Directed By:Michaël R. Roskam Starring: Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace Rating: R for some strong violence and pervasive language Run Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes Synopsis: Bob (Hardy) and his cousin Marv (Gandolfini) run a bar for some Chechen mobsters that is occasionally used as a "drop bar" for the mob's money. After the bar is robbed one night, Bob's seemingly quiet life is turned anything but thanks to a decade-long investigation into a missing persons case related to his bar, needing to placate his employers and cousin, plus raising a puppy he finds in the trash one night that may somehow be involved in the investigation. REVIEW Andrew: Hello dear readers! We profusely apologize for our lack of activity on the blog. Over the past month we were on the road quite a bit taking some much needed vacation time, plus if we're being honest, there just weren't a lot of movies that we thought were worth our time and/or money. Sarah: Let's put it this way: we've seen Guardians of the Galaxy three times instead of seeing anything else over the past month. So yeah...not many attractive movies. A: Very good point. But September is here now, which generally means the end of Hollywood's second dumping season (January/February being the first), as well as the approach of Oscar season. Now that some movies we're actually interested in seeing are coming out again, we're back with a new review! This past weekend we decided to catch the new crime drama The Drop, starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, and the late James Gandolfini in what is his last film role. Interesting of note to me, The Drop was written by noted crime novelist Dennis Lehane (author of "Mystic River" and "Gone Baby Gone") and is based on his own short story. So even though this is director Michaël R. Roskam's first English-language film, the pedigree was big enough for me to be very interested in this film. S: Hardy plays a quiet bartender named Bob, who works at his cousin Marv's place, with Gandolfini playing Marv. Marv is a bit bitter in life because he sold his bar to the Chechen mob years ago, and they now use his bar as a front and as a "drop bar" where their money is occasionally dropped off, hence the name of the movie!
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Tom
Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Guy Pearce, Mia Wasikowska
Rating: R for strong bloody
violence, language and sexuality/nudity
Run
Time:
1 hour, 55 minutes
Synopsis: In the middle of
Prohibition-era Virginia, Forrest Bondurant (Hardy) and his brothers Jack
(LaBeouf) and Howard make and bootleg the best alcohol in the area. When local
authorities start looking for a cut and bring in Special Deputy Rakes (Pearce)
to crack down on them, tempers and blood start to run.
REVIEW
Andrew: Hello readers! Sarah
and I hit up the local AMC tonight to catch an early evening showing of this
week’s new R-rated drama Lawless, starring a personal fav of
ours in Tom Hardy, as well as Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain and
Mia Wasikowska.
It’s based on a true story about the
bootlegging Bondurant brothers in Prohibition-era Virginia who fought against
local authorities who tried to extort them into sharing their profits. This is
one we’ve been looking forward to because we’ve been seeing the trailers for a
while now and it looked gritty, it looked like it had a lot of drama involved
and it had a great cast.
So now that we’ve seen Lawless, Sarah, what did
you think?
Sarah: I was thoroughly impressed!
It was a long movie that had a slow burn; it’s a very well done period piece.
It’s incredibly engaging in both the cinematic aspects as well as the acting
involved.
Andrew: Hello readers! Sorry we've
been a little quiet since my review of The Dark Knight Rises on Friday, but
it's still crazy busy at the day job and Sarah just got back from her trip late
Monday. But fear not! We hit up the local multiplex last night to get Sarah
caught up on TDKR and we're ready to get down and dirty with discussing some
finer points of the movie and Nolan's whole Dark Knight Trilogy in general! (MAJOR
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN TDKR YET!!!!)
SERIOUSLY. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN TDKR,
STOP READING THIS NOW.
Ok Sarah, the first thing I want to
get your take on, because it's probably the most talked about aspect of the
film, is the ending. It looks like Bruce Wayne has sacrificed himself by flying
the nuclear reactor over Gotham Bay in The Bat and is blown to smithereens. His
estate is given to the city to be used as an orphanage, Alfred gets the money
from his belongings after crying his eyes out at Bruce's funeral, and the city
has erected a statue in Batman's honor. But then Lucius Fox discovers that
Bruce fixed the autopilot on The Bat, Commissioner Gordon finds the Bat Signal
replaced with a new one, Alfred - in a call-back to an earlier scene - sees
Bruce alive and well with Selina Kyle at an Italian cafe, and John Blake
follows some coordinates Bruce left him and discovers the Bat Cave, implying
he'll take up the mantle as the new Batman.
What did YOU think of that ending???
Sarah: Let me start off by saying that
this was an amazing movie. But to answer your question the ending was
phenomenal! I thought the way they wrapped it up was a little quick for my liking.
I found myself going, "But wait, I want more of THAT!!" I loved how
this movie felt a little different from the last two but still fit in well in
the trilogy. The introduction of new characters was well done and they were
perfectly cast.
Here's the thing. The Dark Knight Rises ends and lends
itself to be the right set-up for another one! But Nolan has repeatedly said
that he didn't want to do another one. What's up with that?!
Starring: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sensuality and language
Run Time: 2 hours, 44 minutes
Synopsis: 8 years after the Joker's chaotic attack and Harvey Dent's death, Gotham is in a state of peace and Bruce Wayne (Bale) has retired the Batman. But a fearsome thug named Bane (Hardy) arrives with plans to destroy the city, bringing Wayne out of retirement. At the same time a cat burglar (Hathaway) is catching Wayne's attention, and a young police officer (Gordon-Levitt) tries to help Batman stop Bane's terror attack.
REVIEW
Andrew: Hello readers! It's just me for this rare occassion. Sarah is away visiting family while I had to stay back for work. Naturally this had to happen when one of the most anticipated films of the year is released, so we can't do a regular review. So instead I will be giving a singular review of Christopher Nolan's final entry in his Dark Knight Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. I'm going to do my best to not spoil anything. When Sarah returns we'll go more in-depth into discussion points on spoilerish things, but for now I'll give my general thoughts on the movie.
In short, as I tweeted on the Two Tickets For... Twitter account (@twoticketsfor) not too long after getting out of the theatre, "Wow. Just.....wow." Of the many things that made say "wow" is just the sheer scope of it all. Nolan certainly went big here: the settings, the action pieces, the plot-lines, the villain. If someone at Warner Bros. told Nolan to go big or go home, he took the first option and ran with it.
I've read many reviews for The Dark Knight Rises so far and a few of them have pointed out that they felt there was TOO much going on. I don't disagree with that sentiment but I don't fully agree with it either. I can see where some moviegoers might feel like the first hour of the film is heavy on exposition and there's the potential for a lot of information overload. It didn't bother me, but with all the following stuff I can understand if others thought so.
Andrew: Hello readers! So it's been a little bit since we did a
weekly preview, because Sarah and I have been pretty busy with our days jobs,
but we figured we absolutely needed to do one this week for a couple of
reasons.
For one, Sarah's going to be visiting some
family out-of-state this weekend, and she flies out tomorrow, so we couldn't do
it any later than today. And secondly, even though there's only one big release
coming out this week, it's a DOOZY and I think we all know which one we're
talking about.
Of course, we mean the final act in
Christopher Nolan's epic Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight
Rises.
Sarah, we're both obviously looking forward to
this film very much (just like most of the world). But what I want to know
right off the bat is what specifically you're looking forward to about it the most?
Sarah: The thing I am most looking forward to most is getting some
questions answered! Where has Batman been? What has he been doing? Do the
people of Gotham really think he is the bad guy? Who is this new love
interest? Is Catwoman gonna kick some ass? And WHAT does Joseph Gordon-Levitt have to do with the storyline!
So many questions and I still have to wait
three days to see it in Virginia!
A:Those are some damn good questions, and I share a lot
of them with you. Yeah, I want to know what JGL's role is. I know he's a young
police officer under the guidance of Gary Oldman's Commissioner Gordon, but why
is he in this film? A similar question can be asked for Marion Cotillard’s
Miranda Tate. There’s been a lot of rumors that her character is Talia al Ghul,
the daughter of Liam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghul from Batman Begins.
And I too would like to know how Anna Hathaway does as Selina
Kyle/Catwoman, as well as how Tom Hardy does as Bane. These are two of my
favorite current actors and it looks like they're both perfect casting choices
for the roles. But how will they fit in this universe Nolan has created? And
can they even come close to Heath Ledger's legendary turn as the Joker in The
Dark Knight?
S: So
many questions! Here’s another one: do you think people are putting too much
pressure on this one? Do they have expectations that are too high?
A: I am
100% certain that any and all people who see TDKR and have seen TDK
will have extremely high expectations, and possibly ones that are too high for
Nolan's latest to fill. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Not in my mind,
because TDK is an instant classic (thanks in large part to Ledger), so
it's reasonable to think Nolan can make another one just as good.
I mean, I have Nolan's last two films in my personal top ten
because they deserve to be there. I know I have high expectations for TDKR,
especially since we've seen the prologue when we saw Mission: Impossible - Ghost
Protocol in IMAX, but I also know I'll need to critique TDKR
on its own merits. Honestly it'll be tough to do in practice, but it's what
I'll be trying to do.
S: I
think it is interesting yet touching that Nolan has stated that he won't have
Ledger's Joker mentioned in this movie. It makes sense to me because of the
nature of Ledger's death. So in that instance, I really don't think that he
will have too much of a shadow that will be cast. I really think that Tom
Hardy's Bane will be a fantastic addition to the bad guy club.
A: Good
point on what Nolan’s said about the Joker not being mentioned at all. I think
that’s part of the reason Nolan (who co-wrote the story with his brother
Jonathan) set his last film 8 years after the incidents in TDK. Because it’s so long
after the fact, and because Bruce Wayne has become a Howard Hughes-esque
recluse during that time-frame, there’s no need to mention the Joker. Maybe
that’s just something I’m reading into the situation, but it makes sense to me.
S:
Could be! I can’t wait to find out, as this will be an exciting weekend for the
summer blockbuster season! While Andrew will be seeing this movie opening
night, I will have to wait until Saturday! "But how," you may ask,
"are you going to write a dual review!?" Well, readers, we won’t be
doing one immediately. Andrew will post a solo review first thing Friday, and
when I return we’ll do a joint one in full discussion mode.
A: So
be on the lookout for those this weekend! As always, thanks for reading! If you need a quick refresher or just something to get you pumped for the movie to come out, check out the trailer again below!
Andrew: And here's our second trailer for the day! Arguably the most anticipated movie of the year, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises has had three trailers already, but here's the fourth and final one.
It includes a lot of footage we've already seen, but it also includes some new footage, including Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman getting a couple lines in. Oh yeah, and lots and lots of explosions. I keep getting stoked for this film and I know Sarah is, too. So check out the. new trailer and remember, The Dark Knight Rises comes out one month from tomorrow!
UPDATE: The video we originally had posted has been taken off the Internet by Warner Bros. We apologize for the inconvenience. If and when it reappears we will make sure to post it again. :(
Andrew: I'm going to keep this short and sweet.
Last night at the MTV Movie Awards, Christopher Nolan and the cast of The Dark Knight Rises walked on stage and introduced a new trailer of sorts for what may be this year's most anticipated film.
It has some new footage including different scenes of Bane looking pretty menacing and new shots of how Selina Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman) will be coming in to play. Check it out below. It's pretty sweet.
The Dark Knight Rises comes out on July 20th and stars Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard and Joseph-Gordon Levitt.
Andrew: Hello readers! Yes, two posts in one day! It's likely a new record for us, and it's for good reason!
The official website for Christopher Nolan's final entry into his Batman trilogy launched just the other day, and thankfully it also means they've released a new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises - one that is said to be attached to this weekend's The Avengers (read our reivew of that here).
July 20th needs to get here RIGHT NOW because this trailer just makes me even more excited to see TDKR. Check out the trailer below!
Directed By: McG ("Charlie's Angels", "Terminator: Salvation")
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Chelsea Handler
Rated: PG-13 for some sexual content including references, some violence and action, and for language
Synopsis: Two CIA operatives, Tuck (Hardy) and FDR (Pine), end up falling for the same girl, Lauren Scott (Witherspoon). Using all their skills and available CIA gadgetry, they fight each other for Lauren's affections. Pretty simple, huh?
SYNOPSIS
Andrew: Hello readers! This morning Sarah and I went to a morning viewing of the new Reese Witherspoon/Tom Hardy/Chris Pine film “This Means War.” We previewed it on Thursday and it topped our list of new releases we’d see, as we’re fans of all three main actors and the kind of film it is. So, Sarah, did “This Means War” live up to what we thought it would be?
Sarah: I think it did! It was a lot of fun and I actually laughed throughout most of it! I was concerned with this one. When the trailers for “This Means War” came out, I thought, “Oh no, they have given away all the good parts!” I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t. What did you think?
A: I with ya on this one. I personally didn’t have really high expectations for “This Means War” and so the amount of times I outright laughed out loud was a pleasant surprise. I think a lot of that had to do primarily with the chemistry between Chris Pine and Tom Hardy – they’re delivery of funny lines was spot on.
S: Once again, it was a movie that didn’t try to be the next great romance, or best action film. It was just an all around funny date movie. The characters interacted really well together, and even Reese Witherspoon was good, considering her last movie, “How Do You Know?” was a complete bust.
A: Reese was pretty funny in her own right, but I do think her character was pretty flat. She was a bit flaky and at times I actually didn’t like her, but she was solid. I thought the film did a better job of fleshing out Tuck and FDR, and they certainly were the two MAIN characters, in my opinion, so they should have been the more rounded ones.
Was there anything about the film that you didn’t like, or that you thought was subpar?
S: Oh I agree, I think that the character of Lauren Scott could have easily been changed out by any actress, and actually think that Emma Stone could have done a much better job. I think that the movie lacked a little bit on the storyline. The whole understory of the Russian bad guys was a little weak. I actually think it would have been better if there had been a series of little missions that they had to go on.
A: That’s not a bad idea! Cuz the movie starts with Tuck and FDR on a mission, which introduces us to them and the villain, and that was one of the best parts of the film I think. So the idea of seeing them in action more is an appealing one.
On that note, one of the strengths of the film was when the two guys used their C.I.A. resources to spy on each other and mess up their respective dates with Lauren. They didn’t ruin too much of that in the trailers. Heck, my two favorite scenes weren’t in the trailers or commercials at all.
S: Oh I completely agree! The funniest parts were when they were trying to sabotage each other.
A: The last thing I have to say about “This Means War” is simply that, while you’re right that it didn’t set itself out to be anything more than it is, parts of it were derivative of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and other spy films (particularly a poker scene that is pretty much straight out of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”). It certainly had it's flaws, like a thin script, some choppy editing and one scene where the audio was completely out of sync with the video, but for what it was, it's not bad.
S: I will give you that. Some of it wasn’t very creative, but funny anyway.
A: So what’s our final grading of “This Means War?”
S: Ok readers, with all that said, we say it’s a Great Way to Spend an Afternoon, if you’re out on a date, otherwise, Netflix It!
Directed By:Michaël R. Roskam 
