Movie review - "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" (2007) ***

 John Reilly's swing at a star vehicle didn't make it with the public but is full of terrific moments. I wonder if it lacks an emotional relationship or two the way the best Will Ferrells do - or maybe Reilly simply isn't Ferrell.  Reilly is terrific though - Jenna Fischer a lot of fun (looking more hot as the sixties go on), Kristen Wiig always good value. There's cameos from the cool group - Jack Black, Jonah Hill and so on.

Maybe the fact he didn't see his kids hurt this financially? It's very funny.

Movie review - "You People" (2023) ***1/2

 Really smart, funny rom com about a white Jew (Jonah Hill) who falls in love with a black woman (Lauren London). Jonah Hill is an engaging lead - everyone is good actually though the X factor comes from Eddie Murphy as his father in law, with Sam Jay, who is sensational, coming a close second as Hill's podcasting mate. 

This has received some snippy reviews - I don't get it. Maybe it is a little too long, and the wedding planner riff is OTT. David Duchovny maybe miscast (his performance is fine, just felt miscast.)

I thought it was hilarious, and some of it was brilliant. Elliot Gould does a lot of extra-ing. Bryan Greenberg is Hill's mate but has no lines, is that right?

Random thoughts on the film Moneyball

It’s a film with a great DNA that they ignore so it can be a star vehicle for Brad Pitt.

My take...

“Moneyball” is about beating the system. Watching a sport and going “hang on, they’re not picking the team right... I need to pick the team”.

That’s every sports fan’s fantasy. Well, apart from playing. If we can’t play... to be able to pick the side, and pick it better than the pros.

It’s the core DNA of the film/book.

Someone ignored, who is a joke, no good at sports, but who loves the game... sees what other people can’t see. And is proved right.

The film should be about Jonah Hill’s character. Tubby, nerdy, treated with disdain. But... he knows the Secret. He installs a system... picks players who others think are no good. And... creates a winning team.

Ta-da.

But...

Brad Pitt wants to make it.

Great. Brad Pitt is a big star. People will go see his movies. Jonah Hill not so much. (At least not at the budget).

But there’s only one role Brad Pitt can really play... Billy Beane.

Good looking. Charismatic. The boss. I mean, he never made it as a top player but... he’s brad Pitt. God did not hate him.

So they had to make the film about Billy Beane trying to find a new way... it touches on his unfulfilled playing career but it’s a little convoluted.

I think they made a good film on this.

But it's not the film they should've made.

That should've been about Jonah Hill's character.

Movie review - "Moneyball" (2011) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 This is like an indie cover version of what should be a pop song. It kind of misses the drama/fan of the central concept - you get to figure out how to beat the system, you use stats instead of gut feel and talent worship, players get a chance again.

Yet it does work on its own level with languid takes, dark photography, long scenes, all that stuff.

Movie review - "22 Jump Street" (2014) ***1/2

Very funny sequel which in some ways improves on the first. Extremely meta (there's a lovely gag at the end where they riff on all possible sequels) but not in an annoying way. The filmmakers also make sure there's real heart at the center - it's basically a "comedy of remarriage", with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum essentially breaking up, Channing finding a new love in a guy who is a more suitable friend at college, Wyatt Rogers (who is the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn!), but then getting back together.

Ice Cube is given more to do, Amber Stevens is a little bland as Jonah's love interest (they often seem to set up chubby male stars with black love interests in Hollywood - Turtle on Entourage often went black), but Jillian Bell is hilarious as Stevens' roommate. It probably could have had half an hour cut out.

Movie review - "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013) ****

In many ways this reminded me of Al Pacino's version of Scarface - it's about an outsider who comes to the promised land, gets a mentor who gives him advice on how to make as much money as possible, and soon becomes filthy rich and determined to live as hedonistic a life as possible. He has a loyal best friend and is taken in by a seductive woman and ultimately it all comes crashing down.

And Al Pacino in the early 80s would have made ideal casting for the lead in this - it's a part that requires a star capable of hammy flamboyance - but Leo di Caprio steps up nicely. His partnership with Martin Scorsese has become one of the most satisfying in cinema history, each collaboration being a little different, always interesting.

Marty seems to be having the time of his life with all the scenes of partying, and stockbrokers yelling, and narrative tricks (actors talking to camera, changing voice overs). This is very much in the spirit of Goodfellas, only with less of a body count and more money. It also feels very Oliver Stone - complete with concentration on men behaving badly, and female roles which mainly consist of nags and/or sex pots.

It was actually written by Terence Winter of Boardwalk Empire fame, and the HBO influence can be felt in a few key, extremely well written long dialogue scenes - such as one between Leo and Matthew McConaughey in a restaurant (I'm confused at my increasing feelings of respect for Mahoganey, few actors can have made such a sharp up turn in terms of quality in their career over a period) and one between Kyle Chandler and Leo on a boat.

Jonah Hill offers sterling support. There's also superb work done by Margot Robbie, who looks sensational, sounds great and holds her own with Leo in some domestic scenes. Actually all the cast is good, really.

Two things stop this from being a really outstanding film. One - it does tend to hit the same beat over and over ("we were crazy", "we were out of control") without really expanding its world view; occasionally there was a glimpse at a more complex world (the sad look on a secretary who agreed to shave her hair off, Leo punching Margot Robbie) but there wasn't enough (no look at any of the victims, for instance - although the victims were mostly victims of their own greed). Second - it was needlessly long; there were several sequences which could have easily been cut and nothing really would have been lost (eg the gay butler sequence, the stuff where they went partying the night before going to Switzerland). Still, a grand old romp.

Movie review - "Django Unchained" (2012) ****

Having done his re-imaginings of gangster movies, kung fu epics, and WWII guys on a mission flicks, Quentin Tarantino then turned his attention to the Western. He comes at it with a fresh (ish) angle, focusing on slavery - this is really more of a "southern" than a Western, being set in the south before the civil war. Just like Inglorious Basterds was a revenge fantasy for Jews, this is one for blacks, with Jamie Foxx released by bounty hunter Christoph Waltz to go around shooting slave owners.

It's very long, too long really, but there's plenty of interesting action and moments - the only time I really felt it dragged was the last bit when Django is captured and escapes again and in between meets a very fat Quentin in an Australian accent and an over-acting John Jarratt.

It helps that on the journey there are plenty of interesting cameos - Robert Forster, Zoe Bell (covered up), Don Johnson, James Remar, Tom Wopat, Franco Nero, Jonah Hill. I didn't think that much of Foxx's performance - it wasn't bad, just "whatever" - but Waltz is excellent, as is Leo di Caprio and Samuel L Jackson. Those looking for strong females in the vein of Kill Bill probably should try elsewhere - Kerry Washington is very much a damsel in distress and there aren't many other strong female roles either.

Movie review - "The Sitter" (2012) **

Modern day retread of Adventures in Baby Sitting with Jonah Hill in the lead instead and a lot more raunch. There are some funny bits, such as Sam Rockwell's coked up villain and lair which is like a gaol gym re-created, but it lacks charm and surprise. It also loses points for having Hill saved at the end not by any special skills on his part but by some black friends he's made through his ability to speak jive (I think that's what happened). Also the problems of the traumatised kids he's looking after, quite serious ones, are dealt with very easily.

Movie review - "21 Jump Street" (2012) *** (warning: spoilers)

A throwback to the 80s in more ways than one - it's reminiscent of those buddy cop films from the time, such as Tango and Cash - only here the emphasis is on comedy more than action. It's self referential and doesn't take itself seriously at all - although it does explore some aspects like fear of high school, fear of shooting someone (like Die Hard), and bromance. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are a really good team - they seem to genuinely get along, like Hope and Crosby, and play well off each other. They probably could have done more with the supporting characters - I wish we'd seen more of the gorgeous Ellie Kempel. She's one of many TV faces who pop up in the support cast. It's a shame they didn't get Peter de Luise a proper close up at the end - they make it seem more about Johnny Depp.

Movie review – “Moneyball” (2011) ***1/2

Some divine casting - the faces of the scouts look so real - and wonderful detail but so much of the excitement is sucked out of the script, scenes are dragged on too long, it skips over the real heart of it (giving players no longer regarded as top rate a second chance). The story is interesting, it makes you think and play fantasy team additions in your head while watching. There were a bunch of versions of the script - I read an Aaron Sorkin draft which included a wife for Brad Pitt's character and a lot more life and energy.

Movie review – “Get him to the Greek” (2010) ***

Sequel to Forgetting Sarah Marshall has a similar loose structure, unremarkable premise (here very reminiscent of My Favourite Year), strong star performances and support cast, a mixtures raunch with sweetness. Jonah Hill (some how a bit less funny with close-cropper hair) and Russell Brand are excellent in the leads; there’s very strong support from Elizabeth Moss (who gives the film real heart) and Rose Byrne as a Lily Allen type. I didn’t mind Sean Combs either, although he wasn’t sensational and the role could have used someone sensational. 

 

Much of the story is repetitive – eg Hill getting trashed, Brand doing something outrageous – causing the film to feel over-long (the Vegas sojourn in particular felt dragged out), but there are many laugh-out-loud moments, and a fair few touching ones too. Brand handles the dramatic scenes very well and the Hill-Moss couple scenes are really spot on.

Movie review – “Funny People” (2009) ****

Half a masterpiece. So much of it is wonderful, it’s a shame they couldn’t trim and shape it a bit more. And for all the whiff of reality that permeates every frame there’s still a sequence where someone races to the airport at the end. I think it goes a bit wonky in the second half; Leslie Mann and Eric Bana have talent but aren’t quite good enough actors to manage that delicate balancing act of comedy and pathos which the first half does so well. They're both too broad. Adam Sandler is sensational – funny, believable, self loathing. Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Jason Schwatzmann are brilliant as is the female comic. So many great bits, though: the stuff with the doctor, the by-play of the comics, the crappy sitcom and movies they make, Sandler picking up two girls at a gig.

Movie review – “Superbad” (2008) ****

I held off from seeing this for a bit but really enjoyed it. Wonderfully cast, as most films from the Judd Apatow stable are, with a great simple plot: two best mates try to rid themselves of their virginity by buying alcohol to get certain women drunk – adventures ensue. Sometimes things get broad but it always comes back to truth. The three leads are brilliant and Seth Rogen and the other guy are hilarious as cops. Didn’t quite believe Jonah Hill could score that girl at the end - but that's very Judd Apatow, too.