TWIN CITIES LIVE--October 3, 2014

TWIN CITIES LIVE
October 3, 2014

I was excited to give another new release my 5 Ticket Stubs rating! Find out which one below...

1. GONE GIRL, Starring: Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris
2. THE EQUALIZER, Starring: Denzel Washington, Chloe Grace Moretz
3. CHEF, Starring: Jon Favreau, Sofia Vergara, John Leugizamo

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: THE EQUALIZER

THE EQUALIZER
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo

Denzel Washington is back in another high-intensity action flick. How many of these has he done lately? This time he reteams with his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua. Robert McCall (Washington) spends most of his day stocking shelves or cutting wood at Home Mart (similar to Home Depot) and is a mentor toward another worker trying to get in shape for the security position. His nightly routine involves a stop at a local diner for a cup of tea and some reading time. He’s got a list of classics that his now-deceased wife wanted him to read. It is quite clear that he has some very distinct habits and OCD rituals. He brings his own tea bag that has been neatly folded up in a napkin and he has a very specific layout to how he likes his tea, book, and spoon placed on the diner table. Every night he sees Teri (Moretz) sitting at the counter. She is a young prostitute working under Russian gangsters. They form an unlikely friendship, as he seems to be the only male figure in her life that she can trust and doesn’t want her for sex.

One night when she doesn’t show up, Robert learns the men she works for have beaten her up. He goes to the hospital and witnesses the bloody aftermath they have left her in. We don’t necessarily know his background, but he feels the need to become the vigilante and go after the men who beat her. He shows up at their restaurant hangout and executes them all in a perfectly timed out attack. After his methodical approach to his plan of attack, we know this is not his first time taking down a gang. Robert’s initial kill is only the beginning as he uncovers a whole web of corruption, money laundering, and police involvement.

The film opens with the Mark Twain quote “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” For Robert McCall he was born to seek justice however he sees fit. Whether its threatening two cops who are stealing money from a family restaurant or some punk robbing the Home Mart, he will hunt them down and make them pay for their actions. A movie centered on a main character that acts like a vigilante does not have the most creative premise as we’ve seen plenty of movies like this before. I’m willing to forgive that little factor.

Who better to play this calm, cool and calculated man with a past than Denzel Washington? He is a powerhouse force that keeps you intrigued with a character who is more than just a killing monster. The film takes its time setting up his character and psyche. There is plenty of time devoted to his OCD like ways and the relationship he builds with Teri. Once her attack happens, he switches to hero mode and the movie really takes off. You always know he’s going to be one step ahead of everyone else and you expect him to be lurking in the shadows ready to pounce. The fun comes in as you try to anticipate his next move and mode of execution. We may not see all of his kills, but we are left with some evidence that he got the job done. There is something even more shocking when the reign of terror is left to our imagination, but since he’s the good guy we feel a bit more justified toward his actions. While Washington is a great casting choice, I feel like he can do these movies in his sleep. He was so gut-wrenching in 2012's Flight that I would love to see him get back to those types of roles.  Chloe Grace Moretz felt more at ease here than she did in Carrie or If I Stay. She seems to fare better in supporting roles than having to carry a whole movie. Popping up very briefly are Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo in minor roles. I swear Melissa Leo shows up in the most random of movies under some wig for all of ten minutes. I always end up saying, "Is that Melissa Leo? I had no idea she was in this."

Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Olympus Has Fallen) and screenwriter Richard Wenk (The Expendables 2) have based their film on the television series of the same name that ran from 1985-1989. I have never seen the show before, but I am pretty certain that it is nowhere near as gruesome, violent, and out-of-control this film is in comparisons. I would like to think that Fuqua knew going in that they were going to have to have some fun along the way and that they couldn't take themselves too seriously with their approach to this story. The violence is so over-the-top at times that it felt like a slasher film in its execution. Who are we dealing with here? Denzel or Jason Vorhees? There was unnecessary blood splatter and anything with a sharp edge became a weapon to inflict pain. Consider this your warning if you get queasy. You may need to turn your head during the no holds barred ending. I, for one, was able to suspend reality and go along for the ride.

Is It Worth Your Trip to the Movies? If you go and just want to have a fun time, it will succeed at that.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 TICKET STUBS

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER--The Actors: Full Uncensored Interview

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER--The Actors: Full Uncensored Interview

This is the third in a series of videos I am posting from The Hollywood Reporter. This time they interview six dynamic and diverse actors who discuss their current roles, their history in Hollywood, dream roles, their personal life, and most of all, their love of acting.





The hour long sit down discussion includes:
Alan Arkin--Argo
Richard Gere--Arbitrage
Matt Damon--Promised Land
John Hawkes--The Sessions
Jamie Foxx--Django Unchained
Denzel Washington--Flight

You can find the other two by clicking the links below!

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER--The Actresses: Full Uncensored Interview

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER--The Directors: Full Uncensored Interview

Here are the actors:

THE 19th ANNUAL SAG AWARD NOMINATIONS

THE 19th ANNUAL SAG AWARD NOMINATIONS

The Screen Actors Guild Award Nominations have been announced! They are usually the strongest indicators of who will be nominated for an Oscar. The SAG winners often times walk away with the coveted Oscar as well. There are always exceptions to that as well. There are only a couple of surprises here. Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman received nominations beating out the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Adams, or Jacki Weaver. No actors from Django Unchained received any recognition. The cast of Zero Dark Thirty was not recognized even though Jessica Chastain received a Best Actress nomination.

I’ve added links to my reviews of any of the movies I have seen thus far. Make sure to check out my Oscar Watch 2013 page for the latest updates leading up to the announcement of the nominations and through Oscar Day!

Best Performance By a Cast in a Motion Picture
ARGO
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL
LES MISERABLES
LINCOLN
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

Outstanding Performance by in Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Denzel Washington, Flight

Outstanding Performance by in Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Outstanding Performance by in Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin, Argo
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Outstanding Performance by in Actress in a Supporting Role
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy
Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Who are you excited to see nominated? Any of these surprised for you?

The SAG Awards air on TBS and TNT on January 27, 2012

Movie Review: FLIGHT

FLIGHT
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, Tamara Tunie, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood

I do not think people realize how much faith they are putting in their pilot every time they board a plane. It may become more apparent after seeing Flight, Robert Zemeckis’ first live action movie since 2000's Cast Away. It is another day on the job for William “Whip” Whitaker (Washington), a pilot at the top of his game. It is severely raining outside but that does not seem to be of any alarm for Whip. He does his routine checks and is ready to face the sky like any other flight he has piloted. The plane lifts off and continues until the storm becomes worse and proves to be too powerful for the plane. The plane goes into a steep dive forcing Whip and his co-pilot to maneuver it to avoid crashing and killing every passenger on board. They are able to control it by inverting it and guiding it closer to an open landing field. The crash landing is nowhere near as horrendous as it could have been. Six people total, four passengers and two crew members, perish during the crash. Whip is taken to the hospital and proclaimed a hero. No one could have landed the plane the way he did.

Little does everyone know that previous to boarding the plane, Whip did not sleep, got drunk, and snorted lines of cocaine with one of the flight attendants. He awakens from a concussion in the hospital and is surrounded by Charlie Anderson (Greenwood) a long time friend and representative of the union as well as members for the NTSB, National Transportation Safety Board. An investigation into the accident will occur as six people died in the crash. His friend and drug dealer Harling Mays (Goodman) picks him up when he is released and takes him to his father’s farm to avoid the media circus that is awaiting him at his own apartment. He sees the accident as a calling and promptly dumps any and all traces of liquor and drugs found in his place. While at the hospital, he meets fellow drug addict Nicole (Reilly) and invites her to stay with him at the farm.

Toxicology results come back positive for Whip showing the alcohol and drugs that were in his system while he was flying the plane. Attorney Hugh Lang (Cheadle) is hired as Whip’s lawyer to deal with the new predicament. Whip could face the rest of his life in jail as the deaths of the crash are now being investigated for manslaughter. With these new allegations, Whip returns to bottle as his coping mechanism.

Movies about alcoholics are never easy to watch. Even if you do not have any personal experience with knowing an alcoholic, the concept still manages to punch you in the gut. Denzel Washington is so good at these types of damaged characters that it makes it so much harder for the audience. I mean that in a good way. Whip is such an unapologetic and bullheaded character that every time he reaches for that bottle, you cringe in your seat. You just wish that for once he would hold himself accountable and make the better choice. I wish the costume and make-up designers would have roughened up Whip and Nicole a bit more. They both seem too pretty and put together for two characters that are that deep into addiction.

Despite Zemeckis' twelve year hiatus from live action movies, Flight proves that he still can deliver a top notch, well-executed movie. Once the storm is brewing, you are put in the co-pilot's chair until the very end of the crash. It is one nail biting, gut wrenching scene. Washington and the rest of the cast all deliver outstanding performances never trying to play the "drunk" or "victim" card. Tamara Tunie has a touching scene with Washington during the funeral as she stands up for her morals over her long friendship with Whip. John Goodman excels at his usual sidekick character as the Hawaiian shirt wearing dealer of Whip’s. He is a good comedic break that the movie needs so it doesn’t feel too bogged down in heavy topic of addiction. The story provides such interesting moral dilemmas. The plane malfunction was proven to be the fault of the accident, but do you still hold Whip accountable due to his poor choices? Can you still consider Whip a hero?

RATING: **** 1/2 (4.5 out of 5 stars)