Just Go With It

2011 - 0/5

I will be going to Hawaii soon and I was in the mood to watch a movie that was filmed in Hawaii. My choices were Just Go With It or 50 First Dates. I picked the latter. So why am I writing the review for Just Go With It? Well, because apparently, I no longer own 50 First Dates.

There were so many random things that were added in that didn’t need to be there:
-the boy pretending to ‘smoke’ with his straw.
-the kid throwing a drink at his mom.
-and most importantly, Palmer wanting to meet ‘Devlin’.

This movie was a train wreck after train wreck! I will admit that I got 2 chuckles throughout the entire movie; but were they memorable? no. I found myself straying away several times because it was boring and cheesy. The only reason I kept it on was to see the Hawaiian background.

The Last Stand

2013 – 2.8/5

First impressions: Arnold Schwarzenegger. That is all.

Actually, for the sake of this review being longer, I’ll explain myself. I grew up when Arnold was at his peak (…if you can call it that) with T2, Jingle All the Way and Kindergarten Cop. From the first time I saw the trailer for this movie, I knew I had to see it in order to satisfy the ‘cheesy nostalgia’ void that was all of a sudden created.

Obviously this wasn’t a movie I was going to see in theaters, so yes, I did watch this movie a couple months after its release date. It was always on the list though, so I knew I’d watch it one day. Today was that day, and here’s why:
My movie-mood: mindless, comedy, action.
The movies tagline: Not in his town. Not on his watch.
Outcome: check, check, and check.

Was it good? Surprisingly yes! I was so ready to tear this movie apart, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I have no problems saying that I was highly entertained. Does that make it a good movie? Well, no; it had its flaws. But for what I wanted and expected, it delivered. With regards to my movie-mood, I was 3 for 3. What more could I ask for!

I got a movie with a decent plot, and a big enough budget to pull it off. I can’t explain why I needed to mention the budget part, but something about the movie made it noticeable that the plot was held together because of the budget. Sorry if that doesn’t make sense, but there’s something there I can’t quite put my finger on, let alone explain.

When it comes to the acting, Arnold was as good as I remember (keeping in mind I was 10ish-years-old when I saw the previously mentioned movies). The only other person I knew was Johnny Knoxville, and I can’t say I get why his name is on the poster. There were other actors that had more screen time and had bigger roles in the movie. Speaking of which, I think Jaimie Alexander (as Sarah), Zach Gilford (as Jerry) and Luis Guzman (as Mike) all did a really good job with their roles. I thought there was a good blend of characters that made up the police force. The actors complimented one another, so that was a nice bonus. I didn’t know Forest Whitaker was in this movie, but he fit in very well as a FBI agent.

I’m not going to say that the script dragged this movie down, because it didn’t. The script for this movie pretty much existed because it would be awkward to have everyone on screen without dialogue. With that being said, I will admit this movie did have a few good one-liners that I liked*. Was the screenplay the highlight of this movie? Absolutely not. Did it work? Ya.

Overall, I got exactly what I wanted from it. Decent plot, good acting, okay script and nice camera angles. It is a movie you can have fun with. It even pokes fun at itself too! If you’re in the mood for a popcorn flick like I was, I think you’d enjoy it just as much. Definitely a throwback to Arnold's old movies.


*Some of the lines I liked (***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***)

Irv: How are you Sheriff?
Sheriff Owens: Old.

Sheriff Owens: You make us immigrants look bad.

Cortez: You fucked up my car.
Sheriff Owens: You fucked up my day off.

Stand Up Guys

2013 - 0.2/5

This was a movie I had never heard about until I saw it in the list of movies Christopher Walken has been in. A combination of my Christopher Walken Bias and seeing that Alan Arkin is in it too, made it so that this movie got onto my to-see list. I’m pretty sure it was in theatres for a short while, and that’s probably because it had Walken, Arkin and Al Pacino. I’m indifferent to Pacino; I’ve never been a huge fan, but I know the guy has talent.

This movie was pretty dry and dull. There wasn’t much to it. Doc picks up his best friend Val, from prison after having served 28 years. This movie is about what they do on Val’s first day/night out as a paroled man. Doc and Val pay a visit to their other best friend, Hirsch (Arkin). Arkin wasn't in the movie as much as I would have liked, but the movie does have a decent amount of screen time with the 3 of them enjoying their night together. The twist is (no spoilers because it’s in the synopsis… and I wouldn’t recommend watching this movie, so it really doesn’t matter) that Doc is supposed to kill Val by 10am the next day.

The screenplay wasn’t great, but this was my favourite line:
Val: They say we die twice. Once when the breath leaves our body, and once when the last person we know says our name.

The movie itself was about as entertaining as an old mans life. How you want to interrupt that with regards to this movie is up to you.