Movies – Regular Guy

Part of the Club

brian — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 18:34:43 +0000

I love The Breakfast Club. The movie came out during my junior year of high school. I was a wrestler (and can dissect the strengths and weaknesses of the portrayal of a high school wrestler ad infinitum). I could identify in different ways with the other characters. The theme song was the theme of my girlfriend’s prom that year (a girlfriend who dumped me a few months later). Like so many people, it spoke to me.

That’s why I could not wait to see a 30th anniversary screening in York, Pa., last night with a Q&A following the film with Molly Ringwald.

Yeah, that Molly Ringwald. In the same room as me. Talking about one of my favorite movies. This is how I felt pretty much all day leading up to the event.

We had not sprung for the VIP package which included a meet and greet with Ringwald. But that didn’t really matter to me. She would come on stage after the screening and tell stories about the film, most of which I probably already knew. But that didn’t matter to me. What mattered was that I had a chance to see how much something that mattered to me mattered to other people, including one of the central figures involved in that thing.

Make no mistake – this is no faded star cashing in on a past success. Ringwald seems like as much of a fan of the movie as anyone else. She has a pre-teen daughter so knows the way the film can impact those dealing with the same kinds of issues that The Breakfast Club faced. She came across as completely genuine in her admiration for the power the movie holds over people like me.

I thought the event could have been tightened up a little. The comedian who served as the host took a while to get to the audience questions, instead slowly peppering Ringwald with questions about her career and other life in general. Some of the answers were interesting, but people came to hear Molly Ringwald answer their questions. That part of the night did not disappoint.

This tour with The Breakfast Club ends this week. I feel good that I got a chance to see it. Maybe even enough to dance like I’m 16 again.

The Rest of The Brians

brian — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 16:24:41 +0000

I was supposed to post these last week, but forgot. I wrote it and had it saved, but totally forgot to post because I was headed to Vegas. So here you do – the “minor” awards for The Brians which are actually more fun than the real thing.

The Dorian Gray Award: Felicity Jones for The Theory of Everything. It’s no surprise that this adaptation of Stephen Hawking comes from his wife’s book because Jones does not appear to age one bit as Jane Hawking even though ALS slowly eats away at her husband. The use of soft focus as time went on just cracked me up.

Best Supporting: I gave away awards in this category for actor and actress, but I also need to recognize the big, fake boobs they gave Jane Fonda in This Is Where I Leave You. Well done.

Best Cast: No one gave Monuments Men a second thought after it quickly disappeared from the theater, but I really enjoyed the movie because they hired Bill Murray to play a Bill Murray type and John Goodman to play a John Goodman type and Bob Balaban to play a Bob Balaban type and George Clooney to play a George Clooney type and so on and so forth. It was like the World War II version of Ocean’s Eleven – just a bunch of folks who like each other having fun making a movie. Nothing wrong with that.

Best Fight: A tie between all the fights in This Is Where I Leave You.

Worst Fight: The park fight scene in Anchorman 2. Sometimes, you just need to let a scene breath and stop adding things.

Biggest Surprise: Tyler Perry in Gone Girl. He really did a nice job and made Best Supporting Actor a very crowded field.

The “Is That It?” Award: I’m not saying I wanted to see Ben Affleck’s johnson, but for all the “there’s full frontal male nudity in Gone Girl” hype I heard, it was quite disappointing to realize that no one would have likely noticed it was there if it hadn’t been advertised beforehand. Again, not looking to see his junk, but if you’re gonna do it, go full-on Jason Segal in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Best Song: As if there was any question.

The 2015 Brians

brian — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 15:50:03 +0000

Now that we have that silliness known as The Oscars out of the way, it’s time to focus on the real awards – The Brians.

In case you don’t know, these are the awards recognizing the best in film for movies which I saw in the theater the previous year.

This is a big year for The Brians for a couple of reasons. First of all, I saw at least one movie which actually had Oscar hopes. Secondly, we are back after a hiatus in 2014 since I only saw two movies in the theater in 2013.

Seven movies have a chance to win these prestigious awards: The Lego Movie, Monuments Men, Anchorman 2, 22 Jump Street, This is Where I Leave You, Gone Girl, and The Theory of Everything.

The big five categories are awarded here. Check back here Wednesday, Feb. 25 to see the lesser (and more fun) categories and some behind-the-scenes information.

Best Supporting Actress: Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street). I didn’t know her from her “Workaholics” role, but she blew me away as Mercedes, the judgy girl who ended up running a campus-wide drug ring. Her deadpan snark was one of the keys to making this sequel work.

Best Supporting Actor: Ice Cube (22 Jump Street). Love the Cube. You need great supporting actors to make a sequel work, and his anger at finding his daughter dating Jonah Hill’s character was absolutely perfect. Will Ferrell almost got this for his work in “The Lego Movie,” but he fell just short.

Best Actress: Tina Fey (This Is Where I Leave You). I love almost everything about Jonathan Tropper’s books so the movie adaptation of one of his best works was bound to win something. I liked the film a lot more than most people, mainly because of Fey. She still lives in my heart as Liz Lemon, but her nuanced take of Wendy Altman in this goofy, inappropriate, funny movie made me smile. She even overcame the awkward way they handled the character’s difficulty dealing with her ex-boyfriend.

Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything). Part of me feels like I have to give something to the one movie I saw in 2014 which had a chance to win over the weekend. Thankfully, Eddie Redmayne put on a spectacular performance. He is lucky, however, that I didn’t see Foxcatcher and The Imitation Game until this year. That said, he brought great depth to Stephen Hawking, especially in the early parts of the movie. You could see the tics and problems coming, but they never veered into slapstick for me.

Best Movie: The Lego Movie. Since the academy won’t recognize the greatness of this film, I feel compelled to scream from the mountaintops. Who doesn’t smile when they hear the theme song? Who doesn’t identify with Emmett? Who hasn’t named a work nemesis Lord Business? The bottom line is that entertainment should be fun, and I had the most fun last year during the two hours I watched this film. In the year of Chris Pratt, it would seem wrong to not recognize something he did, and we didn’t get to Guardians of the Galaxy in the theater. Everyone should watch this movie as much as they can, especially when they are feeling down.

Because everything really is awesome.

The Brians Go on Hiatus

brian — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 13:03:20 +0000

I usually find myself in a celebratory mood about this time of week. I’m usually ready to take a wistful look backwards at the year in cinema.

No, not The Oscars. I’m talking about The Brians, the awards I have handed out for the best movies I have seen in the theatre each year since 2003. You know, the important awards.

Sadly, we won’t be celebrating any winners this year. I have to admit that 2013 was a movie-going bust in our house.

I quickly looked into the mug where I keep movie ticket stubs and only found two movies from last year – “Oz: The Great and Powerful” and “Now You See Me.” I can’t justify simply picking between two films.

I definitely wanted to see other movies, but never got a chance. Either we had too much going on or just didn’t feel like schlepping out to the theatre. Eventually, I’ll catch films like “42,” “The Great Gatsby,” “The Way Way Back,” “The To Do List,” “Gravity,” “Captain Phillips” and “Saving Mr. Banks.” I can’t promise anything on “Smurfs 2,” however.

So The Brians are off. But there is good news.

First of all, we have already seen three movies this year – “Anchorman 2,” “Monuments Men” and “The Lego Movie,” so this will only be a one-year hiatus. Secondly, the real reason for the dearth of candidates is pretty important.

We have instituted a new tradition at our house, one that started before 2013, but definitely kept us much too involved to worry about what the movie studios wanted to ram down our throats. On pretty much every Friday, we watch a movie together.

But this is much more than just popping in something which we missed on the big screen. This is an education for our daughter and time machine for my wife and I. Our movie nights typically showcase a classic from the 1980s.

I bet those movies in the list of things we missed could end up delighting and entertaining me, but they would pale in comparison to introducing “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” or “Real Genius” to a new generation.

We don’t solely focus on the movies that got Maria and I through high school and college, but that is our main focus. The primary goal is to showcase the kind of comedy which helped lay the building blocks for today’s filmmakers.

That goal came into clearer focus with the death of writer/director/actor Harold Ramis last week. We’ve already shared “Meatballs,” “Ghostbusters,” and “Groundhog Day” and hope the lessons from those films got across.

Of course, we will probably have to hold off on “Stripes,” “Caddyshack” and “Animal House” for a few years, but I like knowing that we have more to look forward to in this project.

We have so many entertainment choices – current and classic – it’s OK once in a while to look back and remember what got us here. The Brians will return. They just needed some time to remember why movies mean so much in the first place.

Not Great, Not Powerful, but Not Bad

brian — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:19:51 +0000

We went to see “The Wizard of Oz” prequel “Oz the Great and Powerful” a few weeks ago. I can think of a bunch of reasons to bash the film, but none of them compel me to care enough about the weaknesses. In the end, I found the film to be harmless and entertaining despite its faults.

I think this happened because it seemed, at times, as if the people who made the movie didn’t care if we found things lacking in places. Some of the green screen stuff was so obvious that I figured they just wanted us to come along for the ride.

James Franco has a lot of fun with the lead role of Oscar “Oz” Diggs, who is transformed from carnival magician to presumed savior of the Emerald City. I liked the way they tied his original position to the resolution of his problems in Oz.

Rachael Weisz, Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis do a great job as the witches, but Kunis stands out because, well, she’s Mila Kunis. I see a Brian in her future or at least for her outfit in the first half of the movie.

The monkey and china doll voiced, respectively, by Zach Braff and Joey King didn’t really resonate with me, but they had to have some fun with the equipment and storyline so I just rolled with it.

In the end, even the predictable nature of the story didn’t bother me because it seemed like a lot of energy and enjoyment went into the project. Like the Sherlock Holmes movies, I know they have to make a franchise so I just don’t want them to mail it in.

I might not line up for the next segment in this series, because we all know that’s coming, but I wouldn’t run away from it either.

Time for The Brians

brian — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:38:38 +0000

Each year, people analyze the quality of the field vying for movie awards. They proclaim whether it’s a “good year” for The Oscars.

I think 2012 will go down as one of those years which people will say that the field for The Brians – my yearly awards for the movies I see in the theater – didn’t have a lot of depth, but it had plenty of quality.

Seven movies have qualified for the 2012 edition of the awards, five fewer than last year. The nominees are “Argo,” “Skyfall,” “21 Jump Street,” “The Lorax,” “Wreck It Ralph,” “Fun Size” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.”

As you can tell, the majority of my movie attendance came with my daughter, not my wife, in 2012. I don’t really know why. I guess we just had a busy year and never found huge motivation to see the many movies we considered, but didn’t seem worthy of a night out.

Looking back at the 2012 releases, I think “Lincoln” really ranks as the only regret. Probably “Ted” as well, but everything else we considered didn’t push my buttons. Far too often, we simply figured we could watch the latest romantic or stupid comedy on Netflix.

I guess that makes this year’s winners even more special. They had that quality which convinced my lazy and cheap self to actually go outside and interact with other people.

Best Supporting Actress: Judi Dench, “Skyfall.” Dench rose above the typical criteria for this award – pretty eye-candy or wacky sidekick) with her final performance as M in this thriller. She gave the role the humanity and bite it needed in this new era of 007.

Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, “Argo.” I almost honored the entire supporting cast of “21 Jump Street.” From Rob Riggle to Nick Offerman to Ellie Kemper, that film populated the background with an all-star troupe of comic actors. But Arkin made the hostage drama much more believable (even though it’s a true story) and, like Dench, provided the humanity to elevate the tension.

Best Actress: Peyton List, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.” I had trouble with this one since the non-tween movies had male-dominated casts. I considered not giving the award, but thought the performance of List (who was not really a lead, but I’ll elevate her for this) and Victoria Justice in “Fun Size” deserved consideration. List made the antics of Greg Heffley much more realistic.

Best Actor: Channing Tatum, “21 Jump Street.” We know Ben Affleck can act. We know Daniel Craig has turned into James Bond. But we didn’t know that Tatum could do comedy before this film. That’s why he gets the nod. The movie could have been a horrible re-boot of an old television series, but a clever script and Tatum’s strong performance made the difference. I hope he tries more comedies.

The Bridget: “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.” This award just won’t die. The movies I see with my daughter occupy a totally different space and deserve recognition. This is the second movie in this series to win the award. I really love how they have adapted these books to the screen.

Best Movie: “Skyfall.” How can you not love Bond? I found “Argo” fascinating and gripping, but it still can’t beat this franchise. From the up-to-date (and creepy) villain to the fight scenes and the improbably escapes, 007 commands the screen at all times. I can’t wait for the next one.

‘Dog Days’ Quite a Relief

brian — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:56:02 +0000

Sometimes when I take my daughter to a movie, I have to grit my teeth at the end when she talks about how she liked it. I don’t question her taste. I just know how some films don’t quite reach the bar of entertaining both youngsters and adults.

As we left “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,” the third installment of the franchise, I did not have to lie one bit. I don’t know if I liked it as much as she did, but I really enjoyed the film.

That doesn’t surprise me much because I enjoyed both of the first two “Wimpy Kid” films, even though the second one did not get a ton of critical acclaim. I really appreciate the way the films stay as true as possible to the cartoon nature of Jeff Kinney’s books while not using that tool as a crutch. By not getting too heavy handed and focusing on the awkwardness of growing up, the trilogy provides quality escapism. My daughter also told me that they stayed fairly true to the book, which makes me feel pretty good for some reason.

With Greg and Rowley preparing to enter eighth grade, they really did a good job showing how pursuit of the cute girl in their class can get boys to do pretty silly things. By paralleling his older brother’s similar pursuit, the script truly exposed the timeless nature of some things.

But the best change from the second to the third movie came in how the story focused more on Greg’s relationship with his father, mainly because I’m a sucker for Steve Zahn zaniness. I also don’t enjoy the way the mother, played by Rachael Harris, is oblivious to how her actions bother her son. I know they need to exaggerate that a little, but it makes her pretty unsympathetic. Zahn’s Frank Heffley, on the other hand, really gets how things just aren’t working with him and Greg, leading to the eventual happy ending.

As evidenced by how much Zachary Gordon has grown between films (although most of the other kids haven’t changed as much), I think we may see the end of the films mirroring the progression of the book series. “Dog Days” was the fourth book and the seventh will come out later this year. That timeline only gets the characters to February of their eighth grade year. Wikipedia says that the fifth book is being considered for a movie with the sixth book possibly lined up for an animated holiday special. Kinney says he’s open to anything and understands the difference between keeping the character timeless on the page and dealing with the actors getting older for the films.

Hopefully he and the producers can find a way to walk that line and keep both going because they have managed to entertain through both mediums.

Jumping for Joy

brian — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:36:40 +0000

Hollywood has a way of wearing us down. Their current tactic combines a heavy dose of sequels and re-makes. Sometimes, I think they don’t want us to go to the movies anymore.

Then I go see a movie like “21 Jump Street” and have my faith restored in the decision makers (something I know I will regret soon enough).

My wife and I went to see the film a few weeks ago, and I can’t believe I waited this long to share my thoughts. I had heard good things before we saw the movie and managed to not raise the expectations above what the movie could deliver.

Two things contributed to my enjoyment – a good cast and the ability to poke fun at the entire concept of making a movie based on a TV show which barely hit 100 episodes. These two factors combine in an early scene when Nick Offerman, aka Ron F—ing Swanson from “Parks and Recreation,” assigns starts Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum to the Jump Street assignment. He talks about the task force being something forced by his superiors because they couldn’t come up with any new ideas.

From there we go on a ride that shows us how Tatum can pull off some masterful comic scenes, how Ice Cube and Rob Riggle can still scare the crap out of anyone, how Dave Franco was born to play a d-bag and how Hill can tidy everything up. He co-authored the script and did a strong job both in putting together the story and playing his role as the geek who gets a second chance at high school success, by accident of course. Hallucinogenics can really help push the plot further when nothing else will work.

And then when you think you have watched a good movie, they throw in a little surprise at the end. I’m usually not one to honor spoiler issues when something has been out for a month, but I’ll make an exception here. I loved it.

It’s fair to say that “21 Jump Street” has taken the lead in the race for The Brians and not just because the only other movie I have seen this year is “The Lorax,” which I also have to review at some point.

Admitting My Shameful Secret

brian — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:50:24 +0000

I admitted a deep, dark secret to some friends the other day. I felt much better afterwards, even though they gave me some grief for my transgression.

While I feel good about taking this step with some people close to me, I don’t know if I can bring myself to make the same admission here. With time, understanding and an opportunity to right this wrong, I might muster up the courage eventually.

We had somehow fallen into an online discussion about television and movies. I would say I don’t know how we ended up on the topic, but I know exactly how we did. We love television and movies.

What I don’t know is how the conversation pushed me to list the iconic American movies I have never seen. Trust me, it’s quite a list. Luckily, a few people made me feel better about my admission by baring their movie-not-watching soul a little bit.

In this day and age, what you watch can sometimes define you. I make this mistake by sometimes even though I hate how haughty some people get when others don’t share their tastes.

Just the other day, my niece talked about how much she hated a comedy movie I really, really enjoyed last year. She and her husband couldn’t even get past the first 30 minutes of the film.

I had to hold back judgment on them because I wouldn’t like it if the movies I have not seen made them find me morally deficient. For the record, I don’t understand how they could not find the movie hysterical, but I’ll get over it.

When I looked at my list, I found one big explanation. I have known this about myself for a while and feel it justifies all my choices.

I like to laugh. My list of missed opportunities contains mostly dramas because I just don’t find myself drawn to dramatic productions regardless of how important other people tell me they are.

We all have limited time to devote to entertainment. I would love to do nothing and watch every movie and TV show which helps inform our cultural identity, but then I wouldn’t have enough time to solve each level of Angry Birds and take the occasional nap. Plus I might not laugh as much as I like to.

But I don’t want to wallow in my ignorance. I want to right this wrong even if I don’t think not seeing a classic movie is really a wrong in the first place.

I actually started this a couple of years ago when I dove feet first into the TV show “Mad Men.” Now I’m racing to finish watching the most recent season online before the new one starts later this month.

As I have catalogued briefly on my blog, I also have devoted a bunch of time to “Friday Night Lights,” a TV show I can’t believe I never gave a chance when it aired.

This just scratches the surface though. I want to whittle down the list of movies I’m almost embarrassed to say I only understand through quotes thrown around by other people. I want to see the context around those quotes.

I just might not be able to help you if you’re stuck on Angry Birds. I also might be tired if I can’t squeeze in a nap. But those are the sacrifices I will make to fully succumb to peer pressure.

In a Previously Recorded Ceremony …

brian — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:17:29 +0000

The Brians posted earlier, but we have some other awards to give out before the big show. Without further ado:

Best Use of an Obscenity: The audience at my showing of We Bought a Zoo sure thought they had paid to see a wacky romp about kids growing up in a zoo. They got a heavier than expected dose of family drama punctuated by the 7-year-old Rosie Mee telling the zoo inspector played by John Michael Higgins, “You know, everybody here thinks you’re a dick. I don’t know what that means, but I don’t think that.” Sadly, I could not find a clip of this moment online, but I did find lots of self-righteous bloggers complaining about it. The best part was the pause right after she said “dick” so you could hear all the grandmothers in the audience gasp. My 11-year-old still giggles when this moment comes up in conversation so I must say, well done, Cameron Crowe.

Best Cameo Appearance: Jim Parsons as the human version of Walter the Muppet almost brought me out of my seat with laughter. Considering the publicity the movie got, I’m a little surprised I hadn’t heard about this. I usually don’t worry about “spoilers,” but that was one gag which worked best with the element of surprise.

Best Shtick Which Shouldn’t Work But Did: The camouflage clothing gag from Sherlock Holmes. I don’t know why I didn’t see it coming as part of the story’s resolution, but they did it in such a clever manner that it totally snuck up on me.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back Award: Jason Segal did wonderful work in The Muppets and Bad Teacher, but really disappointed me by taking part in the Gulliver’s Travels mess.

The Movie That Time Forgot: Even though it came out in 2010, we didn’t see The King’s Speech until January 2011. I kind of feel bad I didn’t really consider it for any awards, but it just didn’t have a lasting effect on me. I really loved the film and think Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter had wonderful performances, but just didn’t find them compelling enough to lift to the top spot.

Best Song: Mahna, Mahna in The Muppets. Try to get it out of your head. I dare you.