Movie Review: TAMMY

TAMMY
Director: Ben Falcone
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Nat Faxon, Toni Collette, Sandra Oh, Gary Cole, Mark Duplass, Dan Aykroyd

McCarthy. Sarandon. Bates. Janney. Collette. All fantastic actresses that I love. Tammy has to be good, right? Well...You may want to think twice before buying your movie tickets this weekend. On the same day Tammy (McCarthy) is fired from her job at Topper Jacks, her car breaks down, and finds out her husband (Faxon) is cheating on her with the neighbor (Collette). She heads over to her mom’s (Janney) house and ends up going on a road trip with her Grandma Pearl (Sarandon). Their end spot may be Niagara Falls, but along the way they stop by Pearl’s cousin Lenore’s (Bates) house for an all lesbian 4th of July barbeque. Tammy and Pearl both have their issues, troubles, problems, and dirty habits, so the trip along the way is quite the adventure.

Apparently, Tammy has been a pet project for Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone. They have been working on it for years as they both wrote the script and Falcone sits in the director’s chair. Falcone also has a minor role as Tammy’s manager at Topper Jack’s. It’s odd that this is their special project as it doesn’t really have anything new to say. We have seen McCarthy play this type of dirty, crass, and obnoxious character numerous times before like Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Identity Thief. It has become her niche like many other comedians typically do. She is such a talented actress and is far better than playing the same old tired character over and over again. Her character Sookie St. James on Gilmore Girls is nothing like what she has been playing lately. By the way, how come no one ever mentions Gilmore Girls when talking about McCarthy. It’s a wonderful show, so go out and add it to your summer binge list!

The trailers for Tammy have definitely played up this side of her character, but they are a bit misleading as the movie isn’t about how gross she can be. The story is more about the road trip and relationship she has with her grandmother and how the two of them grow and learn from each other. There is a bit of a transformation and growth with Tammy as she isn’t always dumb and getting into trouble. The problem with it is that it’s uneven in its approach. There is a side subplot involving a budding romance with Mark Duplass’ character. I enjoyed it even though it doesn’t quite fit in the movie. It is further proof that McCarthy would be great in a smart romantic comedy. There is a sweet and natural chemistry between the two of them.

The film boasts a wonderful cast of truly talented character actors who have all dabbled in comedies and dramas. We’ve got two Oscar winners (Sarandon, Bates) and three Emmy winners (McCarthy, Collette, Janney) present. They all make the movie tolerable as I typically enjoy whatever they are working on, yet everyone seems to be wasted here. Poor Allison Janney is stuck behind a phone most of the movie checking in with McCarthy and Sarandon’s road trip. I wonder if they are all friends of McCarthy and Falcone who decided to do them a favor by being in the movie. I know Sarandon has appeared on McCarthy’s TV show, Mike and Molly. With McCarthy, Janney, and Sarandon playing three different generations, you have to get over their lack of an age difference very early on. In case you were curious, there is only a twenty-four year age gap between McCarthy and Sarandon. According to IMDb, Shirley MacLaine was originally cast as the grandma but had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts. With Sarandon doing another road trip style movie, this made me want to go back and watch Thelma & Louise again.

I haven’t given up on McCarthy yet like I have done in the past with Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and Adam Sandler. I just think it’s time to retire this character type that she has gotten herself stuck into playing over and over. She is clearly far superior than this material. Since it has been in the works for years, I do wonder if she wrote this movie before she got into this rut. Maybe it would have played better if it had been released years ago.

Is It Worth Your Trip to the Movies? The movie has a couple of laughs, but they were already shown in the trailer. The movie is not nearly as funny as it could have been knowing how funny McCarthy can be.

RATING: 2 out of 5 TICKET STUBS

TWIN CITIES LIVE- July 2, 2014

TWIN CITIES LIVE
July 2, 2014

It was another great day on Twin Cities Live with Elizabeth and Dez. Unfortunately, two of the movies were not so great. Here they are:

1. Transformers: Age of Extinction, starring Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer,
2. Tammy, starring Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Allison Janney, Kathy Bates
3. Cutie and the Boxer, Ushio Shinohara, Noriko Shinohara, Alex Shinohara

Here's the video:




Video courtesy of Twin Cities Live/KSTP

You can find all of my past segments HERE.

As always, thank you so much for watching and your continual support. I truly appreciate it!

Movie Review: CLOUD ATLAS

CLOUD ATLAS
Director: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weavig, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, James D'Arcy, Doona Bae

"Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others. Past and present. And by each crime; and every kindness we birth our future."

Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer are the powerhouses behind The Matrix Trilogy and Run Lola Run. They have teamed up to bring us the big screen adaption of the novel of the same name by David Mitchell. They each wrote and directed various segments of the movie. The movie is one hell of an ambitious undertaking. It asks the audience to go through a visionary tale of six vastly different stories spanning 472 years from the South Pacific Ocean in 1849 to a post-apocalyptic world in the Hawaiian Islands in 2321.

The stories are all different, but are interwoven and connected. There are little touches here and there that help the audience connect them. Many of them are very minor and subtle, so I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to mentally connect them. The most notable is a shooting star birthmark that many of the characters possess. The idea behind the movie will still resonate if you just sit back and watch without thinking too much throughout the movie. The basic concept behind the film as a whole is that our individual actions whether they be violent acts or acts of kindness are shaped and impacted by the past, present, and the future. All of the choices we make in our present life have an impact on a future life.

In order to address this, the company of actors including: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Weaving and Doona Bae all play various roles of various genders and races throughout each of the stories. The make-up is absolutely stunning as you try to play "Name that Actor" during each of the segments. Luckily, during the end credits they show each of the characters names next to the actor that played them. I found it intriguing and smart to have Hugo Weaving always play the antagonist, villain, or devil on your shoulder type character.

With a running time of nearly three hours, the movie asks the audience to follow each of the stories and care about each one of them in hopes you do not get bored and twitchy. I belong in the later category. I felt fully intrigued during the first hour or so as you settle into the stories and see where they are going. As the movie went on, I found myself latching on to the more realistic worlds and story lines, mainly the ones set in 1936, 1973, and 2012. The characters and emotions seemed more authentic and real. I am not sure what to attribute that to. Is it the fact the make-up and special effects are more minimal? Is the acting better? The best relationship between two characters belongs to Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw in the 1936 segment. They play so well off each other that I wanted far more of that storyline as well as the continuation of it in the 1973 segment.

I find the movie very polarizing. I cannot fully love it nor do I hate it or dislike it. I really wanted to love it, so there is a bit of disappointment to it. The special effects and make-up design are top notch. I expect it to win Best Make-Up Design at the Oscars. After giving Tom Hanks and Halle Berry six very different looks, I do not see how it could lose. Even though those design elements make the movie a stunning artistic achievement, I was the least interested by the segments that utilized those effects heavily. It was as if the emotion and story was stripped thin in order to focus on the artistry and design. There will be people coming out of the theater loving everything about it. They will be the ones enraptured for the three hours. You will have others that will feel bored and that the concept is too preachy and the movie is far too long. I am somewhere in the middle. I love the concept and idea behind the movie. I love the fact that the same actors played multiple characters throughout especially when they were of a different genre or race. I just wish I would have connected to all of the stories.

RATING: *** (3 out of 5 stars)

Movie Review: ARBITRAGE

ARBITRAGE
Writer/Director: Nicholas Jarecki
Starring: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta, Nate Parker

Robert Miller (Gere) is celebrating his birthday with wife Ellen (Sarandon), daughter Brooke (Marling), and plenty of grandchildren. What they don't know is that after the cake, he will claim to be going back to work when in reality he will sneak off to be with Julie (Casta), the young beautiful artist he is having an affair with. He met her as he is one of the investors in her gallery. She is the kind of mistress that wants the man to be solely with her. She begs him to leave his wife to be with her instead. He is a billionaire running a huge investment corporation. His daughter happens to be the CFO of the company. Robert and Brooke are heavily involved in a massive merger with another company. A smart person would wonder why Robert would get himself involved in a girl like Julie that could seriously go wrong at any point. Oh that's right. Many of these Robert Miller types think they are invincible and can have it all in life: money, family, and a mistress on the side.

The pieces start to crumble for Robert. Business is not going well for the merger. Brooke realizes there is a huge portion of money that is unaccounted for in the books that could have disastrous repercussions. Julie is furious on how absent Robert is in their faux relationship. In order to please her, he decides he shall run away with her. Their plan takes a sudden turn for the worse when Robert falls asleep behind the wheel and the car runs into the side rails. It completely rolls over numerous times leaving Julie dead and Robert injured with some cuts, bruises, and potential internal bleeding. Robert knows that if anyone were to find out he was involved with Julie’s death it would be damaging to his family and career. The car explodes just as Robert is walking away from the scene. He tries taking all of the right steps to not get caught. He knows not to use his cell phone that could trace him back to the scene. Instead he uses a pay phone to call Jimmy Grant (Parker), a young man who is connected to some favors Miller has performed in the past. Jimmy picks Robert up and takes him back home.

Officer Bryer (Roth) is the lead investigator in the explosion and quickly traces it back to Robert as he is one of Julie’s investors. He knows all too well that Robert is involved and believes he killed her. He questions Robert, Ellen, and Jimmy desperately trying to uncover all of Robert’s corruption. Robert knows he is in way over his head and that his career and family are in severe jeopardy. When you let money and greed completely mess up your life, you have to ask yourself who knows what and who can you trust.

In what easily could have been your standard legal thriller, Arbitrage raises the bar to become a sharp and complex story filled with characters that should not be taken for granted. Roth consistently plays the evil, sinister bad guy. On the outside you could easily take Officer Bryer for that, but he really is playing the good cop trying to uncover the corruption behind Miller. In most movies, you want to root for the main character, but the twist here is that the main character is a disgraceful human being. Gere brings a multi-layered approach to Miller asking the audience to have sympathy for him when you know you should not. He is the whole reason for the crash and corruption. He completely ruins his family and company. Sarandon gives another solid and strong performance. You do not find the standard naive wife with her character. Jarecki has written and directed a smart story with enough turns to keep you guessing but not too many that make it seem outrageous and gimmicky. Arbitrage is now playing in theaters as well as on video on demand.

RATING: **** (4 out of 5 stars)