146 - A Time To Kill

Connection To S*P*Y*S - Donald Sutherland.

In my opinion the most engrossing John Grisham adaptation, that's not to say it's without faults - it's just the one I'd pick off a shelf to watch - A Time To Kill takes the story of a father gunning down the two men who raped his young daughter - and adding race into the mix.

And that's really it's selling point - because it's set in the Deep South, so yeah race is really an issue - which is where one of the films tensions comes from even bringing in the KKK - while the scenes are well done you can't help but think it overflows the film a bit including threats and attacks to the characters linked to Matthew McConaughey's young lawyer who takes the case.

Of course the other tension is related to the trial of Samuel L. Jackson which does end up including the films most famous line ("YES THEY DESERVE TO DIE AND I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!") which I think with the subject matter would have made an interesting film on it's own (as in only seeing the trial). 

There's quite a cast of familiar faces including Sandra Bullock, who is not bad in the movie but in a lot of ways is a character not needed for the film at all - but I guess she's there to add star-wattage.

One thing I noticed about the film is how sweaty it is - most noticeable with Ashley Judd (who plays McConaughey's wife). This is not a complaint just a statement.

The thing I had most trouble with is the ending and the final argument by McConaughey - it's a great heartbreaking speech but I failed to make the leap of why it would get Jackson off with the murders.

Overall overlong and too many plot strands but very watchable with a good cast and a main story you are interested in, so I would air on the side of recommended.

103 - The Avengers (Avengers Assemble)

Connection To VIEW FROM THE TOP - Mark Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow.

You got to hand it to Marvel Studios - planning ahead - 5 movies it took to get to this point - Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and The Incredible Hulk (which sees a recast here) and giant failure in there and it could have put a damper on getting this far.

Avengers Assemble (as it's called here in the UK likely because of the Steed/Peel Avengers) brings together all those heroes plus Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) who haven't had their own solo movies in 2012's best comic book movie (I would have said Dark Knight Rises but that movies plot holes seem bigger every time I think about it).

Joss Whedon, is both a great and odd choice for a director depending which way you look it - great because he's done plenty of quality work - Buffy, Angel, Firefly - but odd when you consider Firefly didn't make a season, and Buffy and Angel where never rating juggernauts (He did write stuff like Toy Story that was hits though so he's proved he can be involved with a bonafide hit) but to me it's like Sam Raimi when he was given Spider-Man or Peter Jackson Lord Of The Rings - these guys proved they could do awesome on limited budgets so why not give them the keys to the candy shop...

The film's ace in the hole - which is probably true in the film Marvel Universe as an all - is Robert Downey Jr., you feel he really IS Tony Stark and is engaging every time he's on screen, Mark Ruffalo the replacement Bruce Banner is great - I'd go as far to say he's better then Eric Bana or Edward Norton in the role and would welcome seeing him in a solo movie, I think Chris Hemsworth's Thor is one of the least interesting Avengers characters (the first film was good though, haven't seen the second) and Chris Evans is an enjoyable Captain America. I liked Tom Hiddleston as - Thor's brother and film's villain - Loki, but... I suppose he's not really a big enough villain in someways for the movie.

That is a minor niggle, and another minor niggle is they spend time with some of the S.H.I.E.L.D characters etc. but they have nothing to do once the Avengers show up, obviously we want more Avengers but it seemed a set up that say Agent Hill (Cobie Smulders) might get more to do as the film goes on.

Overall, this is what comic book superhero movies should be like - exciting all the way through, and you want to stand up and cheer when the Avengers unite.

93 - The Other Guys

Connection To LOVELACE - Bobby Cannavale.

By now (fictional readers of this blog) you can see I'm back on a role, I wasn't lying when I said outside forces took me away from a blog that I enjoy doing, and I'm not quite back onto doing obscure titles like I did before, but they'll be starting back with time, I hope to include some more world cinema which I've touched on briefly so far, but bear with me when I do the backlog and starting getting into a different variety of films.

While film haves mocked the buddy cop genre better in the past (and since actually) this is still an enjoyable romp, the lead pair "the other guys" - Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg have decent chemistry I mean it's not Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in 21 Jump Street but it is pretty darn good, there's a fun smaller roles for Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson convincing as the superstar cops. I think I did feel like I got more value out of the smaller roles thinking about it Rob Riggle and Damon Wayans Jr. are entertaining as rival cops as is Michael Keaton as the police chief.

While the story line is not entirely uninteresting, in all honesty it's not that exciting, it's likely just an excuse to get the guys from scene to scene - which there is really no iconic scenes of to mention, there's funny scenes yeah but they'll be nothing that stays in my mind in the years to come.

Overall enjoyable, just don't expect a film that will revolutionize how you see the comedy genre but to repeat myself it's a film of good chemistry all around.

36 - Kiss Of Death (1995)

Connection To CON AIR - Both Nicolas Cage and Ving Rhames appear in both, but I'm going with Ving Rhames just so I can use Cage at a later date.

NYPD Blue - it's first season, in my humble opinion is among the best first seasons in American TV history, I know there is a lot of competitors but if I was drawing up a list it would be on there without a doubt and for me David Caruso was absolutely brilliant in that show - but after failing to gain a raise he left only a few episodes in to the second season with the hope of being a leading man, and that worked out... well he became a punchline for a while there and is career really didn't get back on track, when he ironically went back to TV with CSI: Miami (which he ended up lasting way longer for him - 10 years), but films like Kiss Of Death and Jade are considered the failed Caruso movies.

Kiss Of Death to me is a good thriller - not great but it's better then adequate - but Caruso is outshine by his co-star... you guessed it Nicolas Cage, this really is Cage's show, he really is the best thing about this movie which also features great talent such as Stanley Tucci, Ving Rhames and Samuel L. Jackson (more subdued then the Jackson we usually know), there's also future Oscar Winner Helen Hunt - but I didn't include because honestly I'm not a fan of hers, she's been in some good movies for sure but I've just never liked her performance, I just can't put my finger on it (I still prefer her to Meg Ryan though)

Kiss of Death is loosely based on the 1947 film noir of the same name - which I've never seen so can't comment on differences etc. - Caruso plays Jimmy whose an ex-con living with wife (Hunt), both of which are ex-alcoholics and daughter. Jimmy gets woken by his cousin Ronnie (Michael Rapaport) who desperately needs his help, his finger his broken and that if he doesn't help Little Junior Brown (Cage) will kill him.

Little Junior angry they are so behind schedule, insists they move four trucks full of stolen cars in a caravan instead of staggering them to avoid detection, which ends up drawing the attention of the police, when they arrive at their destination to unload the cars the police arrive to arrest but during this Jimmy's passenger shoots at the police the bullet of which goes through Jimmy and below the right of Detective Hart (Samuel L. Jackson) who survives it. The Brown family lawyer promises Jimmy that his wife will be taken care of if he takes the tap and not name the other criminals. Ronnie ends up shortening on her allowance (giving her $150 instead of the $400 the Brown's intended). She agrees to work for Ronnie at his chop shop where she goes to the Brown's club and ends up drinking vodka and wakes up in Ronnie's bed and horrified or relapse she rushes to leave but drives head on into a truck and dies. I'll stop here because I feel like I'm doing the plot bit by bit but I'll just say Ronnie gives a crappy reason to Jimmy about the death so Jimmy agrees to turn states witness...

Like I have already said it's a good thriller, while it's not the best of it's genre it does it's job well and I was actually interested in where the story was going but like I said Cage is just awesome every time he's on screen as the asthmatic psychopath (I'm one of them things see if you can guess which one), SPOILER his killing of Ronnie is one of the films most memorable END OF SPOILER

Overall a shame for Caruso it did nothing at the box-office but Jade would have destroyed any clout he had from this but it's enjoyable and comes recommended.