Completely flying under the radar in an otherwise crowded December release schedule (Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Concussion, Joy, The Hateful Eight, The Revenant) is Adam McKay’s (Step Brothers, The Other Guys) The Big Short, a movie that is neither short on star power or storytelling. While most will find this movie riveting, it will, unfortunately, hit a little too close to home for many viewers. This movie, while at times challenging to understand, will leave you dumbfounded that what happened actually happened not in some far-off land in a time long ago, but right here in our own backyard just a few years ago. I promise not to explain this movie and then talk about some of the pros and cons. I will do my absolute best not to provide spoilers in this review.
Continue reading The Big Short (2015)
Category Archives: Ryan Gosling
The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)
The Place Beyond the Pines is a place you do not need to visit anytime in the near future. Director Derek Cianfrance and Ryan Gosling (Drive, Half-Nelson) team up for the first time since the 2010 instant classic Blue Valentine. I can honestly say that they recaptured their magic for the first third of this movie, but ***spoiler alert***then Cianfrance went and killed off Gosling. After that, this movie tail-spun into the ground. The Place Beyond the Pines is told in three stories (all roughly 45-55 minutes). In this review, I’m going to spoil everything. So either you’ll stop reading now and see the movie on your own, or you’ll heed my advice and read this post instead of seeing this wreck of a film.
Continue reading The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)
Drive (2011)
Original review – September 18, 2011 | Updated review August 12, 2013
Updated review****
This movie is a classic. I had a couple of original problems based on my initial view. The preview made it seem like it would be a completely different movie. I hadn’t prepared myself for the violence or all of the overlapping storylines that were going on. I thought I would watch Ryan Gosling drive bad guys around and avoid the police. The movie trailer is essentially the film’s first five minutes (nothing more, nothing less). I expected something different, which is why my initial review was lower than it is now.
I loved Gosling and Mulligan. I loved the way the unspoken attraction they had for one another. I loved how Gosling did everything he could, not getting attached to somebody he couldn’t just walk away from in five minutes, but how circumstances kept driving them together to the point where he would do anything to keep them happy and safe.
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Crazy, Stupid, Love. is a terrific, lighthearted romantic comedy. In many of my reviews, I’ve stated that 2010 was the best year for movie releases, despite not having that one super scary or laugh-out-loud funny movie that you would expect a great year to have, I have also noted this to be the case. While 2011 has yet to come close to measuring up to 2010 (based on what I’ve been seeing/reading about the fall/award season releases), it has had some good movies. It’s had three films already that I would put in my Top 20 comedies of all time. I don’t think any of these are in that Top 10 range, but Horrible Bosses, The Hangover Part 2, and Crazy, Stupid, Love. All fall into that second tier. I believe Bridesmaids will also fall into this group once I see it. In terms of pure comedy, Crazy, Stupid, Love. doesn’t have as many laughs until your stomach hurts movies, but I would say that it is the best overall movie in this group. This movie had the potential to be great, but like many good movies that don’t reach that elevated status, there is a flaw in the screenplay that is very hard to ignore.
Half Nelson (2006)
Ryan Gosling is quickly earning a reputation for playing characters with seemingly good hearts, but with deep flaws that prohibit his characters from achieving greatness. Whether it be his quick Ryan Gosling is quickly earning a reputation for playing characters with seemingly good hearts but with deep flaws that prohibit these characters from achieving greatness. Whether it be his quick temper, drinking, or lack of ambition in Blue Valentine, his unbelievably extreme case of social anxiety in Lars and the Real Girl, or his much too overly confident posture in Fracture, Gosling plays characters that you root for at one moment and sympathize with the next. At the same time, you are trying to figure out how he gets so entrenched in each of his roles. If you have not seen any of the movies mentioned above, do so. You’ll be in for a treat. If you want to see his best performance to date, check out Ryan Fleck’s (Sugar, It’s Kind of a Funny Story) highly under-appreciated Half Nelson. Now, I say highly under-appreciated loosely. Half Nelson has received a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes but only $2.6 million at the box office, a somewhat disappointing number.