Wknd Box Office: Bourne Legacy, The Campaign, Hope Springs

Here is an interesting article from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/ reviewing some of the movies that came out over the past weekend. This follows this post some of the movies from last weekand THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed! This all follows this post about guidelines to chosing good movies to watch yourself!




Wknd Box Office: Bourne Legacy, The Campaign, Hope Springs

By Debbie Schlussel



If you see one new movie, this weekend, make it BOURNE! It’s the movie I really liked of the new releases in theaters today.



* “The Bourne Legacy“: Jeremy Renner does not disappoint in this latest installment of the “Bourne” movies. In fact, I like him far better than loathsome lefty (but good actor) Matt Damon. If you like a good thriller with semi-believable, fantastic stunts and non-stop, heart-pounding action, this is your movie. It’s my kind o’ movie. Although it’s a little confusing at the beginning, you quickly learn what’s going on. And I liked it a lot despite the fact that I don’t like Rachel Weisz (mostly because you can tell she’s a Brit faking an American accent in every movie she does, and it grates on me, plus I don’t buy her acting).You don’t have to have seen any of the previous Bourne movies to see this, although there are brief references to characters and happenings in the previous Bourne movie, “The Bourne Ultimatum” (read my review).





Renner plays a government-created agent, who was previously a U.S. soldier who “died” in the Iraq or Afghanistan war (I forget which). He’s training and going through tests in the cold wilderness in the middle of somewhere, when he runs out of the government-supplied pills that keep him alive and is suddenly being targeted by drones. Soon, he seeks out the scientist (Weisz) who works in the government lab where he was undergoing tests and blood work. She’s the lone survivor of a mysterious massacre at the lab.



I don’t want to tell you much more because it would spoil the movie. But it’s full of the usual stuff you’ve come to expect from Bourne movies and their mix of “Three Days of the Condor”/“The Parallax View” (read my review) style government conspiracies. Though I don’t believe our government actually engages in these kinds of massacres (unlike Truthers and other such nuts), it doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a good conspiracy theory movie, especially one that’s well done and full of suspense.



If I had any criticism, it’s that the ending felt like “not the end” to me, but then, they do that to you so you’ll pay money to see the sequel. I felt like I’d sort of seen just half of a movie. But it was a fun “half,” and I enjoyed it immensely. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, once it got going. Some of the stunts, particularly those with a motorcycle go beyond stretching credulity. But as with the Bourne, Bond, and other such movies, you know this is part of the package.



Fun, exciting, and worth it.



THREE REAGANS



* “The Campaign“: This movie had a lot of funny lines (and campaign commercials), and it had such potential and was hilarious and fun at the beginning. But it quickly degraded into a silly, crude, sophomoric exercise in stupidity. Plus, it’s a not-so-veiled attack on the conservative Koch Brothers, known for their donations to Republican candidates and SuperPACS. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are both their usual very funny selves in playing two candidates running against each other in a North Carolina Congressional race. Ferrell is philandering, sleazy Democratic Congressman Cam Brady, and Galifianakis is the effeminate, underachieving son of a racist rich guy. He is recruited by two very wealthy brothers, Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow, who get him to run as the Republican opponent, so they can bring Chinese workers to the district to make their cheap products (they call this “insourcing.” The Motch Brothers are clearly supposed to be some sort of parody of the Koch Brothers–it’s quite obvious. And, of course, there is no George Soros figure in the movie to balance things out.



I wouldn’t pay ten bucks to see this, but I might rent the video, if only to see the very campaign commercials that Cam Brady (Ferrell) makes, bragging about his extramarital affairs (comparing himself to Bill Clinton) and touting his opponent as an Al-Qaeda member because he has a mustache.



But, mostly, the movie is dreck peppered with some humor.



ONE MARX


* “Hope Springs“: This should’ve been called, “TMI: The Movie.” Old people talking about their dysfuncational sex life to a counselor? Eeeuuuwww. Not fun, not entertaining, and definitely NOT worth two hours and ten bucks of your respective time and money. Not even close. Oh, and it’s your typical anti-male movie, where the bad person is the man in the relationship. He’s your typical “bete noir” bad, insensitive husband who is mean to his wife and insults her consistently. It’s what Oprah–if she still had a major daytime talk show and anyone still cared what she had to say–would be touting to her viewers as “the feel good movie of the year.” Guys, do yourself a giant favor and skip this at all cost if your wife or girlfriend insists on seeing it. Do anything else, instead. It’s that insufferable. I guarantee you will squirm in your seat if you don’t take my advice. You were forewarned. This is painful to watch. And I don’t just mean plain painful. I mean, dentist-yanking-out-all-your-teeth-without-painkiller-or-anasthesia painful. I hated this movie. Hate-hate-hated this movie. It’s the worst of feminist propaganda.



Meryl Streep plays a housewife, whose husband, Tommy Lee Jones, is the typical Hollywood narrative of husbands–insensitive, rude, and doesn’t share a bed with her. They haven’t had sex in several years and sleep in separate bedrooms. She pays $4,000 of her own money and drags her husband to New England for a week-long intensive set of sessions with a marriage counselor, played by Steve Carell. Don’t let Carell’s presence fool you. He is not funny in this movie and plays the role in a serious and straight manner.



I can’t understand why on earth anyone would pay to see such marital strife and melodrama, when they can see a much more entertaining version for free in divorce court. I don’t know what happened to Tommy Lee Jones (regardless of the fact that he’s a big liberal), but he definitely checked his testicles at the door before acting in this movie apparently written by the ghost of Betty Friedman.



Avoid this like the plague. Trust me, when the credits role, your hope won’t spring. It committed suicide in the first five minutes of this high quality Guantanamo Bay torture material on film.



FOUR MARXES PLUS FOUR BETTY FRIEDANS