When Clint Eastwood is involved in a movie, you can expect it to be nothing short of intense. And first time director Robert Lorenz should not have been a stranger to this fact. Lorenz has assisted Eastwood in several of his movies – Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River to name a couple. So it would have come as no surprise to see Eastwood, all over his movie at the end of the day – not just as an actor but also as a director – Trouble With The Curve seems to be directed more by Eastwood than Lorenz. And I speculate that it is not because Lorenz is Eastwood’s protégé.
Bo Gentry (Joe Massingill) is a teenager who is THE most talked about baseball player in recent times. He has been hitting the right notes with the press and the big home runs in the college leagues. Rumours are that he is going to be the first pick in the upcoming draft for the Red Sox. But the people at Atlanta Braves believe that they have a chance of pipping them.
The Braves’ best scout, and arguably one of the best in the business, is Gus Lobel (Eastwood). Gus is not the most popular of all scouts in recent times because of his crabby behavior – people get senile and crabby beyond 60 is what I have heard. As if that were not enough of a worry for him, technology is taking the game into the computer and scouts are no longer the “in thing”.
Complicating it further is Gus’s rapidly deteriorating eyesight. Thank goodness for this daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) – named after the inimitable Mickey Mantle – still is concerned about his well being albeit reluctantly. So when Pete Klien (John Goodman) who is Gus’ boss, asks Mickey to accompany Gus on his latest road trip, she is caught in two minds. The first one that asks her to stay back and work harder than she has for the past 7 years so that she makes partner. The other that tells her to join her dad on the road; for what its worth, he is her father.
The movie carefully peels the layers on a complex relationship between father and daughter. It adds the nuances of how traditional scouts went about their lives and their roles in identifying the best of the best. It builds a case for that age old adage – you cannot sit in air conditioned cabins and decide who is a better player. No substitute for being right where the action is.
What works further for TWTC is the strong star cast. Eastwood, Adams and Goodman are as always superb. And there is this young man who I have firmly believed is a far better actor than a singer. He answers to the call of Justin Timberlake. Now why would Justin sing when he can act so well. I see a few nominations here – Screenplay, maybe movie, all 4 acting nominations. Will it win any? Not sure. What I am sure of though is that you should not miss it. 7.5 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2083383/
Showing posts with label Matthew Lillard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matthew Lillard. Show all posts
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Hackers
She started acting when she was 7 years old in a movie that starred here father in the lead role. The year was 1982. Her first lead role would be 11 years later in a lousy Sci Fi thriller called Cyborg 2 followed by an even worse movie called Without Evidence in 1995 where she played a bit part. Hackers was her fourth movie and I haven’t seen the other 3 that I spoke about. Thank God we have seen Angelina Jolie in movies that have been released in a little over a decade. That she has been inclined towards the action / science fiction / adventure genre of movies is not a worry at all. She is in fact probably the only woman who can really pull it off amongst the current crop of actresses that we have. But that doesn’t change the fact that 16 years back, she could not have been called an actress. The crappy script and the even more horrible direction doesn’t really help her out here. But a little under ten movies down the road, she came up with a performance of a lifetime in Girl, Interrupted (must watch for those who haven’t). So all of you out there who have had a really bad run to begin with – persistence pays. And yes, it helps to have a dad who has been around in the circuit for a while – no insult meant to your acting capabilities at all Ms. Jolie. One has to make the most of the luck factor as well.
“Zero Cool” is the screen name that is used by seven year old Dade Murphy who has taken to computers like a fish to water (could not think of a better line folks – very corny I know). So much so that at this tender age he has the capability of hacking into some of the most secure systems – whatever existed of those in the late 80s – in the US of A. But his luck runs out and soon enough he finds himself in a trial room where the prosecution makes mince meat out of him mercilessly and other than a hefty fine that is imposed on his parents, he is legally banned from being seen around a computer till he is eighteen years old – OUCH!!! That’s harsh. How he manages to stay in touch with the fast moving technology during that time of the world and get to age 18 as “Crash Override” (Jonny Lee Miller) can be understood, only by the director of the movie. When he moves schools he bumps into the much sought after beauty on campus (aargh – Angeliine @ age 18 without cosmetic surgery used to look quite ugly I must say) – Kate Libby (Angelina Jolie) who uses the opportunity to yank his chain like anyone would do with a fresher in school. A few altercations later and more importantly when Dade understands that Libby goes by the screen name of “Acid Burn” is when the two are forced to work together to help a fellow hacker who has been arrested by the FBI.
A barrage of tech dialogues that are absolutely unfriendly even to the biggest of geeks is only the beginning of the list of flaws that in Hackers. The costumes are atrocious but pardonable since the 90s were the most forgettable decade in fashion. Editing and direction are all but absent. And so is acting. So is there anything worth looking forward to here? Not really. And honestly, I tried my best to transpose my brains to 1995 to figure out if there were any pardonable errors. But I came a cropper. When you think hard you realize that a movie like Back To The Future was made in 1985 – a decade before this and yet was so much better in execution. Undeniably a super crappy movie. Playing these days on one of the movie channels. Cannot remember which one. Choose any other movie cause it would be tough to get as low as this one. 2 on 10 and I am being very generous.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2444991257/
“Zero Cool” is the screen name that is used by seven year old Dade Murphy who has taken to computers like a fish to water (could not think of a better line folks – very corny I know). So much so that at this tender age he has the capability of hacking into some of the most secure systems – whatever existed of those in the late 80s – in the US of A. But his luck runs out and soon enough he finds himself in a trial room where the prosecution makes mince meat out of him mercilessly and other than a hefty fine that is imposed on his parents, he is legally banned from being seen around a computer till he is eighteen years old – OUCH!!! That’s harsh. How he manages to stay in touch with the fast moving technology during that time of the world and get to age 18 as “Crash Override” (Jonny Lee Miller) can be understood, only by the director of the movie. When he moves schools he bumps into the much sought after beauty on campus (aargh – Angeliine @ age 18 without cosmetic surgery used to look quite ugly I must say) – Kate Libby (Angelina Jolie) who uses the opportunity to yank his chain like anyone would do with a fresher in school. A few altercations later and more importantly when Dade understands that Libby goes by the screen name of “Acid Burn” is when the two are forced to work together to help a fellow hacker who has been arrested by the FBI.
A barrage of tech dialogues that are absolutely unfriendly even to the biggest of geeks is only the beginning of the list of flaws that in Hackers. The costumes are atrocious but pardonable since the 90s were the most forgettable decade in fashion. Editing and direction are all but absent. And so is acting. So is there anything worth looking forward to here? Not really. And honestly, I tried my best to transpose my brains to 1995 to figure out if there were any pardonable errors. But I came a cropper. When you think hard you realize that a movie like Back To The Future was made in 1985 – a decade before this and yet was so much better in execution. Undeniably a super crappy movie. Playing these days on one of the movie channels. Cannot remember which one. Choose any other movie cause it would be tough to get as low as this one. 2 on 10 and I am being very generous.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2444991257/
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