Valentine’s Marathon: Mr. Right (2015)

And the Valentine’s Marathon finally starts! There’s only like a five day countdown to the actual day, not that it really means anything much to myself but its a nice excuse to jump into some romantic comedies and other romance dramas. I finally managed to find time to get some of it done.

The first one was actually quite unexpected but I wanted to be spontaneous so I ended up choosing Mr. Right. Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell, what can go wrong, right?

Let’s check it out!

Mr. Right (2015)

Director: Paco Cabezas

Cast: Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick, Tim Roth, James Ransone, Anson Mount, Michael Eklund, RZA, Katie Nehra

A girl falls for the “perfect” guy, who happens to have a very fatal flaw: he’s a hitman on the run from the crime cartels who employ him. – IMDB

It always feels good to start up a movie and right away, the comedy tone is exactly what you’d like. Mr. Right was exactly what I liked about it. It helps that I’m a fan of Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick. Mr. Right isn’t perfect for sure. The story itself has some pretty awkward and great moments. Some other fun times and there’s a tad of action here and there but the true stars of the movie in this rather messy plot line that seems to really work best when Sam Rockwell and/or Anna Kendrick is on screen. Lucky for us (and the movie as a whole), they are in a lot of scenes. Our villain is a little undefined because there’s Tim Roth’s character hunting down Sam Rockwell, that trickles into a somewhat silly but manipulative plot of these brothers and their feud, who are the obvious baddies. Mr. Right works in all the odd and awkward ways.

Mr. Right has a great cast headlining for it. Anna Kendrick plays as Martha, a girl freshly broken up and in the recovering days, she meets Mr. Right (aka Francis), played by Sam Rockwell. Anna Kendrick as Martha sometimes reminds me a little of Tina Fey. That is a great thing because Tina Fey’s humor usually works for me. Anna Kendrick however carries herself nicely as the sweet but unique girl. Martha is a colorful character. She has weird thought processes and connects odd things together and right from the child of her aspiring to be a T-Rex, we already know we’re in for some fun times. There are not enough words to describe how fantastic Anna Kendrick plays this role into a believable manner. Its hard for us to find someone so awkward also but she does in Mr. Right, a hitman with a reverse psychology to not only dance his way out of situations, view a connection to the objects around him to predict when and where things will drop but also kill the people who hire him because murder is wrong. Mr. Right is on the run but when he misses Martha, he feels the connection right away and it changes who he is a lot because he doesn’t want to lose her. In just a short few days, the connection between Martha and Francis are amazing. Odd and awkward but incredibly cute and fun. Props goes to Sam Rockwell for being able to pull off such a crazy character but also to both of them for delivering incredible chemistry. Even without the action and fighting and guns, watching them both was charming and adorable and entertaining to no end.

I’m a fan of Tim Roth. I’ve liked him since his role in Lie to Me. He was the highlight of 2015’s The Hateful Eight (even if I didn’t like the movie). Yet here, his character is interesting to say the least. Its hard to say its bad but probably more underused. Tim Roth plays Hopper, the mentor of Francis who is now hunting him down to set him straight from what he thinks is pathetic ways. However, Hopper also is a master of disguises and when he acts as a cop in New Orleans, his accent actually sounds pretty bad. Not that I’m an expert at accents but it felt a little fake, which it is, of course. In many ways, if this plot was only about Hopper chasing down Francis and then Francis falling for Martha, perhaps it would be more neat.

However, we then step into the other plot point of the actual baddies which are brothers in feud where the younger Von, played by James Ransone, is trying to use Francis’s reverse hitman oddity to his advantage and get rid of his brother, Richie, played by Anson Mount who now runs the show. Von has the help of Johnny Moon, played by Michael Eklund (who I recently complimented for his role as the bad guy in The Call). These guys are all idiots on purpose, meaning the script wrote them like that and its these moments that give the movie a comedic action moments and in all honestly, with a story that doesn’t really have much going for it with these bad guys and whatever they are up to, that is what makes it all the more entertaining. It actually boosts the characters of Francis and especially Martha as she breaks out of her shell and embraces her crazy making her really the perfect match for her Mr. Right.

You know what? The more I write about it and think about Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick as Mr. Right/Francis and Martha, I just can’t help but love them more and more. Sure, Mr. Right has a few flaws, mostly in a somewhat messy plot with supporting characters not used to their full potential but there’s something special here. Its entertaining and has some really great comedic moments. The chemistry between Francis and Martha is awesome and made me love them and cheer for them in all the weirdest ways to actually believing that they are in fact, perfect for each other. And Francis compliments Martha in the oddest moments during the movie and its kinda cute and sweet and hilarious all at the same time. Action-romantic comedy dose totally fulfilled here.

Have you seen Mr. Right? Are you a fan of Anna Kendrick and/or Sam Rockwell?

Hardcore Henry (2016)

Hardcore Henry snuck up on us quietly.  At least, it snuck up on me.  I didn’t hear much about it until I caught the trailer.  Let me tell you, that trailer was like Crank but you know, in a video game where you just take a seat, take a deep breath and survive. We have video games that are becoming more of a cinematic experience, so why not change the movie viewing experience into a video game experience especially when its in first person shooter.

Let’s check it out!

Hardcore Henry (2016)

Director: Ilya Naishuller

Cast: Sharlto Copley, Danila Kovlovsky, Haley Bennett, Tim Roth

A first-person action film from the POV of Henry, who’s resurrected from death with no memory. He must save his wife from a telekinetic warlord with a plan to bio-engineer soldiers.-IMDB

I was excited for Hardcore Henry.  I mean, how can you not, if you remotely love adrenaline rush sort of games? The trailer was done perfectly to do a movie not taking it too seriously but in first person perspective and making it feel like we were in the action. Except, on the way to the movie, I started thinking of doubts and what could make Hardcore Henry not work. What if they took themselves too seriously? What if the story itself isn’t done well? You know, those questions.  But I had a feeling and I decided to push it away and try to stay positive.  After all, I wanted to enjoy this movie and that it was going to be a game-changer for the movie industry. My expectations weren’t set high mostly because I wasn’t sure what to expect except having fun.

I want to say that I enjoyed Hardcore Henry.  I really do. Let me break down this movie for you.  The first 30 minutes was a new experience and fun to learn about what was going on, getting connected with the situation and the characters and learning what the situation was.  There was chase scenes and some tension and it was pretty good with a few laughs even.  Then the second portion came around and this was a lot of the same thing going on as they chase around from one location to the next in Russia and it just dragged on.  We saw some more of characters we saw from the first part, Jimmy (played by Sharlto Copley), the wife Estelle (Hayley Bennett) and the villain, Akan (Danila Kovlovsky).  In many ways, Hardcore Henry feels like Crank except its hard to care about the on screen character.  The story is really simple but its just set up in a weird way [maybe this part is spoiler so highlight to read it] where its like people who die aren’t really dead? Eventually Jimmy coming back in his various forms just got a little boring and felt like padding.  [end of spoilers].  And then the finale is where we get the adrenaline rush again and the story fights to be closed and this attempts to step it up a notch except even that isn’t enough to make up for the momentum its lost. Its fairly apparent where the story would go so even the ending didn’t quite have the impact it was looking for. 

Rest assured though, Hardcore Henry does have its good features.  My favorite part of it was the music and the soundtrack.  I helps to pump up the action scenes and fill up the space with no dialogue because our character can’t talk. The best parts are mostly in the trailer music that they used.  Plus, Tim Roth makes an appearance and I just love the man a lot. Hardcore Henry has some nifty stunts and the action scenes are decent even if they were with a GoPro sort of device.

Overall, Hardcore Henry was the first to put a novel idea into action except what started as a good concept falls apart in a overly simple storyline and lack of character that we could care about.  While there is some nice stunts and fantastic music, the thrill of the chase looses its momentum in the second act and never really picks up.  Hardcore Henry would probably be much better as a short film, expanding on what the trailer had or simply as a feature film with a much better script. First person shooter styles are still something that I’d look forward to seeing other filmmakers expand on in the future but Hardcore Henry will not be the one that prove that it works.

Have you seen Hardcore Henry? What did you think?

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Well well well…look at me all on top of my game and going to see a Quentin Tarantino movie in the theatres.  Its true though. I haven’t seen one in theatres since Kill Bill and that has been a while.  I’m going to be honest here and say that while I do appreciate Tarantino’s work, I’m not a hardcore fan. On top of that, The Hateful Eight is a western which is the genre I’m most unfamiliar with.

Let’s check it out!

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Director (& Writer): Quentin Tarantino

Cast: Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Demian Bichir, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks

In the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters.-IMDB

Right from the start, The Hateful Eight grabs us with the scenery of the location he’s picked.  Its secluded save for that carriage carrying John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his prisoner that’s worth $10,000, Domergue, a lady that has an incredibly crazed look in her eyes. They don’t intend on stopping since they are running from the blizzard coming right up and they stop for the first person blocking the road, then another. Eventually there is no running away and that’s when they land at Minnie’s Habadashery and have to camp out in the cabin.  One lady prisoner, two bounty hunters and a handful of other known men all sit around.  They have an issue with race and wars and just about anything.  Before we know it, the plot picks up.  Talking about the plot, The Hateful Eight is like watching a story unfold throughout six chapters.  I think that’s a pretty nifty little thing to do.  And well, do I even need to talk about the brilliant score that accompanies this piece. Ennio Morricone is amazing as always.

I’m really not a fan of long movies.  It almost always loses me somewhere and for this one, it was the slow-paced extremely Western style.  My husband pinpointed that feeling for me since I know nothing about Westerns. I tried so hard to stay away.  Chapter 1 had some good build-up and then when we got to mid Chapter 3 and things started happening like everyone was there and they arrived at Minnie’s Habadashery.  That is when it caught my attention.  If I’m truly honest, it was the additions of Tim Roth’s character, Oswaldo Mobray that pulled me right back in along with the other mysterious characters hanging about. There’s a tension in the air that builds gradually and when the action starts, there is no way to stop it, exactly how you’d expect in a Tarantino movie. However, its also this signature that makes me not enjoy Tarantino so much but appreciate the effort.  However, this isn’t a big issue because there was some fun to be had with it all and for what it is, Tarantino tells a great story that really had me thinking (even if I did kind of have my suspicions and they turned out to be correct in the end), it is still rather good.

Tarantino’s action and blood and overly inappropriate use of violence wasn’t even my problem.  I mention it once and again: run time.  I missed the days when watching a movie didn’t use up half a day sitting there watching a movie unfold.  Those movies are great divided in parts at home and I kind of knew I’d feel that way about it. What did surprise me was that I had a harder time focusing on it in the beginning and it really pulled itself together for the last 75% of the movie and it was rather fun. On the terms of this being a Western, my husband mentioned something about the slow beginning really setting up like one but in the end, it was really more like it was mocking Westerns.  How true is that statement? I really can’t agree or disagree.

Overall, The Hateful Eight has all the elements to be a really great movie.  The story was well-crafted as was the storytelling.  The location was nice whether it was in the blizzard or in Minnie’s Habadashery.  The music was perfect. The cast was outstanding and I particularly loved Tim Roth, but then I’ve always liked him. Everyone did a fantastic job and once the mysteries and action started, it was a lot of fun.  My biggest issue was the run-time being at 3 hours and the slow beginning.  If you don’t mind that, The Hateful Eight is a fun movie that will get you thinking and laughing.

Have you see The Hateful Eight? What are your thoughts?