Gangster Squad Review

DON'T FORGET TO SCROLL DOWN AND ENTER THE BOOKS-A-FIRE GIVEAWAY!  15 CHANCES TO WIN ~ JUST FOLLOW THE LINKS AND ENTER FROM EACH BLOG!


Hello folks,
As you know by now, I am not a professional reviewer, I'm just a frequent movie-goer.  Dude and I love the drive-in movies.  We go almost weekly, and this past week we only had two new movies to choose from, and they were billed as a double feature.

The first one was Gangster Squad starring Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, and Emma Stone.  It is supposedly based on an actual event in the Chicago mob history of Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn).

I was prepared to hate this movie.  I'm not a fan of mobster films at all.  In fact, I'd gone so far as to tell a couple of friends that I would NOT be going to see this one because of all the real violence our world had seen the last few weeks. But you know what Charles Dickens said, "Never say never!"

And since I like all the named actors, and since Dude and I were needing our drive-in movie fix (and a chihuahua and a char burger), I was willing to give it a try.  Besides, if you have read very many of my reviews, you know I always take my pillow and blankie so that if I don't like the movie, I can catch up on my sleep . . . can we say Skyfall?

Anyhow, surprise, surprise, I didn't even get my pillow out of the backseat!  I do not like to give spoilers, so just suffice it to say that it was sooo not what I expected.  Yes, there was violence, and yes, there was foul language, but it was obviously there to show how evil Mickey Cohen was; neither the violence nor the language seemed designed just to titillate or shock--it actually had a purpose.

I think what I really liked was the fact that even the good guys fell into a gray area once or twice.  They used whatever means they deemed necessary to try to get Cohen.  Isn't that really sort of relevant to today's culture-dilemma of whether the ends always justify the means?  I thought so.

I liked it.  I would give it ❤❤❤❤.  


The second feature was This is 40 starring Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann.  I think there were some other big names in the movie, but I didn't see them.  No, I didn't get out my pillow and blankie . . . after about two minutes, Dude and I looked at each other, made gagging noises that, after decades of marriage we both know means, blech, let's get the heck out of here and go watch NCIS reruns on TV, so that is what we did.  We did not let the proverbial doorknob hit us where the good Lord split us.

I don't think we missed a thing.  Maybe we're old prudes. . . I mean, this is humor?  How?  I don't get it.  We loved Rocky Horror Picture show and it was kind of vulgar, but it was creepy and fun, too.  This one just took vulgarity to new heights, I mean, lows.  (I downloaded a pic to include here, but I guess the Mac was in agreement with my assessment because it refused to cough it up!)

No spoiler here, either (I couldn't if I wanted to, I have no idea what happened, didn't even watch it in the rearview as we pulled away), just suffice it to say, I give it this many hearts: 

And no, that isn't a typo.

Afterthought:
Hopefully, next time, I will be reviewing one of the umpteen books I'm reading ~ or the movie Silver Linings Playbook.  It's at the walk-in movie.  They don't have chihuahuas or char burgers, and it costs three times as much as the drive-in.  But hey, it could happen . . .

Movies, Movies, Movies

I love movies.  After all, aren't most movies based on books?  Okay, not every movie, but the past couple of weeks, every movie I've seen was first a book.

Victor Hugo.  Les Miserables.  Sigh.  So much to love ...  love the book, love the religious message, love the gritty look, the acting, and the singing.  Okay, maybe I wasn't totally onboard with Russell Crow as Inspector Javert.  He was okay (and I loved him in A Beautiful Mind), but he wasn't over-the-top the way Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Samantha Barks (On My Own was beautiful) and Amanda Seyfried were.  Actually, there were so many wonderful actors--the little boy in the revolution?  Wow.  What a kid--anyhow, I liked this movie, a lot, but I read where Adam Lambert said the singing might have been more memorable if it had been studio-sweetened rather than left stage-raw.  I don't know.  You go over to You Tube and pull up On My Own or I Dreamed a Dream, or even Who I Am ... tell me what you think.  At any rate, I definitely recommend it.  In fact, it's one movie I would like to see again.  And for me, that's a rarity.  Oh, wait, did I leave out Eddie Redmayne as Marius?  Another awesome singer....

Now, The Hobbit, well...not so much.  One of my all time favorite books, The Hobbit left me a little under-wowed as a movie.  Maybe it fell flat because LOTR was such an epic trilogy.  The Hobbit should have been done first.  To do it as a prequel did it a disservice in my opinion.  If you liked the book, you will probably like the movie, just don't expect to be blown-away by it the way we were by LOTR.  Not if you're like me, that is.

James Bond.  Skyfall.  Slept through it.  Sorry.  Don't know if this was one of the Bond books or not.  I was really tired and it wasn't Sean Connery or Roger Moore.  Yes, I'm old.  Sue me.  BTW, I didn't even make an attempt to see the last Jason Bourne movie--can't even recall the name of it--Matt Damon is Jason Bourne, 'nuff said.

Saw Billy Crystal and Bette Midler--Parental Guidance--such a cute couple.  I would like to squeeze the stuffings out of the both of them.  Then I would like to thump their skulls.  They could do so much better!  I mean, c'mon--the star of The Rose and a major player in The Princess Bride?  Puh-leeze, someone, write them a story!  Oh, and Marisa Tomei?  I don't know if she did a good job of acting or not.  I was too busy wiping the drool off Dude's bottom lip every time she appeared onscreen to notice.

There was one MAJOR FAIL in this movie that someone should be called on the carpet over ... in the theater scene, Billy Crystal has had his face painted with glow-in-the-dark paint by his creepy grandson (sorry, but it's true, all the kids were sort of creepy).  It's really a funny sight gag because BC is sitting in the audience and when the lights go down, his face lights up...until he goes chasing the creepy kid through the aisles, then somehow--VOILA--the paint mysteriously vanishes and is never mentioned again!  Arrrgh.  What a let down.  Millions of $ to make a movie, and this is what we get...thank goodness we got to see it on Poor-boy night.  Come to think of it, I don't believe this one was based on a book.  Not that I know of anyhow...

Breaking Dawn Part 2 Kind of funny.  I didn't have any expectations for this movie.  I simply had to see it because I liked the fight scene at the end and because it was, well, such a phenomenal thing.  If you haven't seen it, I won't spoil the ending, it was kind of cool, that little twist.  That's all I'll say.  And honestly, aren't we all sort of glad to be done with it?

Okay, I think we saw some others recently, but I'm out of sarcasm so I will call it good for now.  Next week, we're going to see Jack Reacher, another very popular book.  I'll let you know if Tom Cruise's lack of height is a distraction....

Afterthought:  Feel free to agree or disagree.  The opinions posted here are simply that, my own opinions.  Cheers ~