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The Chinese Kitchen Garden
Book
A beautiful introduction to growing and cooking a classic cuisine! Wendy Kiang-Spray's family has a...
Spotted Hemlock
Book
Rediscover Gladys Mitchell - one of the 'Big Three' female crime fiction writers alongside Agatha...
Jersey Girl (2004)
5.7
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Ollie Trinke (Ben Affleck) is young and at the top of his game as a music promoter. He is both a...
Bicentennial Man (1999)
6.9
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Movie Watch
Richard Martin (Sam Neill) buys a gift, a new NDR-114 robot. The product is named Andrew (Robin...
Wentworth Miller recommended Time Bandits (1981) in Movies (curated)
The Round-Up (1966)
Movie
In Hungary, the national movement led by Kossuth has been crushed and the Austrian hegemony...
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Why Him? (2016) in Movies
Jul 12, 2019
When an “out of touch” Midwesterner owner of a paper factory (Bryan Cranston) decides to take his family to California to spend Christmas with his college student daughter (Zoey Deutch) and meet her new tech-millionaire, but socially inept boyfriend (James Franco), a typical father vs boyfriend faceoff ensues. For many, Why Him? will be enough to satisfy the comedy itch. Those expecting to find the next gut busting comedy will be disappointed, while those thinking it will be a dull comedy will be pleasantly surprised. This film is somewhere in the middle. A constant stream of chuckles with a few bigger laughs here or there. But ultimately forgettable at the lack of main characters to root for.
The highlights of this film include Cranston who reminds us that he has comedic timing from his years in Malcom in the Middle. His chemistry and timing is played well across Megan Mullally who perfectly delivers a few genuine laughs as a Midwestern suburban wife trying to maintain the niceties. Their son (Griffin Gluck) also adds to the humorous family affair as a teenage brother trying to be taken seriously as an adult but still being treated as a child. Lastly, the always funny Keegan-Michael Key hilariously plays Gustav, the “estate manager” to the tech-millionaire boyfriend and spices up the film every time he seems to appear.
James Franco on the other hand quickly wears out is welcome as the socially inept tech-millionaire boyfriend. At times he is funny, however after the dropping the “f-bomb” so many times you begin to sees him as a basic, depthless “caricature” only going for the low hanging fruit of crude jokes. Still, his crude, repeated, jokes are no longer funny after the first few times we see them. The film tries to give Franco some “mysterious depth” through an eluded troubled childhood and his genuine honesty. Only the film never gives you any payoff, as Franco’s character never actually evolves past his caricature shortcomings. It is a shame, because we actually like the girlfriend character (Zoey Deutch) and want to understand what she sees in Franco’s character, however since he never really evolves, there really is no reason to like or root for them to be together.
I also want to point out that this film acknowledges its biggest flaw. At one point in the film a character points out that there is a war going on between father and boyfriend, only the boyfriend isn’t actually fighting. That’s true, and thus there is no real conflict and no real reason to root for any of the characters. Franco’s boyfriend character never evolves past his caricature. While Cranston’s father character only evolves because the movie devolves into “paint by numbers” territory in the last 10 minutes. Since there is no one to root, we do not really care the outcome as we got our chuckles throughout the film but will forget about it shortly after walking out the theater.
Why Him? Has a solid cast, a few unexpected cameos and delivers constant chuckles throughout, however without giving us a likeable boyfriend or any characters to root for, the lack of memorable gut busting laughs has this film as nothing more than a typical forgettable comedy.
The highlights of this film include Cranston who reminds us that he has comedic timing from his years in Malcom in the Middle. His chemistry and timing is played well across Megan Mullally who perfectly delivers a few genuine laughs as a Midwestern suburban wife trying to maintain the niceties. Their son (Griffin Gluck) also adds to the humorous family affair as a teenage brother trying to be taken seriously as an adult but still being treated as a child. Lastly, the always funny Keegan-Michael Key hilariously plays Gustav, the “estate manager” to the tech-millionaire boyfriend and spices up the film every time he seems to appear.
James Franco on the other hand quickly wears out is welcome as the socially inept tech-millionaire boyfriend. At times he is funny, however after the dropping the “f-bomb” so many times you begin to sees him as a basic, depthless “caricature” only going for the low hanging fruit of crude jokes. Still, his crude, repeated, jokes are no longer funny after the first few times we see them. The film tries to give Franco some “mysterious depth” through an eluded troubled childhood and his genuine honesty. Only the film never gives you any payoff, as Franco’s character never actually evolves past his caricature shortcomings. It is a shame, because we actually like the girlfriend character (Zoey Deutch) and want to understand what she sees in Franco’s character, however since he never really evolves, there really is no reason to like or root for them to be together.
I also want to point out that this film acknowledges its biggest flaw. At one point in the film a character points out that there is a war going on between father and boyfriend, only the boyfriend isn’t actually fighting. That’s true, and thus there is no real conflict and no real reason to root for any of the characters. Franco’s boyfriend character never evolves past his caricature. While Cranston’s father character only evolves because the movie devolves into “paint by numbers” territory in the last 10 minutes. Since there is no one to root, we do not really care the outcome as we got our chuckles throughout the film but will forget about it shortly after walking out the theater.
Why Him? Has a solid cast, a few unexpected cameos and delivers constant chuckles throughout, however without giving us a likeable boyfriend or any characters to root for, the lack of memorable gut busting laughs has this film as nothing more than a typical forgettable comedy.
JBrack (17 KP) rated The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in Books
May 17, 2017
Bam
This is a great book but one you have to pay attention to or you will get lost!! While the story takes twists and turns you grow to care for the heroes of this book. You root for answers and reread pages to ensure you understand what the author is pointing out. It makes you work to figure out who did what and why, who is a good guy and who's only looking out for number one. So worth the read. However I don't recommend it for younger readers as the the content deals with very adult subject matter.
BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) rated Ready Player One in Books
Jul 21, 2017
The story (2 more)
The characters
The '80s pop culture
So Totally Awesome
At this point I've read this book four times and can see myself reading it another ten times and I would still find it such a breath of fresh air.
The plot is interesting and fun and honestly you gets so invested in the story and it wonderful characters that it's almost impossible to put the book down.
On top of all the '80 nostalgia you have a truly wonderful and heartfelt story where you can't help with root for the underdog Wade throught the whole thing.
The plot is interesting and fun and honestly you gets so invested in the story and it wonderful characters that it's almost impossible to put the book down.
On top of all the '80 nostalgia you have a truly wonderful and heartfelt story where you can't help with root for the underdog Wade throught the whole thing.
Andy K (10823 KP) rated The Machinist (2004) in Movies
May 4, 2018
Fascinating!
Brilliant character study by the chameleon, Christian Bale, in one of his best performances hardly anyone remembers.
He physically lost over 60 pounds and is almost unrecognizable playing Trevor Reznik, a factory worker who never sleeps who thinks he may be going insane. The characters he interacts with are all interesting but don't seem to help him on his quest for sanity.
Bale is just superb playing this loser, scumbag character. You are not sure whether to root for him, pity him or loathe him.
I love films like this that may not be completely linear and make you think while enjoying some fine acting.
He physically lost over 60 pounds and is almost unrecognizable playing Trevor Reznik, a factory worker who never sleeps who thinks he may be going insane. The characters he interacts with are all interesting but don't seem to help him on his quest for sanity.
Bale is just superb playing this loser, scumbag character. You are not sure whether to root for him, pity him or loathe him.
I love films like this that may not be completely linear and make you think while enjoying some fine acting.