Last night I had the pleasure of watching the new Muppets flick, co-written, co-executive produced and starring Jason Segel. First, let me say, I never thought that at my age that a Muppets movie would be able to make a tear roll down my cheek. I was sorely mistaken in thinking that.
The movie centres around Gary (Segel) and new Muppet Walter (voiced by Peter Linz). Gary wants to take his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) to LA for their anniversary and they invite Walter with them to go and see the old Muppet Studios. When they find it in disrepair and an evil oil magnate, Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), buying up the plot to tear it down, they decide to seek out Kermit and bring the gang back together for one last show to try and raise money to keep the plot. Hilarity, insanity and self-referential humour ensues!
Segel was seemingly born to play this role. With his enormous smile, happy eyes and a permanent look of childlike wonder on his face, it's amazing how well he seeped into the Muppet universe. Adams, too, was astounding her role, being a beautiful, Smalltown, America kind of girl and performing some wonderful songs alone and with the occasional Muppet.
As is the custom with Muppet films, celebrity cameos abound! Alan Arkin, Whoopi Goldberg, Neil Patrick Harris and Bill Cobbs to name a few. I won't spoil them all for you!
If you ever loved the Muppets as a kid or now, you will very much enjoy this trip down nostalgia lane, with its fresh new take on the Muppets and some wonderful songs composed by Bret McKenzie of New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. And if you need any further convincing as to seeing this movie, it's purely for the AMAZING casting choice for Walter's human counterpart and these three words: Chris Cooper rapping.
A solid 8 out of 10 for being able to keep The Muppets for both children and adults, keeping it in tune with the original, brilliant Muppet releases.
Mahalo.
Showing posts with label cooper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooper. Show all posts
Monday, January 23, 2012
Friday, April 29, 2011
Limitless Ltd
"Limitless" was pretty much going to be the drug movie of the new age; the "Requiem for a Dream" of the 21st Century. It didn't really turn out that way. While it may have prompted me to read the book, it delivered some other, stranger messages. One of them seeming to be "drugs are great" and "if you do enough of them, you'll be president someday" which I find a little odd. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
The film is about Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper), a writer who is creatively-blocked, unkempt and just got dumped. He is glowering in the worthlessness of himself when he runs into his ex-wife's brother (Johnny Whitworth) and is given a mystery drug that bestows upon him more or less superhuman abilities. Of course, from here, things can only go up. Nevermind that the brother was, at a time, a derelict drug-dealer who should never be trusted.
Bradley Cooper was, as he always is, excellent in this role. He broke out of his normal role to play someone with a lot more depth and emotion, while also remaining a stylish and charming son of a bitch.
About halfway through the film, though, I couldn't help but ask: wait, wasn't Robert de Niro supposed to be in this movie? And he is. For very little of it. It kind of looks like they just got him in because it was a big name that would draw crowds, but he was still great in the role of tycoon Carl van Loon.
Sure, bad things do happen to Eddie even after he's taken the super-drug - most of the bad things caused by it - but I didn't feel there was any kind of evolution. He was a failure, he took drugs and became awesome. Period. I'll leave it up to you whether this fits the mould of a redemption or evolution story, but I don't think it does - and to its detriment. Usually, I'm all for subverting a genre and changing things up, but this just didn't seem to gel with me. Still, watching Bradley Cooper act for 2 hours up against de Niro was definitely worth the money and the cinematography and music were both excellent. 7.5/10
The film is about Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper), a writer who is creatively-blocked, unkempt and just got dumped. He is glowering in the worthlessness of himself when he runs into his ex-wife's brother (Johnny Whitworth) and is given a mystery drug that bestows upon him more or less superhuman abilities. Of course, from here, things can only go up. Nevermind that the brother was, at a time, a derelict drug-dealer who should never be trusted.
Bradley Cooper was, as he always is, excellent in this role. He broke out of his normal role to play someone with a lot more depth and emotion, while also remaining a stylish and charming son of a bitch.
About halfway through the film, though, I couldn't help but ask: wait, wasn't Robert de Niro supposed to be in this movie? And he is. For very little of it. It kind of looks like they just got him in because it was a big name that would draw crowds, but he was still great in the role of tycoon Carl van Loon.
Sure, bad things do happen to Eddie even after he's taken the super-drug - most of the bad things caused by it - but I didn't feel there was any kind of evolution. He was a failure, he took drugs and became awesome. Period. I'll leave it up to you whether this fits the mould of a redemption or evolution story, but I don't think it does - and to its detriment. Usually, I'm all for subverting a genre and changing things up, but this just didn't seem to gel with me. Still, watching Bradley Cooper act for 2 hours up against de Niro was definitely worth the money and the cinematography and music were both excellent. 7.5/10
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