Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) bumps into June Havens (Cameron Diaz) in the airport.  After spending a quiet flight with Roy, where he kills everyone on board and has to make an emergency landing in the middle of a farm, soon enough June figures out that she needs to get as far as possible from this man.  Unfortunately with some government agency trying to kill her she ends up forced to have to stick around with Roy.  We end up on this spy filled plot filled with espionage and a lot of sedatives.

James Mangold returns to the director’s chair after three years of sitting on the sidelines.  His last film was 2007’s 3:10 to Yuma which I really adored.  Here he employs all of his usually action filled love on screen with a slight twist.  Instead of the usual story where we’re busy following the spy around we’re really focused more on the regular girl that’s end up dragged along for the ride.  Why this makes for a weaker film than the cliché version of this story is that since June can’t handle what’s going on around her usually half way through the action scene June is knocked out (via some drug or Vulcan death grip) and that’s where it ends for us.  While I would like to give Mangold and Patrick O’Neill (the screenwriter) credit for trying to make this story that’s pretty standard Hollywood fodder into something new and fresh, at the same time I found myself just wanting the regular everyday movie that I would usually get.  I guess this is one of those times where you say “thanks, but no thanks”.

Tom Cruise did what he does best; he shot at the bad guys and smiled at the camera while charming the hell out of the cynical and confused Cameron Diaz.  She spent the first half of the film trying to run away from Cruise’s character that she at the same time felt drawn to.  However, when she finally realises which side is actually the good side she spends the rest of the film running towards Cruise and his ridiculously acrobatic antics.

At the same time there are a few good supporting performances to be had in this film.  Director George (Viola Davis) who’s becoming one of the go to ladies of Hollywood whenever you need a minor role filled with brilliance.  Fitzgerald (Peter Sarsgaard) is Roy’s former partner who’s out looking for him and in turn first face we see when Roy pops up.  However my favourite minor character has to go to Simon Feck (Paul Dano), who’s a brilliant scientist who’s invented this new battery (which is where this whole story really starts) that everyone wants to get their hands on.  Dano adds a sense of weirdness to this character that’s already awkward enough.  Something about his love of trains just makes me laugh.

In the end it’s an okay film, but a less than okay action movie.  It works best when Diaz and Cruise are having some fun together on screen.  Whether it is Diaz being completely inept and almost getting herself killed or Cruise seeming so over the top that we just can’t believe he really is the good guy.

IMDB says 6.9/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 53%

I say 6.0/10

Here’s the new post where I share with you some of my favourite scenes from some of my favourite movies.  Enjoy:

There are so many stand out scenes from Paul Thomas Anderson‘s film Magnolia that it is almost impossible to pick a scene as my faovourite.  I’m actually going to go ahead and say that I do not have a single favourite scene from this movie because I love every single moment from this movie.  However, since I’m pin pointing a moment in this movie that definitely just stands up and wiggles itself at me and reminds me of so many reasons why I love this movie I have to pick Tom Cruise‘s character of T. J. Mackie.  Here he plays the a guy guru.  He is the ‘pussy’ magnet and he reminds us that you not only need to Respect the cock but you must also Tame the cunt. Watch the video below which is a compilation of all of T. J. Mackie’s presentation:

I know it’s a creepy role and I love it.  People that know me, and know me well, know that I have not a tenth of the confidence that Mr. Mackie expresses in this speech.  I would probably be the guy attending the seminars rather than giving it.  You know I think I may need to call up Mr. Cruise and let him give me a pep talk right about now then.  This is one of his greatest characters he’s ever performed on screen without a doubt.

Here’s another new weekly post where I’ll be linking to all the relevant and non-relevant film/TV related news that’s come to fruition across the blogosphere.  I will not discuss the news, this post is just here for the sole purpose of informing you all of what’s going on around the blogosphere and in the world of film/TV news, or to be more accurate, and gossip.

General Film News

Kane and Lynch gets a director
Gary Coleman dies at age 42
50 Cent drops 54 pounds for his role in Things Fall Apart
Live Action Dilbert movie in the works
Hitman sequel in the works and will begin shooting soon; Timothy Olyphant not expected to rejoin
Platinum Dunes will produce the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action reboot
Theatrical Releases on Cable On Demand 30 days after initial release in theatres
Bangkok Dangerous screenwriter hired for MacGuyver

Casting News

Cary Elwes joins Untitled Ivan Reitman comedy
James McAvoy is Professor X in new X-Men: First Class
Tommy Lee Jones confirmed for Captain America: The First Avenger
Van Damme and Michelle Yeoh join the cast of Kung Fu Panda sequel
Bruce Willis cast in Antoine Fuqua‘s The Tomb
Emma Roberts joins Scream 4
Model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley offered lead female role in Transformers 3

TV News

Julia Stiles joins Dexter
Ellen Page & Diane Keaton officially join HBO blogger comedy Tilda
Glee renewed for two more seasons before its first season is over

Other Rumours

Aaron Johnson may be Cyclops in X-Men: First Class
ABC may reboot J.J. Abrams’ Alias

Other Cool Stuff

Les Grossman in MTV Movie Awards Promo

After an incident on the carrier Maverick [Tom Cruise] and Goose [Anthony Edwards] have become the candidate for Top Gun, a school for the best of the best fighter pilots to make them better.  We are then treated to eight weeks of training sessions and classes about flying fighter planes in the 80s.

This movie is one that oozes nostalgia for me.  Yes, I was just out of the womb when this movie was released in theatres, but I definitely had seen it at least fifty times by the time I was ten years old and was constantly quoting lines, especially “crash and burn”.  There is no way you can watch this movie without knowing that the only reason to love it is that is an 80s film.

Is it crazy to wonder how an action movie about something that not many viewers can understand (i.e. dogfighting) could be so popular?  It’s literally impossible to ask someone over the age of twenty today if they have seen this movie and get a negative response and review of the film and I refuse to be the naysayer in my demographic.  Just thinking about the unimpressive dogfight scenes are, since for me as a viewer I had absolutely no understanding of it other than that they can fly and fly very fast, is crazy since everyone loves this movie.  It’s not like when you see a high speed chase scene in The Transporter where we have some sort of grounding in what we’re seeing.  With these dogfight scenes we can only have a minimal understanding that these planes are going really fast and it’s difficult and it’s dangerous and we move on.

I personally love this film and I know that I go against all my criteria for films by admitting that I love this one.  It’s totally a guilty pleasure.  Seeing Val Kilmer go up against Tom Cruise in class rooms and in the cockpit is just so damn entertaining I can’t explain it.  I did find myself on occasion laughing at the movie rather than with it, I’m looking at you shirtless volleyball scene.  But this is the perfect film.  It has the bromance between Maverick and Goose, the rivals between Maverick and Ice Man [Val Kilmer] and the romance between Maverick and Charlie [Kelly  McGillis] for all the girlfriends who were forced to watch the movie with their guys on a Tuesday night.  It’s a perfect film in that respect, in being a film for everyone.  There are very few films that can say they have accomplished that feat without sucking.

This is exactly the movie you remember and for that you will still love it like I do.  It’s the Romtion, combo of romance and action, that we don’t see enough of anymore.

IMDB says 6.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 45%

I say 7.5/10

I decided to join a film review club called The 1001 Movies You Must See Club to help make me watch better movies.  What they do is every month recommend four movies everyone should see and review on their various blogs.  These films are taken from a book entitled 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.  Now I know I’ve seen some of these films but not all of them.  So enjoy as I revisit some and discover classics I probably would never see without this little nudge in the right direction.

Where do I start in this world that Paul Thomas Anderson has made for us?  He takes us through the lives of about ten different people who are all interconnected, in some way or another, over the following 24 hours and all are in Los Angeles.

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of those directors who seems to always have something to show us about life, whether present day (Magnolia), in the 1800s (There Will Be Blood) or in the 70s (Boogie Nights).  I find it interesting as how Mr. Anderson decided to show us this tale of people in the fast paced town on this very interesting day.  As the film begins telling us, some things that we think are coincidence are not always so.  I particularly enjoyed how Mr. Anderson matched his music (by Jon Brion) matched a lot of the scenes in the film, especially the scene after the credits with our introduction to all of our main characters, perfect camera work that made fifteen minutes of montage feel like five due to the smooth flowing feel.

Mr. Anderson gives us a sense of space with the use of a lot of tracking shots to help give us a better sense of setting especially whenever we entered buildings with tight spaces and we just followed characters as they traverse their world.

The movie feels a lot like we’re being shown a mosaic in film, because even though we see linkages between these stories we are left to figure out why all of these stories are placed beside each other (besides the fact that they are all in LA and on the same day) it continues to make for interesting discussion.  Personally I believe the biggest theme brought around in this movie is loneliness.  Each character being shown seem to deal with their own darkness in themselves on this day and one of the common ones here is loneliness or needing to be seen for something more.  Earl Partridge [Jason Robards] wants to see his son for again before he dies, Donnie Smith [William H. Macy] wants to be noticed again since the fame as a childhood ‘boy genius’ has more or less gone away, Frank T. J. Mackey [Tom Cruise] wants to keep his persona going without having to deal with the fact that his biological father still exists, and that is just half of the main cast.

This movie is jam packed with brilliant performances.  Tom Cruise will get the people in the seats or you to rent it but when you see people like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Phillip Baker Hall and John C. Reilly in this film you may just forget about Tom Cruise and his chauvinistic views on relationships and how to score the pussy.  I particularly enjoy watching John C. Reilly because he plays the working stiff and is the joke of the police force and talks to himself in his cruiser since he rides alone.  However when you see him have to interact with people you can tell he’s using more than the law, and not in a bad way.  He knows how to apply common sense to his situations, like with his first call of the day, and when he ends up meeting William H. Macy’s character.  Phillip Seymour Hoffman also delivers (as he usually does) with his role.  I love particularly the scene when he calls Frank’s business number and gets a call centre operator and has this wonderful moment talking about how it feels like it’s a scene in a movie and how it’s that scene now, as meta as it felt it felt good to see the honesty in his face and hear it in his voice.  The question I ask myself is what would I do if I were the guy on the other end of the line hearing this slightly preposterous tale from a random person (who was going to end up giving me no commission)?

The biggest discussion point though of this movie is its ending.  If you know nothing about this movie just know that you should watch it and it is insane.  This isn’t a huge spoiler (as far as I’m concerned) but some may consider it, so be warned… skip to the final summation paragraph now if you don’t want to be spoiled… ok. In the end of the movie when it starts raining frogs, I find myself (like when I first saw the movie) just floored.  I have no idea what to think or to take away from this moment.  What does it mean?  Is it a reference back to the story of Moses in the bible when he freed the Hebrews from the Pharaohs in Egypt?  And if so in what way does it tie in to this story?  It really baffles me and if someone can enlighten me with a better hypothesis or theory as to its meaning I’m all ears.  Otherwise it looked gorgeous and I wonder if any of it was practical effects rather than digital.  If it was just to wow me then it was did.

In the end this movie is a gorgeous watch and a brilliant story.  The editing and writing is phenomenal and the acting matched it perfectly.  Julianne Moore and John C. Reilly are two of the most underrated roles in the movie and people need to recognize.  If you’re a fan of the multiple story film (like Babel or Amores Perros or Traffic) then this is a must watch and hopefully it’ll get you into watching the rest of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films.

IMDB says 8.0/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 83%

I say 10/10

This week our hosts decide to discuss Katheryn Bigelow’s 1987 vampire flick, Near Dark, and also explain themselves for why they need to explain themselves.

Show Notes

Why do we pick the movies that we pick to review? [00:01:17]

What We Watched
[00:05:29] Andrew: Veronica Mars, Couples Retreat, 30 Rock,  Toy Story 3D
[00:12:28] Douglas: Toy Story 3D, Oldboy, Law Abiding Citizen, Fringe, Antichrist
[00:26:32] Damion: How High, Advent Children, Fired Up, Lie to Me

News

Patrick Bateman character inspired Tom Cruise [00:40:37]
Chris Pine may be the next Jack Ryan [00:46:09]
Jason Stackhouse doing a Superhero RomCom [00:49:49]
What Women Want 2??? [00:52:55]
Angelina Jolie to be in Gucci directed by Ridley Scott [00:58:29]

Trailers
Broken Embraces [01:01:52]
True Legend [01:06:22]
Endgame [01:08:46]

Review: Near Dark [1987] [Dir. Kathryn Bigelow] [01:18:08]

Additional Notes
Kieran’s review of Law Abiding Citizen
Kevin Smith pickets Dogma
Bronson Pinchot interview on The AV Club

Once again I’d like to thank all you for listening and feel free to leave me any feedback in the comments or via email at unnamed[AT]gmanreviews[DOT]com.  You can subscribe to the podcast via the RSS, The Podcast Alley or iTunes.  We broadcast the podcast live on ustream every Wednesday night at 10PM EST, feel free to tune in and chat with us live there

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg [Tom Cruise] has come to the conclusion that to serve Germany and to serve Hitler [David Bamber] is two completely different things. After being injured in Africa Stauffenberg is recruited by General Friedrich Olbricht [Bill Nighy] to become a part of the coup and overthrow Hitler so to end the war and save Germany.

Let me preface this review saying that if you are that one guy/girl [let it not be said that I’m sexist] out there who doesn’t know how Adolf Hitler dies then this review contains spoilers for this movie, and I would love to hear how you [person who doesn't know] enjoyed this movie. However, if you do know how Hitler dies please proceed and do not fear any spoilers.

I remember listening to the /filmcast, as I do most weeks, and hearing the host David Chen speak of certain conditions that you must obey so as to have a chance of enjoying this movie. I believe movies should all be stand alone pieces – for the most part – otherwise it is more or less a failure of the filmmaker. However, here I think I should blame myself more than the filmmaker for not really enjoying this movie. It is unfortunate that even though before the production of this film was announced I did not know that there was an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler that came this close to succeeding. I know how Hitler dies and this therefore already tells me that the movie is about a failed assassination attempt. So for some reason for the entire span of the movie I sat there wondering, “I know, now give me something to chew on until it’s over”. Unfortunately I don’t think the movie gave me that much to chew on.

Bryan Singer is one of those directors who I find does great movies – X-Men, X2, Superman Returns – but for some reason wasn’t able to translate that style into complete success here. However, there were some great story-telling choices he made that I thought were great. First off, everyone was complaining about the actors all speaking English in a completely German story but in the first few minutes of the movie it is made clear to us that we are in this world as if we are German and therefore it is our minds comprehending the story in English rather than everyone suddenly learned perfect English in the middle of WWII. I loved that even though the trailer plays on the bombing element of the coup, the real moment when the movie turns is all about the other members of this plot and how they act in complete fear.

The film sports an array of great performances with actors such as Eddie Izzard, Tom Wilkinson and Kenneth Branagh. I think that overall the entire cast does a great job of making the movie a great dramatic film to watch. Especially Tom Wilkinson, who I think I’ve mentioned before is one of my favourite actors to watch all around, playing the role of General Friedrich Fromm and Kenneth Branagh who plays the role of Major-General Henning von Tresckow. Tom Cruise also does pretty well in this movie and it doesn’t feel like the all-American actor that he is advertised as.

It is a good movie but suffers the problem of having, what I think is, common historical knowledge spoil the ending of the movie. If the movie had been exactly the same except every character, location and date renamed I think I would’ve been able to enjoy it so much more because I would’ve been able to not be thinking from the get-go that I know how it ends. I think that is my strong suit as a movie reviewer – or critic as some may say – that I am not very good at guessing what is going to happen next while I’m watching movies, so I tend to enjoy them more. So when I know what is going to happen I hope and pray that all the other aspects of the movie can hold me till it’s all over. But in the end this movie wasn’t able to do that for me. So I have to give it a disappointed grading. I can only recommend this one to those who want to see the story that they already know on the screen or are able to block out all those things that I was not able to out of your mind.

IMDB says 7.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 57%

I say 5.5/10

However, I leave this one open for you – the reader – to let me know how you feel on the movie. Comment and let me know what you thought of the movie.

This is the story of Four Leaf Tayback [Nick Nolte] in the Vietnam war being adapted from the published novel into a feature length film. The filming of this movie hits many financial and structural problems as the director, Damien Cockburn [Steve Coogan], is young and inexperienced in managing a big budget film, and the actors are all huge stars attempting to share the screen.

This movie is straight up hilarious. The last time I enjoyed a Ben Stiller movie was “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story”, so I’m a full on Ben Stiller hater. Like everyone else in the world I am a Robert Downey Jr. fan, I love Steve Coogan , and am also a 50:50 fan of Jack Black movies. So after all was said, I wasn’t sure how I would take this movie. However, after reading all the positive reviews, and hearing about all the “retard” controversy I decided I had to see this one as soon as possible, just for the sake of being able to have my say on this controversy.

Controversy surrounded this film from when they cast Robert Downey Jr. as a black character in the film being filmed in the film, and also when Ben Stiller’s character played a retarded character in the flop film, “Simple Jack”. The Special Olympics community – and other individuals speaking on the behalf of the handicapped – came out asking for the movie to be boycott unless Ben Stiller would recut the film so as to edit out all of the excessive use of the degrading word. The studio decided that all they would do is take down the website advertising the fake film “Simple Jack” and leave the film as is. I have to agree that in the context of all of the controversial jokes they all work and are in no way offensive. The only way they can be taken in bad light is if maybe an eight-year old were to see it, which won’t happen since the movie is rated R.

However, with all the stars being top billed the cameos made this movie extra-special for me. Tom Cruise is downright my favourite part of this movie. He is the movie producer/backer I never want to meet or work with. He is the most ridiculous character I have seen in a long time. It is rumoured to be based off of a producer friend of Stiller. If I buy this DVD it will be for the Cruise factor here.

With all the praise in this review so far, I must say that this movie is nowhere near perfect. Nearing the end of the film when the huge action sequences begin is when I start to have my problems. Not because it isn’t funny [because it’s the action part of the movie], but because the movie is really just losing its point here. The movie really is poking fun at all sorts of things, but generally at film-making and when these huge action scenes went on all the characters acted completely “retarded”.

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This movie is exactly what every Ben Stiller and comedy fan would want from a parody movie. I would suggest this movie to anyone who has any small understanding as to the making of films; even as little as knowing what a “key grip” is. Those people will get an extra laugh or two out of this movie. And movie buffs will love this even more, because you will laugh at the ridiculousness of the characters, roles and actors playing these characters. This is a great comedy and I hope Mr. Stiller doesn’t fall back into the shit like Heartbreak Kid again after this awesome movie.

IMDB says 7.8/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 84%

I say 8.5/10