with the crystalline singing voice of a prepubescent boy and the softheaded naïveté of a shut-in. They’re lured into another burglary scheme by Willie’s erstwhile accomplice, Marcus (Tony Cox), and estranged mother, Sunny (Kathy Bates), a seasoned criminal who introduced Willie to a life of crime before abandoning him. Together they make up an alternative family even more blasphemous than the one depicted in Terry Zwigoff’s original film, suggesting caricatures of the figures commonly associated with nativity scenes and Claus’s workshop.
Mark Waters’s sequel to Bad Santa commences with Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) back at rock-bottom, with only his idolatrous friend, Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), by his side. The curly haired Thurman, still overweight and convinced that Willie is Santa Claus, is a man-child with the crystalline singing voice of a prepubescent boy and the softheaded naïveté of a shut-in. They’re lured into another burglary scheme by Willie’s erstwhile accomplice, Marcus (Tony Cox), and estranged mother, Sunny (Kathy Bates), a seasoned criminal who introduced Willie to a life of crime before abandoning him. Together they make up an alternative family even more blasphemous than the one depicted in Terry Zwigoff’s original film, suggesting caricatures of the figures commonly associated with nativity scenes and Claus’s workshop.
Willie's soul is empty and he clearly has a fear of human connection that tends to drive him towards self-destruction, as witnessed in the boy whom he unwillingly befriended in the first film, Thurman, who appears here as a misfit and dimwit adult who just wants to be Willie's friend. And that's the thing, Willie is not "bad" per se, because when it comes to this kid, he's actually got a soft-spot, perhaps because he sees himself in him, and he doesn't want Thurman to grow up and turn into him.
Kathy Bates is the new addition to the film that really keeps the glue together. She is Willie's estranged mother, the reason he is the why he is, you might say, and she's here to do one last big steal and she needs his help. If they can reconnect and have a mother-son bonding experience, that's a bonus. Little does Willie know, she has an agenda of her own, which plays out.
Willie's latest conquest is the absolutely gorgeous Christina Hendricks (the redhead from "Mad Men" fame). He sure knows how to pick 'em- last movie it was Lauren Graham ("Gilmore Girls").
The heist that the ol' gang pulls off involves a charity that isn't exactly very charitable. The film moves quickly and you never lose interest. You may even start to feel bad for Willie.
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Kathy Bates is the new addition to the film that really keeps the glue together. She is Willie's estranged mother, the reason he is the why he is, you might say, and she's here to do one last big steal and she needs his help. If they can reconnect and have a mother-son bonding experience, that's a bonus. Little does Willie know, she has an agenda of her own, which plays out.
Willie's latest conquest is the absolutely gorgeous Christina Hendricks (the redhead from "Mad Men" fame). He sure knows how to pick 'em- last movie it was Lauren Graham ("Gilmore Girls").
The heist that the ol' gang pulls off involves a charity that isn't exactly very charitable. The film moves quickly and you never lose interest. You may even start to feel bad for Willie.
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"Remember Me"
starring: Chris Cooper, Robert Pattinson, Lena Olin, Gregory Jbara, Emilie de Ravin, Pierce Brosnan
written by: William Fetters
directed by: Allen Coulter
Ally Craig (de Ravin, who impressed me way back on the WB show "Roswell" as an alien, and then again, in "The Hills Have Eyes" which involves one of the most uncomfortable and disgusting rape scenes included in a film) and Tyler Hawkins (Pattinson, who perhaps has not been able to really shake the typecast of his "Twilight" character, or he is just a natural at playing brooding characters and he's only capable of making that face) are two NYU students who have more in common than they even know. For starters, they are in the same philosophy class, they both have overbearing fathers, and dead relatives (Ally's mom was killed in a subway robbery/murder at the beginning of the film and Tyler's brother's suicide hovers over his family). Oh, they've also been bullied by Ally's cop father (but she doesn't exactly know that). Tyler and Ally fall fast in love with each other, like all young love stories, and then reveal themselves slowly to each other. Can they make it work?
Even when the truth is revealed to Ally about the origins of love affair, it's the family drama that both have to endure that brings them closer together. They discover how much they need each other.
It's a sweet love story that tries to invest the audience with a profound meaning of coincidence in their meeting each other, like it was fate that brought them together.
It doesn't work that way. People meet, maybe they fall in love, maybe they don't, maybe they're happy, maybe they're sad. That's life. If, let us say, a refrigerator falls out of a window and squishes one of them, that's life, too, but it's not a story many people want to see.
And then, it ties everything together by having the film culminate on perhaps the most infamous and memorable day in American recent history (re: 9/11) seems like a cheap way to pull at heartstrings and seems like a cheat, like the screenwriters didn't think they had a strong enough love story. That's too bad, though, because Ally and Tyler are likable (separately and together). You care about them, and you want to see them succeed.
That's why the end seemed like a cheap way out, to me.
Even when the truth is revealed to Ally about the origins of love affair, it's the family drama that both have to endure that brings them closer together. They discover how much they need each other.
It's a sweet love story that tries to invest the audience with a profound meaning of coincidence in their meeting each other, like it was fate that brought them together.
It doesn't work that way. People meet, maybe they fall in love, maybe they don't, maybe they're happy, maybe they're sad. That's life. If, let us say, a refrigerator falls out of a window and squishes one of them, that's life, too, but it's not a story many people want to see.
And then, it ties everything together by having the film culminate on perhaps the most infamous and memorable day in American recent history (re: 9/11) seems like a cheap way to pull at heartstrings and seems like a cheat, like the screenwriters didn't think they had a strong enough love story. That's too bad, though, because Ally and Tyler are likable (separately and together). You care about them, and you want to see them succeed.
That's why the end seemed like a cheap way out, to me.
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"Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie"
starring: Jeff Garlin, Natasha Lyonne, Erin Foley, Megan Ferguson, William Stanford Davis, Michael R. Carlson, Ava Acres
written by: Jeff Garlin and Andrea Seigel
directed by: Jeff Garlin
Sometimes Netflix gets it right and knocks it out of the park with their originals (shows and movies), and sometimes it's like they are throwing it in our faces just how much money they actually have to throw around and waste when talent comes to them with a suggestion for a project, and I call those "throwaways." Jeff Garlin's project "Handsome: a Netflix Mystery Movie" is exactly that. Sure, he is naturally awkwardly funny and quite memorable from his role on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" which is perhaps why people like me will check out this film and give it a chance. But, as a movie, it just falls short.
Garlin plays "Gene Handsome," a socially awkward police detective who lives an isolated, lonely life with his beloved Great Dane. A grisly murder occurs. Handsome gets the case and his efforts to solve it lead him to a gaggle of oddball interested parties and suspects, some back in his own neighborhood. Everything, other than the mild poignancy of Handsome's personal life, is meant to be funny, and that includes a decapitated body, brash sexual advances, and frequent off-color language.
Garlin plays "Gene Handsome," a socially awkward police detective who lives an isolated, lonely life with his beloved Great Dane. A grisly murder occurs. Handsome gets the case and his efforts to solve it lead him to a gaggle of oddball interested parties and suspects, some back in his own neighborhood. Everything, other than the mild poignancy of Handsome's personal life, is meant to be funny, and that includes a decapitated body, brash sexual advances, and frequent off-color language.
Skip this one, unless you don't mind the mindlessness.
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"Wild Oats"
starring: Jessica Lange, Shirley McLaine, Demi Moore, Ptolemy Slocum, Colin Walker, Robert Collier
written by: Claudia Myers and Gary Kanew
directed by: Andy Tennant
starring: Jessica Lange, Shirley McLaine, Demi Moore, Ptolemy Slocum, Colin Walker, Robert Collier
written by: Claudia Myers and Gary Kanew
directed by: Andy Tennant
Okay, before you judge me and ask, why the hell did you watch this film, let's be honest, Jessica Lange and Shirley McLaine are a couple of powerhouse actresses who've made some excellent and memorable films, separately, so who wouldn't be intrigued to see what they can do together on screen. Unfortunately, this film is a giant bomb.
The plot involves a husband's death and subsequent will, in which a mistake is made in regards to how much money McLaine's character receives, and so the two ladies go on an extravagant vacation and spend money that technically isn't theirs.
The film began wonderfully…with a darkly comic funeral. I know funerals are not supposed to be funny…but the writing was spot on and the women hysterical. It seems that Eva (MacLaine) just lost her husband and she is going to have to sell her home and economize. However, when the insurance company makes a mistake and accidentally sends her a check for $5,000,000 instead of $50,000, her friend Maddie (Lange) convinces her that they should go on the adventure of their lives and they set off for the Canary Islands. All of this is delightful and even once they arrive in this tropical island, things stay fun…at least for a while.
The movie (which I found out later was on Lifetime first, which explains a lot) explores the trepidations and courage of seniors as they negotiate life and love after the age of retirement, not the usual preferred fare for tweens and teens. An older couple is seen in bed after sex. A woman in her 60s pushes a man in his 20s onto a bed, and it's later revealed that the sex was lively enough to throw out his back. While the main characters display admirable spunk, they also use money that does not belong to them.
The plot involves a husband's death and subsequent will, in which a mistake is made in regards to how much money McLaine's character receives, and so the two ladies go on an extravagant vacation and spend money that technically isn't theirs.
The film began wonderfully…with a darkly comic funeral. I know funerals are not supposed to be funny…but the writing was spot on and the women hysterical. It seems that Eva (MacLaine) just lost her husband and she is going to have to sell her home and economize. However, when the insurance company makes a mistake and accidentally sends her a check for $5,000,000 instead of $50,000, her friend Maddie (Lange) convinces her that they should go on the adventure of their lives and they set off for the Canary Islands. All of this is delightful and even once they arrive in this tropical island, things stay fun…at least for a while.
The movie (which I found out later was on Lifetime first, which explains a lot) explores the trepidations and courage of seniors as they negotiate life and love after the age of retirement, not the usual preferred fare for tweens and teens. An older couple is seen in bed after sex. A woman in her 60s pushes a man in his 20s onto a bed, and it's later revealed that the sex was lively enough to throw out his back. While the main characters display admirable spunk, they also use money that does not belong to them.
You end up feeling cheated while watching the movie unfold as it becomes like more of a sitcom than a film with anything to say.
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