Back in 1996, adaptations from John Grisham novels were the big thing. Tom Cruise starred in The Firm. Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts starred in The Pelican Brief. Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones starred in The Client. All were critically acclaimed and performed exceptionally well at the box office. A Time To Kill was Grisham’s first novel and the next the fourth to be adapted for film. Arguably, it is Grisham’s best novel, and the buzz surrounding the film was tremendous. A host of Hollywood A-listers wanted the lead role of Jack Brigance. The question was who would get the lead in the movie that also starred Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kevin Spacey. There was a lot of head-shaking when the lead part went to a little-known actor named Matthew McConaughey (Frailty, Amistad). McConaughey nailed the role, and the movie was critically acclaimed and earned over $100 million domestically. The film put McConaughey on the map, and many considered the part of Jack Brigance the role he was born to play.
Continue reading Mud (2013)
Category Archives: Year of Release
Iron Man 3 (2013)
So continues other comic book franchise on the big screen. The norm these days is if a movie can make $150 million domestically, sequel after sequel will continue to be made. I understand that. It makes sense. However, it doesn’t mean I have to continue supporting the franchise even if I consider the first movie in the series awesome. I usually give the series the benefit of the doubt if I like the first one. While I loved Iron Man, Iron Man 2 could have been better. There wasn’t the same kind of wow factor. It was still an ok superhero movie, but I never felt like what I watched was anything special. Such is the case with Iron Man 3. It is a very entertaining movie, but as will be the case with the almost certain Iron Man 4, Iron Man 5, etc., that unique originality feature that comes with every first movie in a series will be eliminated. So while I appreciate that attempts to make Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, etc., entertaining movies, I won’t have much feeling other than been there/done that. I expect I will like each new film in the series a little less than the preview. That has certainly been the case thus far.
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Hall Pass (2011)
2011 was a great year for comedies. You had Bridesmaids and Crazy, Stupid, Love., both of which finished in my Top for the year. You also had Horrible Bosses and The Hangover Part II, each of which finished just outside my Top 10. Hall Pass is the fourth great comedy for that year and a movie that will cause me to re-evaluate my list shortly. Right now, I’m uncertain whether this finishes just outside the Top 10 of 2011 or if it finishes ahead of Bridesmaids (my current #3). Wherever it falls, nothing will change the fact that it is a hilarious movie. It’s also a movie I almost did not watch because I didn’t like the concept. I like the raunchy humor movie, but the idea of two wives giving their husbands a week-long hall pass where they could do what they wanted to whoever they wanted didn’t appeal to what I valued in a movie. With that said, I’m glad I gave the movie a chance because it was also a really good movie in addition to being an absolute comic gem.
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Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012)
Celeste and Jesse Forever is a fantastic little movie paused on a completely implausible concept: that you can remain best friends with the love of your life after a failed relationship. The movie was a difficult sell. While it hit with the critics (70% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), it missed with audiences (just $3 million at the box office). The movie stars two of Hollywood’s funniest young actors (Andy Samberg – Saturday Night Live and Rashida Jones – NBC’s Parks and Recreation) who have worked so hard on the small screen that now they are household names. This both helped and hurt the movie. When we see each name, we think comedy, comedy, comedy. So when we see them in a movie like Celeste and Jesse Forever that has as much drama as it does comedy, we aren’t sure what to think.
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Chernobyl Diaries (2012)
Low-budget fright flicks have become a part of our culture since 1999’s Blair Witch Project. A good number of these the majority of the public has never heard of because the completed product goes straight to video. Another batch makes it to the big screen, some of which we convince ourselves to see (The Fog, Darkness, Feardotcom), and after 20 minutes, we wish it had gone straight to video and never heard of it. Then there is the small group of these movies you cannot just tolerate but come to enjoy for whatever reason. The best example is 2005’s The Descent, which saw a group of six 20-something females trapped in a cavern on a girls’ getaway weekend and hunted by a force that lives in the dark. This movie was an instant classic and still a top-five horror movie. Chernobyl Diaries is nowhere close to The Descent, but it still offers many of the same elements that made this movie successful. It offered a small group of no-name actors. It was set in a location where you could suspend your beliefs and start to believe that anything is possible. There are the slowly developing scenes where you know something bad is about to happen, and you are just sitting there wondering what that will be and when it will occur. Finally, it has a handful of jump-out-your-seat moments. For these reasons, I give Chernobyl Diaries a positive review and would encourage low-budget horror fans to check it out.
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