I'm just a guy who loves stories, whether they be past, present, future, movies, TV Shows, video games, whatever. If you came to get an average guys thoughts on film, you've come to the right place.
Gone Girl was a movie that I knew I was going to like from the first time I saw the trailer. I was hoping that this would be the movie that would make me confident about Ben Affleck as an actor. I was hoping that this would be the movie that brought Rosamund Pike into the limelight. I was hoping that this would be another movie that I read the book first and then the movie captured the story perfectly like a similar Ben Affleck project, Gone Baby Gone.
I had high expectations for this movie, both before and after I read the book.
Gone Girl begins with the story of Nick Dunne (played by Ben Affleck). Nick is your average midwestern husband. He's got the gorgeous wife Amy (played by Rosamund Pike) and things seem like they're going well.
Until he returns home on their 5th anniversary to find signs of a struggle and his wife missing.
The story is very much focused on the ride this character goes through as the investigation into his wife's disappearance continues to become more and more complicated and public opinion on him goes from good, to bad, to worse, all because of the evidence they find in the investigation.
As you've probably seen before, nothing is at it seems in this crime drama/thriller. However, I still think that the twist in this movie is pretty good and you'll enjoy it.
While one side of the story is the investigation of Amy's disappearance and effect its having on Nick as well as the public opinion and its effect on him, the other side of the story follows the diary entries of Amy as she transcribes what her and Nick's marriage was like.
The story begins a couple years before Amy disappears when they lived in New York, how they met, how Nick proposed, etc.
I have to hand it to both these actors because prior to this film, they were well known, but I don't know, at least for me, if there was something that absolutely said that they were incredibly talented.
You know my deal with Ben Affleck. He's had some horrible movies like Daredevil, and a lot of other movies I just don't have the patience to watch. But he's really turned his career around in movies like The Town, and Argo. So much that he's actually making me really excited about him dawning the cowl and becoming the caped crusader.
Rosamund Pike hasn't done as many noticeably bad movies, she just hasn't been that well known of an actress. I don't know if this will boost her career incredibly, but she got an Oscar nod so I'm guessing it will have some effect on her career. Making her more than just the girl from the last Brosnan Bond film and Jack Reacher.
But again, the two do a really good job at creating a great relationship. These two are believable as a couple and they really do have chemistry. They do a really good job at building up this great relationship and then having it take a totally different turn as the story goes on.
Juxtaposing Nick's response to the pressure of the media and the investigation with these diary entrees really makes you wonder what happened to Amy, is Nick innocent, and what is the secret behind it all.
I'm being slightly vague because I don't want any spoilers for this movie to get out to you. I want you to see the movie having no conceived notions of what might happen and take everything in as you go.
In case you're wondering, this movie is an incredible adaptation of the movie. I try not to say too much about the books and how they relate to the movie because this is not a book review, its a movie review.
What I will say though is that this movie is a fantastic adaptation. If you've read the book, you'll be blown away by how close it is to the book and how much it just works as a movie. I think the author probably wrote this book with a movie in mind and even if she didn't, its just down right good.
So whether you've read the book or not, you'll enjoy this film. I would say the fun part about watching this movie if you've seen the book is seeing how close it gets to the book. A great adaptation.
Another cool thing about this film is the supporting cast. The movie mainly focuses on Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, but there is a strong supporting cast. The sister of Nick, Margot (played by Carrie Coon) actually really surprised me because I hadn't seen Carrie Coon in too many (if any) things. She was very good in this film.
But then you've got roles that you would never expect to be in a dark David Fincher film like this but they are and they're great. Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry are the examples here. I love Neil Patrick Harris of course. I love him in How I Met Your Mother and I've always wanted to see him in more. But I never thought I'd see him in a dark murder mystery.
Same with Tyler Perry. Unlike NPH, I am not impressed with Perry's past resume. I'm not a huge Madea fan to say the least. But he did a really good job.
The woman who played the detective (Kim Dickens) also very good.
I mean obviously the stars of the film are Affleck and Pike. They just rock it and they really carry the film. In the past, I've thought that Affleck was an okay actor who was very good at surrounding himself with a good cast to kind of overshadow his not so great acting. However, in this movie, he's carrying it, and he rocks it. Again, I'm excited for Ben Affleck to do more.
And then there's Rosamund Pike. I can't really say why she's so good in this film, but she's really good in this film. Just believe me. Watch the movie and believe me.
Because Gone Girl is just a down right awesome film. In fact, I'm writing this a couple days after I just saw it and it just came on TV. Its the kind of movie that I think I could watch multiple times and really enjoy it.
So I'll just leave this review here and continue watching Gone Girl again.
What do you think of Gone Girl? Comment and Discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also shoot me your thoughts on films there and you give me requests.
I'll leave you with this. I would give you the honest trailer for this movie but its chalk full of spoilers. But part of what they say in the trailer is this is a well acted, well written, well made Lifetime movie. So speaking of which, did anybody catch A Deadly Adoption? I didn't but it looked hilarious. Here's the trailer. Enjoy!
I've never been a huge fan of movies that have been based off of SNL sketches and turned into full feature length movies. I've just never understood how you can take a sketch that can go anywhere from a minute to 8 minutes, centering on characters that are made for a short sketch and expect to make a full length movie out of it.
However, I've been told such great things about this movie that of course I needed to put this on my list when it showed up on Netflix, and I thought it was about time to watch it tonight.
The Blues Brothers is the story of two brothers, Elwood and Jake (played by Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi).
At the beginning of the movie, Jake is being released from prison and the two Blues Brothers return to their childhood home, an orphanage run by the Catholic church. From the very start, the two of them are put on a mission as the orphanage is in debt and at risk of closing if they don't get 5,000 dollars.
At first Jake and Elwood are unmoved by the pleas of the nuns for them to help get the money, but after a spiritual musical number, they are called on by God to raise the money to save the orphanage. In order to do this, they decide they must reform the R&B band the movie is inspired by.
The rest of the movie is just their journey, getting the band together, getting gigs to perform at, and raising the money to save the orphanage. All the while, they rack up a list of enemies that run from the police, to Nazis, to Carrie Fisher (Yeah... Carrie Fisher is just in this movie. She doesn't even have a name but she just randomly tries to kill the Blues Brothers. The reason is given but its more fun to think that they just pissed off Carrie Fisher and she's out to kill them)
The main draw of this movie is the humor. And while I didn't think it was going to be that funny when I first started the movie, it actually really grows on you and by the end I was laughing pretty hard. That's something that doesn't often happen when I watch a movie by myself.
The main attraction of course is the Blue Brothers themselves Jake and Elwood. Here's the thing though, I'm not from that generation of SNL. I didn't grow up with movies starring John Belushi or Dan Aykroyd. I've seen Ghostbusters, but I wasn't jumping out of my seat for that one. This was a totally new experience for me.
For the most part its a fun one. Yeah, I do think Dan Aykroyd is playing the same character he always plays in every single movie he's in. But its strange how much of a character you can get out of two guys who wear black suits, black sunglasses, and black fedoras everywhere, anytime of the day. By the end of the movie, once you're totally aware of the type of humor this movie is going for, these two are really funny.
What I also didn't know what how well John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd can sing. They're definitely not the best singers in the world, but they're entertaining as hell and they can hold a pitch. That I was also very surprised about.
Now again, being that this movie came out in the 80s and that is definitely not my generation, I didn't pick up on this right away. But this movie is chalk full of great R&B performers. Its got Aretha Franklin, its got James Brown, its got Cab Calloway, its got Ray Charles. It really is a star studded cast but unfortunately, not a lot of people these days, at least in my generation are going to recognize these people. Which is a shame, because they're incredibly talented and pretty famous musicians.
I also didn't know that this movie was a movie musical, and a very well done one at that. Like most movie musicals, the song and dance numbers really kind of jump out of no where and suddenly they're singing, but that's what happens in actual musicals so I've never been one to be thrown off by that. Some people might be, but in the context of a movie about a band getting back together, a lot of the musical numbers are performances and not so much random musical numbers which I think some people might enjoy more.
I guess the only complaints I have with this movie are the same complaints I have with a lot of movies based off of the characters of a comedy sketch. You kind of limit yourself with these one dimensional characters. Jake and Elwood are stoic don't really show emotion. That's what makes it funnier when they start performing on stage with so much energy because its so unexpected. The thing that happened with this movie that made it different than other movies adapted from SNL sketches was the comedy that came in this movie. This movie is not based in any reality I know.
There's a scene where they're sleeping and the police are coming to arrest them. But while that's happening, Carrie Fisher decides to blow up the building. But the funny part is not only does nobody get hurt and they walk away unscathed, the Blues Brothers act as if nothing happened.
I was going to say that a complaint I have with this movie is the seemingly randomness of the humor. The ending really kind of feels out of place until you watch the movie as a whole and watch the build up of everything and suddenly the randomness and stoicness of the main characters works really well.
Is it a humor that everyone is going to get? Definitely not. But if its your kind of humor, I think you're going to like it a lot. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the movie and check it out for yourself. If you don't get the humor, at least you can sit around for the musical numbers and learn a little bit about R&B, and other forms of music in this.
Again, its a pretty well done musical so even if the humor isn't for you, there is something I think every one can enjoy in The Blues Brothers.
Overall, its a fun movie. I don't think its a masterpiece, but I definitely see the classic feeling to it and understand why it has a cult following.
But what do you think of The Blues Brothers? Comment and Discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 and get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also shoot me your thoughts and ideas for future reviews. I'll do any requests.
I'll leave you with this. This is the song I know the Blues Brothers for the most. I was a little bummed that it didn't end up in this movie but I still enjoy the hell out of it. Here is Soul Man. Enjoy!
So... should I feel bad reviewing a movie about Jews killing Nazis right after I did a review of The Prince of Egypt, one of the stories of Jewish hardship? Or should I feel weird that I go from an uplifting movie like Prince of Egypt to an incredibly violent movie like Inglourious Basterds?
All that aside, let's take a moment and talk about Quentin Tarantino...
Why every time I come out of a Tarantino movie, my immediate reaction is... this.
I honestly came out of Pulp Fiction with a shrug. While I really liked Reservoir Dogs, I couldn't really couldn't get into Kill Bill. While I wasn't unimpressed with Django Unchained, I didn't love it like everyone else did. I still haven't seen Jackie Brown (even though I eventually plan to) and it took me a long time to see this film, Inglourious Basterds.
Now a lot of the movies that I have mentioned, I have come back to and enjoyed on second viewings. Pulp Fiction is one, Django Unchained is another. I still think they're a little bit overhyped, especially Pulp Fiction, but its all a matter of knowing Tarantino's style before I get into the movie. I enjoyed Pulp Fiction a lot more after I watched Reservoir Dogs, after I watched Django and while I still think its a little overhyped, I enjoy that movie more because I know how Tarantino does his movies.
Now I have my personal thoughts on Tarantino as a person, but that's not what this is about. Let's talk about Inglourious Basterds.
So I go into Inglourious Basterds, knowing what its about, knowing how Tarantino does his movies, and I was ready to enjoy this movie...
So why did I come out of it with a shrug the same way I did with Pulp Fiction?
Inglourious Basterds accounts three stories that interchange set in Nazi occupied France. The beginning introduces the antagonist Hans Landa (played by Christoph Waltz), an officer with the Nazi SS who's mission is to hunt down jews in France. He's so good at his job that his nickname is the Jew Hunter.
From the very beginning, Landa is just the kind of guy you want to punch square in the face. He is the worst kind of person, hunting down jews for the Nazis, he is the worst of the worst. He does however, distinguish himself from any other Nazi as he is incredibly good at reading people. And that is the kind of the theme of the movie, there are a lot of instances where the long conversations that Tarantino is known for are just opportunities for people to read one another and figure out if they are real or not.
Well in the beginning, Landa sniffs out a Jewish family and murders all of them except for one of them, a young girl named Shosana Dreyfuss (played by Melanie Laurent). Shosana grows up to change her identity and own a small theater in France. There she gains the fancy of a young Nazi war hero named Fredrick Zoller (played by Daniel Bruhl).
But as her family was murdered by Nazis, Shosana jumps at the chance to plan a murder a lot of Nazi officials when they offer her the opportunity to host a Nazi propaganda film debut at her theater.
On top of that, you have the story of the Basterds. A rag tag group of Jewish American soldiers who infiltrate Nazi occupied France ahead of the allies in order to strike fear into the Nazi regime.
This group of soldiers is led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (played by Brad Pitt). Raine's philosophy of leadership is to strike fear into the Germans in the same way the Apache would strike fear, by launching a guerrilla campaign against the Nazis behind enemy lines.
The Basterds leave no man alive, scalping their victims in order to strike fear into the German military, and the ones that they do leave alive are left with a scar that shamefully identifies them as a Nazi forever.
And on top of that, tying both these stories together, is a secret covert mission orchestrated by the British in order take out a number of Nazi officials.
A plan is hatched to use the Basterds and a German actress turned spy by the name of Bridget von Hammersmark (played by Diane Kruger) to assassinate a number of Nazi officials at the same film debut that is set to air at Shosana's theater.
Let's talk about the good things about this movie first.
The movie is beautifully shot. I'm not usually one who comments on the cinematography of a film, but even I noticed how the movie was brilliantly shot and how the angles and just the way the camera moved all contributed to the film as a whole.
What also worked was how well the stories connected and yet really didn't. There's a lot of coincidence and happen stance that happens in this movie, like the covert mission happening in the very theater that Shoshana plans to burn down to murder the nazi officials there, the same nazi officials the Basterds and the British want to assassinate.
On top of that, I suppose you could say that these are the closest characters in a Tarantino movie that I've come to care about. I've always had a hard time relating to the characters in Tarantino movies because most of them are just the worst kinds of people. Jules and Vincent aren't good people, they're just funny, mainly because they're Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta. I actually wanted Shosana to succeed. That is also helped because the antagonists in this film are the Nazis, historically, they're like the Empire of the real world. You just love to hate them.
On top of it all, because I knew what kind of movie I was watching, I was able to understand the humor and actually thought the movie was funny at certain times, which I think is interesting, especially considering the subject matter. I mean its Nazis during the Holocaust, and a lot of blood. That doesn't always translate to laughs.
But now I want to talk about the things that I didn't really like.
While there were some characters that I actually did feel connected to and wanted to see succeed, there were a lot of characters that were just plain assholes and who I didn't mind seeing dead. As funny of a character Aldo Raine was, I can't say I really cared for him that much or will remember him in the future. Hans Landa was an intimidating villain for sure but I really felt he was thrown into the movie whenever they felt it was convenient. I wasn't totally sure of his role in the entire film, really until the end, and his ending really didn't seem satisfying enough.
I might sound unintelligent or incredibly American by saying this, but I wasn't a huge fan of over half the movie being in subtitles. I get it, we're in Germany, they don't speak English there. Its not a huge complaint, just be warned, if you go into this movie, expect to read more than you watch.
Then unfortunately, Tarantino really kind of wasted a character in Lieutenant Archie Hicox. I mean you've got the great Michael Fassbender and his character is thrown away pretty quickly in a crass and almost meaningless way. Obviously Hicox wasn't suppose to be the focus of the movie, but damn Tarantino.
I mentioned before how there is this air of paranoia throughout the movie, in that anything can give someone away as a spy and anybody can detect you if you get something wrong. The bar scene is a perfect example of things going very wrong, very quickly, and almost like a really quick firework, it goes off, is a huge flame for a half a second and then goes out almost instantly.
While the characters are good, I think Tarantino thought the script was better than it actually was. While you had some great performances by people, there are a lot of characters that I think Tarantino thought the he explained who they were but when they died, you realized that you knew absolutely nothing about them. Suddenly there is no connection and eventually you kind of forget that that person died in the first place, really negating any impact their death was suppose to have.
Now, to be fair, I think I know what this movie was trying to do. I read a review that praised this movie and their attempt to place Jews in the place of Nazis and show something about human nature and violence. In a way, it kind of turned the tables and suddenly the Jews are the ones pulling off all this violence against the Nazis. Is that okay since the tables are turned? I suppose those are the questions that must be asked when watching this movie.
My problem with Tarantino is that he does this thing where he has his characters say a lot, but at the same time, they really say nothing at all. They have these long conversations that go on and on and in the end, what did we actually learn from them? What did we really learn from the conversation between Shosana and Landa where they're eating strudel besides the fact that Landa doesn't know who Shosana is and Shosana is very good at hiding the absolute fear she's experiencing while talking to the guy who murdered her family.
In my personal taste, I think Tarantino is just a little too pretentious for his own good.
Call me a heretic for saying this but this is probably why I came out of Inglourious Basterds with the same feeling I had when I came out of Pulp Fiction. I feel like Tarantino is trying to push across some kind of message, but the majority of movie going audiences aren't going to get it because its buried in cumbersome dialogue and over the top violence.
I know a lot of people who enjoy this movie because its just Americans going and kicking some Nazi ass. They don't see that its suppose to be questioning the actions of Aldo Raine and his men and the possibility that perhaps revenge isn't the best option for atrocities that seem like the only recourse can be something like revenge.
I don't know, maybe I'm not giving the average movie going audience enough credit, maybe I'm reading too much into this movie, maybe I just don't like Quentin Tarantino. But I just feel like the message of his movies get lost in the violence and dialogue that his movies are known for. I'm not saying brutal violence is bad or the use of a lot of dialogue is bad either, I just think that Tarantino puts it in a way that smart people do understand, and the rest of us just say that we do because everyone else is raving about these movies. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong. Take it as you will.
But those are my thoughts on Inglourious Basterds. What did you think? Is my theory on Tarantino correct? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie reviews and news. You can also shoot me your thoughts and future requests.
I'll leave you with this. Again, another Cracked video. This one is all about Tarantino films. Enjoy!
So I watched the trailer for this movie and thought that this movie might actually be a little bit funny. The trailer had a flair of Mean Girls and I mean... Ken Jeong is in it... that's cool.
The Duff is a highschool story focusing on a girl by the name of Bianca Piper (played by... her? Mae Whitman). Bianca has to seemingly genuine friends who are very attractive. I would usually say who played them but the truth is, A) you don't know these actors, and B) their sole purpose in this movie is to be the attractive friends that Bianca has at the start.
Literally, their purpose is to be more attractive than Bianca. This is made known to Bianca when she runs into her... childhood friend?
The way that Robbie Amell's character is described in this movie is a little bit confusing because a part of me thinks they were friends when they were young and they grew apart. But the way Robbie Amell acts, he's still friends with her and she's kind of an asshole to him, and all because he's the football captain.
Oh by the way, the movie tries to set itself apart by saying the stereotypes of old about high school are gone and now people are defined by who they are instead of what group they fall into. As progressive as this sounds, they really don't do that well as they still identify people as "goths" or "nerds", etc.
Anyway, back to my point, the fact her friends are more attractive is made known to Bianca by Robbie Amell as he reveals to Bianca that she is the Duff of her friend group.
What is a Duff you may ask? Designated. Ugly. Fat. Friend.
Now it is given some context in the fact that the Duff doesn't have to be fat or ugly. A Duff can actually be an attractive person but they are not the most attractive in the group. They are the more approachable one because they're not the target. I thought the best description of this was they are the gatekeeper of the friend group.
Bianca is of course offended by this but she begins to realize that Robbie Amell is right and she resents her friends for putting her in that position.
Bianca makes it her goal to break out of that convention of being the Duff and be her own person. Her goal is to get with this hippie douchebag who she finds attractive. The way that she goes about doing that is recruiting the help of Robbie Amell to break out of her shell and become more than a Duff. In return, she will help him pass science or something, its your stereotypical high school deal.
Here's the thing though. They say that the Duff is the more approachable one, I don't really see how Bianca falls into that category.
Bianca is kind of an asshole. She's suppose to be the scrappy, against the grain, I wear overalls sort of girl, which is fine, but she kind of shuts down a lot of people and while she's dressed like the alternative girl in the group, she's just as manipulative and I'll say it, Bitchy, as the rest of the "popular girls".
Its like they were trying to make this girl Juno but without any of the charm or realness. Hell they even made her mom Alison Janey! She dresses all hipster but she falls in with the gossip of her cool friends. All in all, Bianca is not exactly a great person to center a movie on.
And let's talk about the whole concept of the movie. It centers around a title you would find on Urban dictionary. I'm not even joking about that, there's a part where they go to Urban Dictionary and look up the phrase, Duff.
And when I saw the trailer, I said, huh, that's kind of funny. And it was funny for about 15 seconds. But unfortunately, that's what I think every time I find a funny definition on urban dictionary. I laugh for a half a second, then I move onto the next one. I don't make a full movie out of it. I think it would have been funny to have her realize she's the duff and then look into whether or not other definitions fit in with the social conventions of high school.
But instead, the movie decided to focus on the fact that this generation in high school is obsessed with technology.
Seriously, the movie has this weird theme about it focusing on technology and how its everywhere and people take it WAY too seriously.
Here's the thing though, cyber-bullying isn't a new concept. This movie acted like posting an embarrassing video about someone is a totally new thing.
And I'm sorry, as much as these movies think that kids today cannot survive without their cell phones... well that's probably true but they do it in such a way that its kind of patronizing.
But I would be fine if this movie was just about cyber-bullying. I would be fine if this movie was just about finding your individual self and not falling into categories. But this movie rips off so many high school movies that its just kind of funny if anybody thinks this is anything different than what we've seen in the past. There's parts of Mean Girls ripped off in this movie. There's parts from 16 Candles ripped off in this movie. There's parts from Breakfast Club ripped off in this movie. Nothing is new in this movie.
But the one thing that I will give the movie a little bit of credit for is the romance... sort of.
Now you've probably been wondering why I haven't called Robbie Amell by his character name. The truth is, I didn't remember until halfway through this review. But the truth is, Robbie Amell is not that great of an actor. He's just a hot guy. Ask any girl. Ask any guy. Most people will agree, Robbie Amell is a hot piece.
And the thing I guess I have to give the movie credit on is that they tried to create this romance between two people that in most high school movies would never get together. I'm not saying Mae Whitman is not attractive. She's a beautiful woman. But in the culture of movies that people have grown up with, I don't think you would put these two together.
So I guess I have to give the movie credit for that.
But the truth is, these two together is just odd. Maybe I'm too caught up in the very conventions I was just applauding the movie for trying to break. But the romance is very odd and kind of forced upon us. At the end when they get together (spoilers?) Their interactions are really kind of forced and I don't buy that these two actually would be attracted to one another.
As friends, yeah, there is a part of it that is kind of fun and it is different. You don't see the captain of the football team working with a duff like character too often. And this could have been emphasized with the fact that they were childhood friends. Robbie Amell brings her to Victoria's Secret to pick out underwear. I think it would have been funnier if Robbie Amell was gay and ended up coming out at the end. It would fit with the theme of the movie of not slotting yourself into the norms that are created for you.
And the sad part is, the only times that they really get together are parts where Bianca is dolled up. Its just like the end of Grease when Sandy changes the way she looks and acts in order to get a boy.
I'm not a huge connoisseur of high school films. I kind of skipped over them as a kid. I don't know if this movie is an absolute rip off of every high school movie. Hell, it could actually be on the higher end of high school movies today. But the ones that I have seen that are really good, this one doesn't even compete.
Oh... and Ken Jeong is in this movie... I guess that's cool... Seriously though he's not that funny
And that's what I thought of The Duff. What did you think of it? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also shoot me your thoughts on this movie and send me requests for future reviews.
I'll leave you with this. I legitimately could not find a video I thought was good enough for this review... so here's a video about how ads lie to you. Enjoy!
The thing about Patch Adams is that there is a really touching and really great movie just trying to get out here. You've got a really great performance by Robin Williams, a really interesting story in the biography of Patch Adams, and a lot of other things that could make this movie a great film.
And the truth is, I enjoyed this film. I got the warm and fuzzies, I enjoyed William's performance, the good things about this film were things I enjoyed. But the things that need to be said about this film that aren't so good are pretty obvious and I can pin point them very clearly.
The movie starts with the center on Hunter "Patch" Adams (played by Williams) admitting himself to a mental institution after he had suicidal thoughts.
His time in the mental institution is short lived as he realizes that he has a passion for helping people and wants to become a doctor. I will say that his realization comes very, VERY quickly. He has a couple interactions with the patients in the hospital but its really one interaction with his roommate that makes him release himself from the hospital and its kind of a very quick transition.
But that's okay because the main focus is on his time at the Medical College of Virginia and his journey to becoming a doctor.
Unfortunately, this movie really relies heavily on the conventions you've seen in multiple movies, especially a lot of roles that Williams has done himself before.
Very similar to the role that Williams had in Good Morning Vietnam, Patch believes that humor is a great form of medicine. More importantly, he believes there is room for the current medical field to grow as it, at the time of this movie, has turned into a field of prestige and calculative methods rather than focusing on helping people and improving quality of life. Like his role in Good Morning Vietnam, Williams's character and his methods buck the status quo and the system that all the other doctors and medical students have been studying for years.
So yeah, the plot of this story is very similar to Good Morning Vietnam in that its another story of Robin Williams bucking the system that just find his humor and sense of human connection "Most Unorthodox"
Eventually, Patch comes up with the idea to open up a free clinic and help sick people without charging them or making them feel as though they are subjects but instead are respected by the doctors. (I'll get to this in a second)
Along the way, Patch meets a group of friends that either buy into his unorthodox ways, or buck him every chance that they can get. His friends include the ambitious Carin Fisher (played by Monica Fisher) who believes that its her duty to be the successful female of the medical community. His buddy Truman (played by Daniel London, talk about a guy who has done almost nothing past this film) who just kind of goes along with whatever Patch does.
And then of course you have your obstacles, the people who disagree with Patch so much that they just want to see him fail.
You of course have the Dean of the School (played by Bob Gunton) who doesn't like Patch's spirit and his incredible happiness.
Then there's Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing probably the most over the top stooge in the entire movie who is a student who comes from a long line of doctors and doesn't like Patch because he seems to be mocking the system he holds in such high regard.
It may sound like the casting of this movie is not very good, but the truth is, this is actually a pretty good cast. As much as Bob Gunton continues to play the same role over and over again where he's the authority figure with nothing but contempt for the main character (The Shawshank Redemption, etc.) he does a good job at creating an obstacle for Patch. Monica Fisher and Daniel London are good supporting characters and their relationship with Patch seems genuine. Hoffman's performance is a little bit over the top, but you kind of need that stooge douchebag character, so I'll let it slide.
The biggest problem with this movie is the writing.
A lot of the movie is very, VERY sappy. While the performances of Williams and others are good, there are a lot of moments that are suppose to be heartwarming, or their suppose to be heart wrenching, and while some of them work, with a lot of credit going to Williams just having that heart warming air about him (I swear, even in Insomnia, I connected with his murderous character mainly because it was Williams.) But there were many moments where it was very forced and seemed as though it was really trying to make you feel something.
On top of that, there are a couple of plot holes in the movie that are a little hard to explain. So much that when the credits rolled and my dad realized that this was a true story, he said, "I'm not totally sure that's how it happened"
Adams opens up this free clinic and starts treating people. Well he's practicing without a license. Whether or not this hospital he creates was an orthodox way of treating patients or not, he was still doing it illegally. And they really kind of brush that aside.
Earlier in the film, he's going around interacting with patients even though he's been told multiple times that if he keeps on doing that he's going to get kicked out of school. And yet, the very next scene, he's right back doing his thing.
At the beginning of the movie, it really comes down to them all saying, oh that's just Patch Adams, he's unorthodox and quirky, but there are a couple moments that people see him do something that is most definitely dangerous, against the rules, or could have horrible consequences if things went wrong.
But instead of reporting him, or getting him in trouble, they just kind of laugh it off like he's a rambunctious kid. There's bucking authority, and then there's whatever happens in this film, and I totally understand why my dad was kind of brought out of it, because there are some really unanswered questions by the end of this film, and the only recourse to those things that happen are, oh he's just quirky and different.
The lesson of Patch Adams is a good one. The importance of human connection is something that we all want in our doctors and its important to note that if you want to help people, no matter what the field is, the focus should be on others, not the prestige or the seriousness that takes you away from actually helping people.
Its a good message.
The problem with it is that its so bashed over your head and its put in such black and white terms that there really isn't much to think about. Everyone who doesn't adhere to Patch's methods are pretentious and wrong. There are different ways of doing medicine and people get different things out of being doctors.
Like I said before, there are really good things about this film. Williams of course gives a really genuine performance, even if it is not exactly written the best. The performances are for the most part pretty good. And the message is pretty good.
The real Patch Adams has come and said that he's not a huge fan of this movie along with a lot of critics.
I won't say I hate this movie because as much as I can see through some of the conventions that this movie is using to make me feel, I do like Williams in this role, I do love the message, and I realize what they were trying to do, even if it didn't exactly work out that way.
Its just a testament to the fact that not all of a beloved actor's work is going to be beloved. That's not to say Robin Williams's career is tarnished or not as good as people say it was, it really was. And whether or not you like this movie, I don't think you can't come out of this movie without acknowledging the heart Williams and other put into it. It wasn't a half assed movie by any means, it just could have used a little bit more work to make it something incredible instead of passable with a lot of obvious flaws.
But those are my thoughts on Patch Adams. What do you think of this film? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews that I post on this blog. You can also shoot me your thoughts and give me requests for future reviews as well.
I'll leave you with this. This is Jimmy Fallon's tribute to Robin Williams. Enjoy!
So here is the unfortunate thing about Jurassic World.
I mentioned before that the movie needed to raise the stakes a little bit more. Unfortunately, the movie breaches the line of being comical by how huge it gets.
This is my spoiler talk so if you haven't seen Jurassic World, you probably won't want to read this.
I thought the movie did a good job at raising the stakes. Creating a threat that was bigger than anybody could ever expect.
When the pterodactyls started attacking all the people in the park, I was just thinking to myself. Well shit, this is exactly the worst nightmare anybody could ever expect. You've got all these people here just enjoying their day when suddenly they're attacked by dinosaurs.
This is the exact fear that everyone who has seen Jurassic Park, or knows anything about the old films, could only imagine happening.
I thought this scene was pretty good.
The unfortunate part is that the trailer really kind of gave this away.
I knew the park was going to get attacked. While I saw this as a worst case scenario, I knew it was going to happen from the trailers. I think they probably could have hidden that a little bit better. Unfortunately, this isn't the only scene that kind of gave the movie away. And this is something that has become more and more of a problem in that trailers have begun to show WAY too much.
Furthermore, they really gave the Indominus Rex away too quickly. I mean, to be fair, the dinosaur isn't really anything to brag about, its just a white T-Rex with long arms. All the jokes about T-Rexes not being able to grab stuff or do things with their arms goes away.
But they also gave away the intellect of this dinosaur.
This dinosaur is suppose to be the most intelligent thing created. So much that it actually communicates with other dinosaurs and turns them on the humans.
This happens with the pterodactyls. The I-Rex (I'm just going to call her that now because that's a lot easier) communicates with them to take down the helicopter with the large gun on it.
But I get it, the humans didn't know the I-Rex put the avian wing on the humans, so they obviously think that they can use the raptors on the I-Rex and things will be great, all while the audience knows they are screwing themselves the minute they put the raptors out there.
So when put the raptors on the trail of the Indominus Rex, she communicates with the raptors and actually turns them on the humans. And that probably should have been the point where the humans throw down their weapons and run for their lives. But no there's still this connection between the raptors and Chris Pratt and he is able to get control of them again, pretty magically actually.
I would have actually preferred Chris Pratt having to put down his raptors after they chose their "new alpha". While that would have been sad, as he had created a bond with them, I can overlook the sudden change of heart. My disbelief is still suspended.
Well okay, but the raptors can't take down the Indominus Rex. So what else could possibly pose a threat to this huge dinosaur?
The Motherfucking Tyrannosaurus Rex
Bryce Dallas Howard goes and releases the T-Rex and sics him on the Indominus Rex. And my initial thought was that you think there is going to be a fight but the Indominus Rex can communicate with other dinosaurs. Why doesn't she do that and turn both T-Rex on them? At that point you would realize that nothing could stop this dinosaur. You'd have both the Indominus Rex AND the T-Rex after them. But that didn't happen oddly enough, even though it happened with every other dinosaur the Indominus has run into. But at this point, my disbelief is still suspended. Sure, let's bring in the T-Rex like the Raging Bull getting ready for his last fight. I'm sure the king of the dinosaurs can defeat the I-Rex... oh wait he can't.
And this I also could have accepted. At that point, I was thinking, Oh shit, not even the T-Rex can stop this thing, the humans need to run, get as many people off the island as they can and then nuke the shit out of that thing.
The Indominus Rex is pretty much going to put the kabash on the T-Rex. Everything looks hopeless. And everything leading up to that point, I could have accepted. It was a little bit over the top to brining in the T-Rex like he was a heavy weight boxer that tagged in after the raptors couldn't take the Indominus out but I get it.
But at this point, the T-Rex has lost. Chris Pratt, the kids, Bryce Dallas Howard, they have no more cards up their sleeves, they need to get the hell out of there, or be eaten.
And then out of no where, comes another Raptor, sprinting in like he's listening to Chariots of Fire and the T-Rex and the Raptor team up to fight the Indominus Rex. At this point, I am laughing my ass off, because that raptor looked hilarious. And for some reason, the raptor and the T-Rex team up.
Now, the movie could have stopped there. The T-Rex Raptor team could have killed the I-Rex, they could have all lived happily ever after. It would be really ridiculous, but I could have accepted it. I was on the edge, but I could have accepted it. But no, these guys needed to throw in one more thing to put me over the edge.
With no build up, or expectations, out pops the water monster and he brings the I-Rex down with him into the water and that was the end of the movie. The T-Rex says, "well, I'm good" and goes back to his cage. The raptor gives Chris Pratt one last look and goes back to his cage and the movie basically ends showing the T-Rex taking his place as king of the dinosaurs once again.
Again, everything up to the part where the raptor and the T-Rex teaming up, I could have accepted. But throwing in that water monster after he had been used one too many times, I just lost it.
And it was at this point that I realized that this movie had jumped the shark.
And this was the point where I was laughing and my dad needed to tell me to be quiet. The movie just went to a level that was just more than I could handle. And I mean, its a movie about Dinosaurs. How realistic am I expecting it to be? But I'm sorry, having the raptor run in like chariots of fire, having the T-Rex show up, not be affected by the Indominus. And then having that sea monster show up out of no where, definitely jumped the shark.
The thing I'm worried about with this film is that I'm worried the people in charge of this film want to milk about five more sequels out of this franchise before it goes into remission again.
And the thing is, I think the movie is good enough, and will do well enough at the box office to merit a sequel.
As ridiculous as the set up is, as over the top it gets. The performances are good. The effects are good.
BD Wong got away to do more science shit. There's still people interested in dinosaurs. While the movie didn't absolutely set up for a sequel, its most likely going to happen.
Is that a bad thing? Well it depends. Look what happened last time a good Jurassic Park movie came out. Two horrible sequels happened. As long as people put time into it and think creatively about a sequel for this movie, I was entertained by this movie enough to go out and see a sequel, I just don't want to be made a fool.
We will see.
But do you think Jurassic World jumped the shark? Have you even seen it yet? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also send me your thoughts on this film and requests for future reviews there as well.
I'll leave you with this. I'm realizing this video might have been a better choice. Here's Chris Pratt drunk talking about acting. Enjoy!
The truth is, I don't have much of a personal connection to the first Jurassic Park movie. I recognize it as a great film and I know the visual milestone it was. Honestly, its been a long time since I've seen the movie in its entirety. I wanted to watch it before I went to Jurassic World, but... I was lazy. That might be a review that might come in the next week, but then again, its not on Netflix so I have to actively go out and watch it and I'm only half way motivated to do that.
So I went into Jurassic World with enough knowledge to enjoy some of the Easter eggs but I don't really know exactly what I was comparing it to. I really only vaguely remember everything that happened in Jurassic Park so a comparison isn't really fair. Again, we'll leave that for a different day.
Jurassic World is set years after the events of the previous movies and the dream of John Hammond has been realized as the park is now open. Jurassic World is a fully functioning park that shows the world the advances of genetics by bringing to them, real live dinosaurs.
Two of our main characters are two brothers who come to visit the park. (played by Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson) Their aunt Claire (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) is the manager of the park and basically runs it. The boys have come to visit her and get a VIP treatment as they tour the park. Of course she is a little too busy... family drama... yada yada yada.
Claire is busy because the park is trying to open a new attraction in the form of a totally new created species.
Similar to the beginning of the first Jurassic Park, a lot of the beginning is just exposition and foreshadowing to when the dinosaurs get loose, which you know they are going to. I would say spoilers but c'mon, even if you haven't seen any Jurassic Park movie, you can assume that a movie about a park full of dinosaurs will have the dinosaurs get out.
So its a lot of explanation of how the park needs to keep getting bigger and have more and more attractions. So Claire and the scientists behind the scenes have created a new dinosaur that is larger, scarier, and has a lot more teeth to raise the hype of the park.
So enters, The Indominus Rex.
As the new species is almost ready to be put on display, they call in a dinosaur expert by the name of Owen Grady (played by Chris Pratt) to take a look at the dinosaur and give his opinion on the status of it. Unfortunately, this leads to the dinosaur escaping its confines and being released into the park.
As you can assume, that's where the shenanigans start to happen. The people in the park need to try and bring this dinosaur down before it reaches the thousands of people touring the park, and of course, there is a search for the boys as Claire realizes they are missing.
Now let's get one thing out of the way really quickly.
This movie is not as good as the first movie.
I don't think anybody expected this movie to be better than the first one. I think that even if this movie was the best movie on the planet, people would still think the first movie is better.
I'm going to touch on this a little bit more in another review because I haven't seen the first movie in a long time, but I think that movie is so drenched in nostalgia for so many people that I don't think anything World could have done would make it better than Park.
But the thing I find curious about this film is that, structurally. Its the same movie.
I watched a review on this movie that said that it was a great monster movie, but not a great Jurassic Park movie. The thing is, when people talk about Jurassic Park, they always talk about how smart it is. How ahead of its time it was. And visually, that is true, it really was a milestone with practical and digital effects. But is it really that intelligent of a movie? Again, I'll definitively answer that question in my Jurassic Park review. But structurally, both movies are the same.
The first act is your "everything is fine" humanity's hubris act. There's a lot of exposition, talking about the implications of the dinosaurs being created, the implications of the manipulation of dinosaurs. And of course, there's always the "this ship is unsinkable" lines that foreshadow the inevitability that these dinosaurs are going to get out and they're going to fuck shit up.
The rest is survival. Dinosaurs get out, humanity needs to do what they can to contain the dinosaurs and survive.
How is Jurassic World different?
Well the funny part is that the movie really falls victim to its own morals. Part of Claire's exposition at the beginning is the fact that kids see Dinosaurs the same way they see Elephants. The hype dies down and they need something bigger and better to keep park attendance up. Of course Owen says, "Its a dinosaur, how much more hype do you need?"
That's an interesting idea, the idea that we need everything bigger and better.
The problem is that, it seems the movie fell into its own trap because it couldn't just be the dinosaurs getting loose. The ante had to be raised and the stakes needed to be higher.
Unfortunately, this kind of forces Jurassic World to get so big and so high of stakes that at some points, it gets kind of ridiculous. The ending is the best example of this. I went to the movie with my dad and near the end, when the tension is at its highest, I was actually laughing. So much that he had to tell me to be quiet. I was laughing because things just get so ridiculous near the end that its almost comical.
But lets talk about performances before I get into spoiler territory.
Obviously the person who had the most fun here was Chris Pratt. Some people may say that they're kind of sick of Chris Pratt, they might say he's in everything. But I say, keep it coming because I love Chris Pratt.
The one complaint I have with this movie is that he's a little bit too Starlord-y. I wanted this role to be something a little bit different than Guardians of the Galaxy. I do love that side of Chris Pratt, but I want him to branch out and do something a little bit different.
But Chris Pratt in this movie is basically Starlord if he grew up to train raptors.
Which by the way, I thought was awesome.
Some people may have thought that was not in the continuity of raptors in the first films. Again, I don't have a great recollection of those films so I can't comment on that. Raptor training, but not just that, the relationship between Owen and the raptors is actually pretty good.
There's another element of the story as Chris Pratt is training Raptors, you've got Vincent D'Onofrio wanting to utilize the raptors for use in the military. At first I thought that was really a silly idea, especially when D'Onofrio says, some people think the future is in drones, but I think it is in raptors. But the more they speculate and the more they use the raptors, the more I liked the idea. No doubt they'll try and incorporate that in future movies that they will almost inevitably make.
Anyway, I thought the use of the raptors was really creative. I'll talk more about that in my spoiler section of the review but I really liked the use of the raptors and I liked Chris Pratt in this movie.
Bryce Dallas Howard was alright in the film. I've never been a huge fan of her work and she hasn't really done anything that has really impressed me. I mean she was in the worst Spider-man movie for pete's sake.
But was she bad in this film? By no means. She was alright.
I think the relationship between her and Chris Pratt was a little bit forced. But a part of me kind of liked how quick it turned it. It was kind of reminiscent of old movies like Jurassic Park where the main characters fall in love very quickly. That doesn't happen as much any more.
I thought her and Chris Pratt worked well together. I don't think they're couple of the month, but it was passable.
And then you have the kids.
And I'm not gonna lie, the kids were not very good. I'm not saying they were awful. There of course is going to be that sibling butting of heads. The younger kid is of course going to be scared. The older brother is not going to totally know how to deal with his kid brother. Whatever.
There were a couple moments that worked, but at the same time, there were a lot of moments that didn't. For the most part, I just don't think these two were written that well. There's some subplots about their parents getting divorced which went no where. The older brother was preoccupied with girls which didn't really go anywhere once all the women were being eaten by dinosaurs.
Again, they weren't terrible, I just think they weren't written that well. I think these two could have had an interesting brother to brother dynamic, and in some parts they do, but for the most part, a lot of it was bad writing.
There were a couple other characters which in the end were just archetypes. Jake Johnson is your techy bum slacker nerd. Vincent D'Onofrio is your military prone douchebag.
Like I said before, the movie really does well until a certain point near the end where everything just goes to hell. Where the movie is suppose to be the most intense, I just felt as though some of the moments were just comical.
Overall, I think Jurassic World was a really fun time. Its definitely a popcorn flick that I found really entertaining. While some of the moments fall flat, a lot of the moments really work.
The performances are fun enough and I think if I can come out of this movie thinking it was a fun time, I think the movie succeeds in my book.
Overall, I would give the movie a solid B. I know I don't usually give rankings but thats the best way I can describe this movie. A solid B movie. It does everything it sets out to do, it gets the job done and its fun along the way. Every once in a while you see the possibility of this film being an A movie. You see things that could have worked a lot better if they had been given a little bit more time, maybe a little bit more suspense, or maybe some things could have been gotten rid of.
Overall, I really enjoyed Jurassic World.
But have you seen it? As you all start seeing it, let me know what you thought and where it stands in the Jurassic Park movies. Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also post your thoughts on movies and give me requests of future reviews I should do.
I'll leave you with this. Its a how it should have ended, all focusing on the trailer that came out a while ago. Enjoy!
