2010 Reviews #97-#99: "The Joneses" "Morning Glory" is "Unstoppable"!!

Unstoppable

Rated PG-13

1 hour 38 minutes

With Denzel Washington and Chris Pine

Unstoppable was absolutely everything it should have been. It was an intense, non stop action packed ride of pure entertainment. Best part was that it was never over the top action. Actually it relied more on the tension to keep us hooked and not scene after scene of things blowing up. This isn't a loud, explosive action movie but even with that it still remains to be high octane thrill a minute fun! Simple premise: A large cargo train has gone rampant and is gaining speed and it cannot be stopped from any train yard or station. So either they try to derail it (by the way it is carrying a quite a lot of hazardous material that can wipe out a whole city) or they let it destruct in a highly populated area, possibly killing millions. OR...you have the Denzel option. He has the idea to connect to the train from the back and yank it the other direction and try to stop it. I had so much fun watching this movie. It was the perfect length, it did not run on to long. There was never a dull moment. Denzel was perfect and Chris Pine was also quite great! Rosario Dawson was very good in a supporting role as well. One of the better performed action films I've recently seen. This movie's sole purpose is to entertain us...who cares if anything in it "can't happen in real life"...it's fun! In my opinion, a must see action flick! Critics Grade: 85 %. My Grade: A-.

Morning Glory

Rated PG-13
1 hour 42 minutes

With Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton

I think Morning Glory is my little guilty pleasure movie so far this year. It's not a remarkable film by any means. We've seen stuff like this before a gazillion times. Bur for me, it was just so well put together for the most part. I never got bored watching the movie. I think the story is sweet and quite funny a lot of the times. The main cast were all excellent especially McAdams whose charm and likable character carried this film all the way. She is the type of character you just really root for the whole way through. Harrison Ford was fantastic as the grumpy legend who just wanted to retire. Diane Keaton was hilarious in her all to small of a role as the crazy co-anchor. Oh and the weather guy was hysterical as well. This is not a girly romantic movie by the way...at least I didn't get that vibe. There's a mini storyline that does involve a romance but does not in anyway overshadow the main story. As I was watching the film, I just never got distracted. I was into it all the way and thought it was a lovely little film. By no means an Oscar Contender (although McAdams might make my personal short list for lead actress). Oh and Jeff Goldblum was sadly misused in this film...he needed more screen time!! Just one of those movies I saw and loved a lot but let's face it...might forget about in a month or so. Critics Grade: 54%. My Grade: A-.

The Joneses

Rated R
1 hour 36 minutes

With David Duchovny and Demi Moore

Not many people really know about this film. It had a very limited release in some independent theaters across the country for a brief time. Now here it is on DVD. The premise of this film is actually really cool and not one I've really seen before, as far as I can remember. It's about a fake family (none of them are actually related in anyway) who work for a private advertising company. This company gives this family a new identity and sets them up in huge homes in very classy neighborhoods and supplies them with every cool gadget and gizmo you can think of. Not to mention all the latest clothing and makeup products. Their job is to "infiltrate" their community and schools and show off these products. Which in turn the unsuspecting community goes and buys these cool things. Basically they are covert sales people who don't actually push product...but just show them off to get people to buy them. Really neat concept to begin with. You also have this "family" who has to live together and we learn about all of their personal lives and also have to see them act their way through local gatherings and pretend they are a unit. Duchovny and Moore start to form a little love for each other but both know it's not a real possibility. All looks great, and this movie for the most part for me...was pretty pretty great. I just don't think they did enough with this unique premise. I would have liked to see more moments of people figuring them out and people from their past recognizing them and almost blowing their cover. We didn't see enough of the "dangerous" side of what this job could entail. At the same time, it is quite a stunning and real look at how our society feeds off each other and has to have what our friends have to be current and cool. It may be a little to forced here in this movie though, there was no real secret or hidden message here...it was right in our face. So it didn't come off as inspiring, I guess you can say. It just told me what I already knew about myself and our society and never offered a real suggestion as to how we can fix that about ourselves. It started to focus more on this fake family and all their issues...which was great! Just wish the actual job had more attention is all. Duchovny was brilliant and funny and Moore was not to shabby herself. It was definitely a good movie just didn't completely live up to the strong potential it had from the start. Critics Grade: 61%. My Grade: B.