Lone Survivor

Peter Berg, I believe, deeply loves our military. I firmly believe he came into this projet trying to honor our servicemen through the awful event of Operation Red Wings. The story is of a military operation where four Navy Seals were dropped into a remote area of Afghanistan to scope out a village a determine if there was their primary target and a secondary target there. The four men encounter issues with comms (communications) and it just gets worse from there. They encounter 3 goat herders on the mountain who they capture, but without being able to reach anyone to make THE decision on what to do, they are forced to decide for themselves. They decide to cut them loose and go to high ground to report to HQ that the mission is compromised. They cannot reach HQ and the herder's make it to a village that support the Taliban and the result is not good. The actors did an amazing job through training and instruction from Marcus Lattrell (The Seal who wrote Lone Survivor and said Lone Survivor, sorry for the spoiler). The stars are Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, and Eric Bana. I feel like now would be a great time to also mention the actors who portrayed the Taliban and Afghan people were also phenomenal and really deserve credit for a great job. It's a story highlighting sacrifices made by servicemen and women that are called upon daily to do the extraordinary. I wish it mentioned that more than just members of Operation Red Wings deserve our gratitude, love, and respect. Bottom Line: 7.8 out of 10. I would agree with the statement it is the most realistic war movie since Saving Private Ryan. Act or Valor was incredible as well and perhaps better technically, but this movie is as gritty and real as you'll find. You can wait until it comes out on video, but if you do watch it you'll want to stay through the credits and be prepared to dry your eyes constantly. Hats off to the people involved in the project.

The Devil Came on Horseback

This film is a documentary following a former Marine Captain (Brian Steidle) and his time spent in Sudan being an advisor to the African Union on a ceasefire and peace that followed 20 years of civil war. This needs to be emphasized STRONGLY, there are images you will see in the this movie that you aren't going to be able to unsee, and they will disturb you. They are certainly among the most disturbing that I've ever seen and I know I won't be able to forget them. I don't know how Brian can deal with what he saw. If you are completely unaware genocide has been going on for the ast decade in the Darfur region of Sudan. The Darker, Islamic Africans are being exterminated, or at the bare minimum, displaced. It's estimated at 400,000 dead and 2.5 million displaced at the time of the film in 2007. It's just an up close and painful look at one of the worst ongoing situations in the world. It's certainly among the worst things to happen during my lifetime. Brian takes pictures every day of dead people, often children being involved in it, for almost a year. Systematic destruction of villages every day for around 60 days. I don't know how he sleeps, it's just amazing that he's sane and hasn't committed suicide or become addicted to drugs/alcohol. I commend his work and I am frankly amazed by his strength as a person. There's a part where an Islamic man who fled to Chad talks about how they are completely dependant upon America for aid and that no Islamic nations help out at all. It's really crushing because I thought about how little we had done as a nation, yet that was BY FAR better than anyone else. Bottom Line: 9.8 out of 10. It's what documentary film is all about. So powerful and gripping it's painful. I once again want you to know what you're getting into because the pictures are horrific and awful, so if you are weak of heart or stomach, it's not for you. It's certainly worth watching and will almost certainly change the way you think about Africa. It's on Netflix and it's probably the best thing on there.

American Hustle: FINALLY

I finally made it over to American Hustle today. $5 and free 44 oz. popcorn with a "valid" college ID, I clearly use that interpretation loosely. I finally got to see American Hustle and the quality is amazing. The performances, soundtrack, wardrobe, etc. is all spot on in my opinion. The story follows Christian Bale as a part-time laundromat owner, part time con-artist. Amy Adams is his flame and love INTEREST who adds to his scamming business to where they start pulling in really good money. Jennifer Lawrence is Bale's wife, and to further complicate the story Bale adopted her child and claims him as his own. That begins the complicated mess. Their scam attracts some FBI attention from Bradley Cooper and he convinces them to "play ball" and hand over 4 other counterfeit types to be exhonerated. Adams wants to flee, Bale convinces her to stay, and the meat of the story happens. It's movie heaven for the most part. Renner plays a great role as Mayor Carmine, a beloved NJ mayor who wishes only to boost his states revenus and employment through legalizing gambling, which he already accomplished, and re-opening several casinos and gambling halls. He needs capital to do so (money for idiots out there) and Bale and Co. are happy to oblige. The story, cast, and everything is simply top notch and I don't want to spoil anything else from the movie. Bottom Line: 9.2 out of 10. Down graded slightly for being a little slow, but everything else is top notch. I personally wasn't bothered by the movies "slowness", but I enjoyed every minute. I think Adams blew away Lawrence's performance, but both, and really everyone's is top notch stuff. Bale is Oscar worthy as well, but his role as Irving pales in comparison to McConaughy's role in Dalls Buyer's Club, or Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years as a Slave. DiCaprio gets wayyyy too much love in my opinion for Wolf of Wall Street, especially this year when 3 performances are clearly stronger in my eyes. It's a tough year for leading men. Lawrence really shouldn't win for Best Supporting Actress, I'd personally role with Lupita Nyong'o from 12 Years again, but she will probably walk away with the award. Adams should probably win, but I've only seen Bullock in Gravity for her competition, and that was certainly a great performance as well. Simply some of the best acting you'll see from the "feet up" in this film, a line you'll learn to appreciate. Certainly worth you're 5-10 dollar investment to see in theatres.

Racism for the 21st Century Rant

Preface: I'm not a fan at all of Richard Sherman's post-game antics/behavior, so let's throw that out there. What I hate from this is the selective racism casually throw in. Sherman said something I firmly agree with, hiding behind the word "thug" is our equivalent of the N-word now. Was Calgary & the Canuck's shameful display of a brawl before the puck could be touched more "thug" like than Sherman's rant on Crabtree? ABSOLUTELY. What is the difference in these situations? White people play hockey, so that was about toughness and grit, Sherman is black, and that equates to being a "thug". Richard Sherman is by all accounts and insightful, genuine, and great person. Despite the fact that he's a 5th round draft pick and makes 1/50th as much as some players, his charitable deeds far outweigh almost all other players. I'm giving him a pass on his antics since if someone threw a microphone in my face after winning the biggest game of my life, I may have said some things that I would regret. I personally despise what I consider "Gamesmanship", or "showing up" an opponent, but if I dominated Michael Crabtree and the 49ers the way Sherman did, and knowing there is plenty of animosity between the teams, I may have used that opportunity to get on a soap box and say some things that were far from gentlemanly. Hank Aaron backs him, that's all I needed to see. The League did an episode that highlighted the specific words used for white athletes, then Latino & black athletes and it was hilarious and true. Gritty was my personal favorite for small white players, i.e. Wes Welker essentially. You probably hear that twice per game in regards to Welker. Would Randall Cobb of the Packers get that praise after a slant route where he gets blown up? Probably not. I just wanted to go on a mini-tangent for the over-use of "thug" and how it SO thinly veils the racism behind it. I got a real kick out of my buddies post that essentially mentioned all the people who were so quick and happy to defend Phil Robertson's right to say all gay people are going to hell (very paraphrased) are so quick to jump on Sherman and his right to say whatever he feels like. What's the difference between these two men? 20" of beard hair and their skin color. Food for thought, if Sherman was a white player, how would the backlash differ? I'm glad Sherman is so intelligent and able to put perspective on everything for us. 99% of people lashing out, probably greater than that, have no clue who Richard Sherman is and what he's gone through to be where/who he is. He's from Compton, therefore... He consistently does more to help the underprivileged than anyone throwing stones at him from their glass houses do. I hope he walks away from this raising his status for the general public because no publicity is bad publicity. Hopefully getting himself out there for the wrong reasons helps promote all the things he does for all the right reasons. Rant complete, God bless.

Luther

I became a monster fan of Idris Elba during his Stringer Bell days on the Wire. He's outstanding in pretty much everything he's in. Luther is a TV show on BBC where he is THE focal point. He's a genius detective who gets into crazy situations because he isn't really "by the book". The show went places I never dreamed and was just fantastic in it's short two seasons. I think it's 6 & 5 hour-long episodes a piece, so it really flies by. He normally is tasked with stopping some sort of serial killing criminal and watching him do so is a joy. His life spirals out of control around him, but watching him outsmart criminals and jerks alike is really the strength of the show. It's a little surprising that essentially everyone who meets him is willing to help him, but I could deal with it. Bottom Line: 8.7 out of 10. I thought it was excellent and fans of Idris Elba should definitely jump on board. Detective work is a little different in London, but just because he doesn't carry a gun and Dirty Harry everyone doesn't mean he isn't a badass. Worth checking out for fans of "gritty" (Like Wes Welker GRITTY) drama should jump all over this.

This is the End (Of Someone's Career I hope)

I was pretty excited to jump into This is the End. It has funny people everywhere and is Judd Apatow's wet dream of a cast. Seth Rogan (Writer/producer as well), James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and amazing cameos from Michael Cera, Rihanna, but especially Emma Watson & Channing Tatum (also not as great from Paul Rudd, Aziz Ansari, & Mindy Kaling). It's loaded CLEARLY, but the movie strays from the star power. It follows the group as they play out some real life rumors/etc about their "Hollywood" selves. Baruchel doesn't like L.A. or Rogan's "new" friends of mainly Franco and Hill. They are all vain assholes, which is a pretty funny running gag. Basically they use the plot of the end of the world to get them together to have some funny dialogue and events happen. It was a short film they tried to stretch out and sometimes it works and it's funny, but sometimes it's boring, drags on too long, and isn't funny. Honestly the redeeming quality is watching the outtakes and the guys fucking around on set. That's the real strength and that ups the blu-ray rating. Bottom Line: 7.1 out of 10. Higher rating due to really funny extra content on blu-ray. Franco and McBride talking about getting into a "jizz war" with each other is absolutely hysterical, as some other extra stuff. The guys are funny and are especially funny when fucking around with each other. McBride insulting Franco has a special place in my heart for some reason. Worth a rental, but you're not going to want to own this one I'm guessing. Hit it & quit it.

Wolverine

I was actually a little excited to see Wolverine since it wasn't reviewing horribly, unlike his other attempt at a solo film. Hugh Jackman does play the part well, except he's TOO big, which seems strange for a "superhero", but Wolverine is pretty small in X-Men, but whatever. The movie follows Wolverine during WWII where he was apparently a prisoner in Nagasaki, even though I'm fairly certain we didn't invade Japan yet, hence dropping a nuke on them. He saves a Japanese officer and gets a life debt offer from him. Fast forward 60 years, the guy he saved is rich as can be but dying and offers Wolverine a chance to become mortal while giving his healing powers to the dying guy. Wolverine rebukes the offer, old guy dies, yakuza attacks old guy's family members, Wolverine gets in a ton of fights. It's more unbelievable than I generally like from my action movies, which obviously happens a lot. If you can string together issues with the plot, etc., then the movie generally isn't that good and this is a clear case of that in my mind. Bottom Line: 5.4 out of 10. I really wasn't into this movie at any point. It was thoroughly disappointing and wasted the whole Japan thing for the Wolverine franchise as in the comic books it was a huge part of his life where he falls in love and has a "normal" life there essentially until his wife is murdered, but this throws that all away for a bunch of stupid fight scenes with random asian dudes.

Top of the Lake

I took a flyer on Top of the Lake after it was nominated in an excellent class of dramas at the Golden Globes. It starts with a young girl walking into a lake without a word. You go on to find out she's a pregnant 12 year-old. Elizabeth Moss (Peggy Olson from Mad Men) plays a detective who makes it her job to find out who is responsible or impregnating a child. The town is run by the 12 year-old girl's drug-lord father. Everyone is essentially related apparently and Moss left the small New Zealand town for mainland Australia and was only back to visit her mother, who is dying of cancer. There's a lot of interesting things that slowly come out during the 7 episode series and I watched it all in one sitting essentially. It was tough to not just want to roll into the next episode, so thanks to Netflix for making that possible. Moss is excellent and pulls off a great New Zealand accent despite being American, I did have to check that up. Bottom Line: 8.4 out of 10. I really liked the show and hope it will return in some form for another season or more. It's certainly worth watching. Netflix it soon.

Seven Psychopaths

Showtime was kind enough to be airing Seven Psychopaths, a movie featuring Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, and Woody Harrelson, among others. It's the story of the writing of the book "Seven Psychopaths" by Colin Farrell's character, an alcoholic, barely working author. His best friend is Rockwell who wants to help him write the book starts trying to help Ferrell fill out the roster of his seven psychopaths since he's only thought of one up to that point. The tale twists and turns introducing you to the seven psychopaths and their stories. It hits a dull spot in the middle, but I really liked the movie overall. You really don't know what to expect because a lot of the characters are psychopaths. Walken is especially good, which almost goes without saying, but everyone else is very good as well. I was pleasantly surprised and very glad I took time to finally see this movie. I can't really tell you much about the plot since it would essentially be a bunch of spoilers. Trust in me, see this movie. Bottom Line: 7.7 out of 10. It's free if you have Showtime, so do yourself and favor and watch it. If nothing else just enjoy Christopher Walken in a cravat.

Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street jumps into the degeneracy of Wall Street and the shady people who are at the top of it. Drugs, hookers, fights, rampant stupidity runs an investment company pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The story mainly focuses on Jordan Belfort, a man who went from a simple stock broker at 23 to a multi-millionaire at 25. He started his REAL career selling "penny-stocks", or stocks that aren't listed on any exchange or regulated in any capacity, to regular people on the phone. He then started upping the ante by having rich people invest in the same crap. He eventually becomes so big he can start having his own IPO's (initial public offerings) which were at the time unregulated and the issuing company got to set the IPO price, which is the price the stock opens at during it's offering. He would then use his people to sell the shit out of that stock while he would own massive quantities of the stock personally, and that's stock manipulation and illegal. They constantly blast drugs into themselves, primarily cocaine during work & ludes after. I've never seen anyone talk about ludes so fondly. It's a complete mess at the company that's run by degenerates who really only care about money. It's an interesting tale that shows if you ignore the law and are shameless, manipulative, and completely ruin other people's lives, you can make a lot of money. It feels a lot like a Scorsese film with your music montage speeding through the degeneracy and drug use like Casino and Goodfellas. The cast is top notch and Margot RObbie I hope continues to be in films, especially without her clothes on. Jonah Hill is probably good, but since I despise his character and usually him, I thought he was the weakest link. Di Caprio is excellent living the life of a multi-millionaire playboy (a real stretch for him). It's an interesting story and it's fast-paced and entertaining throughout. It's sickening to see how the financial industry operates, since finding and exploiting loopholes is what the large companies thrive on. A documentary on Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, etc. dealing with the mortgage collapse confirmed the incredible hooker and drug use running through the average day on Wall Street. Bottom Line: 8.2 out of 10. Great story, great cast, great director, it was a slam dunk. I think Margot Robbie being naked jumped this thing at least .5 points, so I should mention that. She's gorgeous.