Much Love For Adam Sandler

I am not a fan of Adam Sandler’s comedy in recent years.  His dramatic work, on the other hand, is something that I have always been a fan of.  He has the potential to be an Oscar-caliber actor, and that is one of the reasons I was very excited to watch Punch-Drunk Love.

Punch-Drunk Love is the epic story of a socially awkward man who finally finds love in his life.  I absolutely loved this movie.  The idea of a socially awkward person finding acceptance and love in their life makes for very heartfelt storytelling.  It is also quite emotional when Barry Egan’s (Adam Sandler) private life, which involves a phone-sex company, impacts the both of them.  He has to clean up his personal issues while at the same time protect the woman he loves, and this is very emotional to watch because of the kind of person he is.

Adam Sandler plays Barry Egan who, as I stated before, is very socially awkward as well as being depressed and self-deprecating.  Sandler is brilliant in the role, right down to the awkward physical movements and yelling when he is uncomfortable.  Seeing Adam Sandler in this role reminds you that sometimes comedic actors can turn in great dramatic performances. 

Emily Watson plays Lena Leonard.  The thing that I love about her character is that she and Barry meet under the most awkward of situations, and yet she still asks him out on a date.  She is fascinated by him, even though he seems like such a weird individual.  She understands the kind of person that Barry is, but that does not matter.  She will be by his side no matter what.

Paul Thomas Anderson brilliantly directs this movie.  The way he frames his shots is a direct reflection of the kind of person Barry is, which I love.  One of my favorite moments in the film is when Barry goes to visit Emily while she is out of the country.  The moment he calls her, the light on the phone booth turns on because it is getting dark outside.  It is moments like these that make good films.

Punch-Drunk Love is so good, it made me giggle like the film nerd I am.  The story is great, the cast is great, and it is directed to perfection.  Two thumbs way, way up!!!

It Is Greener On The Other Side

I hated The Green Mile the first time I saw it.  I thought it was slow, mundane and quite boring.  As of this writing, I have now watched it for the second time.  I must have been on something, in a bad mood or something the first time because this truly is a brilliant piece of film-making.

The Green Mile is the story of a man who is accused of child murder.  However, this man also has a gift that no one understands.  This is a heartbreaking, emotional movie that moved me to tears on more than one occasion.  It is a story about treating people with respect, and how bad things unfortunately happen to good people.  The movie also shows us that bad things should happen to bad people, and that more often than not they do not.

Tom Hanks is, without question, one of the greatest actors of all time.  He commands the screen as Paul Edgecomb.  Edgecomb is a man who commands authority and keeps the peace on his block.  He also is able to maintain a wonderful sense of humor whenever an inmate is being disruptive.  The emotion that Hanks conveys when John Coffey reveals the truth to him is incredible.

Frank Darabont is the director of the movie.  What I love so much about what Darabont does with this film is that he shows that these guards on death row are not necessarily proud of what they do for a living.  This really is a cruel world that they live in.  The movie also shows, for Edgecomb in particular, how hard it is to come home to your wife and live a typical life knowing that you have just put a man to death in the electric chair.

The Green Mile is truly a great film with a great cast (including the late Michael Clarke Duncan in an Oscar-nominated role).  I love movies with a message, and this movie does so profoundly.  This movie is an instant classic, and I highly recommend it.

Roger Victor, Over

I am ashamed of myself that it took me all 31 years of my existence for me to finally see Airplane!  It is a revered classic in every sense of the word.  I am so very glad that I own one of the funniest movies of all time.

Airplane! Is the story of a man who is afraid to fly that has to land a plane safely after people on the plane become sick.  It is one of those movies that made me laugh so hard that I began to feel faint.  The scene where Robert Stack is karate-chopping all the people at the airport had me rolling on the floor.  It was so much fun to be reminded of the good old days when spoofs were actually funny.

This movie is stacked with a great cast, but it just would not be fair if I did not talk about Leslie Nielsen.  Often referred to as the “King of Spoofs”, Leslie Nielsen was one of the funniest comedic actors and he was someone that I greatly admired.  At times, he is the funniest actor in this movie.  I was truly heartbroken when he passed away, and I still miss him greatly to this day.

Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker directed Airplane!  Some would think that a 90 minute movie full of gags (some that repeat themselves) would get tiresome and boring, but this movie made it work to near-perfection.  The directors really understood the comedic timing of the actors.  The really funny thing about this movie is that there are some jokes that, while funny in 1980, would be downright offensive today.

I am convinced that the day of the spoof is dead.  While I did have a fantastic time watching Airplane!, it also made me think of how low the genre has sunk.  Airplane! is one of the funniest movies ever.  Do not wait over 30 years to see it like I did!

Religious Destruction

I have always been a huge fan of Kevin Smith.  In an industry full of sequels, franchises and remakes, Kevin Smith always brings us something original.  Red State is a movie that is not only original, but it can be quite controversial as well.

Red State is the story of a group of teenagers who receive a party invitation, and then get thrust into the world of a fundamentalist group with an evil moral agenda.  I have to admit that the beginning of this movie made me feel very uneasy, and very offended.  This movie revolves around a group of religious extremists who have a very controversial moral agenda, and the beginning of the movie felt very preachy (literally and figuratively).  As I was watching “The Making of Red State” documentary, however, I realized that Kevin Smith’s point with this movie was to poke fun at these kind of people that exist in real life.  This explains why the performances are a little over the top at the start of the film, and honestly this makes me love the movie even more.

Michael Angarano and Kyle Gallner play Travis and Jarrod, respectively.  These boys are just a couple of teenagers who are looking to have a good time, and get caught up in the nightmare of the Five Points Trinity.  These two young actors effectively convey the shock and terror that they feel when they encounter this world, while at the same time acting like typical teenage boys.  You actually end up feeling a little bit of sympathy for them.

Michael Parks plays Pastor Abin Cooper, and Melissa Leo plays his daughter Sara.  These two are downright frightening as members of the Five Points Trinity.  Michael Parks in particular gives a very haunting performance, one that is easily compared to Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs.  Melissa Leo plays her character so convincingly that it is at times so annoying that you cannot wait to see her kick the bucket.

John Goodman plays Joseph Keenan, and in my opinion he steals the show.  I think Goodman is a very under-rated and under-appreciated actor.  He has turned in many stellar performances throughout his career.  He commands the screen like never before in this movie.  It is not your typical John Goodman character, and he flat-out crushes it.

There are still two Kevin Smith movies that I have not seen, but I truly believe that this is his best work.  There is an action sequence towards the end of the movie that is better than some full-length action movies I have seen.  Smith also uses the handheld camera very effectively because he really captures the horror of what is happening to these boys.  This is a movie that people will talk about, and rightfully so.  Bravo, Kevin Smith.

A Real Feeling Good Movie

Trading Places is a movie that I had not heard much about prior to my first viewing of it a few days ago.  I have always been a big fan of both Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, but I just was not sure what kind of movie it was.  I am very pleased to report that I flat-out loved this movie.

Trading Places is the story of two people who have their lives reversed because of a bet by two millionaires.  This movie is ripe with twists and turns that will leave you in stitches.  The “drunk Santa” sequence with Aykroyd made my sides hurt because I was laughing so hard.  The brilliant thing about this movie, however, is that when Aykroyd and Murphy find out what is really going on, the movie becomes downright hilarious.

Dan Aykroyd plays Louis Winthorpe.  Winthorpe is a rich prick, and he enjoys every minute of it.  He is rich, greedy, rides in fancy cars, gets waited on, and he loves every minute of it.  Aykroyd is able to pull this off in a way that makes you completely hate his character at the beginning of the movie, while at the same time you sympathize what happens to him.

Eddie Murphy plays Billy Ray Valentine.  Valentine is a con-artist who is pretending to be a blind, wounded war veteran so that people will give him money.  Once the “switch” happens, he cannot believe all that he has inherited, even going so far as to voluntarily break his own things.  Murphy is great in the role, making you very eager to see what he does next.

John Landis is the director.  Having seen his other films, I knew exactly what kind of movie this was going to be.  He understands comedy very well, keeping the camera on the actors just in case they improvise something.  He also uses the city as a character in the movie very well.

Trading Places is a gem of a movie.  If you love comedy, more specifically 80’s comedy, you will enjoy this movie very much.  I just wish Aykroyd was doing more movies these days instead of doing TV commercials.

A Genius Film

There is something about geniuses being portrayed in film that is very compelling.  Seeing what these particular people have contributed to society is always interesting.  Stephen Hawking has contributed so much to what we know about the universe, and I was very excited to watch The Theory of Everything and learn his story.

The Theory of Everything is about the relationship between Stephen and Jane Hawking.   What surprised me about this movie, and very pleasantly so I might add, is that this movie is not just about the story of Stephen Hawking.  This movie is the story of Stephen and Jane and their life together.  It is a story of a passionate love that is tested due to the disease Stephen has contracted.

Eddie Redmayne delivers a brilliant performance as Stephen Hawking.  We see him struggle with the beginning stages of ALS at the start of the movie, so we already know that this is going to be an emotional story. What is particularly emotional is Stephen’s unwillingness to give up his research, even after he learns he has ALS.  Eddie Redmayne’s performance in this movie is on a level I have not seen since Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, and his Best Actor Oscar is well-deserved.

Felicity Jones plays Jane Hawking.  She is perfect as a devoted wife who is pushed to the edge because of Stephen’s physical limitations.  Even after she has an affair, of which she is not proud of, she still remains at his side.  It is a very heartbreaking performance.

James Marsh is the director of The Theory of Everything.  The cinematography in the movie is absolutely beautiful, as the use of color often reflects what the characters are going through.  Marsh does a very good job of showing the journey that these people go through, even though the outcome is not necessarily a pleasant one.  That is the great thing about what Marsh does with this movie: he keeps us invested in the story even though we know what happens.

I must have watched the trailer for this movie 50 times, and each time I got more excited to see the film.  This movie shows what Stephen Hawking was like when he was a young man, which so many of us know so little about.  This is a beautiful movie with excellent performances, and a Best Actor win that will go down as one of the greatest moments in Oscar history.

Jump!! Jump!!!!

White Men Can’t Jump is a movie that I had heard good things about, but never actually seen until now.  The genre of sports-comedy is one that I find very entertaining, as was this movie.  It is also a movie that disproves itself:  white men CAN jump!

White Men Can’t jump is the story of two basketball hustlers who team up to take part in a tournament.   I quite enjoyed the film.  The environment of street basketball was captured very well, and with the combined talents of Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson this movie is funny as well having some strong dramatic points.  The juxtaposition of their lifestyles also comes across well in this movie, which is one of the reasons this movie is so entertaining.

Wesley Snipes shines as Sidney Deane.  Deane is a man who has trash-talked his way to victory on the court countless times, and Snipes plays that perfectly.  At times it feels like you are just watching Wesley Snipes be himself, not that there is anything wrong with that.  He oozes confidence in the movie, and that makes for a great character.

Woody Harrelson plays Billy Hoyle, the fish-out-of-water white kid who has hustled his way all over California.  As I see more of Harrelson’s work, I become a bigger fan of his.  I like the fact that his character’s off-court persona is a kind of mask, and that once he gets on the court he really breaks out.  He truly is someone who is not to be messed with because he will send you home crying.

Ron Shelton is the director of the movie.  There is a very naturalistic feel to the movie, as if he just put the actors on the court and let them do their thing.  I also like the way he moves the camera around the basketball court.  It really makes you feel like you are in the game.

Naturally, if you are a sports fan you will probably enjoy this movie more than most.  However, I also feel that if you are unfamiliar with the street basketball environment, this movie might give you some insight into what it is like.  This is a great film that should not be missed.