Showing posts with label Brad Pitt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brad Pitt. Show all posts
Mega Fun? Or Just Kinda Fun?
Good versus Evil. It’s the constant battle that is fought day in and day out. So is the case in Megamind. Megamind was sent to earth as a young boy, ejected into space as his planet was facing destruction. At the same time, Metro Man was also on his way to Earth under the same scenario. One landed in a nice house, and one in prison. Their fates had been selected.
As they grow, the rivalry intensifies. And it reaches a heated climax when Metro Man is trapped and his defenses are weakened, but will this final battle be the end for our hero? Or will Megamind need to find his nemesis to be complete?
Megamind is not your father’s animated film. In fact the humor here is not your son or daughter’s either. It is a funny film for boys and maybe even teens/adults but I wouldn’t look to young girls for a group that will enjoy this film. I had fun at some of the jokes that cross the heads of the youngest viewers, but there were more of those than jokes that make the youngsters laugh.
The voice work is top-notch and they do their best, but this film fizzles a bit when it comes to structure and overall pacing. It would have been nice to keep the fun going, but because of the story structure, it just can’t proceed.
Megamind could have been mega fun, but instead it was just kinda fun.
B-
Megamind
Dreamworks Pictures
Director: Tom McGrath
Cast: Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross
Rating: PG for action and some language.
Runtime: 96 minutes.
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Good versus Evil. It’s the constant battle that is fought day in and day out. So is the case in Megamind. Megamind was sent to earth as a young boy, ejected into space as his planet was facing destruction. At the same time, Metro Man was also on his way to Earth under the same scenario. One landed in a nice house, and one in prison. Their fates had been selected.
As they grow, the rivalry intensifies. And it reaches a heated climax when Metro Man is trapped and his defenses are weakened, but will this final battle be the end for our hero? Or will Megamind need to find his nemesis to be complete?
Megamind is not your father’s animated film. In fact the humor here is not your son or daughter’s either. It is a funny film for boys and maybe even teens/adults but I wouldn’t look to young girls for a group that will enjoy this film. I had fun at some of the jokes that cross the heads of the youngest viewers, but there were more of those than jokes that make the youngsters laugh.
The voice work is top-notch and they do their best, but this film fizzles a bit when it comes to structure and overall pacing. It would have been nice to keep the fun going, but because of the story structure, it just can’t proceed.
Megamind could have been mega fun, but instead it was just kinda fun.
B-
Megamind
Dreamworks Pictures
Director: Tom McGrath
Cast: Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross
Rating: PG for action and some language.
Runtime: 96 minutes.
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| Brad Pitt in one of the film's few quiet moments |
"You can't make a dead person sick."
Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family suddenly find themselves in the midst of chaos when a plague breaks out in their city -- indeed, around the world -- driving people crazy and making them violently attack others. These people turn out to be zombies, reanimated after death by a virus. UN representative Thierry Umutoni (Fana Mokoena) gets Lane out, but he learns that his family can not stay in their safe refuge unless he agrees to accompany a biologist, hoping to create a vaccine, to the spot where the virus originated to look for clues. Lane later winds up in Israel, were the undead pile atop one another in a grotesque exhibition so they can launch themselves over a wall to get at the living people on the other side. [Unlike the dead in Night of the Living Dead, these zombies movie very quickly]. Lane saves the life of a young female Israeli soldier named Segen (Daniella Kertesz), and both wind up on a plane when the passengers become infected. They wind up at a research center in England where Lane thinks he's come up with a novel way of protecting people against the zombies. Despite some arresting passages -- such as the wall sequence in Israel and the outbreak on the plane -- World War Z can't quite overcome the fact that it's just another apocalyptic zombie movie [like 28 Days Later] with over-familiar ideas. Based on a novel, it still owes a lot to Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. However, it is generally fast-paced, creepy, well-acted, and often quite exciting. [Gore geeks must have been quite disappointed that despite the gruesome tone the movie does not indulge in much graphic bloodiness.] Humanism is in short supply -- there's little talk of compassion for the dead victims nor scenes where a living person sees a dead one that they loved -- and the ending is kind of flat. Foster also directed one of the worst James Bond movies, Quantum of Solace.
Verdict: More zombies that you can shake a stick at. **1/2.
A Home Run!
Baseball fans know Billy Beane (Brad Pitt). They know about his impact on the game of baseball and how he changed the game. Now the rest of the world gets to know Billy Beane. Here’s hoping they will enjoy him as much as baseball fans.
Beane had a promising pro baseball career. In fact scouts were beating down his door telling him how good he was and the player he could become. But the former first round draft pick could never quite live up to the expectations that were placed on him on the field. But he loved the game.
Fast forward to the next stage in his life as the General Manager of the Oakland A’s. The A’s had a knack for developing talent, but as a small market that talent was gobbled up by the franchises with deep pockets when the players were ready for free agency. Faced with rebuilding after losing some of the top young talent in baseball, Beane tries a different approach when he runs into Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) on a trip to Cleveland. Peter impresses Billy, and a friendship is formed. Together, they are about to change talent evaluations forever.
Pitt is wonderful in his role as the junk food eating devilishly clever general manager. Much like Beane in real life, he was an image when he was drafted. Pitt brings that image coupled with a unique passion to the forefront in his portrayal of this great character.
Although Jonah Hill’s character was fictional, it did have a basis in some of the great aspects of the brains behind the sea change that took place. Hill takes his comedy marks from Pitt and is able to play straight man when needed.
And then there were all the baseball aspects of the game. It takes all the “real” comedy of movies like Major League and Bull Durham and combines it with the dramatic flair from films like Field of Dreams and The Rookie. The mix works, and you not only get elated on the ride, but also are brought back to earth by the realism.
With the post season in baseball right around the corner, Moneyball reminds us of all the beauty that exists in the game of baseball. There is no question Moneyball is a Home Run for baseball fans and movie fans alike.
A-
Sony Pictures
Director: Bennett Miller
Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright
Rating: PG-13 for some strong language.
Runtime: 2 hour 13 minutes