tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78362075550267693842024-02-07T02:45:31.964-06:00Finney's Five Sentence ReviewsI love movies. They are my favorite non-sexual thing to do. I own more than 200 on DVD, not including TV series. They are our cultural language. When you ask someone if they've seen a movie, you're not asking them if they've spent money to see moving pictures. You're asking them if they have the same experiences that you have had – if you speak the same language. As Roger Ebert says, "Never marry someone who doesn't like the same movies as you."Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-42121217036802019542011-03-14T04:38:00.000-05:002011-03-14T04:38:33.709-05:00My 10 favorite movies of 2010 posted far too late for anyone to care<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pic.phyrefile.com/m/ma/masta/2010/10/17/Winters_Bone_2010_BRRip__MnM-RG_H264_.mp4_snapshot_01.30.09__2010.10.17_22.14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://pic.phyrefile.com/m/ma/masta/2010/10/17/Winters_Bone_2010_BRRip__MnM-RG_H264_.mp4_snapshot_01.30.09__2010.10.17_22.14.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><b>Jennifer Lawrence </b>(above) starred in my favorite movie of 2010, "Winter's Bone," a film that reminds us that the reason we don't go into the woods uninvited isn't the monsters, but the people.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Sometime in early January a co-worker asked me for a list of my favorite movies for 2010. I hadn't thought about it much at the time. I planned to answer with a blog post. Then I got lazy. Then I started watching "The Big Lebowski" over and over again. Here we are in the middle of March and I haven’t answered. I am absolutely worthless without deadlines. Many, especially my editors, would argue I’m not much good then, either. Ah well.</span></span> <br />
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</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Anyway, here are my 2010 picks, each in about 140 characters.</span></span></div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">1. </span></span><a href="http://newsmanone.blogspot.com/2010/09/winters-bone.html"><span style="font-family: Arial Black;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black";">Winter’s Bone</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> makes you feel like a stranger in your homeland in a tale of a girl’s struggle to save her family home in the dirt poor Ozarks.</span></span></div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">2.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_253894528"> </a></span></span><a href="http://newsmanone.blogspot.com/2010/09/get-low.html"><span style="font-family: Arial Black;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black";">Get Low</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> stars Bill Murray and Robert Duvall. If that is not enough of a recommendation, than I'll add it's very funny, warm and touching.</span></span></div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">3. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Ryan are painfully shy people make one another better in </span></span><a href="http://newsmanone.blogspot.com/2010/11/movie-review-jack-goes-boating.html"><span style="font-family: Arial Black;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black";">Jack Goes Boating</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">, a small, lovely romantic story.</span></span></div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">4. The Dude outdoes the Duke in </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial Black;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black";">True Grit</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">, which is almost as much fun to listen to as it is to watch. Contraction-free dialogue is captivating.</span></span></div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">5. </span></span><a href="http://newsmanone.blogspot.com/2010/08/movie-review-other-guys.html"><span style="font-family: Arial Black;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black";">The Other Guys</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> is a supposed to be a send-up of buddy cop movies, but it’s really the best buddy cop movie since Lethal Weapon.</span></span></div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">6. </span></span><a href="http://newsmanone.blogspot.com/2010/09/movie-review-town.html?utm_source=BP_recent"><span style="font-family: Arial Black;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black";">The Town</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> proves Ben Affleck has a lot more to contribute to movies than being a punchline and Jon Hamm is more than the maddest of Mad Men.</span></span></div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">7. </span></span><a href="http://newsmanone.blogspot.com/2010/10/movie-review-social-network.html"><span style="font-family: Arial Black;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black";">The Social Network</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> is really about the increasing disconnection of people from their humanity despite technology designed to do the opposite.</span></span></div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">8. </span></span><a href="http://newsmanone.blogspot.com/2010/07/movie-review-inception.html"><span style="font-family: Arial Black;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black";">Inception</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> feels like walking in an MC Escher drawing while in the middle of a heist being chased by spies and trying to fix a relationship.</span></span></div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">9. </span></span><a href="http://newsmanone.blogspot.com/2010/07/movie-review-salt.html"><span style="font-family: Arial Black;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black";">Salt</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> is a great action movie. Angelina Jolie stomps adversaries in sequences worthy of the Bourne films but becomes a hero we root for.</span></span></div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="x_MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">10. </span></span><a href="http://newsmanone.blogspot.com/2010/06/movie-review-toy-story-3.html"><span style="font-family: Arial Black;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black";">Toy Story 3</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Woody. Buzz. Rex. The Potato Heads. Barbie. Ken. Pixar. Adventure. High jinks. Coming of age. All heart. Aw, hell. Just see it.</span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-40394271268987311432010-11-02T20:02:00.003-05:002010-11-03T08:07:51.894-05:00Movie Review: "Jack Goes Boating"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/zz3053a614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/zz3053a614.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
5. If only every romantic comedy could be as good as "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Boating-Phillip-Seymour-Hoffman/dp/B002LVVCJY?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Jack Goes Boating</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002LVVCJY" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," a small movie about painfully shy people who fall in love despite being adrift in a cynical sea of decaying relationships and social ostracism.<br />
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4. The magnificent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Seymour_Hoffman">Phillip Seymour Hoffman </a>plays Jack, a socially awkward limousine driver who gets set up with fellow square Connie (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Ryan">Amy Ryan</a>), who works as a saleswoman for a self-help seminar outfit.<br />
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3. Connie loves boating, but Jack can't swim so friend and co-worker Clyde (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ortiz">John Ortiz</a>) teaches him to swim and tries to coach Jack about long-term relationships even though Clyde's own marriage to Lucy (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_Rubin-Vega">Daphne Rubin-Vega</a>) is crumbling.<br />
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2. "Jack Goes Boating" might set a celluloid record for painful pauses, awkward silences and stilted dialogue, but it's all wonderful because the cast create believable and whole characters taken from everyday life, with real problems -- people who fumble, struggle and miss their mark yet manage to display truly loving acts through small kindnesses and giant leaps of trust.<br />
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1. This movie only made about <a href="http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=jackgoesboating.htm">$474,000</a>, but it is so much better than the hideous spate money-making of romantic comedy released this year ("<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sex-City-Sarah-Jessica-Parker/dp/B002ZG98Z0?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Sex and the City 2</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002ZG98Z0" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Date-Night-Steve-Carell/dp/B002ZG97B0?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Date Night</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002ZG97B0" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Going-Distance-Justin-Long/dp/B002ZG97QK?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Going the Distance</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002ZG97QK" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valentines-Day-Bradley-Cooper/dp/B002ZG99UE?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Valentine's Day</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002ZG99UE" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Leap-Year-Amy-Adams/dp/B0038N9X3Q?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Leap Year</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0038N9X3Q" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Jennifer-Aniston/dp/B003EYVXU0?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Switch</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003EYVXU0" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bounty-Hunter-Jennifer-Aniston/dp/B002ZG998G?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Bounty Hunter</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002ZG998G" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Killers-Katherine-Heigl/dp/B002ZG984Q?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Killers</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002ZG984Q" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />" and "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Knight-Day-Single-Disc-Tom-Cruise/dp/B002ZG9864?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Knight and Day</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah jethkaoqyslxdtbygbah" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002ZG9864" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />" to name a few) and though its gone from theaters in Des Moines, it merits a must-rent on Netflix, Video On Demand or DVD purchase when it arrives Jan. 18.<br />
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<b>"Jack Goes Boating"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>1 hour, 29 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Romantic comedy<br />
<b>Director:</b> Phillip Seymour Hoffman<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz and Daphne Rubin-Vega<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> A+Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-78137145080196455662010-10-30T05:53:00.001-05:002010-10-30T06:01:48.693-05:00Movie Review: "Jackass 3D"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ramascreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Jackass.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://ramascreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Jackass.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
5. When I posted to my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Billionaires-Founding-Facebook-Betrayal/dp/0307740986?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Facebook </a><img alt="" border="0" class=" mkskzvvejfbpvtjqbsbd mkskzvvejfbpvtjqbsbd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307740986" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />page that I was seeing "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jackass-Unrated-3-Pack-Johnny-Knoxville/dp/B003XJABTK?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Jackass 3D</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" mkskzvvejfbpvtjqbsbd mkskzvvejfbpvtjqbsbd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003XJABTK" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />" at the theater, an old friend replied "Why?,"and I offered the only appropriate response to an unspoken implication that we should all be above such a sickening display of idiocy: "Why not?"<br />
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4. Is the vast and inventive use of feces, both animal and human, by the likes of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dukes-Hazzard-Unrated-Widescreen/dp/B000BKJ758?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Johnny Knoxville </a><img alt="" border="0" class=" mkskzvvejfbpvtjqbsbd mkskzvvejfbpvtjqbsbd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000BKJ758" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bam-Margera-Presents-Where-Santa/dp/B001FEO7G8?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Bam Margera </a><img alt="" border="0" class=" mkskzvvejfbpvtjqbsbd mkskzvvejfbpvtjqbsbd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001FEO7G8" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />really any more gag-inducing than the latest spate of hateful political commercials offered by power-hungry Democrats and Republicans?<br />
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3. Is dumping a plastic tub full of pythons on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophidiophobia">ophidiophobic </a>Margera any more abusive than the donkey and elephant parties each drumming up fears of global Apocalypse should just one person from the other side ascend to elected office?<br />
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2. Is watching Jason "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/WeeMan-Potty-Training-Urinal-Product/dp/B001DZWPSQ?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Wee Man</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" mkskzvvejfbpvtjqbsbd mkskzvvejfbpvtjqbsbd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001DZWPSQ" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />" Acuna be glued to the hairy chest of a fat man and then be ripped off in wrenching fashion anymore painful than seeing a pair of insipid, dull and uninspiring gubernatorial candidates debate who is the greater liar?<br />
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1. The easy way out is to say "Jackass 3D" is the lowest of the lowbrow, but our allegedly high-minded political candidates find new and more creative ways to debase themselves and our electoral process on a biannual basis, so if you ask me why I'm at "Jackass 3D" instead of requesting an absentee ballot, I say, "If am I'm to spend my afternoon covered in drek, let it at least be amusing."<br />
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<b>"Jackass 3D"</b><br />
<b>Run time</b>: 1 hour, 34 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R</b><br />
<b>Genre</b>: Comedy/Documentary/Action/Adventure<br />
<b>Director: </b>Jeff Tremaine<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn and Jason Acuna<br />
<b>Finney's Flick's Grade:</b> C+Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-12637494679406014462010-10-28T12:48:00.002-05:002010-10-28T13:54:24.313-05:00Movie Review: "Red"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Cq6m1YgV3BMLKkfZ3_1tcy85nwlKtw8DOaEb9OJxjEWqQOFVG3IDtshTMGV-3W7R2WeCuhSNRRR3NV2JOKr9SCbII7Cp6Kx8CAjQG8BIyRgaFs3mRQkZPrTyffDr52NyMY5W-34EqiA/s400/Red+Movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Cq6m1YgV3BMLKkfZ3_1tcy85nwlKtw8DOaEb9OJxjEWqQOFVG3IDtshTMGV-3W7R2WeCuhSNRRR3NV2JOKr9SCbII7Cp6Kx8CAjQG8BIyRgaFs3mRQkZPrTyffDr52NyMY5W-34EqiA/s400/Red+Movie.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
5. "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Red-Warren-Ellis/dp/140122346X?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Red</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=140122346X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />" is basically "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Expendables-Sylvester-Stallone/dp/B002ZG999U?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Expendables</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002ZG999U" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />" with a better cast.<br />
<br />
4. I don't know if this new trend in action movies for the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/AARP-Retirement-Survival-Guide-Financial/dp/1402743416?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">AARP </a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1402743416" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />crowd is disturbing or empowering.<br />
<br />
3. On the one hand, it's nice to the senior set -- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shawshank-Redemption-Single-Disc/dp/B000P0J0EW?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Morgan Freeman</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000P0J0EW" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />, 73, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Helen-Mirren/dp/B00005JPAO?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Helen Mirren</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00005JPAO" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />, 55, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Being-John-Malkovich-Cusack/dp/B00007AJF8?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">John Malkovich</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00007AJF8" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />, 56, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Last-Man-Standing-Bruce-Willis/dp/6304698747?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Bruce Willis</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=6304698747" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />, 55 -- get to blow stuff up and shoot bad guys with the reckless abandon not seen since the cocaine-fueled, inflation-endowed 1980s.<br />
<br />
2. Yet "Red," just as "Expendibles," made me feel old because it meant we've been watching these people -- particularly <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Die-Hard-Collection-Harder-Vengeance/dp/B000O77SQS?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Willis </a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000O77SQS" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />-- do basically the same thing again and again for more than two decades -- more than 57 percent of my life.<br />
<br />
1. "Reds" is OK, not worth much more than an "eh," but it did leave me wondering if I needed to do something different with whatever percentage of movie-watching life I have left.<br />
<br />
===================================<br />
<b>"Red"</b><br />
<b>Run time:</b> 1 hour, 51 minutes<br />
<b>Rated PG-13</b><br />
<b>Genre: </b>Action/Adventure/Comedy<br />
<b>Director:</b> Robert Schwentke<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Karl Urban<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade: </b>CAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-56749958874773233702010-10-11T21:27:00.001-05:002010-10-11T23:00:11.428-05:00Movie Review: "The Social Network"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://fanboyz.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/The-Social-Network-movie-poster-David-Fincher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="http://fanboyz.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/The-Social-Network-movie-poster-David-Fincher.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> <br />
5. "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/">The Social Network</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" mkbmhrrqfqpawrnxstjj mkbmhrrqfqpawrnxstjj" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0043ISH6O" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />" really isn't about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook">Facebook </a>or the legal battles over it's creation or any hypertext information super highway gobbledygook; it's the oldest story in the world: It's about a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg">nerdy boy</a>, albeit one with an uncommonly powerful intellect, desperately trying to fit in and woo women.<br />
<br />
4. Everything that's already been said about "The Social Network" is true: It's a terrific, well-written and directed modern drama that's masterfully acted with amazing performances by the three young leads <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0251986/">Jesse Eisenberg</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=Justin+Timberlake+">Justin Timberlake </a>and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001515/">Joseph Mazzello</a>. <br />
<br />
3. What isn't as obvious in the hype is that "The Social Network" serves as a kind of indictment of Facebook as a great connector and minter of friendships.<br />
<br />
2. Facebook may be worth $25 billion, but all the website truly offers us is a very contrived illusion of access to others -- we only see what they want us to see in the definitions and terms they choose, a sort of clearinghouse for digital distortion not all that different the an old fashioned <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir8LOPg0unS_KNBBLqg7tXovL8QiG8ZYEDgA3LDsjAEYGyBPXWhfAeI0PXumL-lc75w22uaAaAmjzjdqO6-Btg2RJ5T2xdbjuIkR35By_bSHEeChLhKYt_ZHc1p-4qnuovJksKer2dO_z1/s400/fun+house+mirror.jpg">fun house mirror</a>.<br />
<br />
1. The most telling moment "The Social Network" comes in the brilliant, wonderful and sad scene final scene, which I won't spoil but to say no matter how many ways we have to "connect" via the Internet, our smart phones, it does not change that in our most solitary moments of darkness pierced only by the glow of a laptop screen, we still wonder if anybody really loves us.<br />
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=====================================<br />
<b>"The Social Network"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>2 hour<br />
<b>Rated PG-13</b><br />
<b>Genre: </b>Drama<br />
<b>Director: </b>David Fincher<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song, Joseph Mazzello and Rooney Mara<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grades:</b> A+Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-12373915346672257112010-09-22T21:25:00.000-05:002010-09-22T21:25:21.136-05:00Movie Review: "The Town"5. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Town-Chuck-Hogan/dp/1439187231?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">"The Town"</a>, based on the novel by Chuck Hogan, is a terrific, taunt thriller that proves <a href="http://tv.popcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/ben_affleck-host-snl.jpg">Ben Affleck</a> has a lot more to contribute to movies than being a punchline (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gigli-Ben-Affleck/dp/B0000DKDUT?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">"Gigli"</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0000DKDUT" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> notwithstanding) and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Men-Season-Jon-Hamm/dp/B000YABIQ6?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Jon Hamm</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000YABIQ6" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> is far more than the maddest of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Men-Season-Jon-Hamm/dp/B001GCUER0?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Mad Men</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001GCUER0" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Men-Philosophy-Nothing-Blackwell/dp/0470603011?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Don Draper</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0470603011" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />.<br />
<br />
4. Doug MacRay (Affleck), a native of Boston's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlestown,_Boston">Charlestow</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlestown,_Boston">n neighborhood</a> the alleged bank robber capital of the world, falls in love with <a href="http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2010_The_Town/2010_the_town_009.jpg">Claire</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Hall">Rebecca Hall</a>) the manager of a bank he and his <a href="http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2010_The_Town/2010_the_town_020.jpg">psychotic pal</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Renner">Jeremy Renner</a>) knock over to open the film.<br />
<br />
3. MacRay and his crew come into the cross hairs of <a href="http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2010_The_Town/2010_the_town_002.jpg">FBI Agent Adam Frawley</a> (Hamm), who is more disheveled than Hamm's signature Don Draper, but no less intense, confident and capable.<br />
<br />
2. "The Town" brings plenty of breakneck action sequences — including the best-filmed close-quarters urban car chase I've ever seen — and director Affleck coaxes believable, smart and edgy performances out of <a href="http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2010_The_Town/2010_the_town_040.jpg">Pete Posthlethwaite (as a creepy gangster flourist)</a>. Hamm, Hall, Renner and perhaps especially himself.<br />
<br />
1. Maybe the most interesting thing about the town is that you don't have to pick a side: Both MacRay and Frawley are equally likable and relatable in their own way and the <a href="http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2010_The_Town/2010_the_town_004.jpg">strength of the film is not the inevitable collision</a> between their characters but the chase in between.<br />
<br />
==================================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=b04a7445faae7b8d&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=b04a7445faae7b8d&size=100x150" /></a><b>"The Town"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>2 hours, 3 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R </b><br />
<b>Director: </b>Ben Affleck<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively and Pete Postlethwaite<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> AAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-74711416945328444062010-09-11T21:39:00.002-05:002010-09-17T16:45:08.761-05:00Movie Review: "The American"5. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/O-Brother-Where-Art-Thou/dp/B00003CXRM?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">George Clooney</a><img alt="" border="0" class="jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00003CXRM" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> does his <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Collection-Two-Disc-Cincinnati-Papillon/dp/B0008ENHV2?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Steve McQueen</a><img alt="" border="0" class="jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0008ENHV2" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> impression in "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-George-Clooney/dp/B002ZG993Q?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The American</a><img alt="" border="0" class="jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002ZG993Q" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />," playing a strong, silent type with a tough job and many loves.<br />
<br />
4. Clooney has had enough of his job as an international weapons maker and dealer, a role that recalls McQueen's best work in "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bullitt-Two-Disc-Special-Steve-McQueen/dp/B0008ENHTE?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Bullitt</a><img alt="" border="0" class="jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0008ENHTE" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />" and the sparseness of dialogue in "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Steve-McQueen/dp/B00008DDRX?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Le Mans</a><img alt="" border="0" class="jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00008DDRX" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />."<br />
<br />
3. This isn't to imply "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Special-Very-Private-Gentleman/dp/0312430019?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The American</a><img alt="" border="0" class="jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312430019" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />" is unoriginal or even an homage, but rather poured of a prime vintage — a recall of classic thrillers driven by believable action and the smoldering intensity of a leading man who has <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Up-Air-George-Clooney/dp/B00337KM2S?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">little patience for emotional diatribes or overt romantic sentiment</a><img alt="" border="0" class="jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00337KM2S" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />.<br />
<br />
2. "The American" drags a bit despite a tight 105-minute run time but much credit goes to Clooney who makes the most of his frames without the benefit of exposition.<br />
<br />
1. In fact, this is Clooney's best work since "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Clayton-Widescreen-George-Clooney/dp/B00121QGPY?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Michael Clayton</a><img alt="" border="0" class="jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00121QGPY" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />" and a worthy segue from summer shoot-em-ups to the fall's Oscar hopefuls.<br />
<br />
=====================================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=e65e4ff8847b0324&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=e65e4ff8847b0324&size=100x150" /></a><b>"The American"</b><br />
<b> Run time: </b>1 hour, 45 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R</b><br />
<b>Genre: </b>Suspense-Thriller-Drama<br />
<b>Director:</b> Anton Corbijn<br />
<b>Cast:</b> George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli <br />
Finney's Flicks Grade: BAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-85500787037312047472010-09-09T19:04:00.001-05:002010-09-09T19:04:43.633-05:00Movie Review: "Machete"5. Fittingly released on Labor Day weekend, “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Steel-Machete-Compound-18-00-Inch/dp/B0015Z8Q0U?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Machete</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0015Z8Q0U" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />” represents the last of the summer movie <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dandelion-Wine-Ray-Bradbury/dp/B000KAA5UA?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">dandelion wine</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000KAA5UA" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> and in a summer full of misfires and disappointments it comes tepid, flat and without much flavor.<br />
<br />
4. The problem with “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Machete-Pablo-Esparza/dp/B000NDJPSC?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Machete</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000NDJPSC" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />” isn’t that it’s a bad movie, it’s that it’s not good at being bad in the way it wants to be.<br />
<br />
3. The movie cheats on the promised gore, often quickly cutting away instead of really savoring the bloodlust a la "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Alive-Timothy-Balme/dp/157362408X?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Dead Alive</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=157362408X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />,” and though the film delivers some quality female nudity and a few laughs (most of which I think were intentional), it’s not quite bad enough to be good.<br />
<br />
2. Nobody at the Academy planned to carve any Best Actor or Best Actress statues for “Machete,” but even <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ronin-Two-Disc-Collectors-Robert-DeNiro/dp/B000ERU9S2?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Robert DeNiro</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000ERU9S2" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> is crummy and annoying in this flick.<br />
<br />
1. If nothing else, “Machete” proves looks aren’t everything — the phony trailer that inspired this turn looked good but the finished product wasn’t, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Into-Blue-Widescreen-Paul-Walker/dp/B000BYRCH4?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Jessica Alba</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000BYRCH4" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> looks good but can’t act and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Turned-Out-Sexual-Assault-Behind/dp/B001E39XZA?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Danny Trejo</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001E39XZA" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> may have one of Hollywood’s best faces but he’s a step down from Alba in acting. <br />
<br />
===================================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=aad4375fc3d1e89e&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=aad4375fc3d1e89e&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Machete"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>1 hour, 45 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Action-Adventure <br />
<b>Director:</b> Ethan Maniquis<br />
<b>Cast:</b> Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro, Michelle Rodriguez amd Lindsay Lohan<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade: </b>C-Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-16281103563627500472010-09-04T20:46:00.003-05:002010-09-12T06:03:12.791-05:00Movie Review: "Get Low"5. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Get-Low-Robert-Duvall/dp/B003L20IL0?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">"Get Low"</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" txiuxlgmxjcaiwyufjnw txiuxlgmxjcaiwyufjnw jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003L20IL0" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> is a character sketch and as such, did well to cast two actors who are the embodiment of characters: Robert Duvall and Bill Murray.<br />
<br />
4. Duvall plays crotchety recluse Felix Bush, and man who wants Murray's funeral director Frank Quinn, to throw him the biggest funeral in Tennessee history -- while he's still alive.<br />
<br />
3. This sounds like a zany setup, but instead but becomes a study of a man's mettle -- the darkness in Bush's soul, the tension between greed and survival inside Quinn and a meditation on the nature of forgiveness and redemption.<br />
<br />
2. "Get Low" also benefits from the sublime efforts of supporting cast, including Sissy Spacek as Quinn's jilted former lover, Lucas Black as Quinn's earnest apprentice, Gerald McRaney's local preacher, Bill Cobb as Bush's last -- and perhaps only -- friend in this world and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Get-Low/dp/B003VXE8HE?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">a terrific soundtrack of 1930s period music</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" txiuxlgmxjcaiwyufjnw txiuxlgmxjcaiwyufjnw jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003VXE8HE" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />.<br />
<br />
1. Duvall, though, is the centerpiece and delivers one of the finest performances in a career studded with all-star appearances.<br />
=========================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=2e2c1b71b78efc16&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=2e2c1b71b78efc16&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Get Low"</b><br />
<b>Run time:</b> 1 hour, 40 minutes<br />
<b>Rated PG-13</b><br />
<b>Genre: </b>Drama<br />
<b>Director:</b> Aaron Schneider<br />
<b>Cast:</b> Bill Murray, Robert Duvall, Lucas Black, Sissy Spacek, Bill Cobbs<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> AAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-78782150855315893572010-09-04T20:31:00.002-05:002010-09-12T06:04:04.959-05:00Movie Review: "Winter's Bone"5. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Winters-Bone-Jennifer-Lawrence/dp/B003EYVXTG?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">"Winter's Bone"</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" txiuxlgmxjcaiwyufjnw txiuxlgmxjcaiwyufjnw jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003EYVXTG" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> is set in poorest encampments of Missouri's Ozark mountains, but it may be set in Afghanistan for this is not the America most audiences know.<br />
<br />
4. This is a bleak, washed-out and chilly encampment on the very furthest fringes of civilization with it's own language and law.<br />
<br />
3. Ree (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2225369/">Jennifer Lawrence</a>), the 17-year-old caretaker to her addled mother and two younger siblings, learns her father put the family's shanty up as collateral for his bail on methamphetamine cooking charges and the sheriff informs her that daddy is missing and foreclosure is imminent by the bail bond company.<br />
<br />
2. Ree searches for her father and seeks the aid from his meth-making and dealing cohorts, who are also her uncles, aunts and cousins, and faces a familial <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Catch-22-Joseph-Heller/dp/0684833395?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Catch-22</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" txiuxlgmxjcaiwyufjnw txiuxlgmxjcaiwyufjnw jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0684833395" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> -- does she surrender her home and watch her family split apart or risk her own death to find her father?<br />
<br />
1. "Bone" leaves the viewer with a bone-deep chill that reminds us there are reasons we don't wander into the hills unattended nor ask too many questions of strangers and also provides one of the most compelling watches of 2010.<br />
===================================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=7dfc181f4c4ed984&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=7dfc181f4c4ed984&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Winter's Bone"</b><br />
<b>Run time:</b> 1 hour, 40 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R<br />
Genre: </b>Drama <br />
<b>Director:</b> Debra Granik<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser, Kevin Breznahan, Isaiah Stone<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> A+Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-46078693589254978692010-09-04T20:11:00.003-05:002010-09-12T06:04:36.085-05:00Movie Review: "Restrepo"5. The most telling scene of the powerful Afghanistan war documentary <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Restrepo-Juan-S/dp/B003UESJAQ?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">"Restrepo"</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003UESJAQ" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> comes not on the battlefield but outside a small, rickety house when an overburdened U.S. Army officer attempts to talk to elders about wheat and rice crops and modern farm equipment the government wants to bring to the dusty mountain village.<br />
<br />
4. The officer talks about the riches that will flow into the village with <a href="http://www.rc-trucks.org/john-deere-9620.JPG">millions of dollars in modern farm equipment</a>, roads and education that will benefit the poor, war-torn region.<br />
<br />
3. The elders, however, are not interested in that: They are upset with the soldiers because they <a href="http://www.estatevaults.com/bol/_Swiss-cow.jpg">euthanized a cow</a> that got tangled in razor wire near an Army outpost.<br />
<br />
2. The Army offers to replace the cow or pay for it by giving the aggrieved tribesman the weight of the animal in rice and beans, but the tribesman want money, about $500, which the Army won't surrender <a href="http://www.beardface.com/files/news_images/svHEROIN_wideweb__470x308,0.jpg">for fear the locals will use it to buy guns or drugs.</a><br />
<br />
1. And so goes America's 21st century war: Her soldiers <a href="http://www.yodaslair.com/dumboozle/barks/images/bin-dive.jpg">desperately trying to pass along the riches of a modern society</a> to a primitive culture who just want to know what will be done about their dead cow.<br />
<br />
=================================================<br />
<a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQxdBNPIocJq69EtgvdXYn-T8ipWh4Kb7ZmHCmBJuF1glPsddQ&t=1&usg=__B3WQIhy_tzKLxwxg5ISzEV6SMY4=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQxdBNPIocJq69EtgvdXYn-T8ipWh4Kb7ZmHCmBJuF1glPsddQ&t=1&usg=__B3WQIhy_tzKLxwxg5ISzEV6SMY4=" /></a><b>"Restrepo"</b><br />
<b></b> <b>Run Time: </b>1 hour, 32 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Documentary<br />
<b>Directors: </b>Tim Heherington and Sebastian Junger<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Second Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (airborne) of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team <br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> AAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-54054723069874940832010-08-20T20:00:00.003-05:002010-09-12T06:06:35.130-05:00Movie Review: "The Other Guys"5. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Other-Guys-Mark-Wahlberg/dp/B002ZG99H2?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">"The Other Guys"</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" tsrpspqelvyjkadgohlg tsrpspqelvyjkadgohlg jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002ZG99H2" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> is very funny — maybe the funniest movie of the year and <a href="http://www.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/will_ferrell__1_.jpg">Will Ferrell's</a> best comedy since the terrific <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anchorman-Legend-Burgundy-Unrated-Widescreen/dp/B00005JMYI?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">"Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy"</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" tsrpspqelvyjkadgohlg tsrpspqelvyjkadgohlg jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00005JMYI" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> — but the flick works on another level: It's a buddy cop send-up that happens to be the best buddy cop movie since <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lethal-Weapon-4-Film-Favorites/dp/B000U1ZV8K?ie=UTF8&tag=finnesfive-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">"Lethal Weapon."</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" tsrpspqelvyjkadgohlg tsrpspqelvyjkadgohlg jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd jtaqgdnqpsxtlneatshd" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=finnesfive-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B000U1ZV8K" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><br />
<br />
4. Ferrell plays a mild forensic accountant with a dark side partnered with <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cP_eNx8Rw3E/SagVdNQrx3I/AAAAAAAACQ0/yvsdCOXQ-5w/s400/mark-wahlberg-third-nipple-02.jpg">Mark "Third Nipple" Wahlberg,</a> a talented-but-angry detective who yearns for action and glory but his held by the career-limiting move of accidentally (but quite hilariously) shooting <a href="http://jeffpearlman.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/jeter.jpg">Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter</a> before the seventh game of the World Series.<br />
<br />
3. Both Ferrell's and Wahlberg's characters are overshadowed by flashy caricatures of muscled action heroes, played by <a href="http://gossipqueen.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/kca-dwayne-johnson-dressed-as-miley-cyrus.jpg">Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson</a> and <a href="http://gurugilbert.com/wp-content/snakesonaplane.jpg">Samuel L. Jackson</a>, who do all the things cop pals do in action movies — go on high-speed chases, wreck vintage sports cars, blow stuff up and shoot guns with great abandon — while Ferrell and Wahlberg tool around in Ferrell's Toyota Prius and investigate scaffolding permit violations.<br />
<br />
2. "Guys" delivers the <a href="http://bittenandbound.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/heidi-klum-bites-will-ferrell.jpg">dead-pan cherubic worldview</a> Ferrell does so well, though more restrained than some of his on-screen incarnations, while also providing a sly, stinging critique our decade-long economic woes and the greed and stupidity that led us here.<br />
<br />
1. Another hidden gem is<a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Watch-The-Other-Guys-Closing-Credits-Explaining-Economic-Collapse-20038.html"> the closing credits,</a> which provide a series of animated graphics about corporate greed that would almost be funny if they weren't so true.<br />
<br />
=========================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=9d1bf77fb0c634ff&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=9d1bf77fb0c634ff&size=100x150" /></a><b>"The Other Guys"<br />
Run time: </b>1 hour, 47 minutes<br />
<b>Rated PG-13</b><br />
<b>Genre: </b>Comedy<br />
<b>Director:</b> Adam McKay<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton and Dwayne Johnson<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> AAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-54207897605140207082010-08-19T22:36:00.001-05:002010-08-19T22:52:42.349-05:00Movie Review: "The Girl Who Played With Fire"5. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216487/">"The Girl Who Played With Fire"</a> is everything it's predecessor, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132620/">"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,"</a> was not: boring, cliched and unsatisfying.<br />
<br />
4. "Fire" picks up a year after "Tattoo" and finds the enemies of Lisbeth Salander (<a href="http://www.expressen.se/polopoly_fs/1.897002%21slot100slotWide75ArticleFull/3447786819.jpg">Noomi Raplace</a>) closing in on her and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (<a href="http://www.copyfarm.dk/files/Orifarm%20DK/Images/Newsletter/Michael_Nyqvist_Underbara.jpg">Michael Nyqvist</a>) trying to rescue her while publishing a blockbuster investigation.<br />
<br />
3. "Fire" takes Lisbeth's admirable ferocity from "Tattoo" and downgrades it to <a href="http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/stun-gun-inside.jpg">"The Girl Who Punched Guys In The Crotch With A Stun Gun"</a> and Blomkvist's believable-but-flawed journalistic integrity into sensationalistic probes into the Russian white slave trade ties in Sweeden.<br />
<br />
2. It's the kind of plot one might expect from the evil offspring of a James Bond film and a Lifetime movie of the week — "Fire" comes complete with a Bond-esque villian ("a blond tank as one character describes him") that would<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/BondAndJaws.jpg"> make Sharky grimmace</a> and a twisted family history with an obvious "<a href="http://www.gypsyeyestokyo.com/I%20Am%20Your%20Father.jpeg">Empire Strikes Back</a>" and "<a href="http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/thumb/1/1c/Leia_luke_kiss.jpg/375px-Leia_luke_kiss.jpg">Return of the Jedi</a>" reveals and a <a href="http://www.synoptique.ca/images/uploads/articles/interreview1.jpg">"Kill Bill 2"</a> moment to boot.<br />
<br />
1. "Fire" would be fine if it were a Bond movie, but it seems contrived and even silly dovetailed agains "Tattoo" and hardly serves as an invitation to see<a href="http://www.marqueestars.com/wp-content/uploads/luftslottet-som-sprangdes-08-noomi-rapace.jpg"> the final chapter</a> in author Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millennium trilogy.<br />
<br />
======================================== <br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=20553fb4d96b370e&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=20553fb4d96b370e&size=100x150" /></a><b>"The Girl Who Played With Fire"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>2 hours, 9 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Suspense-Thriller-Drama - <br />
<b>Director: </b>Daniel Alfredson<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist, Lena Endre, Georgi Staykov and Sofia Ledarp <br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade: </b>CAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-58802532193059879702010-08-19T21:06:00.001-05:002010-08-19T22:48:01.788-05:00Movie Review: "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"5. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446029/">"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"</a> is like going to a convenience store fountain and filling a<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Double_big_gulp.jpg"> Big Gulp cup</a> with every flavor of soft drink available — what kids in my day called <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?page=6&term=suicide">"suicides"</a> — it seems like a good idea until you start drinking it.<br />
<br />
4. This movie is what the <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mash+up">kids these days call a mash-up</a>: a mix of romantic comedy, video game action and comic book imagery — it sounds cool until you watch it.<br />
<br />
3. Pilgrim (<a href="http://www.uglymales.com/wc/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/10ghaoz.jpg">Michael Cera</a>) is a wimpy dork who plays bass in a whiny 20-something band and falls in love with a girl with issues and bad hair (<a href="http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/2900000/Maxim-mary-elizabeth-winstead-2913430-380-380.jpg">Mary Elizabeth Winstead</a>), but before their relationship can be consummated, he must defeat in video game-style battle <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUFIG5kytZkJZWo__G5-nridly57u8hhHd8ATK9om4KiXdbZu1CS_t1QYe8-83Ze1GASeJW-1TWsdKLg1i5vtDphwdjar5Ff3XICfMYDG68yvUiY_Usf2dkbntfnashKyGBB_RsJGGa4/s1600/7-evil-ex-boyfriends-scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world.jpg">her seven evil exes</a>.<br />
<br />
2. The visuals are at times stunning (this might be the most special effects in a romantic comedy ever), but like even the best video games, <a href="http://www.mydaywillcome.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2010_scott_pilgrim_vs_the_world_007.jpg">the action becomes repetitive and tedious</a> (once youv'e seen one guy burst into coins after getting killed, you've seen them all).<br />
<br />
1. The biggest problem with "Pilgrim" is the people: Winstead is wooden and uninteresting, <a href="http://moviecultists.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/michael-cera-youth-in-revolt-picture.jpg">Cera is that same guy he always plays</a> and by the end of it all, I didn't really care whether they got together I was just looking to turn the PlayStation off.<br />
<br />
===================================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=6833bd1a16b82db8&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=6833bd1a16b82db8&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>1 hour, 53 minutes <br />
<b>Rated PG-13</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Action-Adventure<br />
<b>Director:</b> Edgar Wright<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans and Anna Kendrick<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Rating: </b>CAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-90521464769591046132010-08-19T20:07:00.000-05:002010-08-19T20:07:33.758-05:00Movie Review: "The Expendables"5. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320253/">"The Expendables"</a> is like watching <a href="http://a.espncdn.com/media/sportsnation/2004/1119/photo/ditka_i.jpg">Mike Ditka erectile dysfunction TV commercials</a>: You're vaguely aware old people have sexual relations (<a href="http://www.moviewallpaper.net/wpp/Harrison_Ford_in_Indiana_Jones_and_the_Kingdom_of_the_Crystal_Skull_Wallpaper_1_800.jpg">or starred in action films</a>), but you really didn't want to be reminded of it.<br />
<br />
4. I credit <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000230/">Sylvester Stallone</a> with squeezing one more good story each out of the <a href="http://www.brycezabel.com/.a/6a00d83451c49869e20105369798ae970b-500wi">"Rocky</a>" and <a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01183/arts-graphics-2008_1183716a.jpg">"Rambo"</a> franchises — both 21st century sequels were the best since the respective series began — but his effort in "Expendables" fails to inflate the 1980's era of shoot-'em-up action flicks it attempts to pay homage. <br />
<br />
3. Like most all-star gatherings, whether they be in <a href="http://sportsthenandnow.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2002-All-Star-Game.jpg">sport</a> or <a href="http://www.newmovieslist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Valentines-Day-Movie-Poster-2-valentines-day.jpg">film</a>, the spectacle suffers from trying to give everybody enough screen time to justify their paychecks.<br />
<br />
2. In the case of "The Expendables," it lengthens a movie that would have been OK at 90 minutes but seems lethargic at 103 minutes —which may be what Ditka had in mind for Levitra commercials, but it doesn't mean it's any more fun for the audience.<br />
<br />
1. My nostalgia for this genre of films knows no bounds — I own <a href="http://www.watch-inc.com/images/stallone_cobra.jpg">"Cobra"</a> on DVD for crying out loud — but I left the theater feeling a great swell of indifference, which I took as either a sign I've grown up since I spent my dad's money to see <a href="http://inthenameofmovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/th_tc09.jpg">"Tango and Cash"</a> or this movie just isn't as fun as it should have been.<br />
<br />
=====================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=18a727cc1ab57503&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=18a727cc1ab57503&size=100x150" /></a><b>"The Expendables"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>1 hour, 43 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R</b><br />
<b>Genre: </b>Action-Adventure<br />
<b>Director:</b> Sylvester Stallone<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Randy Couture and Steve Austin<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> C-Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-10684914073897258972010-07-23T21:11:00.002-05:002010-07-23T22:39:07.889-05:00Movie Review: "Salt"5. <a href="http://www.techjackal.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/sodium-salt-the-silent-killer.jpg">"Salt"</a> is the perfect action movie.<br />
<br />
4. "Salt" is one of this summer's few original films -- <a href="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2009-07-28-SATC.jpg">not a sequel</a>, not <a href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs24/f/2008/022/9/e/Twilight__Eclipse_Abridged_by_o0whitelily0o.jpg">an adaptation of a novel</a> or <a href="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/8/2010/02/hex.jpg">comic book</a> nor a<a href="http://www.zoodotcom.com/media/blog/smart-a-team.jpg"> remake of a television show</a> -- and because of that has the ability to surprise and thrill unladen with preconceived notions of the characters or plot.<br />
<br />
3. <a href="http://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/angelina-jolie-brad-pitt-twins-peoplemag.jpg">Angelina "World's Coolest Mom" Jolie </a>fiercely embodies title character Evelyn Salt, giving her the tenacity to stomp adversaries in action sequences worthy of the <a href="http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/854/854907/the-bourne-conspiracy-20080225064801880_640w.jpg">"Bourne" films</a> while providing the tender sensitivity that is the hallmark of her best work in <a href="http://www.nabou.com/celebrities/angelina_jolie/photo_galleries/girl_interrupted/girl_interrupted_5.jpg">"Girl, Interrupted"</a> and <a href="http://everseradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/changeling-movie-02.jpg">"The Changeling."</a><br />
<br />
2. Unlike <a href="http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2007_The_Bourne_Ultimatum/2007_the_bourne_ultimatum_wallp_008.jpg">the "Bourne" films</a>, "Salt" mostly eschews hyper-stylized effects, making the action <a href="http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/2009_salt_008_big.html">feel realistic</a> without losing any of its awe-striking specter.<br />
<br />
1. "Salt" features the best chase scenes since <a href="http://images.allmoviephoto.com/1993_The_Fugitive/tommy_lee_jones_the_fugitive_001.jpg">"The Fugitive"</a> and <a href="http://images.allmoviephoto.com/1999_Run_Lola_Run/franka_potente_run_lola_run_002.jpg">"Run, Lola, Run,"</a> while the added moral ambiguity of Evelyn Salt's allegiances only <a href="http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/files/2009/06/spinaltap_11.jpg">twists the suspense knob up to "11."</a><br />
<br />
============================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=c9bcd1721bdcd0c3&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=c9bcd1721bdcd0c3&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Salt"</b><br />
<b>Run Time: </b>1 hour, 39 minutes<br />
<b>Rated PG-13</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Suspense-Thriller<br />
<b>Director:</b> Phillip Noyce<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alex Pettyfer, Gaius Charles <br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> AAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-59411161999113373432010-07-21T14:10:00.003-05:002010-08-19T21:28:05.881-05:00DVD Review: "Batman: Under the Red Hood"5. In 1988, my dad would not let me call the <a href="http://i29.tinypic.com/mtb2ad.jpg">1-900 number to save Robin's life.</a><br />
<br />
4. Dad's frugality <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj79nwV5RMDdwFoL0raO3VITwuX7TsIGP_5wqjfATZ15VmY0EbXyr2VP0N9nEv5LcSwitUtGHKoe_zcu_jt75bCGM3AtC4BEw1fEADrllJi2JVVvVWxb9dtdXZluq01JbAY7Gl19ZtFDlI/s400/carnac.jpg">proved powerfully prolific prognostication,</a> not because it saved the family $1 on the phone bill, but because the ruthless lack of creativity on the part of DC Comics would both render fruitless my call and reverse the once-powerful and beautifully told <a href="http://www.listzblog.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/111585-jason-todd_400.jpg">"A Death In The Family" storyline</a> in which the <a href="http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/1205/429btj3.jpg">Joker brutally beat Jason Todd, the second Robin,</a> with a crowbar and blew him up in a warehouse.<br />
<br />
3. This brings me to<a href="http://api.ning.com/files/d4z*v0-IqNE2lmFYc5Oi6D-XjkR-KFwYsLwqDuqpIAs5Ejq9zQbMgmesjkOpKkX-LbzChoVMb8C73h-wSlU*Ugqeyi5ygmVd/lg_BatmanandRedhoodbyPhillip.JPG"> "Batman: Under the Red Hood,"</a> the latest prostitution of <a href="http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss175/galateus/comics/SupermanAnnual11-02b.jpg">poor, pitiful Jason Todd's</a> <a href="http://images.comicbookresources.com/news/dcflashback/jasontodd/Jason_shrine_sm.jpg">one-noble fate,</a> penned by <a href="http://www.multikov.net/img_uploader/Judd%20Winick%202_%28493cec15%29.jpg">Judd Winick</a>, a man whose unfathomably <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:yaJ2RhSdxtcJ:www.cupokryptonite.com/+Judd+Winick+sucks&cd=20&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a">wretched writing has wrecked a rain forest's worth of comics.</a><br />
<br />
2. So, you could say I come into viewing the latest DC direct-to-DVD release with some baggage -- the storyline itself is <a href="http://blogdosadovski.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/omd2.jpg">another testament to the laziness and money-grubbing of comic creators and publishers</a> -- yet I still found myself enjoying this disc as much as any DC cartoon since <a href="http://blogdosadovski.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/omd2.jpg">"New Frontier,"</a> easily the best release of <a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413YPSNJg4L._SL500_AA300_.jpg">a sordid</a> and <a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51tn2jeOewL._SL500_AA300_.jpg">shameful lot.</a><br />
<br />
1. Two final knits: If you're going to have an animated Batman just have <a href="http://liveforfilms.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/kevin-conroy.jpg">Kevin Conroy voice him</a> for crying out loud and, finally, DC really needs to refund money to everybody who called that 1-900 number back in 1988.<br />
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cBb9F1udL._SL160_AA115_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cBb9F1udL._SL160_AA115_.jpg" /></a><b>"Batman: Under the Red Hood"</b><br />
<b>Run Time</b>: 70 minutes<br />
<b>Genre: </b>Animated-superheroes-DC Comics <br />
<b>Unrated direct-to-DVD release </b><br />
<b>Director:</b> Brandon Vietti<br />
<b>Cast:</b> Bruce Greenwood, Neil Patrick Harris, Jensen Ackles, John DiMaggio, Jason Isaacs and Wade Williams<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> B<br />
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</tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-40596899924507485752010-07-16T14:14:00.001-05:002010-08-19T21:26:59.360-05:00Movie Review: "Inception"5. I saw <a href="http://starwars.carrotnetwork.com/ESB2lrg.jpg">"The Empire Strikes Back"</a> when I was five years old and it blew my mind so thoroughly and left such an indelible, unshakable impression that, in some small way, every movie I've seen since then has been a vague disappointment. <br />
<br />
4. <a href="http://kendrachanae.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/inception_movie_still13.png">"Inception"</a> changed that, surpassing even the most tightly-held moments of whatever shards of a wide-eyed, awestruck kindergartner that dwells in my cynical soul. <br />
<br />
3. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/">Leonardo DiCapro leads a powerhouse cast </a>through writer-director Christopher Nolan's mind-bending tale of idea thieves and dream saboteurs. <br />
<br />
2. The movie<a href="http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/inception_movie_hd_trailer_stills_nolan_dicaprio_ellenpage29-610x262.png"> stuns the imagination with visuals</a> that made me feel as if I were personally navigating the live-action recreation of an<a href="http://dummidumbwit.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/mc_escher_relativity_623x600.jpg"> M.C. Escher drawing</a> while the story twists us through a story that is equal parts action-adventure, heist flick, character-driven drama and romantic tragedy.<br />
<br />
<br />
1. In the modern multiplex, it is not difficult to rise above <a href="http://cdn.fd.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Killers-Movie-Poster-Banner.jpg">the swill </a>released by the creativity-deprived studio system, but "Inception" rockets past that low threshold and manages to move the movie genre forward.<br />
<br />
===================<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=35779278fd0c2097&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=35779278fd0c2097&size=100x150" /></a></div><b>"Inception"</b><br />
<b>Run Time:</b> 2 hours, 28 minutes<br />
<b>Rated PG-13</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Action-Adventure-Scifi-Fantasy<br />
<b>Director:</b> Christopher Nolan<br />
<b>Cast:</b> Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> A+Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-19476318713136491762010-07-13T14:00:00.003-05:002010-08-19T21:29:31.066-05:00Movie Review: "Predators"5. I'm surprised by how much I liked <a href="http://www.wallpaperbase.com/wallpapers/sports/NHLnashvillepredators/NHL_nashville_predators_1.jpg">"Predators"</a> given how silly it is, which is either a sign I'm losing my taste for good movies or the flick reaches that 12-year-old portion of my soul that enjoyed schlock like this at the <a href="http://pages.sbcglobal.net/vanhaaften/images/WintersetIowa.JPG">Iowa Theater in Winterset</a> nearly every summer week of my youth.<br />
<br />
4. A bunch of <a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v411/paquinero/Paquinespuntocom/easycompany01.jpg">hard-boiled military types</a> are dropped from the sky onto a planet with spike-covered dogs and, of course, Predators, the famed monstrosities of <a href="http://ramascreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Predator.jpg">four movies since 1987</a>.<br />
<br />
3. What happens next is a lot of stuff blowing up, people getting killed in interesting ways, a<a href="http://www.strangekiss.com/images/detail/bruce_lee_game_death.jpg"> Yakuza</a>-Predator sword fight and a twist that is so obvious that if you don't pick it up at the beginning of the film, I will lose some respect for you.<br />
<br />
2. There's little point in discussing plot or acting -- their isn't much of either -- and the movie really slows down in the handful of moments the filmmakers waste developing character.<br />
<br />
1. The only thing that could have made this movie better is if instead of a variety of human preys the Predators had taken a scoop of pop culture figures -- I'm thinking <a href="http://scooper.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/x-men-origins-wolverine.jpg">Wolverine</a>, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDuZTW_TlI1t55G_dLHYaml_doa1iLqw1EiDDOqesC_JzuwLbutwCBl6bbSrlzTM9P39iQWnhr7RDXW8TKtnJjlpPmlK7SkZK_8eRQDGcL36I9gcPDX0PCDalcN1ZBFHGCTEwFNzkgL8/s400/300px-MovieOptimusPrime_promorender2.jpg">Optimus Prime</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7836207555026769384">Rorschach </a>from "The Watchman" and maybe <a href="http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/9375/panthro1.jpg">Panthro </a>from "Thundercats" -- and you'd have the great action figure team-up this movie was meant to be.<br />
<br />
=====================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=1a88cd583d7e1d46&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=1a88cd583d7e1d46&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Predators"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>1 hour, 47 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Action/Adventure/Horror/Scifi/Fantasy<br />
<b>Director:</b> Nimród Antal<br />
<b>Cast:</b> Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> CAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-79674231864529200022010-07-12T17:22:00.001-05:002010-07-16T14:19:36.521-05:00Movie Review: "Despicable Me"5. This film is something of a conundrum: It's seldom surprising, not nearly as good as this summer's other animated blockbuster, <a href="http://www.koovies.com/images/toy-story-31.jpg">"Toy Story 3,"</a> and packed with enough manipulative, doe-eyed cuteness to give me diabetes. <br />
<br />
4. Yet, despite every ounce of <a href="http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID13006/images/oscar50.jpg">grouch burned deep within my soul</a>, I like this movie -- not a lot, but enough to be satisfied leaving the theater, a horribly rare feeling this summer.<br />
<br />
3. <a href="http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/files/2009/01/steve-carell-beard.jpg">Steve Carrell </a>voices <a href="http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/images/despicable-me-lg.jpg">Gru</a>, an aging criminal mastermind who looks like he was ripped out of a <a href="http://millennialmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/family-picture.jpg">Chas Addams cartoon</a>, (Is that you <a href="http://media.monstersandcritics.com/articles/1213674/article_images/unclefesterhasanelectrifyingpersonality.jpg">Uncle Fester</a>?), who adopts three orphans in a nefarious scheme to steal a shrink ray from his nemesis, Vector (voiced by <a href="http://www.americansongwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/20090320_102533_JASON_SEgel.jpg">Jason Segel</a>, who manages <a href="http://www.jewishjournal.com/images/bloggers_auto/jason-segel-2_l.jpg">not to show his junk as in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"</a>) and a collection of<a href="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/8/2009/12/despicableme_inine.flv.jpg"> yellow minions</a> that look like the bastard children of <a href="http://onceuponawin.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/win-pictures-weebles.jpg">1970s Weeble Wobbles</a> and those <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUKkS7LvN5fQm4oOkmsuPrCiokeKMaNOF0TyOyvF6_kpcRUZZJjObg2t0G6p5vHMs5IMeL-moSNOj4oPx33ez9MpoL5DfSC4Fx5esQWow563SLMLcbUcrBpCaCFIGWTUkpafoFANFdS8Q/s400/toy-story-aliens.jpg">green guys who worship "The Claw"</a> in "Toy Story." <br />
<br />
2. Gru, of course, only wants to use the kids but<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/07/09/movies/09despicablespan-1/DESP-articleLarge.jpg"> falls in love with cuteness</a> of the children and ends up doing the right thing in the end -- all stuff that's expected from the first poster outside the movie marquee to the final credit.<br />
<br />
1. Despite being an obvious collection of derivatives and a ruthlessly predictable plot, "Despicable" is funny enough to have gotten me to laugh out loud a couple times and respect a product that delivers what it promises: a movie that's all heart.<br />
<br />
<br />
======================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=cc83624470aaddb4&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=cc83624470aaddb4&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Despicable Me"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>1 hour, 35 minutes<br />
<b>Rated PG</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Animated-Family<br />
<b>Director:</b> Chris Renaud<br />
<b>Cast: </b>Jason Segel, Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Julie Andrews<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> B-Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-25094990894539382502010-07-07T15:22:00.002-05:002010-07-09T21:33:23.299-05:00Movie Review: "Killers"5.<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1103153/"> "Killers"</a> seems like the kind of movie a person finds on TBS on a lazy Sunday afternoon sometime between the end of the pro football season and the start of serious college basketball games.<br />
<br />
4. You leave it on as you doze in and out while sweat beads roll off your beer bottle and make a ring on the coffee table.<br />
<br />
3. <a href="http://www.phatbastard.de/wp-content/myfotos/heigl/nwar772-maxim_heigl_katherine-07.jpg">Katherine Heigl</a>, playing a hapless single who falls in love with a hot dude while vacationing with her parents in France, does her job playing a wimpy woman-child with scoop-neck outfits to show off her only qualifications as an actress while Iowa's own <a href="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2009/06/kelso.jpg">Ashton Kutcher</a> almost pulls off being a hardcore secret agent killer, until he talks and then you immediately hear, "Oh, it's Michael Kelso from <a href="http://files.kfve.com/documents/comedy_contest/70sCast_004_2004.jpg">'That's 70's Show.'"</a><br />
<br />
2. <a href="http://tysongamblin.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/tom-selleck.jpg">Tom Selleck </a>is in the movie, too, as Heigl's dad, and people talk about his mustache a lot while <a href="http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/news/au500-666-beetlejuice.jpg">Catherine O'Hara</a> plays his wife, a lush.<br />
<br />
1. I would describe the plot or the action, but it really isn't worth the verbiage because "Killers" is simply so mediocre that it never raises to the level of particularly offensive or interesting ... well, that and it'll be on TBS soon enough.<br />
<br />
====================== <br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=d04046ee1db1c1e2&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=d04046ee1db1c1e2&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Killers"</b><br />
<b>Run Time:</b> 1 hour, 40 minutes<br />
<b>Rated PG-13</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Romance-Comedy-Action-Adventure<br />
<b>Director: </b>Robert Luketic<br />
<b>Cast:</b> Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Selleck, Catherine O'Hara, Katheryn Winnick<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Rating:</b> C-Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-35978287265914919262010-07-07T13:54:00.002-05:002010-07-07T16:50:13.325-05:00Movie Review: "Solitary Man"5. <a href="http://bumpshack.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/michael-douglas-facelift-photos.jpg">Michael Douglas </a>has made a career out of being a sort of anti-<a href="http://www.jamesmullarkey.com/triathlon/pictures/Harrisonspeedos.jpg">Harrison Ford</a>.<br />
<br />
4. While Ford's trademark heroes (<a href="http://mmeow.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/290px-HanSolo5.jpg">Han Solo</a>, <a href="http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/42000/Old-Indiana-Jones--42301.jpg">Indiana Jones </a>and especially <a href="http://www.createyourscreenplay.com/witnessHF.KMcG.2.jpg">John Book </a>in "Witness") tend to be decent men pushed to the edge by circumstance who pull it out in the end, Douglas' roles (<a href="http://saraschaefer.com/ss/falling_down.jpg">"Falling Down,"</a> <a href="http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/wonderboys/wb4.jpg">"Wonder Boys"</a> and <a href="http://www.aolcdn.com/aolmovies/king-of-california-michael-douglas-433">"King of California"</a>) are screw ups who implode their own lives only to seek redemption by the grace of the higher-functioning moral characters around him.<br />
<br />
3. Douglas plays <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNGCXotJTuBYzBklh5zIkosow11u8S556OV7F7SKXxdLe8in0q-a3HhEfawORgHzwF5GTIh4yoLjI4dTK7_7apONR23sqx40yaC6TPWTPAEDghnFGZ_I0jqUAPYRpeBc3Q-iM1UcDwI0s/s320/solitary+man+movie+image++Michael+Douglas+and+Jesse+Eisenberg+%281%29.jpg">Ben Kalmen </a>much the same way: He was a successful guy who gets a scare at the doctor's office and proceeds ruin his successful business, to cheat on his wife (<a href="http://swingvoters.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/susan-sarandon2.jpg">Susan Sarandon</a>), have sex with the 19-year-old daughter (<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicImiQz1q1wx_qUF8p5fh-dm7VmncysTvo72jTuAZI6eQ5RxZNrhvAXgS6YFMkPm-xd-7fo6Z0O_O2herlx8zVEF362rTUV8gL-RBJnrqVYs3dQw_Vywp-E6oA3PDD7PFvW5lardUaMSY/s400/Imogen-Poots_gallery-1.jpg">Imogen Poots</a>) of his girlfriend (<a href="http://l.yimg.com/l/tv/us/img/site/79/12/0000057912_20090608121542.jpg">Marie-Louise Parker</a>) and treat his friends (<a href="http://apheckel.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/devito.jpg">Danny DeVito </a>and <a href="http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/27-esq-jesse-eisenberg-072009-lg-78634301.jpg">Jesse Eisenberg</a>) and family (<a href="http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID15166/images/jenna-fischer-10.jpg">Jenna Fischer</a>) poorly.<br />
<br />
2. The problem with "Solitary Man" is Ben is neither crazy enough nor charming enough to redeem his jerk behavior and he's not sympathetic enough to cut him slack while he figures out his malfunction.<br />
<br />
1. The movie ends on an ambiguous note which, much like Ben and the flick as a whole, I can't decide whether it's brilliant or just a jerk move.<br />
<br />
=============================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=2c565ee1af37f432&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=2c565ee1af37f432&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Solitary Man"</b><br />
<b>Run Time:</b> 1 hour, 30 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Drama<br />
<b>Director:</b> David Levien<br />
<b>Cast:</b> Mary-Louise Parker, Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Jesse Eisenberg, Danny DeVito<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade: </b>B-Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-83768220290633062092010-06-30T16:57:00.003-05:002010-07-01T15:51:41.723-05:00Movie Review: "Knight and Day"5. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1013743/">"Knight and Day"</a> is a pleasant enough romantic action movie in the style of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099141/">"Bird on a Wire"</a> or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088011/">"Romancing the Stone."</a><br />
<br />
4. <a href="http://lsnhs.leesummit.k12.mo.us/webclasseslsn/dtwp07-08/spring08/hour5/historical_danielle/images/tomcruisewithoprah.jpg">Tom Cruise </a>plays a secret agent on the run and <a href="http://deceiver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/cameron_diaz.jpg">Cameron Diaz </a>is the grinning goofy girl who gets entangled in his version of <a href="http://pbillings3.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/run-lola-run.jpg">"Run, Lola, Run."</a><br />
<br />
3. Cruise and Diaz sizzle in their second pairing (the first was the wretched <a href="http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2001_Vanilla_Sky/2001_vanilla_sky_007.jpg">"Vanilla Sky"</a>), which is noteworthy given that Cruise is hardly the box office bounty he once was and Diaz is 12 years removed from her breakout-role in <a href="http://blog.dvdideas.com/images/cameron_diaz_something_about_mary.jpg">"There's Something About Mary."</a><br />
<br />
2. This may dent my manly-man armor, but I could have done with a little more <a href="http://www.collider.com/wp-content/image-base/Movies/K/Knight_and_Day/set_photos/knight_and_day_set_photo_tom_cruise_cameron_diaz_01.jpg">kiss-kiss</a> and a lot less <a href="http://www.accesshollywood.com/content/images/109/originals/109464_trailer-tom-cruise-and-cameron-diazs-knight-and-day.jpg">bang-bang</a>.<br />
<br />
1. Still, the flick manages to be good, entertaining fun that hinges on the stars' money shots -- <a href="http://blogue.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Tom-Cruise-sunglasses_l.jpg">Cruise looking intense over the top of a pair of sun glasses</a> and and <a href="http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2009/12/10/cameron-diaz.jpg">Diaz's grin,</a> perhaps the most cheerful and charismatic in cinema -- especially when she's <a href="http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/knight_and_day_cameron_diaz.jpg">wearing a bikini</a>.<br />
<br />
=========================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=a66f45a5e604bae0&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=a66f45a5e604bae0&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Knight and Day"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>1 hour, 50 minues<br />
<b>Rated PG-13</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Comedy-Action-Adventure<br />
<b>Director: </b>James Mangold<br />
<b>Cast:</b> Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Maggie Grace, Peter Sarsgaard, Marc Blucas<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> BAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-10809375688146805662010-06-29T17:53:00.003-05:002010-06-30T23:45:35.536-05:00Movie Review: "Harry Brown"5. Great actors can elevate mediocre material so <a href="http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/inthemix/039_9427%7EMichael-Caine-Posters.jpg">Michael Caine</a>'s lead role in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289406/">"Harry Brown"</a> gives the unoriginal movie a sense of gravitas the script does not actually offer.<br />
<br />
4. Decorated veteran Harry Brown is a retiree who lives in a hellish London apartment complex overrun by drug-dealing thugs and juvenile delinquents to make <a href="http://30tocure30.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/123046__boys_in_the_hood_l.jpg">"Boys In The Hood"</a> and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijnUNOqDrFaf6y1n1wGDkQ5pGZ3hfW4E6fk-nKrTl85oXfoXeLlT4CQNWzBcRgl6pFSaRrKxLnYwn2qPTcXw3xd1mxUZftQmIedtQQe57bxNVdI7FqoSxIxPzOagMHOcW7au2yo3yaRuo/s400/menace-ii-society_l.jpg">"Menace 2 Society"</a> proud.<br />
<br />
3. In the tradition of <a href="http://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/Headline_Archives/Bronson.bmp">"Death Wish,"</a> Brown is pushed to the edge -- his wife dies of old age and his best friend is murdered by a gang of street toughs who hang out in a pedestrian subway near their apartments.<br />
<br />
2. What follows is what you'd expect -- Caine's Harry Brown <a href="http://markgorman.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/harry_brown01.jpg">takes the law into his own hands</a> and seeks a reckoning with his friend's killers. <br />
<br />
1. Caine is, of course, excellent and is as believable <a href="http://ramascreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Harry-Brown-Header.JPG">pumping bullets into creepy drug dealers</a> as he is giving <a href="http://chud.com/articles/content_images/46/HarryBrown_3.jpg">warm soliloquies about falling in with his wife</a>, but the film offers few notable surprises and is generally unsatisfying.<br />
<br />
=====================<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=753790c2309414f&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=753790c2309414f&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Harry Brown"</b><br />
<b>Run time: </b>1 hour, 43 minutes<br />
<b>Rated R</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Suspense-Thriller<br />
<b>Director: </b>Daniel Barber<br />
<b>Cast:</b> Emily Mortimer, Michael Caine, Iain Glen, Liam Cunningham and Jack O'Connel<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> C+Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7836207555026769384.post-80454506390938613202010-06-26T22:06:00.001-05:002010-06-30T23:44:30.368-05:00Movie Review: Jonah Hex5. I read an interview by one of the creators of the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1075747/">"Jonah Hex"</a> movie in which he said it would be impossible to pace this Western to match the <a href="http://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/26/MPW-13112">great spaghetti Westerns</a> because studios would never distribute it.<br />
<br />
4. I'm guessing the reason for that is they don't think such a movie would make any money in the hyperbolic modern marketplace, which defies logic as the so-called <a href="http://jatufilmrev.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/goodthebadandtheugly.jpg">"Man With No Name" trilogy </a>still rakes in cash with multiple cable and satellite TV airings and DVD and Blu Ray sales.<br />
<br />
3. Nonetheless, "Jonah Hex" makers decided to go with something to benefit the attention deficiet disorder generation — a godawful annoyance that attempts to be a parable about terrorism, the Obama Administration and a whole bunch of other stuff that is even dumber than it sounds.<br />
<br />
2. This movie is a waste of the talented <a href="http://www.pastapadre.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/no-country-for-old-men-josh-brolin-1.jpg">Josh Brolin</a>, who plays scarred bounty hunter Hex, goofball actor <a href="http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2007/05/04/john-malkovich.jpg">John Malkovich</a>, who plays a villain with bad hair, and, heck, it's even a waste of <a href="http://entertainmentblur.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/megan-fox-transformers-2.jpg">all-jiggle-no-act Megan Fox</a>, who manages to be unconvincing as a prostitute.<br />
<br />
1. "Jonah Hex" is based on a DC <a href="http://www.dynamicforces.com/images/JonahHexvol1TP.jpg">comic book from the 1970s that was clearly derivatives of Clint Eastwood Western archatypes</a> and if the mopes who made this film could've taken anything from the source material — or even Westerns — it should've been the old addage: "Dance with the girl that brung ya."<br />
<br />
===============<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=e0c159fd5892f6ee&size=100x150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.google.com/movies/image?tbn=e0c159fd5892f6ee&size=100x150" /></a><b>"Jonah Hex"</b><br />
<b>Run time:</b> 1 hour, 21 minutes<br />
<b>Rated PG-13</b><br />
<b>Genre: </b>Action-Adventure-Drama-Suspense-Thriller<br />
<b>Director: </b>Jimmy Hayward<br />
<b>C</b><b>ast:</b> Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Michael Fassbender<br />
<b>Finney's Flicks Grade:</b> D-Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01156244294801063943noreply@blogger.com0