The Great Gatsby (2013)

4 STARS!!!!!!!!!!

There are some movies that are not simply movies we sit down and watch; some of them are so profound, so dazzling, so astounding that they can only be called a cinematic experience.  So, yes you guessed it, The Great Gatsby is that cinematic experience and I enjoyed the hell out of it.  I have been waiting to see this movie even since I first heard about it and especially of course, since I saw the first trailer.  I was so disappointed when the release date was moved from December of 2012 to summer of 2013.  It was the one movie I would have gone and seen at a midnight screening, which the people who know me, know I do not do.  Well, as you can tell, I did get to experience this movie, so here.....we......go.

One note:  I am not going to go into the synopsis.  Most of us read this in high school, college, etc.  If you haven't read it, DOOOO IT!  But if need be, here is my favorite trailer of the movie, the one I like to call, The Music Trailer.

First of all, kudos (and kudos again) to Baz Luhrmann, the visionary director behind Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet, and yes, even Australia, which many critics panned but I deeply enjoyed.  He has given us an awe-inspiring, eye-gasm of a movie.  I found it odd at first that it was in 3D but tonight, I definitely see it was necessary.  There is so much glitz and glamor that explodes from the screen, I almost needed an intermission to blink.

Next, there is the cast, the wonderful, tour-de-force of a cast. Tobey Maguire portrays Nick Carraway, the wide-eyed wannabe Wall Street tycoon who moves in next to Gatsby and becomes his friend.  I had my reservations about Maguire at first but he ended up delivering an intensity which hasn't been seen from him in some time, at least not since Brothers.  Another casting decision I was surprised to see was Isla Fisher, portraying the small but pivotal role of Myrtle Wilson.  We've mostly seen her in comedies (Wedding Crashers, Hot Rod) so, being a fan of hers, I was itching to see if she had the gusto.  As far as I am concerned, she extended her versatility to new heights.  She made you laugh and broke your heart at the same time.  Elizabeth Debicki, who is mostly a stage actress, plays Jordan Baker, a female golfer and friend to Daisy Buchanan.  The expressions on her face are almost haunting and as the viewer, I almost got lost in her big, bold eyes.  She was mesmerizing even when not speaking.  Now, I wasn't real familiar with Joel Edgerton, but with his award worthy turn as polo player and husband to Daisy, Tom Buchanan, I am definitely familiar with him now.  He made the famously arrogant character bolder and sometimes, almost filthy.  Then there is the porcelain, fresh faced Daisy Buchanan who is married to Tom but we find out is the love of Gatsby's life.  Carey Mulligan has already, at the age of 27, accrued quite the versatile acting resume and this role just added a juggernaut of a portrayal to it.  You can see that hidden pain in her face throughout most of the movie. She just broke my heart, I wanted to put her in my pocket.

And then, there is the magnetic, titanic force that is Leo!!  Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby was brilliant casting. There is no doubt in my mind that this guy is not finished with throwing pure and utter acting brilliance in our faces.  His turn as the iconic Great Gatsby was, no I really mean IS, the performance of the year!!! I know I am just a little early but this can be his first for your consideration, someone hand that man an Oscar! As the philosopher, Forrest Gump would say, "that is all I have to say about that."

The entire production is just simply stunning and explosive. You have to watch it in 3D for sure.  The music is awesome and I love how they incorporate modern music into the movie.  That just made it dazzle even more.  The party scenes make you want to jump up and do the Charleston.  If I saw this in IMAX, I think I would know what it felt like to be in 1920's New York City.  So, I don't think I can go on with any more praise.  If you are reading this before seeing it, get your butt up and go to the theater.  Just remember, there is no intermission, so don't forget to blink.

Thank you and see you at the next blog.

Entertainer Profile - Matthew McConaughey

MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY

 

 Sometimes I think it is kind of a shame that Matthew McConaughey had the juggernaut year as he did in 2012.  Many times, when someone has that kind of year, it is hard for them to replicate it, which is exactly what I would like for him to do.  He had four major roles, which should have garnered him much award love, but did not, which is a big disappointment.  However, he demonstrated some serious versatility and if he is going to stay on this route, I cannot wait to see what he has in store for the future.

He was born in Uvalde, Texas (a town just a little over 5 hours west of where I am sitting right now) in 1969 but grew up in Longview, Texas, a town just east of Dallas.  His mom was a substitute teacher and dad was in the oil business.  While attending the University of Texas at Austin and studying to be a lawyer, Matthew suddenly decided he had another calling and changed his major to film.  After directing some short films, he was introduced to Richard Linklater (director of Dazed and Confused) and from there, a talented career began.

CST'S FAVORITE MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY ROLES
Dazed and Confused (1993) - He burst onto the scene in Richard Linklater's cult classic following a group of high school students enjoying their last day of school in 1976.  His character, David Wooderson, was the older guy of the bunch who had a deep affection for high school girls.  The character took being a loser to astronomical levels and McConaughey turned "David" into a cinematic icon.
Boys on the Side (1995)
Lonestar (1996)
A Time to Kill (1996) - This is still, to this day, my favorite John Grisham adaptation.  It was an emotional American drama that dealt with extremely sensitive and controversial issues and as far as I am concerned, one of the best casts ever assembled.  This was Matthew McConaughey's breakthrough performance and made him the new 'it' actor in Hollywood.
Contact (1997)
Amistad (1997)
U-571 (2000)
Frailty (2001) - A little known dark psychological thriller that I have always thoroughly enjoyed.
Reign of Fire (2002)
We Are Marshall (2006)
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
Bernie (2012) - This movie was great and if you are from Texas, you will love it and appreciate this true story out of Carthage even more.  Jack Black received a very well-deserved Golden Globe nomination but Shirley MacLaine and especially McConaughey should have received some award love too.

 

Killer Joe (2012) - I was really looking forward to this movie when I first saw it.  I was really looking forward to it until I recently saw it that is.  The acting was good, it really had a great cast, but the movie as a whole failed to draw me in.  However, there was Matthew McConaughey's chilling portrayal of Killer Joe, police detective by day, hired assassin by night.  His character was just an all around bad seed. But, he made that seed grow and blossom into his most sinister villain since Frailty.

The Paperboy (2012) - This movie was also quite the stinker in the plot department but was packed full of great performances by Nicole Kidman, Macy Gray, John Cusack, and Matthew McConaughey.

Magic Mike (2012) - What is so phenomenal about this performance is before this movie came out, it was hailed as nothing more but a bunch of eye-candy for the ladies, and of course, it was.  McConaughey portrayed the sleazy, aging male strip club owner in an all out awesome performance and nearly got nominated for an Oscar for it, well at least there was a lot of buzz which I guess is the same thing.

There were several missteps between Reign of Fire and The Lincoln Lawyer (except for We Are Marshall of course).  To name a few:  Failure to Launch, Fool's Gold, Sahara, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, and Two For the Money.  However, he bounced back brilliantly as far as I am concerned.  He bounced back so well in fact, he should have been nominated (Oscar, Golden Globe, what have you) for one or more of the last 4 movies in the above list.  He was quite the chameleon in these movies, reinventing himself every time.  I know I am not the only one who thinks so because he was applauded by critics.  From what I have read though, we can expect the same level of tour-de-force versatility in the near future and I say bring it on Matthew.  From one Texas boy to another, ya done good son.


Thank you and see you at the next blog.

Warm Bodies

3 1/2 STARS


 I have to admit, there were other movies I wanted to see tonight at my local cinema.  There were even a couple I needed to see for the sake of my "And the nominees are...." series.  However, I had a buddy of mine with me and we decided on the weekend's number one movie at the box office, Warm Bodies.  I have to say, what a pleasant and most interesting surprise.

Warm Bodies was written and directed by Jonathan Levine (50/50).  When the film begins, we meet R who is not only a young zombie, but he just so happens to be a zombie with a conscious who wants more out of his life (I know right).  He basically spends his days sloshing around an airport in a post-apocalyptic world where an epidemic infected most of the population....well, you know the rest of the story.  It's a plot that we are seeing a lot of these days.  However, there is a twist in this tale.  While a group of young humans leave their heavily guarded city, which is surrounded by a massive wall, to obtain medical supplies, they run into a group of the undead and of course a bloody battle ensues and at the same time, R set his sights on Julie and is immediately smitten with her.  He whisks her away to his airport home and an actual friendship begins to develop, but of course this is very forbidden.  Is this starting to sound familiar?  There is a definite Romeo and Juliet going on here.   Another twist to this, as you find out from watching the trailer, is as R and Julie get closer, he starts becoming more human starting with a beating heart.

Warm Bodies is original and funny with a much more interesting and watchable love story than any of these predictable romantic comedies we are bombarded with these days.  Now, just to let you know, this film is not bust-a-gut, laugh out loud funny but you will do plenty of chuckling.  The writing is smart and I thought it flowed at just the right pace in its 98 minutes and if there is a soundtrack, it will rock!  Some awesome throwback songs make appearances.  I was also impressed the young actors in their roles, especially the star-crossed lovers.  Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, X-Men: First Class) portrays R and does very well in a role that could not have been easy.  You will know what I mean when you see it. Teresa Palmer (Julie) is quite the fresh face and plays her part in awesome form, bouncing from tough as nails to vulnerable with ease.  One of my favorites, John Malkovich was cast in the role of Colonel Grigio, who leads the band of unaffected humans, and played the unemotional jackass leader as only he can, brilliantly.  Rob Corddry was a surprise and a pleasant one I might add.  He brings much of the comic relief of course as R's friend M, as he does with many of his roles, but he also showed some much broader acting chops in this one and I was impressed.

So, I, of course, say go on over and see Warm Bodies.  I guarantee you will leave not feeling like a cold fish.

Thank you and see you at the next blog.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

**This is part of my 2013 Academy Award Best Picture nominee series.  Also nominated for Best Actress,  Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.**

3 STARS


"An almost apocalyptic tale set right in our back yard, and yes, in this century. Poignant, original, heartbreaking, and worst of all, it is all really happening."

Beasts of the Southern Wild seemingly came out of nowhere this awards season.  For a few months last year, I had heard about it on news shows and saw its title pop up in articles online.  It may have been some time in December of 2012 when I finally saw the trailer.  I was still under the impression this was some National Geographic documentary taking place somewhere in Africa and then when I found out this amazing story is set less than 5 hours east of where I am sitting right now in Southeast Texas, I was stunned.  I am still stunned at the utter brilliance of how this movie is laid out.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a movie set in the southern most part of Louisiana in an area of the bayous called the Bathtub.  It focuses on a small group of people who still call the small island home.  I know now that it was the intention of the movie makers to make us, the audience, think we were going into a NatGeo documentary about a family on another continent, but it was so subtle and so sly that I have to give them a standing ovation.  The main human character would be Hushpuppy (played by, as of now, the youngest actress ever nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award, Quvenzhane Wallis) who also narrates the story of how she, her father, and a band of Bathtubians (my own choice word) are surviving extreme poverty and flooding of their low lying area.  Her father, known as Wink, is in failing health but refuses to leave the Bathtub and tries to encourage others to stay even when a major storm is about to hit their shanty town.

During all of this plight, more extreme than most of us can only imagine sitting in our warm (or cool) comfortable homes, Hushpuppy is learning, far too early, about courage and how far the human spirit, and human imagination, can take you in this life.  Quvenzhane Wallis is way ahead of her time in actual life also.    The nine-year old Houma, Louisiana native shines in this powerful role.  Much of the cast are, in fact, Louisiana residents.  Hushpuppy's father, Wink, is portrayed in a haunting performance by Dwight Henry, who owns a bakery in New Orleans's seventh ward. Now, the movie does get a little wabbly in the middle.  It seems to not know where it wants to go. However, it does quickly get back on track and ends up leaving you speechless.  The performances are powerful, the plot is uber original, yet frightening.  When you finally see Beasts of the Southern Wild, hopefully you will see Hushpuppy and her gang as less beast and more beauty.

Thank you and see you at the next blog.

Once Upon A Time (TV series)

 
Once upon a time, something brilliant came to television.
Once upon a time, something smart came to television.
Once upon a time, something energetic came to television.
Once upon a time, something........fantastical came to television.


This is so audacious for a network, but lets face it, networks have to put their balls to the wall these days to compete with all the original series on the cable networks, who can do, say, and be as naked as they want.  The actors and actresses on cable can take their characters anywhere they want, be as extreme, as daring, as....well......audacious as they want.

ABC seemed to have told themselves they needed to bring something to our living rooms that was completely different, and they did.   Now in its second season, Once Upon A Time is set in the fictional town of Storybrooke, Maine where it turns out all the residents are under the curse of an evil queen.  Actually, they are all the characters from the fairy tales we all grew up reading (and from the Disney movies we watched) who, because of the curse, were transported from their world to ours.  Half of each episode takes place in present day in the town of Storybrooke and the other half shows them all as their fairy tale character in their own world.  As far as I am concerned, it is an ingenious plot oozing with originality. 

Leading this amazing ensemble is Mary Margaret Blanchard (played beautifully and innocently by Ginnifer Goodwin, Walk the Line) who is also Snow White from the fairy tale world.  There is also Prince Charming/David Nolan, The Evil Queen/Mayor Regina Mills, Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold (in a, as far as I am concerned, constant award worthy performance by Robert Carlyle), Ruby/Little Red Riding Hood,and so on and so forth.  Another great aspect of the show is the constant introduction of more and more intriguing characters.  Season 2 has seen the introduction of Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, and Captain Hook (played by the dashing Colin O'Donoghue).  The special effects are also pretty impressive especially for network television.  Even though the characters come from stories we already know, the story lines are extremely fresh and original for these times of every subject known to man being portrayed on television now.  I absolutely love the originality, and everyone who reads my blogs knows I devour originality.

So, for all of you Netflixers who have been skipping over Season 1, stop and start watching now then go onto abc.com and get on board with Season 2.  Once upon a time, you will be happy you did.

Thank you and see you at the next blog.

Django Unchained

**Now nominated for the 2012 Best Picture Academy Award.**


 4 STARS!



"One of the rawest and most unhinged movies of 2012. Tarantino nailed it and gathered up a group of the best performances ever!"




Well 2012 is over and we are only a few days into 2013.  However, we are dealing with the slough of movies that come out before the end of the physical year to make the deadline for awards season.  Yes, you know all the serious, dramatic fare that comes in the fall after all the explosions from the summer have wined down.  It's those movies that make the people on the award panels salivate profusely. In the middle of all the nominations for Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty, and Argo, there's Django Unchained.

"The new film by Quentin Tarantino" is raw American movie making at it's most primal, and at it's finest.  Django Unchained is set three years before the beginning of the American Civil War and almost immediately we are introduced to Dr. King Shultz (Christopher Waltz, Inglorious Bastards), a very colorful character throughout the movie who comes upon our hero Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave chained together with some other slaves on their way to a plantation.  Dr. Shulz, who is a bounty hunter, buys Django his freedom and they become partners in the bounty hunting business.  However, Django has another agenda.  He is on a journey to find his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), who was  taken from him and sold as a house slave to evil plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

So, the paragraph above is the gist of the story and if you haven not seen it yet, that is all you need to know.  I am now going to get to the performances and the movie itself.  Django Unchained is violent and in your face bloody.  I mean, it is splattering everywhere, but lets face it, after you see it, you will realize and know that it needed to be that way.  It was a very violent time in American History.  As of the writing of this review, the Academy Award nominations come out tomorrow.  No doubt, there should be nominations for Jamie Foxx, Christopher Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kerry Washington.  However, I have come back down to Earth and know that could not happen because I also think a few people here and there in Lincoln need to be nominated and win too.   All these people were so good, so intense, so unbelievable.  Jamie Foxx as the hero and lead character has all the emotional cues down, he needed to be hardcore and angry as hell of course but I saw, in the scenes where the anger had to turn, his face would make this gradual change, but you could see the angst when he just wanted to cry. He almost looked like a sad little boy and I thought that was better than spilling the tears.

Oh, what to say about Leo's Calvin Candie?  This movie was released Christmas Day and this character has already been billed as the, I guess you could say, most villainous villain of 2012, even beating The Dark Knight Rises Bane.  This man is nasty but if you go into the theater without knowing a thing, at first you are going to think, wow this is a real fun guy.  Lets face it people, Leonardo DiCaprio is one the greats of our time, I mean, the man is an artist and Calvin Candie is  sprayed all over the canvas like muck from a barn floor.  I had only seen Christopher Waltz in Inglorious Bastards and he was of course, phenomenal in that but I am not familiar with any of his other work.  Comparing his phenomenal Bastards performance to this one, this one is a juggernaut.  You literally have to see the character of Dr. Shulz to believe it. We all know Samuel L. Jackson and his very wide range of work, but this role just expands his range to the size of the Grand Canyon.  His role as Stephen, the head of the house slaves for Calvin Candie, is part grouchy old man, part wiseass, part sociopath.  Honestly, I don't know if he would have been my first choice to play the character but he turned out to be utter perfection.

Django Unchained is awe-inspiring original story telling by one of the great screenwriters and directors of our time.  Quentin Tarantino weaves a story so compelling and raw, yet comedic, it is very reminiscent of his other great movies like Pulp Fiction.  It is also reminiscent of the westerns from the past with Tarantino's awesome modern twists of graphic violence mixed in.  I also loved the music in the movie.  I definitely plan on buying the soundtrack.  This movie is so raw and unhinged, it could also be described as, well, unchained.

Thank you and see you at the next blog.

Entertainer Profile - Sally Field

SALLY FIELD

Yes, we love her, we really love her.  So, with my just recently published review of Lincoln, I decided my next Entertainer Profile should be on one of the many icons in the film and of course, on one of my favorite actresses (and one of the most talented) of all time.

Icon is hardly the only word to describe Sally Field.  Sex symbol in the 1960's, 2-time Academy Award winner for Best Actress in the 1970's and 1980's, Forrest Gump's mom in the 1990's,  Nora Walker in the 2000's, and Mary Todd Lincoln and Aunt Mae (The Amazing Spider Man) in 2012.

She was born in 1946 in Pasadena, California to actress Margaret Field and a salesman father.  She landed the coveted role of Gidget right off the bat at age 19, however it was cancelled due to low ratings.  Then came little more successful Flying Nun and the roles just kept coming.

CST's FAVORITE SALLY FIELD ROLES

Gidget (tv series 1965-1966) - This series only lasted 32 episodes but still remains a classic and  launched Sally Field's career.  She will be forever loved as the bubbly, fresh faced Gidget, a young girl living in California with her widowed father, spending her days surfing and hanging with her friends.

The Flying Nun (tv series 1967-1970) - First, I have to admit, I have never seen this show, well, a clip here and there.  I had to include this because this is a big piece of her career and, even though it was short-lived, an important piece of pop culture television history.

Sybil (1976) - This television movie brought Sally Field into a much different light and showed her range was staggering.  Portraying a woman who created 16 different personalities as the result of physical and sexual abuse earned her a well-deserved Emmy.
Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
Norma Rae (1979) - She earned the first of her 2 Best Actress Oscars portraying a Southern textile worker who gets sick and tired of working in horrible conditions and works to unionize the mill, no matter the cost.
Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
Places in the Heart (1984) - She earned her 2nd Oscar for Best Actress playing a woman in the 1930's South who is suddenly widowed and must continue to provide for her family and pay the mortgage so she plants cotton with the help of some friends.
Murphy's Romance (1985)
Steel Magnolias (1989) - Seriously, do I need to even explain why I included this?
Soapdish (1991) - In my opinion, one of the most underrated comedies ever.
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Forrest Gump (1994) - She proved to us, life really is like a box of chocolates.
A Woman of Independent Means (1995) - A little known mini-series that I remember loving and shows her talent for portraying strong women.
Eye for an Eye (1996) - Everyone who knows me, knows I love a great psychological thriller and I loved seeing her in one.  Sally Field kicked Kiefer Sutherland's ass in this one.
From the Earth to the Moon (1998)
Where the Heart Is (2000) - A small, but pivotal role that she nailed.
ER (2000-2006) - Won the 2nd of her 3 Emmys for her 12-episode role as Maggie, mother to Maura Tierney's Abby Lockhart character suffering from bipolar disorder.
Brothers and Sisters (2006-2011) - Oh my, oh my, oh my, what can I say about the great television matriarch that was Nora Walker?  I absolutely loved this show, oh hell, I still love this show.  It is one of the few television shows in my DVD arsenal where not only do I own the entire season, I have watched them over and over again.  Her performances were hilarious at times and gut-wrenchingly sad at others and provided most of the kleenex-worthy scenes as, which my friend Amy says, proves Sally Field is one of the best criers on any size screen.  The funny thing was, when the show premiered, it was being billed as Calista Flockhart's return to television but then, everyone saw the cinematic icon out acting all the "brothers and sisters" of the show and that earned her a third Emmy award.
The Amazing Spider Man (2012) - One of the only good things about this stinker.
Lincoln (2012) - see my review.

It's hard to believe but it has been 47 years since she burst onto the scene with Gidget, and still even now in 2012, she starred in two of the most anticipated and bankable movies of the year.  Also, of course, I see a definite nomination for many awards for Lincoln.  I still have this secret dream that I will share with you now that when my autobiography is written and the movie is made, she will play my mom because seriously, they could be sisters.  It is scary how much they look alike.  So ready for your next role Aunt Sally.

Thank you and see you at the next blog.