Qs Reviews – January 20, 2015

Paddington.  A young talkative, adorable Peruvian bear leaves his arboreal home and stows away on a London bound ship. He is fascinated with all things British and hopes to find a new home there. He arrives in Paddington Station alone and lost, but full of hope. London is not all he expected until he meets the kindly Brown family. They read the label around his neck “Please look after this bear. Thank you” and offer him temporary refuge and name him Paddington. Paddington gets into all sorts of trouble but is always forgiven his transgressions because he is so lovable. But there is an evil taxidermist (Nicole Kidman) after him who can’t wait to stuff him. She almost gets her paws on him, but Paddington and his admirers cleverly thwart her dastardly designs. The film is heart warming and humorous. Kids of all ages will love it. Rated PG for mild action and rude humor.

American Sniper.  Director Clint Eastwood has done it again. This film is a taut, realistic war story that packs a wallop. Every frame of the film tells its powerful story of the brutality of war. Based on the real story of Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) who wanted nothing more than to be a Texas a cowboy. As he turns 30, September 11^th happens and he enlists in the Navy Seal program to fight terrorism.   He is a skilled marksman and becomes a sniper for the Seals.  Kyle marries the lovely Taya (Sienna Miller) and is immediately sent on his first tour of duty in Iraq.  Kyle has four tours of duty and becomes a legend as a sniper. He handles himself well in battle, but his real conflict isn’t with his military actions, but about his relationship with his family and himself as the reality of war overwhelms him. He bottles everything inside, but with the help of Taya, other vets and his work with disabled vets he manages to break out of his shell and relate again to his family and to live again.  Expect this film to do well at the Oscars. Cooper is amazing; watch his eyes. Rated R for strong and disturbing war violence, and language throughout including some sexual references. It is a Peggy’s Pick.

Whiplash.  The main reason to see this film is the incredible performances by J.K. Simmons as the abusive music teacher, Terrence Fletcher and Miles Teller as a young and gifted drummer, Andrew. Andrew is in his first year at a prestigious music college. He comes to the attention of Fletcher who is the legendary conductor of the school’s world-class jazz band. Andrew tries out for the band and comes face to face with Fletcher whose abusive tirades are famous. Fletcher’s demands for perfection break the spirit of many, but Andrew will confront him and his abuse in Andrew’s personal quest for greatness. The film is hard to watch at times, but persevere as the film ultimately delivers a strong message about ambition and the cost of greatness. Rated R for strong language including some sexual references.

The Wedding Ringer.  A better than expected comedy about everything that can go wrong at a wedding.   Doug Harris (Josh Gad) is a lovable but socially inept groom that has no friends so has neither a best man nor groomsmen for his wedding; but he does have a lot of money.  The wedding is ten days away and his beautiful bride, Gretchen (Kelley Cuoco), is pressuring him to meet his best man and groomsmen. Doug discovers Jimmy Callahan (a hilarious Kevin Hart) who owns and operates Best Man, Inc., a company that provides best men for guys in need.   Doug needs the “Golden Tux” package in order to pull off the con, and signs up for $50K. The sham that follows is nuts as Jimmy and Doug pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and we all get a huge laugh. But as all cons go, plans will unravel and things will go awry, but things also have a way of working out for the best. The film is just stupid fun that Gad and Hart make work with their comic timing. Rated R for crude and sexual content, language throughout, some drug use and brief graphic nudity.

Blackhat.  A rambling and in artful look at cybercrime. There are so many goofs and stretches of the imagination that the film never lives up to its potential. Nick Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) is a brilliant hacker who finds himself in prison for 13 years. A malicious hacker is causing nuclear reactors to overheat, stock markets to go berserk and Nick needs to be sprung from prison to get the bad guy. The FBI gets him out and he reunites with an old friend and his friend’s sister. The friend and his gorgeous sister are Chinese so we get a whole US vs. China thing going, but the sister soon becomes the bed partner of Nick so east west relations are better. The film needs Hemsworth’s muscle as he annihilates all the bad guys with his brute strength. The group travels all over the Far East in pursuit of the evil hacker and when they figure out what he is really up to, the film just becomes ludicrous. Big budget action sequences can’t save the lame story. Rated R for violence and some language.