Last Vegas Review

Four old men walk into Vegas...

Last Vegas

C+

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Hey what if old guys went to Vegas to try to be kids again? Hey what if those old guys just happen to be famous actors?  Like Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Klein famous. That’s the entire premise to Last Vegas, the latest film from National Treasure director Jon Turteltaub, a superfluous piece of fluff that shouldn’t merit much of a reaction other than maybe a shrug. The film isn’t bad enough for it to be offensive, nor good enough to be a fun guilty pleasure, instead it’s just okay. It’s a film that if dragged to by a significant other or older family member is bearable, nothing more nothing less.

Last Vegas opens with Billy (Michael Douglass), an older wealthy man, proposing to his much younger girlfriend Lisa (Bre Blair) at a funeral. For the bachelor party he invites his best childhood friends, Patty (Robert De Niro), Archie (Morgan Freeman), and Sam (Kevin Kline) for a bachelor party in Vegas. Of course Patty and Billy have unresolved issues that come to a boil in Vegas when they meet a nice night club singer Diana (Mary Steenburgen) who rekindles old emotions over a past love triangle. Mostly, though the film is about the four of them being old and going crazy in Vegas, shenanigans included.

Last Vegas for the most part isn’t very well written. While the script provides a laugh or two here or there, it ultimately fails to go beyond the one joke premise of a bunch of old actors go to Vegas and try to party. The joke isn’t all that great to begin with mind you managing to have the staying power of just under two hours. There is an attempt at an emotional subplot for each of the characters but they all fall very flat especially the one with Billy and Patty which most of the time doesn’t make a lick of sense and just seems downright crazy. The characters lack any sort of development outside of the fact that they all are old and have some sort of one dimensional emotional problem.

The acting doesn’t really elevate the flatness of the script as much as one would want either. All four of the men seem to be having fun for the most part- despite the fact that Robert De Niro looks like he’s sleepwalking again because he’s probably given the dullest role of bunch- and they do add a bit of a nostalgia factor. Having all four of them around also allows for plenty of references to their past work (a hint here and a nod there) and it does at least provide a decent amount of nostalgia factor to the film. Without the four veterans the film would have been a complete debacle, with them having fun, it’s bearable.

The film is very generically shot as well. While the Vegas party scenes work well (which essentially boiled down is just a bunch of musical montages), much of the other bits just feel cheep or underdone. In particular the opening flashback to the men’s childhood looks kind of awful, and more like a bad television movie than anything made for the big screen. It seems at times that the entire budget was spent on getting the actors and the location. The music is a nice mix of modern pop and older tunes that fits with the overall premise of the film.

Last Vegas is the definition of a just slightly bearable film. It has a few laughs here and four famous actors there to keep the flat screenplay and generic look to drag it down too much. Last Vegas is a film that is ultimately very forgettable which is a little disappointing considering the talent that is in front of the camera.

Fred’s Top 50 Films: 35.The Princess Bride (1987)

"As you wish."

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”

-Inigo Montoya

*Spoilers Ahead*

Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride is the most American Monty Python film ever created. It feels like The Princess Bride is a slightly less wacky (at points), more American humor oriented version of what the famous British troop would have come up with. The result is pure brilliance, a film filled with utter whimsy and a ton of laughs. Not to mention it’s a pop culture juggernaut and one of the most infinitely quotable comedies of all time.

But the largest reason that The Princess Bride is one of the greatest films ever is that buried deep inside the there are some great characters and a large amount of heart to be found. Take for example Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), who begins as a side character, but ultimately ends up getting the real emotional climax of the film as he gets to standoff with the man who killed his father, and mumble one of the most memorable lines in all of American comedy. It’s sheer brilliance and it’s so hard not to get up and cheer for him during that moment. Best of all that’s only one character out of a formidable cast including Westley (Cary Elwes) who’s personification of the near perfect man had women squealing and men saying “as you wish” more than they should. Plus Andre the Giant gets a great turn as an actor!

Ultimately The Princess Bride is just an amazingly fun adventure, while at the same time having more heart than a film of its type has any right of having. It’s a film that shows that even in this day and age, adventure is not about special effects, it’s about fun; and The Princess Bride is the personification of fun.

-Frederick Cholowski

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Homeland “The Yoga Play” Review: How does Romeo and Juliet end?

Saul trying to be political on Homeland

Photo Credit: Showtime

A quick review of “The Yoga Play” as soon as I shoot some ducks…

As I mentioned numerous times throughout my review of last week’s episode I, to put it lightly, did not like the twist involving Carrie and Saul. What made it even worse was (as I actually assumed) that Alex Gansa said in an interview that their plan was hatched right after the bombing from the CIA, and thus all of the things that had happened up to that point in the season was all a part of a trick to keep the audience in a dark.

What makes it worse, at least for the first half of “The Yoga Play,” was that it felt like the episode would have worked with or without the twist that came at the end of “Game On.” The majority of “The Yoga Play” involved Carrie doing a divergent mission involving everyone’s favorite character Dana. For the most part Carrie’s attempted mission was satisfying enough and tied into the suspense of the final ten minutes, it just didn’t feel like until near the end of the episode that last week’s twist had any sort of payoff that it needed for it to maybe play slightly better than it did before.

When it did finally tie in though, one could say that while the twist last week didn’t work at least the direction we’re going with it is somewhat interesting, and allowed the twist, if only briefly, to sort of pay off. The question of Carrie’s cover was well executed suspense especially as “The Yoga Play” drew closer to its end, and the cliffhanger of Carrie being welcomed into the room with the Iranian’s, either to go along with the deal, or be tortured/interrogated, worked well as a closing bit of suspense.

What also worked was Saul not being made CIA director. Saul has never been good at the political side of his job and him not being made director makes sense as his icy efficiency at times doesn’t make the politicians too happy. It will also be interesting to see if the senator set to run the CIA will gain more of a character instead of just being a direct foil to Saul and his old-fashioned ways (which by the way feels like a plot line that is ripped directly from Skyfall).

What didn’t work in “The Yoga Play” was everything that involved Dana. At this point (and luckily I think that this may be the case) I just wish Dana would just cease to exist on this show. At least Leo is gone, and Dana got to emulated the Claire Danes cry, but still everything with Dana so far this season has been pretty terrible and getting rid of her, if only for a while (and potentially permanently) seems like the smart move.

That’s all for this week… What’s everyone’s thoughts on the Saul and Carrie plot line at this point? Did it 

pay off or continue to pay off, or is it still a festering frustration in the back of the mind?

And as usual that’s just me. What did everyone else think?

Homeland “Game On” Review: Back in the Game

Carrie and the mysterious lawyer on Homeland

A quick review of tonight’s Homeland as soon as I go on a car theft adventure…

“You’re an amazing person, Carrie Matheson”

-Saul

I would like to say before we get to tonight’s episode that I didn’t get the chance to review last week’s episode, but in fact I quite liked it. I thought the integration of Brody and the parallel between him and Carrie worked well as a special, more thematic episode of the show. I’ve heard a lot of negative criticism about last week’s show (on top of the positive) for the show being too farfetched about where Brody is and as a whole it didn’t work. In this case I would argue that the show has always been farfetched plot wise and that last week’s plot revelations didn’t feel that way to me and I ultimately enjoyed the episode quite a bit.

I say this in advance of this review because boy did I not like “Game On,” not one bit. For the people who thought Brody’s situation was ridiculous and farfetched then I can’t imagine how cheated one must be feeling after the big twist at the end of this one. So Carrie, who has broken down numerous times and has been locked in a mental hospital for a long stretch of time, was really just working for Saul the entire time? Just to get in with the Iranians so that she can play some sort of strange double agent role? This makes absolutely no sense from any possible angle, and is quite possibly close to the most preposterous thing the show has ever tried to pass off as a good plot line (well ok not half as bad as the thing with the vice president last year but still). First off how does that make any sense as a viable plan in any sense of the word? How could Saul have figured that the Iranians would try to take on an agent who’s mentally unstable and off the rails? Why would Carrie do all of this for a plan that could have been much better executed in every way? The whole thing just felt like a horrible cheat, one that was used just so that the writers had an excuse to keep Carrie around for the long run. It’s another massive contrivance, one that is hard to swallow after it seemed originally like the arc would have a suitable pay off.

Then there is Dana, oh Dana. I’ve said it before but the whole plot revolving around her and her now revealed to be murderer boy friend. There is no reason, at this point in the series to be keeping Dana around at this capacity, or arguably any capacity at all. It was bad enough in the first place that we got yet another Dana’s got a strange boyfriend arc, but making him a stone cold murderer makes it twice as bad if not three times. Like with Carrie it seems that the writers are just desperately hanging on to Dana and will risk increasingly terrible arcs to keep them around.

“Game On” was a compilation of all the worst parts of Homeland wrapped into one episode (well other than Mandy Patinkin who is fantastic in this episode despite the stupidity of it all). It’s going to be hard to swallow what’s coming next considering it seems that the writers really have no clue what made this show great way back in its first season.

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?

Gravity Review

Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in Gravity

Photo Credit: Warner Brothers Pictures

Gravity

A+

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

As I said after numerous episodes of Breaking Bad this season: I can breathe again it’s over. Few films, especially in the last while can be so tense that one forgets to breath. Gravity, the latest film from Children of Men director Alfonso Cauron is a part of that select group of films. It plays on one of the 21^st century’s biggest nightmares, being lost in space, and transforms it into a big, bold, and beautiful film. There is nothing that I have ever seen that is like Gravity, an ambitious achievement on a grand level and one of the very best films of 2013.

I won’t take too much time describing Gravity’s plot as this one is best seen shrouded in mystery. Essentially the film revolves around an engineer and an astronaut (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) on a seemingly routine space mission. Of course something goes completely wrong leaving them stranded in space alone with no one around to help them.

The first thing that jumps out in the film right away is just how utterly beautiful this film is; CGI has never looked better. Everything in the space, from the view of Earth to the vastness of space is so gorgeous that, at so many points in this film, it’s hard to tell that it’s actually CGI. The opening shot of the film is a continuous 10 minute sweeping shot of space and the station on which the characters are working on is one of the most stunning sequences I have seen in a film ever. Every moment feels so meticulously put together, so perfectly crafted, that’s it’s hard to believe. The 3D in this film is also phenomenal (yes I did just say that) as it adds a depth and beauty to the already stunning visuals. This film actually feels like it would lose something if not seen in 3D, which is amazing as it was added in in post production. The sound design and score are also utterly fantastic. The sound design is a fantastic mix of perfect silence and big bombastic disaster. The score is a perfect part of the film as it runs the gambit from being big and bombastic, to being small and barely existent. To really get the best experience of this film see it on the biggest screen, with the loudest sound, and in 3D. I saw it in IMAX 3D and I probably wouldn’t have watched it in any other way. The film just pops like nothing else on a massive screen.

Once stuff starts going wrong (again not saying too much) though the beauty begins to become an afterthought as fear and tension begin to take over. Once Gravity sinks its teeth in it doesn’t let go for a single second. From about the 10 minute mark the film keeps the viewer so far on the edge of their seat that there is fear of falling off. The film is so tense that, as mentioned earlier, the film never allows the viewer to breath during its peak points of tension. There are so few moments of downtime throughout the film, and by the end of the film (which surprisingly never wears out its welcome at all) I was drained and asking when I can do the trip all over again.

The film is essentially a one and a half person show. Sandra Bullock is the true star of this film, delivering the performance of her career. With such little background Bullock gives her character Ryan Stone so much nuance that’s it’s impossible not to care for her across every step of the film. It’s a stunning piece of acting, so simple, yet at the same time so subtle and complex; it’s sheer brilliance. Clooney works well as the old, weary astronaut with way to many stories, and while he doesn’t get the screen time the Bullock does, he’s a very necessary performance to have in the film. It’s also nice to hear Ed Harris’ voice as the mission commander pop up at the beginning of the film as it provides a twinge of nostalgia towards a certain other space film.

Gravity is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s a visual masterpiece as well as being a near perfect thriller, providing the best of sci-fi and horror all in one. Its ambition and polish are also things that are works of magic; the film feels like a work of pure love at every term. Safe to say that Gravity is an absolute must see, and one of the top tear films of 2013.