00s Movie Review - The Lookout

Director: Scott Frank
Genre: Action/ Crime/ Drama
Runtime: 99 minutes
Year: 2007
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, Carla Cugino, Bruce McGill, Isla Fisher, Alex Borstein

Description: Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is once a promising high school athlete whose life is turned upside down following a tragic accident. As h tries to maintain a normal life, he takes a job as a janitor at a bank, where he ultimately finds himself caught up in a planned heist.

Review: Chris has trouble ordering actions, and as a result must attend therapy at e center for independent living. Simple things like telling how his day went already cause him problems. This is due to a car accident when he was still in school. Fortunately, besides the center, there is Chris’ blind roommate Lewis who wants to help him with his daily struggles. Chris works at night, as a janitor for the local bank. When he meets Gary at a bar, it looks like he got some new friends. But Gary has other plans, because he is more interested in the bank then in Chris personally.
It's a conventional story in many ways, but since the character of Chris is so interesting is goes a little deeper beyond the surface. One of the strengths of the film is the fact that the dramatic development of Chris always remains central and is the engine of all events. The heist itself is only a small part of the film.
“The Lookout” is definitely not a perfect movie, the thriller aspect is predictable and fall short of the realistic approach of what came before it. But these are basically minor criticisms of a film that convinces in its drama, which again is mostly due to the excellent performance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Chris. An actor I have always enjoyed watching.

Rating: 4/ 5

10s Movie Review - Tag

Director: Jeff Tomsic
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Isla Fisher, Nora Dunn, Jeremy Renner, Hannibal Buress, Leslie Bibb, Rashida Jones, Thomas Middleditch, Lil Rey Howery

Description: A small group of classmates organize an elaborate, annual game of tag that requires some travel all over the country.

Review: “Tag” is based on a true story, but this fact should not be taken too seriously. The starting point of a few friends in their forties who have been playing tag for years and who are perhaps even more fanatical about it in adulthood than as children, is indeed as it was noted in ‘The Wall Street Journal’ in 2013. But that doesn’t alter the fact that the characters in the film have virtually nothing to do with the member of the real club of friends and hardly any scenes reflect passages from the article. Just the fact that adult men have been playing tag since childhood was enough to create this film, because the film would have been the same if it was a completely new idea.
There is nothing wrong with that, by the way. Every story can be an inspiration for a film, but not everything that has been taken from life should become a prestigious Oscar drama. So it’s a good idea to simply make a fun comedy about five childhood friends who have grown apart in the usual way, but who manage to maintain their friendship by playing tag one full month a year.
There is not much to be done with the simple starting point, but thematically there is something to work with. Most of the men in the story pretty much all got their lives together, but simple keep playing tag for childhood sentiment’s sake. And that’s okay. But there is no room for any depth. It's clear that “Tag” want to be nothing more than a simple comedy, and in doing so, it’s doing a pretty nice job. This is mainly due to the workable approach that one of the five men has never been tagged. This resulting in the other four players trying to end his record. Easier said than done, because he is probably the best tagger ever.
I think the best element of the film is the casting. Jeremy Renner is cast well as Jerry, the unbeatable one. And Ed Helms, Isla Fisher, Jake Johnson and Hannibal Buress really belong in a movie like this. Jon Hamm feels a little out of place, but that’s nothing that would bother you.
I could compare “Tag” to “Game Night”, which was a lot better on so many levels. But “Tag” is an entertaining, enjoyable and funny enough for a fun movie night.

Rating: 3 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 168: Nocturnal Animals

Director: Tom Ford
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 117 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Shannon, Isla Fisher, Laura Linney, Armie Hammer, Michael Sheen, Andrea Riseborough

Description: An art gallery owner (Amy Adams) is haunted by her ex-husband's (Jake Gyllenhaal) novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a veiled threat and a symbolic revenge tale.

Review: Fashion designer Tom Ford proved with his film debut, “A Single Man”, that he isn’t only good with a needle and a sketchbook. The film was a masterpiece, not only from esthetic perspective. But also the themes and the characters were delicate and had depth. Ford took his time to direct his second film. “Nocturnal Animals” also focusses on relationships, regret and nostalgia to old romance. But it’s completely different movie.
At first sight it looks like art gallery owner Susan Morrow has it all. A good job, a beautiful house and a loving and handsome husband. But nothing is as it seems. Financially she isn’t doing well and she is estranged from her husband Hutton, who cheats on her while on a business trip. When Susan gets a message from her ex-husband Edward and he sends her a manuscript of his novel, she starts looking back on the life she once had. Susan left Edward for Hutton and hasn’t seen him in nineteen years. In Edwards’book, he tells the story of Tony Hastings and his family who are harassed by a group of criminials, while on the road. While Susan reads this story, she remember the life she had with Edward.
The story lines couldn’t be any different, but also have an emotional connection. Susan’s is more introvert and has a lot of thought in it. While Tony’s is extravert and explicit. Surprisingly enough, there is a perfect balance between those storylines. Tony is on a mission and has to find peace, while Susan has urges and desire but doesn’t show it.
Again Tom Ford manages to tell an esthetic story, but also enters the soul of the characters and the audience. Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal (the last has a double role) are both very strong in “Nocturnal Animals”. Michael Shannon is also worth mentioning. Aaron Taylory-Johnson plays one of the worst characters I’ve seen in a long time, what a terrible person. Great performance as well.
“Nocturnal Animals” is a film that gets under your skin.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 56: Bachelorette

Director: Leslye Headland
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 94 minutes
Year: 2012
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, James Marsden, Adam Scott

Description: Three friends are asked to be bridesmaids at a wedding of a woman they used to ridicule back in high school.

Review: Three unstable, crazy bridesmaids and a lot of booze and drugs aren’t exactly the ingredients for a perfect wedding. That’s what bride Becky is dealing with in “Bachelorette”. Her maid of honor is Regan, an ambitious career woman who doesn’t want anything unless it’s perfect. Gena, the cynical and indifferent joker who does everything that God forbids. And then we have Katie, who isn’t very smart.
“Bachelorette” isn’t your sweet and cheesy chick flick, it manages to avoid clichés. But it turns into a slightly obscene comedy. Because the leading characters are very extreme, it makes them very unpleasant and highly unlikeable. It heads more in the direction of being caricatures instead of characters that you can relate too. They take it a bit too far, which makes it everything but funny. The only one I really liked was Clyde, played by Adam Scott, but maybe that’s because I genuinely like this actor.
“Bachelorette” didn’t succeed in what it was trying to achieve. I prefer “Bridesmaids”, a comedy that did get it right

Rating: 1,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 47: Now You See Me

Director: Louis Leterrier
Genre: Thriller
Runtime: 115 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Mélanie Laurent

Description: An FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo) and an Interpol detective (Mélanie Laurent) track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances and reward their audiences with the money.

Review: “Now You See Me” introduces the four illusionists in the opening sequence. All of them with their own specialty. The magicians are brought together by a mysterious figure and they get a Las Vegas show. In that show it seems that ‘the four horsemen’ are robbing a bank in Paris. FBI agent Dylan Rhodes and Interpol agent Alma Vargas have the task to find out how they pulled it off.
Because you’re constantly shifting between the four illusionists and the two law enforcers, it’s really hard to see the ethnic difference between good and bad. It’s never clear who the real protagonist is in the movie. The story is missing an edge. With that the characters aren’t all as important. Of the four magicians, there are only two that really have a purpose. The other two stay in the background. Eventually we get a pretty predictable twist in the end.
The visuals are amazing, it’s a very good looking movie. And it’s certainly a very good concept. But it’s not as sensational as the tricks in the film.

Rating: 2/ 5