Movie Reviews

I haven’t been to the movies in a while, which is really odd for me – I try to take in a matinee at least a couple times a month – every weekend, if there are movies that catch my interest! But, with so much going on and the lack of movies that I tend to usually enjoy, I haven’t been in quite a while…….I don’t even remember the last movie I saw in the theater!

So, I decided I wanted to see a movie today! I looked up what was playing and didn’t see anything that immediately stood out. After reading more about them, I decided to see TWO today — neither of which are my usual cup of tea, but both had excellent cast lists and interesting sounding story lines. I decided to see Rendition at the 10:20 Early Bird Matinee and then see We Own The Night at the 12:40 Matinee.

First, I need to comment on the Early Bird Matinee — I have always liked the Early Bird Matinee! I have a problem paying full price for a movie at the theater unless it is something really special and I’m going with friends or something — I typically will only go to matinees. They cost less and there are usually less people – meaning not so crowded and not as many people talking all the way through the movie I just paid to listen to…….. I especially like the Early Bird Matinee cause it is $1.00 cheaper than the regular Matinee price — hey, a $1.00 is a $1.00 and it’s worth it to me to get going earlier and take advantage of that $1.00 savings! HOWEVER – much to my dismay, I discovered today that the Early Bird Matinee is no longer cheaper than the regular Matinee — they cost exactly the same now!!!!! They still call it the Early Bird Matinee and still only have it on certain days, but there is absolutely no advantage now in getting there that early!!!! The Assistant Manager was at the ticket window and I said “the Early Bird Matinee isn’t cheaper anymore?” and he said “nope, sorry”. I replied with “then why bother?” to which he responded “my thoughts exactly!” ha-ha! And from what I could tell, not many people are bothering………there wasn’t anyone in line and only two people in the lobby and I was the only person in the theater watching Rendition until one other lady came in right about when the previews ended……..

So – here is what I thought of the two movies:

Rendition – starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, and others. I did not like this movie at all. It had a powerful story, but I just don’t like movies like that. I thought it would be more about her trying to free her husband, who was unfairly detained and questioned because he was traveling abroad and was of Egyptian decent. Instead, it focused more on terrorists, home land security, and the CIA sending possible terrorists to other countries to be tortured for information! The movie starts out showing an Egyptian chemist who has lived in Chicago since he was 12 and is married to Reese Witherspoon (they have a 6 year old son and another on the way) leaving a conference he attended in South Africa. At the time he is leaving to return home, a suicide bomber attempts an attack on a high ranking official in another country (I didn’t catch what country, but it appeared to be middle-eastern) and ends up killing several people, including an American CIA agent. When he arrives in the US, he is quickly whisked away to be questioned and when he tells them there is some horrible mistake cause he doesn’t know the terrorists they think he is affiliated with, Meryl Streep orders him to be “put on the plane” where he is taken to the country where the bomb attack took place and tortured by the person who was the target of the bomb. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the CIA agent who is there to observe the questioning and becomes uncomfortable with the tactics. Reese Witherspoon goes to see an old college friend who works for a US Senator for help finding her husband. I won’t go in to specific details – some may like that sort of thing and I’d hate to spoil it for them. A large portion of the movie was in subtitles, so I was busy reading instead of watching the movie – I hate that! Although there were a couple of action scenes, I found it to be mostly dull. The movie makes some pretty powerful political statements (whether you believe the allegations surrounding this topic or not), but really doesn’t go anywhere with it. That’s probably why I didn’t like it — I go to a movie to be entertained and I didn’t feel one bit entertained. I just didn’t like it and wish I had saved my $6.50 plus the cost of popcorn and coke. Double Thumbs Down – total waste of time and money!

We Own The Night – starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall. Now this one I liked – a lot! It was the age old story about a man (Robert Duvall) with two sons – one who followed in his footsteps as a NYC cop (Mark Wahlberg) and one who got mixed up with drugs and the Russian mob (Joaquin Phoenix). The brothers were at odds with each other most of the time and the father looked at Joaquin’s character as an outcast. Joaquin changed his last name and no one in the mob knew his family were cops, except for his girlfriend. The father and brother tried to get Joaquin to help them by informing on the Russian mob, but he refused. They raided the club he managed for the mob and the raid resulted in the cop brother being shot by a masked hit man – luckily, he was seriously wounded, but didn’t die. Not knowing he was talking to the cop’s brother, the mobster they were trying to get bragged to Joaquin that he had a cop shot and that he had a hit list that had the cop’s father next in line to go!!! Joaquin couldn’t take that – he went to his Dad and told him. I won’t spoil the story for anyone who hasn’t seen it, yet (so far I have only told the first few scenes), but suffice it to say that he bans together with the cops to get revenge and it makes for a very emotionally charged and exciting movie!!!! I really liked this one – even though I don’t typically pick movies like this. I highly recommend it! Two Thumbs and Two Big Toes Up for this one!!!!

Now, for the best line of the day — it was in We Own The Night – Mark Wahlberg’s character was talking to Joaquin Phoenix’s character – he handed him a pistol and told him to take it for his protection and said “…better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6…”!!!