I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything so I promise I will make it up to you by reviewing two movies! Everyone likes things when they come in pairs: 2 for 1 sales, Twix, Doublemint Gum (even though Juicy Fruit may be better, they turned me off back in the late 90’s with this horrible campaign that is supposed to bring back the song from the 80’s because it was catchy and….wait, is that David Hasselhoff????? Okay, enough about gum that has its taste last for 0.6 seconds). So, like I was saying, I managed to squeeze in two movies: Tower Heist and The Rum Diary.
The Rum Diary:
I’ll admit that The Rum Diary has been out for some time, but I feel that more needs to get done to pump up this terrific film because on more than one occasion the following exchange occurred:
Me: “I’m going to see The Rum Diary.”
Person: “What’s that?”
Me: “It’s the new Johnny Depp movie.”
Person: “Johnny Depp has a new movie out???”
Me: “Yeah! And he’s not a pirate! It’s based off a book by Hunter S. Thompson.”
Person: “Who’s Hunter S. Thompson.”
Me: (My reaction looked much like this)
The movie’s based off of Thompson’s 1998 book with the same title (a book that was written in the 60’s but never published) and shares some of the similarities that Thompson’s book-turned-movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: booze and drugs. Okay, so there may not be THAT many similarities BUT the movie is well written/acted in a way that has Thompson’s stamp on it. The way in which you see Depp (playing journalist Paul Kemp) and his co-star Michael Rispoli (playing photographer and drinking buddy Sala) start to trip out on a drug that they don’t know the name of (the only info they have is from an alcoholic friend who says the government gives it to Commies to make them talk…not sure how safe I’d feel with that) and you see Sala’s tongue come out from his mouth, go back in and Kemp tries to stop it by reaching inside Sala’s mouth and pulling it back out; he thinks it’s the Devil’s tongue and Sala will die. The movie is just one giant booze-fest, even though it shows the underlying issues that Puerto Rico were going through at the time: white Americans moving in, building resorts on Native land, getting tourists to go down to spend vacations in the Caribbean but remain on American soil, while ignoring all the poverty and social issues the country is going through (we need bigger hotels and nicer beachfront property…who cares about their shanty towns?). The movie will leave you feeling sick about the social injustices that occurred, but that won’t happen until you reflect on it later; you’ll be so wrapped up in their drinking/drug use and the great exchanges that are made withe the humour (the car missing its front seat and watching Kemp and Sala drive it back into town is still funny….”act naturally”) that you’ll be entertained throughout all two hours. It feels like the return of the great pairing of Hunter S. Thompson and Johnny Depp; something I’ve been waiting on for a long time. And now….
Tower Heist:
Apparently, the recipe for a successful Ben Stiller movie is as follows: add one Stiller, one legend (Alan Alda), a B-list actor who thinks he’s A-minus (Casey Affleck), a former-hot-name-now-married-to-one (Matthew Broderick), add two unknowns (Michael Pena and Gabourney Sidibe) and a legend who needed a career boost after hitting 50 (Eddie Murphy…who helped create the movie!) and I’ll be able to tolerate Stiller for more than 15 minutes. Who knew? In all seriousness, it seems that the consensus is that Eddie Murphy stole the show because it feels like he’s back: the fast talking, foul mouthed Axel Foley-type that everyone (who’s seen Beverly Hills cop, his stand up specials, 48 Hours) grew up loving. We’ve all been waiting for so long, it’s like getting tossed a saltine cracker. When Eddie Murphy is on the screen, you can see the excitement on everyone’s face in the theatre who remember how great he can be (apologies to everyone under 19 who only know Eddie as either a Klump, Doctor Doolittle, or a Donkey…research stuff from the 80’s like this or his Velvet Jones skit and you’ll be blown away at what he used to do). As for the movie itself, at the beginning you see Stiller playing chess with Alda and for the rest of the heist, it does play out like a chess match. You find yourself trying to figure out what the next move of either one is (attack/counter-attack) as the movie progresses but leaning more towards what Stiller is thinking while the comedy elements remain (they were branding this is an “action-comedy”; with all the “dramady” and “rom-com” titles out there, how come this doesn’t have one? I prefer “act-com”! I think this should be the new title! Calling it now because after the success this has, you know it’ll come out sooner or later). Stiller’s character proves to us all that he has what it takes (both knowledge and the stones) to pull off a massive theft, his accomplices/friends all grow on you as the film goes on, you’ll walk away willing to give Alda 20 bucks if he asked for it and hope that you get a Werther’s Original or Campino in return (once you see the movie, you’ll know what I mean) and pray that Murphy has returned to the from that we all longed for.
Ladies and Gentlemen: two stars, two really good movies, and (fingers crossed) their returns to the big screen with longevity.
chrisfudali 