Author Archives: Keith Garlington

Your Voices : On Underrated Actresses

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Your Voices

A couple of weeks ago we looked at underrated actors. Guy Pearce and Karl Urban were two that always pop into my mind. Today it’s the ladies’ turn. I’m talking about those actresses who have shown their amazing talents yet fail to get the appreciation and respect they deserve. There are several that come to mind but I’m just going to mention one who deserves some love. After that, it’s time for your voices.

BLUNTIt should be common knowledge now that I love Emily Blunt. Yes, I think she’s absolutely beautiful, but I also think she’s a tremendous actress. Blunt has been popping up in a lot more films recently but it’s clear she’s not considered a top tier actress. I think that needs to change. She’s a natural actress armed with an infectious sense of humor as well as a convincing dramatic presence. It may be easy for some people to dismiss her but I love her undeniable charm, razor sharp wit, and the grounded believability that she brings to every role. She’s a much more versatile actress than many give her credit for and I’m always interested whenever I see her name attached to a product.

So you now know my choice. It’s time or Your Voices. Who do you think are some of the more underrated actresses in film?

So lets get to it. I hope you’ll take time to list some of your choices and share a few comments about them. Throw them some love and let everyone know why you feel they are underrated and underappreciated. I can’t wait to learn who you think deserves some more recognition! Thanks again!

THE END

REVIEW: “The Lone Ranger”

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Lone Ranger poster

“Pirates of the Caribbean” set in the old west. It’s an unavoidable comparison. It’s also a very accurate description of Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer’s “The Lone Ranger”. Johnny Depp again takes center stage and is the ringleader of this wacky and sometimes absurd action adventure. The ingredients are all here. A charismatic and eccentric lead, a fun and action-packed story model, and a filmmaking team who has experienced success before. Maybe that’s why the end result is so disappointing.

As a kid I loved the old television reruns of The Lone Ranger starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels. Well let me say that it didn’t take long for me to see the mammoth sized differences between this film and the great original material. I mean to call this film a reimagining would be a gross understatement. There is almost no similarity between these film and the classic story other than the name and some of the basic cosmetics. There is the white hat and white horse. There are silver bullets and the black masks. There are also a few familiar names and familiar plot points. But you’ll be hard pressed to find many other resemblances. Who knows, maybe that’s where the first of the film’s many missteps begins.

Lone Ranger 2

Now I wasn’t expecting this to be an ultra-serious tribute to this classic character. Again this is from the makers of “Pirates of the Caribbean”. But I also didn’t expect it to be so drastically different and so blasted silly. It starts with the Lone Ranger character himself. Armie Hammer seems completely lost at times playing a character who is a bumbling oaf from the first time we see him until the final credits. The character has good intentions but he’s a far cry from the heroic masked administrator of justice I was hoping for. Hammer’s performance doesn’t help. He struggles through a ridiculous and sometimes numbingly lame script that drags him through a plethora of slapstick and oddball humor that admittedly works on occasions. But more often than not it lands with a thud and Hammer just can’t sell it.

The nuttiness isn’t just confined to Hammer and the lead character. Johnny Depp’s Tonto is in many ways a Native American Jack Sparrow. He channels his famed pirate character in a variety of different ways and I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions. But he also has his share of ludicrous, over-the-top moments. And that can be said for the entire film. It has several eye-rolling moments that are so insanely absurd that they’re impossible to digest. But it also sharply turns in other directions. “The Lone Ranger” has some jarring tonal issues. One minute horses are standing up in trees wearing cowboy hats and the next has a character cutting out and eating a human heart. The movie is literally all over the map.

But perhaps it’s biggest sin is that it’s just so boring in the middle. It starts with a some promise and there are hints of a good story throughout the picture. But soon the film bogs down in a mire of drab and pointless plot. There’s an underwritten and poorly serviced romance. There are throwaway characters such as Helena Bonham Carter’s ivory-legged brothel head whose story would better serve on the cutting room floor. Then there is the film’s general snail paced way of telling the main story. It takes way too long and it becomes a test of endurance just to make it through the arduous 2 hours and 30 minute running time.

Lone ranger 1

But I have to say that the big finale saves the film from being a total disaster. The huge set piece is quite the spectacle and I remember perking up the moment that the William Tell Overture suddenly kicked in. The ending almost feels like its own little short film. It doesn’t feel anything like a Lone Ranger sequence and there isn’t a semblance of realism to be found. But it is insanely entertaining if you can accept its cartoonish and exaggerated approach and go with it. For me it was easily the best part of the film even with its absurdities.

There are some beautiful locations and some of the action is really good. There are moments where the wacky humor works very well. I also enjoyed seeing an assortment of my favorite supporting actors (William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, Barry Pepper, and James Badge Dale) even if their roles aren’t particularly well written. But in the end “The Lone Ranger” loses itself in its overbearing insanity and bloated, uneven plot. It never feels like a western and it never knows when to end. What really stinks is that this could’ve been a really good summer movie. Instead it’s $250 million dollars worth of mediocrity and a waste of some really good talent. I may be wrong but I would think Disney would want more from such an investment.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

5 Phenomenally Awful Movie Lines

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movie_theatre - Phenom 5

There are those great movie lines that resonate over cinema history. They are quotes that are brilliantly written and brilliantly delivered at just the right time and they help immortalize their movie. Today we’re not talking about any of those. Today we’re looking at the stinkers. These are five movie lines that stand out but not for their greatness. Poorly conceived and sometimes unintentionally funny in their cheesiness or absurdity. So lets get to it. Now naturally there have been a plethora of craptastic lines so I wouldn’t call this the definitive list. But there’s no doubting that these five movie quotes are phenomenally awful.

#5 – “Ever play roulette? Let me give you a word of advice. Always bet on black!” – Wesley Snipes (Passenger 57)

PASSENGER

During the action movie boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s Wesley Snipes was considered a second tier star. But with that being said he still gained a pretty decent following and “Passenger 57” was one of his bigger hits. Due to a series of dumb decisions and big mistakes a deadly terrorist takes over an airplane mid-flight. Little does he know that John Cutter (there’s an 80’s action name for ya) is also onboard. Cutter (Snipes) hides in the passenger plane taking out one terrorist after another before finally making contact with the head baddie via the air phone. One of the corniest tough guy lines followed. After asking the head terrorist if he plays roulette he offers a gambling tip. A ridiculous camera zoom leads to his big line – “Always bet on black”. The racial play on words may have looked good on paper but in the movie it was just goofy.

#4 – “They’re shooting at us!” – Copilot (“Delta Force”)

Delta Force

When just reading this movie line it may not sound awful. But when you see it and its use in the film you’ll perfectly understand why it’s on this list. I have a real soft spot for the 1986 action flick Delta Force. I love its cheese and its loose connection to real events. But it’s also a film riddled with some corny acting and goofy lines. None are goofier than this sweet little gem nestled in the film’s big finale. Chuck Norris, Lee Marvin, and their Delta Force team free hostages and take back over a hijacked plane. The pilots crank up the jet and prepare to leave Beirut airport but not before the terrorists have one final say. While preparing for takeoff the pilots notice terrorists in jeeps with mounted machine guns coming their way guns a blazing. Alone on the airstrip and with no one else around the copilot screams a truly profound statement – “They’re shooting at us”. The obvious nature of his comment aside, its one of the most absurd and poorly delivered lines ever. Yet I still get a kick out of it even in its goofiness.

#3 – “I hate to disappoint you, but rubber lips are immune to your charms” – Chris O’Donnell (“Batman and Robin”)

BATMAN

There are few movies that anger me more than “Batman and Robin”. Joel Schumacher’s bastardizing of one of my favorite properties came to an end with this 1997 debacle that was an insult to Batman fans and to fans of good movies in general. Featuring one of the stupidest and most poorly written scripts ever, “Batman and Robin” could fill my entire list of awful movie lines. Schwarzenegger spits out one after another but none are as terrible as Robin (O’Donnell) revealing to Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) that her toxic kiss didn’t accomplish its desired result. After a deep kiss that should have resulted in Robin’s hypnosis, the boy wonder peels off a pair of transparent fake lips and utters the eloquent and Shakespearean line “I hate to disappoint you, but rubber lips are immune to your charms”. Yes, he actually said that. How that line made it through the numerous takes and edits is beyond me. But then again as I think of that movie as a whole it makes perfect sense.

#2 – “Do you know what happens to a toad when it’s struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else” – Halle Berry (“X-Men”)

XMEN

For a while after first hearing this line I thought I was missing something. I thought there must be a deeper meaning or a specific jest that I was missing. At that time it didn’t occur to me that it was simply one of the worst movie lines ever written. I really like “X-Men” and I remember my excitement when it first hit theaters in 2000. But even then this goofy line stuck out like a sore thumb. It happens in the big showdown where the X-Men are battling Magneto and his henchmen. Storm (Berry) is squaring off with the slimy, prehensile tongued Toad (Ray Park). After backing her adversary into a corner, Storm begins to swirl up a thunder storm and utters the truly intimidating statement above. This attempt at tough girl lingo is followed by her zapping Toad with a bolt of lightning, something that should have been really cool. Unfortunately, the unintentional hilarity of her line completely destroys the coolness of her action. I still roll my eyes every time I see it.

#1 – “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” – Patrick Swayze (“Dirty Dancing”)

DIRTY DANCE

Did he really say that? I mean did he really say that? Hands down for me one of the worst movie lines in the history of film comes from the much beloved “Dirty Dancing”. To be honest, I don’t know how anyone can watch that scene and hear that line and not burst into laughter. After a summer of deception and debauchery with a minor, Johnny (Swayze) finds himself not only out of the good graces of his summer resort employer but also out of the good graces of an angry father. But all is not lost. After being filled with a new confidence and vigor, Johnny crashes the resort’s season ending show. He find’s Baby (Jennifer Grey) sitting in the back with her parents. Instead of begging to not be arrested for his antics with the underaged, true love drives him to say “Nobody puts Baby in a corner”. Then they do the only thing that could heal such a deep wound of distrust and disappointment – the do a dance number. The whole thing is pretty corny but the line itself just accentuates it. It just has to be my #1.

So there are 5 of the worst movie lines. I know there are some really bad lines not included and I can’t wait to hear yours. Just leave a comment and share your thoughts!

THE THROWDOWN – “Apocalypse Now” vs. “Platoon”

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THROWDOWN

It wasn’t long ago that movies based on the Vietnam War were all the craze. In the 80s, big budget action movies and cheap POW escape films seem to come out every month. The likes of Chuck Norris and Sylvester Stallone ran through the Vietnam countryside in their respected movies and in numerous sequels that followed. But there were also some much more serious and focused Vietnam war pictures and that’s where we are going today. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Throwdown but I was itching to pit two highly acclaimed war pictures against each other.

“Apocalypse Now” vs. “Platoon”

APOC“Apocalypse Now” is heralded by many as not only being a great film but being the greatest war movie ever made. I certainly disagree with that last point and honestly I would venture to blaspheme and say it’s a bit overrated. Now don’t get me wrong, “Apocalypse Now” features some incredible sequences. The entire middle is truly intense and compelling stuff laced with some of cinema’s most iconic scenes. Unfortunately it’s bookended by a beginning and end that I found to be hard to endure. To say it derails the film may be a little strong. But it certainly keeps it from being the all-time classic for me that it is for others. Still there’s a lot to love about the film and it has a following that’s firm in their love for it. For many it’s a classic.

PlatoonEven though I’m not the biggest Oliver Stone fan I can still appreciate some of his work. One of his most recognized films is “Platoon”. This 1986 Academy Award winner is one of the most character rich films about the war in Vietnam. Stone throws us in the mix with some brilliantly written and memorable characters brought to life by a great cast. Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, Johnny Depp, Forest Whitacker, and of course a pre-psychotic Charlie Sheen. The vibrant cinematography by Richard Richardson shines and it features arguably Oliver Stone’s strongest script. Now it does get a little too preachy and I do think Stone dwells on certain personalities for the sake of his message. But “Platoon” still grabs me any time I watch it.

It’s been a while since I’ve done one so here’s a Throwdown refresher course. Be sure to cast your vote in the poll below. Afterwards I would love for you to leave a comment about why you prefer one movie for another. Maybe you don’t like either one. Let everyone know why. It’s Throwdown time. Is it “Apocalypse Now” or “Platoon”?

REVIEW: “Snitch”

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Snitch poster

Wrestler turned action movie star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson must be going for the record for movies made in a short period of time. Case in point, in 2013 alone he’s appeared in 5 different films. One of those is “Snitch”, a surprisingly competent crime thriller that takes a pretty simple story and soaks it with more tension and high stakes than you would ever expect. It’s also not afraid to throw a few jabs at America’s federal drug policy.

“Snitch” is one of those ‘inspired by a true story’ flicks which makes its borderline absurdity all the more digestible. Johnson certainly isn’t the most seasoned of actors but he does a nice job playing John Matthews, the owner of a small construction company who one day gets a call from his ex-wife that his son Jason (Rafi Gavron) has been arrested on federal drug charges. Knowing his son isn’t a drug trafficker, John seeks help from a federal attorney named Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon) whose upcoming reelection has her looking for some good press. She’s also the only one who can reduce Jason’s sentence.

But Joanne isn’t all that interested in helping so John takes it upon himself to secretly find and snitch on some drug dealersin exchange for his son’s freedom. Jon Bernthal, perhaps best known for his role on the popular cable series “The Walking Dead”, plays an ex-con employee of John’s who may have the needed underworld connections. We also get Barry Pepper, an actor I’ve always liked, as an undercover DEA agent named Cooper. And another actor I like, Benjamin Bratt, finds his way back to the big screen playing a cartel boss and big time drug runner. John quickly finds himself in over his head and becomes a pawn of both the government and the cartel.

Snitch

The Rock certainly has the build of a super tough guy and at times he looks like he could body slam whoever he’s talking to. But I liked that the movie never falls into that trap. His character is just a construction guy. No secret hitman or military special forces past. He’s just a regular guy and the story stays away from the whole ‘one man army’ thing. For me that worked very well and offered a much more interesting dynamic. Again, at times Johnson does show his limitations as an actor but it’s a performance that definitely works. And obviously he’s helped by the really nice supporting cast around him.

The movie is filled with moral quandaries, questionable ethics, and mixed messages. Much of that works to the film’s advantage. Everything isn’t all nice and tidy and it shouldn’t be. Yet while all of this works nicely there’s still little that sets the film apart. It certainly dabbles in several new and intriguing areas but its hard for me to get excited about seeing it again. And ultimately that’s where I stand on “Snitch” – a surprisingly slick and intense thriller but one with very little staying power. But still, compared to a number of movies pumped out this year, it’s an entertaining film that stays within its bounds of limitations.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

5 Phenomenal Movies of 2013 (so far)

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movie_theatre - Phenom 5

Can you believe that 2013 is half over? Of course that also means that the movie year is half over. So keeping with Keith & the Movies tradition I’m going to look at 5 phenomenal movies from the year so far. It’s been an up and down year in the theater in 2013 loaded with big budget pictures and box office draws. And I’ve still yet to give a 2013 film 5 stars. But fortunately some of them have been quite good so it was pretty easy for me to come up with my five favorite. Now considering the number of films to hit the big screen so far I wouldn’t call this the definitive list. But for my money these five movies are most certainly phenomenal.

MAN OF STEEL#5 – “MAN OF STEEL” – This newest Superman installment has been met with a variety of mixed reviews but I found it to be an overall success. Minus a few so-so new approaches and the steroid-driven finale, “Man of Steel” really won me over with its beautiful visuals, the fresh new tone, and some really strong performances from the likes of Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, and yes even Henry Cavill. But perhaps my favorite thing was that it brought Superman back after the previous film’s mishandlings. I know that many people have problems with “Man of Steel“. Personally I loved it and I’m completely onboard for wherever the franchise decides to go next.

WWZ#4 – “WORLD WAR Z – “Honestly I can’t believe I’m typing this. Yes, “World War Z” was one of my most anticipated films at the start of the 2013 movie year but over time my interest grew to skepticism. But man was I surprised. I know this is another movie with some serious mixed reviews, but I loved that it knows what it wants to be and doesn’t pretend to be anything else. I also think it harkens back to when good storytelling was essential. It mixes a nice script in with several breathtaking set pieces as well as a grounded and committed performance by golden boy Brad Pitt. Sure it mutes itself for the sake of a PG-13 rating but I’m certainly not going to fault it for that, especially considering how much fun I had with it.

STAR TREK#3 – “STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS” – Yet another big-budget summer blockbuster. And yet another movie that really surprised me. I was pretty vocal about my tepid response to the first film of the “Star Trek” reboot from director J.J. Abrams. Naturally that influenced my level of excitement for its sequel. But boy, talk about being pleasantly surprised. I’ve seen “Into Darkness” twice now and my love for it is solidified. Sure, there are moments where it still doesn’t feel like a Star Trek picture. There are also moments where Abrams tries to do a little too much. But I loved it and I think it’s a solid step up from the first movie. Filled with glorious special effects, cool Trek homages, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

WONDER#2 – “TO THE WONDER” – “The Tree of Life” was my very favorite film of 2011 so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I was anxious to see the next film from Terrence Malick. It came in the form of “To the Wonder” a sweeping lyrical romance using the same signature style and technique that fuels my love for Malick. This stirring and emotional story of new love, fractured love, and lost love moves with the grace of a ballerina. Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, and Javier Bardem each fit perfectly within Malick’s poetic puzzle and I found myself captivated from its first opening sequence. Some have seemed to struggle with this film but I think it’s brilliant and it’s made all the more stronger by a second viewing.

MUD#1 – “MUD” – Talk about carrying the weight of some high expectations! “Mud” was my most anticipated movie of 2013. I’m a huge fan of Jeff Nichols and even though he has just two other movies under his belt, his style and voice resounds with me. In “Mud” he gives us a deep-fried southern gothic tale that’s akin to a modern day Huck Finn. Nichols’ impeccable eye and regional familiarity create a gritty and realistic setting that I was instantly lost in. His story is equally engaging and the renaissance of Matthew McConaughey continues with yet another great performance. Only a few small missteps keep this from being a 5 star masterpiece. But it’s still another beautiful piece of cinema from a director who has become a favorite of mine.

There are my five top movies of the year so far. I know many will disagree. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Let me know what I missed and what I got right. I would also love to hear your choices as well.