10s Movie Review - The Hero

Director: Brett Haley
Genre: Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 96 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Sam Elliott, Nick Offerman, Laura Prepon, Krysten Ritter, Katherine Ross

Description: An ailing movie star (Sam Elliott) comes to terms with his past and mortality.

Review: Lee Hayden has put his best years behind him after his one and only good movie, The Hero. Now he makes his living doing voice-overs and commercials. When he is told he is suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer, he can’t bring himself to tell his estranged family. When he meets comedian Charlotte Dylan, his life suddenly gets a boost. Lee is faced with the emotional conflict that his career can make a comeback, while his death stares him in the eye.
“The Hero” could have been a fairly mediocre film if it wasn’t for Sam Elliott, who is a true force of nature in this film. He carries the film, with some support from especially Nick Offerman, who I loved in his role. Elliott really knows how to create a character you can empathize with, even with him having a lot of faults and imperfections.
Seriously, without Sam Elliott, this movie would be forgettable and disposable.

Rating: 3,5/ 5 

Movie Reviews - El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

Director: Vince Gilligan
Genre: Action/ Drama/ Crime
Runtime: 122 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Aaron Paul, Jesse Plemmons, Jonathan Banks, Matt Jones, Charles Baker, Bryan Cranston, Krysten Ritter, Robert Forster

Description: We follow Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) after the events captured in the finale of “Breaking Bad”. Jesse is now on the run as a massive police manhunt for him is in operation.

Review: The story of Walter White has ended, but that of “Breaking Bad” hasn’t. At least, the story of the nice science teacher growing out to become a relentless drug lord, but the story of Jesse Pinkman is still unfinished. Walter White would have never walked the path if he didn’t coincidentally walk into his former student Jesse. He was Walter’s ‘lab partner’ and entrance to the drug world. Where, in five seasons, Jesse was either Walter’s friend or enemy. Walter’s downfall to the drug underworld was always a nice contrast to Jesse’s developments from macho loser to a young man that wasn’t very profound but became more aware of ambition, guilt and responsibility. And his status as a character is big, since he is the only character next to Walter White to appear on each episode of “Breaking Bad”. And he even wasn’t supposed to survive the first season initially.
In the last few episodes of the series, Jesse was imprisoned by some drug producing neo-Nazis. His role was even a little passive, that a suicide mission by Walter was necessary to get him out. “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” is a sequel of sorts, with the goal to let Jesse take matters in his own hands. At the end of “Breaking Bad” it looked like he was driving into a hopeful future, but “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” shows us everything is a little more complicated. With the complete police force of Albuquerque looking for him, he is all on his own. Everything he has learned in the five seasons of the show, he has to use in his advantage. And he has to fight for his freedom.
If you haven’t seen “Breaking Bad” it’s a tough watch, because you are missing a lot of information that you need to see this film. See the series first, before watching this movie. But the film is especially well focused. Don’t expect some kind of ‘farewell tour’ of all the well-known locations and faces that we knew from the show. It’s a two-hour epilogue that give all the events from the series extra weight. Some of the characters make and appearance (both in the current story as in flashbacks), but not only to please fans. The have a purpose in Jesse’s story. Every conversation with friend or enemy is about who Jesse is, was and will become.
This all means that they are fully leaning on Aaron Paul’s acting. Even though Paul won three Emmy Awards for his role as Jesse Pinkman, it was mostly because of the interaction he had with Bryan Cranston’s Walter White. And he is not present in this story. But this gives Paul more room to create a character outside the shadow of Walter White. And when they return to events that happened on the show (flashbacks), it’s immediately clear that it’s past Jesse, because of his attitude. So I can conclude that Aaron Paul can easily carry this film, he does a fantastic job.
“El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” is written and directed by Vince Gilligan, who was also one of the forces behind “Breaking Bad”. His directing is great, but it’s especially his writing that deserves praise. Instead of uninspiringly mixing up some old “Breaking Bad” elements just to please fans, he tells a character driven story that goes forward from were the story left us at the end of the final season. It’s a small scaled story, but Gilligan manages to get everything out of it. Every time Jesse gets a step closer to escaping Albuquerque, a new obstacle pops up.
I was skeptical about “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie”, because I thought it was made as pure fan service. But it’s definitely more than that and a really good movie. You should watch the series first, before checking this out. It is necessary to understand the character.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 15: Big Eyes

Director: Tim Burton
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 104 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, Danny Huston, Terence Stamp, Jon Polito, Elisabetta Faontine, James Saito, Guideo Furlani, Delaney Raye, Madeleine Arthur, Emily Bruhn, Alan McFarlane, Tony Alcantar, Jaden Alexander

Description: A drama about the awakening of the painter Margaret Keane (Amy Adams), her phenomenal success in the 1950s, and the subsequent legal difficulties she had with her husband (Christoph Waltz), who claimed credit for her works in the 1960s.

Review: Margaret Keane’s paintings were famous in the fifties and sixties. Even pop art front man Andy Warhol liked them. The paintings were characterized by portraits of children, with bid sad eyes. One problem: for a long time people thought Margaret’s husband Walter Keane was the creator of the paintings.
If you look at the design of the paintings, it’s typical Tim Burton. Not such a strange choice for a director. On the other hand, it’s not a typical Burton movie. We know Burton as the maker of fanciful, fairytale like movies like “Edward Scissorhands” and “Big Fish. “Big Eyes” is a true story.
“Big Eyes” starts off at the moment where Margaret is leaving her first husband, together with daughter Jane. Painting is the only thing, beside her daughter, that gives her joy. When moving to San Francisco, she continues to paint but without success. When she meets the charismatic Walter Keane, her live changes. He paints street sights of Paris and has talents as a salesman. Margaret and Walter see that they can offer each other a lot, so they decide to marry. When Margaret’s paintings get noticed, Walter takes credit for her work.
Burton choose to stay as close to the real story as possible. With that the story sometimes drags a bit and feels tedious at times. The fact that the movie is narrated, doesn’t help it. The movie also feels fragmentary, because the events follow each other rather quick.
Positive note is the superb enactment. Amy Adams is one of my favorites and I love her timid yet powerful performance. Christoph Waltz breaths charisma and that is again present in “Big Eyes”. That comedic court room scene, only Waltz can get away with that. Tim Burton, master of unlimited fantasy, took it easy by making “Big Eyes”. His movies didn’t bring him success lately and I’m afraid “Big Eyes” won’t change that. The film is okay, but the performances are better than the movie itself.

Rating: 2,5/ 5