Drive - Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan Movie Review

A man with no name (Ryan Gosling) works during the day as a Los Angeles  movie stuntman driver and at night he works as a getaway driver for various thieves.  A loner, he befriends his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son (Kaden Leos). Irene’s troubled husband (Oscar Isaac) returns from a stint in prison and this triggers a series of events that dramatically change the routine of their lives.

Goon - Pro Hockey Enforcer Fight Movie

Doug Glatt (Shawn William Scott) is hired into an unlikely hockey career because he can fight.  A "Goon" in hockey is a player whose main job is to intimidate, and beat up, other teams.  Doug is hired as a goon.


Shawn William Scott plays a dead-pan dopey yet likable brute in Glatt.  This might not be a break out role for Scott but he does well in a comic-violent role that can be hard to pull off.

Kontroll – Budapest Underground Train Crew Film

Kontroll is a dark, grimy, noir-like fictional film about the miserable existence of Budapest ticket inspectors prowling the underground subways checking customers for their tickets.  

42 – Jackie Robinson Breaks Baseball Color Barrier

Boy did I enjoy this film.  It is fun to watch, has some really good feel good moments and introduces a fine actor I haven’t heard of before in Chadwick Boseman who stars as Jackie Robinson, the first baseball player to break Major League Baseball’s color barrier.

 With all that in mind, the film lets itself down.   Yes, this is a good, “feel good” film but it could have been so much better.    

The Twilight Samurai

I've always thought of the Japanese samurai as the disciplined, gung ho, warrior both admired and feared by friend and foe alike. The Twilight Samurai is a film that quickly teaches an unfamiliar audience that the samurai lives a life radically different than what you might think.

The Intouchables - Rich Paralyized Man Befriends Criminal Caretaker

An ultra-wealthy, aristocratic, Frenchman (Monsieur Philippe played by François Cluzet) is surrounded by uber-decadent furniture, a mansion home, cars, and personal staff needs a caretaker (he has plenty but apparently he needs one more). He’s a quadriplegic who needs 24 hour care. The hiring process begins. After many dopey interviewees are rejected, a poor, French, African ex-convict barges into the interview. He is Driss (played by Omar Sy) He speaks to the stuffy staff rudely in a sort of I don’t care how rich you are attitude and leaves.

Of course, he gets hired. Over the course of the movie his street-smart approach both lifts the spirits of the staff while tempering their snobby attitude. Same goes for the man he cares for.

Still Walking - Japanese Family Drama Film

Set in Japan, a Japanese family meets every year to remember their adolescent son killed twelve years earlier saving another young boy.

The deceased son is revered and missed presumably because his parents expected great things from him. By contrast, the parents are disappointed in his surviving brother who is kind, well intention, but failed to achieve the success that was expected from him.