Wknd Box Office: The Words, For a Good Time, Call . . ., Cosmopolis

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: The Words, For a Good Time, Call . . ., Cosmopolis


By Debbie Schlussel



There is one new movie in theaters, this weekend, that’s really great . . . until the ending has a horrible moral message. The other new movies stink. I am not allowed to post my review of “The Bachelorette” until it opens in the Detroit market.




* “The Words“: This was such a well-done, well-told, well-made story of a movie. Entertaining, masterful, a tight script that pulls you in. Just terrific. That is, until the ending endorses plagiarism. Plagiarism pays. You can get away with it. And, sadly, that is true in today’s world. People, like CNN contributor and TIME/Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria, can flat out steal whole paragraphs from columns, and their employers instantly forgive this as a “mistake.” I, myself, have been the victim of 14 years of Michelle Malkin stealing my ideas, my columns, my scoops that I broke, and even the nicknames I create for people in the news. Fraudkin’s got a record of stealing from others and plagiarizing even ABC News, nearly word for word. And, yet, she’s Exhibit A of the fake it ’til ya make it/plagiarism pays culture in America. I’ve seen World Net Daily and its Aaron Klein repeatedly steal my and others’ work, and they are rewarded. Laura Ingraham and her radio show producer/sidekick read a column from my website, word for word on the air, presenting it as their own, never mentioning me. (I don’t listen to her utra-crappy show, but astute readers heard the rip off and alerted me.) When I called their radio syndicator, suddenly the producer called and begged me not to write about it because it would cause Media Matters to write against her, he said. The next day, to make up for getting caught, Ingraham and the guy went overboard to credit me. But only because I called them out. Sean Hannity did the same–reading at least four of my columns on the air as his own research and knowledge, never giving me credit. And I’m not the only one. All of these people steal endlessly. Intellectual property theft is okay in America, sadly. And that’s the message of this movie in spades.



What I liked about this movie beyond its moral dilemma story, was that it was essentially three stories–three movies–in one. There is the story taking place in the here and now as Quaid reads his book, there is the story he’s reading which is supposed to be make believe, and then there is an old man and his story during World War II France. And the movie has great actors, not least of which is the fantastic Jeremy Irons. Dennis Quaid is always great, and he’s no exception here. The movie begins with Quaid as a famous author who is reading part of his latest book release at a book reading. The book, “The Words,” is about a young wannabe author (Bradley Cooper) and his wife, Zoe Saldana. Cooper so badly wants to be a published author, but he gets nothing but rejections and has settled into a job as a mail clerk at an agency representing authors in the publishing industry. On their honeymoon to Paris, his wife buys him an old leather briefcase, and one night he finds an old typed manuscript inside the case. He begins reading it and is drawn into the novel, realizing that he could never write something so great. Soon, he is typing up the manuscript onto his laptop, and not long afterward, he is presenting the book as his own. The book becomes a big hit, but then his plagiarism is found out. Or is it?



We are brought back and forth from that story to Quaid and a young Columbia grad student (Olivia Wilde), who is aggressively flirting with and trying to pick him up. And there’s a connection to the story beyond the fact that Quaid is reading this book he wrote. I’ve seen enough movies to predict early on exactly what that connection is and the storyline of this movie. Still, it was very entertaining. I’m just so disappointed in the result. But, again, plagiarism is okay today in our society that has no use for ethics and integrity.



And that’s my only problem with this movie. This is a very serious adult film, not in terms of sex or violence, but because it’s so deep in its examination of the issue it explores (and yet it comes to such a starkly wrong conclusion). It makes for a great topic of conversation between adults. But if I had kids, I’d take them to see this and use it as a basis for discussion about why the movie is wrong, the immorality of stealing others’ work, and the importance of doing the right thing.



Worth seeing for those reasons. And if it weren’t for the message at the end, I’d give it THREE REAGANS. As it is, I give it . . .



TWO-AND-A-HALF REAGANS



* “For a Good Time, Call . . .“: Absolute garbage. While there were a few funny lines–a very, very few–in this movie, it was mostly tripe. Two female enemies from college (Ari Graynor and Lauren Miller) can’t afford to pay the rent on their own in New York City and end up living together to survive. Miller soon learns that her roommate is a phone sex operator, and they eventually start their own phone sex line complete with TV commercials and a website. Miller, whose only claim to fame is that she’s married to the annoying, overrated Seth Rogen (who makes a cameo in the movie), co-wrote this. It was beyond raunchy. It was vile. You don’t need to be a prude to know that this is utter dreck. Oh, and I didn’t need their gratuitous insertion of the fact that they are both Jewish (Graynor and Miller’s characters) into the movie. This happens when they learn that a phone sex operator they’ve hired is actually a Christian who is telling callers they are sinners. (That was probably the best part of the movie, if you can call any part of 1.5 hours of the worst “the best”). Typical liberal Hollywood. Mimi Rogers, Tom Cruise ex #1, plays Miller’s mother. Skip this. It’s both noxious and obnoxious. And disgusting.



FOUR MARXES PLUS A BIN LADEN


* “Cosmopolis“: This absolutely awful, anti-capitalist, Occupy Wall Street diatribe of a movie is utterly boring and completely ridiculous. And it’s one of those disjointed, non-sensical, artsy-fartsy BS movies that all the critics rave over, even though there’s no there there,  a la “Tree of Life” (read my review). Robert Pattinson, of “Twilight” vampire movie fame, plays a 28-year-old billionaire creep riding across New York City in his stretch limo on his way to get a haircut. In his way, his limo comes under attack from Occupy-style riots and protests. And we learn that he is a complete creep and lout, a serial cheater on his wife, and an all-around waste of time, just like this movie. Stay away at all cost. You were forewarned. You would have to pay me a lot to sit through this. I wish all Occupy Wall Street/anti-capitalist movies were as boring, ridiculous, and stupid as this. Sadly, they are not.



FOUR MARXES PLUS