Ben’s Review of A-Team
I am 32 almost 33 and this puts me in the age group that spent early parts of my childhood watching the Mr. T and the A-Team. I am pretty sure that the 20th Century Fox had the 28 to 40 age group in mind when deciding to do a live movie version of everyone’s fugitive team for hire. Best of all my wife also falls into this age group and was likewise eager to take advantage then 80s nostalgia fest. Couple this with the near blind rage I have been harboring for sheer audacity of anyone deciding to remake the Karate Kid, and you will pretty much guarantee my attendance for this movie. But did A-Team come off cool and interesting like 2006’s Miami Vice or overly produced and lame like Transformers 2?
The A-Team begins at a very novel place, the beginning. Colonel Hannibal Smith, played by the always cool Liam Neeson, is bringing down a corrupt Mexican Official while at the same time bailing Templeton Peck, aka Face, played by Bradley Cooper, out of trouble. On his way to rescue Face, Hannibal car-jacks car thief and ex-army ranger, Bosco Barracus, aka BA, played by UFC star Quinton Rampage Jackson. BA, knowing the legend of Hannibal agrees to help a fellow army ranger and rescue Face. Upon rescuing Face, Hannibal, BA, and Face all need to get out of town before the Mexican authorities catch up with them and what better way to do this then to spring everyone’s favorite schizophrenic army ranger helicopter pilot, Howling Mad Murdoch, from a Mexican mental hospital. Having worked so well together to escape from Mexico, Hannibal keeps this team together to form the A-Team. The Army uses the A-Team for special missions in Iraq because they are always successful. All is well until the A-Team is solicited for one last mission by the CIA to retrieve counterfeit money plates that are set to be smuggled out of Baghdad. Employing a perfect plan by Hannibal, The A-Team retrieves the plates, however at the last moment the plates are switched, military officials are killed and the A-Team is framed and convicted for the crime. But do you really think the Hannibal, Face, BA, and Murdoch are really going to sit around and rot in jail? So is this remake worth finding for help?
The secret to a good remake is to take the concept seriously and not dumb down the premise for your audience and A-Team does this beautifully. This movie is exciting, well paced, and a lot of fun while not becoming unbelievable or goofy. The movie is perfectly cast: Bradlley Cooper looks and acts like a Face; Liam Neeson is cunning but not a con artist; Sharlto Copley, last year’s break out star from District 9, is crazy but not insane; and even Quinton Jackson, while obvious not a Shakespearian actor, handles his new acting duties very well. The action comes at you and plot keeps moving. More importantly, if you are going to pay $10 to go to theatre you want to be entertained and this movie does just that. Is this Schindler’s List, no, but its not Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle either.
Overall I will give this movie a Great but not Oscar Worthy and four and quarter bullet holes in the side of building out of five. A remake of Karate Kid with Will Smith’s son, seriously, Pat Morita must be rolling over in his “Arnold-from –Happy-Days-grave.”
Elisa’s “A-Team” Review
After 10 years of production, 11 screen-plays, re-writes, two directors and rumors of Hollywood Stars such as Bruce Willis (Hannibal Smith), Woody Harrelson (Murdoch) and Ice Cube (BA Baracus), somehow a plan did come together and a GREAT movie was made.
There is nothing I did not LOVE about the TV show, and there was nothing I did not LOVE about this movie. The casting was perfect. Every nuance of Hannibal Smith’s cigar smoking, cocky-but-love-him demeanor was perfectly portrayed by Liam Neeson. Bradley Cooper (now well into Hollywood thanks to last summer’s Hangover fame) was a perfect Templeman “Faceman” Peck, and the acting of Sharlto Copley (Weird Alien/Australia movie from last summer) as Howling Mad-Dog Murdoch was spot-on to the role first reprised by Dwight Schultz. Many critics and bloggers wondered if anyone other than Mr. T could play the role of BA (BAD ASS) Baracus as well, and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson nailed it. Of course the A-Team always had a hot chick around, and Jessica Biel plays the role of irrelevant hot-chick quite well.
The beginning of the film gives a brief re-write of how the team comes together and updates the team as Iraq-war Veterans. Flash-forward to present-day Baghdad and the team is approached with a top-secret mission to retrieve “stolen” plates that are replicas of US Currency. This set-up is similar to the TV show, where the team was accused of robbing a bank in Hanoi, with a General Morrison to prove their innocence. Morrison reappears as a General in the movie, giving the die-hard fans a compelling story-line based on the original show.
Generally special effects and stunts are not my thing, however, there are some really cool scenes and “awesome” special effects. In fact, after splitting a large pop with Ben, I still sat through the entire movie.
A note to band geeks everywhere--I was extremely happy to see, actually hear, the original A-Team theme song written by Mark Post was used in the movie. It is one of my favorite songs to hum!
This movie is so good it definitely is a candidate to EGOT during the 2010 award season, or, at least the Emmy Award and an Oscar.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
"Get Him to The Greek"
Ben’s review of Get Him to the Greek
From the same producer, director, and writer of Forgetting Sarah Marshall we now have Get Him to the Greek. Get Him to the Greek is suppose to be a pseudo sequel to Marshall in that it involves rock star Aldous Snow, once again brilliantly played by Russell, Brand and an aspiring music exec Aaron Green, played by Jonah Hill. The plot is centered on the current problem with the music industry in that it has become very hard to sell records and find new artists. The head of the record label where Aaron works, Sergio, played by Sean “Puffy Daddy, P-Diddy, Doo Doo Ditty, Shama-Lama-Ding-Dong” Combs, wants his group of execs to find a way to make money for his label. The execs make several pitches (an especially funny sale is from Nick Kroll who claims to have the Mexican Jonas Brothers which leads to Sergio yelling at Nick about his last find Chocolate Daddy). After dismissing all of these ideas Aaron brings up the possibility of having a reunion show for Aldous Snow at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. After initially dismissing this idea, Sergio agrees and gives Aaron his big break to go find Aldous in London and bring him back for the show which is scheduled for three days later.
Reeling from a break up with his Doctor in Residency girlfriend, played by Elizabeth Moss, Aaron dutifully goes to find Aldous and escort him to the show. Aldous is in the midst of his own career crisis with the failure of his concept album, African Child, and is dealing with the divorce from his wife, played very well by Rose Byrne. Predictably, Aaron has no idea what he has got himself into and has to deal with all of the rock star antics of Aldous including not leaving London on time, drinking anything and everything, drugs, and sex with several different people. Despite being overmatched by the hard partying Aldous, Aaron dutifully does everything he can get Aldous to the show. Will Aaron get him to the show and is it worth the wait?
This movie violates two of Ben’s rules about good story telling: 1) the movie needs to consistent; and 2) you need to be able to identify and root for one of the characters. The premise sounds hilarious and there were certainly some very amusing parts and surprising performances, including a shockingly hilarious Sean Combs. However, despite all the funny moments and some stand out acting, Get Him to the Greek is very disjointed. Jonah Hill and Russell Brand seem to work well together but the direction and the script constantly have them oscillating between funny, absurd, and downright depressing. Aldous’ character is revealed to have some very dark issues regarding drug use and the relationship with his parents. Throw in a disturbing three way scene, and Get Him to Greek is all over the place. The other troublesome aspect is, while Jonah Hill was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I do not think he is playing the same character.
This movie is missing the heart and creativity that made Forgetting Sarah Marshall great. It is okay, not good. I would give it 2.25 bags of heroine out of 5.
Elisa’s Review of “Get Him To The Greek”
“Get Him to the Greek” centers around a washed-up rock star, Aldous Snow’s “can-he-do-it-come-back”. Reprising the role of Aldous Snow, he first made iconic in the break-up film, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is Russel Brandt.
Greek is a FSM reunion of sorts, as Jonas Hill is cast as Aaron Green, the straight-man to Brandt wild, rocker character.
We learn, Green is living a hum-drum, quiet life in Los Angeles. His girlfriend is a medical resident, working the night-shift. Instead of rocker shows, and clubs, her idea of a night-in consist of catching up on “Gossip Girl” and take-out. A fate, even I would not subject any man too.
Hill’s character has the LA dream job: working for a record company in the modern times of “hit-singles” and “downloadable appeal.” His boss, played by Mr. Sean-John himself, Puff –Daddy (I graduated high school in 1996, he will always be Puffy to me) has some of the funniest moments in the movie. Searching for a new one-hit wonder, Green suggest an anniversary concert of Aldous Snow’s unforgettable concert at The Greek Theater in LA.
Clearly bored out of his mind with the Doogie Howser lifestyle, Hill’s character is ecstatic to fly to London to not only meet his idol Aldous Snow, but travel with him to New York to promote the concert at The Greek, and then to LA for the show.
While the set-up seems plausible, the wild antics leading to the “will they get to The Greek” fall way short. Yes, there are wild parties in no less than four major metropolitan cities: London, New York, Las Vegas and Las Angeles. Yes, there are stripers, drugs, alcohol, gratuitous amounts of sex, to include a scene with a gigantic dildo, there is nothing clever, or really even funny that happens on the way to “The Greek.”
Instead, the movie takes a very dark turn looking at the personal relationships and family of Aldous Snow. He finds himself to be miserable, and in the most bizarre scene of the film, decides to exercise the phrase, “misery loves company” which the writers of this film interpreted as an awkward threesome.
Jason Segel who stared in, and wrote “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” developed the character of Aldous Snow, was not credited as a writer in “Greek.” FSM was everything “Greek” was not: clever, funny, and gave us someone to cheer on. I hope he learned his lesson, and will not hand-over creative freedom to someone else to destroy his well-developed characters in the future. Will I watch Greek when it airs completely edited with commercials on TBS---I doubt it. I will be running through last season’s “Gossip Girl.”
From the same producer, director, and writer of Forgetting Sarah Marshall we now have Get Him to the Greek. Get Him to the Greek is suppose to be a pseudo sequel to Marshall in that it involves rock star Aldous Snow, once again brilliantly played by Russell, Brand and an aspiring music exec Aaron Green, played by Jonah Hill. The plot is centered on the current problem with the music industry in that it has become very hard to sell records and find new artists. The head of the record label where Aaron works, Sergio, played by Sean “Puffy Daddy, P-Diddy, Doo Doo Ditty, Shama-Lama-Ding-Dong” Combs, wants his group of execs to find a way to make money for his label. The execs make several pitches (an especially funny sale is from Nick Kroll who claims to have the Mexican Jonas Brothers which leads to Sergio yelling at Nick about his last find Chocolate Daddy). After dismissing all of these ideas Aaron brings up the possibility of having a reunion show for Aldous Snow at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. After initially dismissing this idea, Sergio agrees and gives Aaron his big break to go find Aldous in London and bring him back for the show which is scheduled for three days later.
Reeling from a break up with his Doctor in Residency girlfriend, played by Elizabeth Moss, Aaron dutifully goes to find Aldous and escort him to the show. Aldous is in the midst of his own career crisis with the failure of his concept album, African Child, and is dealing with the divorce from his wife, played very well by Rose Byrne. Predictably, Aaron has no idea what he has got himself into and has to deal with all of the rock star antics of Aldous including not leaving London on time, drinking anything and everything, drugs, and sex with several different people. Despite being overmatched by the hard partying Aldous, Aaron dutifully does everything he can get Aldous to the show. Will Aaron get him to the show and is it worth the wait?
This movie violates two of Ben’s rules about good story telling: 1) the movie needs to consistent; and 2) you need to be able to identify and root for one of the characters. The premise sounds hilarious and there were certainly some very amusing parts and surprising performances, including a shockingly hilarious Sean Combs. However, despite all the funny moments and some stand out acting, Get Him to the Greek is very disjointed. Jonah Hill and Russell Brand seem to work well together but the direction and the script constantly have them oscillating between funny, absurd, and downright depressing. Aldous’ character is revealed to have some very dark issues regarding drug use and the relationship with his parents. Throw in a disturbing three way scene, and Get Him to Greek is all over the place. The other troublesome aspect is, while Jonah Hill was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I do not think he is playing the same character.
This movie is missing the heart and creativity that made Forgetting Sarah Marshall great. It is okay, not good. I would give it 2.25 bags of heroine out of 5.
Elisa’s Review of “Get Him To The Greek”
“Get Him to the Greek” centers around a washed-up rock star, Aldous Snow’s “can-he-do-it-come-back”. Reprising the role of Aldous Snow, he first made iconic in the break-up film, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is Russel Brandt.
Greek is a FSM reunion of sorts, as Jonas Hill is cast as Aaron Green, the straight-man to Brandt wild, rocker character.
We learn, Green is living a hum-drum, quiet life in Los Angeles. His girlfriend is a medical resident, working the night-shift. Instead of rocker shows, and clubs, her idea of a night-in consist of catching up on “Gossip Girl” and take-out. A fate, even I would not subject any man too.
Hill’s character has the LA dream job: working for a record company in the modern times of “hit-singles” and “downloadable appeal.” His boss, played by Mr. Sean-John himself, Puff –Daddy (I graduated high school in 1996, he will always be Puffy to me) has some of the funniest moments in the movie. Searching for a new one-hit wonder, Green suggest an anniversary concert of Aldous Snow’s unforgettable concert at The Greek Theater in LA.
Clearly bored out of his mind with the Doogie Howser lifestyle, Hill’s character is ecstatic to fly to London to not only meet his idol Aldous Snow, but travel with him to New York to promote the concert at The Greek, and then to LA for the show.
While the set-up seems plausible, the wild antics leading to the “will they get to The Greek” fall way short. Yes, there are wild parties in no less than four major metropolitan cities: London, New York, Las Vegas and Las Angeles. Yes, there are stripers, drugs, alcohol, gratuitous amounts of sex, to include a scene with a gigantic dildo, there is nothing clever, or really even funny that happens on the way to “The Greek.”
Instead, the movie takes a very dark turn looking at the personal relationships and family of Aldous Snow. He finds himself to be miserable, and in the most bizarre scene of the film, decides to exercise the phrase, “misery loves company” which the writers of this film interpreted as an awkward threesome.
Jason Segel who stared in, and wrote “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” developed the character of Aldous Snow, was not credited as a writer in “Greek.” FSM was everything “Greek” was not: clever, funny, and gave us someone to cheer on. I hope he learned his lesson, and will not hand-over creative freedom to someone else to destroy his well-developed characters in the future. Will I watch Greek when it airs completely edited with commercials on TBS---I doubt it. I will be running through last season’s “Gossip Girl.”
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