Martin's Musings

It would be tempting to see The Beaver and want to draw parallels between the film’s plot and star Mel Gibson’s last couple years.

After all, the film tells the story of a man who reaches bottom and finds an unusual method of snapping out of it and reconnecting with friends and family. But that would be too easy … and perhaps more importantly, I’ll bet even Mel Gibson, crazy as he is, wouldn’t go so far as to talk through a hand puppet.

Yes, that’s the plot here: Walter, a depressed husband and father (Gibson), finds a beaver hand puppet in a dumpster and adopts it as his sole means of communicating with those around him. (Yes, really.) Continue reading →

It’s the rare film series that makes it to a fifth entry and still manages to entertain.

And who’da thunk it that the Fast and Furious series would be a series that did both?

Fast Five reunites original cast members Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, and (the gorgeous) Jordana Brewster, and shifts the action to Rio, where the team schemes to pull off a heist involving the city’s largest crime lord.

New to the series is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, as an FBI agent hot on their trail. (No wonder Walker and Diesel’s characters bring back other former F&F stars, including Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and Tyrese Gibson, who both appeared in the second film). Continue reading →

It’s not exactly breaking news that advertising and marketing is everywhere.

Anyone who’s visited Times Square knows this, as do the millions of viewers who watch American Idol every week. (Seriously, who hasn’t cringed multiple times when seeing the judges drink from their Coca-Cola glasses or the finalists perform in another Ford commercial?)

So Morgan Spurlock’s latest film, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold doesn’t exactly shock.

Nor does it present new revelations.

However, it does entertain.

Like his previous film Super-Size Me, Spurlock handles his topic with humor and self-awareness. Continue reading →

From out of the desert, a man with no name arrives in a run-down town in the Old West.

And though that sounds like the plot of a stereotypical western, Rango takes the cliches and tweaks them.

For one thing, this is no ordinary man; in fact, it’s not a man at all. The title character is a chameleon who can’t blend in because he has such a penchant for sticking out.

And his eccentricities lead to him becoming the sheriff of and savior for a town called Dirt, where the residents are down to their last drop of water. Continue reading →

The difference between average movies and very good ones usually comes down to one word: characters.

If the filmmakers can’t make you believe that the people on screen are real, that they have actual emotions and feelings, and if you don’t care what happens to them, then chances are good that they’re overcompensating with high-concept gimmicks, lame jokes, or special effects.

There’s no need for such things in Win Win, a film that’s special because it’s got great characters you can’t help but like and root for. Continue reading →

Nancy Reagan and South Park‘s Mr. Mackey would not be fans of Limitless, the new movie in which Bradley Cooper takes a drug that makes him smarter, faster … better.

Cooper plays Eddie Morra, a struggling writer in New York, who is introduced to the aforementioned smart pill, and is instantly able to write, predict stocks, outsmart others, dress better, and more. I’d let you predict what happens from there, but to its credit, the film’s plot is not entirely predictable.

Limitless is fast-moving and generally enjoyable, but I’ve gotta admit that it feels a bit too self-aware, like it’s trying too hard to be a hip and cool version of Flowers for Algernon or something.

There are worse ways to spend your time, but I’m only going to give Limitlessa B.