Tag: George Clooney

Money Monster

Lee Gates (George Clooney) is the brash financial pundit on a daily T.V. show called “Money Monster”. Lee gives advice on stocks and securities to buy and sell. People around the globe listen to him and act on his advice.

One stock (IBIS) that Lee urged people to invest in lost $800 Million dollars over night. Where did the money go…?

Truck Driver Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell) was an investor in IBIS who vows to get answers. He just lost his life savings of $60K.
Kyle shows up at the studio where “Money Monster” airs live every day. The story unfolds from there…

“Money Monster” is a well-directed, well-acted movie that plays better as a Hostage movie as opposed to a Wall Street flick. Wall Street and its internal dealings are not featured enough.

The movie does keep it moving, but there are spots that need more explanation. Everything is neatly tied up at the end, but the movie ends a bit too soon.

This is a 3 Star Movie!

Hail Caesar!

“Hail Caesar!” was not on my original watch list but, I decided to give it a look.

The Oscar winning filmmakers the Coen Brothers are back with a Star-Studded Golden Aged Comedy. Unfortunately I did not find anything golden about the movie.

The story is centered-around a typical day in the life of a “Studio Fixer”, but what you see is anything but typical and I can’t imagine that everything that goes on could have possibly happened in 24 hours. There are so many problems that even Olivia Pope from the ABC hit Scandal couldn’t possibly fix them all without a cast of thousands.

The movie starts off ok, but goes down-hill fast. There were too many stories and sub plots, so the movie is all over the place and no place. At one point I was bored out of my mind. I sat there thinking how could they have this many heavy weight actors and the movie be so boring. Don’t get me wrong there were some funny scenes, but not enough to be entertaining. I did not find George Clooney funny at all.

The paid critics said that “Hail Caesar!” was “Fresh”. I say its “Stale”.

This is a 2 Star Movie!

Tomorrowland The IMAX Experience

“Tomorrowland” was not on my original “Watch List”. I wished I had left it that way…

“Tomorrowland” is about an idealistic former boy-genius and a optimistic teenage girl who has a scientific curiosity, they together embark on a dangerous adventure to a place somewhere in time between the past, present and the future known as “Tomorrowland”. They must find a way to unearth the secrets that threaten to destroy the present. The story unfolds from there…

The story starts off a mystery and remains a mystery throughout to the end. There are parts of the movie that show promise, but when the light starts to dawn, it dims quickly. The story is all over the place and never in one place. There is some nice cinematography and some interesting special effects but that’s about it.
George Clooney is very good in Dramatic, Political, Suspense type movies. He should stick to those.

I was not impressed with “Tomorrowland”. In fact I was bored and thought about leaving mid-way through, but decided to stay until the end so I could see how it finished. There was no real bright spot at the end either.

“Tomorrowland” is best viewed on cable. I would not spend money on the DVD or Blue Ray.

This is a 1 1/2 Star Movie!

The Monuments Men

George Clooney has done better in the directing department. He should have let Quentin Tarantino or Martin Scorsese direct this. Needless to say I am very disappointed because I had been looking forward to this movie. It’s not even close to my expectations.

Based on a true story, “The Monuments Men” is an action drama/documentary about an unlikely group of men who were tasked by FDR to recover stolen artistic masterpieces from Germany. This movie starts out in Ghent, Belgium and moves on to 1943 France, 1944 France and 1945 Merker, Germany.

The formed unlikely World War II Platoon comes up against unparalleled odds as they find that the art is trapped behind enemy lines. As they are attempting to recover the art, the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell makes it a difficult task because the “Monuments Men” are more familiar with Michelangelo than they are with the M-1. The story unfolds from there…

The problem with “The Monuments Men” is that it can’t decide if it’s an Action Drama or a Documentary. It’s a good story but told in the most boring fashion. The movie is flat, it drags and the suspense is ho-hum… You might be reminded of an old movie called “The Dirty Dozen”. Think of “The Monuments Men” as a WWII version of A Band-of-Brothers. The Dirty Dozen definitely has way more going for it than “The Monuments Men”.

Gravity 3D: An IMAX Experience

This is a movie that I will provide a split decision on my review because while the movie is very well executed and the cinematography is breath-taking I did not enjoy the movie. The movie receives 1 star for stressing me out and 5 stars for Execution, Cinematography and Direction.

Sandra Bullock is Dr. Ryan Stone a brilliant medical engineer on her very first NASA Mission in Space. She and veteran Astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) are on what seems to be a routine space walk repairing parts of a satellite when disaster strikes, destroying their space shuttle and leaving them stranded in space. The story unfolds from there…

There are breath-taking views. The cinematography is great. The story is very well executed and the camera angles you get are fabulous!!
The story just did not interest me, but that doesn’t mean that the movie wasn’t good. I found the story to be stressful.

If you like Sci-Fi Suspense, you will like “Gravity”.
The movie is definitely worth the 3D price tag.