The A-Team

Goolphipp Award: 4.3 (Worth 11 Bucks)

Goolsby:
I'm a huge Liam Neeson fan, so add in some classic action and A-Team corniness and you know I'm going to be there. I had a great time at this movie. You had a pretty easy and obvious plot, but who cares about that. The action scenes were great, and not over stylized like most current action movies. You had the classic team chemistry of the original A-Team. I don't claim to know much about the original series, but I have seen a handful of episodes. I think everyone did a great job bringing to life the characters. I'm really glad to see Neeson owning the older roles. He did a great job playing Hannibal Smith. Bradley Cooper seems like the perfect fit for Faceman. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson owned the role of B.A. Baracus. Last but not least Sharlto Copley did a stellar job playing Murdock. I loved all of them! They really did a great job together, and they made me want to be part of the A-Team. This movie is chock-full of humor, and a range of humor at that. Phipps and I felt like we were the only ones laughing in the whole theater. Hilarious. The movie embraced the corny and I enjoyed.

Goolsby overall: 4.25

I'm glad this movie was done so well, it brought the A-Team to a new generation.

Phipps:
I came out of this movie thinking, "I pity the fool!" and how I wanted to bring the phrase back into fashion. I was in my car saying, "Foo." While admitting that is rather embarrassing, it does show how much I liked it. I think the cast was perfect. I heard people complaining about the lack of Mr. T in the movie, but man, our Rampage owned it. It must have been tough to step into that role, but I thought he did a good job. Neeson totally brought a sexiness to the Colonel that I didn't expect. I'm also not a fan of the TV show, I've seen maybe one episode - it was on while I was still figuring out how to walk, so you can't blame me there. However, just from the pop-culture consciousness and the one episode I've seen in my adult life...I noted that all the classic lines were present and accounted for in this movie. Everything that the A-Team was known for is here. It's entertaining. The action sequences are sharp. Bradley Cooper is a too-tanned stud. Murdock...well, he's still crazy and brilliant. This movie embraced all of it's history and rocked it like a leather jacket. In other words, these guys got the heart of the show. Action without seeing dead bodies covered in blood. The cheesiness was like a breath of fresh air. It was just fun. See it. It's one of the best movies I've seen so far this year.

Phipps overall: 4.5
I just know I'm going to own it someday. I pity the fool! (See...I can't stop...)

Clash of the Titans

Goolphipp Award: 3.75 (See the Cheap Matinee)

Goolsby:
So the original Clash of the Titans came out in 1981 - I wasn't even born yet. But, I do remember watching it later on VHS as a kid. Of course my older brother loved it, and I remember I did too. However, I haven't seen the original for a long time. I wanted to rent the original and watch it before we went to see the movie, but we just didn't have time. So I'm starting off with fond memories of the original and random details - like the metal owl!

First and foremost, the owl was the most important thing to me, haha. I'm a sucker for all things puppets, and the owl used to be basically a puppet or prop. I am glad to say the owl was paid homage in this movie. I literally threw my hands up and cheered a silent yes.

I liked this movie. I had fun watching it. Heck, its' a well known fact that I've got a thing for Liam Neeson. And boy oh boy was I happy, he looked a least 10 years, if not more, younger in this film. The makeup job was done very well. He played a very stoic commanding Zeus and I loved it. The whole cast did a really good job I thought. It was a good mix of people. Ralph Fiennes played Hades, and once again proved that he can be the ultimate villain (he also plays Voldemort in the Harry Potter films).

The action was intense and super fast. I had a hard time keeping up. Very quick. I loved the scorpion scenes. The CG was decent. There were only a few times where it felt the technology was being pushed to its limits. I guess we are having a theme of great wings this week, but once again, we were given amazing CG wings. The Pegasus had these beautiful black wings. Everything about that horse was spot on perfect. No complaints from me, gets an A+ in my books. Medusa on the other hand... her CG wasn't as seamless and left something to be desired.

I enjoyed the film, but it felt there was something missing. It needed some extra sense of umph, but I'm not sure where or how they could have given us that extra zing.

Goolsby overall: 3.75
Almost a 4.

Phipps:
I remember watching the original Clash of the Titans in elementary school. What I remember most is thinking, "that looks fake." But despite being slightly crippled by effects, because the technology just wasn't there at the time, the original had something special. It's been a while since I've seen it, but it had heart.

For this version, all the effects were in order, with the exception of Medusa. Stellar wings again. Everything looked right...and even with all the big names...there was no sparkle. While I normally love Sam Worthington, I just wasn't feeling it...from most of the performances. The exceptions: Ralph Fiennes (as Hades), Pete Postlewaite (as Spyros, Perseus' adoptive father), and Gemma Arterton (as Io).

I appreciated the obvious nod to the original with the robotic owl, and I'm sure there were more that I didn't catch.

This movie was a solid action adventure. There was clean action, comic relief, short skirts, and crazy creatures. It's entertaining. It's appropriate for the family with older kids.

That being said, the X-factor wasn't there. It has to be the performances, because there is no blaming the effects. Give me Harry Hamlin any day.

Phipps overall: 3.75
There was something missing.

Valentine's Day

Goolphipp Award: 3.1 (Worth 11 Bucks)

Phipps:
This movie was alright. I'm not a fan of vignette movies (not even Love Actually won me over), so if you like them, you will probably like this movie too. I have to say, I liked this movie better than Love Actually. I think this movie did a better job of connecting all the stories. Everybody and their brother (including both McDreamy and McSteamy!) was in this movie...all giving solid performances, except Taylor Swift. It was like the girl was on uppers. I did like where things landed at the end - spoiler alert! I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that the 18-year-olds did not have sex...and that it was okay to wait (for a bit at least). In this society, I was quite shocked by that (although, I really appreciated it)! I think my favorite moment was the Moorpark Blvd. discussion, being that I live fifteen minutes away from Moorpark, California, and where everyone seems to get that Moorpark spelled backwards is "kraproom." It was a local joke and I laughed very loudly! And I did appreciate Taylor Lautner's falls and jumps in the movie - I'm always impressed by how talented the kid is. Overall, this is a fun watch. Don't overthink it.

Phipps overall: 3.25
A fun, fluffy movie.

Goolsby:
I'm a huge fan of Love Actually, so this movie was right up my alley. In these types of movies you always like some stories more than the others. I really like Julia Robert's story and Ashton Kutcher's too. This movies gives you a wide range of the walks of love, and I liked being able to see all of them.

Here is a complaint, in Love Actually the story of father-son duo, (Daniel) Liam Neeson and (Sam) Thomas Sangster is the basic little boy in love plot. The girl that the little boy goes after is Indian. In Valentine's Day, we've got the same plot down to the Indian girl! If Hollywood if trying to be "diverse" then why not make her some other race? Goodness. So I was a little upset to see some all too similar plot lines when compared to Love Actually. I guess when a good formula works, you use it.

I like this movie, not as much as other similar types though. Oh... I had heard some stuff before seeing the movie about Taylor Swift's poor acting chops. I'm afraid everyone is right. I know she was supposed to be playing a ditz, but if we look to Anna Kendrick, who plays a ditsy teenager in Twilight, the comparison is easy to read. You can play a ditz but still act- Anna Kendrick wins that race any day.

Goolsby overall: 3
Good laughs.

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The Other Man

Goolphipp Award: 1.8 (Wait for DVD)

Goolsby:
Point blank, I’m a fan of Liam Neeson. He’s the reason I went to see this movie. He is my old man crush. I only knew the basic plot, nothing else. I was confused for about half the movie, more than half probably.

Perhaps I missed a key line, but for the life of me, I could not figure out if Lisa, played by Laura Linney, was actually dead or if she just disappeared. Liam Neeson’s character Peter obsesses over his wife’s old lover. The other man is Ralph, played by Antonio Banderas. Random casting – it was a weird mix of people, but worked I guess.

The plot is complicated, lies, and some more lies. The movie was playing at our local indie movie theater, and the movie produced what you would expect. It was strange. Some types of movies you have to put in a box to digest later. That’s what I had to do. If you go see it, or eventually rent it on DVD, and want to talk about it, let me know.

I think they could have handled the transitions in the movie better. It was too jagged for me understand. They needed to work on the overall composition. The sound mixing was also horrible, but it could have just been the theater.

Goolsby overall: 2
Meh, if you feel in the mood to be confused and want to watch a handsome old man, go for it.

Phipps:
This movie was like being in the middle of a tangled ball of yarn. Not only are you all tangled up, but the ball starts to roll down some stairs. I was completely confused the entire time. The fog just never cleared up.

I was confused by the character of Lisa. I didn’t understand if she was dead or if she up and left Peter (played by Liam Neeson). I didn’t understand her whole deal…even after the script finally gets around to explaining it. She’s at the center of the movie, but it’s like looking into a black hole. You know what it is, you know what destruction it has caused, but you don’t understand why. She remains a mystery. I have to say this, she did wear a great pair of red high heels.

Antonio Banderas was quite impressive as the “other man.” I’m with Peter, as he grudgingly admits that “he is rather wonderful.” The other supporting cast did a fantastic job as well. You see, the problem with this movie is not the actors and their performances or even the cinematography or sound – it’s the actual storyline. It spins you in circles, and when you are good and dizzy, it lets you fall.

I’m not sure when this was filmed, but I would have thought that this movie would hit a bit too close to home for Liam Neeson. It was rather painful to watch.

Phipps overall: 1.75
I’m still confused.

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