Movie Review: Our Idiot Brother

To download to the audio version, right click here and choose "save as..." or "save link as..."

To listen, press the play button on the player below


Our Idiot Brother is one of those movies that you watch with your mouth open and think, "can this be real?" You find it very hard to suspend disbelief, but not in a fantasy kind of way. You have a set of characters in what appears to be the real world acting the way that most people do, except for maybe one person. That person would be the brother in question, Ned played by Paul Rudd.

Ned is calm, collected, very at easy and loves his dog named Willie Nelson. He looks like Jesus with the long hair and beard, is living on a farm and selling fruits, vegetables and weed. Well, he really didn't want to sell the weed to the cop, he just wanted to help out someone who was having a tough week, he was going to give it to the cop, but because he took the money that the cop offered he got busted and went to the joint for eight months although, he got off four months early for being the most cooperative prisoner. The way he acts and dresses you expect someone to come up to him and say "Dude, the 1960s called and it wants all its hippies and flower children back!"

After his release from the big house, he can't go back to the farm so he end up spending time living with his mom and sisters Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), and Liz (Emily Mortimer). Miranda is a tightly wound wanna be reporter for Vanity Fair. Natalie is a care free spirit living with five other people including her girlfriend Cindy. Sister Liz is the dutiful wife to a documentary film maker Dylan (Steve Coogan) and mother of two.

With each stay Ned screws up something. Ned doesn't have a mean bone in his body, but he also doesn't have any filters and doesn't try to read any negativity into what he has been told or sees. That's why you sit there with your mouth wide open. Could you believe there is someone who wouldn't try to impose a darker or screwed up or judgmental meaning on what they have seen or heard? When he is given a lame excuse for a situation, Ned just accepts it as is, no questions asked. It's there where the suspension of disbelief becomes really hard to do. But on the other side of the coin, if Ned started to question and then accepted further lies you'd think differently of him. Then you'd really think he was stupid for not discerning the deceit instead of just having the blind faith to think the best of people and hope that they will give the same back to him. He even goes as far as praising his parole officer for the job the officer is doing. How's that for thinking well of people?

There were a couple of slow points in the movie and a little bit more risque comments and sights in the movie than I expected going in. It was rated R for sexual content including nudity, and for language throughout. It was also one of those comedy movies where the trailer shows you scenes or jokes that don't make it into the final 90 minute cut released to theaters. While maybe not worth the price of a movie ticket, it might be worth the DVD or Blu-ray rental because there was a bit of a lesson in there about one way to view life. When you watch, make sure you stay for the credits as a number of bloopers and out takes pass the time while the words scroll up on the side. I would think a future rental would probably have more of a blooper reel than what was included in the feature presentation.

The Movie Monkey

To subscribe to the audio podcast of the reviews via iTunes click here. Audio versions are released the following Wednesday.

Movie Review: Madea's Big Happy Family

To download to the audio version, right click here and choose "save as..." or "save link as..."

To listen, press the play button on the player below


Three new movies this weekend. Water for Elephants has Robert Pattinson, Edward of Twilight fame, in a drama. Didn't see much in the way of previews so it was a pass. The next was African Cats the Disney documentary about the big cats of Africa. Although I love Disney, I'm a dog person. Next! So that left Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family. Annnnd...I bought a ticket.

People either seem to love Perry's work or they hate it. There doesn't seem to be many in the middle ground. I lean toward the love side of his work, especially when it includes Madea, Perry's female alter ego. Playing such a loud, boisterous and as I was taught at my first job a PB that's pushy broad in case you're scratching your head, Perry gets to do things that normally people would find unacceptable. But, when Madea does it we laugh and laugh hard.

In Perry's movies, there are elements of relationships in all forms that get explored. Mothers and daughters, siblings, parental and general connections between people. What are issues spoken and unspoken, known and unknown, fresh and deep rooted that are part of the characters lives we see play out on the screen. Sometimes redemption is there, sometimes not. Elements of faith in God are always in play in his cinematic endeavors.

The theater was pretty full for the first show of the day on what for some is a long Easter weekend. The crowd reacted to the projected images. Many times the laughter was so loud and hard you couldn't hear the words. At other times there were gasps of shocked surprise. And at other times there was silence punctuated by people inhaling trying to hold back their noses from running.

Some of the dialogue, actions and situations were so over the top that you shook your head in laughter. But yet in many cases there were the elements of truth to each one. That's where he gets us. We drop our guard a little so that he can get in there with a message of love, truth, faith and of overcoming. On occasion he hits us with a situational 2X4 to either wake us up to what is around ourselves or for those that are aware, to be all the more thankful.

As to what happens in the 106 minute running time, here's the scoop. Madea's niece Shirley (Loretta Devine) needs to tell her three children about her health issues. Each child has their own intervening issues. Her son Byron (Bow Wow) is dealing with two high maintenance women, his baby's mamma and girlfriend while trying to overcome being recently released from jail. Oldest daughter Kimberly (Shannon Kane) is a cold non responsive wife to her husband Calvin (the Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa). Middle daughter Tammy (Natalie Desselle) is the domineering emasculating wife with two disrespectful boys. One of the biggest laughs throughout was provided by weed smoking Aunty Bam (Cassi Davis).

There was a cute animation to start the movie and the blooper reel to finish it out while the credits ran making you want to stay until what I call the BSOR or blue screen of rating. With drug content (lots of weed due to Aunty Bam), language provided by an often bleeped out Madea (when you see why it was bleeped you're stomach will be hurting from laughter) and some mature thematic material (the aforementioned relationships and health issues) it received a PG-13 rating.

The Movie Monkey

To subscribe to the audio podcast of the reviews via iTunes click here. Audio versions are released the following Wednesday.

Movie Review: Country Strong

To download to the audio version, right click here and choose "save as..." or "save link as..."

To listen, press the play button on the player below


The first full weekend of 2011! At least we had two selections available unlike last weekend! Choices: Country Strong or Season of the Witch. It was a tough decision. Nick Cage and Ron Perlman looked kinda hokey in their preview. I'm not a super huge fan of country music either. So the deciding criteria this week was the earlier film and one that would earn me extra movie points which meant the country music was awarded my attendance!

Gwyneth Paltrow has been showing her musical chops over the past few months with her appearance at the Country Music Awards show and her role on Glee. This allowed her to play six time Grammy Award winning singer Kelly Canter. Like a lot of music superstars (and many not so super) she's in rehab after having an alcoholic meltdown in Dallas. James her husband/manager (Tim McGraw) decides to pull her out a month early. You watch the two look and talk to each other and you wonder why he pulled her out. While laying in bed next to each other she says to him "I got a Brazilian" and his response is "I just took an Ambien, see you in eight hours". Not the normal take on "not tonight honey, I have a headache." So why did he pull her out: for him, for her, for the music or for the money?

Befriending her at the rehab center was Beau, a local country singer/song writer who was an employee there. The formerly clean shaven Tron: Legacy star Garrett Hedlund is transformed into the scruffy looking orderly by day, local country singer heartthrob at night. Kelly wants Beau to come on her comeback tour as an opening act. James on the other hand wants the former Miss Dallas beauty queen Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester) to be the opening act. So a compromise is hit and they both go on the three city tour with the final stop being Dallas itself. What better location to pick yourself up and dust yourself off other than the scene where you fell off the bucking bronco in the first place!

This is where the story gets messy. There are a number of cliches that follow. Both up and coming stars Beau and Chiles are making tough decisions about their future. The superstar who wants to remain on top but may be washed up but hoping for a come back. Wow, that last one sounds like Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart, doesn't it? People around the star enabling them and their bad habits. Sleeping around in order to get what you want. These earned the film a PG-13 rating for thematic elements involving alcohol abuse and some sexual content. Was Beau there to get ahead in music, to save the old star or get the new one was murky at best. Same sort of questions with Chiles. Was her intention to get James, a career or Beau? There are too many more to mention. As I said it was messy.

The singing in the movie seemed good. Apparently Hedlund grew up around country music and was excited to play the part for the movie. McGraw who played Hedlund's father in 2004's Friday Night Lights let Hedlund stay on his ranch near Nashville in order to get Hedlund ready for the role. Meester also did a respectable job. After the big appearances last year, we know Paltrow has pipes that can do the country twang required of the role. What I thought was funny is that the one true country star among them, McGraw, didn't sing. I take that back, he did, but in the end credits, not as part of the film.

There was one major surprise in the film that I didn't totally see coming but for the most part, I sat in my seat for the 112 minutes, not really bored, but not excited about what was in front of me. Towards the end when Paltrow was giving a medley I wondered how many more songs I would have to wait through for the drama to start up again. Maybe if I was a big country fan my response would be different for the music and the movie.

The Movie Monkey

To subscribe to the audio podcast of the reviews via iTunes click here. Audio versions are released the following Wednesday.

Movie Review: Shinjuku Incident

For American audiences, we don't get to see Jackie Chan in the light that this movie casts. We see him in movies like Shanghai Noon, Rush Hour, The Tuxedo or his latest US flick, The Spy Next Door. He plays a likable guy with killer martial arts skills who is able to use whatever is around him clay pots, sofas, scaffolding, clock works to move around and vanquish his opponent. He uses comedy throughout to bring smiles to the audience's faces. Shinjuku Incident is not like that at all. Released in April 2009 in Hong Kong it is just making its way into US theaters. Done in Japanese and Mandarin, we watch the action and are lead via the subtitles.

I had two people in the theater with me who kept talking back and forth trying to figure out the language and that they had to read the subtitles. After the first two minutes if they didn't like reading subtitles they always had the option to leave.

Chan plays Steelhead an illegal Chinese immigrant in Japan. Back in China he used to repair engines. His fiance Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei) moved to Japan to try to find a better life saying that she'll come back but when she doesn't and communication stops, he follows his heart to try to find her. After escaping the authorities on the Japanese beach he meets up with his brother Jie (Daniel Wu) who introduces him to other illegals who are picking up odd jobs and stealing in order to survive.

During an immigration bust Steelhead saves the life of Detective Kitano (Naoto Takenaka) who is greatful and wishes to repay Steelhead. When he discovers his fiance is now the wife of a Yakuza boss Steelhead decides to become a legal citizen of Japan. In the process he gets caught up in Chinese gangs and the Yakuza. To keep his brother out of trouble Steelhead buys Jie a chestnut cart. Jie unfortunately has a run in with another gang and ends up with severe injuries. Steelhead while trying to exact revenge for Jie ends up saving the life of his ex's husband. Eguchi (Masaya Kato) hires Steelhead to kill those people who were trying to kill him.

For the first time we see Jackie Chan, not in defensive mode but playing offense. While trying to play protector he ends up being aggressor. It's not what we American audiences think of when someone drops the name of Jackie Chan. We see a side to him that we haven't been presented. Instead of this coordinated flailing martial arts master that deflects blows, we see a man who gets hurt and shows emotions.

After taking care of Eguchi's request and being rewarded with control of specific districts including Shinkuku, Steelhead tries to lead a normal life going back to repairing engines leaving the control of the Chinese gang to the people who originally helped him. Without his sense of fairness the other immigrants start to fall into illegal activities that Steelhead never would have imagined. One of the corrupt leaders is none other that his brother Jie.

Detective Kitano gets called upon to crackdown on the illegal activities at the same time parts of the Yakuza decide they want to take back control of the areas that were given to the Chinese. The undercurrent of racism rears it head and comes out. Kitano thinks it's Steelhead not realizing Steelhead has stepped back from control but wants to work with him to pay back his personal debt he owes to Steelhead. All hell breaks out as the Yakuza and formerly illegal immigrants fight for control.

Chan plays good guy and he plays bad guy. The good guy isn't like what we see with his movies made for America. There were some typical Chan traits, but not over the top. The bad guy we haven't seen before. This is a drama not a comedy or martial arts flick although there is some martial arts involved. One of the challenges with watching foreign flicks with subtitles is having to focus on the bottom of the screen. Without understanding the languages involved the nuances of the vocal part of the performance is lost.

The movie was an interesting story of immigration challenges set in Japan. It presented something that we normally see with issues between the US and Mexico. Presented with another culture and location but similar reasoning we're given another level of interest to draw us into the story. If this two hours which is rated R due to graphic violence, brief sexuality and drug use is playing in your area, I would recommend checking it out for another side of Jackie Chan's acting abilities.