Drama

The Hero

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Hero
  • IMDb: link

The Hero movie reviewThe Hero is a fairly straightforward film about an aging actor coming to terms with his mortality after a troubling medical diagnosis forces him to reexamine his life. Western star Lee Hayden (Sam Elliott) is known really for only one role over his long career (which now consists mostly of commercial voice-over work for barbecue sauce). Elliot is well-cast, and makes the most of the character as he tries to mend fences with his estranged daughter (Krysten Ritter) and try to understand his new relationship with a younger woman (Laura Prepon) who walks unexpectedly into his life.

While not as ambitious as I’d like, director and co-writer Brett Haley delivers just what you’d expect from a film with this premise, ultimately The Hero fails or succeeds on the performance of Elliot who shoulders most of the film’s emotional weight. Thankfully he’s up to the task. I was a bit unsure about Prepon and her character, but her influence does drive some of the film’s best scenes which include Hayden’s audition won when his drug-controlled behavior at an awards show goes viral over social media. The Hero is a solid film. It won’t wow you, but like it’s leading character, it’s slow and steady. Sometimes that does win the race.

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Megan Leavey

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Megan Leavey
  • IMDb: link

Megan Leavey movie reviewBased on the true story of US Marine Corporal Megan Leavey and her four-legged partner Rex who served two deployments in Iraq finding hidden explosive devices and insurgent weapons, Kate Mara stars as a lost young woman who finds purpose as a K9 handler. With the potential pitfalls of being both an uplifting military tale and a movie about a woman and her dog, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite and screenwriters Pamela Gray, Annie Mumolo, and Tim Lovestedt do a fair bit of work to not let things get too schmaltzy over the film’s 116-minute running time (although at certain times in the film this becomes a losing battle).

As someone who doesn’t mind a little schmaltz, as long as it serves the story (and it certainly does here), Megan Leavey delivers an engaging tale. Kate Mara may not be the typical idea of a Marine, but Leavey’s story is hardly typical and the casting works. While she and the dog are the true stand-outs here, a grizzled Bradley Whitford (who it took me a moment to recognize) steals a scene or two as Megan’s father. Harry Potter‘s Tom Felton also has a small role as a fellow dog handler. Less effective are the one-note performances of Edie Falco and Will Patton as Megan’s mother and her boyfriend.

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Jerry Maguire

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Jerry Maguire
  • IMDb: link

Jerry Maguire Blu-ray reviewWriter/director Cameron Crowe‘s quotable film is re-released on a 20th Edition Blu-ray set. Tom Cruise stars as sports agent Jerry Maguire whose late night epiphany about working better for fewer clients (and less money) costs him his job, his fiance (Kelly Preston), and all but a single client. Leaving his firm and striking out on his own, Jerry builds a new life supporting the difficult wide receiver (Cuba Gooding Jr., who took home and Oscar for his role as Rod Tidwell) and falling for the one woman (Renée Zellweger) and her son (Jonathan Lipnicki) who follow him to his new enterprise.

20 years later the film proves to still be highly entertaining. Cruise and Gooding are terrific, her role would make the fresh-faced Zellweger a star, and young Jonathan Lipnicki is ridiculously cute. Schmaltzy at times but with a big heart, the film is worth seeking out if you haven’t seen it in awhile. It may not be Cruise’s best, but it’s certainly one of his most watchable films.

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Bambi

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Bambi
  • IMDb: link

Bambi Blu-ray reviewReleased 75 years ago, Walt Disney’s Bambi offers the coming of age story of a white-tailed deer named Bambi and friends Thumper and Flower. Because of the age of the characters varies ove the course of the story, multiple actors were brought in to do the voice work of Bambi and his friends. Although an older Bambi has a on-screen rival for the affections of his lady love, Disney goes a bit darker here with the looming threat of Man being the true villain of the film responsible for both the death of Bambi’s mother and later the fire which threatens the entire forest at the end of the film.

Even with a focus on making the animals more realistic, Disney still lost money on the feature in its initial release. However, it made it’s money back (and then some) with several additional theatrical releases over the years. Because of its darker themes the film was met with a mixed reception initially, but has earned it’s spot over the years as one of the best animated films ever made.

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A Four-Course Meal of Pretentious White Privilege

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Dinner
  • IMDb: link

The Dinner movie review

Writer/director Oren Moverman‘s film, based on the novel by Herman Koch, is a claustrophobic acting exercise that would seem to be more at home on stage than in a movie theater. The film centers around four unlikable people brought together at a ridiculously posh restaurant discussing, or rather talking around and avoiding discussing, events of recent days concerning a horrible act committed by the two couples’ teenage sons. The more time we spend with the two couples and their sons the less likely we are to care what happens to anyone involved.

Our cast includes Congressman Stan Lohman (Richard Gere) and his second wife Katelyn (Rebecca Hall), the politician’s brother Paul (Steve Coogan), a former teacher suffering from some form of early-onset dementia, and his wife Claire (Laura Linney). Other characters come and go including various wait staff (Michael Chernus, among others), Stan’s ex-wife (Chloë Sevigny), and the politician’s aides (most notably Adepero Oduye), but everyone aside from these four core characters (including the flashbacks to the boys themselves) prove to be superfluous to the plot.

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