According to the website www.boxofficemojo.com, the Mark Ruffalo/Ethan Hawke crime drama earned just $44,872 in the theaters. Even if both its two lead stars plus the talented Amanda Peet (Identity, The Whole Nine Yards) agreed to work for free, this movie still did not come close to earning back what it cost to produce. Usually, when you’ve never heard of a film, especially one in which both its lead stars have each been nominated for an Academy Award before you see it on DVD, it’s because the movie stunk. Most of those involved with the film would rather it go unnoticed. This is probably accurate 90% of the time. What Doesn’t Kill You falls into that other 10%. The story isn’t new. We’ve seen the same story played out hundreds of times on the screen (including even a couple of movies involving Ethan Hawke that fall along those lines). There was nothing that particularly stood out in terms of the plot. Sure, the fact that it was based on a true story strengthens its cause. But still, the old man involved with crime and drugs, trying to turn around his life for his family, but struggling to do so is nothing new. So how does this movie break through that threshold and be one of those movies you remember? It was the acting.
Continue reading What Doesn’t Kill You (2008)
Category Archives: Year of Release
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Christopher Nolan’s (Inception, The Prestige) last chapter in his Batman franchise is the exciting but imperfect The Dark Knight Rises. This is an excellent movie and successfully concludes the best trilogy I’ve ever seen. However, if you go in with the idea that it will be better than The Dark Knight, you will be disappointed. With Hedge Ledger’s to die for performance as the Joker, The Dark Knight is as close to a perfect movie as you will get. It holds a place on my Top 10 Movies of All-Time list. The Dark Knight Rises is very ambitious, a little too ambitious. At 2 hours and 45 minutes, you’d think they have plenty of time to tell its story and conclude the franchise, but there is so much to the story, and rushing its development and racing to its conclusion would not have resulted in a successful movie. This is one of those movies where a review such as mine won’t persuade you to see it or not see it. You most likely have it in your head that you will either see this movie or not. So why do I write it? Because I committed myself to reviewing every film that will be on my Top 10 list at the end of the year. I am very, very confident there will not be ten other movies released in 2012 that will be better than The Dark Knight Rises.
Continue reading The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Many critics and audiences agree that the Andrew Garfield-led (The Social Network, Never Let Me Go) reboot of Spider-Man occurred too soon after the completion of the Toby Maguire trilogy. Because it was a given that the reboot would generate hundreds of millions of dollars on name alone, many wondered how strong of an effort there would be to tell a great story. On the other hand, an uninteresting story and poor reviews from the critics that still resulted in $200 million would have devastated superhero movies. Heck, Ryan Reynolds’ disaster The Green Lantern earned a measly 27% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and still made $116 million at the box office. Fortunately, while there were many parallels to the Tobey franchise, this movie was much darker. This was my number one criterion going in. I just wanted it to be more adult-oriented. Some thought it was too dark, saying things like Spider-Man isn’t Batman, but as a guy in his mid-30s, I’d rather see any PG-13/R type superhero movie over a PG/PG-13 type one.Take This Waltz (2012)
I’m officially calling Michelle Williams the best actress of my generation. Some people will agree with this statement, but many more will probably disagree. I think most people would say she is a very good actress but will be more hesitant to say excellent. To call her the best is a bold statement. But that’s what she is. To those who would quickly dismiss this statement, I encourage them to explore her complete filmography. She has some gems out there that are relatively unknown. Williams is very deserving of the three Academy Award nominations she has received (Best Actress in a Leading Role – Blue Valentine 2010, My Week with Marilyn 2011, Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Brokeback Mountain 2004). It is merely a matter of time before she wins her first of many Oscars.
Limitless (2011)
Bradley Cooper, you have a new fan. In the first blockbuster movie of your career that you were asked to carry, you knocked Limitless out of the park. So no longer will I reference you as “one of the guys from The Hangover.” After looking at your filmography, I’ll be the first to tell you that you’ve made terrible career choices, but maybe you were getting your feet wet. Maybe at the ripe age of 34, after eight years of meaningless roles in some of the awful movies of the last decade, including Failure to Launch, Valentine’s Day, Yes Man, Case 39, The A-Team, He’s Just Not That Into You, and, perhaps the cream of the crop, All About Steve, you’ll finally be recognized for what you potentially could bring to a movie. When I first saw the trailer for Limitless, I thought there would be no chance I would see it. But after reading some reviews about it, I added it to my Netflix queue and slowly watched it work to the top of my list.
Continue reading Limitless (2011)