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 

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 140: The Girl on the Train

Director: Tate Taylor
Genre: Thriller/ Drama
Runtime: 112 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Rebecca Ferguson, Luke Evans, Laura Prepon, Allison Janney, Edgar Ramirez, Lisa Kudrow

Description: A divorcee (Emily Blunt) becomes entangled in a missing persons investigation that promises to send shockwaves throughout her life.

Review: “The Girl on the Train” has been compared to David Fincher’s “Gone Girl”. Both movie are adapted from books and are psychological thrillers, where the disappearance of a young woman is the focus. A comparison like this is dangerous, because you go in with very high expectations. For this reason alone, the movie will disappoint.
Rachel Watson is a divorcee that drinks away her tears. A happy couple that she passes every day on the train, is the only comfort in Rachel’s life. She fantasizes about their life. One day, Rachel wakes up coverend in scratches, bruises and blood. She has no idea what happened. And then the police show up, telling Rachel that Megan Hipweel went missing. The woman she has been watching on the train.
“The Girl on the Train” is a thriller that works best when you have no clue what’s it about. I read the book, so I knew what was going to happen. And director Tate Taylor stayed very close to the novel. The only difference is the location, he changed out London for New York. The movie is told from different perspectives, chapters and jumps in time. Thre is really no other way to tell this story, without giving away the twists the story has. So for the people who read the book, there are no surprises.
“The Girl on the Train” is more a plot drive film than a character drive film. The characters sometimes feel like pieces in a chess game, that are moving from one place to another until we get to the climax. The credibility of those characters is a bit lost sometimes.
Luke Evans, Edgar Ramirez and Rebecca Ferguson have strong supporting roles, but it’s without a doubt Emily Blunt that steals the show.
I read and saw so many bad reviews of “The Girl on the Train”. I liked the movie a lot, I just didn’t love it. Like I said before, it’s always dangerous to have such high expectations of a film.

Rating: 4/ 5