Netflix A-Z: The Good Doctor (2011)

Have any of you wondered where Orlando Bloom went? Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and then spotted in some romantic comedies then, he has kind of vanished. Apparently, he was in this drama thriller back in 2011 called The Good Doctor. Its kind of in the indie category on Netflix but then not really either. With $6Mil budget, it hardly is, I’d imagine. However, I didn’t know that before starting this up and with the heart of wanting the next movie to be a thriller, I chose The Good Doctor, not exactly sure whether the premise would interest me.

Let’s check it out!

The Good Doctor (2011)

Director: Lance Daly

Cast: Orlando Bloom, Riley Keough, Taraji P. Henson, Rob Morrow, Michael Pena

A young doctor goes to unconscionable extremes in order to remain in the service of a female patient with a kidney disorder.-IMDB 

Regrets. I’m going through regrets. The Good Doctor took me three separate sittings to go through. I guess I can see the merit in the movie but man, the execution and the pacing was like watching paint dry. I think it is my problem but at the same time, I do like a lot of slow-paced movies. In fact, some of my favorites, not guilty pleasures, are actually rather slow-paced movies. The Good Doctor was just not for me. There was a lot of quiet staring on Orlando Bloom’s character’s part. Plus, the ending of more than obvious what was going to happen eventually even if the finale was probably the best part because it gives the audience something to think about. There’s a message here about how selfish intentions can be destructive and dangerous but it never presents itself in an intriguing way.

My previous statement about Orlando Bloom has nothing to do with his range of acting. It really just goes to the point that the character was probably designed to be more quiet and reserved. The personality of Dr. Martin Blake was portrayed in a way that his actions and the way he interacted was awkward. There was something gravely and eerily wrong with him. He had issues interacting with others and when he meets this young female patient, she makes it seem natural. The scenes where they talk shows a level of two people with similarly awkward personalities in the things they talk about and ask randomly. Dr. Martin Blake’s character does develop as the lack of dialogue also helps us learn about him through his actions and takes a more suspenseful path. The fault may highly be that the movie isn’t paced well so his quiet personality drags on and near the finale seems to overstay its welcome.

 However, there are tangent characters that work well here. Rob Morrow plays as the presiding doctor over Dr. Blake. His character, Dr. Waylans is the person that Dr. Blake tries to impress. In many ways, the question is whether Dr. Waylans suspects the things that Dr. Blake is doing. His character observes a lot and sometimes causes a moment of tension as you wonder whether he knows more than he is showing. Another character that proves as an effective hurdle is Nurse Theresa played by Taraji P. Henson. She gives Dr. Blake a hard time for the most part. She questions him constantly and causes a small feud that runs throughout probably a good portion of the film on and off. While it doesn’t seem necessary to have those parts, the character was a welcome change.

Overall, there isn’t really much to say about The Good Doctor. It has a decent idea except the execution and the pacing is extremely lacking making it for a grating experience. Orlando Bloom does the best with what he can. Although his character is required to emote and has a lack of dialogue which has its challenges and he carries the emotions well enough. Riley Keough also carries a well performance although her character isn’t accentuated too much. The better characters here are the supporting one notably from Rob Morrow and Taraji P. Henson.

Have you seen The Good Doctor?

Next up is H selection! Any guesses? Hint: An Irish actress

Date Night (2010)

I don’t have a lot of my  own movies that I’ve ripped the digital copy on my computer however, I chose this flick to test it out a while back.  So, on last Saturday morning, when I wanted something quick to accompany my breakfast, I switched this on and finished it later on the afternoon.

Director: Shawn Levy

Cast: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Taraji P. Henson, Jimmi Simpson, Common, William Fichtner

A New Jersey couple Phil (Steve Carell) and Claire Foster (Tina Fey) has lost their flare in their marriage and go about their life driven by daily routine.  Right from the start, we know that Claire doesn’t trust Phil with a lot of chores because he forgets certain details.  Every week there is one night they schedule for date night where they go to the same restaurant, order the same food and talk about the same things.  Every part of their life is scheduled.  When one of their friends decide to separate and live life better instead of being friends in their own house, they start getting worried about their own relationship.  On the next week of Date Night, they decide to change things up, dress up and go into New York City to a fancy restaurant and enjoy themselves and bring back the spark.  At the restaurant Claw, they realize that they are too late and there are no tables available, thats when Phil decides to take the reservations of the Triplehorns, who were no show.  In the middle of their meal, they get order by two men, Armstrong (Jimmi Simpson) and Collins (Common) and thats when they learned that these guys are looking for something that were stolen by the actual Triplehorns.  Being mistaken in their identity, they end up running all over town, asking for help from a previous client of Claire, Holbrooke Grant (Mark Wahlberg) and realizing that this goes deeper not only into the gang, the police but also the red hot political figure DA Crenshaw (William Fichtner).  Date Night turns out to not only have changed it up but to be life-threatening and all the Fosters want is to get home to their children.

One of the most hilarious segment where I topple over with laughter every time!

I really enjoyed this flick and I always turn it on when I need a good laugh, especially since its a pretty hilarious.  There are some parts, I just topple over with uncontrollable laughter.  What do I like so much about the movie? Maybe its not the plot itself, but as much as the story is pretty straightforward, Steve Carell and Tina Fey together are phenomenal.  They are a blend of awesome comedy.  Their expressions, reactions and dialogue just carry the movie along so well.  This is the first movie I’ve ever seen of Tina Fey and man, she’s won herself another fan in me.

Another factor of awesomeness if that its an action comedy full of ridiculous things that happen.  Ridiculous in a super good way as in its just funny and hilarious moments one after the next.  On top of that, they had a little cameo with James Franco and Mila Kunis who play the actual Triplehorns and Mark Wahlberg who plays the hot muscular (and shirtless) ex-client of Claire’s.  There’s a short appearance of Mark Ruffalo and Kristin Wiig as the soon to be divorced couple and Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester as the babysitter.  Its loaded with a lot of cool cast.

There is lots of shooting and guns, panic and yelling, a hot car totaled mixed with some intense, exciting and laugh out loud moments.  I think that sounds like a pretty awesome formula for an action comedy, don’t you? I always mention this when I look at comedy, its very personal and that’s why even as I was checking up on the scores, there’s always a mix of people who find it funny or not.  Its just a personal preference.  I’m into Steve Carell’s humor and apparently Tina Fey’s as well so this works for me.  Because of that, I notice but manage to overlook any other flaws that it might have.

Have you seen this? Are you fan of Steve Carell and/or Tina Fey? What movies from them would you recommend for either of them? Have you read Tina Fey’s book Bossypants?