The Hunt for Red October

The Hunt for Red October directed by John McTiernan, starring Alec Baldwin, Sean Connery, Scot Glenn, Sam Neil, James Earl Jones, Tim Curry, Stellan Skarsgard, and Fred Thompson.

I hadn't see seen this movie in about fifteen years and I've got to say it holds up very well.  Tight screenplay and story that doesn't pamper to the audience as it forces thinking, is wholly believable and completely interesting.  One of the best thriller/actions movies to come out in it's style of genre.  This movie shouldn't work because the bulk of the action is set on submarines,which does not lend to the thriller/action genre well but the story and characters make it all a wonderful experience.

I like how the story builds the Russian character through they eyes of Jack Ryan as he analyzes all the information around him to figure out what is going on.  It's such a fun movie with some top notch acting that compliments the direction, production, story line, and some razor sharp pacing that never lets up.

Cinderella

Cinderella directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Kate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden, Helen Bonham Carter, Ben Chaplin, Hayley Atwell, and Derek Jacobi.

Not much to say about these new Disney films as they bring live action to their animated classic cartoons.  Same story line as the previous cartoon only now its all done with live action.  This movie looks good and will most likely appeal the audience Disney is aiming for.  I still think these movies are doing two things:

1 - They are letting Disney be lazy in just making new movies from old movie ideas all to make more money, which I can't blame them if they end up making money off of it because technically it's all free money to them.  That being said I just wish Disney would come out say that's why their doing these movie because then I would have more respect for them if the did.  I can understand the concept of making money versus the tired Hollywood excuses: of wanting to bring this story to a wider audience than before,wanting to explore other avenues of the story, or wanting to see how it would play out in live action versus animation.  Translation, we want more money.  At least that is a mentality that anyone can get behind.

2 - These are movies that are going to let actors and actresses play around with acting against type or being a Disney fairy tale with more than just their voice.

I personally thought this movie was rather forgettable but even after saying this it was visually stunning with Branagh doing his good job of directing and it does make for a good family time spent with kids - especially if they are girls.

ESPN: Those Guys have all the Fun

ESPN: Those Guys have all the Fun compiled by James Andrew Miller and Tom Sales.

Genre: Non-fiction

This book shouldn't have been anywhere as good as it turned out.  It's a story of the sports network ESPN and how it started up and until the present.  It's over 700 pages long and I found it completely compelling as it weaved a story through only interviews of ESPN's initial birth from an idea in a car with a father and son, to the getting the money for the idea to take shape, and then everything that follows from that idea. 

It's that interview format that I think really makes this story click.  They interview a lot of people, from behind the scenes (people I didn't know about it) to just about every reporter ever to work for them.  The interviews are candid and honest - this is a warts and all type of book and all the better for it. 

Highly recommended.

A Drink Before the War

A Drink Before the War written by Dennis LeHane.

Genre: Detective

I've never read Dennis LeHane until this book.  I had read a lot about him, him stories, his writing style.  I had been introduced to him from the movie Gone, Baby, Gone and a little know movie called The Drop, both extremely good movies.  I will say this from those two movies I had really wanted to read some of his books because those two movies had some great characters, great stories, combined with a setting that felt real.  This book is no different as the two main characters (
Patrick Kenzi and Angie Gennaro) dominate the PI story that enfolds in first person narration from Patrick Kenzi.  It isn't a bad thing about these characters being so well written and complex that they ultimately over shadow the story line because as the book goes on I wanted to know more about these characters, their conversations (even if it wasn't about the over all story), their interactions (even if it didn't involve the main story), and their personality was genuine, funny, and felt real.  They felt like people I could hang out with.  They had real interests outside of what was happening within the story.

Then add to that LeHane's writing style which can be read fast (I finished two of his books in about 4 days) but never feels like he wrote it fast.  His description of things has the hard boiled PI story down pat and is handled with some vivid poetic style that isn't over written but feels in place with the narrator.  His pacing of the story is good.  It picks up when it needs to and it slows down when
the slow, boring times of doing PI work hit but its in these times that the main characters get to shine as they make those down times fun.  I look forward to reading more of his works.  These two books have me hooked. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid written by Jeff Kinney.

My son started reading this series so I figured I would give it a go and see how it started out with this book.  Kinney has really tapped into what makes a kid, a kid with some heart felt and honest writing that matches the illustrations perfectly.  I like how the humor of the story isn't about one liners or just flat out jokes.  It's about characters and how their decisions shape what happens around them - in this sense the humor has a Seinfeldian quality in a childhood setting.  

Minions

Minions directors Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, with the voices of Sandra Bullock, John Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Geoffrey Rush, Jennifer Saunders, and Steve Carell.

Not much to say about this film other than that it was highly entertaining but also very forgettable.  I did like how it explored the world of the Minions from their past to their present.  All of that I thought was handled with some wit and humor.  That being said I did find the humans around them more interesting than the actually minions themselves and when the humans weren't on screen with the minions I found the story and what was happening lacking with depth.

Inside Out

Inside Out directed by Pete Docter, with the voices of Amy Poehler, Phylis Smith, Bill Harder, Richard Kind, Lewis Black, Frank Oz, Mindy Kaling, Diane Lane, and Kyle MacLachlan.

 Easily one of Pixar's best films.  The sheer depth of this movie was astounding.  The story line is simplistic but all the characters are written with such complexity and honesty that the story line becomes more than simplistic as the movie progresses forward.  The idea itself it completely out there: giving emotions a persona - this shouldn't work but Pixar pulls it off and builds a movie unlike any I have seen before.  Proving, what my brother and I having been saying for a long time, if you make good characters no matter how insane or crazy an idea or movie becomes - the characters will easily move the story line forward and the audience will respond to the characters not the utter chaotic idea or what happens with in the movie.  Characters or lack of characters will either make or break a story.    

Down to the visual elements (which are astounding) and production design of a person's mind (which are simply put breath taking) everything about this movie elevates it beyond just a movie.  It's a story about going up.  Going from a simple mindset of emotions from childhood into the teenage years of complex emotions is handled with such intelligence and humor but yet in an honest way.  Everything about this movie is believable even what goes on inside a person's head but what goes on outside the head only adds to what happens inside a person's head.  From how the emotional characters interact and evolve as the child moves through the tangled web of growing up.  It all feels so real.

Just when I was thinking Pixar was starting to loose it way with it's last few movies Inside Out proves once again they aren't in any way slowing down. 

Jupiter Ascending

Jupiter Ascending written and directed by the Wachowski siblings (formerly brothers),  starring Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Sean Bean, and Eddie Redmayne.

I've got to admit I haven't liked any of the Wachowski films since the horrendous Matrix Revolutions.  They seem to have kind of bought into their own hype and pretentiousness,  instead of just making good movies.  They went the George Lucas and M. Night Shyamalan route - they got caught up in either technology or technique that they forgot about story lines and characters, which is what helped to get them to the heights of their careers.

All of that being said I found this movie highly enjoyable despite the glaring flaws in about every aspect of the film.  It was just a fun movie that didn't get bogged down in philosophical or metaphysical ideas (something most of their films after The Matrix seem to be abound in) but instead reveled in the weirdness and oddity that is this movie.  It is all the better for it.  As directors these two still have a good visual eye giving this movie all kinds of eye candy with action scenes that pop with vigor but yet doesn't seem confused.  The characters here are still rather bland and cliche but at least the siblings seem to be actually trying to make some characters instead of just card board cut out people spouting meaningless, idle mumbo jumbo.

It's just a fun movie to turn your brain off and have a good time.

No Easy Day

No Easy Day written by Mark Owen.

Been really getting into learning about the SEALs lately.  This book is just another open door into their world.  Proving once again what a special elite fighting force these guys are.  This one ultimately focuses on the Osama Bin Laden raid.  That mission takes up about the last half of this book and is some great insight into everything that goes into preparing for, executing, and completing a mission.  The first half of the book is in building the main character and showing some things that goes into making a SEAL, a SEAL from BUDS down to selecting SEALs for SEAL Team Six, which is essentially selecting the best of the best of the best.

This is some good reading giving a much deep respect for the men defending our right for freedom.  I highly recommend this book.

Paddington

Paddington written and directed by Paul King, starring Tim Downe, Madeleine Worrall, Nicole Kidman, with the voices of Imelda Staunton, Michael Gambon, and Ben Whishaw.

All in all it was a very good family movie.  Very British and not in an biased, exploiting kind of way but in a way that shares British culture. One of the better family movies to come out of Hollywood without being politically preachy: it focuses on the theme of family.