Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

I love Will Ferrell.  He's a terrific actor, and extremely funny - qualities which are prominently displayed in Anchorman.  Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) is the anchorman of a local San Diego news station.  However, his world gets turned upside down with the arrival of a sexy new reporter (Christina Applegate), with whom Burgundy soon falls in love (obviously).  And of course, there's normal news anchor stuff, like Ron's relationship with Baxter (his dog), his news team's rivalry with other San Diego news teams (which culminates in one of the movie's most hilarious/most violent moments), and the quirkiness of the rest of Ron's news team (including Paul Rudd and, most notably, Steve Carrell as a dimwitted weatherman).

While not a movie for everyone (i.e. people who don't like Will Ferrell will absolutely hate it), Anchorman is a wonderful film, and is easily one of Ferrell's most memorable.

Rating: 90/100

The Expendables 2

There's only one thing to do when you make a successful movie that is the ultimate love letter to action movies: do it again!  The Expendables 2 is pretty much The Expendables all over again: Barney Ross (Stallone) and co. work for Mr. Church (Bruce Willis), and go and shoot people and blow stuff up.  The main difference this time around is the cast: Bruce Willis and Ahnold (in the role of Trench) get bigger roles, and Chuck Norris joins in on the fun (for better or for worse).  There's also newcomers Maggie (Yu Nan), a Chinese tech genius (and all-around badass) who Mr. Church sends along with Barney's team to retrieve some valuable data, and Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth), a crackerjack young sniper who served with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.  Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a cold, ruthless, possibly Russian villain.  I honestly don't know why they even bothered with a plot; it's basically porn (something which Stallone should be very familiar with) for action-movie junkies.  Basically, the movie is a cacophony of blood spurts, fiery explosions, gunfire, and one-liners, with a tank thrown in for good measure.

This movie isn't high art; it's good, violent fun.  It's cliched, and it's proud of that fact.  The score tells you how to feel (although the poppy oldies music and classic rock are rather jarring, albeit awesome), the bad guys are piss-poor shots (they must have gone to the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksman Academy) and the good guys never run out of bullets when they're mowing down mooks (except when they run out for the sake of dramatic tension).  Oh, and there's a Chuck Norris fact, as well as references to many of the stars' past films (including Rambo, Terminator, Die Hard, and Good Guys Wear Black).  Still, I have a few problems with this movie:

-The profanity.  Namely, there's very, very little (even compared to the first Expendables movie, which didn't have all that much to begin with).  Nobody drops the f-bomb (supposedly because of Chuck Norris being a conservative Christian and all that crap*), even Bruce Willis (if you've seen Die Hard, you'll understand).
-Jet Li.  He only appears at the beginning of the movie before returning to China.  It's kind of a letdown.
-CGI blood.  For God's sake, use packets filled with red dye, not that fake-looking computer-generated crap.
-All the badasses who didn't appear in the film, but should have (I'll list them in a moment).

Other than that, I really liked this movie.

Rating: 78/100

And now, the list of people not appearing in this movie:
-Clint Eastwood (although I've heard that Stallone wants him for Expendables 3)
-Justin Bieber (I thought it would be cool to see him get killed in a very gruesome way)
-Jackie Chan
-Lee Marvin (he's dead)
-Bruce Lee (he's dead, but I'm pretty sure he can come back to life, sort of like Jesus)
-John Wayne (again, dead)
-William Holden (dead)
-Ernest Borgnine (dead, and just recently, to boot)
-Jim Brown
-Will Smith
-Matt Damon
-Nicolas Cage (who Stallone actually tried to get in the movie)
-Antonio Banderas (offered a role, but had to turn it down due to prior commitments)
-Taylor Lautner (a.k.a. the only actor from Twilight that I actually like/has any talent)(Stallone apparently considered him for the role that went to Hemsworth)
-Lucy Liu
-Samuel L. Jackson
-David Carradine (dead... but what a way to go!)
-Mark Hamill

*Chuck Norris DID appear in Dodgeball, which had the word (used, in fact, to describe Mr. Norris himself), so I have no idea why he was so anal about swearing in this movie.

The Campaign

I like Will Ferrell.  I like Zach Galifianakis.  I was thrilled to learn that they would be working together on a movie.  The Campaign lives up to expectations - and then some.  While it may appear to the untrained eye as a stupid, simplistic, crude, and vulgar depiction of American politics, it's actually... a stupid, simplistic, crude, and vulgar depiction of American politics.  It's also hilarious, and right on target.  Ferrell and Galifianakis (yes, I had to look up how to spell his name) are perfect as candidates for the U.S. Congress, with Galifianakis stealing the show as the bizarre Marty Huggins.  The film, in spite of its crudeness, was also very touching,* and very timely as well (seeing as how we are about to choose between Obama and Rmoney [sorry, I meant "Romney"] - or, as I like to call them, Barack Obama and Raging Rich Asshole).  Even if you don't like Will Ferrell, you can still enjoy this movie (even my mother, who is not a fan of the man, thought the movie was actually pretty good).  So what if it's not All the President's Men?  It doesn't need to be - it just needs to be good.  And it's damned good.

Rating: 82/100


*I'm serious (actually, I'm Brandon, but I'm also not joking).

Killer Joe

For quite a while now, I've believed that Matthew McConaughey is an underrated actor.  Just because someone is in a lot of fluffy crowd-pleasers doesn't mean that they can't act.  I first opened my eyes to McConaughey when I saw Tropic Thunder, and my belief was further reinforced through A Time to Kill.  But it's Killer Joe that really seals the deal.  Here, McConaughey plays "Killer" Joe Cooper, a Texas cop (actually, a detective with the Dallas Police Department) who has a side business: he kills people.  When a young man (Emile Hirsch) needs money to pay off some drug debts, he comes up with a crazy idea: have his mother killed, and collect her life insurance money (which is apparently $50,000).  His white trash family (who probably define white trash) - father, sister, and stepmother - think it's a good idea (the mother is apparently a real bitch), and they hire none other than Killer Joe himself to do the dirty deed.  He demands $25,000 upfront - which can't be paid.  Instead, he takes collateral, in the form of little sister Dottie (who is portrayed as possibly being underage - I really can't tell how old she's supposed to be).  And here lies the point where the feces impact the fan.
The film contains many, many uncomfortable moments (I found myself shifting around in my seat quite often - something which I do not normally do at the movies), and McConaughey's performance sent chills down my spine (the theater I went to, while very, very nice, was also rather warm).  I must say, McConaughey's performance ranks as one of the best that I've ever seen - and I've seen some damn good acting in my life.  While the movie certainly earns its NC-17 rating (it really is NOT for everyone), it really isn't a bad movie at all.  Directed by William Friedkin (best known for The Exorcist and The French Connection back in the 1970s, the latter of which netted him an Oscar for Best Director) and based on a play by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts, Killer Joe is one of the most chilling, twisted, disturbing films I have ever laid eyes on - and also one of the best.

Rating: 99/100

Von Richtofen and Brown

Adequate Roger Corman flick about air combat during World War I.  The movie mainly focuses on Manfred von Richtofen (a.k.a. the "Red Baron," who, with 80 confirmed kills, was the highest-scoring pilot during the war) and Roy Brown - a Canadian ace* flying with Britain's Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force who supposedly killed the Baron in combat (in reality, it was probably an Australian soldier who fired the fatal bullet).  The acting isn't anything to crow about (everyone speaks English, and individual characters, save for Brown, are difficult to pick out), and there are many, many glaring historical errors.  The flying sequences are the best thing about the film, and feature authentic aircraft (and, in some cases, replicas).  No real surprises, but the film is palatable.

Rating: 70/100

*An "ace" is generally defined as a pilot who has shot down five or more enemy aircraft in combat.  This number varied during World War I, but by the end of the war, the number was generally five.  The highest-scoring ace of all time is Erich Hartmann, a German pilot during World War II with a whopping 352 aerial victories (in second place is fellow German Gerhard Barkhorn, who racked up a mere 301 kills during WWII).

Red Dawn

The Russians are coming!  No really: Russian, Cuban, and Nicaraguan troops invade the United States in the 1980s (the Soviet Union was apparently fairly desperate because of bad wheat crops), with Russian and Cuban paratroopers being dropped in the middle of the U.S., occupying several states (including Colorado, where the movie is set).  A group of teenagers, arming themselves with whatever they can find, form a guerrilla group known as the "Wolverines" (after their high school mascot) and, with the help of a Colonel from the Air Force (who was rescued by the teens after his F-15 was shot down), attack the occupying forces, avenging family members and friends who were killed.

While by no means a bad movie, Red Dawn isn't particularly good, either.  The acting is decent enough (Patrick Swayze stars, and Charlie Sheen also appears), and the battle sequences are excellent (rumor has it that a mock T-72 tank used in the film was so accurate that the CIA became suspicious), but the basic concept seems rather preposterous.  The best thing about the movie is probably the alternate history discussions it has inspired (including a big thread on one forum where people make up stories about what they did during the time of the movie).  Overall, the film is enjoyable enough (as are many stupid movies), and earns its status as a cult classic (although just barely).

Written by John Milius, the basic plot (Russian paratroopers dropped from transports disguised as civilian airliners) was used again in the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (which features several shout-outs to this movie).  The video game Homefront (also scripted by Milius) and its companion novel feature a similar plot (North Korea invades the U.S. this time).  Also of note: this was the first film to be released with a PG-13 rating (which was introduced the year this film came out - 1984), although it was not the first movie to actually receive the new rating (that "honor" would go to The Flamingo Kid).  If you like war movies, action flicks, Patrick Swayze, or really, really corny plots, you'll love Red Dawn.

Rating: 70/100

Red Dawn: Background Information

The film takes place during "World War III" (even though it's just the USSR, Cuba, and Nicaragua fighting against the U.S., U.K. and China - most of Europe decided to sit this war out, and little is said about Asia [including the Middle East] or South America or Australia).  They use a couple of nukes against the U.S. and China (I think they destroy a couple missile depots, D.C., and maybe Beijing), and drop paratroopers in the American midwest (including Colorado, where the movie is set), occupying several states (including Alaska and Texas) as well as part of western Canada and all of Mexico.  At the beginning of the movie, background information tells us that most of Europe pulled out of NATO (the U.K. being the major exception), a communist coup overthrew the Mexican government, the Warsaw Pact expanded its sphere of influence (to where, I'm not sure), and the Ukrainian wheat harvest failed.  The U.S. is now strategically isolated (except for the U.K. and, for some reason, China [no word on Japan, South Korea, Israel, or some of our other good buddies]).  Someone took the time to make a map of the world in Red Dawn, which is pretty helpful.  There's also a big expanded universe discussion board (although you must be a member of the site to see the board).  Oh, and there's a remake of the movie (featuring North Korean villains) coming out soon (it got pushed back to remove references to China being the invader).