One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I walked past a Wal-Mart $5 bin and found gold in the form of Best Picture, Actor/Actress, director and screenplay of 1975. I embarrassingly had not seen this film from start to finish and it was a great. Nicholson plays R.P. McMurphy, a man who has been in and out of prison for "fighting and fucking too much". A man of pure charisma he breathes life into a hopeless psych ward that is ran by the horrifically calculating and seemingly maniacal nurse Ratchet played to perfection by Louise Fletcher. He shows the men of the ward fun and excitement at his own peril. It's just a great film from start to finish, truly timeless. It's a must see if you've never seen the movie.

Bottom Line: 8.8 out of 10. It really is a run out and see this movie without question. It shows why Jack Nicholson has been a blue-chip star for so long. He simply dominates a well-written movie.

Faster Fiver

I couldn't resist not watching the newest Vin Diesel/ Paul Walker money scam known as Fast Five. It really wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Sure it is completely ridiculous in all action scenes, not even going to go into it, but it brought back a lot of the actors from the past, Tyrese, LUDA, Vince, and Jordana Brewster, which is nice. Good, underused villain in Hernan Reyes and really not a totally ridiculous plot on this one. It was entertaining, I like the Rock being brought in as a badass cop, that was entertaining. You know what you're getting into and it's enjoyable for the most part. It's a little over 2 hours, which is shocking to me. It moved pretty fast and really it's hard to be bored during the film.

Bottom Line: 7.1 out of 10. I'm absolutely shocked I threw it up this high. It's corny, ridiculous, and brutal at times, but it's really worth watching and being entertained for two hours.

Magic City

I'm a pretty big fan of Magic City, a new show on Starz that allows you to jump three weeks deep even though episodes 2/3 are for April 13th & 20th respectively. Excellent cast where you'll recognize most characters highlighted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Olga Kurylenko, Elena Satine, and Danny Huston. Weakest link= Christian Cooke in the major role of Danny, but I'll get to that. The movie focuses on the creation of Miramar hotel, the pinnacle of hot spots in blazing Miami in 1958/9. Miami was a tough place in the center of Cuba's overthrow and was partially lawless/mob controlled itself, it could get rough. JDM is the Casino GM/everything man Ike Evans. A connected, pretty tough man considering being Jewish in the 1950's wasn't all roses. his first wife is dead, he's married the smoking hot Olga Kurylenko and he has three kids: Stevie (aspiring lawyer at THE U), Danny (playboy, go-to man, and terrible actor), and young daughter Lauren, who is essentially just there to play cute and stir up feelings. There's a lot of hidden racism and it's a great piece of the 50's, highlighted by the classic cars, style, and craziness. Evans has a bad-ass business partner nicknamed the Butcher played by Danny Huston who is pretty awesome. The plot follows the plight of Ike trying to keep the Miramar afloat and hopping in a tough Miami. It's worth a look, that is a fact. Gorgeous women, lush everything, solid/interesting story and plot with decent enough writing to hold your interest. It's tough to beat.

Bottom line: 8.4 out of 10. Get on board, this is going to be a big deal in a few weeks.

The Grey

I took a flier on a movie at the cheap seats because I love when Liam Neeson is a badass. This film fell short of any and all expectations in an utterly soul crushing way. Throw away the cool trailers and screen shots and prepare yourself for a boring rendition of Alive mixed with essentially Jaws only with wolves. The movie is preposterous and I found myself cheering for the deaths of Neeson's fellow stranded crew mates. I seriously wanted everyone to die. They force an antagonist out of Frank Grillo that's completely ridiculous and annoying. The wolves are all CGI and easily twice the size of regular wolves. We are led to believe wolves mercilessly hunt anything within 30 miles of their dens and fear nothing. Everyone is an idiot except for Neeson. Nothing badass every happens except the devouring of people by the wolves. You ever get blue-balled at the end when Neeson finally decides to say "FUCK IT" to running and grabs a knife, shatters glass booze bottles and fashions glass knuckles out of them to fight the alpha wolf. It just fucking goes black and cuts away. You can't possible find any joy, redeeming qualities, or fun in this piece of shit. So much potential utterly fucking wasted. Maybe they couldn't get other actors because they filmed in shitty places or something, but this film lacked everything. I didn't give a shit about anyone, not even really Neeson who they show to have no reason for living within 5 minutes of the thing starting.

Bottom Line: 2.1 out of 10. Just a fucking piece of garbage.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

I took a flyer on TTSS since it was at the cheap seats, was nominated for Best Picture and I'm generally a big Gary Oldman fan. I wasn't disappointed in this very interesting spy story taking place during the Cold War throughout the early to Mid 70's (1973-1975 I think). John Hurt is the aging Intelligence head for Britain named Control and he sends Mark Strong to Russia to see if they can get intel on a mole (spy) for Russia inside British intelligence. Strong is shot, Hurt is usurped and take Gary Oldman with him on his way out. The British Prime Minister reels Oldman back in to find out about this Mole and the new program Toby Jones and Colin Firth fire up with their own Russian mole that's getting some intelligence on Russia. Great cast, some twists and turns that are well disguised and interesting. I'm always intrigued at movies that deal with our different intelligence agencies because it's hard not to be completely terrified at all the things we don't know, or really have a clue, that are being conducted all the time in the name of "security". Oldman is the star as the extremely reserved and respected George Smiley. Excellent story, plot, writing, directing, and cast. A bit slow at times and I would like to see it again to try to keep tabs on the story as it all comes together rather quickly at the end.

Bottom Line: 8.6 out of 10. Solid film with almost no weaknesses. Worth a rental or a trip to the cheap seats for.

No Man's Land

I saw another foreign film that was in "1001 Movies to See Before you Die", similar to Run Lola Run. It's called No Man's Land and takes on the Serbia-Herzogovenia conflict in a very small scale and personal way. They use it to pick apart war on a small scale that simplifies it for you. You start the film as about 8 men are creeping through the dark and fog to try to get to the Serbian front line. They awaken that morning 100 yards from the Bosnian line and everyone but one man is presumed dead. He makes it to an abandoned Serbian trench when the Bosnian's send two men after him. The first it a grizzled veteran and the other just made to the lines. The vet shows the rookie how to place a bouncing mine under a dead body that will pop-up and kill whoever moves the body. The Serbian shoots both men, killing one and wounding the other. He then finds out his comrade with the mine beneath him is not dead, just wounded. The three bicker and argue, the Serb shoots the Bosnian again. Both sides wave flags in an attempt to make a truce temporarily to get out. The UN sends aid, but are forced to do nothing due to the agreement they have to merely "Keep the peace". It shows how modern war is influenced by the media and public opinion. It's an excellent film to just make you think about war in a different way than the elaborate pictures we're used to.

Bottom Line: 8.3 out of 10. Excellent story, good acting. I really enjoyed it and it's certainly worth a cheap rental.