Movie Reviews

Re-Watch The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Shop Around the Corner

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Director:

Ernst Lubitsch

Starring:

Margaret Sullavan

James Stewart

Frank Morgan

Plot:

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realizing that they’re falling in love through the post as each other’s anonymous pen pal.

Review:

This is one of my favorite Jimmy Stewart movies. He plays a store clerk that has come to a point in his life where he wants a little bit more out of his life. So naturally he answers a personal ad in the paper.

One thing leads to another and he falls in love with the girl he writes to, evidently the idea of it being a dude doesn’t enter his mind. Such a trusting time. When he finally gets to meet her, he’s nervous that she’s going to be fugly, then he finds out it’s the woman he works with and hates.

Since it’s Jimmy Stewart and he’s not a total dick, though I’m not sure if anyone’s a total dick, he ends up wooing her as himself and not just through letters. It’s beautiful.

I do think Margaret Sullavan’s character is a bit of a bitch at times. There are also some dark moments, attempted suicide and infidelity, though, not from Jimmy or Margaret. It’s a great story and a nice look at depression era sensibilities.

5/5

Re-watch: Groundhog Day (1993)

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day (1993)

Director:

Harold Ramis

Starring:

Bill Murray

Andie MacDowell

Chris Elliot

Plot:

A weatherman finds himself living the same day over and over again.

Review:

This is the start of my romance movie marathon for the month. It’s not a conventional romance, but it’s there! I promise. Plus there’s the added bonus of Groundhog Day being February 2nd and it’s the 3rd.

I’ve watched Groundhog Day many, many times. It’s not the normal Bill Murray comedy, but it has it’s comedy elements. From what I’ve read Murray wanted the movie to be more serious than it was, but Ramis wanted more of a comedy. Even with the tug of war going on in the background I think it’s an excellent film.

Phil, Bill Murray, is an arrogant, self-absorbed, weatherman at the start of the film. After thousands of repeated days he discovers that way down deep inside he’s not a bad guy. It took him a while, but after he slept with all available attractive women, ate and smoked whatever he wanted, killed himself a few different ways, he got around to self-improvement. Probably exactly what I would do too, minus the killing myself. Maybe.

Unlike 12 Days of Christmas I really think that Phil probably stuck with the new and improved version of himself. After that much time, stuck in the same place, learning so many new skills, and obtaining so much knowledge, I think he would have to be changed to his core.

I like the fact that he pursued Rita, Andie MacDowell, so persistently and she always shot him down. It wasn’t until he “found” himself that she really did anything with him romantically. I know he sort of melded himself to be the man she wanted but along the way I think (hope) he started doing it for himself.

If you’ve somehow managed to live your life without seeing this movie it’s time to change that.

5/5

Chef (2014)

chef

Chef (2014)

Director:

Jon Favreau

Starring:

Jon Favreau

John Leguizamo

Scarlett Johansson

Robert Downy Jr.

Plot:

A chef who loses his restaurant job starts up a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise, while piecing back together his estranged family.

Review:

Food porn. So much food porn. It was amazing, but this is coming from a person that can spend hours watching Food Network.

The story was as much about a man getting his culinary groove back as it was about him reconnecting with his son. I could see why some people might find it slow, there’s a lot of shots of food and cooking, but it looked amazing. So much wonderful food. Yummy.

I liked the movie but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who doesn’t care about cooking.

4/5

*Watched this again recently and liked it just as much. If you aren’t hungry after watching this you’re doing it wrong.

Let’s Be Cops (2014)

Lets be cops

Let’s Be Cops

Director:

Luke Greenfield

Starring:

Jake Johnson

Damon Wayne Jr.

Rob Riggle

Plot:

Two struggling pals dress as police officers for a costume party and become neighborhood sensations. But when these newly-minted “heroes” get tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must put their fake badges on the line.

Review:

Any movie that starts off with Backstreet Boys automatically gets points with me. No idea why since I was never a fan, but damn it makes me smile.

I don’t know how anyone can think that pretending to be cops is a good idea. They take it even farther by getting a cop car and making it look as authentic as possible. I get that this is comedy and I was laughing, but let’s be real for a minute, that’s a fucking dumb idea.

When that naked dude came running out it was fucking hilarious.

The bad guy is a bit too psychotic. I’m not an expert in drug trafficking and gangs and all that shit, but I really think he’s a little too in to killing people to get that big. I don’t know. Maybe he killed his way to the top. It just looked like he enjoyed shooting up his money and drugs a bit too much in his pursuit to kill.

I thought it was a little long and kind of lost its focus right before the end, but I liked it. It was funny, and even though I called the ending, I had fun. I would not be adverse to a sequel. It made over one hundred million, so that’s pretty good, but the critic reception has been very negative. Who knows what will happen.

4/5

Tammy (2014)

Tammy

Tammy (2014)

Director:

Ben Falcone

Starring:

Melissa McCarthy

Susan Sarandon

Kathy Bates

Plot:

After losing her job and learning that her husband has been unfaithful, a woman hits the road with her profane, hard-drinking grandmother.

Review:

I’m glad that Melissa McCarthy is getting roles in comedy movies, but Tammy left a lot to be desired.

The plot makes it sound like a raunchy comedy with a grandmother and granddaughter, but it doesn’t deliver. I’m not sure if McCarthy just wasn’t given free rein or if she was having a series of off days, either way I didn’t laugh once. There were too many emotional parts and relationship revelations and not enough comedy. The main jokes were just about how disgusting Tammy was and I’m getting tired of those jokes. I hate when comics pick one thing and harp on it forever, like Kevin Hart and being short. Get over it.

Look at a Will Ferrell comedy or the better Adam Sandler movies, when they have a deep, meaningful, revelation it doesn’t take up half of the movie and a lot of the time they come to the wrong realization. Why can’t a female driven comedy do that? Why do they actually have to grow? Why do they have to make themselves “pretty”?

When Ricky Bobby has to find himself he goes about it in the most ridiculous ways and it’s hilarious because he’s doing it all wrong and he doesn’t know any better. When Dewey Cox gets his life together it’s just a long montage with him playing catch with his billion kids.

Tammy spiraled out of control, but the entire time she knew what she was doing was wrong, and it wasn’t funny. It was sad, because she was too stupid to figure out other options and she knew it.

Her finding a man at the end didn’t bother me because they do that in male driven comedies as well, but I didn’t really buy him being in to her.

I had such high hopes and I think that made the movie worse, for me.

1.75/5