Movie Reviews For October 2, 2015: THE MARTIAN, THE WALK and SICARIO

THE MARTIAN
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: October 2, 2015
Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Plot: A man must figure out how to survive alone on Mars after he is accidentally left behind
Trailer

Clint Says: Wait until after opening weekend, but see this in theaters

Clocking in at just shy of 2 1/2 hours, THE MARTIAN is surprisingly fast-paced and doesn't feel long at all. This is a fascinating and compelling film that will draw you in and captivate you from the opening minutes until the end credits roll.

The cinematography and effect are spectacular. In fact, this may be a decent contender for some of the technical awards coming up. However, I don't see this movie getting nominations for things like best picture, best actor or director. I can't really put my finger on it, but I was expecting this film to be more than it was. I think it was missing an emotional element that could have taken it from a great movie to an Oscar front-runner.

THE MARTIAN is definitely worth the price of a theater ticket, but it isn't a film that is going to wow you like GRAVITY did.




THE WALK
Rated: PG
Release Date: October 2, 2015
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon, Ben Kingsley
Plot: In 1974 a French man travels to New York City to try to secretly, and illegally, walk a high-wire between the World Trade Center towers.
Trailer

Clint Says: Drop everything and go see this movie now

This film is spectacularly fun and insanely intense. I spent a good 45 minutes of the film grabbing the arm rests on my seat as tight as I could for fear of falling off the buildings. In fact, the sheer epicness of the tight rope scenes may be even better than what we witnessed while watching GRAVITY. And while EVEREST was intense, this movie makes EVEREST look like a mole hill.

Like EVEREST and GRAVITY, THE WALK is a movie that must be seen in IMAX 3D. If you wait for the DVD you'll miss the whole point of the grandness and depth of the film.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a marvelous job in his role, so much so that there may be a few award nomination in his future. I doubt he will win any of them, but the nominations may be there. It will be up for, and win, many technical awards.

Tickets to THE WALK should come with an oxygen tank, mask and blood pressure medication. If you only see a couple of films a year, this should be one of them.




SICARIO
Rated: R
Release Date: October 2, 2015
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Stars: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro
Plot: An FBI agent is recruited to a black ops operation with the goal of cutting off the head of the Mexican drug cartel
Trailer

Clint Says: Save some money and see a matinee

This film had the potential to be something unique and interesting. Instead, it took the road almost always traveled by Hollywood and it became nothing more than your typical drug movie shoot-em-up.

Beyond that it took Emily Blunt's character and went completely off the rails. She is described as an agent that "has been kicking down doors since day one", meaning that she is kick-butt in the field. Unfortunately, the director decided that it would be a great idea for her to completely forget her training and fall apart having to rely on the stronger and smarter men throughout.

I will say that the film is interesting an compelling even though it is cliche and annoying, but it's not good enough to spend the big bucks at the theater.

DVD Review For March 24, 2015

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans
Plot: Bilbo and Gandalf must work together to try to save Middle-Earth from the greed of its varied inhabitants.
Trailer

Clint Says: Rent this when you have the time

Director Peter Jackson finishes strong with the final installment in THE HOBBIT trilogy. It's not the best film of the bunch, but it is satisfying enough that fans of the series will walk away feeling fulfilled.

I will say that it feels like there is something missing from this movie. To be quite honest I can't figure it out, but I think it's the lack of character depth. This is essentially a 2 1/2 hour CGI battle movie and I would have liked a bit more story out of it.

The action is spectacular, the creatures are fascinating and the quest is compelling. And, without giving anything away, the finale of this film ties in beautifully to the beginning of THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.

It's the end of an era, so enjoy this one.




INTO THE WOODS
Rated: PG
Stars: Anna Kendrick, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine
Plot: A baker and his wife encounter several other fairy tale figures as they try to complete a task for a witch.
Trailer

Clint Says: Rent this soon

I saw this musical on stage several years ago and absolutely loved it. When I heard that Disney was making it into a film I was a bit nervous that the story would get too sanitized from the original to really have any impact. Thankfully, I was wrong.

Disney did a spectacular job at making this a musical palatable for children, (although I probably wouldn't take anyone under age 8), yet still intense and dramatic for the adults. The screen version is also significantly funnier than I remember the stage performance to be.

One big mark against this film is its length. There is a point where it feels like the movie ends, but then it goes on for about an hour after that. They probably could have accomplished the same thing by editing the last hour down to about 20 minutes.

Chris Pine steals the show and his song "Agony" is the highlight of the entire film. Meryl Streep does a fine job, although I didn't consider it to be award-worthy. If I had my choice of award nominations for this movie I would give the nod to Daniel Huttlestone who plays Jack. (He also plays Gavroche in Les Mis). He is mesmerizing once again.

Fans of the musical will notice missing and new songs in this version, but I think you will like this version all the same.




UNBROKEN
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Jack O'Connell, Takamasa Ishihara, Domhnall Gleeson
Plot: A former Olympian gets stranded at sea during World War II then becomes a prisoner of war inside Japan for several years.
Trailer

Clint Says: Rent this after you've seen the other movies out this week

This movie could have been something special, but it never gets there. I wasn't made to care for the main character any more than the other POWs, nor did I really hate his enemies. The character development was weak at best and in many cases non-existent. We blow through the main character's childhood and Olympic career so fast that we miss anything that might have been compelling about him.

Jolie uses flashbacks during the first third of the film which are powerful and well done, but then they just stop. For the last two thirds of the film we get nothing. I think the movie could have been a lot more powerful if she had kept those flashbacks going as a way to show his resolve and something to give him hope.

This is not a bad film at all, in fact it is pretty good, it just isn't great. And a movie like this needs to be great.

DVD Review For October 7, 2014

A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST
Rated: R
Stars: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson
Plot: A meek farmer must stand up to a rough cowboy to fight for the woman he loves
Trailer

Clint Says: Don't even bother

If you are in the mood for a completely mindless, boring, useless flick full of juvenile humor this film will still disappoint you. I can't stress enough how bad this movie is. Seth MacFarlane wrote, directed, produced and starred in it, and apparently he didn't have anyone around him willing to tell him "no".

MacFarlane must have compromising pictures of Liam Neeson and Charlize Theron or they owe him a huge debt. Those are the only plausible explanations as to why they would be in a horrific train-wreck of a movie like this.

On the plus side, I will admit that there are a couple of good laughs in this flick, but only a couple. And having to sit through almost two hours of clichéd crap for two or three laughs is painful at best.

The best thing about A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST is that it is so bad there is zero chance we will have to see Seth MacFarlane screwing up the OSCARS again.

EDGE OF TOMORROW

Rated: PG-13

Stars: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt
Plot: A soldier finds himself repeating the same day, a day the aliens destroyed humanity. But he uses his special ability to get trained in a way to destroy the enemy.
Trailer

Clint Says: Rent this DVD this week

If you like sci-fi action flicks EDGE OF TOMORROW will completely satisfy your craving. It has aliens, explosions, cool weapons, people that don't get what's happening, a pretty boy that has no clue how to do anything and a super-awesome, kick butt woman that has to turn the pretty boy into a hardened soldier so he can save the world.

I found the movie to be mostly original in its story, with the exception of the one-alien-to-rule-them-all thing that so many sci-fi movies use as a crutch to make sure the humans can finally win. But aside from that it was an enjoyable action flick with a 50 FIRST DATES style love story thrown in to give the audience a little break from the action.

I would recommend seeing this on as big a TV screen as possible with the best sound available. So if that means finding someone with an awesome man cave, start planning now.



MILLION DOLLAR ARM
Rated: PG
Stars: John Hamm, Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal
Plot: A down-on-his-luck sports agent tries to right his career by creating a reality show in India to find cricket players and turn them into Major League Baseball pitchers.
Trailer

Clint Says: It's worth watching once

MILLION DOLLAR ARM is a fine film. It has an interesting story and beautiful imagery that is worth seeing, but it's not worth spending the money to own the DVD.

This film is family-friendly, so if you are looking for a movie for the crew you won't be disappointed in this.

John Hamm gives a fine performance and Alan Arkin is a show stealer as usual. It's a great feel-good, inspirational story that is worth seeing once.

Movie Review for June 6, 2014

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff
Plot: Two teens with cancer fall in love and learn how to live a beautiful, if short, life.
Trailer

Clint Says: Drop everything and go see this movie now...and take tissues

Not only is TFIOS the best movie of the year so far, (I told you MALEFICENT wouldn't hold the title very long), it has a great chance of holding that title when the year finally comes to a close. It is a master-class work by the entire cast and crew. 

Fans of the book by the same name will not be even the slightest bit disappointed by the film adaptation. It is rare to see a movie that so closely follows the book. I liken it to the first HARRY POTTER film where almost every bit of the book was portrayed on the big screen, and in a way that was very true to the book.

Shailene Woodley gives an Oscar-worthy performance and Ansel Elgort is charming throughout. Woodley and Elgort are perfectly cast as Hazel and Augustus, and even the hard-core YA fans aren't going to have a problem with the they-are-brother-and-sister-in-DIVERGENT-but-lovers-in-TFIOS-how-weird thing.

For those of you out there who say, "ugh, I don't want to see some cancer death movie," don't be so quick to judge. In THE HUNGER GAMES kids killed kids, yes, but that wasn't what it was about. In TFIOS, teens are dying from cancer, but the story is about them living, and loving, to the fullest that they can in the short infinity they are given.

I have seen TFIOS twice, something I rarely do simply because I see so many movies that I only have time to see ones that I REALLY love more than once. The second time through I was able to really see the layers that make this film so enjoyable.

A few weeks ago I had the honor of hosting the DEMAND OUR STARS event at War Memorial in Nashville with John Green, Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff and 2,000 screaming TFIOS fans. You can see the recap of that event here. We also got to interview all four of them on Mix 92.9 the following day. You can hear that interview here, or see it here.

They are all very down-to-earth, genuinely good people that were able to come together and make a truly stellar film.



EDGE OF TOMORROW
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt
Plot: A soldier finds himself repeating the same day, a day the aliens destroyed humanity. But he uses his special ability to get trained in a way to destroy the enemy.
Trailer

Clint Says: Wait until after opening weekend, but see it in theaters

If you like sci-fi action flicks EDGE OF TOMORROW will completely satisfy your craving. It has aliens, explosions, cool weapons, people that don't get what's happening, a pretty boy that has no clue how to do anything and a super-awesome, kick butt woman that has to turn the pretty boy into a hardened soldier so he can save the world.

I found the movie to be mostly original in its story, with the exception of the one-alien-to-rule-them-all thing that so many sci-fi movies use as a crutch to make sure the humans can finally win. But aside from that it was an enjoyable action flick with a 50 FIRST DATES style love story thrown in to give the audience a little break from the action.

I would recommend paying the extra money to see this in a bigger theater with the huge sound system, but if you don't want to blow $20 on a movie for one ticket, seeing it in 2D will still get the job done.
By the way, these tough soldiers are going to lose big time to the teen girl army at the box office this weekend.