Tag: Billy Bob Thornton

Fitz’s New Rule of Thirds for Movie Reviews

Hey there…

Though I’ve seen a few films at the theater recently, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to write reviews of them. But one of the strangely consistent things I’ve found is that most of them aren’t complete. If there’s a weak beginning, middle, or end, I find myself not really loving a film.

Let’s take the last four films I’ve seen:

I’ll start with the one I saw today – Faster starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Billy Bob Thornton. After reading some of the great reviews, I was expecting to be blown away – and I was, for all but the last third. The beginning is amazing – setting the stage for Driver’s (Johnson) revenge road trip. After 10 years in prison, Driver is out to kill all of the people involved in the death of his brother after a heist. Even the middle is great as Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) gets involved and we start to learn more about the the heist. But somehow in the last third, Driver loses site of the prize and grows a heart. It took the wind out of the movie for me.

Let’s move to Tangled, the latest animated feature from Disney. From the trailers, I was actually looking forward to this one. In it, we see Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) who’s been locked in a tower for years by Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) so Gothel can stay forever young courtesy of Rapunzel’s magical hair. When Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) hides out in the tower after a theft, it opens a big can of worms as the damsel in distress wants to see the world… With this one it’s the beginning that bored me to tears along with the fact that Murphy tries to sound like Ursula (Pat Carroll) from The Little Mermaid. Gothel as a character made me cringe whenever she was on screen. Once she was mostly out of the picture, I enjoyed the interplay between Rapunzel and Flynn – even the music!

Then there was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, which is the beginning of the end for the Harry Potter series. By far, this is one of the most action-packed of the series to date. The running and magical battles seemed to be non-stop… until we got to the last third of the film. I nearly fell asleep when Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson), and Ron (Rupert Grint) were hunting for the Horcruxes, teleporting from place to place and waiting for their magical batteries to recharge in-between. Though I understand that they’re teenagers and meant to wallow in self-pity or ego from time to time, I felt like I was watching any episode of Days of Our Lives or 90120… I suspect that the dip towards the end was due to the fact that they had to split the movie into two parts, but still – I was hoping for a little more excitement heading to the end of part 1 and didn’t get it.

Of all of these films, RED is the most complete. Though the beginning is a bit slow, it was a slow burn that led to a satisfactory middle and a fantastic end. I’ve heard from people who said they didn’t like it, but to me it was a perfect action movie with great characters and dialog that never went over the top.

So here’s my new rule… On a scale of one to four stars, I have to factor in the rule of thirds. If one third sucks, that’s a star right off the top. If the whole movie is horrible, that’s three stars off the top with one left for other things like the music, special effects, acting, and so on. But it’s not worth misleading anybody if one third or more of a given movie isn’t worth seeing.

Is this over the top? I don’t think so. Movies should be graded as a whole entity.

What do you think? Leave me some comments whether you agree or disagree…

–Fitz

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Movie Review: Eagle Eye (2008)

Hi all…

It’s rare for me to be solidly entertained by a thriller with as much early advertising as this movie had. But it was definitely an entertaining flick.

Eagle Eye pairs Shia LeBeouf as Jerry Shaw and Michelle Monaghan as Rachel Holloman as a couple of strangers drawn into a complex plot that would ultimately decide the fate of the United States. As the story unfolds, you meet Zoe Perez (played by Rosario Dawson), Defense Secretary Callister (Michael Chiklis), and Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton).

[rating:3/4]

Eagle Eye PosterI’ll avoid going into the details for fear of giving away too many spoilers. Suffice it to say that every time you think you know what’s going on, things change.

LeBoeuf surprised me in this one. I thought he did a much better job acting in this role than he did in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. He actually played a part instead of just riding on another actor’s coat tails (Harrison Ford in that case).

And Monaghan did great in her role as the concerned mother. She’s previously done work in a thriller in Mission: Impossible III with Tom Cruise and Mr. & Mrs. Smith with Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie.

The only bad part about this film for me was the very last scene. And when I mean the last scene, I’m really only talking about the last 60 seconds. There was a googly eyed awkward kiss that should have just been cut and I would’ve been fine with it.

But other than that, we really enjoyed this movie. I’ll give it a solid 3 out of 4. If you like taut thrillers with a science fiction twist, this movie is for you.

–Fitz

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