Ryan J. Downey's Blog
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Movie Review: "How to Train Your Dragon"
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
Directed By: Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera
3.5 Stars
There are better kids movies than "How to Train Your Dragon," but that shouldn't stop you from seeing it. Vikings, dragons, above average voice performances and above all, 3-D flying sequences twice as impressive as "Avatar" should get you into the theater.
I enjoyed the "Avatar" IMAX 3-D experience. James Cameron has never really let me down. But I have to say, the "Dances with Wolves" story retread bored me. And I found the overall look of Pandora, its inhabitants and even the font choices on the poster to be bit, well, tacky. To put it another way: "Dragon" is the iPod to "Avatar"'s Zune.
There are some kid movie cliches to the "Dragon" story: the main character is a misunderstood, sensitive genius who triumphs in the end, the father loves his son but doesn't know how to express it properly, a bond is formed between the main character and an outwardly frightening but inwardly cuddly beast. Like "Hot Tub Time Machine," this movie's title more or less explains the plot: a group of Vikings have been battling dragons for ages, until one young misunderstood boy learns the dragons are just misunderstood, too.
But man... Those flying sequences! Swooping, gliding, sharply turning, these are the aerial dogfights our grandparents were dazzled with at the cinema, postmodern style. The main dragon, Toothless, bares a resemblance to "Stitch" from Disney's "Lilo & Stitch," which makes sense, considering the guys who directed this also directed that.
Another impressive component here is the female lead -- spunky, tough and arguably the most complex character in a movie filled with archetypes, she's no damsel in distress.
See this thing in IMAX 3-D and enjoy the ride. It's a ton of fun.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Movie Review: "The Bounty Hunter"
This week I participated in the on-air review of "The Bounty Hunter" on "The Rotten Tomatoes Show" on Current TV. The video of that segment is above and my written review follows.
THE BOUNTY HUNTER
Directed By: Andy Tennant
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler
1 Star
Jennifer Aniston was so great in "The Good Girl" and "Office Space." She should know better than to star in a movie as awful as "The Bounty Hunter." And Gerard Butler, since "300," has been in "Law Abiding Citizen" (dumb), "The Ugly Truth" (dumber) and "Gamer" (dumbest), so, maybe he doesn't know better. It's a shame. He seems like a nice guy.
But audiences... We know better! We should demand that romantic comedies, even one like "The Bounty Hunter" that wishes it was "War of the Roses" meets "Romancing the Stone" but lacks the smarts or the charm to be either, greatly improve! I can't think of a more stagnant genre right now save for maybe the torture porn garbage, itself really a sub-genre. (At least there used to be great rom-coms. Was there a good "Saw"?).
Did these two actors really have nothing better to choose from than this? "The Bounty Hunter" is a bland "romantic" "comedy" where Aniston burns up a fair amount of the goodwill she's built with the public and Butler works hard to make us forget him. I'm hoping his best work is ahead of him, but I'm also thinking this guy needs to fire his agent. (His upcoming "Machine Gun Preacher" does sound promising. Here's hoping!).
Butler's American accent makes Colin Farrell sound like Tom Cruise. It's the European equivalent of Keanu Reeves playing English in "Dracula." There is nothing likable whatsoever about the bum he plays, either, and Aniston has nothing to work with.
Here's the plot: they used to be married, they're not anymore, she's chasing a big story involving murder and drugs, he's chasing her over a traffic court appearance. She's saddled with the rom-com cliche of "woman who must choose between life as an icy careerist or as a happy wife," which is a movie premise that not only needs to be retired, but should have never existed in the first place. What year is this, again?
I know she can act, but Aniston has nothing to do here but fiddle with her hair and show off her (admittedly more incredible than ever) body in some sexy "business" attire. Someone forgot to give us a reason to like Butler's character as they piled on the "down-in-the-dumps" affectations like alcoholism, breaking and entering and the whole pointing a gun at the love of his life thing.
With its mean-spirited relationship humor and sloppily handled action subplot, "The Bounty Hunter" gets extra demerits for squandering Jeff Garland ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") in a useless role as Butler's bail bondsmen boss who yells more often than Dog the Bounty Hunter smiles.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
MTV: Director Louis Leterrier Tells Me How He'd Approach "The Avengers"
And Sam Worthington tells me why Louis would be a great director for "The Avengers":
MTV: Sam Worthington's "Terminator" Sequel Ideas
Sam Worthington, while wearing a BARONESS shirt, told me his ideas for a "Terminator" sequel.
MTV: "Twilight"'s Nikki Reed & Chris Weitz
I spent a couple of hours at a Wal-Mart in the valley with "Twilight" cast member Nikki Reed and "New Moon" director Chris Weitz as they met fans at a midnight DVD release event.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Movie Review: "Brooklyn's Finest"
BROOKLYN'S FINEST
Directed By: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Don Cheadle, Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes
3 Stars
You've seen this movie -- separate but equally gritty stories set on the mean streets of New York that eventually and inevitably intersect -- before. And while it's been done better, it hasn't been done quite like this in a while. And while it's not quite the movie it wants to be, "Brooklyn's Finest" benefits greatly from a stellar cast and the director of "Training Day"'s undeniable gift for gripping the audience.
"Brooklyn's Finest" works wonderfully (for at least two thirds of its overly long running time) as a slice-of-life drama about three very different cops dealing with distinct moral dilemmas of their own making.
As a drug-busting cop with an ever expanding family who can't afford to move out of their cramped / mold infested home, Ethan Hawke carries himself like a cross between someone from "The Departed," "Mystic River" and "Boondock Saints" (although I heard it said recently that his character is actually Italian. Hmm). Hawke is great at looking weathered, stressed and beaten down. He’s an actor that really plays against his looks, which is always worthy of respect. His character's choices, 'though often bad, feel real. He's a good guy doing some bad things for mostly good reasons.
Cheadle is given some of the film’s worst dialog, but he’s such an incredible talent that he’s able to rise above it. It’s a bit hard at times to buy him as a hardened drug dealer, but I suppose that adds to the tension, since he’s really an undercover cop anyway. Cheadle is deep undercover (too deep) with a crew of drug dealers and given the unenviable task of setting up a close friend who once saved his life.
As that friend, a recently sprung drug dealer, Wesley Snipes is basically Nino from "New Jack City" with a pony-tail, but boy, he’s fantastic. I think we’ve all forgotten what an intense and incredible actor Snipes can be. "Brooklyn’s Finest" really gives him an opportunity to shine.
In the film's only casting misstep, Richard Geere gives a workmanlike performance as a washed up cop but the guy is just so damn handsome that it’s hard to believe he could be so lonely and so desperate that even a hooker won’t date him.
Most critics have said that "Brooklyn's Finest" falls apart in the third act and while I tend to agree, I still found the film to be much stronger than most as a whole. Fuqua's style is so engaging that you often forget you're watching a movie at all. I did get the impression that everyone involved envisioned something slightly better than what they got, but I suppose that's the case for each of the movie's characters, too. Maybe there's a message hidden within the film's own unevenness there.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
MTV: The Smurfs Speak
'Smurfs' Actor Alan Cumming Reveals His 'Gutsy' Character. Katy Perry, George Lopez and Neil Patrick Harris are all in the 2011 movie as well. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
MTV: 'American Idol' Judge Kara DioGuardi Talks Replacing Simon Cowell
BEVERLY HILLS, California — The Rocket Man in the judge's seat? At Elton John's annual Oscars viewing party, Kara DioGuardi weighed in on rumors that the big party's legendary host may replace Simon Cowell on "American Idol" next season. READ THE REST OF MY REPORT HERE.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Top Albums Of The Decade
Check out my Top 25 Albums of the 2000s, along with some fellow industry professionals, in the latest Knights of the Turntable blog post.
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