Passing My Dad

I am lucky.  I have been blessed with great health my entire life, and it's something I do not take for granted.

But I can't always say that truthfully.  When we all were younger, getting a medical physical was simply a formality.  You went they did what they did, and you got a letter a week or two later saying all is well. Maybe lose a few pounds and don't smoke.  That's how I always thought of it until this year.

I am seldom sick and honestly outside of hernia surgery 4 years ago, I have never really entered the health care system. And that was outpatient stuff.  I took a konk above the eye with a ricocheted golf ball a few years ago for my one and only ER trip.  But by and large, I have been very healthy and I am thankful.

Next week I go in for a yearly checkup and a couple of other things that you need to do.  This year it's a little different for me.  I am the exact age my dad was when he got sick and passed away.  That was a long time ago. In those days you got cancer, you did chemo, radiation, and then you died. Things are very different today as treatments are so much better and results are as well and we should all be thankful for that.

But this is a bit sobering for me especially since I am so much like my dad.  I look like him, am built like him and have so much in common, my mom still shakes her head at me and laughs.  Plus, there are people in my life that have been battling illnesses and conditions they don't deserve many at or around my age.  I am not afraid of this appointment by any means, but I would be lying if I said it hasn't been on my mind some.  I have done what you can do. I have lost some weight, I am eating better, I have not smoked cigarettes in 27 years, and have an active lifestyle.  I look forward to the letter in a couple weeks saying I am OK.

This checkup coming up is the same week as my dad's passing, in fact just a few days before the actual date.  It worked out that way by accident, and I'm glad. It's a chance to look back to a different time, stare it down, and go zooming by a place that was his last stop. And that's exactly what I am planning to do.  It's the least that can be done considering his time was cut so short.

It's a funny thing when you start to look at things differently than earlier in your life.  I remember when my dad died, I thought I was the one who got a bad deal. After all I was only 16 and I think under the circumstances it is normal to have those feelings.  But now, I realize that it was him that really got the bad deal as I have now caught him in age and I feel his mortality.  He lived a healthy life, and it all didn't work out for him like he planned, or deserved.  And I feel somewhat ashamed for thinking for years it was my loss alone, when it was more accurately his. But I was young, and proper perspective is not granted to the less seasoned.

So here's to good health and leaving places behind that are better left there.  And to my dad Robert who will be cheering me on well past his finish line, all the while telling me that mine is well beyond the horizon and no where in sight.

MOVIE REVIEW - Get Hard

Kevin Hart and Will Farrell star in the new comedy, Get Hard, that's out this week.

Have you seen any comedy over the past few years?  This is a buddy comedy that is squarely targeted at 18 year old boys, and to them this may be one of the funniest things ever.  What they have done here is cram all the dirty words, phrases, and body part humor into one big movie with a big cast and shove it down our throats.  Truth be told there are some funny moments in this movie but it lacks any originality, and any kind of taste.

Get Hard is the story of James (Farrell).  He is a highly successful and rich investment broker who works for his soon to be father in law, Martin (Craig T. Nelson).  James is then framed for embezzlement by Martin and ends up being sentenced to 10 years in maximum security prison which is in no way ready for.  

So he hires a friend Darnell (Hart), to teach him how to cope in prison all the while James is thinking that Darnell has been to San Quentin and done time there. Which he has not.   But since Darnell needs a ton of money to buy his wife and daughter a new house he accepts the job and tries to prepare James for his prison stay in just 30 days.  And the humor is on,  and you can imagine what James is being prepared to do and not to do in prison.

All humor aside and setting aside the few laughs there are in this, Get Hard is immensely stereotypical in every regard.  No group of people, no matter what their color is is immune from the sting here.  This movie completely reinforces every stereotype there is.  This movie is a great example of Hollywood and their approach to the contemporary comedy.  They write two jokes.  And they tell them over and over again for about 2 hours.  They don't understand that the joke gets old, and a small amount of this is far greater than a ton of it. 

Get Hard is raunchy from start to finish.  The love of the F-word is in full throttle here. Also the love of talking incessantly about male body parts and what to do with them.  Plus, making fun of the gang culture in Los Angeles, that's always fun. To its credit, this movie does have a direction and does move along at a nice pace.  It's just so laden though with unoriginal thought and humor.  Farrell has crossed over into a new phase of his career. He is now the laughable straight man to his funny man's humor. That formula is a nice change over the past few movies, but it's not enough to make this legit.

Hart is a funny guy, but it's a shame for him he is not a bit more discerning of the projects he takes on. He is incredibly versatile and naturally funny, more times than not way funnier than the movies he is in. Here he is funny at times, but the scrawny script cannot save him, or this.

Get Hard. Typical March mediocre comedy.

MOVIE REVIEW - Divergent:Insurgent

Part 2 of the Divergent franchise is a movie that is not going to get a fair shake from anyone involved.

First off, from the paying public that is going to see this. They loved every single frame before they even walked into this. They love the books, they love the idea, they love this kind of formula.  They cannot watch it with an honest eye, and they like it. Not from the national critics either. They are flat out weary from this old and tired formula of the world after an apocalypse, with a young woman and her hunky friends are here to save they mankind. 

For me?  This is just not a good movie.  Great books or not. Tired formula or not. Insurgent just flat out has a lot of problems that it can't overcome.  And it all starts with our star, Shailene Woodley.  Even though this is a poor man's Hunger Games, Woodley is not Jennifer Lawrence.  This series lacks the Lawrence-type star power, and it's starting to take a toll. Woodley has done some really nice work, and I have loved her in other roles but not here.  In this movie she looks 12 years old. She also looks insanely thin and washed out, and basically back-boneless.  She has absolutely no screen presence whatsoever, far less than the first installment.  She is not at all believable as the savior of the human race.  In fact in some scenes, she looks borderline ridiculous carrying automatic weapons and shooting them.

I have no clue what has happened to Woodley and her decline in this role.  But she's not alone. As impressive as some of the sets and effects are here, much of this looks like a bunch of middle level actors playing dress up. The props are silly, and so are many of the scenes. This is a sullen, depressing stiff of a movie that is a huge waste of 110 million dollars. The budget was even higher for this than the first, but the results are far weaker.

But as all the fans know, there is another movie to go.  And we can only hope that it is far better than this one. Also in fairness, many times second flicks are the weak link in a trilogy.  The first one is setting things up, the final brings it all together and many times the second movie just lays there. That's what happens here.  This series is late to the party anyway. Twilight, and Hunger Games have really laid claim to this now tired formula, and Divergent just seems behind.

Divergent:Insurgent.  Fans will love it, and they won't honestly know why.   But this is not very good.

MOVIE REVIEW - The Gunman

Sean Penn leads a real nice cast in the new action movie, The Gunman.  Too bad this really stinks.

Can I ask a question?  What is going on here?  What on Earth is going on in this muddled mess of a movie?  If you choose to go, you may ask yourself the exact same questions.  This is a movie that attempts to show the ramifications of The West, or private companies sticking their nose in the business of third world countries for their natural resources.  But it doesn't work.  This is just about laughable.

Sad part is, this has a real nice cast of Penn, Javier Bardem, Roy Whinstone, and Idris Elba.  Too bad Elba is in this movie for about 4 minutes, and Bardem about 15.  Penn looks tired, and past his prime.  Thank goodness for the wonderful supporting actor, Whinstone.  But he's hardly in this either.  So who is in this? Penn, for the whole agonizing 2 hours this thing that drags on like the sled the draft horses pull at the Wayne County Fair.

This is incredibly hard to follow for a few reasons. There is an assassination in The Congo 8 years ago killing the person in charge of the nations mineral rights.   The trigger is pulled by a gunman (Penn) who is working for, well they don't really make it clear who he is working for.  The country then plunges into chaos as a result of the civil war that breaks out.  Penn has to leave the country, and starts a new life as a humanitarian.

Flash forward 8 years, and someone is now trying to kill all that were involved in the assassination. Who? We don't know exactly.  And how is this all coming together? Well, it doesn't. This simply does not work.  It's boring, it's sleepy, it's agonizingly long, and this entire enterprise is just flat out a really bad idea.  Being honest, it was hard to stay awake for all of this.  Then for good measure, after trudging through this septic quagmire for 2 hours, we get a ridiculous and laughable climax. 

This movie, for all of the good people in it, can't get out of its own way.  It's over cast, it's poorly thought out, and is just not A-list actor worthy.  This story, is a straight to streaming movie at best.  Instead, as bad as this is it ends up being straight to steaming  movie, if you know what I mean.

The Gunman.  Stay home and play canasta.

MOVIE REVIEW - Run All Night

OK, I know Liam Neeson is attempting to play the exact same character in every movie he makes these days.  And he does again in the new Run All Night.

Run All Night stars Neeson, and Ed Harris.  It is so good to see Harris back on the screen, I am willing to give Neeson a pass on the lack of thought on his role choices.  Harris is one of Hollywood's greatest ever supporting actors. And he's great here too.

Run All Night is set in New York City with Neeson playing a broken down, drunken character named Jimmy Conlon.  He is a retired hit man for a small time mobster named Sean Maguire (Harris).  They were childhood friends.  Jimmy carried out about 18 hits for Sean as an adult, and never faced any arrests.  Sean had infiltrated the police force and had enough friends on the take to keep his illegal activities alive.

Sean's grown, but young son wants to make his mark in the family business, but wants to take it to a far higher level. Sean's balks.  So when a drug deal starts to go bad with some foreign mobsters, Jimmy's grown son witnesses Sean's son murder 3 people.  Then he turns his attention on killing all the witnesses, Jimmy shows up and kills Sean's son just as he is about to kill Jimmy's son.

Then the chase begins. Sean brings out all he has to try to kill Jimmy's son, and eventually Jimmy for revenge.  Also, a dedicated cop (Vincent D' Onofrio) is after Jimmy as he wants closure for all of the unsolved murders Jimmy has committed.  Plus, an awesome hit man (Common) is after Jimmy hired by Sean.  Will Jimmy and son survive the night?  Or will it all be too much to overcome?

This is not fantastic by any means.  This looks like a lot of movies before it, and will become a staple TNT in a few years.  But what this movie does have are a few really good actors.  The scenes with Harris and Neeson simply acting and exchanging dialogue, even mediocre dialogue, are really strong.  It is so good to see great acting, even in a movie that hangs its hat on action and violence. D'Onofrio is great as well, and it is refreshing to see him in a larger role than his past few movies.  The scenes that have a combination of these three simply acting are easily the movies best.

This has a nice story, but not great. There is plenty of gun play and action and that's fine too.  This is suspenseful to a point, but then becomes like 5,000 other movies released in various Februaries and Marches. And that is what you expect. But this does have moments of brilliance intertwined.  The national critics are not being overly kind, but that may not be apt. There's nothing really wrong here, just nothing earth shaking.

Run All Night.  Nothing wrong with this on a cool and wet spring day.  

MOVIE REVIEW - The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Well the first one of these a few years was pretty darn good.  And now, so is the second one.

This is a very interesting idea with an all star, but older cast that really sings a song directly to its core audience.  I applaud this whole idea, as this is one of the few franchises that targets a clearly older demo, and gives them something of real quality that is uniquely theirs. I love it when Hollywood makes movies for all kinds of people.  They make far enough for 18 year olds.

This is the storyline that takes place in India, where a bunch of real seniors from England have found a new life at this wonderful old hotel to begin the newest, and maybe final chapter of their lives.  This wonderful place and idea is the brainchild of a young Indian idealist, who has big plans to expand this whole idea throughout India, and beyond. 

These older folks do find a new life, and are in essence born again in a far off distant land way different than what they have known before. This story is so unique, it can't help score big points with me.  Although this does not speak directly to me, I can see how it can to those in their seemingly golden years. The writing is spectacular, and the performances are as terrific as the first.

This installment takes place a few months after the first one left off.  And the story lines are rolling forward nicely.  This sequel in fairness may not be quite as charming as the first, and does have a slightly different feel to it.  This has a tendency to be a little more direct in addressing in realities that could be affecting these aging characters, in a setting that isn't reality at all.  But for me, this was really strong on story, and lets out character grow with us. You can't make the same movie as the first, that ship has sailed.  Most times franchises don't get that. You can't make the same move again and expect a great reception. 

Being honest, this is a bit too long. Some of the scenes, especially towards the end as too drawn out and could have been made in a more tidy fashion.  This is not a true comedy, but it is funny and fun at times, and this would have been better served at about 15 minutes less, but it's not a deal breaker. 

The main cast again with Judi Dench, Dev Patel, Maggie Smith, and Bill Nighy is strong. But they also welcome Richard Gere here and he is a nice addition, and looks amazingly comfortable here. This is splendidly written, well directed and brilliantly acted by seasoned actors who get it. This is a gem franchise that is set up for more ahead.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  Different from the first, and that is its strength. Very entertaining, real, and fun.

MOVIEN REVIEW - Chappie

There was a world of hype about the new robotic action movie, Chappie that opened up last weekend. Sadly, it was a giant thud at the box office.

Oh, Chappie debuted at number one but with a measly 13 million. Far, far short of what is needed for this to be a success.  All seemed to be in place for a big opening, so why did they stay away from Chappie like they did.  I always say, most of the time when you see a TON of TV for a movie before it opens, that usually spells big trouble.

Chappie is the story that takes place in South Africa, where robots have taken over as the primary police force.  And they are a huge success. Crime is down and things are headed in the right direction except robots are made by people, and they eventually get in the way of the good.

Chappie is a rejected police robot that was slated for recycling when his creator steals him from the gigantic defense contractor to put a new kind of brain in him.  The idea is to create a robot that can think, reason and feel.  So he does, and Chappie is created as an infant in the mind. Chappie is then taken by a band of thugs who want to program him to be a gangster and help them relieve themselves of a 20 million dollar debt. And they do.

Then the creator is after him to save him for the good. The defense company is after him to destroy him, and a rival band of thugs is after them all to try to steal Chappie after seeing how effective he can be. Plus, a jealous defense contractor and fellow employee wants to destroy Chappie so his own invention can be the new Marshall in town.  Lots going on here.

Chappie is a very good idea that falls way short of what it should have been.  First off this is rated R.  It is not a kids movie, even though many think it is because of the name and the packaging.  Chappie is violent, and loaded with harsh language.  Chappie is also very funny at times, and wildly creative. The special effects of Chappie is amazing. Chappie comes to life in an amazing way, and the makers should be commended for that.  This also makes a ton of social commentary, and has a heart for the most part.

But there is something missing here and it's tough to put a finger on it. For some reason, this just does not work as it should. This should have been very good, but instead it ends up looking like another robot movie, and it shouldn't.  They had a great premise, and it fumbled away.  Chappie ends up being very unpleasant at times, repetitive, and draggy. Nice cast with Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, and Sigourney Weaver, but they can't save it from being average. 

Chappie. This is not a bad movie.  But a big, big opportunity to be really different, but instead a big chance wasted. 

MOVIE REVIEW - The Lazarus Effect

Man, you better watch this one quickly. The new horror flick The Lazarus Effect is a very quick 75 minutes. There's infomercials longer than this movie.  But as you will read, it's a blessing.

This stars a cast of lesser known actors, but does have the wonderful Olivia Wilde in it. She stars as a young, but talented medical research doctor (Zoe) looking to find a way to bring life back to those who have lost it.  She and her team at a research lab in California are working on a serum that is injected into the brain, and can literally bring back like.

The testing has been not so successful until they have a success in a large dog. The dog comes back to life, but there are problems.  The dog has anger issues, and is acting strangely. The serum is supposed to be expelled from the bloodstream in short order, but remains. More testing is needed. Then, the project has its funding pulled from its backer and it is shut down.  But our team is bound and determined to push on with their research.

As they work on the sly bringing back another dog, there is an accident. And  Zoe is electrocuted and dies on the lab floor.  Her team then swings into action, and decides to inject her with the serum to bring her back to life.  They do, she does, and there are huge problems.

Then what this turns into, is the same formula that has been used for 50 years.  She is a lunatic with a brain full of untested serum, and she goes on a killing spree by knocking off the team one-by-one. Zoe is seemingly possessed by some form of supernatural demon, and doesn't fully know what she is doing. And she won't rest till they are all dead.

Ho-Hum! This movie is supposed to be scary, but it's not.  This is simply bad, and insanely unoriginal.  Why is it they can't figure our some new, and possibly different formula for these kind of flicks to scare us. What kind of formula?  I don't know, that's their job - not mine.  This, in the end, just looks, sounds, and is like 5,000 other movies before it, and 500 waiting behind it, getting ready to be released at some point to be viewed by some poor pack of clueless fans that haven't seen this type of movie before.  

The Lazarus Effect.  Bad, unoriginal, but luckily not too long so we don't waste too much of our time.

MOVIE REVIEW - Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business is here this week, and the only thing it's going to finish off is what's remaining of Vince Vaughn's career.

Good Lord is this awful.  This is some kind of comedy caught between PG-13 and R and between vulgar and slapstick.  The only place this movie lands squarely in, is horrible land.  But honestly that is too kind, this is as bad as movies can get.

This is the story of Dan (Vaughn).  He is a salesman who has a wife and two kids, and has just quit his job. He starts his own company, and spends this entire movie in Europe trying to get a huge business deal of some sort to save his struggling new business.  He has two goofy partners, Tim (Tom Wilkinson) and Mike (Dave Franco), who add nothing to his business, or this movie.  In the end, you are supposed to care if he gets the deal or not, but you don't.  You are just thinking about how far Vaughn's career has fallen.

It is hard to describe just exactly how unfunny this really is.  There is not a single laugh here. This is filled with terrible sight gags, unoriginal humor, and writing that is so bad that it amazes me that somehow this actually was made for the big screen. How this is not straight to video or streaming is shocking.  There is not one moment of this putrid mess that is the slightest bit interesting or compelling, or ...anything except time wasting.

Every scene is gaggle of gag reflexes, with each one being worse than the last one.  It is not only a struggle to sit through this, but a struggle to stay awake. You don't care about one single person in this movie  You don't care about one single scene.  You just sit there and think that this is it. That Vince Vaughn, as good of a start as he had to his career, can't buy a hit now. And with this, he has finally succeeded in throwing up on his own shoes after a large buffet run.  This whole Vaughn act thing he does, may finally be over.

I can't say in strong enough terms for you to not go see this.  It is a complete waste of time, money and effort for them to make, and for you to consider going to this. This is not the Vaughn of old, this is the Vaughn of new, with everything about his act getting old.

Unfinished Business.  Not one thing about this is the slightest bit good.

MOVIE REVIEW - Focus

It has been a while since Will Smith has had a movie in theaters.  And this week, Focus had a modest week at the box office.

First off, there is a lot to like in this movie.  This has some real nice moments in many avenues. There is some real good humor here, also some wonderful moments of suspense, and overall this is a pretty good story.  But this is one of those movies that for some reason, just doesn't click all the way to being really good, and stops at simply being...decent.

Focus is the story of Nickey (Smith).  He is a big-time con man, that has a gaggle of merry men as it were, who spend their time committing small crime after small crime, slowly amassing a small fortune.  He meets Jess (Margot Robbie), who is a small time con woman.  They strike up relationship that at first is professional.  She wants "in" on the game, and wants to be a part of the "team." So they partner up, along with Nickey's group and spend Superbowl week in New Orleans ripping off thousands of people in various ways.

Then these two spark up a romantic relationship, that goes wrong, as Superbowl week closes. And Jess finds herself of the losing end.  Then, we flash forward 3 years to present day.  When Jess and Nickey find themselves face to face, and on opposite sides in a for hire con in South America at a huge car race.  How will they handle all of this? And who will out-con who?  Without giving out too much info, that is Focus.

It is good to see Smith back on the screen again and in a role that he looks comfortable in.  The real star of this movie though is Margot Robbie. She is amazing in this movie, and really controls and commands the screen when she is on it. She broke onto the scene a year or so ago in The Wolf of Wall Street, but let's be honest, that was Dicaprio's movie, not hers.  Here although Smith is the star, she is the gas in the engine of this movie.  He is very versatile here and elevates this movie and it needs her.

Trouble here is the overall story.  The idea is fine, but this movie has no accountability to it. As charming as our stars are, they are still bad people causing real misery to tons of people by stealing their money, valuables, credit cards, and even identities.  And some of that is simply not funny, or glamorous, given the present day climate of things and will hit close to the bone for many.  This also has a few real draggy spots in it, that really slows it down a ton.  True, this is not too long, it is simply non-compelling in many areas.  A final rewrite and a sharper editing blade could have made this better. 

Focus.  This is not a bad movie, not a great one either. Nothing wrong with seeing this on a winters day or night.

MOVIE REVIEW - The Duff

Here comes one of the real surprise movies of the year, The Duff. Right up front, I really liked this movie.

The Duff is a teen satire comedy, with a real heart that is right on point and totally relevant movie making.  When I saw this movie, the movie Easy A popped into my mind with Emma Stone a few years back, and launched her to real heights.  I think this could do the same to the wonderful Mae Whitman who stars in this funny, quirky and spot on comedy.

Whitman plays Bianca. Bianca is The Duff.   Duff is an acronym for Designated Ugly Fat Friend. A term used in her fictional California high school.  Bianca is a bit awkward, and is friends with two really "hot" girls. One of her guy friends convinces her, that she is a Duff. So Bianca, takes that information and goes off the deep end, de-friending all of her hot friends in person and on social media, and sets out to reinvent herself.  In short, this is a coming of age, teen comedy that is so well written, it speaks to anyone that goes to it.  In many ways things have changed a lot in high school in the 21st century, and in many ways they have not.

But this movie is a real coming out party for Whitman.  Actually, she is 27 years old, and has been an actress since her early childhood.  She has appeared in dozens of movies, and successful TV shows in her life, and has done a ton of voice work too in animation.  But this is a starring role in a big time well accepted movie.  And she is wonderful.  She is perfectly cast, and is really funny as she skates her way through this sharply written satire on the high school experience today.  Her performance is very much like Stone's in Easy A.  

Like Easy A, not all of this works.  There are a few moments here that don't work at all, but overall this really captures today's teens, lampoons them, and takes time to develop some great characters, and some palpable chemistry between them.  I laughed out loud at much of this.  And at times had real empathy for Bianca, as she goes through what teens have been going through for generations. Especially girls. 

This deals with many topics today, bullying, social media, gadgetry, young love and fitting in. This is wonderfully written, and directed same. This zips along well, and never gets in its own way. Whitman is great, and so is the supporting cast. This will be one of the real surprises of 2015.

The Duff.  This is quite good.

MOVIE REVIEW - McFarland USA

Kevin Costner has made his share sports movies. McFarland USA is his latest, and the latest in a long line of Disney feel good sports movies.

It's pretty tough to make a compelling movie about high school cross country, but somehow they have.  This is a true story from the late 1980's of a remarkable, but fallible high school coach and his amazing group of seemingly misfit kids in one of America's poorest towns, McFarland, California.  I know this has a bunch going against it, but this is a story worth telling, and I am glad they found it and told it.

Costner plays Coach White.  A former high school football coach with a very checkered past.  He has been fired from job after job with a long line of self destructive acts.  Now down to his last chance, he accepts the only coaching job he can get, in McFarland as an assistant football coach.  But even that doesn't work out.  So after being relieved from that job, he somehow convinces the principal to let him begin a cross country team.  Permission granted.

He is moved to this decision by seeing a bunch of the students run during gym class.  You see, most of them are Mexican migrant workers kids, and they are not strangers to hard work, and to running to and from school most every day.  Together they form this wonderful friendship, and this bond that brings them tighter as a team. But, there are large roadblocks along the way.

There is a huge social, racial, and socioeconomic element in play here, that really gives this a feeling of being very unique. Can White bring these kids together and make them be the best they can be? And can they change him to be a new man, and change the way he goes through life on and off the field. In short, this is a real nice story.

I have to admit, I was insanely skeptical about this movie from the word go.  It just looked like too long of a stretch even for a sports fan like me to swallow this concept. But with all things being level, this is a great story, and that's where all good movies begin.  In fact, I found this story to be far more compelling that even well done movies like Remember The Titans.  I think it's because it tells a story that you have never really seen before buy a long shot. 

Costner is good, solid and the supporting cast with Maria Bello, and others blends well throughout. But put all that aside, the star of this movie is the story.  Granted this is a bit too long, and 15 minutes less would have been far more.  But, stay around for the closing credits, as you will be astounded as to the end result of all of these runners lives, and Coach White too. 

McFarland USA. Is this great?  No...but this is a nice family movie, great story.