The Hangover: Part III

Wow was this disappointing. The Hangover was a great film. The Hangover Part II was a rehash of one, and was okay. Instead of rehashing one or two, The Hangover: Part III throws all that out the window and inserts a plot involving Mr. Leslie Chow being wanted by Mexican gangsters. Of course, Doug gets kidnapped, so he's out of the picture for most of the film again. The Wolfpack then has to get Mr. Chow to the gangsters in order to get their friend back. I'm glad I did not pay money to see this in theaters. Yikes. I would rank this better than the second film, but only by a hair. It's wierd that I found myself disliking the second movie because it repeated some of the same gags as the first, and then when the third film did not use the same gags as the first two, I found myself disliking it! I guess the first two films created an expectation which was not met.

 2.5 out of 5 stars

Hit and Run

I caught Hit and Run on Netflix last week, and you should too. Its one of those few Netflix movies you might have never heard of that is actually worth your time.  Hit and Run was written by it's star, Dax Shepard which he co-directed with David Palmer.  You may know Dax from his initial run on MTV's Punk'd. If you remember the show, Dax was one of the best actors on there, tricking celebrities. He parlayed that show into some bit roles in TV and film, finally landing a lead role in the show Parenthood, which he is pretty good in as well.

Hit and Run is kind of a throwback movie to car films of the 70's.  There is a minimal plot where Dax's character is in witness protection in a small town with a new girlfriend, played by real life fiance Kristen Bell, where his old life comes back to haunt him and he has to go on the run.  What follows is Bradley Cooper in dreadlocks chasing after Dax and Kristin in car after car after car after car.

The chase scenes are all well shot, and lose the CGI effect and stunts that bigger films have for effective old-school filming.  It's nice to see a movie where you know there is a real driver driving a real car in this real chase. It makes it a little more exciting than when you can spot the CGI.  I thought the film was fun, add it to your Netflix queue and go drive some cars!

3.5 out of 5 Stars

Trailer

Silver Linings Playbook

I watched Silver Linings Playbook last night.  I had wanted to watch it, mainly because of the hype leading up to the movie, as well as the Oscar buzz it had.  After Jennifer Lawrence won for Best Actress, i really wanted to see the film.  After viewing it, I don't understand the hype.  Sometimes I feel like the Oscar crowd gets all hyped up on performances for the wrong reasons.  Bradley Cooper was fine here, but nothing in this performance made me feel it was Oscar-Nomination worthy.  His character is bi-polar and yells a lot in his manic states.  I feel like I've seen Cooper do this before.  As for Jennifer Lawrence, I would say the same thing.  For me, her performance wasn't anything special or Oscar-worthy.  Don't get me wrong, she is not terrible, it's just that  no scene really stands out that sets her apart.

One of the things that also struck me as strange was that the title, Silver Linings Playbook isn't really explained. Only once does Cooper's character say "silver lining" and as for "playbook" I guess that has to do with the football subplot surrounding Robert DeNiro's character.  Its not really clear.  Now, I'm not saying that film titles should be always on the nose, but most of the time I can understand after seeing a film why it is titled as such. I enjoyed watching the movie, but if you're only curious like I was because of the Oscar-buzz only, just be forewarned that the film will by no means blow you away with its plot or acting.  I think the Oscar voters just wanted to see a young hottie onstage rather than her older competitors.

3 out of 5 stars

Trailer