Frozen Ground

Curtis Jackson, AKA, “fitty”, did a great job acting and producing this thriller based upon a true crime story in Alaska. It’s got a few holes in the plot but everything eventually comes together by the end. I appreciate Curtis’s hairstyle and speaking of hairstyles, Nicholas Cage does a great job both acting and having a hair style that was quite easy on the eyes, dare I say natural. Some gratuitous skin shots throughout at some not so hygienic Alaskan cabarets. Cage’s character is like a continuation of the doting husband from Family Man. Only a true crime movie could be so ridiculously and incredulously frustrating when it came to the who done it, since it’s obvious that it’s John Cusack all along. I never followed Alaskan crime stats, but I guess it makes sense there is such a crazy high number of missing persons versus the lower 48. But at least there are diligent state troopers around to follow up on the leads. I am happy Joel Horneck (Kevin Dunn) from Seinfeld came around after seeming like such a blumbering a-hole at the start of the movie. Overall, it’s an entertaining watch, very nicely shot and has good pace to bring us through the story.

Cop Land

What does 1997, Harvey Keitel, Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Michael Rapaport and Garrison NJ all have in common? Aside from all being really awesome things in their own right, this is the secret sauce for Cop Land. An otherwise forgotten flick from 25 years ago that is best watched while in a semi-catatonic slumber as it rumbles and blusters in the background. If you are into a super slow yet stoic Sly Stallone and an uppity troublemaker Michael Rapaport and semi omniscient Ray Liotta and relatively youthful and persevering Bob De Niro, then this is the flick for you. Its all about cop v cop, in Cop Land, also known as a fictitious quaint town in NJ named Garrison (I looked it up and could not find it). It looks like its somewhere around Weekhawken ish.  Jurisdictions are super important, I mean, what kind of special treatment do these NYPD cops expect to get when they cross state lines? Spoiler alert, Sly is the real winner here. But truthfully, I fell asleep just after the Rapaport "incident" on the GWB and then woke up just in time to catch the end of the movie when Sly shoots all the bad NYPD cops living in his community.

Ocean's 13

Lets make a movie where its high tech to rob a casino. And lets get all the "hottest" stars to get involved.

The movie really dates itself. Where are these folks now? But I guess thats the tragedy of the aughts, the teens pushed those guys out. Clooney, Pitt, Andy Garcia, Elliot Gould, Cameron Diaz, Pacino et al. Bernie Mac RIP. So At first I was skeptical I thought hey its kind of annoying that 1) its a 3qual 2) it continues to have a huge amount of high roller actors, like the movie is basically genetically engineered to be good.

But it was alright. The plot was great, I especially like how they leave any romance, any bs whatever about these Ocean 13-ners out of the movie. Its better that way. As a guy who likes a little black jack from time to time and sometimes a little craps, it was cool to see how they could rig it, but I ultimately did not pay attention enough to really figure out the secret ingredients. Maybe it had something to do with labor rights in Mexico. Can you believe Bernie Mac passed just shortly after this movie RIP. Others, well, its really peak years or beyond peak years for most of those actors. I like the way Damon maintains his usual dorky type-cast role.

How about the muzak btw? Its like anytime there is any action by anybody…..cue the bass, drums, synth, and make it seem like there is something great happening.

Also, teamwork, I cannot say enough about how this movie is really all about teamwork. The team seemed genuinely upset when Elliot Ghould was down with health issues. That’s nice. Also management of this team seems to happen really well without someone driving the situation. They all just got in a room and said “lets rob this place”, “lets go to mexico and make fake dice”, “lets fuck around at the casino and be up in Al Pacino's face about it”. “Fuck him and lets do it”. Great spirit. Nice work.

Not a bad movie. Very formulaic, but at the same time highly detailed and extremely entertaining.

The Town

Hammer don't hurt em.

Totally unrelated comment, but just felt like saying that.

OK, Ben, great job. You win. FBI loses. Its so Sly Stallone of you to make a movie so Ben-centric. But cool. Charlestown, you know, I did not learn much about the place besides there are some coke whores running around an a lot of de-gen Irish dudes. RE your character, sad story about Mom, that’s hard. RE your totally misguided romance with the eye witness and hostage from a bank robbery, that’s stupid. Your partner in crime tried to call you out on it and you were like "dude mind your own business," but he had a great point that of all girls to fuck, you choose the one who could land you and your boys in jail for the rest of your life. BTW, great outfits. You and the crew seem to have the best looks, especially the police sunglasses Terminator look. Oh yeah, now I remember where I saw that supporting actor, maybe it was when he was a kid in Terminator. I don't know and am too lazy to fact check. On the topic of great actors in the movie I really like the lead gangster and spent a lot of the time wondering where I had seen him and by the end I concluded it was in Gangs of NY, but again, I need to fact check that. So in summary, wow, a lot of violence, it goes with the saying, people don't kill people, AR-15's really kill people, like the kids always say. Also the phrase, "if you are backed into a corner, best thing to do is to go out guns blazing" is also appropriate.

Great job Ben all around. The entire romance thing was lame and Rebecca Hall is like a poor man's Jennifer Garner, but far less annoying, but I guess it had to happen for the plot to work how it did.